The road outside Unit 50 had fallen into complete chaos.
Only a short while ago, the people had been crying helplessly as they watched their sons, brothers, husbands, and fathers being dragged away.
Now everything had changed.
People were running forward from every direction.
Women who had been weeping moments earlier were gripping hoes and wooden sticks with red eyes.
Old men who could barely straighten their backs were limping forward with farming tools in their hands.
Young women followed behind them, shouting angrily as they marched down the road.
They had finally reached their limit.
I walked beside Fu Sheng while watching the crowd move ahead of us.
The soldiers clearly had not expected this.
For years, the people of the barren lands had endured every injustice thrown at them.
They endured hunger.
They endured poverty.
They endured humiliation.
