As the group of several thousand people moved forward, most of them were so hungry that their chests were sticking to their backs. Especially in this early winter, those who did not eat would find the weather especially cold.
The wild vegetables were a little wilted in this season. Even the tenacious shepherd's purse was withering.
As the fleeing crowd walked, they scavenged the roadside for edible things like plants, tree bark, and roots.
At the beginning, the stronghold residents still had their reservations. But now that they were so hungry, they no longer cared about their pride or dignity.
On the contrary, Ren Xiaosu and the others did not feel any pressure at all. After all, this was what they usually ate anyway.
Wild vegetables were bitter when eaten raw, and they would taste bitter after eating them. Some people vomited after eating them as they could not stand the food at all.
However, some people were even more unlucky. After eating something, they started foaming at the mouth and collapsed on the road.
No one cared about these people who had collapsed on the road. Everyone just passed by them indifferently and continued moving forward like a group of walking corpses.
Only Ren Xiaosu would stop when he passed by. He looked at that person and said to Yan Liuyuan, "This is a symptom of eating pulsatilla, which is also commonly known as wild celery or poisonous ginseng. The leaves of this plant look very much like celery. If you accidentally eat it, you'll experience nausea, vomiting, chills in your hands and feet, and paralysis in your limbs. In severe cases, it can even cause death. "
Jiang Wu, who was following behind them quietly, took note of this. Then she warned the students not to pick any plants with leaves that looked like celery leaves. However, the students were confused. What did celery leaves look like?
These students lived in the stronghold on a daily basis, so their parents naturally prepared their basic necessities for them. Who would care about what celery leaves looked like?
After the several thousand escapees passed by, the road they passed through looked like it had been ravaged by a swarm of locusts. All of a sudden, Ren Xiaosu saw an off-road vehicle up ahead. Wasn't that the vehicle Luo Lan was riding in? Why was it parked here all by itself?
When everyone walked over to have a look, they were surprised to find the beam of the off-road vehicle was broken and could not be repaired.
The dirt road in the wilderness was bumpy. Although the off-road vehicle was powerful, it could not withstand such a rough ride.
Luo Lan probably didn't think that he would encounter such a problem. In the end, he could only abandon the car.
The group of refugees frantically opened the doors of the car to see if there was anything to eat in the car, but they were disappointed to find that the car was exceptionally clean, even the leather covering of the seats had been removed …
Not only that, but some of the portable parts had also been removed. Ren Xiaosu guessed that the parts that were removed were used as spare parts in case the other cars broke down. However, this car was completely destroyed.
Ren Xiaosu wondered if Luo Lan was rushing to Stronghold 109 at full speed. Logically speaking, Luo Lan should have arrived at Stronghold 109 by now.
Today, many of the escapees were discussing whether they could still enter the stronghold. Some people asked why Stronghold 109 would not allow them to enter. They were legal residents of the stronghold!
Although the various strongholds were very divided and the organizations that controlled them had the final say, all of the strongholds were nominally united.
Some people also said that they might not be able to enter. Stronghold 113 was previously under the control of the Kyung Clan, but Stronghold 109 was now under the control of the Li Consortium. If they said they were not allowed to enter, there was really nothing they could do about it.
Ren Xiaosu thought that big shots from organizations like Luo Lan usually did not have to consider whether they could enter the stronghold. After all, the Li Consortium would still have to show some respect to the Kyung Clan.
But for the others, it might really be difficult.
They continued walking forward. But not long after, Ren Xiaosu saw another military transport truck parked alone on the road.
Was it another one that had broken down? When everyone got closer to have a look, they realized it was a flat tire!
Could it be that there wasn't a spare tire or something? Ren Xiaosu was curious.
When the military transport truck passed by Ren Xiaosu, he saw it was filled to the brim with soldiers. It was obvious that it was overloaded.
If a few more of the vehicles broke down, Ren Xiaosu reckoned it would be very difficult for Luo Lan to reach Stronghold 109.
However, everyone was very happy to see these damaged vehicles. When Luo Lan and the others drove past them at lightning speed, the escapees were wondering why they could drive while everyone else had to walk.
But now, everyone felt a little better about it.
That night, everyone rested next to the military transport truck. At this time, it could not even be considered a "campsite." It was just a large group of people huddled together in the wilderness and sleeping on the ground.
The ground was very cold, and they could feel the cold air seeping into their bodies as they lay on it.
Many of them wanted to start a campfire, but the problem was that they did not have anything to start a fire with!
After Ren Xiaosu settled Yan Liuyuan and the others down, he went to gather firewood. The weather was getting colder and colder, so they had to have enough firewood to burn through the night. Otherwise, everyone would easily catch a cold and have a fever the next morning.
Although Wang Fugui had medicine with him, who would want to get sick if they had nothing better to do?
In this season, firewood was pretty easy to find. When Ren Xiaosu returned with a large pile of firewood, he happened to see Jiang Wu lying on the ground and drilling wood to start a fire.
This female teacher had organized the students to gather a lot of firewood together. Then she was going to rub the sticks together with her bare hands to start a fire.
Ren Xiaosu shook his head. This female teacher looked delicate and had not done much work. If a normal person tried to drill wood to start a fire with their bare hands, it would probably be useless even if they got blisters on their palms.
Jiang Wu knelt on the ground and stubbornly continued drilling wood to start a fire. A boy said, "Teacher, why don't you let me do it?"
Jiang Wu shook her head. "You're students, so there's no need for you to do this kind of hard work. Go and rest."
She subconsciously glanced at Ren Xiaosu, wanting to see how Ren Xiaosu would drill wood to start a fire so that she could learn from him.
In the end, she saw Ren Xiaosu take out a box of matches.
Why did this person have everything prepared? Jiang Wu pursed her lips. Everyone was clearly fleeing for their lives, but she felt that Ren Xiaosu's team had it a lot easier than the others!
When Ren Xiaosu's first campfire was lit, the entire campsite seemed to have a touch of warmth in the night. The originally cold moonlight also seemed to have a hint of warmth.
Of course, Ren Xiaosu's group was not the only one who had set up a campfire in the entire campsite. In fact, some of the smokers had also brought matches with them. However, when a few women went to those smokers to borrow a fire, they made very unreasonable demands. Who would betray themselves just because of a fire since they had just escaped?
Jiang Wu hesitated for a long time before suddenly walking over to Ren Xiaosu's side. Sister Xiaoyu and the others were chatting, but when they saw Jiang Wu walking over, they stopped and looked at her.
"Can you …" Jiang Wu deliberated over her tone and said, "Can you let me borrow some of your fire? I can give you some of our firewood in exchange."
"Sure." Sister Xiaoyu said with a smile, "You don't have to give us any firewood. We have enough."
"Thank you." Jiang Wu was a little excited. "Thank you so much!"
She ran back to her side and carried some firewood over. She used Ren Xiaosu's campfire to light it up. The students around them watched in anticipation like a flock of starving nestlings waiting to be fed.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
