"Chapter 1: The Descent of Doom

December 31, 2012, dawned clear and bright—a rare day where not a single cloud marred the vast blue sky. The fierce winds of the previous night had finally blown away the thick, suffocating layer of gray smog that had hung over the city for days, unveiling the cramped, urbanized landscape of what was once a tranquil Jiangnan water town.

Inside the easternmost dormitory of Jiangnan University’s only college campus, freshman Fei Dongdong packed her belongings. She was preparing gifts for her visit later that day to the Jiangnan Orphanage, where she hoped to see the old headmaster and the children she’d grown up with. Most of her roommates had already left for home or gone traveling, leaving only a handful of girls scattered across the otherwise abandoned dorm floor.

messy cluster of basins littered the bathroom floor, clothes soaking lazily inside. Dongdong finished washing her hands, dried them with her towel, and sighed as her eyes drifted back to the basins. She couldn’t fathom why anyone would leave clothes to stew like that. Why not just wash them now? Her lazy roommates always claimed they’d clean them ""later,"" once they were back. Ridiculous.

Biting her lip in resignation, Dongdong spent ten frantic minutes scrubbing the neglected laundry herself. After hanging the clothes on the balcony to dry, she sighed. I guess I’m cursed with an overactive sense of duty. The thought of these just rotting away and stinking up the place? Unthinkable.

Bag slung over her shoulder, she’d just stepped toward the door when the floor beneath her feet violently heaved. The entire ground seemed to surge upward then crash back down, shaking relentlessly. A deafening, thunderous roar engulfed everything.

Before she could process what was happening, Dongdong tumbled hard onto the floor. A scream tore from her throat as she scrambled wildly, clawing at a bedpost to steady herself. Her mind raced, looping the same two words over and over: Earthquake! Earthquake!

After several harrowing moments, the shaking eased. The dorm hadn't collapsed. Relief flooded her. She scrambled to her feet, stumbling toward the exit. As freshmen, her class was housed on the ground floor of the aging women’s dormitory—a building that, despite its years, had proven surprisingly sturdy. Aside from chunks of fallen ceiling plaster and shattered window glass littering the hallway, the structure itself seemed largely intact.

Dongdong didn’t stop until she reached a patch of open ground outside. Gasping for air, she watched as more girls poured out of the dorm. Soon, nearly a dozen survivors huddled together in the open space.

The ground roared back to life, worse than before. This wasn’t just an up-and-down shudder; the earth bucked violently, swaying side to side. Terrified, the survivors threw themselves flat on the ground. Screams and sobs pierced the chaos.

""Look! That building—it’s falling!"" a panicked shriek cut through the noise. Everyone’s eyes snapped to where the girl pointed.

With an apocalyptic roar, the university’s gleaming new teaching building—an eighteen-story structure of reinforced concrete—collapsed like crumbling tofu riddled with holes. Its upper section sheared off, plummeting sideways. The lower portion disintegrated into chunks of debris. A powerful shockwave radiated outward, carrying a rolling tsunami of dust and shattered concrete straight toward the surviving girls.

Dongdong leaped to her feet. Ignoring the unsteady ground, she screamed, ""RUN!"" and bolted in the opposite direction.

She spotted a large tree nearby and sprinted toward it. She barely ducked behind its trunk when the shockwave tore past, pelting her sides with debris and choking grit.

Struggling to breathe through the dust, coughing violently, Dongdong stayed frozen behind the tree, too terrified to move.

Finally, the earth stilled. She peered out. Her heart seized. The serene, beautiful campus she’d known moments ago was gone.

Almost every building stood damaged, many utterly ruined. Skeletons of walls rose amidst heaps of rubble. A shroud of gray dust hung over the city. Deep fissures snaked across the landscape, the ground itself twisted like crumpled tin. Everywhere, people lay moaning, bleeding. Cries of agony and despair filled the air.

Dongdong raced toward the closest figure—a girl groaning near her. She carefully checked the girl. Miraculously, only scrapes and minor bruises. Assured she could move, Dongdong helped her up. The girl soon regained her composure and joined Dongdong in aiding others.

Survivors gradually gathered. Teachers who were less injured began organizing rescue efforts. Those severely wounded were laid out in open spaces.

Dongdong, largely unscathed, immediately joined search-and-rescue teams digging through the wreckage. The collapse had been instantaneous; countless people hadn’t escaped. Faint pleas for help echoed from beneath the concrete piles.

""Hey! Over here! Found someone!"" shouted a tall, broad-shouldered young man. Though caked in grime, his eyes were bright and alert.

Dongdong ran over. She recognized him—Bi Qing, one of the university’s star students, vice-president of the student council, a brilliant junior excelling in both academics and sports.

Working together, they quickly shifted chunks of concrete and a fallen desk. The person underneath—unhurt—crawled out freely.

""Thanks, guys!"" he grinned, white teeth flashing against his dust-covered face.

By dusk, Dongdong and the other rescuers slumped wearily onto a miraculously intact curb. A heavy sense of dread pressed down.

""Why hasn’t the army arrived? Where’s the rescue personnel?"" someone demanded loudly.

""Seriously, it’s been hours. Not a single plane overhead. Did all the airports get destroyed?""

""Look!"" A boy suddenly pointed west, his eyes wide with terror. ""What’s that?!""

Dongdong, leaning against a wooden power pole, followed his gaze.

In the distance, the sky churned with black clouds, jagged lightning ripping through the gloom. It was spreading—rapidly.

In a matter of breaths, the darkness swallowed the entire city of Jiangnan.

Plunged into pitch black, Dongdong gasped as a skull-splitting pain hit her. Before she could even cry out, agony exploded through her entire body. Her mind fogged instantly. Horrified screams erupted around her, but she was beyond caring, tormented by pain that seared her to the bone.

In her haze, a violent flash of light erupted. A massive force slammed into her back, throwing her to the ground. Numbness spread through her body. Fei Dongdong blacked out."