Chapter 51
The Chinese New Year is almost here.
This year, Hongqi Village is exceptionally lively. The villagers have savings in their hands, and the children who had been wandering away have returned to their side. The villagers are overjoyed, and in their joy, they want to have a prosperous New Year. More than half a month before the New Year, they started slaughtering pigs and sheep, keeping themselves very busy.
Every time Xia Ke passed through the village, she would see smiling villagers, which made her restless. She also wanted to go to each family to eat pig-slaughtering feasts and go to the New Year's market.
When she returned to the company, Xia Ke made a point of visiting each department.
The employees in each department were working in an orderly manner, their busy faces showing signs of fatigue.
Hongqi Piao is not a company for retirement; in fact, because all its products are selling very well, the employees are still very busy even though the staff is fully equipped.
Fortunately, although it was busy, the boss paid a good salary, so there wasn't too much resentment.
Xia Ke called Liu Yun over.
"The Lunar New Year is approaching, and everyone has been working so hard for so long. It's time for us to rest and allow our colleagues from other places to go back and see their parents."
"Today is the 10th. Have everyone clear out their work, and then inform everyone that we will be on holiday from the 15th until after the Lantern Festival."
"Yes, to emphasize, it's paid leave."
"As for the year-end bonus, let's just give everyone five months' salary. We're a startup, so we won't do any performance-based bonuses this year. Let's just make everyone happy first."
Liu Yun was stunned by the unexpected windfall.
A month-long vacation!!! And a year-end bonus almost half a year's salary!!!
This is just too extravagant!
Who wants to go to work when they can have a holiday?
What an amazing boss!
The moment this news was announced, the atmosphere in the company was even happier than during the Chinese New Year.
Xia Ke was also very happy. As the boss, she had to set an example, so she would come to the company whenever it was working hours, regardless of wind or rain. Although the company was only a ten-minute walk from her home, work was work, and work would not bring happiness. Xia Ke also wanted to take a vacation early.
The employees quickly left Hongqi Village.
Xia Ke also got to live the good life she had always wanted, sleeping until the sun was high in the sky and wandering around the village waiting to be fed.
The New Year was fast approaching. After the whole family had finished their New Year's Eve dinner, they were watching the New Year's Eve gala on TV and waiting for midnight to ring in when they suddenly felt a shaking.
earthquake!
Xia Ke and Xia An reacted quickly, one grabbing their father and the other their mother, pulling them out of the house before their parents could even react.
The snow outside was piled up thick, but fortunately, all four of them were wearing thermal suits, so they didn't feel cold.
The ground was still shaking, but fortunately the shaking wasn't too intense, and I was still able to keep my balance.
After waiting anxiously for about ten minutes, the shaking finally stopped.
After confirming that everything had calmed down, none of the Xia family members dared to enter the house.
Xia Ke squatted on the ground and turned on her phone.
A row of trending topics was prominently displayed on the hot search list.
Earthquakes struck multiple parts of the country simultaneously.
Earthquakes occurred simultaneously in multiple locations around the world.
A massive 8.5 magnitude earthquake struck Linhua.
A massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck Japan.
"What's going on? Why are there earthquakes everywhere?" When Xia An saw these trending topics, she felt like the world had gone mad.
Xia Ke pursed her lips, her hands moving rapidly as she scrolled through the news online.
The earthquake had just occurred, and because it was so sudden, there was no disaster data available online yet. Xia Ke switched her phone to the company's large group chat.
"I saw on the news that there were earthquakes in many places. I hope everyone is okay. If it's convenient, please let us know in the group chat that you are safe."
"Ping An, Mr. Xia, are you alright?"
"Safety."
......
After seeing that everyone had reported that they were safe, Xia Ke finally felt relieved.
It's not surprising for an earthquake to occur in one place, since no one can predict when the earth's crust will move. It's also tolerable for two earthquakes to occur at the same time; it might just be a coincidence.
However, the fact that earthquakes have occurred in multiple parts of the country and even the world is very strange. Coupled with the huge snow disaster that affected many parts of the world some time ago, a sense of unease rose in my heart.
"System, do you know why such a large-scale earthquake occurred?"
The system remained silent for a long time.
"The host does not currently have permission to know."
"Don't have permission yet? When will I have permission?"
"When the host spends 50,000 points in the system, some external information about Earth will be unlocked."
Another statement packed with information: a message from outside Earth?
She knew from the moment she was first bound to the system that there were still heavens beyond heavens, that aliens truly existed, and that countless planets with life existed beyond Earth.
This can be verified by looking at the system's series of previous hosts.
Does this mean that information related to Earth was extracted from external sources? Does it imply that Earth was exposed to other life forms in the universe without Earth's awareness?
Are they good, evil, or neutral towards Earth?
Xia Ke pounded her head in frustration, saying that nothing in heaven is as delicious as a pie falling from the sky.
"System, are the previous snowstorm and the current earthquake related to you?" This is very important.
If the system really is behind this, then she will fight to the death to keep his so-called mechanical intelligent life form alive on Earth.
"No, why do humans always tend to place their suspicions on those who accompany and help them? You are the same, as are every previous host."
Xia Ke could detect the dissatisfaction in the system's mechanical voice.
"Maybe it's because among all the people I know, only you have this kind of ability."
"From the day we were bound, the system informed the host that the system abides by the universal human rights law and the laws of various planets, and all tasks are based on legality and compliance."
Xia Ke nodded after listening, neither saying she believed it nor disbelieved it, but simply asked, "You mean every host? Does that mean that every host who meets you will frequently experience 'stay-at-home' difficulties on their planet?"
"So, did you descend upon us because you foresaw the hardship of staying at home in advance?"
System: "The host does not currently have permission to know."
......
It's the New Year, a time for family reunions, with no overtime or work, and it's precisely the time of year when netizens are most active.
At this time, online discussions were focused on the earthquake that had just occurred.
Some people are questioning the earthquake bureau about why it didn't issue an early warning.
People are sharing their experiences of escaping the earthquake.
Xia Ke clicked on the most popular video.
The video shows a young man supporting an elderly woman, crying loudly in front of the camera, his eyes filled with lingering fear.
He spoke while crying.
“My family lives on the 8th floor. The earthquake came suddenly and violently. We were having our New Year’s Eve dinner when the whole house started shaking violently. Because we had just finished cooking, the windows were open, so I could clearly hear the crying and screaming outside when the earthquake started.”
"When people face disaster head-on, it's no exaggeration to say that their minds go blank. Fortunately, I reacted quickly, activated the spatial loop, and escaped from my home safely. Just as we escaped from my home, the building collapsed."
"The building I live in is eighteen stories high. When it collapsed, my eardrums were almost shattered."
"This is where my grandma usually does square dancing. I come here every night to urge her to go home, so I set the locations of both my spatial rings here. Luckily, it's here, not in the school dormitory or shopping mall, otherwise I would be out of a job right now."
"My parents' spatial ring locations were both their companies. Fortunately, my grandma and I lived in an open area where we used to do square dancing. As soon as we arrived, we recreated their locations, and they escaped through the spatial ring."
"I am truly grateful to the country and to the space network. If it weren't for the space network, my family of four would be buried under the rubble today."
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