We might not even manage to save the nearby fields.
Zuo Le
The situation is dire, we should prioritize saving the people...
He Sheng
Am I imagining things...? They don't seem as fearsome as before...
He Sheng
What's that sound?
Zuo Le
This plate is separating from the core city...
Zuo Le
As I thought... the vitality of these monsters is bound to Dahuang's energy core. So once we break that connection, they'll grow weaker.
Zuo Le
Hold on! Has everyone managed to evacuate here?
He Sheng
We notified the entire city, but is everyone here?
Lead Farmer A
Everyone from Residential Sections 1 to 4 is here.
Lead Farmer B
Sections 9 through 12, all present!
Lead Farmer C
Everyone from 6 to 8 is here, but we haven't heard back from the group dispatched to Section 5.
He Sheng
What?!
Lead Farmer C
They were on their way from the city center when they encountered a patch of farmland under attack. Things were going badly, and that's when we lost contact.
He Sheng
The energy core has broken down, and our communications systems went with it...
He Sheng
I'll go look for them!
Zuo Le
Wait!
Zuo Le
You're always chide me for acting tough, but now you're dashing ahead of us? We don't even know how many monsters are swarming the place, and you plan on charging forward alone?
He Sheng
That's my experimental plot, I know it better than anyone else!
He Sheng
The residents there usually help me with the farmwork. I even lied to them, saying my research was going well lately...
Zuo Le
It's fine if you want to go, just take me along. I run fast too. I can help.
He Sheng
You're not from here. You've got nothing to do with the people here, and you're even a year younger than I am—
Zuo Le
'...He Sheng was promoted to an Intermediate Nongye Tianshi in the year 1101 at the age of seventeen.'
He Sheng
You—
Zuo Le
When I was looking through the intel on Dahuang, I checked the Tianshi Bureaus' roster, and found you're a year younger than me.
Zuo Le
So no need to act tough at such a critical juncture, boy.
He Sheng
Shao lai zhe tao, do you normally speak like this back home?!
Uncle Wang! Why are you still here? Are you alright?
Trembling Farmer
Xiaohe! I knew you'd come back!
Trembling Farmer
Jian gui le, these beasts just appeared out of nowhere and started chewing up all the crops here. .
Trembling Farmer
But don't worry! We protected the plot well, and didn't let a single beast pass us—
He Sheng
Uncle Wang!
Zuo Le
It's alright... he's only fainted from shock.
The whole field is sinking inch by inch, and huge fissures can be seen across the fields in the distance.
He Sheng
The communication equipment's not working at all. The Tumu Tianshis don't know there's still people here, and they've already begun disconnecting the plate.
The young Candleholder carries the farmer on his own, and leaps into the air, crossing the gap in just a few steps.
He Sheng
You... you're amazing!
Zuo Le goes back and forth between the two separated plates, transporting one-by-one those left behind to safety on the other side.
But the space between the plates continues to expand at a speed visible to the naked eye, and his steps gradually grow heavier.
Until the last trip, when a gust of wind blows him back up as he almost loses his footing.
He Sheng
Careful now...
Zuo Le
Many thanks...
Zuo Le
Everyone's safe now, so hold onto me and I'll bring you over too!
Eerie Fabric
(Hiss)
Zuo Le
There's more of them?!
He Sheng
Don't get distracted...
Zuo Le
You're using your Arts too much.
He Sheng
No need to worry about me... the students of the Tianshi Bureaus aren't as weak as you think.
The duo work together to repel a few monsters, but as they dispatch the beasts the vertical disparity of both plates escalates before their eyes.
The distance of about fifteen meters seems a unsurmountable chasm to the two.
Zuo Le
Damn it!
He Sheng
Are we... stuck here...?
Zuo Le
This plate is about to fall, so we'd best prepare for impact... Find somewhere with soft soil to hide it, and we might...
He Sheng
I never noticed till now that Dahuang's plates were built so high...
He Sheng
Zuo Le... How many people did we save?
Zuo Le
Don't worry, I did a headcount earlier and everyone who was here has already made it over.
Zuo Le
Cheer up, we just have to find a way to make it back alive, and this rescue mission will be a complete success.
He Sheng
The legends always say as long as everyone stands together, we'll make it through any crisis, no matter how dire it gets...
He Sheng
Everyone's been taking care of me all these years... I've never managed to pay them back, but today...
He Sheng struggles to finish his words, and Zuo Le realizes a bright red stain is seeping through from the other's white shirt.
Zuo Le
You're hurt?! When did you—I'll stop the bleeding!
He Sheng
Zuo Le, let me give you something.
Zuo Le
Right now?!
He Sheng
This is my Tianshi apparatus with important data inside. You have to keep it safe, no matter what happens.
Zuo Le
Alright... I'll take it.
He Sheng ties an Originium device tightly onto Zuo Le's hand. He hits the switch, and the little thing rapidly unfolds into a kite.
Zuo Le
What are you doing?!
He Sheng
I was hard on you before, but I've realized... you have a good heart.
He Sheng
So I can't, leave you here...
The youth exerts the last vestiges of his strength, and a gust of wind rises. Zuo Le flies into the air carried by the kite before he can even react.
The plate below shrinks bit by bit, along with He Sheng's silhouette. But Zuo Le can make out the shapes of a few remaining monsters on the field rushing towards the shrinking figure.
For these creatures to grow, they must endure a calamity. Those that survive will break out of their cocoons; those that do not will have their lives quietly snuffed out in the darkness.
Ji
No living being can escape the cycle of destruction and rebirth.
Your presence here must mean you've figured out my plans, Lord Zuo?
Zuo Le
What are you doing?
Ji
Weaving, as you can see.
Zuo Le
Weaving what?
Ji
Something for sale once it's completed, of course.
Zuo Le
For sale to whom?
Ji
It's standard practice to keep customer information confidential.
Zuo Le
What's that... on the cloth?
Ji
Scenes from across the country... or perhaps to phrase it in your words, the 'splendor' of Yan?
Ji
I spent many years traveling across Yan, visiting every city, and Dahuang is my final stop. Only today do I consider this bolt of cloth complete.
Ji
One should use dyes of an appropriate quality for a design this beautiful. Is there any material better than Yan's splendor to dye this weave? My Hundred Scenic Portraits of Great Yan?
Countless bolts of silk and satin seem to descend from the heavens, every bolt a city, a piece of history, a facet of worldly plight.
The nation's splendor? No... It should be the hearts of the people.
Just look at how brilliant the brocade is. All the colors of their souls I've seen.
