When something big goes down, ordinary folks instinctively gather in the classic "spectator formation." Right now, in front of the Hanging Temple, the plaza is packed with people forming a circle. In the middle, a thirty-something young man is giving a rousing speech—think Martin Luther King doing his "I Have a Dream" routine, soaking up all those stares.
Brothers and sisters, our natural world is getting wrecked! Remember when we were kids? The sky was so blue, the river water tasted sweet, steamed buns smelled amazing, and frogs and cicadas sang all night. But look around now—what has happened to nature?
Smog—always a hot topic, but every year it just gets worse. Food—you can’t even tell if what you’re eating is safe. Water—pollution has trashed every river, big and small, and you’ll never spot a free-swimming fish again. Let’s not even talk about anything else—just look at the Grand Canal running by our city. It’s so filthy now, it stinks to high heaven!
The young man isn’t using a mic or anything, but his voice booms loud and clear, full of passion and wild gestures. The pain on his face is contagious—people can’t help but pay attention and listen.
Back in the day, we didn’t even know what cancer was. But now, my brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles—think about it. These days, tragic stories are everywhere. Esophageal cancer, stomach cancer, liver cancer, bone cancer, leukemia—my loved ones are dropping one by one, tormented by disease. Why? Why so much cancer?!
And then there’s AIDS. Five thousand years of Chinese history, and when did we ever hear about this nasty disease? But now, AIDS is spreading everywhere. How many tears has it caused? How many minds twisted? Some people with AIDS even go out of their way to infect others—is this world really okay?!
As the young man’s speech gets louder, the crowd starts whispering and chatting among themselves.
We’ve survived bone-chilling winters, but a good snowfall always meant a bumper harvest. Every brutal winter was followed by a vibrant spring. But now, the Arctic glaciers are melting, the Antarctic ice is shrinking, even polar bears are getting heatstroke! Sea levels rising, freak weather all the time, floods and mudslides—humans are paying the price for wrecking nature. Is that fair?!
And then there’s animal extinction, species wiped out, endless disasters caused by human activity…” As the young man keeps going, his assistants start handing out flyers to the crowd. Jill Young, mixed in with everyone else, gets one too. She glances at it—it’s just a bunch of photos of pollution.
The young man keeps the momentum going, shouting, “Look! Right here, when the government started developing the southern suburbs, what did they dig up? Not rocks, not tree roots—just endless plastic bags! They think burying them means they disappear? Ridiculous! Nature will definitely punish us. Is this really what we want?!
Looking at the photos and listening to the young man’s speech, the crowd’s whispers grew louder. If you listened in, most people were nodding along in agreement.
Humanity is heading for extinction, and a handful of people still refuse to repent, barreling down the wrong path for their own benefit. Right now, as we speak, subatomic particles are smashing together in colliders all over the world, annihilating each other. And those scientists? Honestly, they have no clue what’ll come out of it. Their research is basically ‘crack open a watermelon and see what color it is’!
Why do the top scientific minds always oppose these experiments? Because when you smash subatomic particles together, anything could happen—even a black hole! Black holes, my friends, are the most dangerous things in the universe. So if anything goes wrong, these science maniacs could blow up the whole planet!
The young man’s facts were shocking, and his words were so persuasive that more and more people started nodding along.
My brothers and sisters, maybe you think my examples are too far-fetched. But all I need is one example and you’ll get it. Look—someone commits a terrorist attack, claiming it’s a holy war. Someone does inhumane research, saying it’s for the future. But one day, the Shanghai Massacre happened.
Ten million people—a whole ten million!—died under humanity’s own Pandora’s Box!
Mentioning this was like lighting a fuse—instantly, the crowd erupted. Everyone was shouting, talking, but the noise wasn’t chaos; it was all in agreement with the young man. He was a master at controlling the pace of his speech, so he paused, letting the excitement simmer down before striking again.
This time, his assistants rolled out a sound system. Grabbing the mic, he raised his right hand and gestured wildly—his words crashed over the crowd like tidal waves.
Brothers and sisters, humanity is defying the laws of nature—and the result of defying nature is self-destruction! All those experiments aren’t steps toward progress; they’re tickets to disaster!
My brothers and sisters, the Shanghai Massacre wasn’t a fluke—it was inevitable. During the London photochemical smog incident, thousands died overnight. We used to treat it as just news—a tiny statistic from the other side of the world, barely worth a shrug. But now we get it. Four thousand people—that’s not just a number. Stack four thousand bodies in this plaza, and you’d have a pile half a meter high!
Hearing this, lots of people glanced down and around the plaza, picturing a half-meter pile of bodies. They shivered. As the crowd got into the rhythm, the young man got even more fired up.
That London incident was nature’s warning to us. But we ignored it, thought it was someone else’s problem—and now we’ve got an even bigger disaster on our hands.
Karma comes around—it never misses. What goes around, comes around. The causes we planted in the past have led to today’s consequences. Humanity sowed bitter seeds, and now we have to eat the bitter fruit.
But—listen—my brothers and sisters, we’re innocent, and our kids are even more innocent! If we keep ignoring these changes and keep defying nature, then the Shanghai Massacre won’t be the end—it’ll just be the beginning! From thousands to millions—what’s next? How many more will have to pay the price?
At this point, people were nodding to each other and voicing their agreement.
The young man pointed right at the Hanging Temple, blunt as ever: "So, brothers and sisters, what we need isn’t praying to gods or Buddha. Divine beings can’t save us. Bowing and praying every day won’t change a thing."
Then he pointed at the TV in the shop window, gesturing to the safety education channel: "Brothers and sisters, don’t waste your time on those so-called survival tricks. The era of 'mind your own business' is over. If you keep hiding like a turtle, there’s only one ending—no escape, certain doom!"
He ignored the buzzing chatter, climbed onto a table, and stood tall above the crowd, arms wide like a savior embracing lost sheep: "Brothers and sisters, the only way to survive is to save ourselves! The only thing we should believe in is the law of nature—the world that raised us! We have to protect nature and its rules. Protecting nature is protecting ourselves!"
His ten or so assistants handed out flyers at just the right moment, and the crowd, consciously or not, took them—clearly interested in what he was saying. The young man kept shouting: "Brothers and sisters, relax! We don’t need your money, and we’re not selling anything. We’re not here for cash—we’re here to survive. So, everyone, for ourselves and for our kids, let’s fight for survival together!!!"
The young man’s speech fired up the crowd—everyone surged forward, eager to learn more. Meanwhile, Jill Young was already dragging the three little ones away, slipping out of the rush.
"It’s some kind of environmental group," Jill Young said, looking at the flyer. It read: "Nature Conservancy Association."
"Hmm… I’m interested in what this guy’s saying, but I’ve got bigger fish to fry," Kathy Yang said, stuffing the Nature Conservancy Association flyer in her pocket and waving her hand. "Let’s go! We’re off to find that amazing street magician!"
The two boys couldn’t care less about environmental stuff, so they naturally sided with their leader: "Oh!"
But as Jill Young left, she glanced back—the guy was still on the table, arms waving, shouting things like "Believe in nature!" and "Respect nature!" The wind blew, lifting his bangs, and she noticed a blue birthmark on his left forehead.
Jill Young’s eyes flickered, a thought crossed her mind: "Protecting the environment is obviously good, but the ideas they’re spreading sound a lot like the old Druid teachings…"
But that thought vanished as quickly as it came. In a world going slowly mad, having more people protecting nature can only be a good thing, no matter how you look at it.
But what does this have to do with us? For now, nothing. The Miracle Club kept moving—they searched all over, but Kathy Yang never did find that magician. They asked around, and someone said he hadn’t shown up in ages. Whether he went traveling or just got lazy, no one knew for sure.
The rest of the afternoon, the Miracle Club ran all over town, working through their list one by one. With Jill Young helping out, they were super efficient at tracking down oddballs. By four o’clock, Kathy Yang finally reached the last name: "Just one left—this time, it’s a magical veterinarian."
"A veterinarian?" Jill Young thought of a certain acquaintance.
"Yep. Word is, this vet’s got magical powers—he can talk to animals directly, so his medical skills are off the charts." Kathy Yang read the info slowly: "His name is Lu Yide."
It really is him!