Under One Person: One Person Goes

Chapter 7 A Glimpse into the Future

July, county town, Nanhu Restaurant.

A young man wearing a bamboo hat, a jacket, shorts, carrying a bamboo fishing rod and a fish basket walked into the restaurant. Seeing the young man coming in, the waiter in charge of welcoming guests also came forward, took the fish basket from the young man very familiarly, asked him to sit down, and joked.

"Hey, brother, are you going fishing at Nanhu Lake again? The fish you caught is quite big, same as usual? Nanhu vinegar fish, spicy potatoes and braised pork with a side of greens?"

"That's right. We can't afford West Lake vinegar fish, so we'll just eat this South Lake vinegar fish to satisfy our craving. As usual, send it to my room when it's ready."

"Hey, you're welcome, brother."

The young man was naturally Wang Yi who came to the county town. Wang Yi, who had arrived at this most critical node of the earth-shaking change early, spent some money and subscribed to a restaurant by the South Lake. Fortunately, in the past few years, Ghost Hand King had made a little income from street performances, and from time to time he could meet a few landlords and even foreigners. His performances were good, and they gave him generous rewards. He saved up a small treasury that was not bad, and with the money left by Ghost Hand King before he left, Wang Yi had the funds to play the monthly package here.

Wang Yi spent nearly 10 silver dollars on food and drink for the whole month. It can only be said that there have been fewer wars in this land in the past two years, and the common people can breathe a sigh of relief. Although many people still cannot survive, at least here, it is peaceful for the time being. 10 silver dollars for a month's food and drink is not too expensive.

After settling down, Wang Yi did one thing: he regarded himself as a tourist who came here to travel and see the scenery, and integrated himself into this county town.

Every morning, he would wander around the county town. To hide his identity, he even changed himself into a long gown. With his temperament brought by years of Qi training, he really looked like a child from a scholarly family. In this disguise, he seemed to have no purpose in the county town, but he was scouting everywhere.

For example, there are several roads leading out of the county, the name of the warlord stationed near the county, how many troops he controls, and which warlord he is affiliated with. There are countless warlords these days. As long as you have a gun, a few thousand people under your command, and you have a good mountain, you can say that you are a small warlord and you can do whatever you want in the territory that others have allocated to you.

Although Wang Yi has made great progress in practicing Qi, he is still a mortal after all. With all his skills, he could be a powerful general who could defeat thousands of enemies in the era of cold weapons. But in today's modern times when hot weapons are developing rapidly, if he charges into the battle line so recklessly, with hundreds of people forming a formation and raising their guns, he will end up like a hornet's nest.

After finding the right spot and figuring out the origins of the warlords stationed here, Wang Yi completely put himself into the role of a tourist.

He chartered a small fishing boat and every day he would carry a newspaper, fishing rod and fish basket and cruise on Nanhu Lake on the chartered small fishing boat. He was an unqualified time traveler. He only remembered that in this year, in this month, in this county, on this lake, an earth-shaking event would happen, but he had forgotten the exact time.

So he could only take the stupid approach. On the one hand, he swam on the lake as a fisherman just in case; on the other hand, he read the newspaper every day to see the foreign concessions, the concessions of various countries, and the various measures of the Beiyang government. After all, the damage caused by the end of the world war had triggered many liberation movements at home and abroad, and new ideas and new cultures were endless. As the vested interests of the time, the Beiyang warlords and the concession powers had to declare their own legitimacy while sending forces to suppress both inside and outside the country.

If you want to see these shady dealings hidden in the undercurrent at the first time, you either have to be in the middle of it or have a keen sense of smell. Wang Yi is not like that. Although he did not remember every event in the past few decades, he could guess the big events that were about to happen by looking back from the downstream of the times.

Just like now, July is already halfway through, Wang Yi has been patrolling the South Lake for so long, but still hasn't waited for the big ship, so he knows that the incident will probably happen in the second half of the month. But Wang Yi doesn't dare to relax because of this, he just doesn't worry as much as before.

That's why this scene happened in the morning. Carrying the big fish caught from Nanhu Lake, Wang Yi asked the waiter to prepare a Nanhu vinegar fish for him like the famous dish West Lake vinegar fish. He also took a bath to relax his body and mind. Then, in his room, Wang Yi ate the meal prepared and delivered by the waiter.

Wang Yi was only halfway through his meal when his ear moved slightly. He opened the window and looked at the policeman who was hurriedly rushing towards him in the distance on the street, frowning slightly.

"The frequency of patrols has been quite high recently. It seems that there are capable people over there. However, the frequency and intensity of the inspections are not high yet. Tsk, I hope everything will pass peacefully."

Eating rice and watching the policemen hurrying up and down below, it seemed like nothing much except for causing a little commotion on the street, but Wang Yi always felt a little uneasy in his heart, and he couldn't put his finger on it.

But soon, as the day approached, uninvited guests began to gather in this medium-sized county town.
-
"Who's the boss here?"

At lunch time, when everyone was busy, there was a commotion at the door of the restaurant, followed by rude shouting. The shopkeeper, who was counting the bills, looked at the armed patrolman and the fierce-looking man who looked like a martial artist. He cursed him in his heart, but still took out ten silver dollars from the cabinet and trotted over.

"Yes, I am. Thank you, Boss. Thank you, Boss. What can I do for you?"

He bowed and nodded before the chief of the police force and silently handed over the ten silver dollars.

He weighed it with his hand and thought to himself that he was sensible. He glanced at the big man next to him inconspicuously. The big man turned a blind eye to the small movement happening under his nose. Instead, his hawk-like eyes swept over everyone in the field who were eating or dared not to look at what was happening here. Wang Yi, who was eating downstairs, was also a target he wanted to observe.

"What orders? The commander has ordered us to investigate the rebels!"

"Oh my! Boss, how come the investigation into the rebels has come to our place? We are a legitimate business."

"But you have gathered here from all walks of life. Who knows if the rebels will come here? Go over and get the guest list for this period of time."

The boss dared not say anything after being put under such a heavy accusation by the chief of police. He could only take the guest registration list and wonder whether he should give more as a gift to the person next to the chief of police. He was worried that he had worked for a day in vain.

Although he was annoyed, he did not stop his actions. He handed over the roster and the chief of police flipped through the pages one by one. The boss' heart was beating fast. The fierce-looking man who came with the chief of police was also patrolling around the tavern.

Those who were stared at by him did not dare to look him in the eye, and Wang Yi was no exception.

After a round of investigation, the chief of the police did not find any clues from the list. Of course, he could not look for them carefully, nor did he have the ability to do so. They did not have the courage to arrest the rioters, but they did have the courage to make a lot of money by arresting the rioters.

After walking down this street today, the gifts they received were enough to allow them to spend several days at the prostitutes' houses and opium dens.

The man who had searched in vain returned to the chief of patrol and said a word. The chief of patrol, who understood the situation, then returned the list to his boss.

"Alright, brothers, pack up and go to the next store. Boss, please report anything unusual!"

"Hey, sure, sure."

The boss bowed and nodded at the door as he watched these plague gods leave. The tavern, which had been silent a moment ago, gradually became lively again. Only Wang Yi, after hurriedly finishing his meal, went upstairs and looked out the open window at the police team that was leaving, the police team that was making a scene at the other end, and the big man who hadn't made any move from beginning to end.

Wang Yi understood that the big man was an extraordinary person.

"This body and shape, most likely he has practiced horizontal kung fu, and he has seen blood. What you fear will come true."

The thing he least wanted to see happened. If it was just a simple warlord cooperating with the great powers in the large-scale manhunt, he could understand it. He was just afraid that there would be aliens involved. The current situation was turbulent, and the factions in the alien circle were not as clear-cut as after the peace. There were black, white and gray, and there were many sects with different methods. God knows whether these aliens involved would have other methods. Although he already knew the result, Wang Yi still didn't dare to gamble.

"How does that saying go, if there's a gun in the first act, then it's bound to go off before the end of the third act? It looks like I'm that gun, but I don't know how many people will cry when my gun goes off."

Watching the patrol team gradually disappearing from sight, Wang Yi's expression gradually turned cold.

In the following days, these policemen came to harass the people every now and then. They also knew the principle of exhausting the pond to catch fish, and they would not harass the shop owners every time. However, after such a commotion during this period, all the shops on the street had no business, and they were just trying to make ends meet. The people were even more miserable. You collected the protection fee before, and now we just want to live a peaceful life but you won't let us live in peace? Do you really want to force us to rebel?

The county magistrate also knew that they had gone too far during this period, and after saying hello to the gentry and local warlords, the situation became slightly calmer, but the patrol frequency of the police was still higher than before.

As for Wang Yi, he stayed on the chartered fishing boat during this period of time as he did before, letting the boatman take him around Nanhu Lake, circle after circle, as if he was making some arrangements, but only he knew what was going on.

Time passed day by day, and before we knew it, it was July 23rd.

Wang Yi was still lying on the bow of the fishing boat, dozing off, with his hat covering his face and his raincoat draped over him, letting the tiny raindrops fall on the calm lake, creating ripples.

The boatman had also gotten used to the poet-like behavior of this wealthy tenant, and he began to sing fishermen's songs on the South Lake in response to the continuous drizzle.

Unconsciously, waves of fog rose from the calm lake, covering the entire lake.

It was drizzling, the sky was cloudy, and layers of fog covered the surface of Nanhu Lake. Even the boatmen on the boat stopped singing unconsciously and just focused their attention on watching the fog rising from the lake, rowing carefully for fear of hitting the boat.

Layers of fog shroud the surface of Nanhu Lake, just like the world we are in right now. Everyone living in this world doesn't know where the world will go in the future.
-
Suddenly, Wang Yi, who was dozing at the bow, stood up suddenly and just stood there, looking straight ahead.

Not far ahead of him, a ship was looming in the fog.

A gust of wind blew up from the lake unconsciously, blowing up the water in the lake and dispersing the thick fog, revealing the true appearance of the ship.

As he waved his sleeves to blow away the fog that filled the lake, he also said to the boatman: "Boatman, please go back. It would be a pity not to take a closer look at such a rare scenery."

"Young man, it's not impossible to go back, but you see there are so many patrolmen on the lake recently. It would be a pity to run into them."

"Don't worry, they won't run into you."

Wang Yi stood steadily at the bow, with his hands behind his back, and responded to the boatman indifferently.

Since the sponsor had spoken, the boatman didn't care. He turned around and once again sailed on the lake.

At this moment, just as the boatman had just said, a dozen black-sailed boats temporarily requisitioned by the police were wandering on the lake, seemingly looking for something.

But no matter what they were searching for on the lake, they ignored all the boats on the lake and just did what they were supposed to do.

Wang Yi just stood on the lake and watched the policemen gradually lose their patience, return to the shore, and then leave.

He knew that his mission was over.

After getting ashore, Wang Yi looked back with nostalgia at the lake behind him. The fog that suddenly rose from the lake dissipated, the continuous drizzle stopped, and the sunlight shone through the clouds onto the sparkling lake, rippling Wang Yi's mind.

(End of this chapter)