Exciting 1979!

Chapter 419 District Six and District Nine

In a district near downtown Cape Town, South Africa, called "District 6," which was originally a multi-ethnic area, South Africa later implemented apartheid, and only white people were allowed to live in District 6, while all the colored indigenous people were driven out.

This is also the origin of the name "District 9," which serves an ironic purpose, since 6 reversed is 9.

Most people lack such knowledge and experience. Of course, this is also because South Africa has a relatively low position in the world political landscape. Even Jin Yong only understood the deeper meaning of this novel after consulting old news about South Africa in English newspapers.

Hong Kong readers, however, interpreted this Ninth District as an alien version of Kowloon Walled City.

After briefly explaining some basic background, the story jumps directly to thirty years after the aliens arrived on Earth, where the protagonist, David, makes his appearance.

David is a white elite working for a company called MNU in South Africa. He is middle-aged, has a loving wife and children, and his father-in-law is a high-ranking executive at MNU. He is at the peak of his career.

Recently, due to the numerous conflicts between the aliens and locals in District 9, which have frequently resulted in clashes and injuries, the district has become a breeding ground for crime. The United Nations has decided to relocate the 1.8 million shrimp of District 9 to remote areas far from cities and humans, and the company MNU has taken on this task.

"Shrimp" is a derogatory term humans use for extraterrestrials, much like calling Black people "nigger" because they look like upright-walking lobsters.

Here is another illustration, provided by Wei Ming.

MNU assigned the protagonist, David, to lead a group of mercenaries into District 9 to oversee demolition work.

Before leaving, he and Colonel Gog, the leader of the mercenaries, went to collect weapons. In addition to conventional weapons, they also saw a batch of new weapons they had never seen before.

Colonel Gog told him, "Those were weapons found in the shrimp's spaceship."

David asked, "Is it very impressive?"

Gao Ge said, "They are very powerful, but these weapons are probably bound to the shrimp's DNA, so humans cannot use them. We are trying to find a way to break this restriction."

This is an important foreshadowing, and another foreshadowing is why the shrimp themselves don't use these weapons and are willing to be domesticated by humans.

David and Colonel Gog's convoy headed to District 9. David was excited along the way. He didn't think of this as a difficult task. In the eyes of humans, shrimp are just like animals. Do humans need the animals' consent to take over their grasslands and forests?

However, the situation in Sector 9 was more complicated than he had imagined. The shrimp were not cooperating. Sector 9 was located right below the suspended spaceship, so they were unwilling to move to another place.

In addition to the bigwigs, there's also a group of Nigerian gangsters in District 9 who want it to continue indefinitely because the more chaotic it is, the more money they can make.

Through the perspective of the protagonist David, readers get a general idea of ​​what life is like for the alien shrimp in District 9, and how humans and shrimp communicate.

Residents of Kowloon Walled City would probably empathize with this.

This process also shaped several important characters, including the protagonist David, Colonel Goggle, and the gang leader.

The male protagonist was very troubled, thinking that there was no leader among the group of shrimp, and they seemed to be a disorganized bunch. If someone could take the lead, he could talk to them directly and get them under control.

At this moment, a large shrimp wearing a red vest and his son, a small shrimp, were rummaging through the garbage heap looking for something. Later, the small shrimp found it, and they excitedly returned home to begin the extraction process.

After they left, the male protagonist accidentally stumbled in. As mentioned earlier, he had some impulsive actions, such as pulling out the tubes used to transport nutrients to the shrimp eggs, which directly killed several shrimp embryos.

Upon arriving at this somewhat mysterious room, he remained true to his old ways. He grabbed a container and forced it open, only to find his hand covered in a sticky, foul-smelling, and seemingly corrosive liquid that made him feel extremely uncomfortable. After a quick bandage, he decided to call it a day.

That concludes today's update. Ming Pao has divided this novella of over 30,000 words into three parts: upper, middle, and lower.

Ni Kuang also read the novel immediately. Clearly, Wei Ming left a clue at the end, and the unexpectedly sprayed liquid was definitely not simple.

However, after reading the whole thing, it's just so-so. It has imagination, but it's not as amazing as he boasted before. It's a work with some minor innovations in conventional science fiction. In Ni Kuang's opinion, it's not as interesting as "Transformers" and "Jurassic Park".

In addition, Wei Ming's writing is indeed very good. He tells the story in a gentle and detailed way, creating a great atmosphere. That may be because he writes slowly, which allows him to refine his writing. If he were to write tens of thousands of words a day like I do, he probably wouldn't have time to work on his writing style. Just being able to tell a story smoothly would be quite an achievement.

In short, Ni Kuang believes that some of his top works in the Wesley series are still competitive.

Many readers who are following Wei Ming's new novel share this sentiment; some see it as an allusion to South Africa's apartheid policy, while others simply feel the story's concept isn't quite up to par.

Only someone like Vivian Chow looks good, is outstanding, and sophisticated no matter how you look at her. My Ah Ming is invincible!

The next day, most of those who had read the previous article bought a new copy of Ming Pao to continue following the story.

David, who had been exposed to an unknown liquid, began to vomit violently and even came face to face with a red-vested shrimp.

On his way home, he felt hungry again, so he bought some bread at a convenience store. While eating, he started bleeding black blood from his nose again, and even his fingernails started to peel off.

David still forced himself to get home, where his wife had prepared a surprise party for his promotion. Although he felt unwell, he insisted on attending the party, but he fainted on the spot while cutting the cake and was taken to the hospital.

In the hospital, the doctor cut open David's bandaged left hand, and then an astonishing scene appeared: several fingers that were not human at all popped out of the bandage—the hands of a shrimp!
David's left hand, which was splashed with the spray, was completely transformed into the shape of a shrimp.

Upon seeing this, Liu Rulong knew that the novel had finally reached its climax.

A proud human is transforming into a lowly shrimp.

He could tell at a glance that the male protagonist would definitely not only change one hand, because this male protagonist, David, reminded him of Gregor in Kafka's "The Metamorphosis".

Next, the male protagonist becomes a test subject at the company. When he arrives at the MNU company's laboratory, he sees shrimp corpses and remains everywhere, which looks very bloody and terrifying.

In order to save himself, the protagonist escapes the laboratory and embarks on a journey to save himself. The company's executives, including his father-in-law, are in agreement that David must be brought back. David has a perfect fusion of human and shrimp genes, and his body is priceless.

After his escape, David was wanted by all the city's television and radio stations, which even released a photo of his mutated hand. Rumors spread like wildfire, the most prevalent being that the protagonist's transformation was due to a relationship with a shrimp, a claim even his father-in-law told his daughter, hoping she would forget about the man.

This also alludes to the recently officially named "AIDS".

It is uncertain when this disease first appeared, but several cases were officially recorded in the United States last year, and it was officially named this year. Moreover, it is said to be incurable and contagious. Suddenly, various theories about the origin of this disease emerged, among which the most widespread version was that of African men and chimpanzees.

Left with no other option, David had to hide in District 9, and inadvertently revealed to the mob boss his ability to use alien weapons with his hand.

The previous article introduced this gang leader, who was obsessed with collecting alien weapons and longed to gain the ability for aliens to control them. He even went so far as to eat aliens to compensate for their own shortcomings.

Now that the male protagonist has encountered this situation, coupled with the rumors circulating, the gang leader decides to find a big shot to test his skills on. He is not afraid of infection; he is more eager to master extraordinary abilities.

This passage is written in a way that is both hilarious and absurd, full of laughs, and even a little bit erotic. Amin blushed when she read it.

The problem is that this gang leader couldn't tell the difference between male and female shrimp, so he just picked a big shrimp and had sex with it, only to find out later that it was male.

This is also an implication of the current mainstream channels of communication for AIDS, but not many people can understand it now, since the term AIDS is still relatively unfamiliar to Hong Kong people.

The protagonist was constantly on the run in District 9. Humans wanted to capture him, and even the giant shrimp didn't treat him like one of their own. He hated it so much that he wanted to chop off his mutated hand, but he only managed to chop off one finger and was in excruciating pain. He realized that even the hand of an alien monster was connected to his heart.

David then encountered the red-vested prawn and his son, Little Shrimp, and begged for their help.

During the argument, David fainted due to excessive blood loss. The father and son in red vests saw a human and threw him into the basement. When David woke up, he discovered that the basement was actually a cockpit.

The father and son in red vests have been busy collecting and extracting liquid for more than 20 years. This liquid is the power source of the spaceship and their hope of returning to their home planet.

The man in the red vest told him that the liquid he had previously opened could restore him to his original state, and David happened to have seen that liquid in the lab.

End of the second part.

With the release of this second installment, the reputation of District 9 soared. The story of humans transforming into aliens has an absurd and realistic feel reminiscent of a metamorphosis. Wei Ming's writing about the reactions of various parties after David's mutation is superb, especially the part about spreading rumors, which brings a knowing smile to the reader and becomes more and more interesting with each reading.

After reading the novel, Wong Jim met up with Cai Lan for dinner. When talking about "District 9," Wong Jim praised it highly: "With just these two-thirds, it has already surpassed 99% of the stories in Wesley."

Cai Lan said, "This piece is indeed brilliant, and I have a feeling that it will get even more brilliant later on. This time, Ni Kuang will have to admit defeat wholeheartedly."

By the third issue, Ming Pao's sales had surged. Zhou Huimin noticed that quite a few students in the class had bought Ming Pao that day, and even the teacher had a freshly printed copy of Ming Pao tucked into her lesson plan.

David's mutations continued to intensify, and now even his body was beginning to resemble a shrimp. At this moment, a phone call from his wife strengthened his resolve to save himself.

His wife said she believed him and that she and their daughter would wait for him to come back.

However, the father-in-law and Colonel Gog secretly located the protagonist's position through this phone call and launched a manhunt for him.

The protagonist and the red-vested shrimp need weapons to break into the MNU laboratory, so they think of a mob boss who has a hobby of collecting alien weapons.

The gang leader had just captured another female prawn, but before he could even make a move, his house was broken into and his beloved weapon was stolen. Even the alien girl ran away, and his already dark face became even darker.

With David's help, the shrimp successfully obtained the energy liquid and witnessed its brethren being cruelly dissected and dismembered in the laboratory.

Back at their lair, David and the shrimp got into an argument. The shrimp used the energy fluid in the cockpit, saying he would take the spaceship back to their home planet to get reinforcements and wouldn't be able to come back to rescue David for three years.

But David couldn't wait three days. In a fit of rage, he knocked the shrimp unconscious and, alone in the cockpit, prepared to fly back to the mothership to see if there was any way to get back. However, he was shot down by the company's firepower and captured by the gang leader.

However, because the shrimp's genes and weapons can be wirelessly connected, David successfully fought back using the mechs collected by the mob boss. But the mechs were severely damaged and he was surrounded by the company's mercenaries, so he couldn't escape.

At this point, the male protagonist completes his character arc, from a selfish and indifferent human elite who disregards the shrimp's life, to seeing the shrimp as his lifeline and cooperating sincerely, and now, he decides to sacrifice himself to create an opportunity for the shrimp father and son to escape.

Finally, the red-vested shrimp looked at David and made a firm promise: "Three years, I will definitely be back in three years!"

Then he and his son raised the cockpit again and returned to the mothership. The alien spaceship, which had been hovering over Cape Town for thirty years, was gone for good.

David watched the spaceship leave, by which time almost half of his body had transformed into the shape of a shrimp.

Finally, there's an epilogue: David's wife received a rose made of metal while she was at work, and on her desk was a photo of the three of them.

In the shrimp's new home, far from downtown Cape Town, a fenced-off area has been designated as District 10 to house millions of shrimp.

In the garbage dump of District 10, a shrimp missing a finger on its left hand is scavenging for scrap metal. When it finds a suitable piece of metal, it hides it, and then they combine to form iron roses...

When Zhou Huimin read this, tears streamed down her face. It was clearly a science fiction novel, and the description of the relationship between the male and female protagonists was not extensive, with the female protagonist even appearing very rarely. But why did this story feel so romantic and touching?

The image was already in her mind, and she felt an overwhelming sympathy for the male protagonist. She only hoped that the red-vested shrimp would really come back in three years to save him and restore him to human form.

That very day, Amin began writing her reflections on the book, intending to send them to Amin and also to ask him when this heartless man would come to visit her.

Hong Kong's major newspapers also published articles analyzing the metaphors behind the story of "District 9".

In the offices of "Madman Comics," several cartoonists hoped that Boss Long would talk to Boss Ming and ask them to draw the comics for "District 9."

After the Hong Kong Traditional Chinese serialization of "District 9" ended, a British newspaper also announced that Wei Ming's first novel written directly in English, "District 9," would be officially released this month.

(End of this chapter)