The scene before them shocked Lin Rui and his group. One after another, emaciated corpses that looked like no human beings lay on the ground and rotted silently. When they died, their skeletons were only covered with a thin layer of flesh.
In the past, Lin Rui thought that skin and bones was a modern adjective, but here it is a real thing that happens to people.
There were clusters of black shadows flying around on each corpse. Everyone knew that these were green-headed flies that fed on carrion. The "buzzing" sound of their wings seemed to be circling around their ears.
Scavengers such as vultures and crows also come to get a piece of the pie. They have no interest in the sun-dried skin. They peck through the chest and abdomen of the corpses with their sharp beaks, cut them open, and take out the rotten intestines and organs to share.
The rotten and smelly carrion is undoubtedly a delicious dish for these scavengers. The crows, vultures and green-headed flies here have grown shiny fur and fat bodies by eating these corpses.
Corpses were lying all over the mountainside and at the foot of the mountain. The density of corpses made the mountain that Lin Rui and his team had climbed with great effort seem like a mass grave and a mass grave. Everything was extremely desolate. If the sun had not been shining brightly, they might have really entered the underworld.
Lin Changjun touched the goose bumps on his body that had formed in the hot weather, and his voice was shaking as he spoke: "What is this? Is he really dead?"
Lin Changtai's voice was not much better than his: "How could so many people die? How could so many people die near the mountain!"
This statement was really not convincing. It rained heavily on the south side of the Lianshan Mountains, and animals of all sizes frequently appeared on the mountain. They ate a lot of wild boar, python meat, pheasant and rabbit in the south of the mountain, but when they reached the north side of the mountain, the sun was shining brightly and it was as hot as a furnace. The intense sunlight was baking the moisture off people's bodies every minute and every second.
In this weather, not to mention animals, even insects in the mountains cannot be seen. The whole mountain seems to have become a barren and dead mountain.
How could the disaster victims north of Lianshan find food on the barren mountains? Even the Lin family had to rely on the food they brought from Linjia Village to eat one meal and go hungry for several meals.
When Lin Rui saw the tragic scene in front of him, he somehow thought of the stranded fish in the dried-up pond. Each of them had its belly turned upside down and was dried, hardened and smelly due to the sun. What is the difference between humans and animals under natural disasters?
The natural disasters and man-made disasters in troubled times have almost filled up the buffs of an entire dynasty.
The two brothers Lin Ziming and Lin Ziren ran over and said, "Chief, come and see!"
Lin Rui came back to his senses, and he and San Liang were led by Lin Ziming and Lin Ziren to a cliff. Parallel to the cliff was the cliff of another mountain. A small path separated the cliffs. Standing on it, they could clearly see the refugees passing by like a tide below.
When there are too many people, things will change. Lin Rui, the disaster victim below, could not see their current situation. The distance was too far. Looking down from above, he could only see crowds of people.
You can also see people driving donkey carts, horse carts and ox carts. These people are just like Lin Rui, with dozens of people in groups, forming a large team. The carts are loaded with luggage, food and the like, and a group of people guard the carts tightly.
Among the disaster victims walking at the foot of the mountain, some fell down and got up again, while others fell down and never got up again. Such scenes on the road of fleeing famine have made the people around them numb. They are like zombies, walking mechanically. They don’t know where the way out is, nor do they know how long they can hold on. Perhaps death is the final result.
"Master, look at them, they...!" He pointed at the victims who, after seeing someone fall down, deliberately fell behind the crowd and dragged the bodies away.
Dragging the corpses away here, it is impossible to treat them, the only explanation is that they are used... to eat!
"This..." Lin Ziming took a deep breath, his face still twitching, unable to accept this fact.
Lin Ziren's reaction was a bit more dramatic: "Are they going to eat people?"
After saying that, he couldn't stand it anymore and turned around and squatted on the ground, retching: "Ugh... Ugh..."
Lin Rui patted his shoulder and said, "Try to get used to it. We will inevitably have to travel with them from now on. You should be thankful that they now eat the dead instead of preying on the living. If they do, the dangers we face will not only be natural disasters and hunger, but also man-made disasters."
Feeling that this side of the mountain was so dangerous, Lin Changxi led everyone back to the gentle slope of the uphill section to set up camp. Seeing Lin Ruisanliang and Lin Ziming and others returning, Lin Changtai, Lin Changfa and others immediately stood up and asked, "Chief, Ziming, what's going on?"
Lin Rui shook his head, and everyone felt a pang of fear when they saw him like this.
"The situation is worse than anyone imagined. There's no end in sight for the fleeing famine, and this is despite the fact that they're dying along the way." Lin Rui had just finished speaking when Lin Ziming, still terrified, continued, "Those who have fallen may not be dead yet, but have been dragged away by others, dismembered, and roasted and eaten."
"What!"
“Eat people?!”
"Oh my God, this is horrible!"
Feng Zhenniang, Zhang Dacui, Lin Susu and others all turned pale with fear, as if they had not expected the situation outside to be so serious.
Lin Zicheng was also scared by the news and broke out in a cold sweat. He had previously complained that his mother cooked the rice too watery, making him so hungry that his legs were weak and he couldn't walk. But now the situation of the disaster victims outside had no rice to eat and it had even reached the horrifying level of cannibalism.
Lin Susu was holding Niu Niu in her arms and was extremely scared. Many of the corpses she had just seen were dead children. They were almost the same age as Niu Niu, but they starved to death. Some of the dead babies had swollen stomachs. She had heard that when people fled famine, they had to eat tree bark, groundnuts and Guanyin soil.
Among them, Guanyin soil causes bloating in the stomach, and people cannot defecate after eating it, and eventually they suffocate to death.
Lin Pingmao leaned on a cane and burst into tears: "Our great grandfather came here to escape famine, but we didn't expect to live in peace for a few years before we, their descendants, followed in their footsteps. If our ancestors are still alive, please bless us!"
Lin Zaozao was holding her daughter in her arms but she was not as nervous as her sister. With Rui Ge'er around, she always had a backbone, which was something that neither her father nor her mother could give her. It turned out that what her mother often said to the two sisters when their brother was still young was true. When the boy grew up, he could set up his own family and support the two sisters. As long as the brother was there, they would always have their mother's home!
After a moment of panic, Lin Zicheng, Lin Ziming and other young people quickly calmed down their fear and looked at Lin Rui who stood there silently: "Chief, what do you think we should do next?"
What can be done? The route these disaster victims took to escape the famine was the same as theirs, heading towards Huangmo Pass. There is always a shortage of smart people in the world.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
