The Natives of This World Are So Fierce - Chapter 14: This Wasn't Industrial Pollution
As far as Qin Xiaoxia understood, the river must have been polluted by the dyeing and printing factories upstream.
But the government had cracked down on those companies years ago. By now, they should even have been ordered to relocate to Yue City's newly opened centralized industrial park.
In theory, their old factories had already stopped production. They should have had neither the capacity nor the nerve to pollute the river this badly anymore.
As Qin Xiaoxia pondered these questions, he caught sight of Doudou working on a lollipop out of the corner of his eye.
Then he stopped in his tracks.
Sometimes, Qin Xiaoxia's thought processes took rather eccentric turns. As Huang Jiutian put it, his brain was wired funny.
Seeing Qin Xiaoxia stop, Doudou stopped too.
"Why are you looking at me like that? You're not getting my lollipop!"
"Oh, get lost!"
Qin Xiaoxia looked rather seriously at the "little kid" clenching the lollipop stick between his teeth.
"Doudou, you said world power was very strong, and you only got through by accident. Could there be other 'accidents'?"
Doudou was about to say that was impossible, but then he remembered what lay on the other side of the barrier formed by world power.
The surging, crashing scene had been like raging waves pounding a reef, and it had left a lasting shadow in his heart.
"Um... well, I can't really say."
Qin Xiaoxia looked at him helplessly. This little guy was just an unusual troublemaker, after all, not some researcher or archmage.
But what Doudou said next made Qin Xiaoxia see him in a new light.
"I've experienced it once. Anyway, world power is a little hard to describe. It's like a massive dam, keeping the raging waves outside, but sometimes the waves throw things up onto the dam."
"That's what happened to me back then. Big Cousin, you get what I mean, right?"
Qin Xiaoxia pictured it in his mind.
"Yeah. Go on."
Doudou sucked on his lollipop, then considered how to phrase it.
"From the dam, I could look out over this world, but I still couldn't get across. Hmm, that's not quite right either. Maybe it's more like looking at someone through glass. You're very close, but you can't get through."
"It seemed like an impassable barrier to me, especially since world power pays extra attention to stronger beings. But look, I got through, didn't I? Sure, I used a wish, but that doesn't mean other things couldn't get through too."
Watching Doudou imitate the experts and scholars he had seen in last night's videos was pretty funny, but what he said gave Qin Xiaoxia a fright.
"Then could the Crooked Loach River be like this because a monster from another world got into it? How vicious would a monster have to be to pollute a river this big?"
The two exchanged a look, then turned in unison toward the river, which was already in sight.
Doudou looked at Qin Xiaoxia with a serious expression.
"Big Cousin, why don't we tell the scientists? Let monsters deal with monsters!"
Qin Xiaoxia nearly choked at Doudou's words.
"If the scientists come, aren't you afraid they'll capture you too? Forget dealing with monsters for now. Do you have any way to check whether there's something strange in the river? You are a magical elf from another world, after all."
It was rare for Qin Xiaoxia to speak to him with both praise and a request, and Doudou basked in it.
"Let me think!"
He tilted his little head and thought for a moment.
"No."
Smack! A knuckle rap landed on Doudou's head.
"Then what were you putting on airs for? No pudding with dinner!"
Doudou felt terribly wronged. He wanted to say that, while he had enjoyed the praise, he hadn't been showing off.
When he heard that his pudding was canceled, he immediately panicked.
"Wait, wait, wait! I don't have a direct way, but I have an indirect one!"
"What is it?"
Doudou stole a glance at Qin Xiaoxia.
"Make a wish. If we're only asking a question, it should work in theory, right?"
That would mean using up a gold coin that "belonged to Qin Xiaoxia." Doudou was very nervous about whether this guy, who was even more of a miser than he was, would be willing to part with it.
To his surprise, Qin Xiaoxia readily agreed this time.
"All right, it's settled. We'll make the wish as soon as your wish power recovers."
The Crooked Loach River was Qing Town's mother river, after all, and Qin Xiaoxia considered himself a local too. If there really was some monster in it, it would threaten both him and Qing Town.
He had no desire to be a superhero, but it was still worth doing what he could about a danger right on his doorstep.
With that suspicion weighing on their minds, Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou ran across the bridge even faster than they had on the way over, afraid that a monster might suddenly drag them into the water.
Meanwhile, the Kehua District branch of Yue City's Environmental Protection Bureau was also struggling with the river's problems.
They had been patrolling upstream and downstream frequently, hoping to identify the exact cause of the pollution.
Section Chief Liu was currently leading two young civil servants who had recently joined the bureau along the river upstream.
They were heading toward the dyeing and printing factories upstream that had already closed.
All three wore thick face masks, and they could already see the factory's perimeter wall in the distance.
The large red character for "demolition" had been painted prominently on the wall.
The factory buildings here would be demolished to make way for other projects.
The factory grounds were silent. With the stench so overpowering, even the two guards assigned to watch the place had stopped coming lately.
The three stopped.
"Chief, we're at sampling point two."
Section Chief Liu looked at the factory buildings a short distance from the riverbank, then at the river.
"Take a sample."
One of the young men deftly took the equipment out of his carry bag, connected the folding pole, attached the sampling container, and lowered it into the river.
Once the container was full, he immediately lifted it out. The other young man, already wearing gloves, poured the collected river water into a plastic bottle.
"All right. On to point three."
With Section Chief Liu leading the way, the three continued upstream.
They had repeated this work many times over the past few weeks.
But there was nothing else they could do. Environmental protection work came with enormous pressure these days. If they couldn't find the cause, they could only keep patrolling.
And judging from each set of test results, the river's pollution levels were clearly rising slowly.
Section Chief Liu considered the possible causes as he watched the river.
Just then, a dark mass drifted toward them on the water.
A closer look revealed that it was a dead dog.
But in the blink of an eye, the dog's carcass vanished, leaving only rings of ripples on the surface.
Section Chief Liu couldn't help rubbing his eyes.
"Chief, we're at point three."
Point three wasn't very far from point two. There was a small concrete boat here, which they planned to take out to the middle of the river to collect samples.
What he had just "imagined seeing" left Section Chief Liu inexplicably uneasy.
The Kehua District branch of Yue City's Environmental Protection Bureau.
Five minutes before the end of the workday.
"Xiao Li, Old Liu still isn't back?"
A plump middle-aged woman passed the desk near the door and asked the young woman sitting there.
"No, not yet. Shao Feng and Zhang aren't back either. Something must have held them up."
The middle-aged woman said, "Oh," and walked away.
Back in her office, she packed up the things she needed to take home after work while taking out her phone and dialing a number.
The recorded message said, "The number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable."
"Strange. I can't even get through."