I am the god of this land.

11: A 4000-word chapter on major development

At night, Han Feng moved a bamboo chair to the courtyard and sat down, looking up at the starry sky. The night in Shimen Village was free from the light pollution of the city. The Milky Way stretched across the sky, and the stars were densely packed together, like someone had scattered a handful of diamonds on a deep blue velvet. The outline of the old loquat tree appeared dark under the starry sky, its branches reaching towards the sky like an old hand trying to pluck the stars.

The chirping of insects rose and fell in the distant mountain valley. The evening breeze blew in from the valley, carrying the scent of rice blossoms and earth, rustling the loquat leaves. Han Feng put his hands behind his head, his mind turning over and over in his thoughts about what happened in the fish tank today. Ah Heng was showing off with Big Sweet Potato in the lake, while Shrimp Strong lay on the sand with half of its body hanging down, its dark red eyes fixed on Ah Heng's direction.

The more Han Feng thought about that look, the more uneasy he felt. He remembered a cockfight he had seen in the countryside when he was a child. The small rooster was pecked until it was covered in blood, but it just wouldn't run away. It huddled in a corner, staring intently at its opponent, and then, when its opponent relaxed, it pounced and pecked out its eye.

"No way..." Han Feng muttered, then shook his head. "It's just a shrimp, it can't cause any trouble."

He stood up, stretched, turned and went into the house. He went upstairs to take a shower, lay down on the bed and turned off the light. Moonlight leaked in through the window, casting a silvery-white glow on the blanket. Han Feng tossed and turned, unable to sleep. The image of Xia Jianqiang's dark red eyes kept involuntarily appearing in his mind.

"What... will happen tomorrow?"

He stared at the wood grain on the ceiling, the lines twisting in the moonlight like quietly flowing rivers. The shadow of the old loquat tree swayed gently on the window, making a soft creaking sound. Han Feng closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

The moonlight shone on him, on the small fish tank in the corner downstairs, and on the tiny world inside the tank where something was brewing.

The next morning, Han Feng was awakened by a strange intuition. It wasn't the alarm clock or the birdsong, but an instinctive urge from the depths of his consciousness that "something has happened." He suddenly opened his eyes, threw off the covers, and ran barefoot down the stairs and into the main room.

Then he froze in place.

The world inside the fish tank is like a bomb that someone threw at it.

The lake water was murky, with sand and mud churning. Countless shrimp remains, heads, tails, legs, and shells floated on the surface, densely covering the water like a gruesome slaughter scene. Broken shrimp whiskers were scattered all over the sand, some still slightly curled up like dying fingers.

The shrimp swarm that was densely packed together yesterday, numbering at least several thousand, has dwindled to just a few dozen scattered shrimp today. They huddle together in a corner at the edge of the lake, their transparent bodies trembling slightly.

But what shocked Han Feng even more was the miserable state of Ah Heng and Shu Tou.

Ah Heng, that arrogant old carp, was now hanging in the middle of the lake. Several of its scales had fallen off, revealing the pink flesh beneath. Its body was covered with fine scratches, and its dorsal fin was split open, the fin rays turned outwards, drooping limply. But the most shocking scar was on its face—its left eye. That round, bulging fish eye that always looked at people askance had now become a murky white hole, with a deep crack on the surface of the eyeball, like a shattered glass bead.

Ah Heng lost sight in one eye.

It floated in the water, its body slightly tilted to one side. Its blind eye was facing the tank wall, while its intact right eye warily scanned its surroundings. Its mouth opened and closed several times faster than usual, as if it were enduring intense pain.

And what about Big Sweet Potato? That honest fish, who always followed along like a shadow, was now floating on its back, belly up, panting. Its fins twitched slightly, and the whole fish was half-dead. Its belly was bulging out, as if it had eaten too much or had been filled with air. Its body was also covered in scratches, just as many as Aheng's.

Han Feng stared at the giant sweet potato for three seconds, and two possibilities popped into his mind: one, it was too full; two, it was about to die.

"Holy crap." He crouched down, his face almost touching the fish tank. "What happened?"

His gaze fell on a spot on the edge of the lake where a shrimp named Jianqiang stood. The dark blue shrimp, with half its body broken off, was steadily perched on a flat pebble. Its two long antennae were slightly curved, and its dark red eyes calmly gazed ahead. It had several new wounds on its body, and one of its legs was broken, hanging limply to its side. But it still steadily supported itself with its remaining five legs, like an unyielding sculpture.

Behind it, about twenty shrimps huddled around it, their antennae taut as if they were standing guard. There were also thirty or forty shrimps scattered throughout the lake, neither following the shrimp's lead nor being eaten, looking like they were saying, "None of you should bother me."

The total number of shrimp that survived was about sixty or seventy, which is almost 99% less. It looks like a massacre or a war has taken place.

Han Feng took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and said to the fish tank in his mind, "Tell me, what exactly happened?"

The senses from the fish tank surged up like a tide—not sound, not words, but a series of clear images playing directly in his consciousness.

The shrimp lay motionless on the sand for a long time, observing Ah Heng's swimming route, the reaction speed of the big sweet potato, and also the scallops.

It sent several shrimp to the scallop to try to communicate. The shrimp gently tapped the scallop's shell with their walking legs, swept their tentacles along the seams of the shell, and even marched in a procession next to the scallop, making all sorts of exaggerated movements. The scallop did not respond at all; the shell remained the same, and the meat extended and retracted, completely ignoring all the shrimp's efforts.

The shrimp, resilient and determined, abandoned the scallops and began to regroup.

At night, when the moon rises, Shrimp Strong slowly climbs down from the pebbles, supporting itself on its legs, and walks in a circle among the shrimp. It walks very slowly, and each time it passes a shrimp, it gently touches the other shrimp's antennae with its antennae. The shrimp stirs up and form a loose formation on the sand, with the larger ones on the outside and the smaller ones on the inside. Shrimp Strong walks at the very front, its two long antennae raised high, like two flags waving in the wind.

It turned around, facing the direction where Ah Heng and Big Sweet Potato were, and then it moved.

Shrimp Strong, leading about twenty shrimp, launched an attack on Ah Heng. Calling it an attack was more like suicide. The shrimp's attack methods were practically nonexistent. Their tiny tentacles couldn't even leave a mark on Ah Heng's scales, but Shrimp Strong didn't care.

It was the first to rush forward, its legs paddling rapidly across the sand. Its severed body made its swimming path erratic, but it was faster than anyone else. Ah Heng was dozing in the middle of the lake when it suddenly felt the movement of the water. It opened its eyes abruptly and saw a dark blue thing rushing towards it at high speed. Instinctively, it flicked its tail and shifted its body half a step to the side. The shrimp's resilient charge missed its target.

The big sweet potato was slow to react and was hit squarely by the strong shrimp. It was so frightened that it shrank back and the whole fish was thrown far away, tumbling over in the water.

Ah Heng was enraged. It charged into the shrimp swarm like a bulldozer into a wheat field. Its mouth opened and closed, each closure accompanied by the disappearance of a shrimp, making a faint "crack" sound. Its tail swung from side to side, each swipe sending several shrimp flying and crashing into the sand. Some shattered on the spot, while others broke in two and were still twitching.

Big Sweet Potato finally realized what was happening and clumsily twisted its body to rush into the shrimp swarm. It tried to bite like Ah Heng, but it didn't bite accurately and missed. However, it was quite happy to wag its tail.

After recovering from its initial failure, Shrimp Strong charged again. This time, it circled around to Aheng's side and, taking advantage of Aheng's head being buried in a shrimp, suddenly sprang up and kicked Aheng hard in the face. On the carp's thick skin, it felt like pinching an elephant with a fingernail. But Aheng felt it and suddenly shook his head, sending Shrimp Strong flying. It crashed onto the sand with a "thud".

The shrimp bravely flipped over and charged again, this time aiming for Ah Heng's eyes.

It scurried across the sand, circled around to Aheng's front, its two long antennae stretched taut like two strings. The moment Aheng opened its mouth, it sprang up, its entire body like a deep blue bullet, shooting straight at Aheng's left eye. Aheng sensed the danger and jerked its head to the side, but it was too late. The shrimp stubbornly pierced Aheng's left eye.

The water in the fish tank suddenly became murky. Ah Heng arched his body in pain, his tail thrashing wildly as he rolled around in the water. He opened his mouth as wide as possible and bit down hard, but missed. The shrimp had already loosened its grip and, using the force of Ah Heng's head shake, bounced out and landed steadily on the sand.

Ah Heng's left eye had become a bloody hole, with blood gushing out of its eye socket and leaving a pale red trail in the water. Ah Heng's body began to tilt, and the direction of the eyeless area became a blind spot. It swam erratically, like a car with a broken steering wheel.

When Big Potato saw Ah Heng injured, it was terrified. It stood frozen in place, its mouth opening and closing, and then it did something that made Han Feng both laugh and cry. It suddenly swam upwards, floated to the surface, turned belly up, and pretended to be dead. Yes, pretended to be dead. Potato floated on the surface with its white belly turned up, its fins still twitching slightly, and its mouth still panting softly, but it just didn't dare to turn over.

Strong Shrimp did not pursue Ah Heng. It turned around and slowly crawled back to where the shrimp swarm was. The shrimp swarm had suffered heavy casualties. The sand was covered with broken limbs. Some shrimp that were not quite dead were struggling on the sand with half their bodies dragging. Of the more than twenty shrimp that had followed it in its charge, less than ten survived, and most of them were injured. Strong Shrimp stood at the front, its dark red eyes calmly scanning the battlefield. It also had a new wound on its body, and a leg was broken off at the root. But it did not fall. It stood firmly on the sand, like an iron stake driven into the ground.

Ah Heng floated crookedly on the other side of the lake, his intact right eye filled with fear. Potato was still pretending to be dead on the surface of the water, his belly bulging. Countless shrimp limbs were scattered on the bottom of the lake, and the blood had stained the entire lake a light pink color.

Han Feng's consciousness withdrew from the "replay," and he squatted in front of the fish tank, remaining silent for a full half minute.

"Wow," he slowly uttered three words, "Shrimp Strong, you're really something else."

He glanced at the sparse group of shrimp behind Xia Jianqiang, then at Aheng's bloodied and mangled left eye, and then at Da Fanshu's white belly turned up on the water's surface, feeling a mix of emotions.

"Ah Heng, Ah Heng, what did I tell you yesterday? I told you not to bully people too much, but you wouldn't listen. Now look what happened, your eyes have been poked out." Ah Heng was suspended in the water, his intact right eye rolled around, and his mouth opened and closed, blowing out a few bubbles, looking like he was cursing.

He looked at Potato Head again: "Big Potato, you're such a coward, a fish like you, you even resort to playing dead on your belly. That's all you've got in your life." Potato Head rolled over and twitched, it was hard to tell if he was responding or just convulsing.

"No, we can't let you keep fighting like this."

Han Feng rolled up his sleeves and reached his hand into the fish tank. A Heng was so startled that he jumped up and crashed into the tank wall. Big Sweet Potato flipped over on the surface of the water and almost fainted. Only Shrimp remained motionless. He used his finger to draw a line on the sand, starting from the edge of the lake, and dug a narrow waterway, only a finger's width wide, just enough for a shrimp to pass through, but definitely not wide enough for a fish. Then he dug a small puddle about the size of a palm next to the lake. The water was deep and clear, and the sandy bottom was flat.

"Shrimp is strong." Han Feng squatted down and looked at the shrimp with its broken tail seriously. "Take your shrimp and walk this path to that little puddle. Ah Heng can't get into that puddle, and neither can Big Sweet Potato. You can live peacefully in there."

Shrimp Strong's long antennae twitched slightly. It slid off the pebbles, turned around, and touched the antennae of the shrimp behind it with its barbels. The message was relayed among the shrimp like a relay race. Then, Shrimp Strong took the lead and slowly swam along the narrow waterway to the small puddle next to it. About twenty shrimp lined up and followed one after another, with none falling behind.

Shrimp Strong crawled into the small puddle and circled the sandy surface, seemingly confirming the boundaries of its new home. It turned around to face the waterway entrance, its two long antennae pointing high, as if guarding the small entrance. One after another, the shrimp swam in and swarmed around Shrimp Strong.

There are also thirty or forty shrimp scattered in various corners of the main lake. They are neither as resilient as the shrimp nor have they been eaten. Some are lying in the seaweed, and some are hiding under the roots of lychee trees, with the main idea being "What do I care, as long as I'm alive."

Han Feng looked at the shrimp huddled together in the small puddle and nodded in satisfaction.

"Alright, from today onwards, this pit will be called the Shrimp Strong Autonomous Zone. Ah Heng, you and Big Potato stay in the main lake and don't cross the boundary. Shrimp Strong, you two live your lives well and don't provoke those two silly fish anymore. As for you," he looked at the scattered soldiers, "you can go wherever you want, I don't care anymore."

He stood up, dusted the sand off his hands, and looked at the small world that had just experienced a bloody battle. He suddenly found it a bit funny. A shrimp with half its body broken off led a group of unarmed shrimp to charge at a carp that was hundreds of times larger than it, and actually managed to gouge out one of its eyes. If this were written as a story, who would believe it?

"Shrimp Strong, you're a real man." Han Feng gave a thumbs up. "No, you're a shrimp man."

The shrimp's strong, long antennae twitched, as if in response.