Free Web NovelChapter 14: Chapter 14: This Is Not Industrial Pollution
In Qin Xiaoxia’s understanding, the river must have been polluted by the several dyeing factories upstream.
But the government had cracked down on these companies years ago. They should have all been forced to relocate to the new centralized industrial park in Yue City by now.
Logically, the old factory sites should have already ceased production. They shouldn’t have the capability—or the gall—to pollute the river to this degree anymore.
As Qin Xiaoxia pondered these questions, he caught sight of Doudou out of the corner of his eye, who was currently tackling a lollipop.
He froze.
Sometimes, Qin Xiaoxia’s train of thought could be rather eccentric. In Huang Jiutian’s words, his mind worked in mysterious ways.
Seeing Qin Xiaoxia stop, Doudou stopped as well.
"Why are you looking at me like that? There’s no way I’m giving you my lollipop!"
"Get outta here!"
Qin Xiaoxia looked seriously at the "little kid" clenching the lollipop stick in his teeth.
"Doudou, you said the Power of the World is strong and that you getting through was just an accident. Is it possible there could be other ’accidents’?"
Doudou was about to say it was impossible, but an image of the other side of the barrier formed by the Power of the World flashed through his mind.
The churning, tumultuous scene was like a furious tide crashing against a hidden reef, and it had left a dark shadow in his heart.
"Umm... well, it’s hard to say."
Qin Xiaoxia looked at him helplessly. ’This guy is just a little troublemaker, not some great scholar or powerful Mage.’
But Doudou’s next words made Qin Xiaoxia see him in a new light.
"I’ve been through it once. Anyway, the Power of the World is a concept that’s a little hard to describe. It’s like a massive dam holding back a raging sea, but sometimes, things get tossed up onto the dam by the waves."
"That’s what happened to me. Big Cousin, you get what I mean, right?"
Qin Xiaoxia pictured it in his mind.
"Yeah, keep going."
Doudou sucked on his lollipop, choosing his words carefully.
"From on top of the dam, I could see this world, but I still couldn’t get through. Hmm, that’s not quite right. It was probably more like looking at someone through a pane of glass. You’re very close, but you can’t get across."
"From my perspective, it was an impassable chasm. The Power of the World pays special attention to more powerful beings, especially. But look at me—I made it through, right? I had to use a Wish, but there’s no guarantee that other things can’t cross over too."
Watching Doudou imitate some expert he’d seen in a video last night was pretty funny, but the content of what he said was startling to Qin Xiaoxia.
"So, do you think the Winding Loach River... could it be because of a monster from the Otherworld that got in? To pollute a river this big, how vicious would that monster have to be?"
They exchanged a look, then both turned to face the river, which was now in view.
Doudou looked at Qin Xiaoxia, his expression serious.
"Big Cousin, maybe we should tell the scientists? Let the monsters deal with the monster!"
Qin Xiaoxia nearly choked on Doudou’s words.
"If the scientists come, aren’t you afraid they’ll capture you along with it? Forget about fighting monsters for now. Do you have any way to check if there’s something weird in the river? You’re a magical Elf from the Otherworld, after all."
It was rare for Qin Xiaoxia to speak to him with a tone of praise and request, and Doudou was lapping it up.
"Let me think!"
He tilted his little head and thought for a moment.
"Nope."
WHAP! A knuckle-rap landed on Doudou’s head.
"Then what was all that posturing for? Your pudding for dinner is canceled!"
Doudou felt wronged. He wanted to say that while he’d enjoyed the praise, he wasn’t just showing off.
Hearing that his pudding was canceled, he immediately grew anxious.
"Wait, wait, wait! I don’t have a direct method, but I have an indirect one!"
"What is it?"
Doudou snuck a glance at Qin Xiaoxia.
"Make a Wish. If it’s just to ask a question, that should be possible in theory, right?"
This would mean using one of the Gold Coins that "belonged to Qin Xiaoxia." Doudou was nervous, wondering if this guy—who was even more of a penny-pincher than he was—would be willing to part with it.
To his surprise, Qin Xiaoxia agreed readily this time.
"Alright, it’s a deal. We’ll make the Wish as soon as your Wish Power has recovered." frёewebηovel.cѳm
The Winding Loach River was the lifeblood of Qingzhen, after all, and Qin Xiaoxia considered himself a resident. If there really was some monster in there, it would be a threat to him and the entire town.
He had no interest in being a superhero, but it was still best to do what he could about a hidden threat on his own doorstep.
With this new theory weighing on their minds, Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou ran across the bridge even faster than they had on their way over, terrified that a monster might suddenly leap out and drag them under.
...
Meanwhile, the Kehua District Environmental Protection Sub-Bureau in Yue City was also wrestling with the problem of the river.
They were frequently patrolling up and down the river, trying to pinpoint the exact cause of the pollution.
Leading two people along the river’s upper reaches was none other than Section Chief Liu, accompanied by two young civil servants new to the bureau.
They were heading toward the closed-down dyeing factory upstream.
The three of them wore thick masks. In the distance, they could already see the factory’s perimeter wall.
The word "DEMOLISH," painted in large red letters, was scrawled across the wall.
The factory buildings here were slated to be torn down to make way for other projects.
The factory grounds were deathly still. The stench was so overwhelming that even the two security guards hadn’t shown up lately.
The three men stopped.
"Section Chief, we’re at Point 2."
Section Chief Liu glanced from the factory buildings near the riverbank back to the river itself.
"Take a sample."
One of the young men deftly took the tools from his bag, assembled the folding pole, attached a container, and extended it into the water.
Once the collection vessel was full, he immediately pulled it up. The other young man, wearing gloves, poured the collected river water into a plastic bottle.
"Alright, on to Point 3."
Led by Section Chief Liu, the three men continued upstream.
They had repeated this same task many times over the last few weeks.
But there was no other way. The pressure on environmental agencies was immense these days, and if they couldn’t find the cause, all they could do was patrol more frequently.
Furthermore, each new test result showed that the river’s pollution level was clearly, if slowly, on the rise.
Section Chief Liu pondered the possible causes as he watched the river.
Just then, a dark mass floated by on the water.
A closer look revealed it to be the body of a dog.
But in the blink of an eye, the dog’s corpse vanished, leaving only ripples spreading across the water’s surface.
Section Chief Liu couldn’t help but rub his eyes.
"Section Chief, we’ve reached Point 3."
Point 3 wasn’t far from Point 2. A small concrete boat was moored here; they planned to use it to take a sample from the middle of the river.
What he’d just seen—or thought he’d seen—left Section Chief Liu feeling inexplicably uneasy.
...
「Kehua District Environmental Protection Sub-Bureau, Yue City.」
「Five minutes before closing.」
"Xiaoli, has Old Liu not come back yet?" ƒreewebɳovel.com
A plump, middle-aged woman asked a young woman at a desk near the door as she passed by.
"Yeah, he’s not back yet. Shao Feng and Brother Zhang aren’t back either. I guess something must have held them up."
The middle-aged woman said, "Oh," and walked away.
Back in her own office, the woman packed up her things to take home for the day, then pulled out her phone and dialed a number.
The recorded message on the line said, "The number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable."
"Strange, the call isn’t connecting at all."
