Even Clay Figures Have Some Fire

Looking at each burly man, Tom felt no fear. He had killed mutated ants, cockroaches, and rats. Now, struggling to survive here, threatened by a group of gangsters, he couldn't possibly bow down.

"Uncle Seven, step aside, or don't blame me for disregarding our twenty years of friendship!" Uncle Seven said menacingly. "If I don't take care of this kid who dares to challenge me today, I, Uncle Seven, won't need to walk on this street anymore!"

"He's my patient. You can't touch him! At least until he's fully recovered!" Uncle Wei stood firm.

"Is that so? Think about your grandson, Tianzi. Have you thought about him? Are you sure you want to stop me?"

Seeing Tianzi beside Tom, Uncle Wei sighed and reluctantly said, "Tianzi, come with me."

Tom patted Tianzi's head, signaling him to leave quickly. Enduring the intense pain in his chest, Tom stood up. Even if he died, he would stand and face it, refusing to kneel and beg for mercy.

"Kid, you've got some guts! I admire that. I'll break you later..." 

"Enough talk, come at me!" Tom shouted. "What do you mean I've never stepped on an ant? Can you still rely on past knowledge to judge future events? Could you step on ants now? People have shrunk, Uncle. The world's common sense has been overturned!"

"I tell you, and you don't believe it. You doubt but refuse to verify. Do you want me to tell you there's a safe full of gems and have me take you to find them to satisfy you? If you think like that, I can't satisfy you. Don't talk about breaking legs or arms; just kill me outright. But before you kill me, I'll pull a few people down with me. Try me!"

Even clay figures have some fire. Struggling to survive until today, just because of a few words, the other party wanted to kill him. Even someone as easy-going as Tom couldn't help but get angry.

"Oh, the kid is lecturing me now, hahaha!" Uncle Seven laughed instead of getting angry, pointing at Tom with pride, and the other thugs laughed along.

"Li Qiang told me he followed an honorable figure like Uncle Seven, who talks about loyalty to his men and righteousness to others. Turns out he's just an old stubborn guy." Tom shook his head, took a deep breath, and said, "I've answered truthfully about the gems, believe it or not."

"Wait, did you just mention Li Qiang? Have you seen Li Qiang?" 

Tom was taken aback. He had just mentioned it casually; how did this guy bring the topic here?

"Li Qiang and I lived in the same building. We escaped from the ant queen's nest together. When we evacuated the night before last, the wild cats attacked the aircraft, and he got thrown out. Now his fate is unknown."

Uncle Seven stopped his restless men, approached Tom, and looked into his eyes. "You didn't lie to me? About the gems, about Li Qiang?"

Tom stared back without fear. "I, Tom, walk straight and stand tall. I don't need lies to survive!" He answered in Cantonese, a phrase he learned from TV, though a bit awkwardly. But his answer was filled with righteousness.

"Uncle Seven, don't believe this kid's nonsense. He said the aircraft's location was so far away; we can't verify it," one of the thugs with a scar on his face, the biggest among them, advised. "Hand him over to me, and I'll make him talk honestly..."

"Enough! Thirteen, tell the brothers to be on high alert. If they see mutated cockroaches or ants, kill one on the spot and dig it open. If there's no gem, I'll personally dig out this kid's heart. Let's go!" Uncle Seven waved his hand and left, decisive and swift.

After Uncle Seven and his men left the room, Tom collapsed back onto the mat. Beads of sweat the size of beans soaked the white cloth on his chest.

Uncle Wei hurried over to check his injuries. "Tom, did you lie to him? Are there really gems inside mutated insects?"

"Of course," Tom nodded. "Those I brought were all dug out by me personally. No mistake. But why are they so desperate for gems?"

"Money moves people. Those pure gems, especially those two big ones, are very valuable on the market."

Tom thought Uncle Seven's men could use the gems, hence their nervousness. It turned out they still adhered to the old world's values.

"Uncle Wei, did you see the big fire near our area a few days ago?"

"I did. Thick smoke. But don't tell me you started it."

Tom nodded. "Yes, I burned a nest of mutated ants. The fire burned for a day and night. But did you see any police or firefighters coming to put it out?"

"Maybe everyone around here has shrunk."

"Uncle Wei, you also know about the Hayway Group, I mean the Shen Group. They started making small things early on, from aircraft to firearms. They might have known people would shrink from the beginning and took preventive measures. Do you think it's just our area or the whole city that has shrunk?" 

Uncle Wei suddenly realized but still couldn't accept it. "You mean... everyone has shrunk, the whole country... even... it's impossible, who has that kind of ability?" But he understood Tom's point. If the Shen Group knew people would shrink here, why would they stay? They would have left long ago, unless they couldn't leave.

"Uncle Wei, nothing is impossible. You've all accepted the fact that you've shrunk. What else can't you accept?" 

"No... no... it's impossible..." Uncle Wei turned around desolately and slowly walked away, still unable to accept the situation.

Tom lay on the mat, hands behind his head. He knew Uncle Wei felt that it was already unfortunate enough for him and his grandson to shrink, but fortunately, his son was not in this city and escaped unscathed. Now, suddenly telling him that his son and daughter-in-law, who were far away, had also shrunk, he instinctively didn't want to accept it.

Later on, Uncle Wei brought a large tray with five cooked grains of rice on top, drizzled with some soup and two slices of shredded meat.

After a day of turmoil, Tom was famished. He sat up and took the food from Uncle Wei, eating one grain of rice at a time. People had shrunk, and a single grain of rice was almost equivalent to a loaf of bread. Five pieces of bread with toppings were enough to fill him up.

He noticed that Uncle Wei seemed a bit absent-minded, probably still unable to accept the situation. Tom didn't rush him and engaged in casual conversation.

Through their conversation, Tom understood his current situation better.

Uncle Wei's old clinic was on the second floor. Shortly after the rain stopped, black ants came looking for trouble, but Tom fought back and killed them. Coincidentally, Uncle Seven's henchman, Bozi, found him while collecting things and dragged him back. Uncle Seven saw the gems in Tom's backpack and immediately became interested. He handed Tom over to Uncle Wei, asking him to heal Tom and find out the source of the gems.

Many people on Old Street had low incomes, and Uncle Wei's old clinic was where they often sought treatment for injuries and illnesses. Over the past thirty years, many old neighbors recognized him.

Therefore, after being attacked by ants and cockroaches, those people chose to trek to Uncle Wei's old clinic for treatment and wait for government assistance.

Over time, Uncle Wei's clinic gathered around two hundred and thirty people, including Uncle Seven and his men who recently settled in Old Street.

Uncle Seven was originally from Old Street and had been involved in the underworld since he was young, gradually becoming a "tyrant" in the area. This time, he returned because of demolition issues, commissioned by real estate developers to come back to Old Street and "work on the neighborhood."

As the boss of a gang with more than forty men, Uncle Seven naturally became the leader of the survivors' gathering place in Uncle Wei's old clinic.

Uncle Wei and Uncle Seven had a previous friendship, and when Uncle Seven was injured before becoming the boss, he came to Uncle Wei for help, which saved his life.

With this relationship, Uncle Seven, as the leader of the survivors, didn't do anything excessive. Besides ensuring priority access to food and medical care, Uncle Seven's men also became the main fighting force in the gathering place. In their battles against ants and cockroaches, they had summarized many rules, such as when someone died, they had to burn the body to prevent ants and other creatures from getting stronger by eating human flesh.

People shrank, reducing their food requirements, but with so many people, Uncle Wei's old clinic had gathered over two hundred and thirty people. Therefore, Uncle Seven had to send his men, leading male survivors, out every few days to break into houses and shops on the street to find any useful food and bring it back.

Every time they went out, there were dozens of people. It was relatively easy when encountering just a dozen or so ants or cockroaches, so they didn't have to worry about survival issues for the time being.

When the shelter opened on April 17th, Uncle Seven didn't plan to go there. Firstly, it was too far, and it wasn't certain that they would be saved if they took the risk to go there. Secondly, they would have to take a long detour to get there, and there were wild cats lurking near the intersection of Old Street. They were also afraid of being eaten by wild cats.

From Uncle Wei's observations, some of Uncle Seven's men had begun to show signs of negativity. The pistol brought by Tom gave them hope, knowing that at least the Shen Group had enough weapons to arm the little people in the city. That place was everyone's shelter.

Tom remembered Li Qiang mentioning that some of Uncle Seven's men had ulterior motives that night on the rooftop, and Uncle Seven had a hard time suppressing them. Now it seemed to be true. Otherwise, Uncle Seven wouldn't be so eager to pry the source of the gems from Tom's mouth to consolidate his prestige.

They hoped that after arriving at the shelter of the Hayway Group, they could rely on the gems they collected as capital to exchange for a livelihood. It must be said that this idea was completely in line with what Li Zexin said to Tom about the "currency of the new era."

Fortunately, they didn't know the true function of the gems and even the crystals. If someone among Uncle Seven's men obtained the power activated by the crystal, it would probably be a new reshuffle for the people in this clinic.

Tom didn't intend to tell anyone about this matter to avoid leaks. He had to recover as soon as possible, find an opportunity to get the red crystal, and rely on the enhanced power to provide security for himself.

With this plan in mind, Tom focused on recuperating and didn't care about the outside world.

However, in the middle of the night, Uncle Seven came to his mat without a sound.

Tom was very alert, even though he was recuperating, he maintained a half-asleep state, so he noticed Uncle Seven's arrival the first time. "Uncle Seven?"

"Will Qiang... did he fall to his death?"

"Qiang?" Tom was puzzled. Why did he suddenly bring up someone named Qiang? Who was this Qiang?

Wait a minute... Qiang... Tom suddenly figured it out. "You mean Li Qiang?"