Chapter 2446: The Bohai Dragon King
The terrain of northern China largely consisted of vast valleys. Zhang Xiaohou and his men were flying to the north along the coastline of the East China Sea. A meandering black line of mountain ranges was splitting the boundless land and the majestic sea apart.
White waves were splashing on the cliffs between the land and the sea. The waves gradually dissipated in ripples at the gentler spots, but rose over seven meters high at the stormier locations.
"The coastline is extending further to the east," Hua Yuezhu pointed out.
"It means we are close to the Bohai Sea. We will soon arrive at Qinhuangdao."
The dragon beasts had only stopped for a rest once between the journey from the Magic City to Qinhuangdao located to the north of Bohai Sea. Their endurance was significantly better than the Heavenly Eagles.
If their country had a dragon tamer clan like England, the whole military could turn over a new leaf!
"I can see the towns and villages. It's strange how they still haven't built dams along the coastline. I can still see people living there. Aren't they afraid of the sea monsters?" a scout asked, puzzled by what he was seeing.
"The south is prone to typhoons, huge storms, and even tsunamis throughout summer. Most of the sea monsters have gathered in the East China Sea. The Bohai Sea is much less dangerous in comparison," Tan Feng told him.
"But it's still too dangerous. The coastlines across the world are currently under Orange Alert. Certain countries have even placed their coastlines under Blue or Red Alerts.
"Human territory is shrinking rapidly, and our agriculture is heavily impacted. Once the Headquarters Cities are finished, each of them will have tens of million people. What are we going to eat without land to plant food?" Tan Feng asked rhetorically.
The situation was looking grim for the country. The truth was, whenever the condition of the sea roughened, the sea harvest for the whole country would diminish. Every place would start running short on food, let alone when farmlands were also abandoned.
Therefore, certain agricultural areas were not evacuated, in order to stock up on as much food as possible.
---
"What's down there?" Zhang Xiaohou asked.
"That should be Luning County. It mainly supplies seafood to the whole country. It's managed by a conglomerate," Tan Feng told his boss. He had done some research before coming here. He was quite familiar with Qinhuangdao.
"I wonder if it was my imagination," Zhang Xiaohou murmured.
"What did you see?" Hua Yuezhu asked quickly.
Zhang Xiaohou pointed at a misty area close to the sea and said, "I thought I saw a residential building facing the sea over there. It was the wide and long kind, but..."
Zhang Xiaohou purposely ordered the Flying Dragon to reduce its altitude so he could take a closer look.
The buildings were like small building blocks from so high above. The streets were like tiny lines crossing paths with one another, so Zhang Xiaohou wondered if he was imagining things.
The Flying Dragon started descending from the sky. It held its wings straight and glided down. It was perfectly stable despite the strong air resistance.
"I think the building collapsed. There's only debris left. Perhaps an Earth Mage has demolished it?" Tan Feng ventured.
"This area is currently under Orange Alert. Even if the buildings are abandoned, they are advantageous platforms for the Mages to fight sea monsters on. Why would they bother wasting their time and effort demolishing the buildings?" Hua Yuezhu spoke up, concerned by the fact.
Zhang Xiaohou shared the same thought. Every building close to the sea was a useful assembling spot for the Mages when they were fending off the sea monsters.
"General, look!" The head scout pointed in another direction.
It was some old gray buildings, but there were still clothes being dried on the balconies. The buildings were obviously occupied.
From their angle, they could see people, who looked like tiny sand particles from this height, running into the open outside the building.
The people were escaping from the building. It looked like they were moving very slowly because Zhang Xiaohou and his men were watching from such a great altitude.
The buildings started collapsing as huge clouds of dust were swept into the air. The buildings in the whole area had collapsed in just several minutes!
The buildings did not break or crumble, but the floors, walls, and pillars had all turned into powder. The dust being swept into the air looked like a giant ball from above.
"Is there an attack!?" Hua Yuezhu immediately exclaimed in alarm.
The buildings clearly did not collapse because they were being demolished. There were residents still fleeing from the buildings.
To their relief, the buildings had turned into powder as they were collapsing. Otherwise, the falling debris would have resulted in great casualties.
"Captain Tian, go check it out," Zhang Xiaohou ordered.
"Affirmative!"
The head scout dove down with his Triumphant Eagle Dragon, leaving a spectacular spiraling flow of air along its trail.
---
The head scout returned after some time. He saluted and said, "General, I didn't discover any demon creatures."
Zhang Xiaohou was constantly observing the ground and the area. He also had not picked up any presence of sea monsters.
"What did the people say?" Hua Yuezhu asked sharply.
Tan Feng immediately glared at Hua Yuezhu. Hua Yuezhu realized she been too eager, and lowered her head like she had made a mistake.
"What did the people say?" Zhang Xiaohou repeated helplessly.
"The people said the same thing has happened in the past. The people would build wooden huts with coniferous trees on the beach and let the waves carry them away. Apparently, the Bohai Sea has a Dragon King that is fond of them. It would take away the huts to repair its undersea palace," the head scout said.
"What Dragon King? There are only sea monsters in the sea!" Hua Yuezhu protested.
"Rumors of the Dragon King are common in the East and South China Seas, and the Bohai Sea. They each have a different version of the legend," Tan Feng corrected her.
"So you are saying it's a common phenomenon around here?" Zhang Xiaohou asked.
"Yes, according to the residents. They say a lot of people have forgotten about the old legend, so the Dragon King is angry at them. It has destroyed the buildings without hurting anyone as a warning," the head scout said.
Zhang Xiaohou was completely puzzled at this point.
On the other hand, there were too many unexplainable phenomena in the world. If the same thing had happened in the past, they would not have worried too much about it, as long as there were no casualties.
