Li Daoxuan had no time at all to explain anything to the refugees who were already in a state of panic.
He moved at top speed, tearing through his kitchen in search of anything transparent that could be used. Glass cups, glass bowls, plastic storage boxes. He dragged them all out without hesitation.
With a quick glance of his left eye, he spotted a group of refugees scrambling across a deserted street, desperately looking for shelter. He grabbed a glass cup and brought it down with a decisive thump. In an instant, that small group was safely covered.
His gaze swept westward.
There, a large cluster of refugees huddled together, crying and trembling, completely lost and not knowing where to go.
Li Daoxuan seized a clear acrylic toy box and slammed it down with a heavy thud, enclosing the entire bewildered crowd.
After repeating this again and again, he began to feel that individually covering people was too slow.
At that moment, he suddenly remembered the bottomless fish tanks he had bought long ago to protect his farmlands.
Without delay, he began dragging them over.
These fish tanks were enormous, capable of covering huge areas.
Li Daoxuan lifted the largest bottomless fish tank and lowered it over an entire city block. With a loud crash, the whole street and all the shops along it were enclosed. However, since the tank had no bottom, it also had no top, leaving it open to the sky and allowing locusts to still pour in.
He rushed back to the kitchen and grabbed a roll of microwave cling film.
He spread it across the open top of the fish tank, pulled it tight, and with a swift swish, sealed it perfectly.
In a very short time, refugees across the city found themselves protected beneath a strange collection of transparent vessels.
If this had happened in Chengcheng, Puzhou, or even Xi'an, the common people would have immediately recognized it as a miracle of Dao Xuan Tianzun and would not have been afraid.
But in Luoyang, such a scene was truly shocking. To people who did not understand, it felt almost blasphemous.
Those trapped beneath the strange transparent covers screamed in terror, completely confused by what was happening. One person was more frightened than the next.
Meanwhile, citizens hiding inside their homes, peeking through cracks in doors and windows, felt an even deeper fear.
"What are those things?"
"They look like huge transparent cups."
"And enormous transparent bowls."
"How did they appear?"
"They fell from the sky."
"They trapped the people outside. What are they trying to do?"
"Are demons being released to capture people?"
"Ahhh!"
Cries of panic echoed throughout the entire city of Luoyang.
The Prince of Fu, who had just been dragged into his mansion by his guards, did not dare retreat too far. He was hiding in the gate tower near the main entrance. The massive prince, weighing several hundred catties, squeezed his face up to a narrow window crack, his huge body nearly filling the opening.
He, too, was terrified by the massive transparent covers falling from the sky.
"Good heavens, what is happening out there? Monsters are capturing people. They are throwing transparent covers from the sky and trapping them inside. Such enormous transparent cups. Such massive transparent bowls."
As he muttered in fear, he suddenly noticed something strange.
That eccentric hero, Xiao Qiuxui, was still standing outside the mansion gates. He stood there, head tilted upward, staring at the sky, completely motionless, without even blinking.
The Prince of Fu was stunned.
"Hm? That Xiao fellow did not hide? He is still standing right at my gate."
Eunuch Zheng also stretched his neck to look.
"Why is he not hiding? Could he be completely frightened stiff?"
The Prince of Fu guessed,
"Those transparent covers are trapping everyone outside. Soon, that Xiao fellow will be covered as well, and then dragged away by monsters."
But reality quickly proved him wrong.
The transparent covers fell everywhere across the city, yet they strangely avoided Xiao Qiuxui.
He stood alone on the deserted street before the Prince of Fu's mansion, standing out conspicuously, yet not a single transparent dome descended upon him.
The Prince of Fu cried out in disbelief.
"This is too strange. Why is this happening? Such a big man standing right there. Can the sky monsters not see him? They covered everyone else, even those hiding in corners. Why is he being ignored?"
No one could answer him.
Just then, Eunuch Zheng suddenly shouted,
"Your Highness, the locusts have arrived. They have entered the city."
The Prince of Fu let out a startled cry and only then remembered the true threat. He had been so captivated by the bizarre transparent covers that he had completely forgotten about the locust plague.
"They are here. They are here."
"The locusts have arrived."
The entire city snapped out of its shock at the transparent covers and was once again gripped by terror.
The sky darkened as the massive locust swarm descended upon Luoyang in a horrifying wave.
Although the city did not contain large farmlands, it still had trees, grass, flowers in front of houses, and even green onions growing on some balconies.
These few scraps of greenery became the locusts' only targets.
They devoured everything without mercy.
Windows rattled violently as countless locusts slammed into them, producing a dense, continuous buzzing and thumping.
Inside their homes, people trembled.
Those with gaps in their houses hurried to block them with wooden boards and anything else they could find.
Whenever a locust broke through, the terrified residents would desperately grab something and smash it flat.
All across Luoyang, a desperate struggle between humans and locusts unfolded.
Those beneath the transparent covers soon realized something important.
The locusts could not get in.
These transparent domes offered perfect protection. They were far superior to their fragile, crumbling houses.
Locusts could squeeze through cracks in walls and doors, but they could not penetrate these massive transparent shields.
People could even clearly see locusts clinging to the outside of the covers, their bodies and legs visible through the clear material.
Only then did the more perceptive among them finally understand.
"These big transparent covers are not demons sent to capture us. They are sent to protect us."
"The divine beings in the sky are protecting us."
"These are heavenly cups, heavenly bowls, heavenly boxes."
"Divine beings are using celestial vessels to protect us."
The thinking of ordinary people in the great Celestial Empire was very simple. If something from the heavens harmed them, it was a demon. If it helped them, it was a god. Their logic was direct, uncomplicated, and sincere.
Meanwhile, the Prince of Fu continued peeking from his gate tower. From a distance, he could clearly see that the covers were protecting people, not capturing them.
Then he thought of something else.
What about Xiao Qiuxui, who had no protection at all?
The Prince of Fu hurriedly shifted his gaze to the open ground before his mansion.
And sure enough, the troublesome Xiao fellow was now completely engulfed by locusts.
Countless locusts covered him. They clung to his head, shoulders, chest, back, and arms, forming a dense, writhing mass.
The Prince of Fu felt his scalp go numb.
"That Xiao fellow is going to be eaten alive by locusts."
Even if the Xiao fellow was not likable, watching a person be buried alive under locusts was something no one could easily bear.
The Prince of Fu felt as if locusts were crawling all over his own body. His skin itched, his heart pounded, and his whole body felt uncomfortable. It was unbearable.
Yet, even so, he could not look away.
Cowardly and yet loving horror films.