The first insect came when the harvesting was seventy per cent done.
It was a waste of time having someone stomp it to death. It was more important to yell out: “Harvest!”
Torches were lit. It didn’t matter even if it was just a drop in the ocean.
The women and children went indoors. They filled the gaps in the house with mud and cloth. It was dark inside, but they were warned against lighting fires. They were also told to prepare food that can be eaten immediately. And to kill any insect that enter through the gaps at once.
All the crops couldn’t fit inside Nenjen’s house. They were able to store the wheat in the shrine. It was a confined space so no one could get in either. They sealed the gaps in with clay, to the point that no air could get in.
Every house was splashed with insect repellent. They had no idea if there was a point.
The tents had too many gaps. They weren’t suitable as storehouses, so they were used as a temporary shelter for the villagers outside.
Basen was carrying a large net. It was probably a fishing net, but it can catch locusts when swung around vigorously. It was then plunged in a large bucket of water to drown the insects.。
Chue was distributing leather bags. As a replacement for rice, she was handing out sweetened goat’s milk. They were sure it would be a long drawn-out battle.
Rikuson went from door to door. He spoke at the anxious voices through the air holes. It’s fine, he would tell them, and every time he found a hole an insect crawled into, he would brush the insect aside and cover it up.
.
.
.
Visibility was getting more and more limited.
.
To say it in terms of colours, it was changing from white, to grey, to dark grey.
She could even say that it was already almost black.
To say nothing of walking, she couldn’t open her eyes either. She would bump into them, get bitten, torn. She couldn’t make her eyes open. She somehow covered her mouth with a cloth.
Buzzing noises filled the air, so much so no one’s voices were understandable.
When she shielded her face with her hand, she could finally crack her eyes open.
She saw Basen still swinging the large net around. He would immediately bash the bulging net onto the ground and stomp on it. The water bucket was already overflowing with locusts.
There was also a person who had gone mad from being bitten by insects. Wailing, they had a torch and a knife on each hand, swinging them around. The locusts were undying, heading for the villager.
Chue swept the struggling man’s legs from under him when he got close to her. She tied up the fallen man with rope.
Rikuson was still going around to each house and speaking to them. The people will go crazy, lose their minds, from the lack of light. He was preventing that.
However, there were also people his voice didn’t reach.
One of the private houses went up in flames. An elderly woman and a child jumped out of the sealed house with stiff expressions. The child had flint in his hand.
The freshly harvested wheat burned easily in the fire. This season, with its lack of rain, was perfectly dry for burning.
Basen immediately moved. He kicked a post of the house. The building immediately shuddered.
“….!”
She understood what he was yelling out. Was he saying the watering hole was far, so destroy the house to put out the fire? Basen was good at last minute thinking like this.
After he demolished the house alone, he brought over the buckets of water filled with floating insect bodies and upended them.
Chue pushed the sniffling child and the elderly woman into a tent. There were locusts everywhere, but it should be so much better in the tent.
.
.
.
Maomao had no idea how much time passed. It might be a quarter of a dual hour, or several hours.
Everyone was afraid of the insects they had never seen before, detested them, and then…
.
.
.
“Maomao.”
Someone tapped her shoulder.
She turned around. It was Rikuson. There were locusts clinging onto his hair and clothes. He had reached forward to grab her attention.
“Don’t make any more medicine, please. You’ll ruin your hands,” he said.
Maomao’s hands were red and sore.
(Ah.)
The insect repellent won’t help as a peace of mind either.
Maomao had put her all into sprinkling insecticide. She had sprinkled and sprinkled, but it wasn’t enough; the locusts kept flying in.
Why doesn’t it work? Why doesn’t it work?
It was working. But they kept coming.
The starving locusts were even biting into poisonous plants. They gnawed on people, gnawed on clothes, and even tried to eat the structuring of the houses.
Not just that, they seemed to be devouring the bodies of fallen insects.
It was a madness that sprang from over-multiplication.
Even Maomao went mad.
Every time she gathered herbs that had an effect as an insecticide, she would brew it.
The large pot had locusts floating in it. She was cramming in plants by the roots.
Were her hands sore from uprooting plants with her bare hands or was she affected by the poisonous plants?
Rikuson looked at the sky that was still filled with insects. There were insects, but he was looking further up.
“A disaster of a disaster… would be nice, though.”
She had no idea what he was talking about. But Maomao also looked at the dark sky.
“Ow.” Something hit her head.
She looked down and saw a lump of ice on the ground.
Pain also hit Maomao’s back and shoulder.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
The air was cold.
“Hail?” she said.
Large lumps of ice. Chilly air. It looked like the insects were also moving sluggishly.
“A disaster of a disaster.”
No, it wasn’t a disaster. This was a blessing from the heavens.
Maomao reached an answer she normally wouldn’t think of.
“Rain. Keep raining.” Maomao’s madness went in another direction. She pitched herself towards the insects, towards the hail that fell from the sky. Not praying for rain, but for hail.
She didn’t feel the pain from getting bitten by insects or the pain from getting pelted by hailstones.
It was the result of wishing for something to happen, anything, towards the innumerable locusts.
Crack. A great force collided with her head.
“MAOMAO!”
The last thing she remembered was Rikuson rushing over to her.
Maomao was hit by a lump of hail and lost consciousness.
