A Gathering of Heroes series: Anhu

Chapter 8 (Li)

I walk slowly among the rotting buildings, smelling the stink of excrement, urine, and disease. It's worse than what it was last time, I reflect. But what really bothers me isn't the state of the village. It's-

"Qiuhuo!" I call out. "Don't stray too far away!" I see her wave her hand noncommittally as she disappears around a mound of worn clay that may have been a dwelling at one point.

"What is this?" Xiaolong whimpers, grasping my hand tightly.

"This is the remains of that village ravaged by disease and poison," I state grimly. I say remains of the village, but clearly, villagers still live here. I see them peering warily at us from the buildings that are barely even standing. And ever since stepping foot in this village, I have been feeling someone's intense glare on the back of my neck. I rub my neck with my free hand and look around again.

"This is ridiculous," Jiedao declares, kicking a stone angrily as he comes towards me. The stone skids to a stop in front of me and I stare at its worn dusty face, not unlike the faces of the villagers that peer at me from the shadows. "I talked to some of these people. After the whole poisoning incident, guess what our oh-so-magnanimous village overseer did? He raised their taxes! Song Zhi, that bastard, does he even have a shred of humanity!? I say we-"

"Shut up, Jiedao," Jianning interrupts, coming up behind him.

"You heard them too!" Jiedao cries accusingly. "How can you be so calm and, and unfeeling!? How can-"

"Jiedao," I interrupt this time. "What are we here for?"

"W-We..."

"This is not our territory. We already did what we could last time. The last thing that anyone wants is to get on the bad side of the government. Their lives may be hard now, but if you start a fight with the officials, how much worse would that make it?"

Jiedao looks back at me sullenly, but stays quiet this time.

"I remember you now," an old voice croaks, coming from the shadows of one of the rotting buildings. We look over. An old man hobbles out into the light and up to me to peer up at my face with squinting eyes. I look back at the shrunken old man, barely tall enough to reach my nose. A fresh waft of nauseating odor reaches me though, and it's all I can do to remain where I am to pay my respects to these pitiable villagers. Even the sensible Jianning has taken a few steps away from me with the man's approach and Xiaolong abandons my side in favor of Jiedao's distance. "I remember you," he repeats. "You came with the doctor to cure us last year around this time."

"Yes," I say quietly. "You must be the village chief from then. Mu-daren, wasn't it?"

He scoffs quietly. "What daren, with the state of the village now? All the able-bodied have left for greener pastures. The only ones left are the ones unable to move, unable to fend for themselves, unable to fight for their ancestral homes."

"I had heard that they built you a new canal, so that you would have fresh water, a new beginning."

Mu-daren scoffs again. "You are too naïve. Even if funds were sent, we never saw any of it. The peak of the village was when you came, when we truly thought that we could recover from the mysterious disease. It has been a downward spiral since. Nothing can lift us from the mud and grime that we live in now." Then, his voice softens. "You are the first, listening to me without cringing. It must be hard for you."

I smile sadly. I feel like I should reach out and take his hand at this moment, that vulnerable hand of the once distinguished village chief. But I don't. Instead, I ask quietly, "You never discovered the cause of the disease?"

"The cause wasn't natural, that's for sure. My son had looked into it after you left. The only thing we can say is that someone wants to destroy all of the villages along this water source. We weren't the only village to fall victim to this, you know."