When they were still some distance from Xin’an Village, Old Zhou took a pack of N95 masks out of his backpack and handed them out to everyone.
“A couple of people who went from the village to the rescue point the day before yesterday had severe pollen allergies. One even had throat swelling and almost didn’t make it. These masks were specially requested by Secretary Lao from the town, don’t mind the heat, just wear them.”
After distributing the masks, he took a medical isolation face shield from his bag and handed it to Ke Bei, looking a bit embarrassed.
“I didn’t know Xiao Tian was coming too, so I didn’t think to bring a child-sized mask. I don’t even know if this will work for him. The straps at the back are elastic, you help adjust it for him.”
The shield looked a little worn, clearly Old Zhou’s personal item. Normally, something like this wouldn’t be shared with others.
But in the current situation, offering such a valuable item to Xiao Tian was probably the best solution Old Zhou could think of.
Ke Bei quickly thanked him, then politely declined, “Brother Zhou, you keep this for yourself. We’ve already prepared what Xiao Tian needs. He has allergies, so we always bring extra protective gear when we go out.”
She then took out a child-sized mask and a sun hat that could cover his entire head and face, putting them on Xiao Tian carefully.
Old Zhou looked at Xiao Tian, fully covered in sun-protective clothing, and sighed as he patted the boy’s head, giving Ke Bei a thumbs-up.
“Ah, it’s always the mother who worries! In times like these, nothing is easy.”
Hearing this, the others couldn’t help but reflect on the past few days. Everyone’s expressions grew a little somber.
Silently, they put on their masks. Liu Lin also took out a sun-protective jacket and put it on before continuing forward.
After walking for another ten minutes or so, the group reached the outskirts of the village, and they all stopped in shock at what lay before them.
If Yuehe Village yesterday had looked like a green cocoon from the outside, Xin’an Village now looked like a spiky ball completely surrounded by thorns.
From the outskirts, they could see a row of rose trees intertwined to form a wall, densely covered in thorns.
The outermost two flowerbeds of Xin’an Village had roses that had all grown wildly out of control.
Even the previously small potted plants, annuals, biennials, or newly planted seedlings, had now grown into full-sized trees.
These intertwined thorny branches formed a natural barrier, completely isolating the village from the outside world.
Standing along the outer edge of the rose-tree wall, everyone’s eyes turned to Village Chief Liu, the question clearly unspoken but understood—
How on earth could they get inside?
There was another thought everyone had but didn’t say aloud: in a situation like this, could the villagers trapped inside really still be alive?
Faced with the scene, Village Chief Liu was stunned.
When they had left yesterday, the plants had already begun to grow wildly, but they hadn’t reached this level.
Looking at the completely blocked path into the village, he couldn’t bring himself to speak.
He couldn’t tell the team to risk their lives just to save a few villagers whose fate was still unknown.
But now that they were at the village entrance, he also couldn’t tell them to give up.
“Is there any other way into the village?” seeing his hesitation, Cheng Qian asked.
“Other roads…” Liu stammered, repeating the words.
His mind was completely scrambled, unable to think clearly.
It was his son, Liu Lin, who spoke up from the side. He said to Cheng Qian, “If we go a bit further, there’s the village elementary school. There aren’t many trees planted there, maybe we can try going through that way?”
Cheng Qian didn’t answer immediately, instead looking back at Village Chief Liu.
Liu wiped the sweat from his forehead and nodded. “The school does lead into the village, but our elementary school has boarding students, so the school walls are built pretty high. I remember the walls alone are about 2.7 meters, and there’s broken glass embedded on top.”
He looked at Cheng Qian, his eyes full of worry. “Without any tools, do you think we can get over that?”
For Cheng Qian, the height was no problem. He glanced toward the direction Liu Lin had indicated and said calmly, “Let’s go check it out.”
The elementary school was some distance from the flowerbeds.
Along the way, there were still some wild trees, but the thorny rose bushes were gradually thinning out, and eventually almost disappeared.
The group cleared a path as they went, and after quite a while, they finally arrived.
Although Village Chief Liu had said the school didn’t have many trees, in reality the entire perimeter was already surrounded by climbing and clustered plants.
It was like a thick layer of curtain had been wrapped around it, completely concealing its original color.
Even twenty or so meters from the school, there was hardly any visible path, the ground was entirely overtaken by various wild shrubs.
If it weren’t for Village Chief Liu and his son being truly familiar with the area, Cheng Qian and the others probably wouldn’t have even noticed, hidden among the bushes, that there was a school wall there.
Fortunately, once they got close, it became clear that the plants climbing the entire wall were mostly overgrown wild weeds.
Although dense and numerous, they didn’t have any sharp thorns, overall, it was far better than the flowerbed situation at the village entrance.
Old Zhou first took a militiaman with him and tried to climb the wall using a stacked support method.
But before Old Zhou could even stand properly below, the man on top suddenly yelped, his body swaying, and fell straight down.
He knocked Old Zhou, who wasn’t prepared, to the ground as well.
“What happened? Cut on the glass? Are you hurt?” the people waiting below quickly gathered around to ask.
“There’s something alive up there, it can hit!”
The fallen militiaman was still visibly shaken and, as if afraid no one would believe him, held out his hand for everyone to see.
Only then did they notice a long red mark across his hand, looking as if something had lashed him, and it was already starting to swell.
Cheng Qian looked up, squinting at the wall, then reached his hand toward Ke Bei.
Before he could speak, Ke Bei instinctively pulled a pair of cut-resistant gloves from the spatial pocket and handed them over.
Cheng Qian tucked his machete into his waist, put on the gloves, and said, “I’ll go check it out,” stepping back a few paces.
Everyone quickly moved aside, clearing a path for him.
Then Cheng Qian took a few running steps, leapt into the air, and grabbed the top of the wall with force.
The movement that had required both Old Zhou and a teammate to perform was astonishingly easy for him.
He pressed both hands against the wall top, using the leverage to lift his entire body up.
But before he could stabilize himself, a vine suddenly shot out from the green foliage clinging to the wall, curling straight for his wrist!
Fortunately, Cheng Qian had anticipated this. One hand pressed against the wall while the other quickly drew the dual-bladed machete from his waist and swung at the vine.
It snapped instantly.
At the same time, countless other vines began curling toward him from all directions.
These vines were interwoven into a thick network, so that when they reached him, they weren’t single strands but a tangled mass like a massive net.
The vines climbed up along the wall, first wrapping around Cheng Qian’s legs, then crawling up his body. It looked like they were closing in, ready to ensnare him completely in their tangled web.
“Watch out!”
“Brother Cheng, look below!”
The people standing at the base of the wall shouted in alarm.
Cheng Qian, however, remained extraordinarily calm.
His machete swung in a blur, leaving afterimages in its wake.
Wherever the blade struck, thick green vines were sliced and fell from the wall.
But there were just too many vines, and his position atop the wall made things even more precarious.
The wall itself was less than half a meter thick, and vines were attacking him from both sides. The top of the wall was also strewn with shards of glass.
To stabilize himself, Cheng Qian had to brace one hand against the wall while kneeling with a knee on the shards.
His knee was already cut, blood soaking his pants.
The scent of the blood clearly acted like a magnet for the attacking vines. They lashed out wildly toward him, not caring if they were cut to pieces by his blade.
Watching the vines gather and tighten around Cheng Qian, the people below panicked.
They rushed forward with their weapons, swinging at the green tendrils in a desperate frenzy.
None of them had much experience; they were acting purely on courage. In reality, their help was limited.
In a short while, few vines were actually cut through, and both Liu Lin and Li Xin already had vines wrapped around their arms.
“Everyone, get back!” Ke Bei shouted, then pulled a flamethrower out from the spatial pocket.
This time, she had brought two sets. Aside from the one she had used before, the second was the kind with a pipe connected to a small gas canister.
Without hesitation, she handed that heavier set directly to Xiao Tian.
The canister looked small, but it weighed more than twenty kilograms, not to mention the flamethrower itself, whose length almost matched Xiao Tian’s height.
When she tossed the set over, everyone below sucked in a sharp breath, stunned by the sheer size and weight of the equipment.
Everyone had completely forgotten to wonder where Ke Bei had gotten all this equipment from, their first reaction was just fear that the heavy gear might hit the child.
Village Chief Liu let out a sharp “Eh!” and stepped forward to stop him.
The others instinctively raised their arms, trying to shield Xiao Tian.
But before anyone could reach him, Xiao Tian had already jumped up and caught the equipment with his hands.
Even as the gas canister whooshed through the air, Xiao Tian didn’t take a step back. He stood firmly, holding the large flamethrower in his small frame and cradling the canister.
The sight left everyone staring with wide eyes and open mouths.
Even Cheng Qian, still struggling with the vines on top of the wall, was momentarily stunned by his son’s display.
Old Zhou suddenly remembered what the little guy had said to his father yesterday: “Mom and I are going to protect you.”
Only now did he truly believe the child had meant it seriously.
He instinctively touched his nose and stole a glance at Cheng Qian, still perched atop the wall.
Xiao Tian didn’t understand the adults’ feelings, he was already mimicking his mother, learning how to operate the flamethrower.
When the lighter ignited the gas, sending a half-meter flame shooting out, the boy’s eyes squinted with joy.
“Dad, I’m helping you!”
He shouted up at Cheng Qian on the wall, holding the gas canister in one hand and the flamethrower towering above his head in the other, boldly burning the tangled branches on the wall.
Wherever the flame touched, branches caught fire, some curling from the heat, others crackling and turning to ash.
Seeing her son act so impressively, Ke Bei couldn’t help but smile.
She signaled to her husband, lifted her own flamethrower, and joined the attack.
Mother and son, each on one side, set the wall ablaze together.
Because there were so many leaves and vines and the humidity was high, the intense flames didn’t start a wildfire, even though the heat made the surrounding air scorching.
Under the combined assault of mother and son, the vines that had swarmed like snakes earlier recoiled in panic. Yet even with this, they couldn’t escape the flamethrower’s power. The vines surrounding Cheng Qian were quickly reduced to charred remnants.
With the help of his wife and son, Cheng Qian’s pressure immediately eased.
He quickly slashed through the vines still wrapped around him, cleared the shards of glass from the top of the wall, and then reached out to Old Zhou. “Come up!”
Old Zhou was stunned by what Ke Bei and Xiao Tian were doing.
He stared at the pair, eyes wide in disbelief.
After Cheng Qian called him twice more, he finally reacted.
“Oh! Oh!”
He hurried forward, grabbed Cheng Qian’s hand, and used it to pull himself up onto the wall.
The top of the wall was still lined with broken glass. Even though Cheng Qian had removed much of it, some shards remained.
Sitting astride the wall, Old Zhou yelped in pain as he got pricked.
He cast a look at Cheng Qian, whose knees still bore bloodstains, and silently closed his mouth in respect.
Mimicking Cheng Qian, he drew the sickle from his waist and hacked at the vines shooting up from the wall.
Once Old Zhou was settled, Cheng Qian stopped worrying about him and turned to Xiao Tian, holding out his hand with a smile. “Son, come up!”
Xiao Tian, sweating from the heat of the flames, still held the flamethrower diligently, coordinating with his mother.
Despite his small size, he moved with surprising steadiness, giving an uncanny sense of reliability.
The others instinctively fell in behind the mother and son, handling the cleanup.
Hearing his father call, Xiao Tian extinguished the flame and beamed at Cheng Qian.
His rosy face was full of pride, a hint of showiness, and eager anticipation, he almost wanted to shout for his father’s praise.
Cheng Qian, chopping the branches that sprang up from inside the wall, laughed heartily at his son’s antics.
“Still my son, the strongest! Even stronger than your dad!” he exclaimed.
Xiao Tian, thrilled by the compliment, bounced up and spread his arms wide toward his father.
Seeing this, Li Xin, standing behind, quickly ran over, scooped up Xiao Tian, and handed him to Cheng Qian.
Cheng Qian took his son, gave him a strong kiss, and then placed him into Old Zhou’s arms.
He grabbed the flamethrower and gas canister from Xiao Tian, leapt down from the wall, and began burning the vines inside the wall.
The couple worked in perfect coordination, one inside, one outside, and quickly eliminated most of the aggressive green plants in the area, rendering them no longer a threat.
The group finally helped each other over the wall and entered the school grounds.
Xin’an Village was apparently one of the wealthier villages around Yishui Town, as could be seen from the equipment in their elementary school.
According to Village Chief Liu, this elementary school was shared by four villages, with roughly six to seven hundred children enrolled.
The campus was large, with a four-story classroom building and a three-story dormitory.
Other facilities were also well-equipped: a playground, basketball hoops, ping-pong tables, horizontal bars, and parallel bars.
Now, however, everything was overgrown with plants, obscuring its original appearance.
Cheng Qian and Old Zhou led the way, cutting a path as they went.
Unlike the more aggressive plants in Yuehe Village, roses, aloes, and similar species, these plants were different, and seemed consciously to attack anyone who came near.
Branches would occasionally shoot out unexpectedly, and if one wasn’t careful, they could strike.
After the earlier battle at the wall, even though Zhou Xin, Liu Lin, and the others hadn’t done much physically, they had at least gained some experience; the initial fear of these sentient trees was gone.
The young men positioned themselves on either side, gripping their weapons tightly, chopping at any branches that lunged toward them, keeping Xiao Tian safely in the middle.
Although they knew they were stronger than the boy, Xiao Tian was very small. Once he had tucked away his “abilities,” his little frame looked more like that of a four- or five-year-old child.
Seeing his sweat-soaked clothes sticking to his body, none of the adults wanted to let him take the lead.
Ke Bei brought up the rear.
She monitored the surroundings while subtly keeping some distance from the others, and quietly collected into her space all the undamaged bars and equipment, like the horizontal bars, that had been buried in the overgrown grass.
After passing through the school, they finally entered the village.
At this point, Village Chief Liu and Liu Lin moved ahead, starting to go house by house to search for anyone who hadn’t left the village.
As everyone had expected, those people were nowhere to be found.
No sign of life, no sign of bodies.
It was unclear whether the villagers had managed to escape or if they had been attacked.
Everyone’s expressions grew increasingly serious. Although no one spoke, as they went deeper into the village, their thoughts began to lean toward the second possibility.
Village Chief Liu clenched his fists tightly.
Liu Lin followed his father, going house by house, checking each home.
He bit his lower lip in distress, and tears slowly welled up in his eyes, turning them red-rimmed.
To outsiders, this might seem like just another task.
But for Village Chief Liu and Liu Lin, this was home, the place their ancestors had lived for generations.
They were searching for their family and elders.
They opened door after door with hope, only to leave disappointed each time.
Every house they checked and found empty meant that no one survived there.
The sense of loss and sorrow was impossible for outsiders to understand.
According to Village Chief Liu’s earlier account, nine villagers had chosen to stay behind and share the village’s fate. But after checking around, they hadn’t found a single one.
“Let’s go a bit further. Around the bend is my second uncle’s house. We’ll check there; we won’t go to the other houses.”
After breaking into one more home and leaving disappointed again, Village Chief Liu sighed.
Cheng Qian understood that the “second uncle” he referred to was Old Liu, the primary person they were looking for—Liu Jian’s grandfather. He nodded and went ahead with Old Zhou and Li Xin.
Ke Bei was the last to leave the house.
Although she kept her face calm out of consideration for others, a closer look revealed a trace of pleasure in her expression.
While they hadn’t found any people after checking several homes with Village Chief Liu, she had collected a fair number of gas canisters.
This village had no natural gas; every household relied on canisters, and typically each home kept one or two extra reserves aside from the one in use.
After going around the neighborhood, Ke Bei had acquired quite a few, a small but welcome gain.
She was very satisfied with this unexpected reward.
“Mom, hurry!” Seeing Ke Bei come out of the house, the little boy in the group waved at her.
Ke Bei frowned as she looked at him: “Put your mask back on!”
The forest was hot and stuffy, and Xiao Tian had quietly pulled off his mask to breathe while no one was paying attention.
But it hadn’t been off for more than a few minutes before Ke Bei noticed.
The little guy pouted but obediently pulled the mask back up, muttering, “I was going to wear it properly anyway. It stinks here so much, I’d suffocate if I didn’t. Mom, smell it yourself, it’s really gross!”
His words immediately drew everyone’s attention. Cheng Qian quickly took off his mask.
Then he was hit by an unexpectedly strong, foul, and fishy stench.
The others smelled it too.
“Ugh!”
Liu Lin hurriedly covered his nose and mouth again, but still couldn’t stop himself from gagging twice.
He wiped away the tears forming in his eyes and awkwardly apologized: “Sorry, I have a weak stomach. I’ve never been able to stand the smell of chicken manure since I was a kid.”
Chicken manure?
Everyone froze at the same time, instinctively looking around.
Not far from Xin’an Village was a large, long-established chicken farm. It was convenient to buy meat and eggs there, and the prices were cheap, so villagers from the surrounding villages didn’t raise chickens themselves.
If no one raised chickens, where could this stench come from?
“It’s from Second Uncle’s house!”
Village Chief Liu suddenly remembered: “Before Xiao Jian came back, he specifically went to the chicken farm and bought several chickens to improve Xiao Jian’s diet. They probably haven’t been eaten yet.”
“How many chickens did he buy to make it smell this bad?” Li Xin muttered, holding his nose in disgust.
“Step back! Everyone, step back!”
Cheng Qian, walking at the front, suddenly stretched out his arms to block the group and bent slightly, assuming a defensive stance.