Lin Yan pulled his daughter tightly into his arms, sobbing softly as his whole body trembled, as though he feared she would disappear at any moment.
He had waited too long, hoped for too long. Finally… finally…
Listening to Lin Yan’s choked sobs by her ear, Lin Zhiyue felt both helpless and dazed.
So the original owner of this body was also named Zhiyue?
She didn’t know how to comfort the man before her.
She had been an orphan since childhood and had grown up in an orphanage.
Never in her life had someone wept with joy just because of her existence, as if she were their entire world.
But this feeling… it felt wonderful. So wonderful.
So this was fatherly love.
It felt warm. It felt like happiness.
After a long while, Lin Yan’s emotions slowly calmed.
He had countless things he wanted to say to his daughter and many questions he wanted to ask, but now was not the time.
Lin Yan stood up while carrying her in his arms.
“Zhiyue, we need to keep moving. If we get any later, it won’t be safe.”
“Dad, where are we going? And where’s Mother?”
Lin Zhiyue quickly took the chance to ask the questions troubling her.
As he adjusted the outer robe wrapped around her, Lin Yan sighed.
“Chaos has broken out in Youzhou, and there’s a drought in the north. We have to head to Jiangzhou.”
Then he continued in a worried tone,
“As for your mother… before the village organized the escape, she happened to return to your grandmother’s home. I wanted to go pick her up so we could travel together, but by the time I arrived, the entire village was already deserted. It looked like the place had been looted. I don’t know whether your mother is safe or not.”
“Your grandparents and the villagers left first. We need to hurry and catch up with them.”
Seeing the exhaustion on Lin Yan’s face, Lin Zhiyue wanted to suggest walking on her own, but in the end she kept silent.
The original body was still too young, and it was nighttime. She wouldn’t be able to walk quickly anyway.
After traveling another li or so, faint figures finally appeared ahead.
Lin Yan slowed his pace, carefully inching forward while trying not to make a sound, all while observing the situation ahead.
There was a large forest in front of them, with more than three hundred people resting there.
Some had already spread blankets on the ground and gone to sleep. Others quietly cooked food in clay pots.
Scattered nearby were a few ox carts and mule carts. At a glance, it was clearly a village group fleeing together.
Lin Yan relaxed slightly. Villagers were generally less dangerous, but one still had to be cautious. Not every villager was kind-hearted.
Every village had its rotten apples. Those strong enough to rob others were exactly that kind.
After confirming the people ahead were not from Dahe Village, he finally set Lin Zhiyue down.
He rubbed a handful of dirt from the ground onto her face while whispering,
“Daughter, don’t speak later. Stay behind me.”
Then he took out a strip of cloth from his bundle, messed up her hair, and hastily tied it into a little boy’s hairstyle.
After examining her and making sure everything looked right, he took her hand and strode toward a woman beside an ox cart at the edge of the camp.
“Sister-in-law, may I ask where Zhuzi’s family is resting?”
The woman had been crouching on the ground, stirring food in a clay pot. Hearing a voice suddenly behind her startled her badly, and she stared at Lin Yan in alarm.
Lin Yan understood well that in times like these, a stranger suddenly approaching was indeed suspicious.
Even while being stared at like that, his expression only became gentler, looking very much like someone harmless.
At that moment, a tall, skinny man from the other side of the ox cart hurried over.
“Who are you?”
“Brother, don’t be anxious. I just wanted to ask where Zhuzi’s family is staying.”
Lin Yan lightly tugged Lin Zhiyue behind him.
“This brat ate something bad along the road. His stomach’s been acting up the whole way, either having cramps or needing to relieve himself. That delayed us, so we only just caught up. Most everyone’s already resting, and I didn’t want to make a big fuss looking for people and disturb everyone, so I came to ask quietly.”
The man eyed Lin Yan suspiciously.
The woman beside him suddenly said,
“Hey, isn’t the son of Daniu’s family called Zhuzi? Are you from Zhuzi’s mother’s side of the family?”
“Yes, yes, exactly! Sister-in-law, you’ve got a great memory.”
Lin Yan hurriedly agreed.
“I think Daniu’s family is resting somewhere toward the front, but I’m not sure exactly where. You can try looking further ahead.”
After hearing that, Lin Yan deliberately turned to Lin Zhiyue and said,
“Tiezi, it’s already so late. If we keep searching all the way through, we’ll definitely disturb everyone else. How about we wait until daylight to look for Brother Zhuzi?”
Lin Zhiyue immediately replied in a pitiful voice,
“Okay, Dad.”
Lin Yan muttered to himself,
“Who knows how worried Zhuzi’s mother must be. It’s so dark, too hard to search.”
Then he bowed slightly toward the two of them.
“Thank you, brother and sister-in-law. My son and I will trouble you by staying nearby tonight.”
The man curled his lips.
“Suit yourself. It’s not my land anyway.”
With that, he turned around and went back to his own business.
The woman smiled awkwardly, said nothing more, and returned to tending her food.
Lin Yan looked around. Every tree with decent foliage had already been occupied.
Not too far away stood a bare tree with no leaves, so he led Lin Zhiyue beneath it.
“Daughter, are you hungry?”
Lin Yan unpacked the bundle, spread two old garments on the ground, then took out a water pouch and half a wild vegetable flatbread for Lin Zhiyue.
Lin Zhiyue accepted the water pouch and flatbread, glancing at the now-empty bundle.
She knew this was their only remaining food.
Shaking the water pouch, she realized there was barely any water left either.
Along the way, she hadn’t seen any rivers or streams. If they wanted water, they’d probably have to search deeper in the mountains.
“Dad, I’m not hungry. You’ve been carrying me the whole journey. You should eat.”
She handed the bread and water back to Lin Yan.
“I’m not hungry either.”
Lin Yan took the bread, wrapped it back up, and returned it to the bundle. His daughter was probably hungry, just enduring it for now. Better to save it for her tomorrow.
What truly worried him was tomorrow.
If they still couldn’t find his father and the others by then, what would they do?
When Lin Yan separated from his family, he hadn’t brought any cooking utensils. He’d only taken two or three changes of clothes, a little dry food, one water pouch, and two taels of silver.
Then he’d carried his daughter and set off.
His daughter was his precious treasure. Wherever he went, he had to take her along.
He’d originally thought he could reunite with his wife and temporarily travel with his in-laws’ family before catching up with his own family later.
Father and daughter both spoke quietly. Most of the villagers had already fallen asleep, and the faint noises around them gradually faded into silence.
Lin Zhiyue lay on the dry grass covered by the two garments Lin Yan had spread out, wrapped in the same outer robe that had been around her all this time.
Lin Yan sat half-reclined against the tree trunk, planning to spend the night like that.
At this moment, Lin Zhiyue kept her eyes closed and pretended to sleep.
She was waiting for Lin Yan to fall deeply asleep.
She wanted to test whether she could enter the mysterious space. There was no way a cheat ability could exist only for show and not actually work.
Late into the quiet night, Lin Zhiyue cautiously moved her head away from Lin Yan’s lap.
Seeing no reaction from him, she guessed he had fallen asleep.
After carrying Lin Zhiyue all day, Lin Yan truly was exhausted.
Only after confirming the surroundings were safe and seeing that the villagers had arranged shifts for night watch did he finally relax enough to sleep.
Lin Zhiyue glanced around.
In the distance was a small campfire, and she could vaguely see two people talking beside it, though they were too far away for her to hear anything.
They were probably the night watch.
After confirming the two couldn’t see this direction, Lin Zhiyue closed her eyes and let her consciousness sink into her mind.
As her consciousness entered the space, she felt as though she were watching a 4D movie—unable to physically touch anything, yet still feeling immersed within it.
She looked toward the spring water.
Based on all the novels she had read before, any spring water inside a magical space was bound to be extraordinary. She wondered what effects this spring water had.
Beside the spring sat a small wooden ladle.
With a single thought, her consciousness withdrew, and the little wooden ladle appeared in her hand.
Then she entered the space again. The moment she silently thought “enter,” her body outside disappeared.
Inside the space, Lin Zhiyue was overjoyed and couldn’t help jumping happily.
Only at this moment did she finally feel truly at ease.
Being suddenly thrown into a strange world for no reason had left her deeply uneasy, even though Lin Yan was such a good father and she already liked him very much.
Still, the unknown and unfamiliar nature of everything had filled her with anxiety.
Lin Zhiyue walked to the spring, scooped up a ladleful of water, and carefully took a sip.
The spring water was sweet and refreshing. Her exhaustion vanished instantly, and even her hunger eased somewhat.
This spring water was amazing.
Thinking that, joy bubbled up inside her heart.