Chapter 114
The earth trembled and the tunnels hummed.
Chi Yunying screamed and quickened her pace. The bulging cloth bag on her back bounced up and down as she ran.
Mao Qingquan supported the old man and urged him urgently, "Dad, let's walk faster."
Mao Xingxiu, holding Xiao Hei's hand, followed the three of them. Hearing the noise, he craned his neck and looked around. "What's that sound? Why do I feel like someone is talking around me?"
"It's not talking, it's the volcano." Song Yue, walking at the end, explained to him, "The volcano is active again."
Volcanic eruptions are a process. They may smoke today, stop tomorrow, and start smoking again the day after tomorrow. In short, there is an accumulation period that no one can predict. Once this accumulation node is broken through, magma will erupt from the crater and kill all living things.
It now appears that the volcano's energy is still accumulating and they still have a great chance of escape.
As for Mao Xingxiu's house, Song Yue thought as he ran that no matter whether the villagers burned it or not, the final outcome would be annihilation in the flames, so it would be better to leave as soon as possible and make plans early.
The exit of the passage was located at the edge of an inconspicuous forest by the sea. Pushing aside the wooden planks above, the Mao family and Song Yue filed out.
It was not until they came out that they realized what had happened in the village along the way.
Behind him, the village was ablaze with flames, and the fire was tirelessly devouring all the surrounding houses.
Even though they were nearly a thousand meters away, they could still feel the heat wave hitting them.
Mao Xingxiu's pupils trembled. He couldn't believe that the group of villagers really set fire to their house. He opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but when he turned around, he saw tears in his parents and grandfather's eyes, and immediately suppressed the sadness in his stomach.
Song Yue noticed his expression, patted him on the back, and said calmly, "Let's go."
This village is destined to be destroyed. Even if it is not burned by the fire, it will be submerged in lava sooner or later.
At this time, many villagers had gathered on the shore. They had all escaped from the village.
Some escaped early, and their entire family was unharmed, and they even had time to bring out their valuables; some discovered it late, and when they ran out of the house, the surroundings were already engulfed in flames. In order to break out, they rushed into the fire with quilts on their heads. When they came out, their hair and eyebrows were curled by the high temperature, and they gave off a burnt smell.
No matter which one, the villagers' faces were filled with fear and panic.
"Who set the fire? They have no conscience!"
"Our Shihui Village has truly committed a sin. The houses that our ancestors built are gone just like that!"
"I just prepared my daughter's dowry last month, and now it's gone without a trace. This old woman's heart hurts more than a needle prick!"
"Damn it! If I catch the arsonist, I'll kill him!"
The villagers either beat their chests and stamped their feet, or cried bitterly, but without exception, everyone's eyes were filled with sadness and grief.
They couldn't go back. The village would definitely be burned down, and nothing would be left for them. The family property left by their ancestors was burned to ashes before their eyes.
As many people were heartbroken over losing their homes, as many could not suppress their anger and began looking for the villagers who had caused trouble before to seek explanations.
Several dark-skinned strong men did just that. They pushed through the crying crowd and surrounded several villagers.
"Quanzi, what are you doing?!" The people who were surrounded showed fear on their faces and subconsciously shrank inside.
The burly man grabbed the collar of the man in front of him and gritted his teeth, "You idiots! Who told you to set fire? Don't you know that our village is made of wood? Setting fire is like burning down the whole village. Are you crazy?"
"Tell me, who started the fire? Was it you?"
Faced with the threats from several strong men, the villagers were so frightened that their teeth chattered and their whole bodies trembled: "No...it's not me...I didn't have anything in my hands...it really wasn't me..."
"Hehe, I hope it's not you!" The burly man named Quanzi narrowed his eyes, and the light that came through his eyes was suffocating.
He unclenched his fists, called his brothers behind him, and began to check one by one, determined to find the culprit!
There were many people making trouble at Uncle Mao's house, but a large part of them were just making noise in the outer circle, and there were only about a dozen families who were really standing in the core.
Now everyone is standing here, and no one can escape everyone else's eyes. After some threats and mutual accusations, they soon locked their target on one person - Aqi's mother.
Realizing that the villagers were moving away from her and making way for a few strong men, Aqi's mother gritted her teeth and stood there with her hands on her hips: "What are you doing! Are you trying to slander me with empty words?"
It’s true that she set the fire, but who saw it?
No one!
Since there is no evidence, she can only deny it to death and see what these people can do to her!
Thinking of this, Aqi's mother suddenly felt more confident. She held her chin high, with an attitude that said, "What can you do to me today?"
Quanzi snorted coldly, not at all intimidated by her stance. He walked closer, frowning fiercely, his entire body filled with a sense of oppression. "Who said I was slandering him with empty words? Isn't this evidence?"
After saying that, he grabbed the other person's hand and turned his palm towards the villagers on the shore.
"Fellow villagers, you all saw it! This is the evidence that she set fire to our home! Her palms are all covered in black charcoal ash!"
Pulling one hand is not enough, he said as he pulled out Aqi's mother's other hand.
"Look carefully, even this hand! It's all charcoal dust!"
A few actions and a few words instantly wiped out the smug look on Aqi's mother's face. Her face turned pale and her mouth trembled.
She tried desperately to pull her hand back, but she was no match for the strong man. After several struggles, she was unable to pull her hand out at all. Instead, her wrist was pinched by the other party and became red and swollen.
With a roll of her eyes, she started throwing a tantrum, claiming that not only had her children died, but she was now being wronged by the whole village, and she refused to live anymore!
"Oh, threatening me with death?" The sturdy man narrowed his eyes, not buying it at all. Instead, he pushed her into the sea, "Alright, then you die now in front of the whole village. That'll be enough to give everyone an explanation!"
"You...I..." Aqi's mother sat in the sea, trembling all over, and couldn't utter a word for a long time.
At this time, a child about seven or eight years old stood up, pointed at her, and said in a childish voice: "Mom, I saw Aunt Aqi. She was carrying a charcoal basin and went to Uncle Mao's house."
What? !
The villagers looked horrified, as if they had heard a terrible secret!
The child's mother hurriedly lowered her head, pulled her child aside, and demanded sharply, "What did you say?! When did you see it?"
The child told everything she knew. When she heard her mother ask her, she told her everything.
After hearing this, the villagers gasped.
It turns out it was really Aqi’s mother!
She actually secretly brought red-hot charcoal from home and set fire to Uncle Mao's house!
"God bless you, Aqi's mother! You're going to bury the whole village with your son!"
"You are so vicious. I didn't expect you to do such a thing!"
Sadness, anger, resentment...
The villagers' emotions exploded after losing their homes!
They rushed forward and pressed the culprit's head firmly into the water! Aqi's mother struggled desperately at first, but as a few bubbles emerged from the water, her body soon became motionless.
Aqi's mother died.
He was pushed into the water and drowned by angry villagers.
However, no one showed any sympathy on their face. On the contrary, they even felt that the woman deserved no death at all for paying with her life in this way!
Their village and their home were all destroyed because of this vicious woman's action!
Aqi's mother's body was soon washed away by the waves. Several villagers, filled with resentment, still stood in the shallow water.
Suddenly, they felt a warmth coming from their feet soaked in the water. They bent down suspiciously and waved their hands in the sea water. Their faces suddenly turned as pale as window paper with fear.
Oh no! The sea water is getting hot!
Can’t stay on Lime Island any longer!
In the village, village chief Song Kun woke up from the heat in a daze.
It’s not even midsummer, why is it suddenly so hot?
He kicked off the thin quilt, turned over, and wanted to continue sleeping, but the temperature around him was getting higher and higher, making him sweat even in a single layer of clothes.
What a horrible weather!
He cursed inwardly, pushed open the door, and wanted to see what was going on outside.
Who knew a heat wave would come!
His eyes widened and he almost fell to the ground.
There's a fire?!
How did it catch fire?!
He looked at the fire in the yard in horror, his heart pounding wildly.
It was over, the fire was about to reach his doorstep. Song Kun was so scared that his legs felt like cotton and he couldn't even lift them up. Finally, he hit his thighs hard with his fists several times. Feeling the pain, he panicked and climbed out of the bedroom window.
As he ran, he kept wondering, how could the village catch fire?
Because it was a wooden building, everyone was extremely careful with fire. The entire village hadn't had a fire in over 20 years. Why did it suddenly...
In a flash, an idea suddenly popped up!
It’s Song Yuanzhou!
Yes, it must be him!
Song Kun remembered that at noon the villagers told him that Mao Qingquan's family refused to hand over Song Yuanzhou, which caused some villagers to become emotional and surrounded his door to attack him.
He thought it was just like usual and he could just curse a few times and it would be over, but now he thinks that it is very likely that the fire was caused by Song Yuanzhou and the Mao family!
Damn little plague god! Song Kun cursed in his heart. As expected, with him around, he never had a peaceful day!
Cursing all the way, after more than twenty minutes, he finally stumbled to the shore.
Thick smoke billowed from the crater and the ground shook more and more violently.
The sky was originally bright and cloudless in the afternoon, but because of the thick smoke that kept coming out, the entire Lime Island was covered with dark clouds, the sunlight could not penetrate, and the shore looked gloomy and hot.
Some villagers who often go out to sea are accustomed to tying their boats to the shore. When they saw that the situation was not good, they quickly raised the anchor, took their families, and rowed away.
There are also some villagers, such as Brother Chen, whose family has no one going out to sea, and their wooden boats are basically kept in the backyard as decorations. However, because they had a premonition that the volcano was about to erupt, they towed their boats to the shore before sunset yesterday to use them as a backup.
Now that the island is unsafe, everyone has taken their families and boarded the boat to leave.
This was the scene that Village Chief Song Kun saw when he ran out.
Most of the villagers have already rowed away by boat. The remaining ones are either the elderly, the weak, women and children who have no boats, or residents who have boats but their boats have problems and cannot get into the water.
Song Kun originally had a boat, and the quality of it was better than that of ordinary villagers.
Unfortunately, the fire was so fierce that he had no time to drag the boat to the seaside. He could only run out empty-handed, staring at other people's boats in amazement.
No, he has to leave quickly on someone else's boat!
In a hurry, he suddenly saw a large wooden boat.
The people sitting on the wooden boat were none other than several cousins from the Song family and the pretty sister Xue. It was said that a man had died there last night.
He was delighted and ran over quickly.
"Cousin! Give me a ride!"
He is the village chief. Although he doesn't usually take charge of affairs, his status is still there.
He thought to himself that if he waved his hand, his brothers would definitely let him get on the boat. But the next moment, he saw several cousins grinning, then paddling hard with the oars in their hands, and the boat swayed and floated on the surface of the sea!
"grass!"
Seeing the boat leaving the shore, Song Kun stomped his feet in anger!
What should he do? The ground was shaking more and more violently, and the volcano behind him seemed to be erupting. He couldn't die on the island like this!
Song Kun was anxious and scared, his back was completely wet.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of oars hitting the water from behind. He turned around quickly, and light instantly appeared in his eyes!
"Song Yuanzhou! Yuanzhou! Wait for me! I'm your cousin!"
Although he didn't want to admit it, he had no other choice at the moment. Song Kun tried hard to put on a kind smile on his face, and his legs kept up with the motor, running towards the boat where Song Yue was!
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