A young boy from the 1970s, separated from his family, fled famine and led his younger brother into

"ah--!"

The middle-aged woman sitting across the aisle let out a piercing scream, startling me so much that I jumped up from my seat!

The hand that reached in through the window was absolutely terrifying! It didn't look like a human hand; it looked more like a ghostly claw from hell, withered and filthy, with a desperate, insane craving for food!

"Get out of here!"

Lin Wenjun, who was sitting next to Su Nianci, reacted very quickly. She grabbed the military water bottle on the table and smashed it hard at the hand without thinking!

With a muffled "bang!", the kettle slammed into my wrist.

The hand jerked back, but only paused for a second before reaching in again with even greater speed! This time, its target was clearer; its five fingers spread wide, like eagle claws, and it reached straight for the plate of steamed buns!

"My God! They're trying to steal our things!"

"Quick! Block up the windows!"

Chaos erupted in the carriage. Other passengers by the windows also gasped in alarm. It turned out they weren't the only ones whose windows had been smashed! The sounds of shattering glass and screams filled the carriage!

More "ghostly claws" reached in through the holes, frantically grabbing anything that looked edible. A traveler's cloth bag by the window was snatched away, and several dark, mushy cornbreads rolled out, only to be instantly torn to shreds by countless hands outside the window!

The situation is completely out of control!

Su Nianci reacted faster than anyone else. The moment that hand reached in for the second time, she didn't reach for the kettle or anything else. She did something that no one expected.

She grabbed the half-eaten roast chicken and the plate of meat buns, and without even looking at them, stuffed them deep under the seat!

Then, she pulled Little Stone, who was equally terrified, and the two of them instantly huddled together under the table.

The entire movement was lightning fast and executed in one smooth motion!

The hand that reached in grasped at empty air, then frantically rummaged around on the table, eventually knocking over the bowl of cold egg drop soup, spilling the soup all over the floor.

"Waaah—waaah—"

The train sounded a warning, sharp whistle. Several train police officers and conductors rushed from both ends of the carriage with rubber batons, shouting and using their batons to drive away those trying to climb out of the windows.

"Everyone back off! No rushing the train! Otherwise, you'll face the consequences!"

Some of the migrants outside the window were frightened away by the police batons and shouts, but most of them just stared blankly and desperately at the people in the carriage, their eyes empty and their mouths uttering incomprehensible roars.

The chaos lasted for about ten minutes.

Finally, under the strong suppression of the train police, the broken window was temporarily blocked by passengers with wooden boards, suitcases and other items, and the carriage gradually returned to calm.

However, the oppressive and fearful atmosphere was a hundred times more intense than before.

Su Nianci crawled out from under the table, her small face icy cold. She dusted herself off and pulled out the equally dusty Little Stone.

Lin Wenjun looked at her, her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she couldn't utter a single word.

In that split second, Su Nianci's reaction was so calm, it was chilling. While everyone else was still in a state of panic, she had already made the most correct and rational judgment—to protect the food and protect herself.

This instinct is nothing like that of a five-year-old child.

"Nianci, you..." Lin Wenjun's voice was a little hoarse.

"I'm fine." Su Nianci shook her head, lifted a corner of the curtain, and looked out the window again.

The train remained stationary. Outside the window, the refugees, though some had been driven away, hadn't dispersed. They were like a group of sharks that had smelled blood, circling the train, their enormous "prey," refusing to leave.

They sat or lay beside the cold railway tracks on the barren land, creating a shocking picture of a human hell.

Su Nianci's gaze passed through the numb and desperate crowd and landed not far away.

There, a mother, also dressed in tattered clothes, was tightly holding a child. The child looked about the same age as Su Nianci, but was so thin that he was just skin and bones. His face was sallow, his lips were chapped, and his eyes were closed, as if he had fallen into a semi-comatose state.

Unlike the others, the mother didn't try to stop the train. She simply knelt on the ground, repeatedly and futilely trying to moisten her child's equally parched lips with her own. The tears that flowed from her eyes were long-dried, silent tears.

This scene struck Su Nianci's heart like a heavy hammer blow.

She seemed to see the shadows of herself and her younger brother.

If she hadn't been reborn, if she hadn't possessed knowledge and skills beyond her time, if she hadn't met the old man driving the carriage, hadn't met Lin Wenjun, hadn't met Lei Ming... would her and her brother's fate have been the same as that of the mother and daughter outside the window? Or even worse?

A powerful, unprecedented shock gripped her soul.

In her past life, she was a doctor who had witnessed countless deaths. But those deaths occurred in a sterile operating room, under the monitoring of instruments, and were rational and logical.

What we are witnessing is irrational, barbaric, and a stark display of the laws of survival!

Here, life is as cheap as grass!

She had always believed that her wisdom and methods were enough to allow her to roam freely in this era. But now, she deeply realized how insignificant and powerless an individual's strength is in the face of the torrent of the times, in the face of natural disasters and man-made calamities!

She can outsmart her wicked relatives, outmaneuver human traffickers, and even use others to do her dirty work… but what can she do? Can she stop the rain? Can she make the floodwaters recede? Can she make crops grow in the fields?

She can't.

The only thing she can do is to become stronger!

So powerful that one can disregard most of the rules of this world! So powerful that one possesses the power to change one's own destiny and that of those around them!

Go north! Find Lu Zhenhua! This is no longer just about revenge, about taking back everything that belongs to us! It's also about... gaining true power! Gaining the true power to survive in this cruel world!

At this moment, Su Nianci's eyes underwent a complete transformation. If before, her eyes were calm and ruthless, then now, beneath the cold surface of the lake, a flame called "ambition" and "desire" ignited, a flame powerful enough to burn everything!

"Sister..." Little Stone tugged at her sleeve and whispered, in a voice only the two of them could hear, "That little sister... seems to be dying..."

Although he was young, he understood the tragic scene outside the window.

Su Nianci's heart was stabbed hard.

To save or not to save?

This is a difficult choice.

Reason told her she couldn't save them. Their own food supplies were limited, and they still had a long way to go. On this perilous train, any excessive kindness could drag them into an abyss of no return. The passenger who had just been robbed of his steamed buns was a stark warning.

But... looking at the little girl dying in her mother's arms, her sallow face, she simply couldn't ignore it.

She is Su Nianci, a five-year-old orphan.

But she is also Su Nianci, a doctor who once swore an oath to "entrust my health and my life to you!"

Her duty as a doctor prevented her from remaining indifferent to a life that was about to end.

Rescue would bring enormous risks.

If I don't save her, she won't be able to get over that hurdle in her heart.

A fierce internal struggle raged within Su Nianci. Her hands unconsciously clenched into fists, her nails digging deeply into her palms.

Just then, the little girl outside the window, seemingly experiencing a final burst of energy before death, suddenly opened her eyes slightly. Her gaze was unfocused, but it happened to meet Su Nianci's gaze inside the car.

What eyes they were! Empty, blank, devoid of any spirit, like two ancient wells about to dry up.

However, amidst that deathly silence, Su Nianci clearly saw a glimmer of... a desire for life.

That sliver of longing, like the finest needle, precisely pierced the high wall of reason that Su Nianci had built in her heart.

"Oh shit!"

In her heart, Su Nianci cursed fiercely with the national curse words from her previous life.

She made a decision.

She could stand by and watch someone die, but she couldn't... stand by and watch a child die. That was her bottom line as a human being.

She turned her head away from looking out the window and instead looked at the cloth bag containing meat buns under the small table.

Her gaze fell on those few dazzlingly white steamed buns that still smelled of meat...