The Mayor hesitated, seemingly weighing the truth of my words. But then, her father scoffed, a cold sneer on his face, and said to
the Mayor, “He’s no engineer anymore! My daughter already told me the Alert Center plans to fire him! Mayor Thompson, don’t you
dare listen to his nonsense!”
Mayor Thompson’s face turned cold. He pointed to the door. “Young man, this is no place for your jokes. Please leave!”
He was kicking me out. But I knew, with grim certainty, that I couldn’t leave. Only by convincing this man could the townspeople be
saved. In desperation, I knelt directly before the Mayor.
i, Alex Chen, am truly not joking! If an avalanche doesn’t happen here by eleven PM tonight, then call the police, have me arrested,
send me to jail! Mayor, there’s not much time left until the avalanche. Please, quickly inform everyone to evacuate!”
“Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?!” her father roared. Enraged, he lunged and delivered a powerful kick directly to my chest. I crump-
led to the floor, my chest aching, making it hard to breathe. I fixated on the Mayor, my gaze unwavering.
“The avalanche is truly coming, Mayor! Can you bear the weight of hundreds of lives on your conscience?!”
The Mayor stared at me, a profound, searching look in his eyes, then finally said, “I’ll trust you, this once.”
Her father was dumbfounded. “No, Mayor Thompson, you can’t actually believe his nonsense! He’s just trying to upset my daughter,
playing a dramatic game with us-”
“If the avalanche doesn’t come,” the Mayor said, already walking away, “then he’ll go to jail!”
The Mayor said, then strode away. I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to stand and follow him, reminding him.
“This avalanche will affect an area of three kilometers. To be safe, everyone should evacuate to at least five kilometers away…”
The Mayor immediately began organizing people and arranging the evacuation. I turned back to find her father.
“Dad, I drove here. Please, you and Mom, come with me in my car.”
He slapped me hard across the face. “I’m not going anywhere! The moment my daughter returns, I’m making sure you two get
divorced! Then you can rave like a lunatic all you want! Damn it, you’ve completely shamed me!”
Next, the townspeople began to evacuate rapidly. In less than two hours, most of them were gone. But I was locked out of the hou se by Elara’s parents. No matter how I pleaded, they refused to leave with me. I had no choice but to call Elara. Only she could conv-
ince her parents to evacuate.
10:06:
The phone rang over a dozen times before it was finally answered. I quickly told her, “Please, just believe me this once, okay? Ever- yone in town has evacuated, only your parents refuse to leave. Tell them, quickly! The avalanche is only twenty minutes away, it’ll
be too late soon!”
From the other end of the line, I heard Chris’s scornful laughter. I asked, my voice low and grim, “Where’s Elara?”
