I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

None of the people in the team had ever seen a volcano before. Apart from Wen Zichuan, even the village head didn't know what a "volcano" was.

Simply witnessing this shocking scene left a mark of fear on their hearts.

—Can we escape?

—Can we run away?

—Will I still be able to live and grow old?

People looking at the sky unconsciously slowed their breathing.

They didn't come to their senses until someone's child started crying in the group.

Forget about the future! As long as you can still run, keep running forward!

Zhao Ningning's mule led the way, running at the very front of the group.

This time, even Zhou Jian was picked up by Ning's father and thrown onto the cart. The mule used all four legs to pull the cart of people forward.

The Wen family followed closely behind.

"Boom—"

The sound is getting closer!

Zhao Ningning glanced back at the mountains where they had taken shelter from the floods during the rainy season, and they began to spew fire from one by one.

It's like a death warrant!

"It's probably because of the earthquake," Zhao Qi said. "The crustal movement brought up the underground magma."

For a moment, no one spoke in the car; everyone remained silent.

Those with cars in the group were fine; they could just pull their cars along.

When Granny Qian was going down the mountain, she insisted on having that cart frame. At that time, Zhao Laoda and Zhao Laosan were so angry that they wanted to leave her and the cart on the mountain.

Now, as she pulls the cart forward, Granny Qian is overjoyed.

—Taking a risk and keeping such a good chassis is worth it!

Not to mention that when they're escaping for their lives, his family won't have to carry anything on their backs; they can just pull the cart, which saves them a lot of effort!

On the other hand, the Xi family is having a much harder time.

Xi Dashun carried the load for a while, then gave up and let Xi Ershun carry it instead.

Old Man Xi dared not say anything, fearing that his two sons would abandon him in the middle of nowhere, so he asked them to switch his back with him every now and then.

It's not that I feel sorry for Xi Ershun, but I'm afraid that if Xi Ershun works himself to death, Dashun will be the only one suffering.

The volcano behind them was still emitting light, and the sky was both bright and dark. Ning's father, who was walking in front, had a hard time seeing the way.

You also need to drive carefully, as the roads filled with mud and water may look flat, but they are actually full of traps.

After walking for a while, the Wen family caught up and made room for two people to drive a horse-drawn carriage at the front to lead the way.

One person focuses on driving, while the other watches the road.

The group had been hiking on the mountain all day and were exhausted. They were moving forward entirely by instinct and willpower.

Wen Zike held up a candle for Wen Zichuan, who sat in the bumpy carriage and unfolded a map.

"The Baihe Mountains are most concentrated in the southwest. There's a road that leads there to the northeast!"

"Go another twenty miles! And we'll be out of this mountain range!"

As long as they're not in this mountain range, the lava erupting from there won't flow over and harm them.

Upon hearing this, the person in front resolutely chose to run northeast at the next fork in the road.

Those behind naturally followed.

I don't know how long I ran.

Xi Ershun felt a throbbing pain in his legs.

He had lost all feeling in his arm, was panting heavily, and his clothes were soaked with sweat, then dried by the wind.

It's very sticky.

He looked ahead, and his wife's figure suddenly loomed large before shrinking again.

Sometimes it's near, sometimes it's far away.

With heavy steps, Xi Ershun wanted to catch up with his wife and ask her to take out the water bag so he could drink some water.

He took a step forward, but before he could speak, he stopped and swayed.

"Get out of here!" Old Man Xi cursed. "Are you just standing here waiting to die?"

Just as Old Man Xi finished cursing, Xi Ershun suddenly swayed and fell into the mud along with him on his back.

Old Man Xi cursed as he got up from the ground. Seeing Xi Ershun still lying there, he put his hands on his hips and kicked him. "Ershun! Why aren't you getting up yet? The lava is about to come after us!"

Xi Ershun lay on the muddy ground, barely breathing.

Hearing the commotion, Er Shun's wife turned around and saw her husband lying on the ground. She pushed the old man next to her aside, fell to the ground, and with trembling hands, pulled Er Shun's head out of the mud.

She carefully touched Ershun's face, and seeing that he was still breathing, Luo Xiaozhi asked in a trembling voice, "Ershun, how...how are you?"

The only response she received was a spasm.

Luo Xiaozhi tried to press down his twitching hands and feet, but to no avail.

The two daughters squatted down to the side and tried to pull Xi Ershun's hand, crying and calling out, "Father—Father!"

After smoking for a while, Xi Ershun showed no sign of stopping, and Luo Xiaozhi burst into tears, "Ershun, don't scare me!"

Old Man Xi was also startled and took two steps to the side, whispering, "This! This isn't my fault!"

Although his voice was soft, Luo Xiaozhi still heard it. She glared at Old Man Xi with eyes full of hatred. "It's all your fault! If you hadn't only let Ershun carry you, he wouldn't be so exhausted!"

"If Ershun dies, it'll be because you, his father, crushed him to death!"

Old Man Xi jumped back, "This! How can you blame me! A son carrying his father on his back, isn't that just the way things are!"

Luo Xiaozhi shoved Ershun into her eldest daughter's arms, then stood up to confront her: "It's only natural for a son to carry his father, but what about you! You only let Ershun carry you! Xi Dashun, on the other hand, carried you for less than fifteen minutes, and as soon as he complained of being tired, you told him to switch!"

"Our Ershun carried you on his back for two hours straight without stopping. Even a horse needs to rest after two hours of walking, let alone a person!"

"He's made of flesh and blood, not iron; he gets tired too!"

As she spoke, Luo Xiaozhi was already in tears.

Old Man Xi said guiltily, "I didn't expect him to be so useless... Well then, it's alright if he doesn't have to carry it."

Xi Dashun said from the side, "Hey, Luo, say less. Father didn't expect things to turn out like this either."

One by one, the people behind them passed by. Now was not the time to argue. Luo Xiaozhi glared at Xi Dashun resentfully, then turned to Old Man Xi and said, "Ershun is lying on the ground and can't walk now. Your eldest son should carry him."

"Huh?" Old Man Xi pointed to himself. "And what about me?"

"At least you can walk, but our Ershun is... but..." Luo Xiaozhi turned around and glanced at Ershun, who was still convulsing, and the two children were crying together.

Er Shun looks to be in bad shape.

Old Man Xi said, "Well, Ershun's wife, I don't mean to be mean, but Ershun is probably not going to make it. Don't be sad, take the child and leave quickly."

"What did you say?!" Luo Xiaozhi suddenly jumped up and shoved Old Man Xi. "You're going to abandon your son and run away alone?!"

"I didn't want to either, but look at me..." Old Man Xi looked at Xi Ershun on the ground, feeling sorry for him.

The foundation is still too weak, otherwise how could such a short distance have exhausted people!

Old Man Xi didn't want this either. After fleeing famine for so long, he hadn't been able to eat or sleep well all day, and Xi Ershun had been doing all the work. It was already a blessing from God that he was able to escape safely.

Xi Ershun had exhausted all his strength to carry an adult this far!

Their argument attracted the attention of some people in the group, and someone advised, "Old man Xi, you call your second son every day, how can you just stand by and watch him die!"

"That's right, you're not incapable of walking. Have your eldest son carry him to the front and see if he can be saved."

Old Man Xi looked at Xi Ershun. He had finally stopped convulsing. He looked like he was breathing very little and exhaling a lot, just like an old man in the village before!

"No!" Old Man Xi said, "There's no saving him anyway, just pretend I never had this son!"

Luo Xiaozhi's eyes were red. "Old Man Xi, do you really not want this son anymore?"

Old Man Xi waved his hand, "No, thank you! Let's go, Da Shun, let's hurry!"

Xi Dashun reluctantly squatted down and carried Old Man Xi on his back.

Luo Xiaozhi, crying and laughing, said to the people around her, "Did everyone hear that? He's the one who didn't want Ershun!"

The passing villagers shook their heads and sighed.

I've never seen anyone so heartless.

Xi Dashun had already carried Old Man Xi away. Luo Xiaozhi knelt on the ground, watching her husband shed tears.

"Twig!"

A car pulled up beside them, and another voice came from behind, saying, "Get your man in the car, and hurry up!"

Luo Xiaozhi slowly raised her head and saw Wang Xiaohua's mother—Wang Yan.

"Wang Yan?"

Wang Yan urged, "Hurry up, we still have to escape!"

Luo Xiaozhi got up from the ground. Wang Yan had already emptied her two-wheeled handcart and grabbed everything she could.

Luo Xiaozhi gritted her teeth and dragged Xi Ershun onto the cart. The two-wheeled cart was much smaller than the usual cart, and Xi Ershun's legs dangled on the ground.

Luo Xiaozhi placed the package on his back under his legs to raise the height.

After quickly doing all that, Luo Xiaozhi unscrewed the water bag and poured him some water. Holding the handlebars, she said to Wang Yan, "Thank you!"

Wang Yan ran quickly with a stern face and without saying a word.

They still need to keep up with the villagers!

Luo Xiaozhi kept her head down and followed behind Wang Yan, pulling the cart.

The two daughters held hands with Wang Xiaohua, and the three sisters ran forward together.

—I hope Ershun is alright.

Luo Xiaozhi silently prayed for Ershun while following the group.

I ran all night.

It wasn't until dawn that the group moved further away from the mountain range.

The place where they descended the mountain was located in a depression in the mountain range, and there were hardly any people for twenty or thirty miles around.

In the middle of the recessed area, there is a small mountain. Now they are surrounded by a small mountain on their left and the Baihe Mountain Range on their right. They are attacked from all sides.

Seeing that everyone was exhausted, the village head ordered them to stop and rest for a while.

As soon as he finished speaking, many people couldn't take it anymore and sat down on the ground, panting.

The same applies to livestock.

Ning's father jumped off the cart to water the mule, while Ning's mother returned to the carriage. Under the cover of the carriage, she took out a water bag from her storage space and handed it to He Shi, and then to Ning Ning.

Ning's mother: "Drink some water first. If you're not leaving later, we'll get you something to eat."

He took the water bag and handed it to Zhou Jian, saying, "You drink it, I'm not thirsty."

Zhou Jian shook his head as well, "I didn't walk, and I'm not thirsty. Give it to my brother-in-law!"

Ning's mother said, "You guys drink, there's more!"

Even if the water in her water pouch wasn't enough, she still had plenty of bottled water in her storage space.

Seeing his sister take out two small water pouches from the carriage, Zhou Jian unscrewed the pouches and carefully took a sip.

After feeding the mule water, Ning's father gave it a handful of hay.

After letting the mule rest, Ning's father returned, took the water pouch from Ning's mother, and gulped down a large mouthful before asking, "Are we going to cook now?"

Zhao Ningning had just secretly checked the time in her spatial dimension; it was already six in the morning.

Time for breakfast.

"Let's see how long the village head will let him rest." Ning's mother put away the water bag he had drunk from and went back to get two handfuls of dried meat.

This was made by the He family.

He recognized it at a glance as something she had made a long time ago, back when she was still in Huangshi County.

She was surprised that her daughter still kept this.

"Eat up." Ning's mother didn't explain, but stuffed the dried meat into her hands, giving each of them some.

In the team.

"We'll be out of this pass in about ten li," the village headman said. "Once we get out, we can reach the town in just one day."

One of the men asked, "How long are we going to rest?"

The village head pondered for a moment and said, "Let's rest for half an hour, then we'll set off!"

Once everyone understood the situation, they quickly started cooking something to eat.

Dried mushrooms and dried fish that I was originally reluctant to eat were taken out and boiled with some water.

Today was another day of earth-shattering storms and volcanic eruptions; it was incredibly exhausting.

Upon hearing that he could rest for half an hour, Ning's father immediately got into the car and unloaded the stove.

Ning's mother scooped out a bowl of coarse grains. She didn't dare to make it too conspicuous and cook it as dry as possible, so she tried to cook the porridge as thick as possible.

While the porridge was cooking, she took out some dried vegetables and flatbread made from dried food.

Zhou Jian took it in his hand, took a bite, and was stunned—it was so soft! So fragrant!

It had been a long time since Zhou Jian had eaten such a good pancake. After finishing the first bite, he hesitated to take a second.

After thinking for a moment, he wrapped the flatbread in the crumpled oil paper in his pocket. Seeing his niece looking at him, Zhou Jian coughed and said, "I'm not hungry right now."

Zhao Ningning rolled her eyes at him, took another pancake from the basket and stuffed it into his hand, "Eat."

Concise and concise.

This pancake was like a hot potato; I couldn't take it, but if I didn't—my sister had already taken the basket.

In the end, Zhou Jian kept the pancake.

He took out the pancake he had just bitten with a tooth mark, broke it in half, and stuffed the remaining half back into his pocket.

Zhao Ningning felt sorry for her.

This uncle is so frugal!

The porridge in Zhao Ningning's pot had just been cooked, and Luo Xiaozhi and the others, who were at the back of the line, finally caught up with the group.

They were delayed on the way, afraid of losing the group.

Fortunately, there was only one road along the way, and we finally found it after hurrying along.

Knowing she could rest for another 45 minutes or so, Luo Xiaozhi held onto the handlebars, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

Wang Yan went to feed Xiao Hua water and dried fish, while Luo Xiaozhi also busied herself feeding her two daughters and Er Shun water.

After feeding her the fish, Luo Xiaozhi took out two pieces of dried fish from her bag and gave them to Wang Xiaohua.

Wang Xiaohua glanced at her mother.

Wang Yan nodded. "Xiao Hua, take it."

Luo Xiaozhi smiled and said, "I'll go find Doctor Kang. Could you please take a look at my two daughters?"

Wang Yan nodded, and Luo Xiaozhi went to get some dried fish for her daughter, and then got two more pieces to give to Doctor Kang.

Only then did he hurriedly go to the team to find someone.

Upon hearing about Xi Ershun's condition, Dr. Kang immediately rushed over.

After taking Xi Ershun's pulse, Doctor Kang shook his head and said, "His condition is not good... If he can wake up, he can rest and recover."

"If he doesn't wake up, then..." Before Dr. Kang could finish speaking, Luo Xiaozhi understood what he meant.