The straight, level asphalt street, the shaded green trees, the azure sky dotted with white clouds, the slightly dazzling morning sunlight, the quietly parked vehicles, and the fit women jogging past with their chests bobbing—all spoke of a wordless tranquility.

Fang Senyan and his three companions stood on the sidewalk. On either side of them were those standardized, two-story, pointed-roof European villas, boasting brown gabled roofs, brilliant white facades, and gleaming glass, all neatly aligned along the street. Each house featured a garden of about forty square meters front and back, enclosed by neat blue-and-white picket fences that set off the beautiful lawns and fragrant flowers.

They walked a few steps forward and spotted a brown-haired middle-aged man showing signs of a "Mediterranean bald spot," diligently tending to the surrounding foliage. The Privet, the Birch, and the Palm trees were pruned into orderly arrangements under his shears.

Upon seeing the man, Reef remarked: "This man must be Kate’s current boyfriend, Gordon. His profession is a cosmetic surgeon, his hobby is mechanics, and he has brief experience in piloting. His financial standing should be much better than Mr. Jackson Kluster’s—he at least owns a Lexus LX and a two-seater Porsche... Hmm, the reason why Kate divorced the washed-up writer Mr. Jackson Kluster only to fall into Mr. Gordon’s arms is now quite obvious. One more note: Mr. Gordon does not appear to be on our rescue list."

Evidently, the neighborhood security wasn't the best, as the local residents eyed Fang Senyan and his group with the guarded vigilance one reserves for fire, theft, or unwanted advances. This included Mr. Gordon. Fang Senyan took the initiative to greet him: "Mr. Gordon?"

Gordon looked up with a look of stunned confusion: "Who are you?"

Zi stepped forward to introduce them: "We are here to see Kate. We have something very urgent to tell her."

Hearing her name mentioned, a young married woman with classic Latina features emerged—chestnut-colored long hair, high cheekbones, deep-set eyes, and a slightly large mouth. The crow's feet around her eyes and on her forehead betrayed the swift retreat of her youth. She glanced at Fang Senyan and his group, confirmed she didn't recognize them, and asked with caution: "What is it?"

"I imagine Mr. Jackson Kluster must have mentioned us to you both," Zi said succinctly. "You should know he found a good job in New York; we are his colleagues."

Upon hearing this, Kate immediately broke into a smile: "Yes, he did mention that."

Reef sighed heavily: "It’s like this, Mrs. Kate, you must understand. In the great United States of America, the salary for any job is directly proportional to its difficulty... Therefore, I suspect Mr. Jackson Kluster did not tell you that his new job also carries significant risk."

Hearing this, Kate’s face instantly turned deathly pale. It was clear that the divorce had not severed her emotional connection with Jackson Kluster; rather, it had deepened it. She asked urgently: "What on earth happened?"

"Mr. Jackson Kluster was severely injured at work and entrusted us to bring you to see him—if you are willing to come. But you must hurry; the ICU doctor said he might not hold on for much longer. If you arrive too late, you will only be able to attend the memorial service," Fang Senyan said in a sorrowful tone.

Kate immediately burst into tears, covering her face with both hands, trembling violently all over, and sinking to her knees. She turned toward the house and opened her mouth as if to speak, but was choked speechless. Mr. Gordon, however, immediately shouted: "Lily, Noah! Come out and look after your mother!"

Zi stepped forward and said quietly: "The company expresses its deepest regrets regarding this matter. There is no need to prepare anything; all your expenses will be covered by the company. Please hurry."

It seemed Gordon was a cautious man. He first called Jackson Kluster’s phone—it went straight to a busy signal. Next, he demanded to see Fang Senyan and the others’ identification—which, of course, was flawless. These documents had been expertly crafted by FBI professionals. Once all doubts were dispelled, they prepared to leave.

But just then, Fang Senyan’s eyebrows twitched. Being the most acutely perceptive, he clearly sensed that in the unseen fabric of existence, something critically important, something literally hanging by a thread, had just snapped with a distinct thud.

Forty-seven kilometers beneath the Pacific Plate, there was a stretch of Mesozoic sedimentary rock. This patch measured only about one hundred square meters. It had remained there for tens of millions of years; through countless shifts in time and landscape, this Mesozoic rock layer had endured unchanged.

Yet, at this precise moment, cracks began slowly forming in the center of this sedimentary rock. Then, just like a dry biscuit, it shattered with a crisp crack.

The fracture of this Mesozoic rock immediately triggered a terrifying chain reaction. The immense pressure it had been bearing was instantly transferred to the fault lines of the surrounding plates! These other fault lines were already at their breaking point, and being forcibly pressurized, their only recourse was to fracture in succession.

The domino effect achieved by this sequence could be summarized by an old rhyme: For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

That a single nail could determine the fate of a kingdom sounded absurd, yet upon close analysis, it was perfectly logical. But the fracture of this seemingly insignificant piece of Mesozoic rock was far more severe than the butterfly effect of a nail and a kingdom, because it would decide the life and death of tens of millions, perhaps even the survival of the entire human race!

The 2012 Apocalypse had finally arrived!

At this moment, at the entrance to the "Base" in New York, the scene was one of utter chaos.

A vast quantity of discarded items—clothing, duffel bags, plastic sacks—lay strewn about as if a horde of refugees had passed through. Large crowds jostled at the gate, their eyes burning with furious resentment. They held up banners proclaiming slogans like "Punish the Damned Liars!" and "Give Us Back Our Hard-Earned Money!"

Not far off, several tightly packed groups roared and bellowed like beasts. These individuals, feeling swindled, bankrupted, and saddled with debt, were resorting to extremes, grabbing any staff member from the Base they could find and brutally beating them! News had already arrived of victims being killed.

"Charvis, I’ve known you for decades, and I never thought you’d be such a damned liar! I trusted you wrongly, and now I'm disgraced!"

A politician stood before him, his face etched with bitter disappointment and despair. He couldn't hide his frustration and spat directly onto Professor X's face. Surprisingly, Professor X was the only major figure willing to stand and face the crowd. He remained seated on the open-air platform, facing tens of thousands of suffering people below, who, despite the insult, sat quietly and gently in their wheelchairs, demanding patience. But no one listened.

His body and face were covered in spittle; clearly, more than one person had done this. Given Professor X’s power, he could have easily eliminated all these aggressors.

In her subconscious, Jean angrily questioned Professor X: Why were they permitting these people to act this way when they themselves were victims? Professor X answered serenely: "A person must have the courage to face their mistakes. Also, Jean, you and all our trusted inner circle must take full and absolute control of the airship, using force if necessary!"

Not only Professor X, but also Magneto and Prince Dracula faced similar scrutiny. Magneto was spared spittle but endured endless mockery and curses. Dracula was directly forced out of power by this incident, plunging him into a crisis of trust, even having a vampire Count point a finger at his nose and challenge him—all leaving them utterly disheveled.

The only one appearing relaxed and unbothered was Doctor Octopus. He was not a patient man; anyone daring to behave rudely in front of him inevitably met the fate of a fly being swatted away with a resounding SPLAT by a mechanical arm. It seemed being a villain paid off everywhere.

Just then, from the depths of the earth, a faint tremor suddenly arose!

This subtle trembling possessed a quality reminiscent of a distant moonrise shared across vast distances. Though faint, it was felt by the entirety of the 340 million people in America, driving a sharp spike of panic and dread into their hearts!

Because this tremor was the overture to the entire Pacific Plate beginning to fracture and collapse!

After the first shudder came a second! Anyone who has experienced an earthquake knows that even the mildest one feels fundamentally different from an artificially generated vibration! It was a power originating from the deep earth, one that compelled involuntary reactions.

Compared to that, even the terrifying shockwaves from a pile driver operating nearby, or the explosion of a mortar round directly above a bunker, possessed none of the startling potential and irresistible force of a true earthquake.

These two tremors instantly quieted the near-frenzied crowd around the Base. They froze in place like rigid puppets, their eyes filling with bewilderment and terror.