Lin Rui saw that as soon as their ox cart started off, disaster victims nearby immediately stumbled over and lay on the ground to lick the water that the cows splashed on the ground when they drank. This was because the cows were extremely thirsty and could not find any water source.

The number of people who died of starvation along the way was even less than those who died of thirst. Yesterday, in the places I passed by, I saw some corpses with uneaten bread on them. The only explanation was that they died of illness or thirst.

Even for the disaster victims who had water to drink, the water used to make soup was covered with yellow mud, and some of the water was dark brown, as if it had been dug out from half-dried silt.

Human beings are very amazing creatures. They have an extremely fast ability to accept things from nothing to something. For example, when they were going down the mountain yesterday, they screamed when they saw corpses, but now they are used to walking in a wasteland full of starving people.

They got up very early and set off on their journey, trying to cover a few more miles before the sun came up, as the saying goes, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

After walking for more than ten miles, Lin Rui saw another scene. The bark of the trees along this road had been stripped clean. Men, women, old people and women all used stones to beat the bark into small pieces. They used the scraps to make soup and drank it to fill their stomachs, or they ate the husks and wheat bran that had been used to feed livestock. When they swallowed, it felt like a knife cutting their throats.

The ground was bare, without a single weed. The roots of the ground grass and grass had all been dug up and wiped out. With nothing to eat, they started eating Guanyin soil.

It was normal to eat Guanyin soil during the years of fleeing famine. Guanyin soil is also called Guanyin powder. Lin Rui had studied chemistry and knew that it was essentially a kind of white clay. Guanyin soil is also called kaolin, also known as bentonite. It is an aluminum-containing silicate mineral with a white soft mud-like appearance and fine particles, similar to flour.

Just because it looks like flour doesn't mean it is flour. It is difficult for the intestines to break down after it is eaten. If you eat too much, it will coagulate in the intestines and cannot be digested. The belly of each child is as big as a basket, and the belly is bulging as if they are pregnant.

Most of the adults and children in this area were the same. Their stomachs were very full and they had no food left. In order to avoid starving to death, they had to eat this indigestible Guanyin soil to fill their stomachs.

If consumed in large quantities, it will accumulate in the body and not be digested, causing abdominal distension and difficulty in excretion, and the final result will be death from bloating.

Eating a small amount of Guanyin soil is neither beneficial nor harmful to the human body, but consuming it in excess can be fatal. These people who are already pregnant have no way to survive and can only live out the rest of their days.

Some people have not lost their minds to this extent. They eat a small amount of soil and grass roots cooked together. Eating it can fill their stomachs. The most painful time is defecation.

He saw that people in the wilderness needed assistance when they defecated. The husband used a wooden stick to dig for his wife, and the wife used a wooden stick to dig for her child. Every time they defecated, it was as if they had used up half of their lives, and there was a large area of ​​bright red blood around the excrement.

He even saw a mother who was so hungry that she threw her baby, who had just learned to crawl, into the pot and cooked the baby to eat. The baby's little hands and feet were boiled white, and the mother gnawed them until only bones were left.

His tears instantly fell. What kind of world had he come to? Why did he have to go through all this?

"Oh my God!" Yu Lanhua and Zhang Dacui's eyes turned red when they saw the scenes before them. As human beings, if they ended up in such a situation, who wouldn't say it was miserable?

Along the way, the victims had their elm bark stripped clean for food, leaving only bare trees exposed to the sun, waiting to die.

At this time, everyone no longer felt relieved, but only felt sad for their compatriots. However, there was nothing they could do, and it was unclear whether they could hold on to Huangmo Pass.

As soon as Lin Rui and his group left, many disaster victims followed.

Cao'er pulled Daniu and Ermao, stumbling and struggling to keep up with the others. Ermao's steps were weak, and he wanted to lie down: "Mom, I can't hold on any longer. I really can't walk anymore."

Cao'er's expression was firm. "No, as long as we survive, we have to keep going. Follow them and stay near them at night. Maybe we can still survive. Zheng Si's gang stole another person and ate him yesterday. We are an orphan and a widow, so how can we be their opponent? If we are targeted, there is no way we can escape."

At this time, Da Niu was panting like a broken bellows, but he and his mother were still walking with his brother, taking deep steps and shallow steps. His mother was lucky today and found a lot of unpicked ground soft grass and grass roots. She cooked a big pot of them, and the three of them ate the grass and the soup, so they could last for the day.

Ermao coughed repeatedly from exhaustion: "Mom, if it really doesn't work, you and brother can eat me like Yingying's mother ate Yingying!"

Cao'er was so tired that her throat hurt. She cursed him hoarsely, "What nonsense are you talking about? You and your brother are almost the same as if you had eaten your mother."

Yingying's mother and Yingying traveled with the family of three for a while, but later they had nothing to eat. Yingying's mother was so hungry that she went crazy. She smashed Yingying to death with a stone and cooked her in a pot. In the evening, she brought them a bowl of broth, saying that it was the wild rabbit Yingying had found.

Cao'er was so frightened that she asked, "Yingying's mother, where is Yingying?"

Yingying's mother pointed to the empty seat next to her and smiled happily: "Isn't it right here!" After that, she picked up a piece of meat and put it into the pot, saying gently: "Yingying, eat more, you've worked hard!"

Naturally, the family did not drink the broth. Before dawn, Cao'er dragged his two sons and ran three miles, insisting on parting with Yingying's mother.

She is now unconscious and has killed and eaten her own daughter. If she gets too hungry again, it will probably be either her or her child who dies. Neither outcome is what she wants.

But the scene of Yingying's mother killing her daughter Yingying and eating her meat has always remained in the minds of the three of them, and they will never forget it for the rest of their lives.

Zheng Si and his group, who were frightened by Cao'er, her mother and her two children, followed Lin Rui and his group. They had completely broken through the lower limit of human nature and began to eat human flesh. Their bodies were glowing with a strange green color, and their eyes were red like a rabbit's. They scanned the surroundings for their next target.

Until Lei Da from his gang shook Zheng Si's sleeve and said, "Old Four, Old Four, look!"

Zheng Si looked where Lei Da pointed and saw Lin Rui and his group. "Lei Da, are you crazy? How dare you mess with them?"

Lei Da's eyes were also red with greed: "What's the point of provoking them? We are not competing with them!"

"What do you mean?"

"Stealing, isn't that what we're best at? We can steal and eat, and if we get into trouble we can just run away."

"That's a real person, sitting there like a fool waiting for you to tie him up and eat him?"

"Hey, Old Four, who do you think I'm talking about? Did you see the child that woman was holding? I saw it yesterday, and it was very plump. It must taste much better than those dead children we've eaten. It's not easy to steal an adult, but it's easy to steal a child!"