Chapter 910: Cowardly and Yet Loving Horror Films
Li Daoxuan certainly had no time to explain himself to the frantic refugees.
He moved swiftly, ransacking his kitchen for any suitable transparent containers: glass cups, glass bowls, and plastic storage boxes, all hauled out.
A swift glance with his left eye showed a group of refugees scrambling for cover on a deserted street. He snatched a glass cup, brought it down with a decisive *thump*, and just like that, the group was safely contained.
His gaze swept west again, where a large throng of refugees huddled, whimpering, lost and bewildered, with no idea where to seek refuge.
Li Daoxuan seized a clear acrylic toy box and, with a resonant *thud*, encased the entire bewildered multitude within.
Growing weary of repeatedly covering individuals, Li Daoxuan suddenly recalled the bottomless fish tanks he'd acquired long ago to shield his farmlands. He swiftly began moving them into position.
The fish tanks were enormous, capable of covering vast areas.
Li Daoxuan hoisted the largest bottomless fish tank and lowered it over an entire city block. With a resounding *clash*, the street and all its shops were securely enclosed. Yet, without a bottom, the tank also lacked a top, leaving it open for the locusts to still enter.
From his kitchen, Li Daoxuan retrieved a roll of microwave cling film. He draped it over the fish tank's open top, stretched it taut, and with a swift *swish*, the job was perfectly done!
Had he performed these actions in Chengcheng, Puzhou, or even Xi'an, the common folk would have recognized it as "the Heavenly Lord's divine miracle" and remained unafraid.
But unleashing such a spectacle in Luoyang was truly astounding, bordering on the sacrilegious for those who didn't understand.
The ordinary people, now trapped beneath these strange vessels, shrieked in terror, utterly bewildered by the events, each person more panicked than the last.
Meanwhile, those citizens cowering inside their homes, secretly peering through door cracks, were struck with an even greater fear.
"What are those things?"
"They look like giant transparent cups?"
"And enormous transparent bowls!"
"How did they get here?"
"They fell from the sky!"
"They've trapped the people outside. What are they trying to do?"
"Are demons being unleashed to capture people?"
"Ahhh!"
Such cries of alarm echoed throughout the entirety of Luoyang City.
The Prince of Fu, having just been dragged by his guards into the safety of his mansion, hadn't dared to flee far. He was currently cowering in the gate tower nearest the main entrance. The corpulent prince, a man weighing several hundred pounds, peered out from a window crack, his vast frame entirely filling the aperture.
He, too, was utterly terrified by the colossal transparent covers descending from the heavens. "Good heavens, what's happening out there? Monsters are capturing people! Throwing transparent covers from the sky, trapping them inside... Oh, what enormous transparent cups! And massive transparent bowls!"
As he was vocally lamenting, he suddenly noticed that the eccentric hero Xiao Qiuxui remained standing outside his princely gates, maintaining his upward gaze at the sky, utterly motionless, without even a flicker of his eyelids.
The Prince of Fu expressed his astonishment. "Hmm? That Xiao fellow, he actually didn't seek shelter? He's still standing right by the mansion entrance."
Eunuch Zheng, craning his neck from another window, wondered aloud, "Why isn't he hiding? Is he utterly petrified?"
The Prince of Fu speculated, "Those enormous transparent covers have entrapped everyone caught outside. Soon, this Xiao fellow will be covered too, and then dragged away by the monsters, surely."
He was quickly proven wrong.
While the transparent covers indiscriminately descended upon citizens across the city, they conspicuously avoided Xiao Qiuxui. He stood, remarkably prominent, at the entrance of the princely mansion on the utterly deserted street, yet not a single ethereal dome descended to snatch him away.
The Prince of Fu exclaimed, "This is too bizarre! Why is this? Such a large man standing right here—can't the sky-monsters see him? They managed to find and cover everyone else, even those huddled in hidden corners, so why is he being ignored?"
No one could answer his question...
Eunuch Zheng suddenly cried out, "Your Highness, the locusts are here! They've breached the city!"
The Prince of Fu let out a startled "Oh!" and only then remembered he was actually supposed to be hiding from the locust plague. He had been so foolishly captivated by the peculiar transparent domes that he'd entirely forgotten the real danger.
"They're here, they're here!"
"The locusts have arrived."
All the inhabitants of Luoyang City jolted awake from their astonishment at the great covers, their minds snapping back to the pervasive terror of the locusts.
The overwhelming, sky-darkening locust plague had descended...
They plunged down upon Luoyang in a terrifying wave!
While the city naturally held no vast fields of crops, it boasted trees, patches of grass, flowers blooming before some doorways, and even green onions flourishing on a few balconies.
These sparse, limited bits of greenery were the locusts' sole objective.
They simply devoured everything indiscriminately!
The windows vibrated with the dense, insistent *thrumming* of countless locusts crashing against the panes.
The common people trembled inside their houses.
Those whose homes had gaps swiftly boarded up the openings with whatever wood they could find.
Whenever a stray locust or two burst through a breach, the cowering residents would frantically grab an object and swat the insect flat.
Everywhere in Luoyang City, a desperate battle raged between humans and locusts.
Those beneath the transparent domes soon made a crucial discovery: the locusts were utterly thwarted! These clear covers offered perfect protection, proving far superior to their flimsy, crumbling homes.
While locusts could worm their way through cracks in their houses, these vast transparent domes were impenetrable!
They could even observe the locusts clinging to the exterior of the transparent domes, their segmented abdomens clearly visible through the clear material.
Only then did the more astute among them finally begin to grasp the truth.
"Ah, these big transparent covers aren't demons sent to capture us; they are divine beings sent to protect us."
"Divine beings in the sky are protecting us."
"These are heavenly cups, heavenly bowls, heavenly boxes..."
"Wow, divine beings are using celestial vessels to protect us."
The pragmatic minds of the common folk in our great Celestial Empire were remarkably straightforward: if something from the heavens brought harm, it was a demon; if it offered aid, it was a deity. Their judgment was simple and without pretense, entirely free of difficulty!
Meanwhile, the Prince of Fu continued to peer out from his elevated gate tower window, allowing him a distant view. He quickly grasped that the covers were meant to protect the populace, not to seize them.
But then, what about Xiao Qiuxui, left utterly unprotected? Wouldn't he be...
The Prince of Fu hastily redirected his gaze to the open ground before his mansion.
And indeed, the vexing eccentric hero Xiao Qiuxui was now completely engulfed by locusts.
Countless locusts had settled upon Xiao Qiuxui, swarming over his head, shoulders, chest, back, and arms—a dense, writhing mass...
The Prince of Fu's scalp crawled with dread as he gasped, "That Xiao fellow is going to be devoured alive by the locusts!"
While the Xiao fellow was hardly a charming character, the sight of one human being besieged and gnawed upon by locusts was utterly unbearable for another.
The Prince of Fu felt as though locusts were swarming across his own flesh, his entire body itching and aching. It was unbearable, utterly unbearable. Yet, he couldn't tear his eyes away.
Cowardly and yet loving horror films.
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