At dawn, Farmer Boruti came out to the field with his basket on his back and his sickle in his hand.
Today he decided to mow the wheat a little earlier, at noon two relatives would come over, and then he would not be able to spare the time, he would have to accompany them to talk about all kinds of trivial matters, and he would have to finish the morning’s work first.
The price of wheat is so low during wartime that farmers can only sell their grain to the Empire or be punished for treason.
Two days ago, a sand lizard rushed into the field and ate a lot of wheat.
The officer who brought the sand lizard also said that it was the wheat in the field that lured the lizard, and he suspected that illegal fertiliser was used in the field. In the end Boruti had to compensate the soldier with a bag of wheat to make up for it.
But it was all out of the question, what could a crop farmer do? One can only hope that God will help and make the wheat grow a bit more and heavier in order to cope with the various calamities.
Boluti walked all the way to the farmland and suddenly realised that the ground was empty.
Where is the wheat? Where is the wheat?
The wheat that was supposed to be golden was gone, not even the stalks were left behind.
He closed his eyes hard and then opened them.
There was no change in the scene before him.
It must be an illusion, said Bholuti, yes, he had gone to the wrong field, this was not his field.
But he looked around and the surrounding farmland was also empty.
The farmer was still saying in his heart at this time, “It must be a mistake, I’m so confused, I’ve gone to the other side of the field.
But when he looked around, all the wheat fields were swept clean as far as his eyes could see.
The early sunrise shone down on the ground, illuminating one farm field after another, except for the many large locusts lying on their backs, still nibbling at the remnants of the wheat.
Boluti took a few steps in bewilderment, his body shivering uncontrollably.
God damn it, God damn it!
The emperor won’t let us have enough to eat, and the heavens are bullying us.
Can’t live on, can’t live on!
Boluti blew his nose hard as he waved the scythe in his hand and slashed fiercely at the locusts in the farmland.
“Don’t let me eat, and neither should you! Starve to death, all of you!”
But the locusts didn’t care about his anger.
They easily dodged the human’s attack without even affecting their mouths to chew.
Then the locusts lifted their wings and flew to the next farmland and fruit forest.
……
A merchant caravan transporting grain was travelling down the avenue.
Mules and worn-out horses dragged the crates with sacks full of wheat and pumpkins. These two foodstuffs were the most important army rations in the empire, easy to transport and store, and highly productive.
The tax officer and the creation officer led the way in front, and it took a group of people to levy a village’s worth of food. This batch of food would be transferred to the Quartermaster’s office in Crystal City, and then uniformly deployed by the militia of the logistics regiment to the front line, ensuring that the front fighters and sand lizards would have enough food every day.
The sun had just risen not long ago, but suddenly the sky darkened.
There was an extra large dark cloud in the air, which was getting lower and lower, and it even crashed down.
The horse-herder, who knew the wilderness best, cried out, “Locusts, it’s locusts. These can be really big.”
The Empire had encountered locusts, and there had been a few outbreaks of locusts, but with the outpouring of the apostles, the bugs were quickly killed off to the point where there were very few left.
There were still some in the fields, but they had long been insufficient.
But today, I don’t know what happened, but the locust swarms reappeared and swooped down on the imperial army payrolls with great vigour.
The tax collector shouted, “Soldiers, soldiers, repel the locusts!”
The soldiers were on their hands and knees, waving their shields and spears, but these things were too clumsy for the locusts. The bugs simply ignored them, and one by one, they tore open the sacks by gnawing and scratching, the wheat inside flowed out like sand, and the locusts swarmed on them as if they were wolves sucking blood.
“Attacking imperial supply wagons, deserve to be killed!”
The creation officer was furious, taking the lead in drawing his short sword and slashing a locust’s back, “Kill me!”
However, after this sword strike, the locust with mucus coming out of its body did not die, but slowly twisted its head, its compound eyes facing towards the officer, staring at him blankly.
This scene made the officer’s heart a little hairy.
He gave a hard shot and chopped this big bug into two completely, which brought out a mouthful of bad breath.
Damn beast, how dare it intimidate an imperial officer!
At this time, the creation officer suddenly felt something was wrong.
He saw that many of the locusts had stopped feeding, and one large bug twisted its grotesque head, its numerous compound eyes looking straight at itself.
Officer Creation couldn’t help but take a step back.
The locusts swooped towards him and drowned him in a sea of bugs …… Not a moment later, only a sword and a pair of soft and collapsing locking armour were left on the ground.
After eating the officer, the bugs returned to the sack and continued to gnaw and chew the wheat grains and pumpkins.
The soldiers were scared and ran far away, afraid of being poisoned by the swarm. Luckily, these bugs seem to prefer food, not interested in hunting humans at the moment, devouring the tax collector is more like a group revenge.
The tax officer’s face paled in fear at the sight: “Man-eating monsters, it’s monsters, this is an enemy attack, it’s an enemy attack!”
“Must report to the empire!”
He waved his horse whip somewhat handily and ran towards Crystal City.
Seeing this, the soldiers also fled towards the city one by one.
……
The same scene played out all over the empire.
In the farmlands of villages, the ravaging locusts feasted and fed frantically.
Shops in towns storing food were attacked and looted by the swarms.
Transport caravans on the road also frequently encountered locusts – they were well-targeted and specialised in attacking food caravans.
Even the farmlands and orchards on the outskirts of Crystal City were also infested with locusts. Luckily, there were divine totems guarding them, and once these locusts got close to the city walls, they would be burnt to ashes by the power of the totems.
And in the farmlands outside the city, people desperately used torches and chickens and ducks to drive them away, and sprayed them with poison, but all these old methods had little effect.
In the court of Crystal City, the ministers were fretting as a result.
“The locusts are growing in numbers and have already severely damaged the rear food reserves and logistical transport, if they are not contained, the front will run out of food and the entire front will be in danger.”
“The scout group investigation said that they came from the Wuzhi Kingdom and seem to be a creature from over there. The Wuzhi people don’t eat food, so the locust swarms are not large and spend most of their time sleeping, while the empire is rich in produce, which ushers in this swarm of monsters ……”
“The frontline logistics line is being attacked again by a bug monster shaped like a spider, this is really a back-breaking attack.”
“It is imperative that we continue to increase the collection of food, and we need to transfer the spare food from the imperial warehouses to fill the holes in the front at the first opportunity!”
“The locust problem must be resolved, otherwise it will just fuel the swarm!”
“The fastest way is to ask the Apostle Lords to step in …… But the Apostle Lords are all on the front lines participating in the Divine War ……”
“What can we do about this ……”
The ministers couldn’t help but cast their gazes above the stone steps.
On the throne sat the highest authority in the empire, the Glass God Chief Apostle Emperor Soter.
His Majesty Sothe’s face was expressionless at this time, as he propped his chin on one hand and coldly looked down at the ministers below, as if he was watching an uninteresting farce.
“I will make a move.”
The emperor slowly spoke.
The ministers immediately settled down.
In the Glass God Realm, as long as an apostle made a move, it represented the descent of the gods’ will. Whether it was a natural or man-made disaster, it would be suppressed and eliminated.
Just then, a rustling sound rang out in the court.
The courtiers looked around.
A large locust flew to an ornamental tree next to the throne, and it opened its large mouth and gnawed frantically at the trunk.
The sound of clicking and clacking was exceptionally clear in the empty court.
One by one, the courtiers’ faces changed slightly, and they all lowered their heads, pretending not to see it.
The chewing sound came to an abrupt end.
They all peeked in and realised that the locusts had turned into black powder on the ground.
The Imperial Emperor rose from his throne and his entire person disappeared without a trace.
A crack appeared in the ground around the throne, and a wisp of black smoke rose from the crack.
One by one, the palace crowd revealed a smile.
Having angered His Majesty the Emperor, the worms were dead in the water!
