Do you believe me when I say I’m not a dragon?

"What happened? Why are you all gathered here?"

he asked, looking at the people around him.

"This... you'd better take a look for yourself."

Someone said this, and then the scholars made a way for him to come to the railing and look into the distance.

Harold looked up, his eyes slightly frozen, "That is..."

"Grey Miasma, Team Leader Harold." The scholar on the side whispered, "I don't know what happened, but the Gray Miasma suddenly spread to this place."

Originally you had to start the spacecraft to see traces of Gray Miasma, but now you only need to stand on the bow of the ship to feel the suffocating pressure rushing towards your face.

Even though he was mentally prepared in advance, Harold still found it incredible.

"Is there anything strange besides that?" he asked after calming down.

"It's not visible yet... but the current situation is weird enough. According to our calculations, under normal circumstances, if the gray miasma can spread to this distance, it will take at least a month of doing nothing for us to reach it. !”

The scholar said anxiously, his breathing was a little heavy, and Harold could even see the panic of unexpected situations in his eyes.

"Yeah..." Showing his forced composure, Harold closed his eyes and was silent for a while, then finally opened his eyes, showing a decisive expression.

"We have no choice, call everyone, including the Mori people, they need a backbone."

Chapter 37: Speech

In front of the open space in the village, everyone gathered together, looking uneasy and talking among themselves.

An atmosphere of tension and depression lingered among everyone, and along with the slow oppression of the gray miasma, it seemed as if we were facing an apocalyptic scene.

At this moment, in front of everyone, Harold looked solemn and slowly came to the temporary high platform.

As soon as they saw his appearance, the whispers among the crowd suddenly became quiet, and all eyes turned towards him.

"——Everyone."

Looking at everyone present, Harold looked solemn and said in a sad tone:

"I believe you are still extremely confused and overwhelmed by this gray miasma."

"'What the hell is going on?' 'What on earth should I do? 'Should we just give up?' I'm sure every one of you has had this thought..."

"--me too......"

Harold's tone gradually became sad, but at the same time, his emotions became more and more excited, and the quiet voice spread to every corner as everyone listened quietly:

“More than half a year has passed since the scholars and I came here, and we have been struggling for more than half a year. The changes that have occurred now have overturned all our efforts. The gray miasma has swallowed up not only this forest, but also the forest. And our hard work and our will!”

"If there really is a so-called god in this world, then this gray miasma is the punishment sent down by him! We should cower and escape! If the god wants this forest as its sacrifice, naturally we can't You should get involved!"

Under Harold's highly contagious speech, he said such negative words without caring about other people's eyes. For a while, the atmosphere gradually became depressed.

At this moment, Harold suddenly changed the subject:

"——If you think so, you are wrong, absolutely wrong!"

"This is not a punishment from God, this is just an accident in the ecosystem! So what if we are afraid and escape? This is not something to be ashamed of, this is a choice made for survival! It is our own decision!"

"I don't want to make the situation too serious, but the reality is that if you continue to stay here, many people will die as a result, and eventually the corpses of the deceased will become nourishment for the gray miasma to erode his former friends! "

"——But so what? We will leave here of our own will, and we will stay here of our own will!"

Harold's face turned red, he opened his hands and looked at everyone, and said excitedly:

"Whether we stick here and fight against the gray miasma, or leave here to find a new home? Everyone! No matter which path we choose, it is a decision made for survival!"

......

Ali stood in the crowd, watching Harold's speech quietly, but he was obviously absent-minded.

Kraft is missing…

He was there before the meeting, but for some reason, he was called away and did not come back during the speech.

And before that, Kraft had shown some strangeness. He became easily distracted, and sometimes stood by the window and whispered words such as "What on earth is he going to do...".

Not only that, after he was called away, he did not show any surprise, but left in a very depressed mood.

Ali also asked Kraft what happened, but he always interrupted at this time and changed the topic to another place.

"Yo? Ali?"

While Ali was thinking hard, a voice called him back from his thoughts.

He turned his head slightly and looked at the person who came, it was Ada.

"......it's me."

Ali nodded silently, confirming his question.

"What are you going to do?"

Ada's expression was still optimistic, but there was still a trace of sadness between his brows.

"I'm someone's bodyguard. I go wherever he goes."

"You're still like that."

Ah Da grinned, and finally looked towards the high platform and whispered:

"To be honest, I think what Mr. Harold said makes sense. 'I won't be ashamed to leave here' or something like that."

"......I feel so too."

"Of course, I personally don't want to leave. If I fight with that gray miasma, I will die here at worst." Ada crossed his arms and suddenly sighed: "But I don't want my grandparents to stay. My parents are also getting older. If you lose your home, you will lose your home. At least your life is still saved. It is the responsibility of young people to defend our home here, and they should not be allowed to shoulder the heavy responsibility again."

"So you want them to leave?"

"I want to persuade them." Ada scratched his head, hesitantly: "Besides, it would be good to take some people away, so that if those of us who stay in the village succeed in fighting the gray miasma, they will also have a chance to come back, right? "

"Um......"

Ali nodded silently, and at this moment, Harold spread his arms and shouted again.

But this time, his words made everyone's blood boil, and they wished they could fight the Gray Miasma. But at the same time, a concept left traces in their hearts - leaving here does not mean escaping.

Under the oppression of the gray miasma, the fear of threatening their lives, and Harold's wonderful speech, the ideas of the forest people have been shaken for generations.

Harold stood silently and the meeting was dissolved.

Ali returned to the apartment and was stunned for a moment when he saw Kraft with a dejected look on his face.

"You're back," Ali said.

"Back..." Kraft forced a smile, which was so ugly on his face.

"What have you been doing?"

"Team Leader Harold called me over. He told me something..." Kraft opened his mouth, but what came out of his mouth was indeed a sad sigh.

"Oh." Ali was not one to ask questions. He nodded and was about to go back to his room.

But after taking a few steps, he was stopped by Kraft.

"Ah, Ali...wait a minute..."

"what's up?"

"If..." Kraft spoke with difficulty, a look of racking his brains showed on his face: "If one day, you encounter a situation... you have to do it A certain thing, this thing will help many people, and some people have used this thing to help you in the past... But the thing itself is immoral, and even denies your creed, you Will you do it?”

"Well..." Ali frowned, thinking hard about his words, and finally said in confusion: "The help you mentioned, to what extent will it specifically help?"

"This may be enough to feed many people," Kraft said with a wry smile.

"Then I'll do it."

Without any hesitation, Ali calmly agreed:

"My family starved to death. This situation is very common on floating islands, so if it can make more people eat, I will do no matter how dirty it is."

Chapter 38: Escape

"I'm very sorry for saying such words and deeds without authorization..."

On the same day, not long after the speech, Harold visited the head of Lizi Village at his home and took the initiative to apologize:

"You should have been notified of such an important matter in advance, but I was also very emotional at the time..."

"It's too petty to care about such trivial things."

Taking a sip of honey water, Li Zi lowered her eyes:

"It's just that you actually said that leaving home is not an escape... Do you know what kind of thoughts this kind of words will leave in their hearts?"

"If I can save more people, I will never regret saying this, even if I am insulted by others, it doesn't matter." Harold said with a wry smile.

"You can help us for free, which is enough to prove your goodwill. How can we scold you?"

"We stay here to protect the ecology, and you are also part of this ecology, so we will naturally help you." Harold said this without changing his face, and then said: "However, I In addition to confessing my sins this time, I have one more thing I want to ask of you."

"Tell me, if you need help from me as an old woman, I won't refuse."

"I hope you can convince some people to leave here - let me tell you the truth, the current situation of Gray Miasma has reached the point of near death. Although it is not impossible to suppress it, if you want to continue to fight against it, there will be sacrifices. . Therefore, in this case, the more people the better, that is to say, those who stay in this forest must be the elite, and the rest of the people staying here are just increasing their sacrifices."

"... Just tell me directly, what exactly do you want to do?"

Facing Lizi's inquiry, Harold raised his head, looked at her sincerely and said:

"I counted the number of people in the village. If we want to avoid unnecessary sacrifices, we must flee here with the old, weak, women and children, leaving only a few capable hunters to fight against the gray miasma."

"...Do the old, weak, women and children you are talking about include me?"

After hearing Harold's words, Lizi was silent for a while and asked softly.

——Exactly, if you continue to stay here, your existence as the village chief will hinder the implementation of the plan.

Harold didn't say what he was thinking. He nodded and said, "I hope you can survive. Even if the worst happens, as the village chief, you will be able to lead everyone to build a new home."

Li Zi smiled helplessly and shook her head with a sigh: "This kind of thing is too important, I can't make a decision so quickly."

"I hope you can finish it within the next few days, we don't have much time."

"Ok."

......

After saying goodbye to Lizi, Harold returned to his dormitory, where Coryci had already sat up from the bed, stroking her belly with a gentle look on her face.

"What happened outside?"

She glanced at Harold, smiled slightly, and asked softly.

"There have been some changes, but they are all within the acceptable range." Harold sat on the edge of the bed, carefully touched her belly, and overlapped his wife's hand. "How are you doing?"

Hearing these words, Ke Laixi's smile became even stronger: "This child kicked me just now."

"Then this kid might be a troublemaker in the future."

The two hands overlapped each other, feeling the fragile existence under their palms. Harold took a deep breath, his throat trembling.

"Kressi...I have something to tell you."

"Ah."

"I...the village will be very dangerous in a few days. You have to leave here and follow the others..."

"how about you?"

"I will protect myself, you don't have to worry... Then we will do our best to slow down the spread of the gray miasma. Ideally, it should be enough to last you until you leave the village."

"......it is good."

"Kellysi..." Harold was startled for a moment, and he was a little at a loss when faced with Keleisi's decisive reply.

"Don't make me wait too long." Coryci raised her head and looked at Harold, with a hint of maternal tenderness in the corners of her red eyes.

At that moment, Harold felt that everything about him was seen clearly by the other party, and all his dirty thoughts were exposed, but in those gentle eyes, everything about him seemed to be tolerated and understood.

"I..." As soon as he started speaking, he found his throat whimpering, "I will."

If he stayed any longer, Harold was worried that he would no longer have the courage to implement everything he had planned. He made a poor excuse and escaped from here in embarrassment.

Harold supported the wall, looking a little tired. He took a deep breath, straightened up and walked forward silently.