The man looked at Dahei and the others timidly, then slowly set his gaze on Qin Suyun and said in a very weak voice, "Ask anything you want to ask..."
"It's the same questions as before. Where are you from? Why don't you find food in the mountains by yourself, but come to me to steal things?" Qin Suyun stared at the other people, waiting for their answers.
"More than a dozen of us brothers came from different places. The thin guy who came the farthest was from Li'an City. We were all washed here by the flood while holding things like driftwood... Among us, only the thin guy took a rubber boat." The man gave the thin guy a very weak look. The man called the thin guy was currently being stepped on by Xiao Yiyi's claws. He was like a giant turtle and couldn't get up at all.
"As for why you rob things?"
The man also laughed bitterly. "This problem is very simple. It's just that we can't find anything to eat and we are really hungry..."
"We were already on the verge of collapse during the winter cold snap. Then, plant and animal mutations occurred, partially solving our food problem. But with the arrival of the flood... all the food and supplies we had gathered were washed away... Not to mention our homes, which were submerged long ago."
"If we weren't lucky and hadn't escaped quickly, we probably wouldn't have made it this far... It's true that there are wild vegetables in the mountains. Because of mutations, many of them are enough to feed a dozen of us for a whole day just by digging up a few... But we don't even know what wild vegetables are..."
The vast majority of these 16 people were originally from Yunhai City, Li'an City, and other neighboring counties and cities. Unlike the locals of Wanxi Village, they hadn't known about the flood in advance and had already hauled all their food and provisions up the mountain. They were also not like the older farmers who frequently worked with crops and knew every wild vegetable in the mountains.
They didn't know many species to begin with, and now so much time has passed that even if there was any food in the whole mountain, many of them had already been dug out.
The wild vegetables tasted bad and were hard to find. In addition, there were continuous heavy rains and low temperatures. They were cold and hungry every day, so they naturally thought of this road.
The mutated corn and sweet potatoes tasted a bit bad, but they were still much better than wild vegetables. If they were lucky, they could also grab some smoked bacon and rice and flour that had not been mutated before the animals and plants mutated.
"How long have you been doing this business in the mountains? You must have robbed a lot of people before, otherwise how would you dare to target us right away?" Lu Liqing frowned and stared at the person who spoke. Her scrutinizing gaze seemed to carry a scorching temperature, which made the person subconsciously shrink back.
He paused and said dryly, "I, I, we were forced into a corner, so we resorted to such a desperate measure. We didn't come here intentionally to steal your things. Besides, we've only been doing this for the past two weeks... No, we haven't robbed many people..."
"We are all unfortunate people. We are forced by God to take this path... Please let us go." Another young man in his 30s also echoed the words. He was soaked from head to toe by the rain, and the blood from the wound on his waist kept flowing down with the heavy rain. Excessive blood loss made his hands and feet cold. He looked at Qin Suyun and Lu Liqing expectantly, waiting for their answers.
"Is there anyone among you who came from the temporary base?" Qin Suyun frowned slightly, did not answer directly, and asked another question instead.
Now the flood has risen so high that even the mountain she is standing on is mostly submerged. The temporary base was originally just an ordinary village, but now...
Qin Suyun took a deep breath. She always felt that the outcome of this temporary base might not be very good.
During the initial period of the earthquake, Commander Meng's military communications equipment was still functional. However, after the heavy snow, the wireless communications equipment in Meng Changlong's group was no longer usable. Under these circumstances, even airplanes couldn't take off, making rescue efforts elsewhere nearly impossible. Besides the few remaining local troops, everyone had no one to rely on but themselves.
When asked about the temporary base, more than a dozen people paused in unison, and everyone turned their eyes to their leader.
Following everyone's gaze towards the leading man, Qin Suyun narrowed her eyes and asked, "Are you coming from the temporary base?"
The man gritted his teeth, glanced around, and his gaze returned to Qin Suyun. He hesitated but finally nodded. Yes, he did come from the temporary base.
"Before, I've always lived in Wanxi Village and never left... So tell me, what was going on at the temporary base when you arrived? I'm quite curious about what's going on there."
Things had come to this point, and the leader thought about it and felt that there was nothing to hide, so he told everyone what he knew.
The other party brought his family of three and was the first group of people to arrive at the temporary base. He was originally from Shoushan City, so the distance from the original temporary base was much closer than that from Wanxi Village.
However, as ordinary people with little food and no land, the family was unable to fill their stomachs after entering the temporary base. Even as more and more people came to the temporary base and various natural disasters struck, the food they could get every day became even less, forcing people living in the temporary base to work every day.
But even with work, most people in the temporary base still couldn't fill their stomachs.
Even in the later stages of the snowstorm, due to the shortage of food in the temporary base, the base not only stopped providing any food to others, but many people even almost lost all their work.
Some people were able to survive on the food they brought with them, while others could only watch their loved ones freeze to death or starve to death.
"Speaking of which, if there hadn't been so many armed men in the makeshift base during the snowstorm, chaos would have erupted long ago..." the leading man sneered softly, his face resigned to his fate, his eyes filled with desolation and sarcasm. "However, even with those armed men guarding the base, the base couldn't hold out for long...because there wasn't enough food; the food grown there couldn't keep up with consumption. As the snowstorm was about to end, they came up with a rotten idea and drove some of the soldiers out, sending them back to their original bases and units to avoid using up the makeshift base's food reserves... Hehehe. Previously, there were over 2.3 million survivors and over 300,000 troops stationed in the makeshift base. After the cold wave passed, there were only over 1.6 million survivors and 120,000 troops left."
"The rest of them died or left..."
"When the rainstorm hit, the dam closest to the temporary base burst, and the entire base was quickly submerged by the flood... My wife and son were gone... I only managed to get here by relying on driftwood..."
During this period, he did go ashore twice, but he could not hold out for long in both places as they were completely submerged. He then drifted here along the flood.
Along the way, he had seen mutant fish that ate people in the floodwaters, and countless rotting corpses floating in the water, emitting a foul odor. These corpses included humans, pigs, dogs, cows, and sheep, and of course, mutant fish with their stomachs turned upside down...
"I have told you all the things you asked... Now tell me, what are you going to do with us?" The leading man covered his injured arm and looked at Qin Suyun with burning eyes, waiting for her answer.
The remaining 15 people also looked at her with slightly nervous and somewhat uneasy eyes.
Lu Liqing felt a little sad at what these people said just now, but after listening to it, Lu Liqing did not show it at all. Instead, she also kept her gaze on Qin Suyun, waiting for Qin Suyun's answer.
Qin Suyun frowned and glanced at everyone. The heavy rain had made her body soaking wet, which was really uncomfortable. However, the cold temperature of the rain hitting her face made her mind unusually clear...
She looked at Dahei and the others, then looked at Zhazha and the butterflies resting on the tree, and she had already made a decision in her heart.
Suddenly, something tugged at the hem of her clothes at the waist, interrupting Qin Suyun's thoughts. She lowered her head slightly and saw Hei Dou holding two umbrellas in his mouth and hooking her clothes with his thick black claws. His usually fluffy fur was all wet at this time. Fortunately, Hei Dou himself was not a fat long-haired cat. Even with his fur wet by the heavy rain, he still looked extremely majestic.
Qin Suyun felt warm in her heart and reached out to touch Heidou's head. Heidou had helped a lot during the battle just now, but it was small in size and far less powerful than Dahei and the others, so every time, it cooperated with Dahei and the others to attack from behind.
"Aunt Lu, this umbrella is for you..." Qin Suyun took the umbrella handed to her by Hei Dou, turned around and handed the umbrella in her hand to Lu Liqing behind her.
However, at this moment...
The leader, who was originally covering his wound with a resigned look on his face, waiting for Qin Suyun's decision, suddenly grabbed the pistol that had fallen to the ground, pointed it at the back of Qin Suyun's head, and was about to shoot!
"Suyun! Be careful!" Seeing that a tragedy was about to happen, Lu Liqing widened her eyes in horror and screamed!
However, in a flash of lightning——
The chirping and butterfly that were originally standing on the treetops suddenly swooped down from the tree, and their sharp claws and birds pecked directly on the leader's wrist and head! The gun in his hand was directly grabbed by the butterfly on Qin Suyun's shoulder!
“Ah ...
He couldn't lift his right hand because he was shot, and his left hand was torn through by sharp claws. There were several bloody scratches on his head so deep that the bones could be seen. The leading man screamed in pain!
Qin Suyun didn't even turn her head to face the sudden tragedy behind her. She opened the umbrella that Hei Dou gave her, then slowly turned around and looked at the other robbers who were now stunned and trembling all over.
Because of this man's sudden action, Dahei and Xiaoyi, who had originally calmed down, all roared again, as if they would tear anyone into pieces if they dared to move!
Qin Suyun looked down at the leader, whose face had turned pale and who was screaming in agony, and sighed deeply. "I told you that as long as you answer my questions honestly and stop targeting the villagers in the mountains and stealing their food and supplies, I'll let you go... But it's clear that you haven't truly recognized your mistakes, and you haven't even shown any remorse..."
"No! It was obviously you, it was obviously you who did it on purpose, it was obviously you who did it on purpose just now! You turned around and pretended to be vulnerable to trick me!" The leading man roared in pain. He was sure his left hand was also broken. These two damn parrots!
If the woman in front of him hadn't deliberately turned around and faced away from him, how could he have chosen to shoot? ! !
"You want to accuse me of stinging you?" Qin Suyun nodded. "I don't deny that... but this is also the reason why I've made up my mind about how to deal with you... Your choice will determine how I handle it... Besides, you talked so much before, about the death of your family and the tragedy of your fate... but that doesn't mean you can become robbers and rob others of their life-saving food."
"What you said can only serve as a basis for me to understand you, but it cannot be used as a reference for me to handle things."
"I originally thought that we were all part of the same group of people stranded in this world, and that all of this was caused by the recent global natural disasters... You're all injured and maimed. As long as you stop robbing other villagers in the mountains, I'll let you go. After all, you've received the punishment you deserved." Qin Suyun looked at the several broken limbs on the ground and said slowly, "But now... I'm going to use a different method to deal with you..."
"Leave here, and I won't kill you... I'll take you down the mountain later. Just follow the flood and find another place to live... The mountain in our village can no longer accommodate you."
"Since you were able to reach this mountain alive by holding onto driftwood and other things, I believe you should be able to find another place to live alive."
“It’s good to go back and forth from where you came from.”
Qin Suyun's words were not harsh, but the dozen or so people stared at her with their eyes wide open, their faces filled with disbelief. They had never expected that this woman before them would actually drive them into the flood again!
This is not about not killing them! It's clearly about taking their lives!
This time, more than a dozen people really panicked!
"No, no, no, miss, please be kind and don't drive us into the flood again!"
"Yes! We will die. We will definitely die in the water!"
"The flood is so severe, and the current is so strong, the surrounding lower mountains have already been submerged! We're all seriously injured. Not to mention whether we can find a safe place to hide, with our current physical condition, how can we even hold on to the driftwood and avoid being thrown into the flood? You can't do this! If you drive us down the mountain now, what's the difference between that and taking our lives?!"
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