"We still have to go and ask for help, otherwise we'll really be in trouble." Village Chief Gao hadn't slept all night. After all, he was getting old and his energy was waning. He spoke weakly and listlessly.

"With everyone working so hard last night, why would anyone come up to help?" Village Chief Bai immediately rejected the idea. "We still have to figure it out ourselves."

Village Chief Liu, however, was rather pessimistic. "Those animals tasted the food yesterday, and given the current situation on the mountain, they certainly won't let our area go easily."

"Sigh!" Village Chief Gao sighed. "If only we could have stopped them last night, the relationship between the two sides wouldn't be so strained. Now, we see that the other side is powerful, and we can't even find a way to protect ourselves."

Village Chief Liu glanced at Village Chief Gao and said, "You're still not at peace with yourself. We need to correct the resentment we all feel towards the rich, or we'll be the first ones who can't stand living here anymore."

Village Chief Liu's words made everyone present fall into deep thought. Was it also because of these reasons that they all chose to stand by and watch last night, and even harbored some small hopes in their hearts?

I hope those people who caused trouble last night succeeded, so that everyone will be on the same starting line and won't have to follow the lead of Pinghe Village in everything.

Now that this thin veil has been torn open, everyone looks a little awkward.

But the discussion still had to continue; the wild animals on the mountain wouldn't reason with them or agree on a time to come down.

"Then we'll take the poultry inside the earthen building when it gets dark. With the sturdy earthen building, they won't be able to break in." Village Chief Bai didn't want to confront these wild beasts. Since the last time the village was attacked by wolves, many people had been killed, and now everyone was traumatized by these wild animals.

“But we can’t keep hiding from them. If the drought gets worse, these animals might come down from the mountain in broad daylight, and we’ll still be in the same passive position.” The other two village chiefs also offered their opinions.

"So what do you mean? Do you mean you want to take the initiative?" Village Chief Gao asked everyone.

When Village Chief Bai heard him ask that, he shook his head violently, "That won't do. We don't have weapons and we're not very skilled, so we might not come out on top."

"Why don't we go and beg Pinghe Village for help? What's more important than life than face?" Village Chief Liu thought that Pinghe Village had so many weapons that even if the young and strong men of the village left, the fighting power left in the village would be enough to wipe out the nearby villages.

Village Chief Bai said, "It's probably unlikely. We can't even get past Hutiao Village now, so how are we supposed to go and negotiate with Pinghe Village?"

Village Chief Gao said, "Look at Xin San Village and Hu Tiao Village, they are cunning enough. Yesterday they completely united with Pinghe Village. Before Pinghe Village makes a statement, they will definitely keep their distance from us."

"Why don't we ask their relatives here to go and mediate? If someone takes the lead, maybe this matter will be resolved." When Village Chief Bai said this, he specifically looked at Village Chief Gao. It seemed that Village Chief Si's maternal family was from Gao Family Village, and there were many of his distant relatives there.

Village Chief Gao was not so optimistic. After all, Gao Shuzhen had been causing trouble all along, and had long since destroyed any remaining connection between the family and the clan.

After much discussion, they still couldn't come up with a solution. All they could do was arrange for their village to start patrolling the area and setting traps to see if they could reduce the number of wild animals entering the village.

During the day, people could bravely go outside to investigate, but at night, as darkness fell, every household would drag their family members back into the earthen building, refusing to let them take any risks.

Those wild beasts, having tasted the delicious food, continued to come here as scheduled to enjoy their feast.

But when they saw the empty cages, they began to surround these earthen buildings.

If you stand outside, you'll see that these different kinds of wild beasts can actually gather together, as if they have formed an alliance to fight against humans and compete for the continuation of their species.

"Why do I feel like I'm surrounded?" The people living inside could feel the deep malice emanating from the back wall.

Fortunately, in order to make the building more sturdy, everyone brought a lot of limestone from Pinghe Village and burned it into lime powder to build the wall.

If they had simply built a makeshift wooden house for convenience, things would be in terrible shape now.

Many people had this feeling, and they all left the house and closed the door, fearing that these wild animals would break through the wall.

In the open space in the middle of the earthen building, everyone lit a fire, as if the light could take away some of the chill that seeped into their bones.

The animals outside also heard the commotion inside. The clever animals immediately chose the weakest point, the door, and even began to ram and scratch at the two doors incessantly.

"Quick, we need to find something to block the door!" Someone shouted, and everyone started to panic, grabbing everything from stools to wooden buckets.

"Quickly pile the firewood at the doorway," the village chief shouted anxiously, seeing the disorganized state of the people.

Everyone dropped what they were doing and started moving the firewood they had collected, quickly blocking the entire gate.

“How can we live like this? Why don’t we go back to our own village? At least there are walls there.” Some women couldn’t bear it and started sitting there wiping away their tears.

Emotions are contagious; many people cried and begged to go back to their villages.

Village Chief Liu was already annoyed enough, and their crying and fussing only made him more impatient.

"Those who want to go back can go back tomorrow, but there isn't a drop of water in the village right now. How will you survive if you go back?"

This real-world problem immediately brought everyone back to reality, and some people started cursing this injustice of fate.

"Instead of complaining here, you should think of a way to apologize to Pinghe Village and get them to send people to deal with these animals outside." Village Chief Liu said this with some emotion, which not only failed to make everyone think of the good things about Pinghe Village, but also made them feel resentful.

An old man from the village stepped forward and hit Village Chief Liu several times with his cane, saying, "Are you even speaking human language? Don't you even think about how much they helped us in the beginning? You people are never satisfied and keep making trouble behind our backs. Now that they've abandoned us, you're pushing all the responsibility onto others. If it were me, I wouldn't care about you anymore either."

Seeing that some people around him were still dissatisfied, the old man continued, "If you and Pinghe Village switched places, and you were in their shoes, would you treat the villagers who came to seek refuge with them the same way?"

"No, you won't. You only give handouts from a superior position, and you might even take the opportunity to collect protection money. They don't owe us anything, so why should we have to do whatever you say?"