Armed with a machete and a gun, armed with a system, they fled the famine.

"Dazhuang, Erniu, wake up, wake up quickly."

The unease in my heart turned into fear.

Chen Lan turned pale and slapped her son's face several times, making the two brothers sit up in bed.

"Mom? Why did you hit me?" Chen Erniu asked stupidly.

Chen Lan commanded urgently, "Stop talking nonsense, get dressed and get out of bed!"

"Dazhuang, can you help your brother?"

After giving her instructions, she went back to the inner room and slapped Yang Dalang awake twice.

He was putting on his clothes as he spoke.

"Brother, something's wrong. Get up and get dressed quickly."

Hearing the tremor in Chen Lan's voice, Yang Dalang jumped out of bed and put on his clothes.

"Alan, what happened?"

Rumbling--

The sound of the rolling tide grew clearer and clearer, and even the slow-witted Yang Dalang could tell that something was amiss.

Their expressions changed simultaneously, and they rushed outside after putting on their shoes.

By the moonlight, Yang Dalang and his wife felt a silver light surging towards them from afar.

The sound was like a stampede of ten thousand horses, rushing into people's hearts.

"Water! It's a flood! The flood is coming!"

Chen Lan's features contorted in an instant. She turned and rushed into the side room, grabbing her two sons and running outside.

"Alan, where are you taking your son?"

Yang Dalang's forehead was covered in sweat; he was terrified.

Chen Lan said in a trembling voice, "Let's go up the mountain and hide for a while."

That was a flood.

Now we can only hide in the mountains.

Yang Dalang's eyes lit up.

"You go first, I'll go call Mother and Second Brother."

Chen Lan opened her mouth, hardened her heart, grabbed her two sons, and ran wildly backward.

He ran while shouting, "The flood is coming! The flood is coming! Everyone get up!"

"What? A flood?"

Liu Guifang had just lain down when Chen Lan called her and she woke up.

When she ran outside, she was so frightened that she quickly told her family to get up and run for their lives.

Chen Lan woke up most of the villagers, but more than half were still fast asleep and couldn't hear her at all.

Yang Zhangshi didn't believe the flood would come, but when the water reached her ankles, her expression changed, and she was carried by Yang Dalang to run up the mountain.

The flood came suddenly, and most of the houses in Chenjiagou were submerged.

Many villagers were asleep when the floodwaters engulfed them and swept away instantly.

Those villagers who escaped to the mountains and barely survived knelt on the ground, weeping and wailing, as they looked at their flooded houses.

Wuwuwu——

Overnight, my home was gone.

My home is gone.

How are we supposed to live like this?!

Chenjiagou has more than 30 households, totaling more than 200 people. After deducting those who did not go up the mountain and whose whereabouts are unknown, there are less than 100 people left on the mountain.

Apart from Chen Youjin and Liu Guifang's families, most of the villagers went up the mountain empty-handed, without bringing any food or supplies.

Looking at his complete belongings on his oxcart, Chen Youjin smiled with satisfaction.

Fortunately, he was prepared.

Although the house was flooded, at least all the valuables in the house were managed to be moved out.

We had planned to run away at daybreak, but now we've been caught in a flood, so we can't escape anytime soon.

It took two days for the floodwaters at the foot of the mountain to recede.

Over the past two days, the villagers trapped on the mountain have been digging for wild vegetables and searching for water sources under Chen Youjin's arrangement.

Chen Youjin also lent some grain to the villagers, and the two sides lived in peace.

Two days later, after the floodwaters receded, carrying away a pile of filth, all that remained for the villagers was a heap of old mud and grime, and a series of bloated corpses.

Of the more than 30 households in Chenjiagou, half survived and more than half died; almost every family had someone die.

The remaining villagers buried their loved ones in grief and began cleaning up the mud that covered their homes.

Chen Youjin, however, did not want to wait any longer.

After inquiring with the remaining villagers and confirming that no one else was willing to leave, his family, Liu Guifang's family, and Granny Mei's family gathered at the village entrance before dawn and set off northward.

What they didn't know was that the flood was caused by a breach in the Yuhewan embankment upstream.

The floodwaters rushed down, passing through Baima Town and heading southwest, submerging vast areas of farmland and houses, resulting in countless deaths.

This journey is destined to be incredibly difficult.

……

Zhao Yan and the others were unaware of all this.

Since acquiring the two wild boars, their meals have become noticeably more varied and plentiful these past few days.

They continued to eat three meals a day as Zhao Yan requested.

Aside from a simple wild vegetable pancake and a bowl of thin porridge in the morning, lunch and dinner are more varied, including meat, vegetables, and carbohydrates.

This way, they will have enough energy to walk further in the afternoon.

Since their last hunt of wild boar, they haven't encountered any large wild animals along the way, though they've seen plenty of pheasants and rabbits.

Zhao Yan fought her way through the area, catching several pheasants and rabbits every day.

The rabbit is skinned, and any meat that isn't eaten on the same day is marinated and taken out as needed.

Zhao Yan would also secretly stuff food into her basket when no one was looking.

When Yuan Gang was packing his things, he had actually prepared a small amount of dry food, but since everyone was eating together, he left that portion to Zhao Yan to handle.

Zhao Yan would prepare everything in advance, including what to eat and how much to use each day, and then hand it over to Tian Xiu'e to handle.

Therefore, Tian Xiu'e was unaware of the current situation.

All she knew was that they had turned most of their grain into wild vegetable and fried dough cakes over the past two afternoons, enough to feed them for a month or two.

Because Zhao Yan takes things out every day, and everyone eats them, the balance displayed on the system interface has reached more than 500,000.

More than 500,000!

That night, Zhao Yan couldn't sleep and wanted to check how much her account balance had increased during this period. She was shocked by the balance displayed on the screen.

If it weren't for the wrong time and place, she would have shouted wildly: Hahaha! I can finally buy a 50-square-meter storage cabinet!

She had originally planned to buy a 100-square-meter apartment in one go, but now that she doesn't have enough money, a 50-square-meter apartment is just fine to make do with.

At least when she comes across something good again, she'll have enough space to store it.

She decisively spent 500,000 yuan to buy a 50-square-meter storage cabinet.

With the addition of ten one-cubic-meter storage cabinets, she now has sixty square meters of usable space.

What makes Yuan Yutang happiest is the abundance of medicinal herbs in the mountains.

With the help of the system, Zhao Yan could find a certain herb every now and then.

Not only would she stop to collect herbs, but Yuan Yutang would also specifically collect those uncommon herbs.

Along the way, we collected enough herbs that we usually use for colds, fevers, coughs, diarrhea, etc.

Zhao Yan also has a whole bunch of things stored in her spatial storage cabinet.

The fifth day after the flood.

Around noon, the group arrived at a valley.

The valley is surrounded by mountains on three sides, with only a thorny path leading to the bottom.

"Wow! This place is so beautiful, it's like a paradise on earth."

Despite being a young child, Zhao Yunjie spoke these words in the tone of an adult.

Zhao Yan smiled and tapped him on the head.

"You little brat, what do you know about a paradise on earth?"

"What? Don't want to leave? Want to stay here?"