Chapter 5 – Someone’s Coming

If the people from Lingjia Village found out that it was Xin’er who started the fire, wouldn’t they come curse her every day?

As the fire spread and burned down several more buildings, Xin’er and Ah Da exchanged a look.

Xin’er coughed from the smoke and then, pretending nothing had happened, clasped her hands behind her back and said,
“Ah Da, we should go now. It’ll be dark soon if we don’t.”

And just like that, one girl and one wolf leisurely strolled out of Lingjia Village.

On the road, they saw small groups of people scattered here and there. Each one looked disheveled. It seemed the village’s main group had already left, and these were all the stragglers.

Looking at them, Xin’er decided to first check out the county town to see if she could still find anything useful.

When others on the road saw Xin’er walking with a wolf, no one dared get close. Everyone kept their distance.

Whenever she got tired, Xin’er would sit on Ah Da’s back to rest a bit.

The girl and the wolf slowly made their way to the county town, and by then, it was nearly dark.

Xin’er looked up at the city wall, but there wasn’t a single soul in sight. Even the plaque on the wall was tilted, almost as if a gust of wind could blow it off.

The sign read “Le County Town.” The whole place looked desolate and bleak.

Just a few days ago, the town was still bustling with people. Now, not even a shadow remained.

Xin’er and Ah Da slowly walked into the city. The streets on both sides were already in ruins, and many shops had their doors hanging off or lying broken on the ground.

Because people had left in such a hurry, many things inside the shops hadn’t been taken.

Even the streets had a few broken frames rolling around in the wind.

The county office had also been abandoned long ago.

Seeing it was getting dark, Xin’er entered a tailor shop.

Inside, everything was a mess. Most useful items had already been taken, and the rest were thrown carelessly on the floor.

She picked up every piece of usable fabric from the ground and then walked to the back of the shop.

Opening the storeroom door, she found quite a lot left behind—bolts of fabric that they couldn’t carry when they left. While they weren’t high quality, they were still too expensive for common farmers.

The best items had already been taken, and only the bulky ones were left.

Xin’er didn’t mind. She stored them all in her spatial storage. She even discovered a cellar in the backyard with some food like sweet potatoes.

She also took the firewood from the wood shed, as well as pots, bowls, and other utensils.

Every time she entered a house, by the time she left, it looked like it had been ransacked—completely empty.

She even found a pharmacy, where she collected a fair amount of silver coins and medicinal herbs, even though she didn’t recognize most of them.

It was truly like “plucking every feather from a flying goose”—she left nothing behind.

As night fell, Xin’er and Ah Da found a fairly clean and spacious courtyard house and settled in.

Xin’er walked around the courtyard first, collecting everything of use into her spatial storage.

Then she chose a clean room, tidied it up a bit, and took out her own bedding.

She also laid out a mat for Ah Da to sleep on.

Then she brought out steaming meat buns and roast chicken.

After eating their fill, they each went to sleep.

—

The next morning at first light, the girl and the wolf packed up and began their new day of scavenging.

Munching on buns as they went door to door, they slowly emptied house after house.

Their spatial storage began to fill up with junk, but they spent the whole day scouring shops and wealthy homes. After that, they stopped bothering with the rest.

That night, they returned to the same courtyard as before. After eating and drinking, they went to sleep.

—

Just before dawn, they were startled by strange noises outside—thud thud.

Ah Da ran out. Xin’er heard it too, but didn’t panic. She calmly put on her clothes and packed away the bedding into her spatial space.

Right after she stored Ah Da’s things, they suddenly heard a loud shout:
“A wolf! Ahhh!”

Then someone yelled,
“Don’t scream! It’s just a wolf! Isn’t that meat? There’s a few of us guys here—surely we can take down one wolf. Let’s catch it and have a feast!”

“Brothers, look how fat this wolf is! The meat must taste amazing!”

Ah Da looked at the group—nine of them in total—lusting after him like they were ready to eat him.

He calmly sat down, licked his paw, and looked at them with a dumbfounded expression, as if they were idiots.