When he arrived at the clinic, he was barely clinging to life. The Wang family, seeing his weak condition, split into two factions, arguing endlessly about the medical expenses and nearly coming to blows in the clinic. In the end, Wang Liu's mother took out money meant for a coffin and begged the doctor to save him. After several days of treatment, he was barely saved. It is said that Wang Liu was completely paralyzed and unable to speak, no different from a disabled person.
It's not easy to support a paralyzed patient even on ordinary days, let alone during times of scarcity. Anyway, the Wang family was in chaos from then on, and they separated within a few days.
When the Cheng family found out, they all breathed a sigh of relief. They had finally gotten rid of a major worry, and the Wang Liu incident was now over.
That night, Cheng Ruyi had a dream. In the dream, because she was worried about something unexpected, Ruyi did not go out to explore Rongfa Grain Shop. As a result, the Cheng family did not receive enough food. As time went by, the family's food supplies gradually ran out. Although they had eggs, bean sprouts, and fasting pills in the days that followed, they could only keep their lives from starving to death. So everyone visibly became thinner day by day.
If the Cheng family, with their extraordinary abilities, are still like this, what about the other ordinary people in the city?
During that period, screams and cries could be heard almost every day. The Cheng family lived in fear day and night. Food shortages, unrest in the city, and the continuous deaths of acquaintances and neighbors put immense pressure on everyone's mental and physical health.
So after the Wei couple next door passed away, Cheng Yan also died suddenly from an illness. Not long after, Xu Cui chose to commit suicide to save food for everyone. Xiao Man also suffered from depression under several blows and quietly threw herself into a well in the middle of the night. While the rest of the Cheng family were still immersed in grief, Wang Liu led a group of thugs and rushed in. Ruyi fought desperately but was powerless and could only die with resentment in her heart.
Perhaps the dream was too realistic, because after waking up, Cheng Ruyi sat on the bed and could not calm down for a long time.
She had a vague suspicion that what happened in the dream might be real, and that it was very likely the inevitable death the system had mentioned.
Unable to fall asleep, Ruyi put on a coat, got out of bed, walked to the table, poured herself a glass of water, and the sweet and refreshing taste instantly revived her.
She took a deep breath to calm herself down. It wasn't the first time she had died anyway. She kept telling herself that the ending had changed. She now had enough food and had dealt with Wang Liu. The things in her dream wouldn't happen again!
According to the mission description, the main mission is to obtain food, while the other two are side missions. Does this indicate a difference in the importance of the tasks?
Successfully obtaining the grain is of utmost importance. Whether or not you encounter or deal with Wang Liu along the way, according to the understanding of the system task, is clearly not the most critical factor affecting the future.
But why didn't encountering Wang Liu back then have a significant impact even if we didn't defeat him?
Ruyi thought about it for a moment and then understood.
Wang Liu went there with his group of thugs. Their target was very clear: the warehouse in the east courtyard. They even had someone guard the entrance.
After they finished dealing with Wang Liu, they heard someone looking for him in a very unfriendly tone. This person was probably the leader of their gang of thugs.
The fact that this person would appear at this time, leading a group of people to the grain shop and surrounding the east courtyard suggests that he has some connections to know about the secret warehouse there and is hoping to gain some benefits before the authorities.
Therefore, he should want to find his target as soon as possible and not want to alert the authorities.
So if they had been harassed by Wang Liu and made a lot of noise, the leader would most likely have released them on the spot, since there were still many ordinary people present.
After that, as long as the two of them successfully obtained the food, and the whole family was in good spirits and made sufficient preparations, they would have a chance of defeating Wang Liu's group.
Ruyi carefully recalled that in the last month of the dream, everyone was living in fear day and night due to insufficient food reserves and increasingly chaotic public security. In fact, everyone's mental state was seriously affected. Later, the successive deaths of neighbors and family members directly brought indelible psychological shadows to the remaining people. The lack of manpower and poor physical and mental condition were the reasons for their deaths when they faced Wang Liu.
That's why the system determined that Wang Liu was just a side quest.
As for the other side quest...
Cheng Ruyi examined the unidentified jade pendant in her hand. Apart from its warm and smooth feel, she couldn't discern anything else about it. She knew nothing about jade and had no way of judging it.
Oh well, I guess I'll find out when I need it.
After thinking about it for a while, the tangled thoughts in my mind finally started to unravel, and my mood calmed down.
Since she couldn't sleep anyway, Ruyi simply opened the window, sat at her desk, and stared blankly at the bright moon outside.
Was this dream... really just a dream?
Was what she saw merely a prediction made by the system based on the current situation?
Why did it feel so real to her? As if she had experienced it herself?
These questions may never be answered.
However, since everything in this dream is possible, can we consider it a precognitive dream?
Unfortunately, the fragments in the dream were very scattered, making it difficult to piece together a complete event and timeline.
Based on the Cheng family's original grain reserves, even if they only ate one meal a day, it would be completely depleted in about half a month. In other words, the city would gradually begin to descend into chaos in about a month.
The screams in her dream were very close to their house, probably from one of the nearby alleys.
It's easy to understand if you think about it. The north of the city is a wealthy area and the government area. The wealthy families all have guards and powerful backgrounds. Ordinary thugs and gangsters are bullies who prey on the weak and fear the strong, so they certainly wouldn't dare to take risks easily.
Since the southwest of the city was their stronghold, they naturally wouldn't steal from their own home. Therefore, the somewhat wealthy but powerless commoner area in the southeast of the city was definitely their first choice.
Cheng Ruyi thought of the neighbors she had seen while fetching water these past few days. Most of them looked listless and thin. If a criminal were to break in, they might not have any power to resist.
Especially the Wei family next door; if anything happens to them, it will definitely have a huge impact on Cheng Yan.
While I still have the capacity, I'll try my best to remind everyone. Maybe the people in the whole alley can unite and put up a fight. It helps others and also helps myself, so why not?
She wasn't a saint, but after all, if the people in the nearby alleys were to suffer misfortune, it was hard to say when it would be their turn.
Another very important point is that the timeline in the dream stopped on the day Wang Liu broke in, but what happened after that? They have certainly escaped this calamity and survived, but does that mean they will be safe from now on?
When will the county town be unsealed? How long will the unrest last? And what is the purpose of that unknown jade tablet? Will it be related to the next calamity?
Therefore, in order to successfully overcome the unknown disasters of the future, Ruyi had a premonition that it would not be enough for her family to rely on alone!
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