Even if China commands Elijah's company and America for financial support for the damage done by one American man. America, with already a large debt on their back, would be left extremely vulnerable in many places meaning the country, much less Elijah's company, would be unable to go through and pay it off easily.
Words were only pretty to the ears, but actions are what really matters in this situation. The only way to help the people would be financial support for housing, supplies, and food, but it wouldn't be as simple with the ANDS going around.
An even bigger problem was that China was a big place. Certainly not as big as America, but still big. She can't go from here to there and the future branch to branch in just minutes or even hours in a single day. If she was to help the people, it can only start from one small area like Sichuan.
Sadly, she could see how far her actions influenced the people around her at the time. Unless she stays in Chengdu, she's basically a stranger to the entire province unable to help everyone. Faced with such a dilemma, she can only start from hiding a way to curb the ANDS and stop the disasters before she could be of any help to the people. She has to do it soon too before the situation reaches Guizhou province.
After walking around and bought her morning meat bun, she finally made it to the bus stop in front of a shopping mall that was probably fifteen stories tall and three blocks wide much like the other modern building towers and skyscrapers around her with lights. However, having sore feet, she scowled the moment she could decipher what on the map and bus schedule.
On the schedule was the paper correcting the schedule, and, apparently, all the bus wouldn't arrive till in the evening! When she checked her Mickey Mouse watch, she saw that it was barely late morning! Getting the idea that she would have a lot of free time till then, she decided to walk around and see if she could gather any information as there were some refugees coming in from other places.
Thus, began her trip around the winter city of HeFei city of Anhui Province.
Having spent an hour walking in the slushy snow with her sneakers, she noticed how there were more tall buildings than there were in Guizhou and Sichuan. No doubt, it's due to the close proximity they have to Hong Kong and the coast that they were able to gather some attention from tourists, but she knew that some parts of the city must've been exclusive to this region compared to others.
One of which she believed was the mountain areas that she saw during the drive here. It seemed like it had come popping out of a calligraphy painting! She had some doubts when she saw the actual mountains, but the mountains in Guiyang really weren't very different from drawings either. How is that possible?!
Then, again, what country didn't have any amazing accomplishments good or bad. She recalled the strict and perfect-seeking father of her previous life along with the stern and cold Mister Li from the Li household. All of them were always seeking for the pinnacle of everything. Her father's knowledge and Mister Li's personification of a perfect family of high standing.
Yes, that was the reason why he could not bring himself to divorce his unfaithful wife. He could not stand the idea of a family brought together from mismatched pieces, which was why she was always left out of family pictures and gathering. All, but Missus Li. Since she was the mother of the sons, they had no choice but to include her. Their pictures were never one filled with smiles, but that of what they looked like on a daily basis. Staring blankly at the camera. There were more before when her brothers were younger, but not since that incident occurred.
HeiFei's parks are big and lush with greenery along the DongFei and the NanFei river. The place still has many cultures from the times past before. It was due to the fact that cities that are along the riversides would always be thriving.
Willow had passed many buildings along the river when she saw it. A large land across the lake with many large buildings along with one familiar English word on one of the large building.
Catching her breath, she muttered quietly, "CaiWei."
CaiWei was the name of a mobile phone company. In the past, her previous family also had one for each person as her father rose higher in his engineering company and her paternal uncle gained more connections with other media companies as a technician behind the camera of shows. Speaking of her paternal family of her previous life, she had thought about visiting them, but she neither have the ability nor knew where they live now.
Because Willow had heard that they moved a couple more times after she returned to America from her visit. Remembering this, she finally recalled something rather important. That Hefei was also called the land of innovation by her father. Meaning, they must be promoting the studies of many scientific fields, then!
If that was true, that Heifei wasn't just a city that took in lost tourists from other cities. Rather, they have just as much ability to gather their own as HongKong and Shanghai. With the promotion of innovation and scientific studies, it was only given that they would have their own standings in the country. And, here she was being stupid and thinking that it wasn't possible.
If her fathers both had such a terrifying drive in their personalities, it was only given that this was how many people live by. Driving their ambitions on the front line with such monstrous force. Recalling the old military vehicles and equipment she had seen in tapes in her high school and comparing it to the last national parade where she saw proud and uniform soldiers marching with weapons sitting in their arms or driving military vehicles before the building with Mao ZheDong's regal portrait on television at home, she now finally understood the reason for all the pressure and high expectations of her families.
If this was what China could do in a decade, she could hardly imagine their standing in the next decade. This was how the country of China stood its ground for millions of years. Finally understanding the impact of the country, she couldn't help it as the edge of her lips curve into a smile of disbelief, bewilderment, and fear. Not a bad sense of fear though.
"To think that it was like this." She breathed in a big gulp of cold air, "How terrifying..."
But, if China could manage this as well, imagine what would happen if other countries become as driven as them and banded together. It would probably become as strong as China's city of innovation. Russia's first flight into space and America's first step on the moon was the result of the cold war.
A war of scientific innovation.
Imagine if the war continued further. Would they not stop until they finally got the first man onto mars? Jupiter?
By having something on the line, the people become more powerful. By striving for something, they'd go farther. They're not reaching for the moon and landing on the star. They won't be satisfied until they reached the moon. It was only now that she realized how powerful each country could be. They're still existing to this day for a reason, after all.
However, Willow was certain that not everyone thought like this. Li Fei certainly hadn't and is a good example of it. All the girl wanted was to survive and live a normal life. She certainly wasn't the only one in the world.
Moderation.
As long as one takes paces as they grow stronger, there's certainly a better possibility that they won't topple over like the apartment buildings they desperately try to finish in a month. She's heard of it before back in a course of art history in Asian arts. Those that try to build tall apartments to keep up with the other countries that the buildings would lack proper foundation and collapse months after it was built. How it was that her professor went on an exhibition once for a month and returned to see the rural land transformed into an urbanized city like the background of a play?
With buildings more prone to collapse without a good foundation, no doubt, China would be one of the more vulnerable targets to that of the child of Hades. One earthquake could topple many apartments and take the lives of numerous under it. But, for what reason would they want to harm others?
Were they like Elijah who want to reap the benefits from hurting others?
In the end, Willow felt that it was too soon to tell. However, keeping those ideas in mind would be a good idea. The country was rather resilient against the catastrophes that had been occurring so she still has the time to come up with a solution. Hopefully, before it starts to take a turn for the worst, not that it wasn't already bad enough.
Having walked along the riverside absentmindedly, Willow came to a stop and stared out to the other part of the city on the other side of the large river. Now that she was here, she may as well look into the situation of Hefei.
Obviously, she has no experience guiding business and connections with the higher-ups and can make connections later in the near future, but right now she has to get information about other demigods and hide her appearance.
Having brewed over the other thoughts in her mind, Willow felt that she could start with appearance since that was the easiest thing to work on at this moment. She'll have to go buy some makeup to cover up the stupid flower too. She had known that people back then would like these sorts of things, but it would be a hindrance to her mission and, seriously, this is the reality too. Even your historical heroines don't wear make-up into a literal war zone. So, what was her father thinking?!
A hand suddenly reached out and tapped on her shoulder out of the blue. Shocked and annoyed at her own carelessness, she froze in surprise before spinning around away from the view of the river and saw that it was a tall boy who looked to be around his late teens. The boy looked to her curiously in Chinese, "What are you doing outside, Miss? It's pretty dangerous, you know."
Willow raised a brow, "I could say the same for you too. I'm a foreign traveler, but I wasn't very fortunate during my travels here."
She showed a weak smile pointing to her small duffle bag on her back which accumulated all the generosity of her friends back in Sichuan and her own efforts. The boy saw this and wore a wide grin, "I know this place like the back of my palm! I can show you a cheap hostel!"
"It's fine." She smiled knowing that the boy had completely ignored her question, "Right now, the majority of the places are closed down due to the disease, you know. I don't plan to trouble others during this sort of time. Besides, I still have something to do."
"Something to do?" He raised a brow.
She nodded and smiled as she pulled out her notepad and pencil, "I'm taking notes about the situation for a friend of mine, you see. And..."
She hesitated for a bit thinking of a better way to explain it in simpler terms, "I want to see the situation for myself."
The boy sighed as if trying to lecture me, "Are you an idiot? If I were you, I wouldn't come this far from home right now."
She smirked, "Is that something you're supposed to tell me?"