Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 1038 - 544 Dragon King Manifestation_4

Chapter 1038: Chapter 544 Dragon King Manifestation_4

The one who arrived was carrying a rechargeable miner’s lamp, a step up from a flashlight, casting a stronger light. Pointing it toward the river, he was able to see clearer and suddenly exclaimed, "Good heavens! What is happening here?"

"Must be the Dragon King showing his power, eh?" Before Miner Lamp Brother could finish speaking, someone from downstream also ran over, glanced at the river surface illuminated by the lamp, and blurted out without even thinking.

"The Dragon King..." Suona Brother didn’t know what else to say.

"It’s definitely the Dragon King!" The one who had run from downstream was older and deeply believed in this. He took a deep draw from his dry tobacco pipe and spoke with a profoundly meaningful look in his eyes—too bad it was too dark for anyone to see, "Here, there used to be a Dragon King Temple right where we’re standing, but sadly it was destroyed back then..."

None of them were educated men, so they could only interpret this situation as ’supernatural’, since they couldn’t explain it themselves.

As more and more people gathered, they were initially afraid, but as patrolmen from nearby and villagers who were ready on call at the village entrance also gathered around, seeing that the water level was only decreasing and not rising, they became less scared.

"Surely the Dragon King has come to save us by opening a channel below, directing the water straight to the East Sea!" someone declared confidently.

All of this had stemmed from a single remark by Dry Tobacco Pipe Brother. When everyone else came running, they certainly first asked those two what was going on. Suona Brother and Miner Lamp Brother just happened to have noticed the situation earlier than the others—what could they say? They just continued to use Dry Tobacco Pipe Brother’s explanation about the Dragon King to give everyone—and themselves—an explanation.

If there weren’t an explanation, wouldn’t people be scared to death!

"I told you, it’s our river’s Dragon King. The one flowing to the East Sea is the East Sea Dragon King, that’s far from here! It’s our river’s Dragon King who couldn’t bear to see us suffer, directing the water elsewhere. Years ago, there was even a Dragon King Temple in our village. It was only demolished during the campaign to Destroy the Four Olds..." Dry Tobacco Pipe Brother continued to use the temple in his explanations, making his case seem especially sensible and well-founded.

"The temple is demolished, and the Dragon King still hasn’t left? Surely that’s the Dragon King of the East Sea. The Dragon King’s powers are boundless; directing water to the East Sea is a trivial matter for him..." the previous speaker retorted, unconvinced.

"Are you guys just bored? It doesn’t matter which Dragon King has come, we can’t just stand here and watch. We should hurry back and fetch some incense! The Dragon King has come, and we don’t even offer a single incense stick; does that seem right?"

Some young people scoffed at the talk of the Dragon King, but unfortunately, being young and of lower social standing, their words carried little persuasion.

"Folks, my fellow villagers..." At last, a minor official came to take charge, standing there and calling out, "Everyone, don’t panic..."

People were busy with their own concerns, and one took advantage of the darkness—since the official couldn’t see him anyway—and responded, "Panic for what? The Dragon King has come to save us, this is a good thing. What is there to panic about..."

The official felt rather helpless; not minding these uncultured people too much, he knew they were particularly good at finding excuses. When science couldn’t solve problems, these villagers would casually attribute them to a deity, indulging in worshipping and kneeling before deities persuasively, unafraid of any supernatural phenomena!

Seeing that everyone appeared calm and confident, even excited under the light, he changed what he originally planned to say, "Still, we must be cautious; those preparing incense should go ahead, and we need people to stay here and keep watch, in case the situation changes. Those by the riverside should move back a bit. Just in case there’s danger... the Dragon King might not appreciate you all standing so close and watching..."

He felt incredibly shrewd for saying this!

In the dead of night amid such eerie circumstances, when he had first heard about the situation here, he was racking his brain to come up with excuses to calm the crowd. To his surprise, the simple reason of having the Dragon King involved seemed to solve everything.

He was no fool and went with the flow; if it had to involve the Dragon King, so be it!

Taking action under the name of the Dragon King proved more convenient. Now whenever he mentioned the Dragon King, those near the river quickly receded, "Yes, yes, everyone move back a bit, don’t get too close. What if we disturb the Dragon King during his rituals? That would be bad!"

Someone else clamored to go to the village to move tables and set up an incense table.

Watching the scene unfold with chaotic order, this manager also felt he had gained new insights. Who says superstition is bad? Look, isn’t this working out fine?

While everyone was busy preparing to pay respects to the Dragon King, the manager quickly took out his walkie-talkie and reported to the main manager overseeing the area.

With successive reports going up the chain, naturally, experts would explain the situation according to the data gathered: from a geological perspective, such scenarios could happen. For instance, there might have been a sinkhole or a fault line beneath which caused the water to flow underground, following the subterranean river...

Two explanations, each with its own rationale, yet regardless, the appearance of a mysterious vortex in the river didn’t cause any panic but was rather seen as a good omen!

Moreover, with everyone bustling around and the incense table set up, the river water visibly receded quite a bit. Now, the people’s belief in the Dragon King controlling the water deepened, and they worshipped him with exceptional piety.

Meanwhile, the person managing the situation crouched far from the crowd and quietly reported, "The mood among the populace is very stable. Without needing the experts’ explanations, they simply credit the Dragon King. The incense table has been set up... No one is afraid, everyone is very happy... There’s no panic, truly no panic, please be assured, sir, nothing unexpected will happen..."

Yan Fei could faintly hear the clamor from the riverbank at the bottom of the river, but at the moment, he really couldn’t afford to pay attention. He was compelled by the urgency of his situation; if he didn’t work hard tonight, tomorrow would bring only sorrow!

For his little cattle farm, Boss Yan was all in. Given the water’s force, he wasn’t worried that anyone would see the vortex and jump in to find out what was going on.

There’s a saying that fits well here: good deeds bring good rewards.

There was indeed a benefit to Boss Yan’s hard work. After toiling for most of the night, at some ungodly hour before dawn, a large fat pig suddenly fell from above, leaving him utterly astonished.

He didn’t know that the person managing the situation on the bank was absolutely furious, "Just offering incense to the Dragon King is enough; raising a big fat pig isn’t easy, and to just throw it into the river..."

Before he could finish, someone got upset, "Look at what this junior manager is saying; what do you mean ’throw it in the river’? We are offering a tribute to the Dragon King. Didn’t you see the Dragon King took it? Our village voluntarily makes offerings to the Dragon King. We didn’t drag your family’s pig into this..."

"Exactly, this time the Dragon King has come to help us manage the waters. If we don’t show some gratitude, who will come next time the waters rise..."

The manager, denounced by the crowd, was frustrated to the point of metaphorically spitting blood: I was wrong, I really was wrong. I just complimented myself for being smart, and now I’m confused! As long as we’re not offering young boys and girls to the Dragon King, what’s the big deal with one fat pig...

’The Dragon King’ was still at the bottom of the river mulling over whether to go up and inquire which family’s fat pig had fallen into the water or to just silently go back and turn this pig into a feast of dishes...