Chapter 90: Space-Time Synchronization: The Locust Plague News on TV

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Seeing this, Wei Zheng knelt forward two steps, his forehead splitting open as fresh blood flowed down his nose: "Your Majesty! Do not!"

"Absolutely do not!"

Li Shimin's gaze was resolute.

At the very instant he was about to bite. This book debuts first; for reading, trust Tiantian Kan Xiaoshuo, ttkts. tw, super convenient, providing you with error-free chapters and non-disordered reading experiences.

The scene cut.

A locust compound eye, magnified hundreds of times, filled the entire field of vision.

Its serrated mouthparts opened and closed frantically, chewing a piece of green corn leaf.

The camera pulled back.

This was a sixty-five-inch LCD television mounted on the wall.

Flickering light and shadow illuminated the solid wood floor of the living room, making it alternate between bright and dim.

Weekend.

A rental apartment in the city center.

The sliding door to the kitchen was half-open.

Lin Xuan, wearing a gray cotton apron, stood at the countertop.

The faucet was turned wide open.

Clear tap water washed over several ribs in a plastic basin, rinsing away the blood.

He turned off the faucet, scooped out the ribs, and placed them into a clay pot.

He added ginger slices and a knot of scallions, then poured in clear water.

The blue flame of natural gas licked the bottom of the clay pot.

He pressed the switch for the range hood.

The motor ran, the impeller spun at high speed, emitting a steady hum.

On the other side of the kitchen, a double-door refrigerator was stuffed with fresh vegetables, fruits, and meats.

In this era, famine was an extremely distant and unfamiliar word.

On the fabric sofa in the living room.

Xiao Sizi sat cross-legged, a color-illustrated edition of "Ten Thousand Whys" spread open on her knees.

She lowered her head, her fingers tracing the pinyin as she read word by word through the passage on plant photosynthesis.

The air conditioner maintained a constant temperature indoors, perfectly comfortable.

From the television speakers came the clear, standard voice of a female news anchor.

"Latest international news from this station: a rare, massive locust plague has broken out in the East African agricultural zone, unseen in thirty years."

"Affected by continuous extreme drought, the locust swarm has undergone geometric-level mutation, with an estimated total exceeding four hundred billion individuals."

"News footage shows the swarm is currently advancing at a speed of one hundred fifty kilometers per day."

"Wherever it passes, nearly seventy percent of the country's autumn harvest crops have been destroyed."

"The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has issued a highest-level appeal for global aid."

"If the swarm's reproduction cannot be halted, the region will face an extremely severe humanitarian famine."

Hearing the words drought, locust plague, and famine.

The hand turning the page stopped.

She raised her head, her gaze turning toward the television screen.

The image on the screen cut to on-site footage shot by a frontline reporter.

As far as the eye could see.

A dark yellow swarm of insects gathered into a surging storm, completely obscuring the sky and the sun.

The light grew dim, like dusk.

The swarm lunged at patches of farmland that were once emerald green.

The camera zoomed in.

Countless insects covered the stems and leaves of the crops.

Their serrated mouthparts tore and bit frantically.

The sound was amplified by the recording microphone.

An extremely fine, rustling friction filled the eardrums, sending chills down the spine.

In less than five minutes, the cornfield half a person's height vanished. Even the bark on the tree trunks was gnawed away, leaving mottled scars.

Several local farmers with dark skin, wearing tattered clothes, knelt on the bare land.

Their hands clutching the remaining grass roots, they wailed in despair.

Xiao Sizi stared, stunned.

This was the first time she had seen a locust plague.

Yet at this moment, an unprecedented memory inexplicably appeared in her mind.

She could not recall the time, only that Guanzhong suffered a great drought.

Flying locusts obscured the sun, leaving a thousand li of barren earth.

White bones lay exposed in the wild; for a thousand li, not a single rooster crowed.

That year, the bark on trees outside Chang'an was gnawed completely clean.

Guanyin earth filled the intestines and stomachs of the dead.

The tragedy of exchanging children to eat turned into blood-stained urgent memorials, piling up on the imperial desk in Taiji Hall.

Her invincible father, who had conquered the ten thousand li of the Tang Dynasty's territory and was invincible on horseback.

Forced by the entire court of civil and military officials to issue the "Edict of Self-Blame."

Taking full responsibility for the disasters sent by Heaven.

Forced at the altar, to appease the starving people of the world, to swallow that incredibly foul-smelling evil worm alive.

The disaster report on the television continued.

Close-up shots of the local refugees, their bones protruding, cut into the screen.

Several young children, their bellies swollen from extreme hunger, lay collapsed on the cracked earth.

Xiao Sizi's mind couldn't quite turn, already filled with emotion.

She paid no heed to this suddenly extra memory.

Her vision began to blur.

The tragic plight of the Tang Dynasty's people, the desolation of her father swallowing locusts.

Resonated with the most violent frequency with this liquid crystal screen before her eyes.

Her eyes quickly turned red, water vapor rising.

Tear drops the size of beans broke free from her eyelids, crashing down along her pale cheeks.

Xiao Sizi jumped off the sofa.

Stepped barefoot onto the solid wood floor.

She ran quickly to the Glass sliding door of the kitchen.

Gripped the edge of the door frame with both hands and pulled it open with force.

The clay pot on the stove had its lid on.

The rib soup was boiling, steam rising.

Emitting an extremely rich meat aroma.

At this moment, it instead felt like a thorn deeply stabbing into her heart.

Lin Xuan was facing away from her, pouring oil into another wok.

The range hood hummed, masking the commotion in the living room.

"Brother Lin Xuan..."

Xiao Sizi stood at the kitchen doorway.

Her voice was tight, carrying an uncontrollable sobbing tone.

Xiao Sizi raised the back of her hand and wiped the tears on her face forcefully.

But the tears kept surging, impossible to wipe dry.

She extended her trembling finger, pointing at the television in the living room still playing the news.

"Father encountered terrible flying locusts back then too."

Xiao Sizi spoke while sobbing, her thin shoulders shaking violently, "The people of the Tang Dynasty are so miserable... they have no food to eat. Many people have starved to death."

"There was nothing left in the fields, Father was so anxious he couldn't sleep all night, and still had to be forced by the ministers to eat those evil worms..."

Seeing this, Lin Xuan immediately turned off the gas stove knob.

Grabbed a dry towel from the edge of the countertop and wiped the water stains from his hands forcefully.

He returned to the living room with Xiao Sizi.

Lin Xuan followed Xiao Sizi's trembling finger to look at the television screen.

In the news footage, the locust plague in East Africa was raging.

A sea of insects blocking out the sky, crops eaten to nothing.

And those starving people kneeling on the cracked land, wailing in tears.

Lin Xuan instantly sorted out the cause and effect.

The Tang Dynasty must have experienced a similar great drought.

This girl was most likely triggered by the scene, stimulated by the images on the television.

Lin Xuan pulled out a soft tissue.

His warm palm supported Xiao Sizi's cheek, using the tissue to slowly absorb the tear drops on her chin.

"Stop crying." Lin Xuan pinched her cheek.

"A few little bugs, is it worth scaring you like this?"

Xiao Sizi sniffled, her nose heavy with congestion.

"Those aren't bugs, that is Heaven's punishment."

"If they eat all the grain, they will starve tens of millions of Tang Dynasty people to death."

"Father was so worried he didn't sleep all night, and still had to go to the altar to confess his sins to Heaven."

"Confess what sins?" Lin Xuan sneered.

"This thing is called an arthropod in biology. It looks quite arrogant flying around, but peel off that hard shell, and inside is the purest high-protein muscle."

Lin Xuan walked over and pointed at a close-up of a locust eating a corn leaf on the television screen.

"In our era, to deal with these bugs, besides airplanes spraying pesticides, the most brilliant tactic is called biological control."

Xiao Sizi stopped sobbing and opened her eyes wide.

"Biological control?"

"Yes, you should have heard that one thing conquers another, right?"

"Similar to insects eating grass, birds eating insects, snakes eating birds... that kind of meaning."

"Every kind of creature has a natural enemy."

"If we truly encounter swarms of these flying insects, the Ministry of Agriculture will directly deploy an army of one hundred thousand ducks."

Xiao Sizi frowned, thinking she had misheard.

Using poultry to control locusts?