Earth Era - Chapter 33: Riot

Chapter 33: Riot

The remaining few people arrived here a bit slower, but before all the chips were picked up. Everyone was doing the same thing—everyone was squatting there, desperately picking up the chips that fell on the ground. The young woman screamed, pushing people around her like crazy, while quickly picking up the chips on the ground.

There was only one bag of chips on the ground, and there were very few. So a conflict broke out between the dozen or so people picking up the chips. The young woman grabbed a handful of chips, but before she could put them in her mouth, she was scattered by a strong man, and a thin man took advantage of the opportunity to grab a handful and stuff it into his own mouth. The strong man then kicked him…

Zhao Huasheng stood aside, motionless. The man was also standing there motionless, not even reacting when the other bag of chips in his arms was snatched away.

At this moment, someone shouted: “There are still some in the store!”

Meng Zhuo’s eyebrows had already knitted tightly together as if he had seen some ominous omen. With a sudden movement, Meng Zhuo was at the store entrance and shouted, “What are you all doing?!”

Usually his loud voice would have been enough to quiet a hundred-person hall, but the people facing him seemed to have lost their reason. His shout made no impact. The dozen people still surged forward like a tide. Meng Zhuo spread his arms like a steel tower, blocking all of them from passing.

However, the chaos had already attracted the attention of others. Someone else shouted, “Get out of the way! There’s food inside!”

At least a hundred more people then swarmed over. Meng Zhuo furrowed his brow and looked at Zhao Huasheng standing nearby, ultimately shaking his head and giving up on blocking them.

Meng Zhuo had already lost the ability to quell the chaos, and he couldn’t put Zhao Huasheng in danger.

Dozens of people and the hundreds who followed rushed into the small store like a flood. The cabinets and the tables were pushed over, and the goods were swept away in an instant. Those who had grabbed something were desperately protecting it, while those who had not grabbed anything were now pointing their fists at their former “comrades in arms.”

Most of them were those who had not grabbed anything. It was obvious that they were not willing to leave empty-handed. Thus, the chaotic group swept off like locusts towards other places. On both sides of the street, the closed shops were broken open, people rushed in to loot, and then they rushed to the next one…

A chaotic situation had formed. More and more people were rolling in. Some of them did not even know what this was all about, they just followed the main body of the army in a frenzy of passion, and in the course of their advance, they occasionally had physical conflicts with the people beside them, so they started to fight each other, fists were not enough, so they picked up bricks and wooden sticks…

The crowd around them became larger and larger. At this moment, Meng Zhuo grabbed Zhao Huasheng and said, “Hurry up and leave.”

Meng Zhuo grabbed Zhao Huasheng’s arm and began to push against the crowd. Along the way, Zhao Huasheng saw many distorted faces and heard countless people’s cries. He saw images he had only seen on TV before.

A woman accidentally fell to the ground, but no one cared. Countless feet continued to step on her. At first, there was some movement and shouting, but after a moment, it was silent. Zhao Huasheng saw blood start to flow from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. He saw a young man in a strong and elegant atmosphere, who didn’t know where he found a sharp knife and then, with a fierce face, stabbed it into the body of a very fat man next to him. Zhao Huasheng saw a tall young woman holding a brick and slamming it against the head of a middle-aged woman.

The chaos had become uncontrollable. Yet until this moment, Zhao Huasheng still had some doubts in his mind: “But, but, it’s just a bag of chips…”

Just a bag of chips. A bag that, before, wouldn’t even have been given a second glance if it had been left on the ground.

“They’ve all gone mad,” muttered Meng Zhuo.

Meng Zhuo pulled Zhao Huasheng into a building, and they arrived on the rooftop after a few minutes. Standing on the rooftop, Zhao Huasheng was gradually calmed by the cold wind that blew against him.

Zhao Huasheng looked down and saw chaos spreading from the street they were on to other streets and quickly growing. Everywhere he looked, there was chaos and crying; people didn’t know what the chaos was for or what it was they wanted to do. People were just attacking anyone and everyone they could see, whether armed or unarmed, to express their long-held frustration and fear of the future.

“Report to Command Center, riot has broken out on 186th Street in District C and is quickly spreading, it will soon be out of control, requesting assistance.”

After the report was finished, Meng Zhuo shook his head at Zhao Huasheng: “This is not something we can deal with. We can’t control this.”

“Is it just because of a bag of chips?” Zhao Huasheng asked.

Meng Zhuo continued shaking his head: “People have been suppressed and scared for too long. The Sun Crisis happened too quickly and suddenly; people can’t take it. The idiots from the Social Science Academy, to whom I had already suggested doing psychological assessments and counseling to prevent mass violence, they always said nothing would happen; now let’s see how they explain it to the head!”

And so Zhao Huasheng understood—it wasn’t just about a bag of chips.

In this doomsday, everyone has accumulated too much pressure and fear but is unable to vent. Just a little spark would set Equator City off like a powder keg. That person just happened to be a fuse.

“Don’t worry, the military will soon take control of the situation,” said Meng Zhuo.

Zhao Huasheng nodded sadly.

But after a while, Meng Zhuo suddenly slammed his hand on the stone steps, gritting his teeth and cursing: “Bastards!”

In Zhao Huasheng’s mind, Meng Zhuo had always been an indifferent and calm figure, and Zhao Huasheng had never seen him so emotionally excited. Zhao Huasheng looked at Meng Zhuo, and Meng Zhuo pointed down and said to Zhao Huasheng: “You see those people? The people wearing black clothes? They are creating turmoil and stirring up riots.”

Meng Zhuo’s face darkened with each word he uttered: “Cultists, plotters, fanatics, anarchists, anti-humanists, doomsayers… ” He slammed his fist on the stone steps, his knuckles turning white, “These scum, the dregs of society!”

Zhao Huasheng silently thought to himself, “Has our society come to this?” He turned in another direction, and from there he could hear faint commotion. The two of them stayed on the rooftop, watching the scene below. Not knowing if an hour or two had passed, Zhao Huasheng saw a fierce fire erupt in the distance, at least a thousand meters away, followed by a loud explosion several seconds later.

Zhao Huasheng realized that the chaos had escalated.

At this moment, there is no one standing on the long street below. The rioting crowd has spread to other places, like locusts. Only many scattered dead or alive people are left on the street. But no ambulance, military, or police came. There are many ruins and blood and glass debris scattered here, making it look like a garbage dump.

It seems that the whole of Equator City is boiling at this moment. After the first flame appeared, more flames appeared in more places, like a chain reaction. The sky seemed to be shrouded in smoke and dust, and Zhao Huasheng, standing on the roof, smelled a smell of death and madness.

The sky began to have helicopters appear, and the city began to hear the piercing sirens, but the siren only lasted for a while before disappearing, and the helicopter only circled in the sky without falling.

“It’s quiet down there; I’m going down to save people.” Zhao Huasheng pointed to the bottom and said.

Meng Zhuo weakly waved his hand and said, “It’s no use. The chaos has already spread out; how many people can you save by yourself?”

“Every single one we can,” Zhao Huasheng said firmly: “I have studied some first aid knowledge; even without medicine and equipment, my first aid knowledge will still be useful. And… as long as we can save one more person, our civilization will have a bit more hope.”

“Alright, I’ll go with you,” Seemingly affected by Zhao Huasheng, Meng Zhuo finally nodded.

The two of them descended from the rooftop and returned to the streets. Zhao Huasheng crouched down, putting his fingers on the neck of a person with their eyes closed, feeling that there was no heartbeat, then quickly left and moved to the next person.

This person seemed to still have a bit of a heartbeat. So Zhao Huasheng quickly examined them, then began artificial respiration, then tore apart their clothes, using a wooden stick to do a bone fixation for them.

Zhao Huasheng seemed oblivious to the evil, bloodshed, and terror that existed on this long street. Zhao Huasheng only wanted to save people; the more the better.

Meng Zhuo’s ears rang with Zhao Huasheng’s words once again: “As long as we can save more people, our civilization will have more hope.”

Thus, a thought occurred to Meng Zhuo: “Maybe he can really save our civilization.”