Page 523

Chapter 523: 513 Chapter: Die in Jiangnan Even in Death!

"Dad, would you like some water?"

In a dense forest, a young man opened his canteen and carefully brought it to the chapped lips of a middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man barely opened his eyes, lifted the water bottle and felt the minimal amount of water, his already pained expression grew even bitterer.

He forcibly suppressed his thirst, licked his cracked lips, and struggled to say, "Take it, let your mother and sister have a little, and remember to save half. Don’t drink too much, you know how precious water is now. "

The young man glanced at the mother and daughter who were sitting not far away, already asleep, hesitated and said, "Dad, you need to drink some too, otherwise... how will your body hold up?"

Crossing mountains and ridges, water... is now the most difficult resource. Rations can last a long time if conserved, especially the dried food preserved by worms from Jiangnan, one bite can last a day, but water is different. When trekking on foot, which day can be endured without water?

In the past, drought escapes were about the scarcity of food, with miles of barren land where not even a single grass would grow.

But three months ago, after the mass exodus in the Southeast began, the number of refugees counted in the hundreds of millions, far surpassing any previous natural disaster.

Yet, along the way, they could see endless greenery full of vitality even in the dead of winter!

Like the mountain range they were currently in—lush and dense with leaves, clear streams everywhere, and plenty of plump fish seemingly inexhaustible...

But the more it was like this, the more dangerous it became!

If you want to eat the fish in the water, they also want to eat you. Approaching a water source, you never know what kind of monster might suddenly emerge, instantly tearing you to shreds.

Several experiences had taught these survivors that the closer they were to a water source, the more cautious they needed to be. If it wasn’t necessary, it was best to stay away.

And even taking the great risk to fetch some clean water didn’t guarantee it was drinkable. They had seen too many people on the road who drank directly from the clear springs in the mountains, but ninety-nine percent of them had their internal organs eaten by the bugs in the water within a day.

Remembering that scene made the young man too scared to sleep.

He woke up to find the bandits who had drunk the water had their flesh eaten by the bugs, leaving just a human skin clinging to the bones, with countless fist-sized maggots bursting out from their stomachs—enough to traumatize him for life.

After that, whenever they drank water, they had to boil it over a fire for at least a quarter of an hour before daring to try.

But in today’s jungle, making a fire to boil water is the most dangerous activity. They would usually only dare to start a fire during daylight, and even then, they would choose a place that seemed relatively safe. Naturally, in this dense jungle, they dared not.

Without the courage to light a fire, they dared not boil water, and thus drinkable water became increasingly scarce.

"Xiao Yanzi, quick, your brother has brought you water, come and drink." A woman, looking thin and sallow but who still retained a trace of inherent beauty, lit up and took the water bottle, coaxing the little girl in her arms who appeared to be only three or four years old.

But no matter how much she called, the little girl did not react at all.

This made both the woman and the young man bringing the water sink in their hearts.

"Yan Zi? Xiao Yanzi?"

There was no response, and the young man carefully extended his hand to the tip of the little girl’s nose, then recoiled as if shocked, the precious water bottle thudding to the ground.

Hearing this, the woman’s eyes also reddened.

At that moment, the old man who had been lying on the ground struggled to rise, walked over in a few steps, grabbed the little girl, and carefully felt around her nose.

"Old man, what are you doing?" The woman struggled and started to cry.

"I told you we couldn’t make it through here, you insisted on dragging the whole family along. Along the way, Er Ya died, San Wa also died, and now Si Ya is gone too, what’s left for me to live for?"

"Shut up!" The old man weakly roared, "Without taking a risk, should we just wait to die at home?"

"Didn’t you see how those Southern Barbarians treat us Han people? Would you rather your children be captured and skinned alive for wine in the Ghost Temple or be eaten alive by those monsters?"

The woman was immediately at a loss for words, stuttering after a long time, "We might not necessarily be the ones..."

"Woman’s thoughts!" The old man glared at her, "The Capital City is seizing children. Without the Imperial Court’s soldiers, the Southern Barbarians are more brazen in capturing children.

What makes you think your own children could be spared?

And now, the chickens in the yard might turn into man-eating monsters overnight; can we still stay at our old home? "

"So we can stay in Jiangnan?" the woman yelled back, "Are you sure Jiangnan hasn’t turned like this?"

"Jiangnan can’t possibly turn like this!" The old man yelled back, his eyes stern yet hopeful, "You haven’t been there, you don’t understand... that place, no demon can approach, even if there’s trouble, the people above wouldn’t be accomplices like the Imperial Court!"

Saying this, he panted and continued, "I should have sent you and your mother there earlier. Even if we couldn’t register as citizens, even if we had to be refugees, it would still be better than now..."

The old man truly regretted it. He was a peddler from Southeast County, and on a friend’s suggestion, he tried his hand at doing business in Jiangnan. With just one shipment, he made what would have been several years’ earnings.

Having seen the prosperity of Jiangnan, he harbored the thought of moving there with his wife and daughter.

But his wife, with her farmer’s mindset, just couldn’t part with their fields back home. Plus, Er Ya’s betrothed scholar, allegedly having become an Imperial Scholar, was about to become a high-ranking official’s mother-in-law; why would she agree to move to Jiangnan?

She feared it would provide an excuse for the other side to call off the marriage.

Now here they were, the scholar’s fate in Capital City unknown, and Er Ya had died such a tragic death...

The old man didn’t continue the argument, instead he entrusted his little girl to his strongest son, "Liang Zi, take Yan Zi and run that way. If I remember correctly, we’re only a few miles from the border with Yunzhou of Jiangnan.

You must, at all costs, get Yan Zi to the border; she must die there, if die she must! "

"But why, Dad?" asked the young man, utterly confused.

Even if his little sister still had a breath left in her, given her condition, she wouldn’t survive the journey to Jiangnan for medical treatment. Shouldn’t they keep her close, take one last look, and ensure she has a proper burial?

Why urge him to rush to the border of Jiangnan, merely to cross the line? What good would crossing that boundary do?

Had his father gone mad?

"Just go if I tell you to!!!" the old man bellowed, his eyes bloodshot with urgency: "If you don’t get Yan Zi across, don’t bother coming back!!"

It was the first time the young man had seen his father frightful at home, and he dared not talk back. He quickly hoisted his little sister onto his back and ran towards the direction his father had pointed.

"What are you thinking, old man...." the woman cried breathlessly. Their daughter was gone, and now she wasn’t even allowed to accompany her to the end. Still fixated on Jiangnan; all day long, it was Jiangnan. Could handing over the body of your daughter make them accept you?

Thump...

As if all his strength had left him, the old man sat down on the ground, gazing hopefully at the silhouette of his son.

He knew his son didn’t understand his actions, but he would... once he reached Jiangnan.

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Fortune never comes in pairs, but misfortunes never come singly... perhaps the old man had never imagined that his son, whom he’d sent away with so much effort, would encounter a massive vermin halfway there.

A centipede as large as a python dashed towards them when it saw the two humans, its fetid poison so strong it tingled the scalp even from afar.

The young man, terrified out of his wits, took off running with his sister on his back, but after several days of draining travel over mountains and through rivers, and rationed food and drink, he hardly had any strength left.

He had only run for fifteen minutes before his legs started quivering and stars danced before his eyes.

About to collapse, with nothing but bitter resolve left in his heart...

His father had instructed him to carry Yan Zi to the border of Jiangnan; he didn’t know why the old man was so insistent, but now, in utter despair and devoid of any other thought, he focussed only on fulfilling his father’s last wish before dying.

Even though he knew it would serve no purpose. The border between Southeast and Yunzhou had always been ill-defined. Even after the unification of Great Jin, the border had not even a single post, let alone soldiers to guard it. What would it matter if he and his sister made it into Yunzhou?

Would the giant centipede stop chasing them once they entered?

For some reason, perhaps it was the last straw to clutch at after a shipwreck... The man, clasping onto the last shred of hope, put all his energy into a sprint and leapt towards the location of a stone stele in his memory from the cliff!

A foul wind pursued them from behind, indicating that the massive centipede had not given up chase due to their reckless death-defying leap, flying down after them.

Looking back carefully, he saw that the centipede could actually fly, its massive mouth looming close, biting off Yan Zi’s little body along with the flesh on his back in one bite!

The excruciating pain made him wail in agony; not just physically, but also emotionally. After their arduous journey, it never occurred to him that his family would end up without whole corpses.

So be it...

The big man gave up struggling and closed his eyes.