It was noon when Xiaojie woke up. The two children had woken up early and were sitting quietly beside him, waiting for him.

They were so thirsty that their lips were dry and their throats felt like they were on fire.

Xiaojie thought that if this continued, they would die of thirst and starvation.

After a whole night, the two human traffickers still didn't catch up with us. They probably escaped.

They had to go down the mountain to find food to survive.

Xiaojie got up from the ground and felt sore all over, especially his feet, which hurt even more than yesterday. He was in so much pain that he couldn't stand up.

He endured the pain and stood up, holding the hands of the two children. The three of them were so hungry that they didn't even want to talk.

The bright sunlight outside made them feel dizzy.

Xiaojie originally wanted to go down the mountain, but now standing here and looking around, everything is the same.

He could no longer find the way he came, nor did he know how to get down the mountain.

He thought that he could get down the mountain by walking in the downhill direction.

After walking a few dozen meters, the three of them were exhausted and felt like they were about to faint at any moment.

"Let's go to the tree in front." Xiaojie raised his chin weakly.

The three of them walked hand in hand to the tree, and Xiaojie asked them to sit aside and wait.

He pulled a dagger from his pocket and began to dig.

He knew this tree, it was a pine tree, it was not poisonous and should be edible.

He dug until he was exhausted and dug a hole that was not very deep.

He cut off the roots with a dagger, wiped the dirt on his clothes, peeled off the outer bark, and handed it to the two children.

"Chew it and suck its water."

He cut another root for himself. The root was very hard and difficult to chew. It was not very juicy and had a strange smell.

The three of them were so thirsty that they didn't care about anything else. They just sat under the tree and chewed and sucked hard.

I felt like I could absorb some water to quench my thirst, but it only made me feel even thirstier.

At this time, there was a squirrel running up and down on a tree nearby.

The two children were very excited when they saw the squirrel. They were chewing something in their mouths and could only look up at it and point at it with their fingers.

Xiao Jie looked at the squirrel and sighed helplessly. If it were his uncle, they would definitely be able to catch the squirrel and roast it for food.

The three children ate tree roots for a long time and then set off again.

Xiaojie encouraged the two children, "Once we reach the foot of the mountain, your father and the others will definitely be able to find us."

"Brother, I still want a rabbit." Keke said, "I've made up my mind. Let's catch its parents too, then it won't be afraid."

"And catch its brother as well." Coco added.

Xiaojie: “...Okay.”

An An asked: "What about its grandparents?"

Xiaojie: "Catch some too, a neat family of rabbits."

The three of them talked for a while, then became too tired to speak anymore, as if they almost had no strength to breathe.

The three of them walked and stopped, digging up tree roots to eat.

Of course, they also dug up some insects, earthworms and other things, but Xiaojie and his friends didn't dare to eat them.

It was getting dark again, but I had no idea where the foot of the mountain was.

After walking for a while in the moonlight, the three children were really exhausted.

After last night, Xiaojie found that there were no wild animals in the mountains and it was relatively safe.

They didn't look for a cave anymore, but just found a tree and sat down.

Just like last night, Xiaojie lit a fire, and the two children slept on the floor while he watched over them.

"I'm hungry and can't sleep." Coco curled up and looked at Xiaojie with eager eyes.

Apart from some tree roots, they had not eaten anything for more than 30 hours. The three of them were so hungry that they felt weak all over and dizzy.

Xiaojie asked, "Do you still eat tree roots?"

Both children shook their heads.

My cheeks are sore from chewing it, but I didn’t eat anything!

Xiao Jie was helpless and could only continue to comfort them, "You won't be hungry when you fall asleep. We'll have something to eat when we get to the foot of the mountain tomorrow."

"oh."

The two children also understood the current situation. No matter how hungry they were, they had to face reality and close their eyes obediently.

Cheng Jingmo and his companions ran all the way to a rural street and found out that the car had appeared here before.

They ran towards the mountains according to the direction pointed by the villagers.

Before the sun set, the two finally found the place where Xiaojie and his friends escaped.

There were wheel tracks here and a large pool of blood.

The two were not sure which child was injured, and they felt heavy-hearted.

Looking more closely at the traces around, there was a pair of large footprints and two pairs of small footprints heading up the mountain.

The two men followed the footprints and went up the mountain without stopping.

As there were more and more stones and fallen leaves on the road on the mountain, the three pairs of footprints became shallower and shallower, and finally disappeared.

"Xiaojie!"

"An An!"

"cocoa!"

The two of them went up the mountain, shouting along the way.

An An was half asleep when she suddenly sat up and said, "Brother, I think I heard Dad calling me."

The two men pricked up their ears and listened for a while, but only heard the whistling of the wind, and no shouting.

Xiaojie said disappointedly: "No."

"Oh." An An pouted and her eyes drooped in disappointment.

"Go to sleep quickly." Xiaojie touched his head, "You'll have more strength tomorrow."

An An obediently lay down again. Regardless of whether she could sleep or not, she closed her eyes to conserve her strength.

Cheng Jingmo and Yu Xiangyang had been running for seven or eight hours without stopping, and both were exhausted and sweating all over.

Now it was dark and the footprints had disappeared, and the two men were extremely anxious.

"Look here!" Yu Xiangyang pointed at the ground with a flashlight.

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