"The zombies avoid your village because something there eats them," I continued, no longer interested in protecting a belief that might get everyone near my mansion killed. "Mutated plants don't grow because something eats those too. Your crops are dying from the roots, your animals disappeared without leaving bones, your dead weigh almost nothing, and everyone is hungry and thirsty no matter how much they eat or drink."
Wang Lei's face hardened with every word. By the time I finished, his hands had curled into fists at his sides and his shoulders were pulled tight enough to make him look ready to argue with the entire road.
"You don't know that," he snapped.
His voice rose enough that Old Chen's people shifted behind us, several hands moving toward tools that could become weapons out of habit. Yuche didn't bother looking back at them. He only moved his fingers slightly, making the metal barrier between us creak as it bent a little higher.
