Gao Dongxing was stunned when he heard his uncle's words. Although he was usually lazy, he was not ignorant of the situation. Although the supplies were heavy, if he brought them back, his life would be guaranteed.

"Isn't Si Cheng incredibly strong? I can't let him help me out of respect for my mother." Gao Dongxing knew that in his current predicament, he had no choice but to bring up Gao Shuzhen.

However, yesterday, when Gao Zian was sitting on the back of the ox, he carefully observed the procession. The women and children who had just come of age who came with him carried no less than Gao Dongxing, and they were all able to keep up with the procession closely. Gao Dongxing, such a tall young man, was actually making all sorts of excuses to slack off.

"Dongxing, actually you don't have that much stuff. Look, even your cousin is carrying more than you. If you grit your teeth, you can keep up with everyone. Besides, you'll be the pillar of the family in the future. Don't say things like this, trying to push your responsibilities onto others." Although Gao Zian was somewhat cold towards his nephew, he still couldn't help but give him a few more words of advice.

"If you don't want to help, just say so. Why are you lecturing me?" Gao Dongxing couldn't sit still after hearing this, so he stood up and left without looking back.

Seeing his behavior, Gotsian was so angry that he kept saying he would never care about his life or death again.

"You're worrying too much. I bet he'll be carrying his things and sticking close to the group tomorrow. He only slacks off when you help him." Gao Jie was bringing over freshly cooked millet porridge and overheard Gao Liang's words.

“Your aunt only has one son now, and since he just moved to the countryside, she will need to take care of him for a while before he can become independent.”

Gao Jie didn't like hearing her father's remarks. She retorted directly, "It's not like they were the only family that went to the countryside. Look at the others who went to the countryside with them. They're no different from the villagers now, and they're living just as well."

"But we're still here at home, aren't we? Relatives should always help each other." Gao Zian was at a loss for words, so he could only resort to this kind of argument about relatives.

“It depends on how you help them. If they are in trouble, then we will definitely help. But look at you, you want to take on everything yourself, and in the end, you don’t get anything good from either side.” Gao Jie was also very angry when she heard this. The whole family had argued countless times because of her aunt and son.

"Didn't I just refuse him? Besides, in my condition, there's nothing I can do to help him even if I wanted to."

Seeing her father looking at her arm, Gao Jie wanted to say something more, but she just sighed and sat down next to him to feed him porridge.

"I can do it myself." Although her right arm was injured, she could still move her left hand.

"Sit there, this left hand is really awkward." Gao Jie avoided his outstretched left hand and started feeding him directly.

When Si Cheng and his group stood on the mountain, they realized that behind them was a continuous mountain range, much larger than the one in their hometown.

"Is this the old forest reserve ahead? There are a lot of wild animals there. If they all survived the earthquake, the residents around here will be in trouble." Big Bear looked at the continuous mountain range and immediately knew where this place was. They used to train in places like this often. Back then, their small team would operate together, but people would often get injured. He knew that this place was not simple.

"Won't it be dangerous from now on? How did you keep these animals out of the mountains before?" Gao Liang shuddered as he thought of the time he confronted the leopard with a machete. "These animals look cuter when they're in cages."

“These protected areas are usually surrounded by several wire mesh fences, but it seems those fences are no longer effective. Fortunately, we are still quite far from that area. The leopard we saw before was an isolated case; it was probably moving too fast and accidentally crossed its territory.” The monkey couldn’t help but make a small joke as he finished speaking.

“There’s no need to dig a trap here. There’s no sign of any animals around here.” Si Cheng checked the surrounding area as they spoke.

"Isn't this area supposed to be a protected area? How come there are no animals?" Zhao Dongwei was somewhat disappointed.

"That depends on the mountain. These mountains are mostly rocky, and they won't find any food here. If you want to have any, you'll have to cross two more mountains." Big Bear pointed to a hill not far away, where the vegetation was more abundant than here.

After comparing the two mountains, Zhao Dongwei shook his head and said, "Looking at a mountain makes you feel like you're running yourself ragged. Let's go back."

Seeing that everyone had returned empty-handed, no one was disappointed. They took out their own stock and continued to make dry rations.

"Hang in there a little longer, we'll be at Yaojia Village soon," Ma Su said, encouraging the villagers as he walked.

But no one responded to him this time. Everyone was so thirsty that they could barely speak. Along the way, many of the puddles had dried up, and they couldn't find any water source even when they searched nearby.

Yunqi had tried to pour water into the puddles, but to his surprise, the puddles couldn't hold the water. As soon as the water touched the ground, it was quickly absorbed by the soil underneath, wasting several buckets of water without being able to retain it.

Everyone has been saving every penny these past few days, but today, the entire team didn't have a single drop of water. Fortunately, if everyone perseveres, we'll be able to reach Yao Village.

Finally, just when everyone was about to give up, the high walls of Yao Village came into view.

Once inside the village, everyone could no longer resist going straight to the reservoir and drinking the water directly from their hands.

Although Si Cheng and Yun Qi have been secretly adding water to their water bottles to share with the others these past few days, and although Si Cheng is very strong and can carry more water, the water bottles have a limited capacity and cannot always provide an endless supply of water to everyone.

Yao Shu and the others rushed over and saw the group of villagers with dry mouths and cracked lips. They had no idea what the villagers had gone through.

"How long has it been since you last had water? Why are you all in such a sorry state?" Yao Shu asked as he saw everyone sitting on the ground catching their breath.

"We're finally back alive. We haven't had any water all day." The villagers of Yao Village relaxed as soon as they entered the village; the journey had been incredibly difficult.

Every day, they measured the land with their own two feet, carrying loads heavier than their own weight on their shoulders, and they persevered by gritting their teeth. However, without water, they truly couldn't keep going.

"Is it already this dry outside?" Village Chief Yao arrived at this time.

"That's right, we haven't found water for days. If we hadn't made ample preparations at each camp, we might not have been able to get back to the village."