Chapter 164, exclusively published on Jinjiang Literature City, suggests we might be able to offer some assistance...
In the boundless wilderness.
More than three thousand weathered disaster victims struggled forward in the icy and snowy landscape.
These people looked haggard, wearing tattered cotton-padded jackets or draped in untanned leather that emitted a strange smell.
Some didn't even have padded jackets, wearing only thin clothes. Their exposed skin and faces were pale from the cold, and frostbite cracks were visible everywhere.
In the middle of the procession were hundreds of carts, with only a small portion carrying the remaining supplies. The rest of the carts carried frail elderly people, children, and some patients who had lost the ability to walk, were seriously injured, or were very ill.
Whether they were elderly, children, or injured, they were all only covered with thin, tattered quilts. They sat stiffly in the car, motionless with their eyes closed, and you could hardly feel their breathing unless you looked closely.
Meanwhile, the others could only shiver in the biting cold wind, supporting each other with blank expressions as they continued to move forward on their own two feet, their eyes filled with a numbness that saw no hope.
However, not all the people in the large group were apathetic disaster victims. A closer look reveals that there were quite a few strong and healthy men among them.
They either walked in front to clear the way for those behind, or stayed at the very back to prevent any disaster victims from falling and being left unnoticed.
These people walked with a certain order, and one could still vaguely see the edges of armor peeking out from inside their cotton-padded jackets. They had identical standard weapons at their waists, and their tired yet sharp eyes clearly indicated that they were not ordinary disaster victims.
The one who stood out the most was a burly man who led the way alongside the others.
Even after six months of suffering from various natural and man-made disasters, the strong man's face was still haggard and tired, but his robust body was still as solid as a mountain, giving people an infinite sense of security.
Whenever the disaster victims were on the verge of giving up, seeing this person would give them a renewed sense of courage, allowing them to grit their teeth and keep going.
However, after traveling for three consecutive days, most people's physical strength had reached its limit.
One of his subordinates hesitated before approaching the burly man and whispered, "General, should we take a break?"
The burly man opened his chapped lips and exhaled a breath, saying in a hoarse voice, "The snow could start falling again at any time. There's no shelter around here, and once it snows, even more people will die. Let's keep going and reach the hill ahead; perhaps we can find a place to stay temporarily in the wind."
The subordinate looked at the mountain peak that seemed to be right in front of him, but in reality, he didn't know how long it would take to reach it, and sighed inwardly.
The burly man knew that everyone was about to give up and was about to ask his subordinates to distribute some rations when he heard a faint rumbling sound.
His tired, dull eyes instantly sharpened like knives, and his body tensed up. "What was that sound?!"
The subordinate, who had obviously heard this as well, looked flustered and asked, "Could it be an earthquake?"
The burly man listened carefully for a moment, then felt the ground shaking again. "No, this doesn't sound like an earthquake. The sound is coming from... ahead."
He looked warily across the empty snowfield ahead and spotted a swirling cloud of snow in the distance, within which something seemed to be rapidly approaching them.
The burly man raised his hand and gestured for them to stop. His men immediately ordered the disaster victims to stop.
The displaced people, numb from walking, blinked in a daze.
Why did it stop?
Have you found a new place to live?
Can we rest now?
Some of the disaster victims who were standing at the front noticed the increasingly obvious movement ahead and shouted back, "Something is approaching us!"
The people behind them were clearly flustered when they heard this, asking, "What is that?"
"Could it be a herd of beasts that's starving?"
Panic spread through the ranks, and people instinctively shrank further into the ranks.
At the front of the line.
As time went by, the burly man gradually saw what was approaching, but seeing it clearly only made him more confused.
At first, he thought they were hungry wolves or other animals that had found them and were looking for food, but those in front of him... didn't seem to be animals.
It was supposed to be a person... but it was completely black, and its head was round and chubby, so you couldn't tell it was human at all.
Could it be some kind of spirit or monster?
The 'monster' suddenly stopped when it was still dozens of meters away from them and did not come any closer.
The burly man did not let his guard down; he gestured for his men to remain vigilant.
He would rather not start unnecessary disputes if he could, but if the 'spirit' really came with ill intentions, he would not be polite.
As the burly man pondered to himself, the leading 'monster' jumped off its strange 'mount,' and more 'monsters' emerged from the other 'mounts' behind it.
The burly man had assumed there were only six "monsters" since he had only discovered six "mounts" before, but when they all dismounted, he found there were actually twenty or thirty of them.
As you get closer, the complete appearance of these 'spirits' comes into view.
The body looks exactly like a human's, only the face is different...
Just as he was thinking this, the leader of the 'monsters' suddenly ripped off its head under the burly man's shocked gaze—no, that's not right!
The burly man then realized that what he had mistaken for a monster's head was actually a helmet, except that the helmet covered up the face that was originally exposed.
Beneath the helmet, there was clearly an ordinary person's head!
The newcomers were not spirits or monsters at all; they were just like them!
Realizing this, the burly man breathed a slight sigh of relief.
In any case, people are much easier to communicate with than spirits who can't understand each other's language.
The burly man glanced at the person who had taken off his helmet and was somewhat surprised. It turned out to be a handsome young man who looked to be only in his early twenties.
The young man had a calm expression and a rosy complexion, and looked as if he had not suffered any natural disasters.
The burly man, having seen countless people, could naturally tell that the young man, though seemingly relaxed, actually had almost no weaknesses to be found.
This boy is no ordinary person!
The burly man then looked at the people standing to the left, right, and behind the young man.
One by one, these people took off their helmets, and without exception, all of them had the same energetic faces as the young man.
He also noticed that these people were not dressed in thick clothes, yet their faces showed absolutely no signs of being cold.
He knew that some people who traveled the martial arts world had profound inner strength and were completely unafraid of cold or heat. Could these people be them?
But regardless of whether they were or not, these people were clearly living much better lives than them, and they stopped on their own initiative without approaching rashly. Moreover, there weren't many of them, so they probably weren't there to rob them on purpose.
While the burly man was observing them, Lu Xuan also quickly glanced at the man and the disaster victims behind him.
Their eyes didn't have a bandit-like look, and although there were many of them, they weren't in good condition, so they probably weren't bandits.
The man leading the group looked to be in his early thirties, with a burly build and sharp eyes. He wore armor under his cotton-padded coat, and the young men in the group had a military bearing.
It should be worth making contact with.
Viewers in the live stream were also analyzing:
These people look somewhat like military personnel.
[It's not just soldiers; most of them look like ordinary civilians. Is it a mixed militia force?]
I noticed there seem to be some elderly people and women in the group of disaster victims; the leader of this group seems to be of decent character.
The man in the lead is fairly handsome, but he looks very haggard. If he spruced himself up a bit, he'd be a very charming and handsome mature man.
The burly man spoke first, "May I ask where you all come from? What brings you here?"
Lu Xuan said, "I should be the one to say that. If we go any further ahead, we will be in our hunting range. If any strangers approach, we will naturally come over to investigate in order to avoid unnecessary conflict."
The burly man introduced himself frankly, saying, "My surname is Huo, Huo Tiankuo."
"Huo Tiankuo!?"
Zhang Chengming and the others, who had remained silent and merely served as decorations, suddenly became excited.
Lu Xuan's eyelids twitched slightly as he glanced at them.
What happened to Huo Tiankuo? Is he someone you know?
Lei Yan also asked excitedly, "You're General Huo? The General Huo from the Huo family army!?"
Lu Xuan: General? Huo Family Army? Sounds like a celebrity?
Huo Tiankuo already knew that he had a good reputation among the people, so he nodded and said, "It is indeed me, Huo."
Having received a positive answer, the hunting team could no longer maintain their aloofness and began to erupt in excitement.
"It really is General Huo!"
"So, all these people behind are Huo's army?"
"My God, I can't believe I'll actually get to see Huo Jiajun one day."
Lu Xuan's brow twitched, and he asked Lei Yan, "General Huo is?"
Lei Yan remembered that Lu Xuan had been mentally impaired for more than ten years and did not know much about the outside world, so he quickly explained Huo Tiankuo's deeds.
After listening for a while, Lu Xuan understood.
Simply put, this General Huo Tiankuo is the equivalent of Huo Qubing and Yue Fei of this dynasty.
He loved his soldiers like his own children, and his soldiers obeyed his orders without question, winning every battle. They made outstanding contributions to defending the border and reclaiming lost territories.
Lu Xuan glanced at the troops led by General Huo.
So how did such a powerful general manage to lead his soldiers into such a disorganized group?
Seeing their reactions, Huo Tiankuo felt completely relieved.
Just as he was about to say something, a commotion suddenly arose from the back of the group.
A subordinate rushed over to report, "General, something terrible has happened! Many people in the back have fainted from fright, and quite a few people on the carts are about to collapse..."
Huo Tiankuo frowned deeply.
Their medicine has long since run out. If anyone can't hold on, I'm afraid...
Lei Yan, Zhang Chengming, and the others gradually fell silent, their excitement at seeing their idol fading, and they all looked at Lu Xuan.
Lu Xuan thought for a moment and then spoke up, "Perhaps we can offer you some assistance?"
·
Tents were erected one after another on the open ground, and the sick and wounded on the carts were carried in one after another and placed on the large earthen bed that Lu Xuan had conjured.
It's called a kang (heated brick bed), but it's not the kind of kang that can be heated by fire in the north. It's just a kang made purely with earth-based supernatural abilities, used to insulate against the cold air from the ground.
The earthen bed was covered with old cotton quilts that had been discarded by the villagers who had been called over to help.
Even the old cotton quilts were much softer and thicker than the stiff, tattered quilts that Huo Tiankuo's team used to use, which were frozen solid.
When the injured and sick were placed on it, even though many of them were almost unconscious, they relaxed their brows slightly after feeling the long-lost softness beneath them.
Lin Qingfu spent some time examining the injured and sick, and the results were, to put it mildly, appalling.
Lin Qingfu said to Lu Xuan, "There are more than 300 seriously injured patients. Half of them contracted severe colds from frostbite, and more than a dozen have completely necrotized frostbite on their arms/legs."
There were also seventy or eighty people bitten by wild animals, whose wounds hadn't received proper treatment and who had persistent high fevers. If they hadn't met us, almost eighty percent of them wouldn't have survived more than half a day.
Lu Xuan nodded and said, "Since you've already chosen to help, just give them the medicine they need. Keep an account for them and they can pay you back later."
Lin Qingfu said, "That's enough."
These people need a lot of medicine. Although Lu Xuan gave him a lot of medicine, it was for the villagers. He dared not use it on these outsiders.
Soon, Lin Qingfu called Zhang Chengming and others to come and help, and took out a large amount of frostbite ointment, hemostatic drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs, and antipyretics for the critically ill patients in the tent.
Huo Tiankuo stayed by their side and watched as they provided treatment.
At first, Huo Tiankuo also doubted whether those seemingly insignificant pills were effective.
But soon he discovered that the patients' flushed faces, which had taken the so-called antipyretics, visibly returned to normal.
Soldiers who had suffered external injuries, with red and swollen wounds or still slowly bleeding, experienced rapid reduction in swelling and cessation of bleeding after taking anti-inflammatory and hemostatic drugs.
Those who suffered frostbite to the point of having to have parts of their bodies amputated felt no pain at all during the entire process after taking anesthesia beforehand. After the bleeding at the incision site was stopped, they were given a blood-replenishing medicine, and a trace of color was restored to their pale faces!
The hemostatic drugs used by Huo's army in the past were considered the best among all the armies, but they had never seen the effects come so quickly.
Most of the wounded by wild beasts were his soldiers; if they hadn't encountered these people, none of them would have survived.
As their general, Huo Tiankuo was tormented by his inability to save their lives.
As he watched the soldiers' breathing become steady and their brows relax, Huo Tiankuo felt deeply grateful to the people of Yunlu Village, and he also became curious about their origins.
And what Lu Xuan and others did was not just treat critically ill patients.
Lin Qingfu also asked Huo Tiankuo to confirm the number of other disaster victims or soldiers in the team who needed medicine.
Actually, this doesn't need to be confirmed at all.
Even Huo Tiankuo himself, who seemed to be perfectly healthy, had frostbite on his hands and feet, and the others were no exception, with a frostbite probability of almost 100%.
Besides frostbite, snow blindness is the second most common ailment.
Unlike the villagers of Yunlu Village, these disaster victims didn't go to the grocery store on the first day of the extreme cold season to exchange their glasses for protective glasses that could block ultraviolet rays.
Prolonged exposure of the eyes to sunlight reflected off the snow can cause symptoms such as eye pain, photophobia, tearing, and even a strong burning sensation.
The most serious case is that he has completely lost his sight and has survived to this day only because Huo Jiajun carries him on his back.
Complete blindness is beyond treatment, but the rest can be cured with medication.
Painkillers relieve the pain, and then a special eye ointment is applied. Depending on the symptoms, recovery should take up to an hour.
...
While the able-bodied men were helping to treat the wounded in the team, in another shed outside the medical tent, the women who had come to help with Lin Qingfu set up ten large iron pots.
Miao Jinfeng shouted to the disaster victims who were drooling around her, "If you have a bowl, get it ready. If you don't, I'll give you one. Line up and get your soup."
Upon hearing this, the disaster victims were incredulous, yet eagerly rushed to form a queue.
Everyone was pushing forward, and no one was willing to give way. Just as things were about to get out of control, Huo's army soldiers came over to maintain order.
Upon seeing these familiar soldiers, the disaster victims finally calmed down and began to line up in an orderly fashion to wait for the soup.
Half of the ten pots were filled with ginger soup, with large slices of mutated ginger and scallions tumbling in the pots, and a spicy aroma constantly wafting out.
The first person to arrive carefully held the hot, yellow ginger soup, blew on it a couple of times, and then eagerly poured it into their mouth.
"Ouch! It's so hot! It's so spicy!"
Even though they were hissing and gasping for breath from the heat, they couldn't bear to spit out the hot soup that was in their mouths. They held it in their mouths for a while and then swallowed it impatiently.
As soon as the ginger soup entered their stomachs, the disaster victims felt as if a warm current had been injected into their cold bodies, and their whole bodies warmed up.
He couldn't help but widen his eyes; the effect was just too good!
The people behind them received their share one after another, and after drinking it, they also felt the effects immediately, and their eyes widened in surprise.
After drinking ginger soup all night, some people who were already in good physical condition even started sweating.
Once the body is no longer cold, the suppressed hunger is gradually awakened.
These people patted their bellies, smelled the aroma of meat wafting from the other five pots next door, and quickly grabbed their empty bowls to join the new queue.
The other five pots were used to cook bone broth, made from the bones of wild boars that the hunting team had recently hunted, along with cabbage slices.
The villagers didn't really like wild boar bones, so they didn't feel bad about taking them out. The cabbages were all ordinary cabbages that were planted in the first batch during the hottest season and hadn't mutated.
Since the emergence of the crisper and sweeter mutant cabbage, regular cabbage has been relegated to the bottom of the drawer.
Upon learning that Lu Xuan and his group had encountered the Huo family army, everyone not only brought out bones and ordinary cabbages, but also donated a lot of sweet potato noodles, mutated cabbages, mushrooms, and even meat.
Lu Xuan didn't rush to have Miao Jinfeng bring out the mutated cabbage and meat. Instead, he asked her to first make some vermicelli and bone soup for the disaster victims using ordinary cabbage and some vermicelli.
The soup with vermicelli and bone broth was quite substantial, and it couldn't be finished in a short time, so the disaster victims were reluctant to eat it all at once.
At the suggestion of the aunties from Yunlu Village and Huo Jiajun, the disaster victims carried their bone broth into several other tents nearby.
Upon entering the tent, the disaster victims felt a warm breeze. Looking closer, they discovered that there were many charcoal braziers inside, filled with glowing red-hot charcoal.
The disaster victims' eyes lit up, and they quickly gathered around the charcoal brazier to warm themselves while enjoying the fragrant meat soup. Their numb faces gradually regained their vitality as the soup entered their stomachs, and their dim eyes regained their light.
Voices began to emerge from the deathly quiet tent.
"It tastes so good!"
"Where did these people come from? They're so generous with all this ginger, meat bones, and cabbage!"
"I don't know what this slippery thing in the soup is. It looks like noodles, but it doesn't taste like noodles."
"I don't know, I've never eaten it before, but it tastes really good."
The rice noodles, soaked in the broth, are exceptionally fragrant, soft, and delicious. You can never get enough of them, and they're very filling. Before you've even finished a bowl, you'll already feel your hunger have subsided considerably.
"Their cabbages look so fresh, and they taste delicious too."
"I haven't eaten fresh cabbage since the earthquake."
The survivor, speaking with a dazed expression, said, "Before the earthquake, my family had planted half an acre of cabbage, and it was almost ready to be harvested. Who would have thought that everything would change like this..."
The others, remembering the loved ones they lost in the earthquake and the hardships they had endured over the past six months, had their suppressed emotions unexpectedly stirred by a bowl of meat soup, and low sobs gradually filled the tent.
Not only the disaster victims, but also many young soldiers in Huo's army had tears in their eyes as they received meat soup from the women of Yunlu Village.
The audience followed Lu Xuan as he toured the Huo family army's temporary camp, filled with mixed emotions.
These people are truly pitiful.
This is probably the most realistic picture of the disaster victims in this world without any streamers using cheats.
[The Huo family army sounds very powerful, so how come they're doing so poorly?]
Even the most powerful person can't conjure up a large amount of supplies out of thin air. Even if more than 3,000 people are frugal, they still have to consume several hundred kilograms of supplies every day.
Just the first ten days or so of winter require at least 10,000 kilograms of supplies. Where are they going to get so many supplies? Not to mention dealing with natural disasters and diseases. They've probably done everything they can to save these few lives.
I reckon out of those three thousand-plus men, only a few hundred are actual soldiers. The Huo family army couldn't possibly have only that many; who knows how many must have perished along the way. Sigh.
While the audience was sighing, Huo Tiankuo was also given a bowl of bone broth filled with ingredients by his subordinates.
Since everyone had a share, Huo Tiankuo didn't back down and carefully ate all the ingredients in the soup.
The stewed vermicelli was so tender, the cabbage was exceptionally sweet, and even the few pieces of meat that hadn't been cleaned off the bones were all eaten with great satisfaction by Huo Tiankuo.
Feeling the long-awaited feeling of fullness, and looking at the soldiers and disaster victims around him who also looked happy, Huo Tiankuo's expression was quite complicated.
He glanced at the tents that the people of Yunlu Village had set up next to the medical tents for their own people to rest in, and after a moment's thought, he strode over.
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