At the Kaoshan Village camp, Shen Dafu was butchering a wild boar while the villagers waited happily for their share of the meat. They hadn’t seen this much meat even at New Year’s, and now just looking at it made their mouths water.
Shen Yanqing loaded a cart with the processed boar meat and went with Qi Yanxuan to the open ground to smoke it…
The next day
Shen Yanqing pulled a cart of pork at the front, flanked by Qi Yanxuan carrying a pack and Shen Yanshan holding a crossbow.
Yesterday, Shen Yanshan had even made a quiver out of bamboo. When Qi Yanxuan saw it, he gave him a leather case specially made for holding crossbow bolts. Shen Yanshan treasured it, strapped it to his waist, and grinned with delight.
Sure enough, no matter a man’s age, his enthusiasm for weapons never diminishes. The usually kind and loving patriarch instantly turned into a big kid.
Today, everyone in Kaoshan Village wore happy smiles, and even their footsteps on the road were unusually light.
The people in the groups behind them stared at the pork on the cart ahead, green with envy and jealousy. But after yesterday’s lightning strike incident, they probably wouldn’t dare harbor any crooked thoughts for a while.
The dozen or so girls who had narrowly escaped yesterday clung closely behind the Kaoshan Village group. Compared to the others, they would rather follow this particular team.
Yesterday, they had witnessed this group’s unity, how they protected the old, the weak, the women, and the children when trouble arose. That was rare among refugee groups. But they also knew that in this famine year, no one would give charity to strangers for no reason, let alone to women like them who had been defiled. Even remarrying would be difficult for them.
Two days later
The group gradually entered the depths of the mountain range. The towering trees were so thick that even two grown men couldn’t wrap their arms around them, and the thick layer of rotting leaves on the ground gave off an unpleasant smell.
The surroundings gradually fell silent. It had been full of birdsong along the way before, but now the quiet was somewhat terrifying.
Sensing something wrong, Shen Yanqing slowed his pace. “Dad, you take the cart. Something’s off here!” The look on Shen Yanqing’s face as he gazed at Shen Yanshan grew increasingly grave.
“Alright! I feel it too. Even in tiger territory there would still be birds, but here even the flying birds are afraid of the beasts. This place is clearly not simple.” Shen Yanshan took the cart, his eyes warily scanning their surroundings.
Gripping his short blade, Shen Yanqing habitually pulled Qi Yanxuan behind him. “Axuan, stay close to me!”
“Okay!”
Qi Yanxuan looked helpless but cooperated fully anyway. What a sweet burden!
Seeing this, the people behind them all picked up their weapons and stayed alert, terrified that one careless moment might get them snatched away by a wild beast.
The deeper they went, the damper the ground became, and there seemed to be traces of a large predator slithering across it. At this point, both Shen Yanshan and his son knew what kind of beast lurked here.
Barring any surprises, it should be a snake and judging by the slithering tracks, it was no small one. Where there were snakes, there was likely a water source not far ahead.
Sure enough, after walking for a quarter of an hour, they discovered an enormous shed snakeskin in a patch of bushes, a skin large enough to fit a grown man inside.
“Good heavens! Such a huge snakeskin, how big must the snake be?” Shen Dagen trembled all over with fright.
The other groups nearby also spotted the snakeskin and began chattering in terror, some of the more timid ones even on the verge of tears.
“Everyone, quiet! Making this much noise in a giant snake’s territory do you want to die? If you lure it here, none of us will survive.” Shen Kui walked to the back and hissed at everyone to shut up.
“There’s only one path now. Let’s pick up the pace and get out of this giant snake’s territory as soon as possible.” Shen Yanshan urged everyone to hurry along with a grave expression.
They hurried through the dense forest, everyone on edge, not daring to speak. Some even covered their children’s mouths, terrified that crying might draw the giant serpent.
……
Splash, splash.
From far ahead, the crowd heard the sound of flowing water, and the people in the back grew excited.
“Water! That’s the sound of water!”
“Quick! Let’s go! We’ve finally found a water source!”
The crowd burst into commotion some dancing with joy, some weeping with happiness, some crying in each other’s arms, all so overcome with emotion they were incoherent, completely forgetting they were still in the serpent’s territory.
Seeing the crowd surge toward the source of the water, the village chief looked hesitantly at Shen Yanqing. “Yanqing, should we go?”
“No. They’re walking straight to their deaths. Let’s speed up and get moving!” Shen Yanqing watched the departing crowd with cold, clear eyes.
“Let’s go!” Hearing Shen Yanqing’s words, the village chief glanced at the departing crowd with sympathy, but there was nothing he could do. Everyone made their own choices; he only needed to look after the people of his own village.
They moved even faster than before. Children were carried on backs, the elderly helped onto carts, and the group sped through the forest.
Traveling with them were the several thousand people who had come all the way from the desert. These people trusted that following Kaoshan Village was surely safe, their leader’s judgment had never been wrong.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
A small waterfall on the cliff face slid like silk into the pool below, the water raising a splashing sound. The pitch-black pool seemed as if it could swallow a person whole. Yet the crowd gathered at the pool’s edge seemed unaware that danger was approaching.
Everyone gazed at the water before them, weeping and laughing at once.
“We’re saved! There’s a pool here, we finally don’t have to worry anymore!”
The crowd crowded around the pool, scooping up water in their hands and drinking greedily, then dunking their faces in to wash.
Just then, something suddenly went wrong…
A man was dragged into the water. But the people drinking and washing at the pool’s edge hadn’t noticed yet; those in the back only saw the man being rapidly pulled into the water by something, and all of them looked horrified before panic broke out.
Hearing the commotion behind them, the people at the pool’s edge turned around in bewilderment and in that instant of turning, two more people were dragged under.
Everyone spun around warily, staring at the pool’s surface, where ripples spread out in rings. Slowly, a patch of crimson surfaced on the water.
“Blood! Blood! Run!”
Someone bellowed, but before the words had even faded, before anyone could move
Splash, splash! Two giant serpents, each as thick as a water barrel, burst out of the water, spraying everyone with droplets.
Terrified, the crowd scrambled to flee, tripping and crawling over one another.
The serpents quickly swam ashore and chased the crowd from behind, their long bodies fully out of the water stretching a full twenty meters.
People shoved and trampled each other in their desperate flight, some even knocked others to the ground, hoping the serpents would eat those people instead of chasing them.
“Ahh!”
One man was seized by the head by a serpent; he only had time to let out a single scream before being swallowed whole.
It was clear the serpents had been starving for a long time one bite, one swallow. These people were simply delivering themselves to their doorstep.
Screams rose and fell everywhere. Hearing them only deepened the panic, and the crowd threw down their bundles, shoving and pushing. Many didn’t die in the serpents’ jaws but were instead trampled to death in the stampede.
To escape the giant python, the crowd began scattering and fleeing in all directions…