Chapter 127: The Tide of People

Sure enough, when Liu Chang brought up the question, Flow curled his lips and fell silent.

At that very moment, the door of the sand hut opened, and a gigantic creature walked in. It was Flow.

“You are awake, Mr. Liu.” Flow held a set of toiletries in one enormous hand. “You may use these for the time being. No one has touched them. I brought you a few things, and I also came to tell you something.”

“I have already sent people to look for Mr. Li Qingshui. We should have news by this afternoon.”

“Really?” Liu Chang nodded. “I hope it will not be bad news.”

“It will not be bad news, Mr. Liu. Rest assured. Whatever Mr. Li’s attitude may be, I will not harm you. After all, I have no desire to make things too hostile between us.”

“Since Mr. Li has shown his sincerity in negotiating by handing you over to me, I cannot be completely unreasonable, can I?” The amphibian stood in the room and continued expounding on whatever conspiracy he had in mind. “Whatever position you hold in Mr. Li’s heart, and whether you are worth the risk of Mr. Li finding a solution to our reproductive problem, this should still be a friendly exchange.”

“I hope so.” Liu Chang nodded.

After that, he fell into thought. When Flow left, he did not even say goodbye.

Liu Chang remained silent for most of the day, quietly waiting for afternoon to arrive.

At ten past three, one of the little amphibians, a child of Flow’s, came running back from deep in the jungle with a man by the neck.

Flow and Liu Chang had already been waiting outside the sand cavern for quite some time.

“You were not followed, were you?” As soon as the amphibian returned, he dropped the man onto the ground. Before he could catch his breath, Flow asked the question sternly.

“No. I stayed near the city the whole time. After I delivered the message to Li Qingshui and brought back his reply, I grabbed this man and ran back at full speed.”

Amphibians did not sweat, but fatigue made them secrete another kind of fluid from their tongues. The messenger spat a mouthful of thick green saliva onto the ground as he panted and continued, “There should not be anyone among the humans with a better nose than mine, and none of them should be faster, either. No one could have kept up with me.”

“Good.” Relieved, Flow nodded. Then he looked at the human lying on the ground. “Did you deliver every word I asked you to? What did Mr. Li say?”

“I delivered it all. I did not leave out a single word. I conveyed everything exactly as you instructed.” The man stood on the ground and looked up at Flow. “I told him all three things: that Liu Chang is here, that you want to reproduce, and that you wish to cooperate without any ill intentions. I recited every word you had me memorize last night.”

“Very good. Thank you for not running away.”

“How could I run? My wife and children are here with you. I would never dare.” The man swallowed. “They are all right, aren’t they?”

“They are fine. Don’t worry. You did not run, so why would I harm them?” Flow replied, then continued, “How did Mr. Li respond to my proposal?”

“He said only six words.”

When Flow lowered his head to ask, the man swallowed nervously.

“What did he say?” Seeing the expression on the man’s face, Flow had a bad feeling. He reassured the frightened fellow, “Do not be afraid. Tell me exactly what he said. I will not take my anger out on you.”

“He said...” The man swallowed again. “Let him go, or die.”

“That was all six words. He truly said nothing more. Then he had some soldiers escort me out and did not say another word.” The man hurried to explain. “It is not that I did not want to say more. I had not even finished the negotiating phrases you told me to prepare when he threw me out. There was nothing I could do.”

“Let him go, or die?” The amphibian looked at Liu Chang, the color of his pupils shifting several times. “You seem to be very important to him.”

“I told you, we are friends,” Liu Chang said. “If you want something, do not threaten him with my life. That sort of tactic will not work on him.”

“I know.” The amphibian continued staring at Liu Chang. “That is why I wanted to become your friend from the beginning. You may leave.”

“Leave?” Liu Chang stared at Flow in astonishment. He had never expected the other creature to make such a decision so suddenly.

Even Flow’s little amphibians looked at him in bewilderment.

“Father, why would you do that? If Liu Chang is so important, would it not be better to keep him here? Whether or not we use him as a hostage, having him here would still give us a bargaining chip. He might prove useful at a critical moment.”

The little amphibian who had brought the human back shouted, “And why are you afraid of that Li Qingshui? We amphibians have no reason to fear him. Give me a gun. You said the area around him is dangerous and that I must not approach him. Then I can shoot him from a distance.”

“If you kill him, who will help us solve our problem?” Flow frowned. “Even if I gave you a hundred guns, you still could not kill Mr. Li. Enough nonsense. Take the man back.”

Flow’s brow furrowed deeply.

“I am not going. Why should we be afraid of him? He is only a human. We could simply steal the things from the laboratory and use them ourselves. Why go to so much trouble—”

Before the amphibian could finish, Flow bent down and seized him in one hand.

“I told you to speak less.”

Flow stared at his face.

The little amphibian glared back. Though anger still burned in his heart, he said nothing more.

Flow set his child down, then seized Liu Chang and placed him on his shoulder.

“I will take you back.”

The moment he finished speaking, Flow sprang forward. A powerful gust rushed into Liu Chang’s open mouth. His body instinctively tilted backward as though a racing car had suddenly accelerated, and the tremendous force sent him scrambling to wrap both arms around Flow’s neck.

Flow ran astonishingly fast. Sitting on his shoulder and clinging to his neck, Liu Chang felt the gale strike his face so fiercely that he could barely keep his eyes open.

It was like sticking one’s head out of a car window while traveling at more than a hundred kilometers per hour. He could feel the wind rushing directly toward him, as well as the speed of his own body.

“You run so fast!” Liu Chang tried to speak, but the wind filled his mouth, reducing his words to strange, broken sounds.

“Heh. Thanks.” Flow chuckled beneath him, then accelerated again. It took almost no time at all to run from the bank of the Yellow River to the outskirts of the city.

“Thank you for letting me go.” Standing at the edge of the city, Liu Chang smiled at Flow. “If there is nothing else, I will be leaving.”

“Yes. After you leave, I hope you will make a trip to see Li Qingshui for me.” Flow looked at him. “Tell him that I have shown my sincerity, and that I hope he will give me one chance.”

Liu Chang nodded, then strode back across the boundary between the city and the jungle, returning to the human world.

By the time the enormous figure behind him had dwindled into the distance and vanished completely, Liu Chang had already entered the streets of Zhengzhou.

After only one day away, the entire city had changed beyond recognition.

Chaos.

The streets could be described with only one word: chaos. Everywhere he looked, people were fighting over supplies. Soldiers were everywhere, trying to maintain order. Corpses, bloodstains, shattered windows, and bullet marks filled his view.

“To hell with Li Qingshui! He won’t let us plant beam beans, and he wants to starve us to death!”

A marching crowd surged in from behind and swept Liu Chang, who had been standing and watching, into its flow.

Surrounded by men and women, Liu Chang watched the people raise their placards and shout themselves hoarse. They had even brought out the name of Zhao Zhuo, who had been dead for many years.

“To hell with that bastard Xie Hang, and to hell with Li Qingshui too! They won’t let us plant beam beans, yet they gave us crops that still have not borne fruit after more than a month. What are we supposed to do this month? Do they want half of Zhengzhou to starve to death?”

The leader at the front screamed at the top of his lungs. “When Zhao Zhuo was in charge, he may not have done many good things, but at least the production of beam beans was beyond reproach.”

“Without beam beans, what are the people of Zhengzhou supposed to eat?”

“What are we supposed to eat?” the people around Liu Chang shouted in unison.

“If they will not let us eat and want us dead, then they should not expect to live comfortably either! If we are going to die, then we will all die together. We will not waste away while you filthy beasts live well!”

“Exactly! We die together!”

The procession was enormous. Every person shouted with more passion than any political march in the past. Formerly, such demonstrations had been driven by ideals. Now they were driven by the need to survive.

Liu Chang wanted to push his way out of the crowd, but there were simply too many people. Besides, the procession was headed toward the research institute, so he did not bother struggling against it.

He allowed himself to be carried along with the crowd until they reached the outskirts of the research institute.

Only then did Liu Chang discover that the place had already been surrounded.

Marching groups from every direction, along with mobs engaged in looting and destruction, had converged there. They faced off against the soldiers guarding the entrance.

“Why are we not allowed to plant beam beans?”

“Why do you want to starve us? Give us a reason!”

The crowd roared like a stormy sea.

After arriving at the institute, Liu Chang forced his way toward the front. On a raised platform stood several officials in charge. At the very front was Xie Hang, the commander Liu Chang had first encountered when he visited the district—now the mayor of Zhengzhou, and Li Qingshui’s spokesman.

“Everyone, calm down. Please calm down.” Standing on the platform, Xie Hang shouted through a huge loudspeaker. “If you have any questions, I will answer them all.”

“Then tell us! Why are we not allowed to plant beam beans?” the people below roared.

“As for the matter of beam beans, the notice we issued already explained everything. A terrifying plant called Devil Moss has begun growing on them. It could destroy Zhengzhou, and even threaten the entire world, so...”