Others are fleeing famine, but I am a salted fish

When Lin Xiaoyue rushed to the village, she saw people rummaging around in the ruins, crying and shouting the names of their loved ones.

Faced with such a tragic scene that seemed like hell on earth, Lin Xiaoyue couldn't help but hold her breath.

The village head had blood all over his head, but he still insisted on standing in the chaos. He used his dry voice to direct the few men who were not injured or only slightly injured to dig in the ruins and rescue people.

Some elderly women whose family members were rescued and were not seriously injured, under the instruction of Doctor Li, helped to treat the minor wounds of their injured relatives. The seriously injured were carried by the men on the dismantled door panels to the open space in the village's threshing ground, where they were treated one by one by Doctor Li.

Because the earthquake occurred late at night, was extremely strong, and affected a very wide area, it was considered the most powerful earthquake in nearly a hundred years.

Fortunately, the buildings of this dynasty were not made of reinforced concrete, so people who were crushed by the collapsed wooden beams could still barely survive.

When someone saw Lin Xiaoyue rushing in, they shouted for her to help save people. She did not hesitate, but stepped forward quickly, using the advantage of her strength mutation to move the beam with her bare hands, which required at least 3 to 4 adult men to move together, and rescued the people trapped underneath as soon as possible.

Because the danger occurred in the middle of the night, even with the moonlight and torches, a small number of people were worried about the safety of their families and not only were they unable to help, they also hindered the rescue work.

Even though everyone was trying their best to rescue people, many people were still trapped under the collapsed houses and could not be rescued in time. Some were seriously injured and unconscious, or bleeding profusely...

During the long dark night, the villagers worked non-stop for nearly three hours without sleep. They mobilized as a whole and dug out many people who were dying from the ruins. Some people had lost their vital signs, as well as the bodies of animals that had been deformed by heavy objects.

After the disaster, people were in a heavy mood, whether they lost their homes or their loved ones. The heavy blow of broken homes and deaths made people cry in grief. The whole Linjia Village was filled with an indissoluble despair.

As the last stiff corpse was carried to the outskirts of the threshing ground, there were now a total of 41 corpses lying outside. Some were killed by the collapsed beams, while others were crushed to death by broken earth walls and large furniture and were unable to hold on for rescue...

The death is the end of everything, but the living relatives left behind are pale and in shock. They are in a state of panic and despair due to the great sorrow of losing their loved ones. Their heads are in a mess and they can only cry and wail.

The head of the village asked his son and several capable young men in the village to organize a count of the number of survivors. In the end, the Linjia Village suffered a disaster that had not been seen in a century. There were a total of 579 survivors, including Lin Laosan, Lin Dashan, and Niu Laogen's family who arrived later. They all sat on the ground in the threshing yard, looking forward to dawn, hoping that this disaster would pass quickly.

Even the people in the old house of the Lin family were not left behind, but they were a little embarrassed, with dishevelled hair and untidy clothes sitting among the surviving villagers, without the head held high and the arrogant and domineering look they had in the past. They were all timid, submissive, with droopy brows and eyes, as if they had not yet recovered from the fear.

On both sides of the threshing ground, more than ten torches were burning. Under the dim glow, the surviving villagers, covered in dust and dirt, looked pale and terrified. They huddled together with other surviving relatives, crying and wailing.

The entire threshing ground was shrouded in bitter wind and rain, and the atmosphere was so heavy that it was hard to breathe.

On the platform on the other side, there were four rows of injured patients lying on door panels of different sizes. There was an aisle in the middle of the adjacent door panels that was large enough for a person to pass through. This was left so that the injured's family members could provide timely care and for Dr. Li's convenience in diagnosing and treating them.

The deserted threshing ground has now become the last refuge for all the villagers. No one knows whether there will be aftershocks, and no one dares to leave at this time and return to their own courtyards that have been shaken to pieces.

As a result, hundreds of people gathered together, and a series of stressful emotions such as fear, sadness, anger, and compulsive repetition of the most horrific and saddest scenes of the disaster began to emerge at inappropriate times.

Some restrained and introverted people began to feel resentful and guilty, constantly blaming themselves for not being quicker and more sensitive, so that they could have rescued their family members from the house in time, instead of the house collapsing and killing their relatives trapped in the house.

The more outgoing ones would expose each other's scars and blame each other, and by blaming them, they would cover up and shirk their own responsibilities. For example, a man complained that his wife only knew how to run away with the children, but ignored her elderly parents at home, causing them to die early in the strong earthquake...

Some blamed the man who was in charge of the family for only caring about his own life and ignoring his pregnant wife, causing her to become overly emotional and suffer from abdominal pain and premature birth...

Some people blamed their family members for running away too fast and not having time to take out any valuables. When the ground collapsed, the money accumulated over decades was burned down, and it really became nothing more than a possession...

Others blamed their neighbors for not caring about the friendship between fellow villagers. When the wall between the two houses collapsed, it tilted completely towards their house, causing their old hens to be smashed into minced meat...

Even those who were trapped in the dark underground, with their heads caught by rocks and their legs crushed by fallen beams, and whose breaths were filled with the smell of blood, and who were rescued after experiencing despair, were also shouting loudly why it was others who rescued them instead of their loved ones...

Curses, shouts, groans, complaints, and wails mixed together, bringing back fear to the hearts of the surviving villagers who had experienced physical and mental torture and the destruction of their families, and they trembled all over with despair and fear.

The village head was sitting outside the threshing ground, looking out at the village which was in ruins, with collapsed houses and fallen people, howling winds and miserable rains. He was filled with worry. He felt a buzzing in his ears and a heavy weight pressing down on his head, making him dizzy and his vision went black. He had only one thought in his mind: run, he had to run.

Now that the whole village is gone, why are we still staying here to defend it? We might as well go out and look for a ray of hope.

As the saying goes, a good death is worse than a miserable life.

No matter how hard and difficult the journey of escaping famine is, even if you are at the end of your rope and walking on thin ice, at least people are still there.

A person's true character is revealed in times of adversity. We all share the same roots and support each other. We can find a way to survive, which is always better than being trapped where we are and waiting to die.

The head of the village, who had figured it out, didn't need anyone to persuade him anymore. He puffed up his hoarse voice and shouted, asking his son Lin Baotian to gather the heads of every household in the village. If the heads could not come, he would send someone who could take charge, and they should gather immediately in the open space in front of the threshing ground, as there was something important to announce.

……