Chapter 1354
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The disaster had come from the words spoken. That was Grandma Gu’s evaluation of what had happened to former Deputy Director Yan. Zhang Zian agreed.
He walked out of the office and looked at the insects that had covered the wall. Some of the bugs had a natural protective color, and the various colored outlines were like many eyes staring at him.
He remembered Vladimir’s chat with him before—if the caterpillar had some kind of group wisdom, would it be willing to be destroyed like this?
If they were not willing, would they have some kind of grievances?
And… Who would be angered by this?
This was not a problem with hundreds of thousands of worms. There were tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of caterpillars in all of Binhai City.
Well, his proposal to eliminate the caterpillars… Might it not be the same…? Would troubles come from the words he spoke?
Zhang Zian was quiet for a moment.
“Shouldn’t be…”
He whispered to himself to provide gentle relief.
Then again, now that the situation was like this, even if the caterpillars had huge resentment, their rage would be spearheaded to the city leader who presided over the pest control work. It should not be him. He was at most…the one who’d given a good idea. He would not be considered the principal offender. Following the principle that he who did not kill was not a murderer, he was willing to let the city leaders take full responsibility for the caterpillar massacre.
“What are you afraid of? The ants hold up the entire colony, and without them, there is no country to speak of!”
He decided to change his way of thinking. He straightened himself up.
So what if the caterpillars felt resentment? Anyone who was in his way of making money must be eliminated!
To hell with their resentment!
No problem at all!
However, this caterpillar invasion did have some suspicious points
Just now, he’d deliberately ignored the problem Grandma Gu had asked about. That is, where had so many caterpillars come from?
This was because he did not know the answer.
Whether it was domestically or in a foreign country, a caterpillar invasion was not a new thing. However, it had been out of the mainstream news’ line of sight because it did not cause severe consequences.
However, in general, only one type of caterpillar invaded a place. The city of Binhai seemed to have been invaded by the Eight-Power Allied Forces… No, eight countries were too few. It was more like 80 countries. Basically, every kind of caterpillar could be found in different areas of the coastal city. That by itself was rather unusual.
So, faced with Grandma Gu’s question, he could not answer because the situation was unusual.
Faced with things that he didn’t understand, his approach was not to think about it. Why waste his brain cells on them? He would leave them to the smart people, and he would instead focus on how to make money.
Over the next few days, with the successful hatching of caterpillar eggs, the pest disaster in the whole coastal city would reach new heights. People’s daily lives would be seriously affected, especially in the Dongcheng District, where the pet shop was located. It was the epicenter of the entire disaster, and most of the strange and hard-to-kill caterpillars were concentrated in this area.
For example, the numbers of the oak processionary caterpillar that Zhang Zian had talked about earlier were simply staggering. Also, with each caterpillar producing 63,000 poisonous hairs that could be blown away by the wind, it would be difficult for anyone to escape it.
Although the bristles could not penetrate the skin and were not poisonous if they were not touched directly, the venom itself nevertheless contained a protein called thaumetopoein. This was a type of protein that did not need to penetrate the skin to cause allergic reactions and rashes. These symptoms would arise as long as it touched the skin.
The flying poisonous hair could also fall into the eyes or be sucked into the lungs when breathed. This caused unbearable pain and could lead to blindness or asthma. In more severe cases, those who were allergic may even die.
Those who had a lot of money would think that they would not be affected. They could choose not to go to work and hide at home. However, they would be clearly mistaken. This was because they would still have to buy ingredients and cook. To buy these things, they would still have to be outside.
Even if they ordered takeout, under the attack of the poisonous hair in the air, the number of food delivery drivers would also be significantly reduced. An order of takeout made at noon may not even be delivered until night. Making money is important, but it couldn’t be done using one’s life.
The same was true for the couriers.
All major hospitals and community health centers would be full, and the situation would be more serious than any flu outbreak. People who’d been stung by caterpillars or had an allergic reaction, plus people who were in car accidents due to caterpillars… They would have to be admitted. To add on to those, there would be people who had heart attacks because they were scared by the caterpillars, people who miscarried… Doctors and nurses must cancel all their leave and work 24-hour-long shifts. Even so, they were grossly inadequate to handle the massive amount of patients constantly pouring into the hospitals.
There would also be those who would temporarily uproot themselves and move overseas for a brief respite. This might be the best solution, but not everyone would able to do so.
Besides important departments that maintained the national economy and people’s livelihoods that must continue to operate, Binhai City would be otherwise paralyzed.
Except perhaps the artificial forest near the landfill. As the efficacy of the pesticide had not completely subsided, the stray dogs would maintain the normal pace of scavenging. In addition, as the old ladies who picked up empty bottles in the city could not work normally, the number of empty bottles and cans in the landfill would skyrocket. The number of bottles collected every day by the stray dogs would be several times that of the usual… They may be the only ones benefitting from the insect disaster.
It was also because the issue had become such a hot topic that it finally caused the city leaders to pay enough attention to it.
The city leaders issued a televised speech. Everyone in Binhai City would be involved with enterprises, institutions, and agencies taking the lead. All private enterprises and public enterprises responded to the call to action. The university organized volunteers to help the most affected areas. The residents’ committees knocked on every door to ask every resident to contribute a little…The entire city of Binhai carried out a vigorous campaign to control the insects.
It was no exaggeration to say that the ability of socialist countries to get such efforts rolling was one of its greatest and was reflected in this matter.
The Department of Chemistry of Binhai University had produced a new type of insecticide, thought it was only in the testing stage. The Department of Biology where Wei Kang worked had proposed a biological control method for killing caterpillars. This was done by using pathogens to carry pathogenic microorganisms. Other research institutes had also offered suggestions and come up with a variety of ways to deal with the caterpillars.
The garrison and armed police soldiers of Binhai City were all dispatched to spray pesticides in the dense forests across Binhai City. At this time, no one could care about the effects of pesticides on the human body. Anyone who spoke against pesticides would be gravely subjected to verbal abuse.
Binhai’s Sister Cities sent experts to support the efforts, and the municipal government also hired foreign experts with experience in controlling pests to assist the city.
Reporters from all walks of life also came to Binhai.
The phrase “Insect Disaster in Binhai City” even appeared as one of the hot search terms on Weibo.
Zhang Zian participated in several expert meetings organized by the municipal government because of the strong recommendation put forth by the street office. He went for them and shared his own opinions at these meetings. He also met with his old acquaintance Professor Wei Kang in the meetings due to Wei Kang’s trip to Egypt. The results were quite fruitful.
Everyone had the same philosophy—that they must stop further deterioration of the situation.
The number of caterpillars that had appeared had simply become too overwhelming. If they continued to let them proliferate, the consequences would be unimaginable.