A massive school of fish, swept up by an unknown tornado, is now pouring down from the sky, littering both the interior and exterior of the island with scales and rotten at.
Then, after the torrential rain, as the weather cleared up, the blazing sun brought forth a nauseating fragrance that enveloped the entire Luo City.
The worst part is the things attracted by it...
"So, they don't even bother to put on a show now, do they?"
After waiting several days, Ji Jue was exasperated yet amused, looking towards the horizon at the sea, at the dense swarm of black dots racing over, "Couldn't they pretend a little longer?"
Sea Locusts!
All of them are sea locusts, maddened and famished after their complete mutation in the sea...
What a coincidence that a heap of dead fish falls from the sky and then an innurable swarm of sea locusts charges directly toward Luo Island?
If anyone still thinks there's no sabotage involved behind this, Ji Jue might as well toss his brain out the window.
As for who exactly... Ji Jue didn't bother to ponder. He could just point randomly and decide it was whichever group he fingered.
The critters from the Seven Cities must be involved sohow, even though they might not have the guts to openly oppose Ji Jue. Yet interfering from the shadows is just too easy.
They need not do much, rely isolating Luo Island would be enough to make it seem like a vulnerable, malleable soft spot.
Put out so word, show a way, give so advice—who can't do such things?
"Should we sound the alarm?"
Lou Feng in the workshop got wind of the news and poked his head out to ask.
"There's no need. Garbage is still garbage, no matter how much you pile up. What use is it?"
Ji Jue waved it off dismissively, "Let the sanitation departnt carry on with its job. The island is already stinking enough to make life unbearable."
"What about outside?"
"I'll handle that myself,"
Ji Jue rolled up his sleeves, "Even a mosquito's leg is still at, and with so many of them together... it'd be such a waste."
In the silent seascape, a deep buzzing sound began to rise.
The previously cleared sky started clouding once again as a terrifying torrent like a tidal wave erged from the clouds...
At this mont, the ocean, the mid-air, and the sky seed all engulfed rapidly by an expanding darkness.
The small points converged into a black tide that swallowed everything in its path.
Now that those small points began to enlarge swiftly, their sinister appearance manifested—a body resembling a grotesque hybrid between fish and insect, scales and shells, tails, and segnted limbs, all intermingled with various mutations.
The sea locusts, already unstable, morphed even more under the storm's incitent, turning into mutant assemblies of all sorts of bizarre forms.
As for the size of mature individuals, it was even more exaggerated than those Ji Jue had seen in Central Earth previously. They must have consud an unimaginable amount under the storm's incitent, with so as large as trucks—with many more looming in the depths of the ocean, their eerie and grim outlines faintly visible.
There were even more juveniles, now taking to the skies!
Now, Ji Jue finally understood why these creatures were called sea locusts.
This swarm could indeed grow wings. Even as Ji Jue observed, he could see wet insect wings unfurling from the backs of sea locusts feasting on the dead fish gathered in the outer sea.
They could grow them on the spot...
Their numbers had now completely exceeded Ji Jue's capacity to tally.
Though a single sea locust posed little threat to a Chosen One, the swarm now filled the sky and sea, continually amassing... Deafening screeches kept echoing, calling their kindred, and when the insect wings flapped, they released a copious amount of pheromones, spreading the ssage afar.
In sheer magnitude alone, it's an unequivocal disaster!
Among the many Disaster Beasts, the sea locusts are one of the few unranked; though individually they don't constitute real harm, as their numbers surge repeatedly and scale rapidly, their threat to cities and settlents escalates steadily!
They're impossible to fully eradicate.
No matter how many you kill, they make no difference; they even feast on their kind's corpses...
Only when they've consud everything and, in barren conditions, start killing each other until their entire species breaches collapse will the disaster swiftly subside.
Though they pose no threat to Ji Jue, for Luo Island, it's sheer catastrophe!
At this mont, the locust plague, from four corners, above and below, ca roaring...
The thunderous beating of wings continued unending, churning the sea currents and stirring the waves.
Ji Jue could even imagine the silent laughter of the puppeteers behind this.
It's a choice, Ji Jue, the decision is yours.
Abandon Luo Island and flee in disgrace, or exhaust himself in vain for Luo Island's sake?
For a brief mont, Ji Jue felt an unfathomable number of eyes on him.
Even outside his office, the atmosphere was deathly silent.
When he opened the door and stepped out, he saw the restless and panic-stricken figures at their workstations; those eyes turned to him, wanting to say sothing, yet unable to voice it.
"Mr. Ji, Mr. Ji..."
The person at the forefront subconsciously spoke, his voice cutting off abruptly, rising in panic, yet not knowing what to do.
Ji Jue stared impassively, unmoved.
His gaze scanned over the faces he hadn't seen many tis, landing on the empty places at the workstations: "Absent from work without a reason during work hours; consider this a warning."
"Ah?"
The foremost individual was dumbfounded and dazed, failing to comprehend.
"Special circumstances an no records of absenteeism, don't let catch you next ti."
Ji Jue warned coldly, "Later on, finance should draft and distribute a notice, double the allowance for these days, and give full overti compensations. Colleagues in the cafeteria, work a little harder, ensure the food supply doesn't drop—do I need to repeat this?"
"Uh, got it, got it."
The employees, coming to their senses, scrambled to jot down Ji Jue's instructions.
And so, Ji Jue nodded, looking directly at them, and finally asked, "Why are all of you standing there? Shouldn't you be working?
Did I hire you for charity work?"
Work is work even if the sky falls down. Think a locust swarm ans you can ignore performance? Once you've signed that contract and joined this factory, sell your blood, sweat, and youth—do not co whining to with excuses!
I see you just haven't tightened enough screws!
Get to work!
Under the cold gaze, the factory, previously engulfed in panic, resud its rapid operations, restoring stability, no longer gripped by fear.
Gradually, the ominous shadows that filled the sky and the uncanny, recurring shrieks seed to vanish silently, as if an illusion.
When the busy employees raised their heads, confused, and looked out the window, they found nothing outside.
All they saw was a blanket of white.
A silent, white mist spread, like a pure white tapestry, quietly covering the sea and sky, encompassing the whole of Luo Island, countless strands of white intertwining and dancing.
It's as if a colossal wall had risen between the sea and sky, completely isolating inside from out.
The curtain had already fallen, shrouding the stage.
There's no performance here.
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