The explosions had jolted Albuquerque awake—elderly sighing, children weeping.
If the SMS meme apocalypse was a nightmare, the blasts were the alarm clock.
Yet outside, dawn struggled to pierce the gloom.
This summer was hell.
An hour later, National Guard troops swarmed the ruined high-rise. The 91st Division's 5th Armored Brigade sent a battalion.
"God" arrived too—with Abel and Barbie in tow.
But Luo Shu was already speeding toward Colorado, invisible to satellites.
Rewind: 15 Minutes Before the Bombing
Luo Shu hadn't chosen the parking garage just to hide.
He had a plan.
The Transformer pickup's appearance was compromised. Thousands of satellites would track it.
So he gave it a new task: "Change your look in 15 minutes."
By the time it slipped out with fleeing civilians, it had morphed into a 7-seater minivan—using parts scavenged from other vehicles.
No longer a ground-effect vehicle, but now off the radar.
The Escape
By sunrise, Luo Shu crossed into Colorado.
The night was over. Light won.
Most Americans slept past 9 AM—missing the dawn's majesty.
Like eyemask sleepers, they blinded themselves to reality.
But Luo Shu knew: The world was changing. For worse or better? Depended on his fight with "God."
He cranked "Take Me Home, Country Roads", feet propped on the dashboard.
Exhausted, he dozed off.
Sunlight gilded his face—no divine glow, just plain, hard-won light.
(An observer would've panicked: A self-driving minivan with Ford F-150 controls, its passenger asleep. Felony reckless driving.)
Rocky Mountain Rendezvous
Hours later, the van parked at Rocky Mountain National Park, northwest of Denver—Marion Wheeler's chosen spot.
The 1,000-mile gauntlet was over.
The Rockies stretched from Canada to Mexico, forged by tectonic collisions.
Beyond Denver's park lay Yellowstone—home to Anomaly-2000.
Site-41, Luo Shu guessed, lurked nearby.
Yet he found no roads wide enough for supply trucks.
Did they rely solely on helicopters?
Too costly.
The mystery would wait for Marion's answers.
After a nap, her call came:
"You alive?"
"Barely. I'm here. You?"
"Close. Thought you'd bail after last night's… theatrics."
She knew about El Paso and Albuquerque.
Luo Shu chuckled: "Let me guess—I 'massacred migrants and blew up a building'?"
"Your reputation's quite cemented," Marion agreed.
They met in a dead-end valley.
Marion eyed the cliff: "Ready to go?"