Chapter 22

When the talk of leaving came up again, someone stomped their foot anxiously and said, “Village Chief, where exactly are we going? Can’t we just stay?”

Before Laifu could even reply, a villager who had nearly run out of the food they’d brought along immediately snapped, “Then stay if you want. Yangliu Town is full of corpses — are you enjoying that or something? Anyway, my family is heading to the next county to beg for food.”

“My family doesn’t want to leave.”

“Well, mine does!”

The argument erupted instantly. No one was willing to back down. Everyone used the chance to vent their pent-up frustrations from the past days.

Laifu’s expression darkened. “Alright, if you really don’t want to leave, then fine — but only if everyone is willing to pool their remaining food together for centralized distribution. That way, we can stretch it out and stay here a few more days…”

But he hadn’t even finished speaking when some people turned and walked away.

So that was the real plan — to make everyone hand over their food. No way.

And just like that, the commotion quickly died down.

Standing off to the side, Ding Rong squinted thoughtfully. Truth be told, his family was among those least willing to leave — they still had enough food to last a while. So why suffer out on the road if they didn’t have to?

No one knew what would happen after they left Yangliu Town — it could very well mean death.

But when Laifu suggested collecting everyone’s food, Ding Rong immediately pretended to be clueless and didn’t chime in at all.

He had no intention of giving up his food. Why should he hand it over just to be redistributed?

Still, he really did want to stay. The problem was, if only his family stayed behind, it would be too dangerous. If he was going to stay, he needed to convince a few other families to do the same.

As he was mulling this over, his younger brother Ding De had the exact same thought.

The difference was that the older brother, Ding Rong, was good at hiding his intentions. He looked like he hadn’t made up his mind yet.

So Ding De walked up quietly and asked, “Big Brother, are you staying?”

Ding Rong glanced at him. “Haven’t decided.”

“What’s to decide? Look at these houses in town — clean and solid. Let’s find a decent place to stay, and we can help each other out. Don’t you think?”

“Just the two of our families? That’d be risky. What if we run into looters? We’d be outnumbered.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll try to get a few more families on board.”

“…Alright, fine.”

Just like that, the job of convincing others to stay got smoothly pushed onto Ding De’s shoulders. Watching his brother go around chatting with the neighbors, Ding Rong couldn’t help but smirk with satisfaction.

—-

Upstairs, Ding Xiaodie crouched by the window on the second floor, watching everything unfold below.

After waking up that morning, she had gone right back to studying the map.

The lotus pond was out of the question now — Dabao and Erbao had already scoured it thoroughly yesterday.

But there was still one place they hadn’t explored: the mountains around Yangliu Town.

Those mountains had trees, but most of the leaves had already been eaten. The bark hadn’t been completely stripped yet, but only because it was too tough and bitter, and eating too much caused severe bloating.

Some people had actually died from that, so over time, no one dared to touch the bark anymore.

Still, Ding Xiaodie thought it might be worth heading up the mountain. When they were at Lizi Slope, they managed to catch a rabbit. Maybe there were animals in these mountains too — and the two places weren’t all that far apart.

What worried her more right now, though, was the unstable morale among the villagers.

With nothing else to do, Ding Gui came upstairs. Seeing his daughter’s small frame leaning on the window and looking down, he suddenly felt uneasy.

She didn’t look like a child anymore — not in the way she held herself.

He suddenly felt a pang in his heart.

If her soul had been in a body that matched her actual age, she would be stronger, more capable of protecting herself. In chaotic times like these, survival depended on personal strength.

Ding Xiaodie heard a sound and turned around to see her father’s red-rimmed eyes. “Dad, what’s wrong? Are you hungry?”

She figured if he was hungry, he should just go eat some porridge. Mom could always cook more.

Ding Gui shook his head and changed the subject. “Did you see how disorganized the villagers are? Like scattered sand. Maybe we should…”

He was thinking of her safety and suddenly felt the urge to leave.

It might be better for just their family to escape alone — they might even reach the capital faster that way.

But Ding Xiaodie shook her head. “If we go alone, we won’t get far. Don’t you remember what you told me? There are rogue nomadic tribes out there. If we leave the group, we’ll be living in constant fear.”

Ding Gui had thought about that before too. He had just lost sight of it in the moment, wanting only to reach the capital quickly.

Now he nodded. “You’re right. But if the villagers don’t get their act together soon, we won’t be able to stay here much longer either. I don’t know what’s going through their heads.”

Some families had already secretly packed up and moved out in the night — their new homes could be smelled just a few doors away.

Ding Xiaodie pointed at the map. “I want to try our luck up the mountain. Even if we plan to leave later, we need to stock up some food first.”

True — once they were on the road, pulling food out of nowhere would look suspicious.

Better to prepare now so no one would question them later.

Her space wouldn’t let her in at the moment anyway. She had no choice but to rely on her own two hands.

Ding Gui said, “I’ll go with you.”

Last night, he had actually managed to trade for some salt. That morning, there was a bit of salt in their millet porridge — he could taste it, and it made him feel revitalized, like he could walk for miles.

So father and daughter went downstairs together, planning to check out the mountain.

But as soon as they stepped outside, they were stopped by Ding De.

“Third Brother,” he asked, “is your family staying? If you are, then that means you’re one of us.”

“One of you? What does that get me?” Ding Gui had already seen these guys sneaking around from upstairs earlier.

Now they were trying to rope him in, clearly thinking that the original owner of this body had been timid and easy to bully.

Once they stayed behind, they’d probably make him do all the chores.

But Ding Gui’s loud question caught everyone off guard.

Ding De was visibly embarrassed. “What do you mean? We all eat our own food. It’s about surviving one more day. What benefits are you expecting?”

Ding Gui replied, “Then why should I join you?”

“You…”

Ding De was speechless. What was wrong with this guy today? Since when did he start thinking so clearly?

His eyes flicked toward Ding Xiaodie. He knew that although Third Brother Ding Gui was usually quiet and socially awkward, there was one thing he cared about more than anything: his daughter.

Sometimes, if Xiaodie spoke, Ding Gui would listen.

So Ding De quickly smiled and said, “Xiaodie, don’t you think Second Uncle’s right? Ask your dad to bring you and your mom along with us. We’re family — we can look out for each other.”

Xiaodie’s eyes sparkled as she asked, “Uncle, if we stay, will you feed us?”

“……”

Ding De’s face fell instantly. These two were clearly messing with him today!