An Unquiet Day
While Zhou Xu was pondering where to send the labor force that had been freed up so they could continue to shine and contribute, the Plains Farm, the Great Zhou's most important grain-producing site, was having an unquiet day...
It was a peaceful afternoon. The autumn air was crisp, and the sky was cloudless for thousands of miles. The farmers were busy harvesting the crops that had grown to maturity.
Because the fields were simply too vast, and because the crops had grown exceptionally well, the level of activity here was often even more intense than at other farms. Every day, they worked until the sky and earth seemed to spin.
For the farmers, it was a day of pain and joy.
At the time, Zhao Geng, the Agriculture Department's minister, was picking samples and making records in the farm's Experimental Field.
Just then, a strange sound faintly wormed its way into his ears.
That sound made Zhao Geng frown instinctively.
[What is going on? What sound is that?]
Carrying his doubts with him, Zhao Geng rose to his feet and instinctively looked around.
There were quite a few flying insects in this area, so Zhao Geng and the others were not unfamiliar with that sort of sound. It was the sound of insect wings beating at high speed—but judging by the commotion, wasn't it a little too exaggerated?
"Quick, look over there!"
Before Zhao Geng could react, the nearby farmers had already spotted the source of the sound.
In the distant sky, a huge mass of something resembling a black cloud was rapidly approaching them.
As the distance closed rapidly, Zhao Geng finally saw the true appearance of that black cloud.
It was actually countless large, hideous flying insects!
Their exaggerated numbers blotted out the sky