The village chief interrupted Wang Laowu's cursing to prevent it from escalating further.

The team continued their journey in a subdued silence.

Jiang Chan pushed the cart, silently calculating in her mind.

Following this route, about two miles ahead, there will be a dry stream.

After crossing the river, it will take another half a day to reach the village shown by the detector.

This calmed her down a bit.

The steps of pushing the cart became more steady and powerful.

Two miles is not far, but it felt exceptionally long amidst thirst, hunger, and exhaustion.

I don't know how long I walked.

Suddenly, a low commotion arose at the front of the group.

"Look! What's that up ahead...?"

"It's a person... a person lying down, dead?"

"Oh God..."

Jiang Chan looked up.

Not far ahead was the small ditch with its cracked riverbed, as indicated by the detector.

However, more than twenty people were lying haphazardly along the riverbank.

Some were curled up, motionless; others struggled to sit up, as thin as skeletons.

The group from Liushutun involuntarily slowed their pace and moved closer.

I see it clearly now.

Those people were dressed in rags, with tattered pieces of cloth hanging on their withered skeletons, their faces covered in dirt, and their eyes sunken.

Their lips were cracked and bleeding, and they made faint, muffled groans from their throats.

Scattered along the riverbank were bits of bark that had been gnawed clean, and even the grass roots had been dug up.

They were another group of people fleeing famine.

There are fewer people than previously detected by the detectors.

"This is terrible... people are going to starve to death..."

Zhang the butcher's face turned ashen, and he turned his head away, unable to bear to look any longer.

Li Laosan's back, which was carrying a load on his shoulders, suddenly bent, and he muttered, "Someone's dead, so quickly..."

A heavy sadness and immense fear permeated the crowd.

The people of Liushutun seemed to see their own shadows in the near future.

The young men pushing the strollers tensed their arm muscles even more, and the women held their children even tighter.

Nobody knows if they will be the next group to collapse on the roadside.

Just as everyone was immersed in grief and fear, preparing to silently bypass this land of death, the figures still struggling by the ditch suddenly moved!

"Someone's coming!"

"Is there anything to eat? Please... give me something to eat!"

"Help us...we're starving..."

Seven or eight able-bodied people, as if suddenly injected with their last bit of life force, struggled and staggered as they rushed toward the group from Liushutun.

Their faces showed only desperate madness and an extreme craving for food.

"Brother! Please have mercy! Give me some food!" A man who was so thin that he was just skin and bones rushed to Li Laosan, who was walking at the front, and knelt down with a thud. His withered, claw-like hands reached out to grab Li Laosan's trouser leg.

"My child... save my child... give me some water... just a sip of water will do..."

"The bark...the bark is all gone...even the grass roots are gone..."

"Give me something to eat, just one bite! Help! Help me!!"

Like a pack of hungry wolves, they instantly surrounded the Liushutun team, their cries and pleas heart-wrenching.

The villagers of Liushutun were startled by the sudden impact and instinctively retreated.

"Get away! Don't come any closer!"

"We don't have any food either!"

"I can't even survive myself!"

Shouts and shoving sounds rang out.

Li Laosan was being shaken around by the man who was grabbing his trouser leg. His face was filled with anxiety and fear as he cried out, "Let go! Let go! I have no food!"

Liu Dazhuang warily dodged the outstretched hand.

In the chaos, Xiao Tao huddled in the corner of the cart, terrified, watching the people who seemed to have gone mad.

Jiang Chan subconsciously pushed the cart to the side, using her body to shield Xiao Tao.

She quickly scanned each person rushing towards her, assessing their threat level.

"Stop!" Amid the chaos, the village chief's hoarse but powerful voice rang out from the front. "Don't come any closer! Back off!"

But those who are starving are beyond reason.

All they knew was that this team might be their last hope for survival.

Cries, pleas, shouts, and the terrified sobs of children mingled together on the dry riverbed under the scorching sun, weaving a symphony of despair and desolation.

The wailing was heart-wrenching.

"Brother! Please have mercy! Give me some food..." The gaunt man who had been kneeling in front of Li Laosan slammed his forehead heavily against the dry, cracked ground, making a dull thud, and bloodstains appeared after a few blows.

He raised his face, covered in dust and blood, his eyes unfocused and desperate. "We just couldn't hold on any longer... We ate all the tree bark along the way... We dug up all the grass roots... My wife and children... They collapsed three days ago... They never got up again..."

The woman holding the child kowtowed desperately, her voice hoarse, "Give me some water... even just some water will do... save my child... she's only three years old..." The child in her arms had a sallow face and cracked lips, with only faint movements indicating that she was still alive.

“My dad… my dad… passed away last night…” A teenager pointed to a huddled, motionless figure by the ditch, his body trembling with sobs. “He said… we should… crawl forward… don’t worry about him… but we… can’t crawl anymore… just one bite to eat… just enough to keep us alive…”

These few people who could still move used their last bit of strength to bang their foreheads together repeatedly, their blood and dirt mingling together.

They recounted the deaths and utter despair they encountered on the road.

That mournful voice cut into everyone's heart like a dull knife.

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