Chapter 86

“There are a few larvae here, but no eggs.”

“Deal with the larvae first.”

In the cornfields of Zhaojia Village, Li Dongkai was barking out orders, moving with urgency.

Li Dongkai was the village head of Zhaojia Village. Ever since Longxia issued a call for locust prevention, he had mobilized the entire village to search for locust egg clusters. Thanks to their swift action, they made it onto He Province’s agricultural news yesterday. Though they were actively searching for potential egg sites, this was everyone’s first time dealing with locust eggs, and progress had been slow.

Now, the villagers were using iron rods to turn over the soil in search of eggs. The sun was blazing, and everyone was dressed in short sleeves. They had been at it for thirty-six hours straight, and by now, no one was even sure if there were any egg clusters to be found.

Just then, a shout rang out from afar, filled with excitement: “We found a locust cluster!”

The site was on the southern slope of Zhaojia Village. Li Dongkai and the others rushed over. Half an hour later, they stood before a narrow trench of yellow earth, flanked by golden cornfields. The ground was littered with plastic waste washed down from the hills by acid rain.

“Where are the locusts?” Li Dongkai scanned the area.

“Here.” A villager lifted a plastic bag from the soil. Beneath it was a layer of yellow earth, and embedded in it were countless white eggs, densely packed.

“Disgusting.” The villagers were used to rough work, but the sight of so many eggs clustered together triggered a wave of trypophobia.

They began pulling up more plastic bags. Some held just eggs, while others had newly hatched larvae.

For the next two hours, the villagers dug out every egg cluster from the trench and burned them on the spot.

Flames roared as one villager muttered, “That’s got to be two hundred thousand locusts…”

One pound of egg clusters could hatch fifty to sixty thousand locusts. They had found three pounds here—enough for two hundred thousand.

Li Dongkai nodded grimly. Zhaojia Village was just a small settlement in He Province. If they had twenty pounds of eggs here, who knew how many there were elsewhere…

“Everyone, take a break. We’ll start early tomorrow,” Li Dongkai clapped his hands as the sky began to darken.

According to reports from Mali, once locusts finished devouring crops, they would move on to nearby towns and villages. Zhaojia Village was surrounded by mountains on all sides. Their locust control efforts weren’t just about following orders—it was about protecting their own homes.

The next morning, villagers from Zhaojia Village headed to the irrigation fields to search for eggs. This time, it wasn’t just them—teams from neighboring villages had also arrived.

Li Dongkai spotted a familiar face and called out, “Village Chief Bai?”

Chief Bai was from Baijia Village nearby. The two of them often met at city meetings.

“The locust plague in the southeast is getting worse. We’ve got to come up with our own solutions,” Chief Bai said with a sigh. Yesterday afternoon, many Zhaojia villagers had posted photos of their egg-burning efforts online. Disgusting as it was, people couldn’t help but admire Zhaojia Village’s efficiency. This time, the anti-locust teams weren’t just encouraged by the Village Brigades—they were fueled by the villagers’ own determination.

Just like Zhaojia Village, everyone now understood: fighting locusts meant protecting their own safety.

“On August 22nd, Shan Province and He Province issued a joint cooperation agreement. The two provinces will collaborate based on shared border geography.”

“On August 23rd, 1,200 towns and villages across the country began self-inspections for locusts. A resident said, ‘We must eliminate the locusts in the cradle.’”

…

At this point, not just Zhaojia Village and Baijia Village—people across the country were thinking the same thing.

By August 23rd, the locust plague in Mali had been brought under control, but the cost was devastating: the remaining vegetation was destroyed, village rooftops collapsed, water sources contaminated… The so-called “control” in Mali was really just the locusts starving to death after consuming everything.

The Mali government was now organizing mass burnings of locust corpses. If there had been any signs of life left after the acid rain, now the land was utterly lifeless.

The post-disaster scene in Mali was beyond tragic.

If there was any way to avoid it, no one wanted to repeat Mali’s nightmare.

By August 25th, the locusts had spread from a few areas in Shan, Shanxi, and Henan Provinces to twenty-one provinces across the country. The national area affected by the plague had reached 27%.

…

While the nation’s attention was focused on the locust crisis, in the southern suburbs of Changshui County, Shaan Province, Zhang Guohai sat blankly in a transport truck, staring at the sign for Xingyue Breeding Farm outside the window.

Zhang Guohai was the Director of the Changshui County Agricultural Bureau. Half a month ago, he had borrowed five hundred ducks from Xingyue Breeding Farm, vowing to return every single one. Now…

He glanced at the back of the truck.

Not a single duck was missing—but they didn’t quite look like ducks anymore.

“Director Zhang?” A staff member nearby hesitated, seeing him lost in thought.

“Just thinking,” Zhang Guohai replied, taking a deep breath as he looked at the Xingyue sign and stepped out of the truck.

The factory gate was open, but the guard post was empty.

“Hello?” Zhang Guohai walked around and flagged down a passing worker.

“Hello,” the worker stopped.

“I’m from the County Agricultural Bureau. I’ve been in touch with your factory director.” Zhang Guohai handed over his credentials.

The worker directed him to wait in the office.

“Sorry, I was caught up with something,” said Factory Director Zhao ten minutes later, rushing in, covered in dust.

“Where were you?” Zhang Guohai asked curiously. Zhao’s shoes were caked with mud—he looked like he’d just come from the fields.

“Catching locusts.”

The locust situation had gotten so bad that Changshui County had organized a thousand-person locust-hunting team. Zhao was one of them.

“How’s it going?”

“Small ones are manageable. The big ones are tricky.”

After chatting a bit, Zhang Guohai fell silent, then said, “I’ve brought the ducks back.”

“They’re in the truck outside?”

Zhang Guohai nodded. “Sorry about this.”

Half a month ago, after the side effects of using chickens and ducks became clear, the government halted all poultry-based locust control efforts. To prevent mutation, the birds weren’t returned immediately but were instead observed by provincial agricultural institutes.

These ducks hadn’t mutated, but their bodies showed excessive levels of heavy metals. They were no longer suitable for egg-laying or meat production. The Agricultural Bureaus contacted the farms, offering to buy the ducks at market price. Some agreed, others wanted to keep them.

Xingyue was one of those that wanted to keep them.

Seeing Zhang Guohai’s serious expression, Factory Director Zhao just shrugged. “What’s there to apologize for?”

Then he added, “You know why I wanted to keep these ducks?”

“No idea.”

“These are war ducks—veterans of the battlefield!”

At its peak, the breeding farm had thirty thousand chickens and ducks. Now only five hundred remained. These weren’t just survivors—they were heroes. Xingyue’s last hope. Zhao planned to let them live out their days in peace. As long as even one duck remained, he could tell himself the farm was still alive.

“We’ve ordered three thousand pounds of feed. I’m hoping to hold out until October,” Zhao continued rambling.

Now that the locust plague had spread, not only had grain production dropped, but newly planted forage crops were also being damaged. If the plague could be contained, there’d still be meat to eat this year. If not, this year would be even harder than the last.

Half an hour later, the staff moved all five hundred ducks back into the farm.

Though their heavy metal levels were high, the ducks were noticeably plumper than before. Zhao tossed in a handful of feed. “Who knows when this plague will end…”

He trailed off when he noticed silence behind him.

“What’s wrong?” Zhao turned around. Zhang Guohai was standing frozen, phone in hand.

He looked up. “It’s ending.”

“What?”

“The Bureau just called. The country’s developed a special pesticide.”

!!!

The feed in Zhao’s hand slipped into the duck pen. The ducks quacked happily and ate even more enthusiastically.

…

“Longxia News Department: Longxia researchers have developed a new pesticide for Acid Rain pests. The new product is officially named [Longfeng Insecticide].”

“Longfeng Insecticide can eliminate Acid Rain locusts, rats, and cockroaches in as little as thirty minutes. Aerial spraying operations will begin on the morning of the 27th in severely affected regions such as Shaan Province and He Province.”

“Longfeng Insecticide contains trace amounts of deltamethrin. During aerial spraying, local residents are advised to limit outdoor activities.”

…

The moment Longxia News released the announcement, hashtags like #AcidRainPesticide and #LongfengInsecticide shot to the top of the national trending list, racking up over 300 million real-time views across the internet.

“Ahhh! They’ve finally made a locust pesticide? One that can wipe out huge swarms?”

“Kills rats, bugs, and roaches in thirty minutes!”

“When did they even develop this? Feels like it came out of nowhere!”

…

Netizens flooded the news with excited comments.

Longfeng Insecticide. Thirty-minute kill time. Aerial spraying…

For the past half-month, the locust plague in Longxia had spread from Shaan Province to twenty-one provinces. While not as catastrophic as the one in Mali, the damage to crops was still severe. People who had lived through food shortages before felt a visceral pain watching their fields devoured.

Now, rural towns had formed locust-fighting squads, and cities had organized volunteer groups. These groups were mostly made up of freelancers and retirees. Every morning, they boarded volunteer buses to the outskirts, working in the fields to help eradicate the locusts.

The national food supply chain is tightly interconnected. A large-scale drop in crop yields would ripple into urban life as well.

City dwellers joined hands with rural villagers to hunt down the locusts. Their combined efforts had slowed the insects’ spread. But these were Acid Rain locusts—mutated, heat-resistant, and laying eggs nonstop. The eradication efforts felt endless and hopeless.

Then, in the midst of this mechanical, grinding battle against the plague, Longxia released the news: a high-efficiency pesticide for Acid Rain locusts!

At that moment, the entire nation had one thought: finally, a glimmer of hope.

Netizens flooded the comment sections with excitement, then suddenly realized something important: “Wait, what day is it today?”

“The 26th.”

Their eyes shifted to the top headline: [Aerial spraying to begin in three severely affected regions—Shaan Province, He Province, and others—on the morning of the 27th…]

That meant there were only twelve hours left until the operation. In other words, not only had the government announced the pesticide, they were launching the spraying the very next day?

“Ahhh! I can’t sleep now!”

“I really want to watch the live broadcast of the spraying tomorrow.”

“I don’t even care if it’s super effective. As long as the locusts stop spreading, we can slowly grind them down.”

…

These mutant locusts were like cockroaches—impossible to kill. Even with Longxia’s announcement of a high-efficiency pesticide, netizens had lowered their expectations: they didn’t need miracles. They just wanted the infestation to stop spreading. Slow extermination was fine.

…

“K3291, seventy-three tons—confirmed!”

“K2211, eighty-two tons—confirmed!”

“D3126…”

…

At 10 PM on August 26th, inside the special operations airport in Gan Province, workers were loading sacks of pesticide powder onto planes. This was the pesticide to be used in the aerial spraying campaign. One pound of powder, when diluted with water, could cover ten mu of land. The provinces of Shaan, Shan, and He were the hardest hit. According to protocol, the pesticide would be transported to designated areas and sprayed over the infested zones by specialized aircraft.

“It’s time to see the results of our work…” Liu Wensheng murmured as one plane after another took off from the Gan Province special airport.

The research team had developed Longfeng Insecticide on the 19th. But the government hadn’t announced it immediately. Why? Because lab results and real-world application can differ. They needed to run pilot tests first. Only after confirming its effectiveness did they go public.

With the entire nation on edge, the government had to be absolutely responsible to its people.

By 1 AM, all planes from Gan Province had taken off.

“Why so quiet?” Liu Wensheng glanced at the departing aircraft, then turned to Xiang Qingchuan. The man had been unusually silent since dusk.

“It’s nothing,” Xiang Qingchuan replied, eyes fixed nervously on the runway. He was forty-seven this year, had spent his life studying and taking exams—but right now, he felt more anxious than he had during the college entrance exam.

…

“There’s a locust plague going on, and Wenwen just finished her postpartum recovery—why did you two come back now?” At 7 AM on August 27th, Zhao Shunhai had just woken up when his wife called him. The reason? Their son and daughter-in-law had returned from the city to stay in the village for a few days.