Early the next morning, Chen Yuan was still half asleep when a loud commotion outside jolted her awake.
She sprang out of bed, quickly changed into men’s clothing, and darkened all the exposed skin on her face and hands. After changing Niuniu’s diaper, she found a length of cloth and secured the baby against her chest. Then she stored away the bed and wardrobes, drank a cup of Spiritual Spring water, and hurried outside.
The streets were in complete chaos.
Crowds of people were pouring toward the southern city gate.
She stopped a middle-aged man pushing a handcart.
“Uncle, what’s going on?”
“Yanmen Pass has fallen!” the man shouted without stopping. “The soldiers abandoned the city! Even the county magistrate has run away! You should run too!”
With that, he pushed his cart onward as fast as he could.
Chen Yuan immediately turned and ran toward the south gate as well.
Since she wasn’t burdened with heavy luggage—only Niuniu, cradled against her chest—she moved much faster than everyone else and reached the city gate in no time.
Unfortunately, the entrance was packed so tightly with people that not even water could have flowed through.
She was quickly swallowed up by the crowd.
Then someone behind them suddenly screamed,
“The nomads are here! Run!”
An instant later, cries erupted behind her.
Women and children burst into tears.
Men cursed.
Others begged desperately for mercy.
The road ahead was completely blocked.
Behind them, the nomadic cavalry had already arrived.
If this continued, no one would escape.
Chen Yuan forced her way out of the packed crowd and reached a relatively open area.
Making sure no one was watching, she slipped Niuniu into her Storage Space.
She wrapped a cloth over her face, drew her heavy broadsword, and charged straight at the invaders.
The nomads were in the middle of slaughtering civilians when a severed head suddenly flew through the air and landed before them.
They looked down.
It belonged to one of their own.
When they turned around, they saw a masked figure darting effortlessly through their ranks.
Like someone harvesting melons, the masked warrior cut down one enemy after another.
One by one, their comrades collapsed.
“Damn Yuansheng dog! You’re courting death!”
With an enraged roar, one of them charged at Chen Yuan.
He never even reached her.
Chen Yuan kicked him squarely in the chest, sending him crashing into a nearby wall.
He spat out a mouthful of blood before blacking out.
Meanwhile, Chen Yuan was completely immersed in the fight.
Sensing another murderous presence rushing toward her, she didn’t even bother to look.
She simply threw out another kick.
The attacker was launched through the air.
By the time the last enemy fell, more than twenty nomadic soldiers lay dead.
Chen Yuan was so exhausted she nearly collapsed onto the ground.
She had thought her body had recovered well enough.
Only after fighting did she realize just how much weaker she still was compared to her strength during the apocalypse.
“Hero! Thank you for saving us!”
“Merciful Guanyin Bodhisattva! Thank heavens!”
“Hero, you’re the pride of the Yuansheng Kingdom!”
For a moment, voices of gratitude filled the air from every direction.
Chen Yuan raised her voice toward the crowd.
“Forget thanking me. Their main army hasn’t arrived yet. While there’s still time, everyone needs to leave now!”
She knew these men had only been the advance force.
The main army couldn’t be far behind.
The County Seat was doomed to fall.
After slipping away to an isolated spot, Chen Yuan entered her Storage Space.
While fighting earlier, she had heard Niuniu crying.
The baby had probably been jostled awake while Chen Yuan was running, and after going hungry for a while, she’d begun wailing.
Chen Yuan washed the blood from her face and hands, changed into clean clothes, then picked up Niuniu and fed her.
Once the little girl had her fill, she promptly fell asleep again.
Newborns still in their first month were wonderfully easy to care for.
They slept when they were full and woke only to eat, saving Chen Yuan a great deal of effort.
She hurriedly ate two Chinese Hamburgers, drank a cup of milk, then packed a bundle containing two sets of men’s clothes, four flatbreads, two taels of broken silver, and a waterskin.
Carrying Niuniu in her arms once more, she left the Storage Space and resumed her journey.
After leaving the city, she followed the stream of refugees heading south.
If she wanted to reach Jingshi, south was the only direction she could take.
The previous night, she had carefully studied the yutu, comparing it with a modern map.
After a great deal of analysis, she had finally figured out her current location.
In terms of modern geography, she was in the region around Yanmen Pass in northern Shanxi.
The terrain was broadly similar to the modern landscape, though there were still many differences.
To the north lay the nomadic tribes.
To the west flowed the Yellow River.
To the east stretched the Taihang Mountains.
For the people living here, there was only one possible route to flee the war:
South.
To leave Hedong Prefecture, they first had to travel south to Pingyang County.
From there, they had two options.
They could either cross the Yellow River by boat to reach Qinzhou Prefecture, or they could detour through the mountain roads into Yuzhou Prefecture.
Jingshi was located within Yuzhou Prefecture, more than two hundred kilometers from the prefectural capital.
In other words, if Chen Yuan wanted to reach Jingshi by the shortest route…
She would have to take the mountain road.