In the afternoon, when the probe was performing a routine high-altitude scan of its path ahead, it transmitted back different images.

About twenty miles ahead, a sizable village appeared beside the official road. More importantly, there was a wide river surrounding the village!

Although the water level is not high, the water is clear, and it looks like a precious jade ribbon on the parched land!

There are large tracts of cultivated land along the river, where sparse but tenacious vegetables and grains are planted, and figures can be seen working in the fields!

Most of the houses in the village are intact, with wisps of smoke rising from the rooftops. Villagers can even be seen walking along the road, and occasionally children can be seen chasing each other.

This scene is like a small paradise in this barren land!

Jiang Chan's eyes sharpened.

A paradise? Not necessarily!

The lesson from Wengjia Village is bloody!

A demon in human skin is more terrifying than a jackal in the wilderness.

Instead of approaching rashly, she stopped at a fork in the road a few miles from the village.

There is an abandoned post station here, with only a few crumbling walls remaining.

"Sleep here tonight," Jiang Chan said, pointing to the back of a partially intact mud wall.

"Um."

Jiang Chan found a sheltered corner, took out a tent from her spatial storage, and skillfully set it up.

Then they took out tarpaulin and a blanket, laid them out, and told Xiao Tao to take off her shoes and go inside.

"Wow!" Little Peach happily crawled inside and rolled around. "No more wind blowing on my face at night! That's great! Thank you, Mountain God!" She habitually attributed the "miracle" to the Mountain God.

Jiang Chan was too lazy to correct her and let her do as she pleased.

After settling Xiao Tao in, Jiang Chan focused all her attention on the detector.

With his mind, he controlled the detector, which silently infiltrated the skies above the "Peach Blossom Spring" village ahead, like a ghost.

Zoom in! High-definition mode activated!

The scene in the village came into clear view: at the entrance of the village, there was a simple wooden watchtower, on which stood two strong young men holding pointed bamboo poles, vigilantly scanning the direction of the official road.

The villagers working in the fields, though exhausted, remained relatively calm, without the numb despair of hunger.

The crops in the field are not growing well, but at least they are alive.

On the village roads, the children, though pale and thin, were still able to run and play, while a few elderly people sat chatting at their doorways.

In a large courtyard, several men were repairing farm tools, and their conversation was captured by the detector.

"...The upstream irrigation canal needs further reinforcement; there still isn't enough water..."

"...Yesterday another group of refugees...sigh, these days..."

"...The village chief said we have to conserve our food, who knows how long the drought will last..."

In another small courtyard, a woman was scolding a boy, "I told you not to play by the river, but you wouldn't listen! Be careful the water ghosts don't catch you!"

"...Mom, there's no water ghost, the water's almost gone..." the boy muttered defiantly.

A conversation could be heard coming from inside a house: "...Husband, the rice jar is almost empty, and the wild vegetables in the field are almost gone too..."

"...Sigh, let's just conserve our energy and get through each day as it comes..."

Jiang Chan was like a high-speed monitoring host, controlling the detector to hover over the village, passing over the rooftops, courtyards, and windows of every household.

She paid attention to every detail: the expressions on the villagers' faces, the tone of their voices, the state of their grain reserves, the patrol arrangements in the village...

I saw some broken weapons piled up in a secluded courtyard...

I saw several teenagers digging for wild vegetables in the grove behind the village, their movements were quick and efficient...

In the center of the village, in a relatively grand courtyard, an elderly man with a goatee was whispering and discussing something with several men, his expression serious…

One day... two days... Jiang Chan and Xiao Tao huddled in the tent behind the broken wall, surviving on the food stored in their space.

Apart from necessary activities and rest, Jiang Chan devoted almost all her energy to monitoring the village and exploring the way forward.

Xiao Tao is very sensible. She doesn't make a fuss and stays in the tent to sleep or to keep watch for Jiang Chan.

Every morning when she wakes up, she faces east and whispers, "Thank you, Mountain God, for protecting us."

As Jiang Chan listened, the slight irritation in her heart seemed to be diluted by the childlike piety.

After two days of continuous surveillance, Jiang Chan's tense nerves relaxed a little.

This village is not like Wengjia Village, a den of human traffickers.

They are wary and xenophobic, but they are also working hard to cultivate the land and survive.

The villagers' conversations did not reveal any vicious greed, but rather their helplessness in the face of the drought and their tenacious struggle to survive.

Although life was difficult and resources were scarce, at least basic order and human relationships were maintained.

“Tomorrow,” Jiang Chan said, looking at the darkening sky outside the tent, “we will enter the village.”

...

Jiang Chan, holding Xiao Tao's hand, cautiously entered Qinghe Village, the village that had been "inspected" by the detector for two days.

Jiang Chan remained calm and walked straight to an old woman who was digging for wild vegetables not far from the village entrance.

“Auntie,” Jiang Chan said calmly, “we’re just passing through and would like to find a place in the village to stay for a few days and rest. We’ll pay you.”

As she spoke, she took out half a string of copper coins wrapped in old cloth from her "bundle," saying, "I'd like to exchange them with you for some wild vegetables."

The old woman glanced at them warily for a few moments. When she saw Xiao Tao's timid appearance and the half-string of solid copper coins, her tense expression relaxed a little.

"Sigh...this is all so chaotic..." She sighed, took the copper coin and weighed it in her hand. "Alright, my yard is small, but the woodshed is empty, you can squeeze in for the night. But there's not much food, but I can share some wild vegetables with you."

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