Chapter 79 Village
The rabbit has been skinned and gutted and just needs to be skewered and roasted.
Zhao Yeqing was roasting the rabbit somewhat absent-mindedly.
Mu Xi didn't care about the bruise. He took the medicine, applied it casually and stopped.
After eating and drinking, Mu Xi said what he saw when cleaning the rabbits, "The springs on this mountain are almost dry. If it's like this on the mountain, the river below the mountain may not be optimistic either."
There is a small river in the village at the foot of the mountain on the west side. The river is no more than six meters wide. The water source comes from between these mountains. The springs in the mountains have dried up, and the situation at the foot of the mountain is naturally not much better.
Zhao Yeqing sat on the ground listening, pulling the grass next to her, almost pulling out a small piece of it.
We can't just go back like this, right?
Mu Xi shook his injured leg and said, "Rest for two days and think about it carefully."
Zhao Yeqing spent two days walking several hundred meters down the mountain and tried to explore.
The further down you go, the drier the vegetation becomes.
It is estimated that it is not only because of drought that the water source at the foot of the mountain has dried up, but also because of the cracks in the ground. I don’t know how much water has been swallowed up by the cracks.
There is a village at the foot of the mountain on the west side, and villagers usually go up and down the mountain, so it is not necessary to open up new land to get through like from the south to the west.
Zhao Yeqing estimated that it would only take half a day to get down the mountain, so he should go and take a look. Even if there was no water source, there would be at least some supplies.
The meadow area has abundant groundwater. Even though the temperature has been high for such a long time, the wild grass on the meadow is still barely able to maintain its green color.
Zhao Yeqing pinched the soil on the ground, and dark yellow powder slipped through his fingers.
I'm afraid it won't last long.
Three days later, fortunately, Mu Xi's leg did not become swollen or infected, and began to heal slowly.
Zhao Yeqing was still a little worried, afraid that the wound would break open, so he wanted to let Mu Xi rest for another two days.
"If we rest any longer, the chickens at home will probably starve to death."
Mu Xi recalled the bright eyes of the little pheasants when they were hatched, and her disappointment when she had no choice but to put them back into the pheasant nest.
He didn't want her to be sad again when she returned home and saw that the chickens were gone.
Zhao Yeqing naturally didn't know what this person was thinking. He just felt speechless. Why did this person compare his legs to a chicken?
"If it's gone, it's gone. Or you can just stay here and I'll go by myself. I'll just take one of the cubs with me."
Mu Xi insisted, "Help me go together."
The road down the mountain was trampled out by the villagers at the foot of the mountain. It was less than one meter wide. Zhao Yeqing walked very uncomfortably with Mu Xi.
Mu Xi simply put his hand on Zhao Yeqing's shoulder, and the distance between the two was immediately shortened.
At first she was a little embarrassed, but later she was too hot to care about anything.
When we reached the foot of the mountain, the village was right in front of us.
Zhao Yeqing breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it was not the worst situation. At least the village did not fall into the crack.
The village at the west foot of the mountain is not big, with only a dozen households. Most of them have moved to the scenic area to do business and run homestays. At the foot of the mountain are the few farmers who still want to farm and make a living in the mountains.
The two men walked into the village, looking alert, wondering if there was anyone else in the village.
When they arrived at the first house at the entrance of the village, they knocked on the door, but no one answered and the door was not locked.
The two men looked at each other, Mu Xi held the gun in front of them and pushed open the door, but there was no one there.
"Anyone there?"
No one responded.
It was a bit strange. She hadn't seen any helicopter coming to rescue. The road to the south was the direction out of the mountain, and she was stuck there. She should be unable to get out of the village to the west.
If she could survive in the mountains, the farmers with this kind of land would certainly not be short of food. It doesn't make sense that they would die in just a few months.
Even if there is no water source, we can definitely survive by going to the mountains to find water.
The courtyard door was pushed open, and Mu Xi, leaning on a crutch and holding a gun, walked into the house. It was also empty, with only a mess on the floor.
The two men went to several houses but came up empty-handed. Then they heard the roars of two leopards, so they walked over and finally found someone in this house.
The moment he pushed open the door, Zhao Yeqing was so frightened that his screams became silent, and he opened his mouth wide but no sound came out.
The family's yard was littered with white bones.
Mu Xi raised his hand and covered Zhao Yeqing's eyes, "Get out first."
Zhao Yeqing retreated back to the door in a daze, and the courtyard door was closed by Mu Xi.
Everyone in this village was infected.
After the violent period, all the infected people were drained of their bodies by the virus, leaving only a pile of bones.
Mu Xi pulled Zhao Yeqing into a clean yard and sat down to calm down.
The kettle was handed to her. Zhao Yeqing took it and took a sip to suppress the nausea in her throat.
After she calmed down, the two went to look for supplies.
They didn't search separately, as Mu Xi was blocking the way in each room when they opened it.
They found that the taps in the village were no longer running and the small river behind the village was completely dry, even worse than on the mountain. It was estimated that there were cracks upstream that directly cut off the water source.
There is no shortage of food in the village, and every household has its own barn. After the infection, there is even less people to eat, but the barns are still half full.
It’s a pity that I can’t take these back with me, they are too heavy.
We had tried to find a way down the cliff in order to get to the village as quickly as possible, but unfortunately we were blocked by another fissure in the ground.
When going back, if you go straight home from the mountain, walking from the top of the west mountain to the top of the south mountain, the route is much shorter.
The only trouble is the danger.
The closer to the foot of the mountain, the larger the human activity area and the fewer animal traces. The higher you go in the mountain, the more likely you are to encounter wild animals.
For example, the hyena this time.
Striped hyenas live alone. There are so many of them this time. It is probably because they can't find food and are forced to do so.
There is no telling how many helpless wild animals there are on this mountain.
If this abnormal weather continues for another month, the water source will completely dry up, the vegetation on the mountain will gradually wither, the herbivores will have nothing to eat and their numbers will decrease, and the carnivores will also have nothing to eat.
When you walk in the mountains, delicious food will be delivered to your door.
If it weren't for this danger, Mu Xi would have walked from the top of the south mountain to the west mountain and then down the mountain every day to transport the food back one batch at a time. Although it would have been a bit troublesome and laborious, the food reserves of a village would have been enough for the two of them to eat until next winter.
The crops grown by the villagers are basically the same, with rice being the main food, and a few families occasionally rotate their crops to wheat in the winter to increase their harvest.
The two had almost finished all the food they brought with them, except for the canned food and compressed biscuits in Mu Xi's backpack.
Both of these things have a long shelf life, so there’s no need to eat them right away. Restock your supplies in the villagers’ granary first.
Almost all the sweet potatoes and potatoes have sprouted, only rice and flour are still intact.
Zhao Yeqing was surprised to find that one family had a lot of grain, oil, rice, flour, snacks and drinks in their warehouse.
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