Wang Shi’s face darkened completely as she and Xu Da struggled to press the agitated Xu Dalan against the mountain wall. Her grip loosened slightly, nearly allowing him to break free.
Seeing this, Xu Yue, who had been crying, wiped away the few tears she had managed to squeeze out and stretched her small hands toward Xu Dalan. “Brother, hold me.”
Only then did the agitated Xu Dalan calm down. He cradled Xu Yue like a baby, retreating to the innermost part of the mountain wall, wary of anyone approaching.
Xu Da and Wang Shi instinctively pulled Xu Erniang away, maintaining a distance from him. Wiping the sweat from their brows, the couple glanced suspiciously at Xu Yue.
“What’s going on?” Wang Shi whispered.
She refused to believe that any of her three children could be frightened into tears so easily.
To be honest, Xu Yue felt somewhat helpless. Xu Dalan’s reaction had been entirely unexpected, yet it confirmed her instincts were correct.
The bulging-eyed man had been looking at her as if she were prey—otherwise, Xu Dalan wouldn’t have reacted so violently.
Struggling to free her head from her brother’s tight embrace, Xu Yue voiced her suspicion. “Those nine people… might be cannibals.”
Anxiously, she urged, “Mother, it’s almost dawn. Let’s leave.”
Hearing this, Xu Da’s expression darkened abruptly. He turned to look outside, where the twelve individuals were gathered around the bulging-eyed man, whispering among themselves. Occasionally, they cast hostile glances in their direction.
Without hesitation, Wang Shi nodded. “We leave now.”
Whether You Niang’s guess was true or not, they couldn’t afford to take the risk. Avoiding them was their only option.
“Wait!” Xu Da turned around. “You pack up first. I’ll go ask Wang Dayou to join us.”
Wang Shi looked at him, puzzled. Was that really necessary?
Xu Da nodded emphatically—it was absolutely necessary!
He gathered his family and explained in a low voice:
More and more people would inevitably flee to the mountains. Situations like today’s would surely recur. If both sides had similar numbers, it might be manageable—neither provoking the other.
But if they encountered another group like those twelve, even if they tried to avoid them, there was no guarantee the others wouldn’t target them.
A crowd of refugees—starving, poorly clothed, dehydrated, and facing the threat of death—could be just as dangerous as encountering the ruthless vagrant army.
“Human nature is something you should never place your hopes in.”
This was the advice of a Cultivation practitioner who had lived for centuries and witnessed countless acts of murder and plunder.
Xu Yue stared at her makeshift father in surprise, suddenly realizing that a father was still a father. His perspective and awareness made her curious about what he had experienced in the past.
Wang Shi rarely gave him a second glance, but this time, she did.
Xu Da thought to himself, “Now you see how formidable I am, don’t you?”
He raised an eyebrow slightly, brushed aside the messy, grimy bangs from his forehead, and said with feigned profundity, “Strength lies in numbers! Only with more people can we have greater power!”
Even if it didn’t serve as a deterrent, having more people around meant more decoys. If they had to flee and the enemy split up to chase them, their family’s chances of survival would increase.
“Ah, you wouldn’t understand even if I explained. Just get ready. I’ll be back soon!”
Before Wang Shi’s flying fist could land on his face, Xu Da tiptoed and twisted away, darting off.
Xu Yue exchanged a glance with her sister, unable to avoid some concern for their hapless father. With such mischief, he wasn’t far from earning their mother’s deadly arrow.
Wang Shi busied herself with the children, groping in the dark to divide the leftover roasted meat from the previous night. Each received a small piece to stave off hunger, maintaining their strength while lightening the load slightly.
After eating, the backpack held only a clay pot, five chipped bowls, a piece of salt-cured meat, two tubes of water, and ten rice balls.
Wang Shi covered these at the bottom of the backpack with leaves, then placed the bedding and military packs of Xu Yue and her sister on top, tying it all securely with straw rope before slinging it onto her back.
The remaining military pack would be given to Xu Da later. Wang Shi planned to have Xu Erniang sit on it while Xu Da carried her, hoping to speed up their pace.
As for Xu Yue, she would still be carried by Xu Dalan.
Upon hearing her mother’s arrangement, Xu Erniang’s small face flushed crimson with resistance. “I—I can walk myself,” she protested.
Wang Shi glanced at her feet, covered in burst blisters. “Forget it. Children should act like children. Your father and I still have the strength to carry you now.”
Xu Erniang: “…”
Fine, no need to be stubborn.
Whatever Xu Da had said to Wang Dayou and the others, the villagers of Dawang Village now regarded the twelve strangers with clear apprehension and loathing.
Watching the Dawang Village folks and the Xu family bustling about, clearly preparing to leave, the twelve showed expressions of surprise.
One of them attempted to approach the Dawang Village group to ask what they were doing, but before he could get close, the men of Dawang Village immediately raised their hoes, sickles, clubs, and other tools in a warning gesture, forbidding his approach.
The man’s face darkened instantly, and he silently retreated. The twelve coldly watched the group preparing to abandon them, their expressions shadowed with gloom.
Especially the bulging-eyed man whose teeth Xu Dalan had shattered, causing him to spit blood continuously—his gaze fixed on the Xu family was particularly venomous.
But since they hadn’t been traveling together in the first place, going their separate ways without including them was hardly unreasonable.
As dawn’s faint light emerged on the horizon, the exhausted villagers of Dawang Village, though reluctant to move after finally resting, preferred fatigue and hardship over remaining on edge alongside a group of cannibals.
With few possessions to begin with, once the children were settled, the group set off again.
Wang Shi led the way, carrying the backpack on her back and holding a stick and a cleaver. Since Xu Da had said she knew where to find water, everyone followed her.
Seeing the situation turning against them, the twelve also prepared to follow, but Wang Dayou and the others uniformly raised their weapons, leaving them behind.
As Xu Da’s family had mentioned, the pond wasn’t large—barely enough for their own needs. Why share it with that lot?
Once they had moved far enough to be out of sight, they could no longer control where the twelve went.
They could only hope the group would have the sense not to take the same path.
The party of over twenty people trekked through the mountain forest, trampling a path through the untouched wilderness. The noise startled away deep-mountain beasts, thwarting Wang Shi’s plan to hunt pheasants or rabbits for provisions along the way.
She glanced back at the following crowd. The Dawang Village villagers, having fled overnight without rest, were physically drained, and the group’s pace slowed increasingly.
At this tortoise-like pace, I’m afraid we won’t reach the pond even by sunset this afternoon.
Wang Shi shot Xu Da a glare. She hadn’t experienced any benefits of having more people in their group, only feeling anxiety.
“How much farther do we have to go?”
Wang Dayou’s wife, Tong Shi, asked hoarsely, her throat parched and dry.