Chapter 168, exclusively published on Jinjiang Literature City. Don't worry, he won't survive. ...
The Wei family members were not bandits, and they were afraid of attracting the dangers of the Huo family's army, so they didn't dare to do anything like murder, arson, looting, or burning. They also didn't have the ability to do so.
However, Huo Jiajun had too many disaster victims to take care of. In places where Huo Jiajun couldn't see, the Wei family did a lot of things they considered insignificant, such as making things difficult for the disaster victims.
They withheld half a meal's worth of food and water that should have been distributed.
They would find any excuse to keep the cloth meant for the disaster victims to keep warm and refuse to give it to them.
Using extra food as bait, they deliberately provoked the disaster victims to fight, exhausting their energy and causing them unnecessary injuries.
These things don't sound like particularly serious matters. In peacetime, being harassed like this by powerful and wealthy families is probably a common occurrence for ordinary people, and they can just endure it and it will pass.
But in those famine years when survival was uncertain, their attempts to amuse and ridicule the victims could be fatal to those already on the verge of starvation and freezing.
Because of their obstruction, nearly a hundred disaster victims have died, directly or indirectly.
Huo Tiankuo was both angry and puzzled. "None of these disaster victims have ever told me about this. Why didn't they tell me or the other soldiers if they were wronged?"
If he had been told sooner, those innocent victims might not have died.
Su Ying said, "What good would it do to tell them? They didn't actually kill anyone. Do you think the general would turn against the Wei family just because of their little bit of trouble? Are we going to abandon the Wei family's supplies? Are the other disaster victims going to die?"
If things really escalate to that point, the disaster victims who filed complaints will become the guilty ones and be resented by the other disaster victims.
Moreover, the disaster victims all knew that it wasn't easy for Huo's army to protect them, so they all thought they could tolerate some minor problems themselves and not cause General Huo any more trouble.
The village chief and everyone else in the village understood this.
Because if they were in the same position, they would most likely make the same choice.
However, it is truly not worth paying for it with one's life.
It's not that it's not worth it to think about Huo's army, but it's not worth it because the Wei family has no chance of survival.
Huo Tiankuo's face was ashen, his hands clenched into fists, and he said with a somber expression, "In the end, it's still because I failed to protect them."
He had promised to help them survive, but in the end, he didn't even know that the disaster victims were being mistreated unnecessarily in private. He really betrayed the trust the disaster victims had placed in him.
Lu Xuan said bluntly, "You are indeed wrong."
"Ah Xuan!" The village chief and Old Master Zhang looked at him disapprovingly.
Lu Xuan, however, continued to stab Huo Tiankuo in the heart as if he hadn't heard: "What Su Ying found out about the deaths caused by the Wei family were not just disaster victims, but also your soldiers."
Huo Tiankuo's body visibly trembled.
“You may not know about the disaster victims, but you can’t possibly not know about the death of your personal guards.”
“The Wei family was afraid of death. Whenever they encountered wild beasts, they would cling to the soldiers and make them protect them closely. At the slightest disturbance, they would push the soldiers out as shields. Many of the soldiers who died protecting them could have avoided dying.”
"I've heard that the general loves the people like his own children, the disaster victims are his children, the Wei family are his children, but aren't your soldiers the same? Does becoming your personal guard make your life worthless? Just because you've become his soldiers, does that mean you have to endure all the grievances with him?"
Lu Xuan's tone was not sarcastic at all; on the contrary, it was calm and indifferent. However, Huo Tiankuo felt as if he had been struck on the head, and his heart ached as he listened, making it hard for him to breathe.
Li Tie and the others couldn't stand it anymore, but what Lu Xuan said did make sense.
Why should I live such a miserable life after becoming a soldier in Huo's army?
Because they are soldiers, and because they have to protect the people, they have to endure all hardships and persevere.
But they were civilians before they became soldiers!
Lu Xuan pointed out incisively, "The Wei family may have indeed provided supplies, and the disaster victims have benefited, but didn't they initially follow the Huo family army and you, General, because they were unable to protect themselves and sought the protection of the Huo family army?"
Ultimately, the supplies were nothing more than protection money they paid to Huo's army.
How the Huo family army uses these supplies is their business. It has absolutely no place for the Wei family to act superior and act like benefactors who saved them from suffering.
"The Wei family and the Huo family army have only ever had a mutually beneficial relationship. General Huo has no need to be too tolerant of them. Little does he know that this attitude only emboldens them."
This emboldened the Wei family to harass the disaster victims even more, and emboldened them to deliberately lure the Huo family army away, making it easier to target Yunlu Village and uncover all their secrets and resources.
Lu Xuan said, "It's not the general's fault that he wanted to protect everyone, but sometimes people have to make some trade-offs."
His statement to the Wei family that he would use supplies to persuade Huo Tiankuo to give up on the Wei family was false.
But if Huo Tiankuo wants to go further, he really needs to make a choice.
Should they choose the unpopular and wicked Wei family, or the grateful and loyal disaster victims and Huo family army?
It's not hard to choose at all, is it?
·
Inside the tent where the Wei family members are being held.
The mouths of the Wei family members were not gagged. Apart from the dying Wei San, the other Wei family members, whose hands and feet were tied, gasped for breath due to their injuries while constantly cursing the Yunlu Village people who had attacked them.
As he continued cursing, he asked Uncle Wei, whose face was gloomy, with some concern.
"Second Uncle, General Huo shouldn't do anything to us, right?"
Looking at Wei San's untreated wounds with heartache, Uncle Wei said without hesitation, "He dares!"
"Why wouldn't I dare?" Huo Tiankuo walked in with a stern face.
The Wei family members instantly tensed up and instinctively scurried behind Uncle Wei.
Uncle Wei also perked up and said habitually, "General, when we left the border town, you promised to save our family's lives, which is why we gave up all our savings."
You've used up all the supplies, yet you turn your back on us for a bunch of outsiders. How can you face the sacrifices the Wei family has made?"
Huo Tiankuo stared intently at Uncle Wei, making the latter feel somewhat uneasy.
"I am truly sorry," Huo Tiankuo said.
Uncle Wei breathed a sigh of relief, his tense expression finally relaxing.
He knew that Huo Tiankuo, given his character, would never disregard the contributions of the Wei family.
"Then general, why don't you release us at once—"
Huo Tiankuo said coldly, "But the people I've wronged are not you, but the people you've secretly oppressed, and the soldiers who have died because of you!"
Uncle Wei's face stiffened, and a hint of guilt and unease flashed in his eyes.
He forced himself to remain calm and said, "What bullying, what implicatement? I don't understand what the general is saying. Our Wei family has never done such things."
Huo Tiankuo's expression was cold. "There are more than three thousand people still alive outside. Do you think they don't know what you've done?"
A few beads of cold sweat appeared on Uncle Wei's forehead as he argued, "Even if a few people died by accident, didn't many more survive because of us? Are the lives of thousands less important than a few people? —Bang!"
"Ugh—!"
"Second Uncle!" The Wei family members looked at their Second Uncle Wei, who had been kicked away by General Huo, with panic on their faces.
Uncle Wei hunched over, clutching his aching abdomen, his face contorted in pain.
Huo Tiankuo, having retracted his foot, spoke in a voice so cold it was almost icy, "So what? Did the people you indirectly caused deserve to die?"
The younger members of the Wei family finally realized their mistake and begged for mercy, saying, "General, we know we were wrong. At worst, we'll just stop bothering other disaster victims in the future."
Even though he was in so much pain that he couldn't straighten up, Uncle Wei gritted his teeth and said, "No matter what, we can never forget the kindness we have shown to Huo Jiajun and others."
"You want to talk to me about gratitude?" Huo Tiankuo's voice was a little soft. "Fine, then I'll calculate it with you."
"In the past six months, my soldiers have saved your Wei family more than a dozen times, and even paid with their lives for it. Debts must be repaid, and lives must be repaid. I used your supplies and sold my life to Yunlu Village to borrow supplies from them to repay you. In return, you repay the soldiers who died because of you with your lives. How about that? Is that fair enough?"
All members of the Wei family: "!!!"
Pay, pay with your life?
What use are supplies to them if they've already lost their lives?
Uncle Wei finally panicked and cried out, "No, you can't do this!"
Huo Tiankuo remained expressionless. "Why not? You can oppress the disaster victims, you can kill my soldiers, you can say that the people of Yunlu Village are monsters and you want to burn them alive, you can take advantage of kindness, but I can't touch you?"
Uncle Wei opened his mouth, wanting to say how other people's lives could compare to theirs, but when he met Huo Tiankuo's seemingly calm but actually burning eyes, his throat felt like it was stuck and he couldn't say a word, nor did he dare to.
After a long pause, Huo Tiankuo said, "I will either use the supplies that the Wei family used to provide to pay for your lives, or I will hand you over to the relatives of the disaster victims you killed so they can do whatever they want with you. You can choose."
Handing them over to the relatives and friends of the disaster victims to do as they please? Would they even survive?
Uncle Wei's face was a mixture of pale and ashen, and he asked with a sliver of hope, "If you choose to live, can all the previous grudges be wiped clean?"
Huo Tiankuo's gaze grew even colder.
Can a life be wiped clean? Can a human life be wiped clean with a single stroke?
"If you choose to live, I can let you leave the team alive."
Uncle Wei's lips trembled, and his eyes showed despair.
Leave the group?
What's the difference between that and sending them to their deaths?
Uncle Wei wanted to continue to fight for a way out for his clansmen, but Huo Tiankuo had no intention of giving them that chance and called his personal guards to take everyone away.
...
The edge of the temporary camp.
The twenty-odd members of the Wei family, who had been untied, were driven out of the camp by the Huo family army with only a few remaining supplies in one cart.
The Wei family members, still injured, had fear written all over their faces. They pleaded with Huo Tiankuo, who was coldly watching them, "General, we really know we were wrong. We promise to behave ourselves and not cause any more trouble. Please, General, spare us!"
"Yes, yes! We'll take any beatings or scolding, just please don't kick us out! We'll really die if we leave the group in this weather!"
When the time came, even Uncle Wei relented, setting aside all his family pride and bowing to Huo Tiankuo, vowing never to take advantage of his kindness again.
Huo Tiankuo only gave him one sentence: "Leave immediately before I change my mind."
What idea should we change?
Naturally, the idea of sparing their lives was changed.
Uncle Wei subconsciously looked at the Huo family soldiers and other disaster victims standing behind Huo Tiankuo, but found that there was no trace of pity or sympathy on their faces. Instead, they were full of indifference and even glee.
Uncle Wei's face stiffened even more, and he cursed inwardly the ungrateful wretch!
The expressions of the villagers in Yunlu Village were even more varied, but the variety was evident in the regret that they could not resolve the issue themselves.
Uncle Wei Er shuddered as he thought of the sorcery he had used not long ago. He dared not linger any longer and urged his still-reluctant clansmen to stagger away through the heavy snow.
Zhang Chengming and the others whispered unwillingly, "Are we just going to let them go like that? They're going to burn us alive, if we don't..." They made a throat-slitting gesture.
Lu Xuan said calmly, "Don't worry, he won't survive."
The people around who heard this exchanged silent glances. What did this mean?
Is it that they can't survive in the freezing cold without protection, or...?
·
The Wei family struggled through the snow, pushing a cart full of supplies forward, but the younger generation of the Wei family were still very unwilling to give up.
"Second Uncle, are we really leaving like this?"
General Huo didn't keep their remaining supplies. This cartload of supplies was enough for them to eat for at least half a month, and the fur coats and thick cotton-padded jackets would keep them from freezing to death.
However, they cannot find a suitable place to shelter from the wind and snow, and their survival crisis remains very high.
Once they encounter a ferocious beast, no Huo family army will stand in their way anymore.
"Second Uncle, why don't we stay near the temporary camp? Maybe we can find a chance to rejoin the group?"
At worst, I'll just have to hold my nose and behave myself for a while; it's still better than dying out there.
Uncle Wei had considered this idea, but a strange sense of crisis reminded him to leave quickly, as far away as possible, otherwise those who knew sorcery might not let them go.
"We can't go back. Okay, stop talking. Let's go to the next place we can stay and settle down first."
They were unfamiliar with the surroundings and could only walk back along the route the group had taken.
But less than an hour after they left, someone in the group suddenly collapsed.
Uncle Wei asked in surprise, "What happened?"
The others were also startled and rushed over to help him up. "Was he beaten too badly before—ah! Why are his lips purple!"
"What!?" Uncle Wei's expression changed. He quickly walked over and turned the person around. He found that the person who had fallen not only had purple lips, but also a purple face, and black blood was seeping from his mouth.
"Poisoning!? How could this be!"
They clearly didn't touch any potentially poisonous food today, and given Huo Tiankuo's character, it's impossible that he would let them leave and then secretly poison them.
But as the first person fell, the others followed suit, clutching their stomachs and convulsing as they collapsed, the black blood they vomiting starkly visible on the white snow.
Uncle Wei was horrified and was about to check on them when a sharp pain shot through his abdomen and a metallic taste rose in his throat.
He stared wide-eyed in disbelief, opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately fell backward onto the snow without uttering a word.
The group of more than twenty people was wiped out in the blink of an eye.
A quarter of an hour later, Lu Xuan appeared in front of the corpse, which was almost completely covered by snow and could no longer be seen.
He glanced down at Uncle Wei and the others, who were stiff all over, his face expressionless. With a stomp of his foot, he unleashed his earth and gravity powers simultaneously, burying all the corpses and the truckload of supplies more than ten meters underground.
Once the turned-over land was covered with a thin layer of snow, all traces of black blood and the existence of the Wei family were wiped clean.
The viewers in the live stream, who, like the villagers, were unhappy about letting the Wei family go, finally felt satisfied.
[I knew the streamer wouldn't let the Wei family off so easily!]
[Poison-type abilities are indeed more difficult to defend against than other offensive abilities. Another day of envying streamers.]
[It really wasn't a waste of time to raise the Mei siblings. One is a healing type, the other a poison type, and both have awakened special types. Their genes are truly amazing!]
[Actually, I'm more curious why the streamer didn't just kill the person directly, but instead went through this roundabout way.]
[General Huo is an official, after all. What's the difference between killing someone in front of him and committing a crime in front of the Star Police?]
It's better to keep a low profile, so that General Huo won't be wary of the anchor when they continue to interact with him.
While the audience was discussing, Lu Xuan had already returned to the temporary camp.
Zhang Chengming was somewhat surprised to see him return from outside. "Where have you been?"
Lu Xuan said leisurely, "Let's take a walk."
Zhang Chengming: "???"
Several other villagers nearby: "???"
Going for a walk in the heavy snow? What's wrong with you?
Huo Tiankuo, who had just come out of the wounded soldiers' camp not far away, glanced in the direction Lu Xuan had returned from, gave him a deep look, and then turned back to the main tent to discuss the moving arrangements for the next day with Deputy General Liu.
·
The Wei family left, but some changes still occurred in the camp.
The superhumans of Yunlu Village displayed their special abilities, and the disaster victims could not forget the shocking scenes of wind, fire, thunder, and lightning flying together just because the Wei family was gone.
Fear and keeping a respectful distance are understandable.
But this persistence and avoidance only lasted until the moment the aroma of the bone broth, brimming with ingredients, wafted over on the cold wind.
The disaster victims rubbed their rumbling stomachs, hesitated for three breaths, thinking that they wouldn't starve if they missed a meal, but they couldn't rashly approach dangerous people whose safety was unknown.
Then, with determination, I grabbed my bowl and ran quickly to join the queue.
When receiving the soup, seeing that the villagers' attitudes were still as friendly and amiable as before, a bolder disaster victim couldn't help but cautiously ask, "How did you... acquire those abilities to control wind and fire?"
Is it really sorcery?
Upon hearing this question, Miao Jinfeng and the other women immediately began to chatter.
"Don't believe those Weis's nonsense. We are neither monsters nor do we use demonic magic. Our magic is divine magic, which we obtained with the protection of the gods."
"Don't disbelieve me. We knew about the disaster long before the earthquake and stockpiled a lot of supplies, even though we were broke. But when the earthquake struck, not only did no one die, no, we should say that not a single person in the entire village has died since the earthquake."
"During the extremely hot season after the earthquake, we found a large cave in the mountains to live in. There were plenty of game in the mountains, and we also accumulated a lot of supplies, so we were almost never hungry."
The women talked at length about life in the mountains and mentioned their later trip to Yangshan County, but deliberately omitted other high-tech products besides the hovercraft that has already been shown.
Even so, the disaster victims continued to exclaim in amazement, and even Huo Tiankuo, who was originally talking with the deputy general, couldn't help but walk to the tent entrance and listen carefully.
Regardless of whether the claim of divine intervention is true or false, the ability to stockpile food and prepare in advance before a major earthquake is enough to make anyone envious.
Why weren't they so lucky!
·
That night, Lu Xuan didn't force himself to continue sleeping in the tent, but instead took out the RV and placed it in a corner of the temporary campsite.
The Huo family army and the disaster victims were startled when they saw the huge thing that appeared out of nowhere, but they didn't react excessively. They just secretly discussed it among themselves.
Lu Xuan ignored all of that and opened the system shop to buy today's blind box.
The diamond and black gold blind boxes from the past two days, aside from the points, all yielded duplicate items, such as a potion-making device and a small aircraft.
Lu Xuan didn't have high hopes for today's harvest, but after actually getting the goods, he found that he was lucky again today.
[Black Gold Blind Box Single Draw: House Energy Shield *1]
It can protect up to 1,000 square meters, and is a great item worth 5 million points in the store!
The audience was surprised that he would draw such a good item.
[House protective shield!!! This is amazing!]
[As long as there's enough energy, it can even withstand attacks from the spaceship's energy cannons!]
This one item completely made up for the losses of the past few days!
[Today's host is another incredibly lucky one!]
[I've already gotten some great stuff in just a few days. Is it really true that single pulls bring miracles?]
Lu Xuan didn't know if the drop rate of single draws was really higher, but he had to admit that getting something unexpectedly good made him feel good.
He plans to use the house protection shield on his own villa as soon as he gets back.
The audience congratulated and cheered for a while, then finally remembered something more important.
[Is the streamer's spending achievement high enough? Check out the achievement rewards!]
[After waiting for almost half a month, it's finally here!]
The exciting moment is about to begin! This time, the reward is guaranteed to be a big surprise!
[And we can also benefit from this, hehehe.]
Lu Xuan casually put the protective shield into his spatial storage, glanced at the comments, raised an eyebrow, and then focused his gaze on the flashing system messages.
-----------------------
Author's note: Special thanks to "Yan" for today.
She diligently donates nutrients every day without fail, and even subscribed to all the chapters with reverse verification to show her support. She's so thoughtful! [kissing face emoji]
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