Chapter 420: District Six and District Nine

Near the center of Cape Town, South Africa, there is a district called "District Six," originally a multiethnic residential area; later, under South Africa's apartheid policy, only white people were allowed to live there, and all non-white indigenous residents were forcibly expelled.

This is also the origin of the name "District Nine," serving as an ironic twist, since 6 reversed is 9.

Most people lacked such historical knowledge, partly because South Africa held low standing in the global political landscape—even Jin Yong, upon reading this story, only understood its deeper meaning after researching old South African news in English newspapers.

Hong Kong readers, however, directly interpreted District Nine as an alien version of Kowloon Walled City.

After briefly establishing the basic background, the timeline jumps to thirty years after the aliens arrived on Earth, introducing the male protagonist, David.

David is a white elite employee of MNU Corporation in South Africa, middle-aged, with a loving wife and children, and his father-in-law is a senior executive at MNU—he is at the peak of his success.

Recently, tensions between the aliens in District Nine and local humans have escalated, frequently sparking conflicts and injuries, turning it into a breeding ground for crime; the United Nations has decided to relocate the 1. million "shrimp" to a remote area far from cities and humans, and MNU Corporation has been assigned this task.

"Shrimp" is a derogatory term humans use for the aliens, similar to calling Black people "nigger," because they resemble upright-walking lobsters.

There is also an illustration here, provided by Wei Ming.

MNU assigns the male protagonist David to lead a team of mercenaries into District Nine to carry out the relocation.

Before departure, David and the mercenaries' commander, Colonel Gao Ge, go to collect weapons, where they encounter a batch of never-before-seen new weapons.

Colonel Gao Ge tells him: "These weapons were found inside the shrimp's spacecraft."

David asks: "Are they powerful?"

Gao Ge replies: "Extremely powerful, but these weapons are likely bound to the shrimp's DNA—humans cannot use them. We're trying to crack this restriction."

This sets up an important foreshadowing, and another is why the shrimp themselves do not use these weapons, willingly allowing themselves to be confined by humans.

David and Colonel Gao Ge's convoy head toward District Nine; along the way, David is excited, seeing this mission as no great challenge—in human eyes, the shrimp are like animals; do humans need their consent to occupy their grasslands and forests?

Yet the situation in District Nine is more complex than he imagined—the shrimp refuse to cooperate; they live directly beneath the hovering spacecraft and are unwilling to relocate elsewhere.

Moreover, District Nine is also home to a group of Nigerian gangsters who wish to preserve District Nine, as chaos means greater profits.

Through the male protagonist David's perspective, readers learn how the alien shrimp live and how humans communicate with them.

Residents of Kowloon Walled City might feel a sense of shared experience.

This process also shapes several key characters: the male protagonist David, Colonel Gao Ge, and the gang boss.

David is frustrated, thinking: why don't the shrimp have a leader? They're like scattered sand—if one person would take charge, I could just negotiate with him and settle it.

Then a shrimp wearing a red vest, accompanied by his son Little Shrimp, rummages through a trash pile for something; later, Little Shrimp finds it, and they excitedly return home to begin extracting the liquid.

After they leave, the male protagonist accidentally enters—the text has already established his nosiness, such as pulling out the nutrient-transmitting tubes from shrimp eggs, directly killing several shrimp embryos.

Now, entering this mysterious room, he repeats his behavior: seeing a container filled with something, he grabs it and forcibly opens it; the liquid inside splashes all over his hands—thick, foul-smelling, possibly corrosive, causing him great discomfort; after a simple bandaging, he decides to end his work for the day.

And today's update ends here; Ming Pao splits this 30, 00-word novella into three parts: upper, middle, and lower.

Ni Kuang reads the story immediately; clearly, Wei Ming has left a hook at the end—the unexpected liquid must be significant.

Yet overall, it's just average—imaginative, but not as extraordinary as he previously boasted; in Ni Kuang's view, it's merely a conventional sci-fi work with minor innovations, less interesting than Transformers or Jurassic Park.

Moreover, Wei Ming's prose is indeed excellent—narrated smoothly, atmosphere richly crafted; perhaps because he writes slowly, allowing meticulous refinement—if he wrote ten thousand words daily like himself, he'd have no time to polish his prose; just telling a coherent story would already be remarkable.

In short, Ni Kuang believes his own Wei Si Li series still has top-tier works worthy of comparison.

Many readers following Wei Ming's new novel share this view—some detect echoes of South Africa's apartheid policy, others simply find the story's concept insufficiently brilliant.

Only Zhou Hui, who finds everything beautiful, excellent, sophisticated, and declares: "My Ming is invincible!"

The next day, those who read the upper part all bought the new Ming Pao to continue following the serial.

David, contaminated by the unknown liquid, begins violent vomiting and encounters the red-vested shrimp.

On his way home, he feels hungry, buys bread at a convenience store, and while eating, starts bleeding black nasal fluid—even his fingernails begin to peel off.

Still, David forces himself home; his wife has prepared a promotion surprise party; though unwell, he endures to attend, but collapses instantly while cutting the cake and is rushed to the hospital.

At the hospital, the doctor cuts open David's bandaged left hand—and a shocking sight appears: several fingers, utterly non-human, spring out—shrimp fingers!

David's left hand, exposed to the liquid, has completely transformed into a shrimp's limb.

Seeing this, Liu Rulong knows the novel has finally reached its climax.

A proud human is transforming into a lowly shrimp.

He immediately realizes David won't stop at just one hand—this protagonist reminds him of Gregor Samsa from Kafka's The Metamorphosis.

Next, David becomes a test subject at the company, brought to MNU's laboratory, where he sees everywhere the bloody, horrific remains of shrimp corpses.

To save himself, David escapes the lab and embarks on a journey of survival; the company's senior executives, including his father-in-law, unanimously agree: David must be brought back—he perfectly fuses human and shrimp DNA, making his body invaluable.

After his escape, all television stations and radio broadcasts in the city issue a manhunt for David, releasing photos of his mutated hand.