The lumberjacks had to complete their mission for the day before they could return to the stronghold. Meanwhile, Ren Xiaosu chatted with the lumberjacks as he waited for them to finish their work.
After Ren Xiaosu and the Razor Sharp Company parted without saying goodbye, they did not head straight into the Central Plains through the Soong Clan's territory. Instead, they headed south and found the place where the flood had occurred. Then they headed east in an attempt to find traces of Yan Liuyuan and the others along the river.
A new river had formed in the valley, and the landscape here was almost always different from the previous year. The river that flowed downstream from the snowy mountains seemed to be washing away the familiar features of this place like time.
As they walked along the river, Ren Xiaosu even looked at the settlement they used to live in and the place where Yang Xiaojin taught him how to use a sniper rifle.
But as time passed, things remained the same, but people had changed.
Ren Xiaosu did not manage to find any clues about Wang Fugui and the others. Even when he was about to reach Stronghold 61, he still could not find them.
One of the lumberjacks lamented, "Kid, you're really lucky. You still managed to come out alive after getting lost in the mountains."
Ren Xiaosu asked, "Is there anything in the mountains?"
"There's a litter of wild boars." The lumberjacks shouted exaggeratedly, "They're extremely fierce ones."
Ren Xiaosu thought to himself that this lumberjacks must be referring to the litter he ate a few days ago, right?
However, he did not say much about it. He just exclaimed, "Ah, that was really dangerous. Luckily, I didn't encounter them."
He sat down and asked the lumberjacks, "Bro, do you guys usually move around in this area?"
"Yeah." The lumberjacks, who had just sat down to rest for a while, said, "We're here to cut wood for the Wang clan. We've been working in this area for the past few months. In the past few years, we were in the north, but the Wang clan said that they wanted to develop their business and that they couldn't just cut wood in the same forest. That's why they sent us here.
Someone laughed and said, "Don't you think it's strange? After going through so much trouble to cut down the trees, they actually have to plant them again. I wonder what they're after."
Ren Xiaosu didn't answer. Instead, he continued to ask, "Did you see anyone floating down from upstream?"
The lumberjacks paused. "Are you looking for your family?"
"Yes."
"Actually, corpses often float down from upstream. Maybe it's because of the war in the Northwest, but I've never seen a living person." The lumberjack shook his head. "Corpses can only be seen in this river. It's said that this is a snowy mountain, so there are no carnivorous fish. If it were any other river, the corpses would have been eaten up by the fish."
Ren Xiaosu paused for a moment and didn't say anything else. In fact, deep down in his heart, he had always been afraid of hearing some bad judgment.
But it didn't matter. He would continue to search.
And these lumberjacks don't come here every day. Maybe they just missed it? It was not impossible.
The lumberjack glanced at Ren Xiaosu. "Let me tell you in advance. Although the Wang clan doesn't reject the refugees from the Northwest, none of them are allowed to enter the stronghold. So stronghold residents like you should be mentally prepared. It's very likely that you'll end up becoming refugees like us. You'll only be able to do some menial labor to support your families."
Ren Xiaosu smiled and said, "Bro, you've misunderstood. I'm also a refugee."
When the lumberjacks heard that Ren Xiaosu was also a refugee, their expressions immediately turned friendly. They started asking about the differences between the refugees in the Northwest and those in the Central Plains.
In the end, the lumberjacks came to the conclusion that the refugees in the Northwest were not living as well as them.
Although they were also tired, lived in a hurry, and did not really trust each other in town, at least they did not have to worry about starving to death, nor did they have to eat moldy cornbread.
One of the lumberjacks said with a smile, "After working here for the entire day, we can still go back to town and buy a bowl of mutton stew to eat. If we put in a little more effort, we can even have a roujiamo."
Ren Xiaosu was stunned. "Do all the refugees here afford meat?"
"Haha, there's only broth in mutton stew. How can I see any meat? It's already good enough to have broth."
Ren Xiaosu suddenly realized that indeed, having broth to drink was also a very good thing.
In comparison, the Central Plains was indeed more affluent than the Southwest and Northwest. This had been the case since ancient times.
In the evening, the captain of the lumberjacks drove a truck back with a load of lumber. All of the lumberjacks were sitting on the lumber in the back of the truck. Someone asked Ren Xiaosu, "Have you seen the troops of Fortress 178 in the Northwest? We heard from the stronghold residents who fled here from the Northwest that Fortress 178's troops are very powerful. There's even a company that beat the Soong Clan to a pulp in the north. They even destroyed the Soong Clan's granary."
Ren Xiaosu said with a smile, "I've only heard of them, but I've never seen them before."
"Hurry up and tell us about them. Everyone in town has been talking about what happened in the Northwest recently. It sounds even more exciting than the storyteller's stories."
Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment and said, "I heard that the company did not want to cross the river and head north, but they felt it would not be good if the war dragged on for too long. As the saying goes, the greater the power, the greater the responsibility. So they were duty-bound to cross the river to quell the war in the north …. But even though that company is powerful, the most powerful member of them is still a supernatural being. It's said that he's brave, mighty, and handsome …. Later on, he headed north alone to Stronghold 146 and stirred up a storm …. By the way, he's the supernatural being y 'all were talking about …."
The lumberjacks were so engrossed in the story that they only reacted when they were almost in town. "Yo, we've arrived so quickly."
But at this moment, a strong gust of wind blew past. It looked like something white was flapping its wings in the sky, but it was pushed down by the strong wind. Ren Xiaosu felt that something was wrong, so he jumped out of the back of the truck and grabbed the little white thing in his hand.
When he opened his palm, he saw it was a small and delicate paper crane. As though it had a mind of its own, the paper crane was twisting its body and staring at Ren Xiaosu.
Although the paper crane did not even have eyes, Ren Xiaosu had a strange feeling that this little thing was really staring at him.
The paper crane's wings were extremely sharp, so Ren Xiaosu accidentally cut his finger with it.
Just as Ren Xiaosu loosened his grip in pain, the paper crane flapped its wings again in an attempt to escape. But before it could fly out of his palm, it was caught by Ren Xiaosu again.
Ren Xiaosu opened it up curiously. On the inside of the square piece of white paper was written: "The war in the North has been settled. The Kyung Clan has signed an alliance with Fortress 178."
"Is someone relaying information to the Central Plains?" Ren Xiaosu wondered to himself. However, even he did not know about the Kyung Clan signing an alliance with Fortress 178.
But before he could figure it out, a lumberjack next to him suddenly asked with a puzzled look, "Why did this white paper crane fly here?"
The lumberjacks did not see the subtle interaction between Ren Xiaosu and the paper crane clearly. They only felt it was a little strange that a paper crane was flying here.
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