As if she could read her brother and sister-in-law's thoughts, Li Wanwan gently squeezed Li Zhaozhao and Xu Yajing's hands and said, "Natural disasters are merciless; everything is fate!"
Li Zhaozhao suddenly realized what was happening. Yes, Lao Shen and the others hadn't forced him to come along. Lao Shen had even suggested they wait in the Kunmeng Mountains. It was him; it was him who thought that being with his brothers would help them better weather the disaster; it was him who believed that even if the ocean raged, it wouldn't reach the central region.
He proved to be wrong, and paid a heavy price for it.
Li Zhaozhao felt ashamed, but forced a smile and said, "I understand, thank you, Wanwan."
Xu Yajing knew he was upset, so she held his hands tightly and comforted him, "Maybe the child wasn't meant to be with us, so don't blame yourself."
Li Zhaozhao nodded: "Right now, I just want to find my parents and go back to Haishi."
Xu Yajing was taken aback. "Aren't we going to the Kunmeng Mountains? Haishi should be a ruin by now, right?"
Li Zhaozhao smiled slightly, a certain light seemingly flashing in his eyes, "But that's home, we always have to go home."
He hadn't told Xu Yajing about the supplies, so Xu Yajing naturally couldn't understand the significance of returning to Haishi.
Li Zhaozhao clearly remembered that Shen Yanming had told him that the place he had found was not afraid of scorching sun, wind and rain, or even floods.
So, once they return to Haishi, they won't have to worry about food. Life should be better than if they went to the Kunmeng Mountains.
Seeing that her husband was no longer dejected, Xu Yajing nodded: "Okay, I'll listen to you."
Li Wanwan breathed a sigh of relief and whispered to her brother and sister-in-law, "Don't worry, Brother Yanming is a very wise man. We can't go wrong following him."
Shen Yanming was unaware of the conversation taking place here. If he had, he would have been mortified. He wasn't particularly wise; he simply possessed a spatial ability, which he had to use discreetly.
Just now, sensing that Nuannuan was getting restless, Shen Yanming secretly took a chocolate candy from his spatial storage and popped it into Nuannuan's mouth. Nuannuan immediately covered her mouth with her little hand, her eyes crinkling into crescent moons with laughter.
When Zhang Heping saw this, he joked, "Oh my, what good thing has happened to my little niece that makes her laugh like that?"
Shen Yanming rubbed Nuannuan's little head and hugged her tightly, making sure Zhang Heping couldn't see: "Tell her she can go see her mother in a couple of days, and she's so happy."
Zhang Heping's eyes lit up: "Have you heard news about Qiao An?"
"Got it, the smart bracelet is activated. It's a bit far from here, but it's good to know she's safe and sound."
"That's true. No matter how far away it is, we'll go find him. By the way, since Qiao An is alright, Lao Ji should be alright too, right?"
Shen Yanming's smile vanished, and he shook his head, saying, "No news yet."
Zhang Heping didn't believe it, fiddling with his smart bracelet: "How could this be? He's so strong, how could something happen to him?"
"Maybe I just didn't remember to turn it on." Even he himself didn't believe this reason.
Seeing that everyone had rested enough, Tang Shunlin said, "Let's go to the beach and take a look, and retrieve those... um, bodies."
“Okay, I’ll go with you.” Many people who had been to the beach that morning stood up.
“I have quite a few branches here, you can use them.” Ji Shaoming took out some thin branches from the corner. “This afternoon, our team will go find food.”
"Sure, thank you. I'll come find you when I'm done here," Tang Shunlin said with a smile.
"good!"
Shang Haoqiang thought about it and decided to go to the beach with Tang Shunlin. Shen Yanming did the same.
Seeing this, Zhang Heping asked Nuannuan, "Do you want to come with your uncle and let your dad do his own thing?"
Nuannuan shook her little head and clung to Shen Yanming's neck, saying, "I want to be with Daddy."
Shen Yanming chuckled and patted Nuannuan's back, saying, "The beach might be scary. Are you sure you want to go, Nuannuan?"
“Go, Daddy’s here, don’t be afraid!” Nuan Nuan said in her sweet little voice.
Shen Yanming nodded: "Alright, Dad will take you. If you're scared, just close your eyes."
"Okay!" Nuan Nuan agreed, but after arriving at the beach, she kept her eyes wide open.
Shen Yanming asked, "Is Nuannuan not afraid?"
Nuannuan shook her head blankly. Tang Shunlin saw this and said, "Maybe the child doesn't understand the meaning of death at all. In her eyes, these people are no different from those on the shore."
Shen Yanming nodded, but still pulled Nuannuan into his arms to block her view, "Baby, don't look, you'll have nightmares."
Nuannuan obediently closed her eyes. Shen Yanming gave Tang Shunlin a wink, and Tang Shunlin stood on the shore, using a long tree branch to pull the floating corpses towards the bank.
But as soon as the branch poked the corpse, a group of fish scattered with a whoosh. Tang Shunlin was startled, and when he saw what the fish looked like, his face turned pale.
"What kind of freak is this? How can he even eat this kind of fish?" Tang Shunlin cursed, feeling that Huang Mao was somewhat deranged.
Shen Yanming's expression was also grim. He said to Tang Shunlin, "We'll leave tonight after Ji Shaoming returns. We probably can't stay here any longer."
Tang Shunlin had no objection, but Shang Haoqiang asked, "What about your friend? She can't move yet."
Shen Yanming went back to Zhang Heping and said in a low voice, "You and Wanwan make a stretcher. Use branches from the forest. It doesn't matter if it's simple, as long as it can get us through tonight."
Zhang Heping didn't ask why, and ran off in a flash. He whispered a few words to Li Wanwan and then went into the woods.
Shen Yanming returned to the beach and saw that they had already retrieved all the floating corpses. However, they were piled up on the shore, and he didn't know what to do with them.
One of the young men had tears streaming down his face. When Shen Yanming asked him what was wrong, he learned that one of his relatives was among them.
"Please accept my condolences!" That was all Shen Yanming could say.
The young man nodded. "I know. At least I found him. Many people can't even find their bodies."
The young man looked at Tang Shunlin and asked, "Captain Tang, I want to bury my dad."
Tang Shunlin frowned. "It's best to burn it. I'm afraid it will spread disease."
The young man laughed desolately: "We all came from the sea, if we were going to get dyed, we would have done it long ago. Do you think my dad alone can change the world order?"
Tang Shunlin didn't know how to answer. Logically, it should be burned, but there were emotional reasons, and he couldn't force the issue.
He looked at Shen Yanming, who shook his head, feeling that there was no way to persuade him about this.
Tang Shunlin sighed: "Fine, do whatever you want." It's your own life, and there's nothing he can do if you want to do it.
The young man smiled gratefully and said, "Thank you!" before leaving with his father's body in his arms.
After the people left, Tang Shunlin bowed to the swollen corpses and said, "I'm sorry, I need to cremate you. May you be reborn in a peaceful world in your next life, free from illness and disaster, and die of old age naturally."
Upon hearing this, Shen Yanming almost applauded him. In this apocalyptic world, "dying of old age" was definitely a blessing, a hope that many people longed for but could not attain.
Shen Yanming, holding Nuannuan, bowed to the victims. Then he saw Tang Shunlin place all the long branches on the bodies, and gather a lot of dry grass to set it on fire with a lighter...
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