They Must Not Be Killed

Li Daoxuan took out his phone with his right hand and snapped several macro photos of the tiny people in the box, preserving the moment of their standoff.

Meanwhile, he readied his left hand to help "his tiny people" at any moment. He opened the Scenery Box's lid and held his hand above it, prepared to reach in and kill the five "outsider constables" if "his tiny people" were in mortal danger.

Just as he had killed those tiny bandits.

Gao Yiye panicked. She was absolutely terrified.

She had seen the Heavenly Deity faintly appearing in the sky. Of course, that was not the most frightening part. What frightened her was that the Heavenly Deity had already raised his hand.

She knew what it meant when the Heavenly Deity raised his hand!

Yesterday, she had watched him flatten every bandit into a meat patty, one slap apiece. That terrifying yet satisfying sight still lingered in her mind.

Gao Yiye hurriedly raised her head and shouted toward the sky, "No! Heavenly Deity, don't kill them!"

"Huh?" Li Daoxuan said.

Gao Yiye shouted, "They're constables! If you kill them, our whole village is doomed!"

She poured every ounce of strength into that shout, so naturally, everyone around her heard it.

The villagers all froze.

The five constables froze as well, then looked up at the sky together, thinking, What does she mean? This villager is actually shouting at the sky not to kill us?

What could possibly be up there that could kill all five of us?

We can't see anything. There's nothing in the sky.

They were not stupid, either. They immediately remembered what the Village Chief had said earlier: "This is Divine Rice bestowed upon us by the Heavenly Deity to save our lives. If you dare touch it, the Heavenly Deity will take your lives."

"Tch!" The lead constable curled his lip and cursed, "What's all this mystical nonsense?"

Another constable said, "Scared the shit out of me. I really thought something was coming to kill me, but it's just a few lowlifes putting on an act. Think you can scare me that easily?"

One constable roared at Gao Yiye, "You wretched woman! What superstitious nonsense are you shouting? Threatening constables means defying the Imperial Court. Have you got a death wish?"

"I'm not trying to scare you," Gao Yiye said. "I'm saving you. Leave, quickly! The Heavenly Deity has already raised his hand. You've angered him. If you keep this up, he'll slap you all to death, one by one."

The five constables said, "..."

Her words made their skin crawl, but they were still hard to believe.

The lead constable jutted his lips toward her and gave one of his men a meaningful look. "Arrest that woman spreading heretical lies. Take her back to the County Yamen for a thorough interrogation. She might be one of those fanatics from the White Lotus Cult."

The constable raised the iron ruler in his hand and slowly approached Gao Yiye.

Gao Yiye glanced at the constable approaching her, then looked up again. The clouds parted, and the Heavenly Deity's hand descended swiftly, soon hovering directly above the constable's head. Clearly, the Heavenly Deity was protecting her. If this constable attacked her, the Heavenly Deity would bring his palm down and crush him into a meat patty.

But constables were not the same as bandits!

Once bandits were killed, that was that. Carry them outside the village and bury them, and nothing more would come of it.

But if constables died in Gao Family Village, the consequences would be severe. The authorities would assume the villagers had killed them. Everyone in the village would be branded a rebel, and an army would come to crush them. They would all die without so much as a place to be buried.

Gao Yiye ignored the constable approaching her entirely. Raising her head, she continued shouting toward the sky, "Heavenly Deity, you mustn't kill them! Please don't kill them! Let them know you're here, and they won't dare disrespect you!"

Li Daoxuan heard the girl's plea.

Was she shouting herself hoarse just to protect these five constables?

Oh, no! She was protecting herself and the villagers.

Li Daoxuan understood immediately. Behind these five tiny constables stood many more tiny constables. Their positions represented the power backing them.

There was far more to this Scenery Box than met the eye.

This time, I'll do as the girl wishes.

Li Daoxuan drew back the hand he had intended to use to slap the constable to death. Instead, he extended just two fingers and gently picked the constable up, as though plucking a little wildflower.

"Aaaaaah!"

The constable screamed like a pig being slaughtered.

He had been advancing toward Gao Yiye, intending to arrest this girl spreading heretical lies and take her back for questioning. Who could have imagined that an immense force would suddenly clamp down on his shoulders? That tremendous pressure squeezed inward, making every bone in his body creak. He nearly fell apart.

He looked left and right, trying to see what had clamped onto him, but he could see nothing. There was nothing around him. All he could feel was an invisible, overwhelming force.

Then his feet left the ground, and he hung in midair.

That unseen force lifted him up and held him ten feet above the ground.

The other four constables all looked up at their companion, who hung in midair, struggling wildly. Their faces were filled with shock.

At the sight, however, the villagers all fell to their knees. "The Heavenly Deity has manifested his power!"

The constable suspended in midair was so frightened that tears and snot streamed down his face, and even his crotch was soaked. Flailing his arms and legs, he screamed hoarsely, "Spare me, Heavenly Deity! Spare me, Heavenly Deity... I meant no offense... I was wrong... spare me..."

The other four constables exchanged looks, unsure what to do.

Just then, Li Daoxuan puffed out his cheeks and blew a breath at the other four constables.

Whoosh!

A fierce wind suddenly arose!

A powerful gust swept toward the four men. It caught no one else, only those four.

The terrifying wind sent all four constables flying backward. They flew ten to thirteen feet before crashing heavily to the ground, nearly splitting their backsides into four pieces.

At last, the four knew what they ought to do. They hastily scrambled up, then dropped to their knees with a thud and pressed their foreheads against the yellow sand.

Li Daoxuan said, "Tell them to get lost! They're not to tell anyone what just happened."

Gao Yiye called out, "The Heavenly Deity commands you to get lost! He also warns you not to tell anyone what happened here today."

The four hurriedly kowtowed. "We will obey the Heavenly Deity's command."

They rose and took to their heels.

The constable still hanging in midair sobbed, "I want to get lost too! Spare me, Heavenly Deity! Please, let me get lost too! I won't breathe a word about what happened here..."

Li Daoxuan loosened his fingers. The constable fell from ten feet up and landed with a solid thump. But he endured the pain, scrambled to his feet, and limped after his four colleagues.

Li Daoxuan kept his eyes fixed on the five constables. He wanted to see exactly how they would "leave the Scenery Box." The five stumbled out of the village in utter disarray, ran onto the yellow sand outside, and kept going. Soon, they reached the edge of the Scenery Box.

A glass wall stood there.

As though they could not see the glass wall, the five kept moving forward and passed into the glass... But they did not emerge outside the Scenery Box. Instead, they simply vanished without a trace, as though the glass wall were a portal to another world.

"They walked out? Vanished?" Having witnessed how the "outsider tiny people" entered and left the Scenery Box with his own eyes, Li Daoxuan sank into thought...