Chapter 491: Natural Disaster

This was undoubtedly fantastic news for everyone. Miss Griffin’s ability was to heal and grant immunity to all harm from viruses and bacteria.

This ability was an incredible cheat code for the current situation. Later in the plot, this “cheat” was patched by the Providence, leaving her to watch helplessly as her teammates were killed because of her. In the end, she too fell victim to the script.

After Yuri Quincy’s death, Ron Cole, at Arabella Donovan’s instruction, had someone test her and found that her ability was still active for the time being.

However, whether it was this current crisis or the abilities the protagonist group brought back from their “dungeons,” none of it should have ever appeared in this world. And now, only they themselves could use these powers.

The research teams swarming around them, no matter how covetously they wanted to study these powers, could do nothing without their cooperation.

That’s why they had to resort to this roundabout scheme. Fortunately, she had finally relented, so their goal was more or less achieved.

“So now you…”

“For this matter, the top experts from research teams all over have been summoned to Brynn. The big shots in charge of drug research are all rushing to Miss Griffin’s location right now. Dr. Donovan has to go too, and I need to pick him up from the research institute.”

“Then you should hurry. Oh, right…” As Arabella Donovan spoke, she seemed to remember something and pulled a large stack of tags from her bag.

“Inside these tags are peace charms I drew not long ago. They can keep people safe and ward off evil and misfortune.”

Arabella Donovan didn’t know if these things would be effective against the viruses affecting the protagonist group, but something was better than nothing.

“Just think of them as an extra precaution, for peace of mind. Give one to everyone who needs to be in close contact with Miss Griffin. If it’s not enough, tell me, and I’ll send you more.”

The young man’s eyes lit up when he heard her. This was rare and valuable stuff.

Hadn’t Miss Donovan from the police department next door become the entire department’s adored mascot, practically worshipped, just because she received a pair of fortune-bringing earrings from this very Master Donovan?

‘I can’t even imagine the kind of reception I’ll get when I return with these!’

At that thought, the young man snatched the tags from Arabella Donovan with the speed of a thunderclap, stuffing them into his pocket as if afraid she’d change her mind.

He even wore a simple and endearing smile. “You’re too kind, Miss Donovan! So many people would beg for one of your peace charms and get nothing! Don’t worry, I’ll tell my department head when I get back. I’ll have him give a peace charm to everyone who comes into contact with Miss Griffin.”

‘By then, this unpleasant task that few people were willing to do would probably become a highly sought-after job.’

Arabella Donovan didn’t know what he was thinking, but seeing he wasn’t resistant to the peace charms, she couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

“As long as you find them useful.”

After watching the young man leave, Arabella Donovan turned her head and met Dennis Donovan’s inexplicably complex gaze.

“???”

Arabella Donovan was filled with question marks. She glanced in the direction the young man had left, then looked at Dennis Donovan, and finally even reached up to touch her own face.

“Grandpa, is… is there something on my face?”

Dennis Donovan took in her expression and actions, his mouth twitching slightly. He got straight to the point. “I heard that you recently entrusted that kid from the Rhodes Family to help you donate a large sum of money to charity. Is that true?”

Arabella Donovan froze, muttering under her breath, “How could he have told you about that?”

At her words, Dennis Donovan’s mouth twitched violently again. ‘He didn’t just tell me,’ he thought. ‘He announced it to our entire family.’

‘Thinking about the recent activity in the family group chat, if I hadn’t known that this person could hear my Serena’s thoughts from the very beginning and was thus highly unlikely to be a person of bad character, I would have suspected the brat of maliciously accumulating wealth in my Serena’s name!’

“I was just thinking, since the money was just sitting there, I might as well donate it to people who need it. I’m not someone who spends a lot of money anyway. Donating it not only helps people but also lets me earn some Merit. For me right now, nothing could be more practical.”

When Dennis Donovan heard this, his eyes flashed. “Is it really useful?”

“It should be… I think?” Arabella Donovan wasn’t very sensitive to the sensation of Merit being credited to her, but it was a fact that she had indeed gained a lot of it recently.

The proof was that when she used to draw those peace charms, she would always have to rest after just a few. But recently, every time she put pen to paper, it was as if she had divine assistance. Sometimes she could draw for a whole afternoon without feeling tired, and she no longer felt that powerless, drained-out-of-energy sensation from before.

Dennis Donovan knew Arabella Donovan wasn’t lying. He snorted. “Since it’s useful, then have that brat donate more. He’s got plenty of money anyway.”

Arabella Donovan was exasperated upon hearing this. ‘What does he mean, *he* has plenty of money? It was clearly my own money I was spending!’

However, she didn’t get tangled up with Dennis Donovan on this topic. The lawyer’s death and all the recent events gave her an ominous premonition, a feeling that a more terrifying storm was brewing beneath this brief period of calm.

And something that happened not long after proved her idea right.

“At 3:27 AM on the 28th, a magnitude 5.3 earthquake occurred in Kael, Yarrow Province. The affected area stretches from Cloudcrest Ridge to Jynxar County, with a seismic intensity of X. Surrounding areas experienced noticeable tremors. No casualties have been reported at this time.”

A news alert that suddenly popped up on her phone screen caught Arabella Donovan’s attention, and in a flash, she remembered something she had overlooked.

‘Natural disasters. It’s natural disasters!’

If she remembered correctly, various kinds of natural disasters did appear in this world later in the plot. And it was precisely because of these disasters that the protagonist group belatedly realized they might have accidentally screwed things up.

But in the original arrangement, the appearance of these natural disasters was supposed to happen *before* their unfortunate deaths.

But now, these disasters seemed poised to occur concurrently with their deaths. And…

Arabella Donovan pulled up the original plot to compare. This earthquake in Kael, Yarrow Province, was supposed to have been a massive, magnitude 8.2 quake with heavy casualties. Now, it had been reduced to a 5.3.

This tied into what her master had mentioned before: the new Providence needed the help of its chosen “Children of Providence” to absorb the luck of others, using it to enhance its own power and unleash natural disasters.

‘Does the change in this earthquake mean that the luck it has absorbed so far is insufficient to support a disaster as terrifying as the one in the original plot?’

Realizing this, Arabella Donovan’s heart couldn’t stop pounding, but she had to remind herself not to get happy too early. This inference required more factual evidence to be proven.

To that end, she had to quickly compile a list of all the natural disasters specifically described in the original text and give Ron Cole a heads-up so they could prepare.

After all, sometimes the truly terrifying thing wasn’t the natural disaster itself, but the series of chain reactions it caused, like landslides, mudslides, and earthquake-induced tsunamis…

Wait…