The Fierce Dragon Kingdom No. 3 Primary School.
The alarm suddenly sounded!
The children still studying in their classrooms ran for the doors in the shortest time.
"Don't panic, everyone; line up. In order!"
The teachers led the pupils at the front.
The great door to the shelter beneath the school opened.
Indicator lights lit up all over the school, with red arrows.
The pupils of every class filed into the underground shelter in orderly lines.
Inside, this underground shelter was divided into areas, and every area even had its name written up in advance:
such-and-such a year, such-and-such a class,
the medical room,
the toilets,
and so on.
In this underground palace there was everything one could want.
"Year 3, Class 1, all of you, sit down cross-legged. Count off!" a woman teacher said loudly, looking around at the pupils she had brought down.
Row after row of small pupils counted off.
The children's young voices rang out, starting from one.
"First row, ten!"
"Second row, ten!"
"Third row, ten."
"Fourth row, ten."
Only on hearing that all forty were present did the woman teacher let out a breath of relief.
Where some classes were all present, naturally some classes were not.
"What's going on? Why are there only thirty-nine? Who's missing?" a man teacher said, looking at the class he led.
His gaze fell on the row with only nine.
"Xu Shaoyang isn't here." The pupils in this row checked among themselves at once and soon found which pupil was missing.
"Xu Shaoyang?" The man teacher noted the name at once.
"Class monitor, keep an eye on all your classmates; nobody leaves their place without permission."
The man teacher picked up his walkie-talkie, about to report that his class was one short.
Just then a chubby little boy came running over, out of breath.
It was the very Xu Shaoyang who had been missing at roll call.
"Xu Shaoyang, where did you run off to?" The man teacher stared at Xu Shaoyang.
Xu Shaoyang said, aggrieved, "I… I had the runs; when the alarm went off I was still in the bathroom. I really didn't fall behind on purpose. I… didn't even have time to wipe properly… I just ran here."
Hearing Xu Shaoyang's words, everyone could not help looking at Xu Shaoyang's backside.
"All right, back to your place," the man teacher said helplessly.
The man teacher took out his walkie-talkie: "Year 5, Class 1, all present."
At one spot,
a vice-principal held a form, ticking off the names of the classes one by one.
Where a class was short, she would write how many were missing and who.
At last the alarm stopped.
"This drill is over. All teachers and pupils completed evacuation within ten minutes, with not one person missing. Everyone did very well. Now please return to your classes in order. Once back in class, would every class teacher please go over again with the pupils what to do if they hear the alarm outside school," the broadcast said.
Only then did everyone let out a breath of relief.
"Stand up and line up to go back to class." The teachers led their own pupils back to their classes one after another.
Some of the older pupils muttered quietly.
"A drill every two or three days; isn't it exhausting? I could just about recite the procedure by now."
A teacher heard this and looked at these pupils.
He said gravely, "The hive-race crisis is about to arrive. Every one of these drills is a safeguard for your lives. When that time comes, whether you can get into this underground shelter on time bears directly on your lives."
The pupils went back to their classes.
The class teachers began their safety lessons too.
"Our class did very well today. So I'll ask you all: if you're outside school and hear the alarm, what should you do?" The woman teacher at the lectern looked at the little children below.
The little children raised their hands one after another.
"Zhou Fangfang." The woman teacher called on a pupil.
The girl stood up.
"Go to the nearest shelter. If you're with your parents, stay close to your parents. If you're not with your parents, don't panic either. Once in the shelter, find a staff member wearing a red badge on the shoulder, tell them who you are, and do as they say."
"Very good. Then I'll ask another question. If you meet danger before you reach a shelter, and a big bug appears outside, what do you do?" the woman teacher went on, and pointed at a boy.
"If you can't get into a shelter within ten minutes, or you're already in danger, you should hide at once. A wardrobe, a car, under a bed, any narrow, safe place. Then make sure you're wearing your school badge. And wait for the soldiers to come and rescue you." The boy pointed at the school badge pinned to his chest.
Inside the school badge was a locator, which could be switched on and off remotely.
The teacher asked one question after another, and the pupils had long since been able to answer them all fluently.
"Last, a pop quiz. Find the shelters on the map." The woman teacher took out the test papers.
——————
A housing compound.
Princess Polly looked at the children eating with relish.
"When you've finished eating, check your schoolbags. Remember to keep your schoolbag somewhere you can grab it easily. As soon as you hear the alarm, pick up your schoolbag and go. And don't put too much in your schoolbag. I'm confiscating somebody's toys!"
"Aw!" a boy said with a face as long as a bitter melon.
"Every single thing in your schoolbag is vital; it makes sure you can survive outside!" Princess Polly said gravely.
At this time
the evening news was on the television.
"Today is August 24. From midnight tonight, the whole of our Fierce Dragon Kingdom will enter grade-1 combat readiness. Rest assured, everyone: the Fierce Dragon Kingdom will protect the safety of every citizen. When you meet danger, just follow the guidance in the emergency handbook. Next, on the latest model from the Fierce Dragon No. 2 Heavy Mecha Works…"
Princess Polly watched this news report, her expression somewhat grave.
Without their noticing, a year had passed since they learned of the Bug-Bug Plan.
And after tonight came what the Fierce Dragon Kingdom had told the world: there would be hive-race attacks.
"How are things on your side? Busy?" Princess Polly looked at her younger brother,[1] a man in a police officer's uniform.
His chopsticks never stopped.
His eyes were somewhat tired.
"Of course it's busy. The closer the time gets, the more people there are who won't do as they're told. People who believe in the Bug Cult. People who think this is a punishment the gods are giving us. All sorts, in short. And some have just gone mad and want to go wild in the time that's left. Reported cases are up threefold year on year! Luckily the AI system that went live recently has cut our workload a bit. Otherwise it'd really be a mess. But from tomorrow on, I'll probably have to stand by at the station. I'll have to trouble you to look after things at home, Sis."
"Mm. You take care of yourself too."
"I wonder how things are with Royal Father. I wanted them to take leave and come over to us, so we could look after them. But he insisted the students still have lessons and he can't leave. He really does love being a teacher now."
That night, many households did not turn off their lights, and many did not sleep well.
They were all worried whether the sun would still rise the next day,
whether the streets outside would still be as they had been the day before.
Many people could not sleep.
So many went to work the next day with dark rings under their eyes.
But fortunately, disaster did not break out at once.
The sun rose as usual, the streets were as jammed as ever, and work was the same old daily grind.
This let everyone breathe a sigh of relief.
Though they knew the notice had not said the hive-race crisis would descend the moment the time came;
it had only said that from this point on, the crisis might appear at any moment.
As for when it would appear, the first day, the first month, or whether they would wait a year or so, no one knew.
Still, some changes could be seen in the cities.
At some important places, troops had quietly moved in the night before.
On some streets armored vehicles could be seen standing guard, with several fully armed soldiers around them.
At the same time, the staff on every emergency phone line had been tripled.
The power of every shelter was on around the clock.
And what was not known was
that from this moment on, for everyone within the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's system, all rest days were canceled, all leave was canceled, and no one could ask for leave without necessary cause.
Everyone stood by around the clock.
And every weapon was ready.
At some missile-launch positions, the missiles were even already mounted.
The missile launcher vehicles had all been parked and spread out.
The antiaircraft guns were all set up, aimed at the sky.
So long as it was not pouring rain, everything looked ready to fight at any moment.
In a barracks,
squad after squad of fully armed soldiers sat in rooms within the camp.
They checked their guns and magazines, their eyes as sharp as eagles'.
Every so often someone looked at the sky outside.
But some had their heads down on the table, asleep.
"Hey, Lao San. How can you still sleep? What if the bugs come right now?"
"They come, we fight," said the soldier called Lao San.
"I say, all of you, don't hold yourselves so tense. Just be like Lao San. The bugs come, we fight, and that's that. What damn use is being nervous?" the squad leader beside them said with disdain, looking at their raw-recruit airs.
"Squad leader, if you're not nervous, could you take your hand off your gun? You've walked back and forth once and put your hand on it three times. I'm worried that if the bugs don't come today, you'll mow me down as a bug," a soldier teased.
The others roared with laughter.
In an office in the camp,
an officer looked at his subordinate coming in: "How are things in the camp now?"
"Everyone's very tense. Even the units given rest can't settle down at all right now." The subordinate took off his cap, walked to the window and looked out at the camp.
"I know everyone's nerves are tight. But everything goes by our plan. All units on four rotating shifts: one shift resting, one on combat standby, one training, one in reserve. We have to be ready at any moment to bring out a unit that can fight, and win when it fights!" the officer said decisively.
"Rest assured, sir. Our soldiers are the best; nothing whatever will go wrong."
The officer nodded, his expression grave: "We're one of the units stationed outside the Fierce Dragon capital, guarding the capital's safety; we have to keep our wits about us twelve times over. There can't be the slightest slip. Otherwise we'll have failed the trust His Fierce Dragon Majesty has placed in us!"
——————
This first day, nothing at all happened.
It seemed life was just as it always had been.
Then the second day, the third day,
and the whole week, all was as usual.
This even began to make some people doubt whether the prophecy of the hive-race threat was true or false.
Spending so much manpower, material and money to meet such a crisis: was it really worth it?
Within the Fierce Dragon Kingdom, things were still all right.
But in other countries, more voices of opposition had already begun to appear.
Above all in some countries that, having copied the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's present methods wholesale, demanded drills every so often and strict observance of every rule.
Under such methods, some were bound to grow resentful.
When a month had passed in the blink of an eye,
in some countries this had even broken out into clashes.
Zhao Chen, in his office, listened to the news Secretary Officer Barbara reported to him.
"Yesterday, in the Nancy Empire on the Southern Continent, a clash broke out. It was because yesterday a crowd took to the streets in a march, claiming this hive-race invasion business is only a rumor, a way for those on top to get the taxes they pay. They demanded that all the present wasteful preparations stop. The Nancy Empire sent police to steady the situation. The marchers threw incendiary bombs and smoke bombs. The two sides clashed. In the clash, three people died and one police officer was injured."
Zhao Chen listened to this news.
His expression did not change.
"The same thing is happening in some other kingdoms too; some cities have even stopped their drills and some of their combat-readiness plans. And those countries' ambassadors keep asking us whether the news of a hive-race invasion is reliable. On every social platform, people are arguing over whether it's a rumor."
Zhao Chen looked calmly at the sky outside: "Pay no attention to all that. We only need to do what we ought to do."
——————
The Nancy Empire.
After the first clash of the marches broke out,
because people had died, public opinion simply exploded.
Marches sprang up everywhere.
Because of over a year of pent-up feeling, many people burst out at this moment.
Many took to the streets and tore down the slogans hung up that year for the Bug-Bug Plan.
Some even tried to storm the shelters, wanting to smash them.
"Your Majesty, this is still building. If it goes on, it may be hard to handle," a minister said, looking worriedly at the Nancy Empress.
But the Nancy Empress said with a cold expression, "What's hard to handle about it? If they want to march, let them march. But no smashing, looting or burning; everyone who takes part is to be arrested and punished without mercy. Above all those who still want to break into the shelters and loot supplies. Deal with them all with the utmost severity!"