Others are fleeing famine, but I am a salted fish

From time to time, they would use a sprayer to cool the animals physically, taking better care of them than they did of people. This naturally improved the efficiency of the journey.

For several days, the team from the previous village of Doctor Qiao and Er Gou's mother was not seen. It was not known whether they missed it when the day and night were reversed, or they overtook them without noticing.

Doctor Qiao didn't care. After all, he just met the people from that village halfway on the road, and they didn't have a very deep friendship.

In comparison, Ergou and his mother, who were from the same village, behaved more calmly than Lin Xiaoyue expected.

Not to mention, since Ergou encountered the cannibal family, he has become even more taciturn. Most of the time he doesn't like to communicate with others and would rather stay alone and do things silently.

This kind of silence is neither good nor bad. In the end times, there are too many people who cannot adapt to the huge changes and have undergone the same transformation as Ergou. In this state, outsiders generally cannot intervene. They can only let the subject slowly digest and adapt to the changes brought about by the environment. As for whether it will eventually change for the better or become completely discouraged, it can only be said that it depends on each person's luck.

As a teammate, Lin Xiaoyue still hoped that Ergou could walk out of the cage that shackled his thoughts, and hoped that he would still be the upright and trustworthy person after breaking out of the cocoon and returning. At present, at least Ergou did not do anything bad to the people in the team, so Lin Xiaoyue let him continue to be lonely and silent.

Er Gou's mother was a little hesitant and worried about the villagers' team. However, thinking that they were now on Lin Xiaoyue's boat, it would be inappropriate for her to leave alone and go back to look for them.

Who knows if those people are almost ahead, or if the old ox is pulling the broken cart and is lagging behind? There is no way to find the right road, and the mother and son are left behind, with no village in front and no shop behind. If they run into trouble, it is hard to say whether they can escape from the tiger's mouth safely.

Thinking of this, she simply stopped trying and continued at the current pace. She would definitely meet him at the provincial capital, and it would not be too late to join up with the team in the village then.

……

It was really hot during the day. The further we walked, the drier the grass became. Not only was the ground hot, but there was no sign of anyone on the road. The Lin family felt extremely safe walking on the road.

In order to extend the service life of the cows and mules as much as possible, everyone began to take turns getting off the car and walking to reduce the burden on the two animals.

Basically, except for Lin Xiaoyue and Lin Laodi who were the "remaining seat" passengers on the bus, even Chen Xiaocao, Chun Xing and Dr. Qiao, who could drive, took turns.

Except for Ergou who was responsible for the supplies on a cart, everyone else, even Xiaosi and Xiaowu, took turns to rest in the cart, trying to ensure that there were no more than three people in the cart, including the driver, so that the animals would not be overburdened and tired.

Those who got off the car and walked on their feet were all equipped with straw hats woven by Lin Lao. Miao and Er Gou's mother used needle and thread to tie a circle of cloth around the brim of the hat, which was almost enough to cover the length of the shoulders, leaving only two holes for the eyes exposed on the front to see the road.

From a distance, the whole person is wrapped tightly, and the physical sun protection is impenetrable.

If you keep your body covered for too long, you will feel stuffy. At this time, a bottle of cooling oil will come in handy. Apply it and you will feel refreshed.

And when they were on the road, they would let the mules and cows stop to rest for a while every hour or so, and then continue on their journey after they had recovered a little.

This stop-and-go approach is much faster and safer than traveling at night.

-----------------

But then, the group passed by several deserted villages one after another, and what they saw was that the wild grass had all dried up, the land was barren for thousands of miles, nine out of ten houses were empty, all the people in the households had died, and there was no one to collect the dead...

As a result, whenever they came across a deserted village on the road, they no longer dared to go in to scavenge and open blind boxes as they did before. Everyone subconsciously resisted and was unwilling to get close.

On this day, when they passed by a deserted village again, they parked their livestock under the pavilion at the entrance of the village to rest. Lin Zhaodi, Chun Xing and Er Gou went into the village to explore the way, while the others stayed behind to rest and catch their breath.

But after a while, three people were seen running out of the village with panicked looks on their faces.

Everyone saw that the three men were pale and trembling all over, looking like they were terribly frightened.

After asking, I learned that after the three people entered the village, they first went to check if there was any water in the old well in the village, but the well was dry and the ground was cracked;

In the few houses in the village that did not collapse, some men were hanged from the beams, or starved to death on the kang, with only skin and bones left on their bodies.

At the end of the village, they saw several starving people with emaciated bodies and bloated bellies, holding a handful of gray dirt in their hands. The most terrifying thing was that when the three of them wanted to go forward to check what the other party was holding, dozens of colorful rats suddenly jumped out from under the starving people. When they saw them, they did not run away in fear, but instead pounced on the three people with their fangs and claws, chasing them away screaming all the way.

According to Lin Zhaodi's description, the rats chasing them were like spirits. The big ones were as big as raccoons, and the small ones were bigger than ordinary rats. They ran very fast, which was simply scary.

Upon hearing this, Old Man Lin and the others swallowed hard and looked unhappy. Miao was timid and was so frightened that she trembled all over just by hearing this.

Doctor Qiao was well-informed. He immediately stood up from the ground and waved his arms to urge everyone to leave quickly. "Go, go, go quickly. We can't stay here."

Seeing this, everyone didn't even bother to rest. They all hugged and dragged their belongings, crawling and scrambling to get on the car. They threw the reins and ran very fast, which could be described as a desperate escape.

They had to escape. Without Dr. Qiao's reminder, everyone suddenly realized that this was a sign of plague.

No matter how ignorant the common people were, they all knew about the major epidemics, such as locust plagues and plague, that occurred one after another in the years of disaster passed down by their ancestors.

Long before the founding of the Dayuan Dynasty, natural disasters occurred frequently, causing widespread grief and misery among the people. In the hundred years after the establishment of the dynasty, three major disasters occurred one after another, all of which caused plagues.

Among them, the disaster that occurred in Kaiyuan 32 years ago is truly terrifying to talk about, and recalling it is like falling into purgatory on earth.

Drought is raging, and it's not just refugees who are fleeing famine to save their lives, rats are also looking for food everywhere.

A large number of rats flocked into human settlements, causing people to be infected one after another, either through direct contact with rats or through water sources contaminated by rat urine and feces. Later, due to the migration of refugees, the plague spread further to more distant areas.

Natural disasters and man-made disasters almost destroyed the entire dynasty.

Now, when the three of them entered the village and saw a group of rats, some as big as raccoons and some as small as mice, how could they not be scared and run away?