By this time, it was already daylight.
The villagers gradually emerged from their homes, astonished at the dramatic changes in the surroundings.
No one knew how the village had transformed overnight.
"What's going on? Why are the fields ruined? Where are the trees of the forest?"
"Oh my goodness, have we been evicted?"
"There were lightning and thunderstorms last night, could it be that we got struck by lightning?"
...
The village was buzzing with discussions and speculations of all sorts, but fortunately, Ma Jiantao had left personnel behind to handle the situation.
Once the officials intervened, the village quickly returned to calm, everyone agreeing it was simply last night's torrential rain and abundant lightning.
The village's fields and trees had been struck by lightning, which is why they were flattened.
The forest nearby the village wasn't extensive, and after searching for more than an hour without any results, Chen Yang decided to give up.
