"Go back and rest. We appreciate your kindness. It will be dawn in two hours, and the rain is still pouring down. I'm afraid you'll have to start your journey again after you've had a good night's sleep," Zhu Changge said gently, offering a few words of comfort.
The woman didn't leave immediately. She stood there hesitantly, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't. Finally, she asked hesitantly, "Um, where is our master? Where did you put this young master? Tell me, I want to go out and find a place to bury him now."
Zhu Yueran, who had been pretending to sleep with her eyes closed, opened them and replied calmly, "I've already had someone bury them. I instructed the people who buried them to put up a sign so you can bring the remains back when you come back."
A sign was put up. What does it say?
The woman thought about it and asked. Zhu Yueran said, "The man who was hit by a stone near Stone Village." Since she didn't know the man's name and was too lazy to ask, she just marked it like that for now.
The woman: "?" Her chest felt tight, but this person had saved them and was kind enough to help bury them. He was just a bit eccentric, but his heart was good.
That's fine, let's leave it at that for now.
"Give me the child, and you two can rest." The woman took the child from Zhu Changge's arms, returned to the new mother's side, and lay down, placing the child on her chest.
Xingxing leaned against Zhulin and closed her eyes, trying to sleep. She had to sleep, even if she couldn't. The image in her mind reminded her that the water down the mountain should rise by dawn. If the torrential rain continued, the situation would be even more uncontrollable. It was too dark, and the road was slippery and muddy, so she couldn't travel.
It would be best for everyone to flee overnight and get some rest, as tomorrow will be very dangerous. We'll find out how dangerous it will be when it gets light. But the people are already exhausted. Even if the floodwaters rise immediately, they probably won't be able to run anymore. They can only rest for one more night before continuing their journey.
Zhu Lin slept for an hour and a half before opening his eyes and telling his senior brothers and sisters to wake everyone up immediately. They needed to pack their things and escape, otherwise everyone would drown in Stone Village.
"Let us sleep for another half an hour. We're too tired to travel. Don't rush us. It's still raining outside, how can we travel?" Many people were still dreaming, their eyes too heavy to open.
I was exhausted from being caught in the rain yesterday. Luckily, Zhu Lin brought out some herbs from his space and had them brewed into a medicinal soup for everyone. That's how we managed to keep everyone from catching a cold or fever in the middle of the night. Although I still feel tired, I can still run around. At least I can make it through another day.
"Get up, all of you! Stop sleeping! If you keep sleeping, you'll be reporting to the King of Hell! Open your eyes and look! The water has already reached the hillside. If this rain doesn't stop, Stone Village will soon be submerged too. You can just wait to die here!" Wu Chong, furious, ordered someone to strike a gong and roared at the top of his lungs.
Upon hearing the sound of the gong, the villagers gradually came to their senses. After reflecting on what the prefect had just said, the quick-thinking ones immediately stood up and rushed to the door to investigate.
Seeing the person who went to check return with a pale face and unsteady steps, the others asked one after another, "How is it? What's the situation outside?"
The person who had just returned, pale-faced and trembling, said, "The floodwaters have reached the village entrance! Quick, pack your things and escape! If you don't leave now, the water will rise up!"
No one dared to dawdle any longer. They only had one life, and once it was gone, it was truly gone. They had to run away as fast as they could.
Suddenly someone remembered the horse-drawn carts, oxcarts, mule carts, and donkey carts down the mountain, "There are still things up there that haven't been moved up yet, and they've all been washed away by the water?"
"Why don't you swim down and retrieve the stuff?" someone retorted irritably.
The stars had already foreseen the flood this morning, so yesterday someone sent all kinds of transport vehicles from the foot of the mountain to Qingyang Prefecture overnight. According to the timeline, they should arrive in Qingyang Prefecture in another day. Once everyone arrives safely in Qingyang Prefecture, they can go to the government office to claim their vehicles and belongings.
However, this was not told to the common people; only the government officials knew about it.
Qingyan was about to walk out of the cave with Xingxing on her back when Zhu Lin stopped her, saying, "Put the princess down and let Qingluo carry her. I don't trust you to carry her."
In fact, Qingyan's skills are no worse than Qingluo's, but she is usually more talkative and a bit long-winded, which gives people the feeling that she is not very reliable.
Qingyan: "?" Speechless, a little angry, but she didn't dare to argue with him. She had already witnessed how powerful Young Master Zhu was and couldn't help but admire him.
Several people from Xianwu Island assisted the officers and soldiers in maintaining order in the ranks, ensuring that all the civilians had caught up.
Thirty-odd guards surrounded Xingxing, leading the way at the forefront. The other guards were responsible for taking care of the elderly, women, and children, such as Bai Yue'e, who had just given birth the day before.
The child was held in Zhu Changge's arms with a baby carrier, while Bai Yue'e was carried on the back of a burly bodyguard. Because they had been prepared in advance and everything was arranged, although there was still some chaos, the team remained in order and under control.
The four senior brothers, Zhu Qiuyu, Zhu Yueran, Zhu Xichen, and Zhu Chumo, brought up the rear at the back of the group. When they saw someone about to give up and wanting to stop and catch their breath, they used telepathy to hear them.
"Looking back, the floodwaters are already right under our noses."
The man, whose legs were trembling and about to collapse, looked back and indeed saw that a thousand meters away, the floodwaters were like a giant beast, surging and roaring, as if they would swallow the mountains and rivers whole at any moment.
Even if you can't run anymore, you have to keep running. If someone is about to give up and collapses to the ground, Zhu Chumo will immediately go up and pry open their jaw, feed them a pill, and they will quickly recover 60% of their strength before continuing on their way.
"Don't covet the pills. These pills are extremely rare, requiring rare medicinal materials to prepare, and there aren't many available. If you run out and delay, you might be swept away by the flood in the next moment. No one will save you then. You've brought this upon yourself."
Seeing that some people were trying to take advantage of the pills, Zhu Chumo sneered and warned them.
The day was so thrilling that words cannot even begin to describe everyone's experience. It was an absolute test of willpower. The floodwaters were chasing after them from a kilometer away, and the people were running for their lives. Every now and then, you could hear the clanging of gongs urging them to hurry up.
That wasn't all; another terrifying thing happened right beside them—a snake tide that accompanied the people as they fled for their lives.
If the crowds of people and snakes are mixed together, it's hard to say whether people will step on snakes or snakes will bite people. They probably won't even need to escape; it would be easiest to just die together.
Of course, this chaos did not occur. The snake tide fled forward on the right side near the hillside, while the people fled forward on the left side of the hillside. In the middle, Young Master Zhu carried a few snake-repelling pills with him, and in this way, he managed to separate the two groups.
The common people and the horde of snakes fled for a day, remaining clearly separated, with neither side crossing the line.
As darkness fell, the people were really at their breaking point. If it were a sunny day, they could grit their teeth and hold on a little longer, but now, with the torrential rain pouring down, they simply couldn't take it anymore.
What can we do then?
There were no more houses like those in Stone Village for people to take shelter from the rain. Even if there were, with the floodwaters chasing after them, who would dare to stop?
To allow the people to continue their journey, Young Master Zhu had no choice but to take out over 100,000 spiritual pills from his spatial storage and distribute them to everyone. These pills could quickly restore physical strength.
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