Before everything goes out

"What do you mean?"

Li Fei was stunned for a moment.

"How can I explain this to you... Her surname is Bai, and she is indeed Bai Xiaowu, whom she picked up."

Actually, it wasn't just Bai Xiaowu; there were five children they took in together, the oldest being three or four years old, and the youngest just a month old. Bai Xiaowu was the youngest among them.

Looking at Li Fei, who had a blank expression, Niu Wenbing recalled something that happened several years ago.

"I did manage to rescue them, but life was tough back then. They didn't last six months; all four older children died of illness, and soon this woman..."

Soon, Bai Xiaoyan went mad, abandoning her one-year-old son, Bai Xiaowu, and wandering aimlessly around the village with disheveled hair, claiming that some deity had angered everyone and that all the villagers would die.

It turns out this woman's name is Bai Xiaoyan.

Bai Xiaowu was the youngest of the children they had taken in, ranking fifth, and also had Bai Xiaoyan's surname.

That's why she got the name "Bai Xiaowu".

Li Fei nodded thoughtfully.

"Later, Lin Wen took pity on Bai Xiaowu and took her into her home to care for her. She did this for eight years. In that sense, she should be considered Bai Xiaowu's mother..."

Later, the village chief brought back more children from outside and entrusted them to Lin Wen's care.

"Can she manage to take care of so many children?"

Li Fei asked.

"It was tough at first, the harvest wasn't good, but Lin Wen was capable, she could do any job a man could do, and with the help of the villagers from time to time, we managed to get by."

It turned out to be the case.

So Lin Wen is Bai Xiaowu's adoptive mother, and this woman is practically Bai Xiaowu's adoptive mother?

At least he was a savior.

Li Fei nodded, having roughly clarified the relationship.

Speaking of Lin Wen, Niu Wenbing sighed again.

"Sigh, these days are tough. It's not just those kids who cause trouble. If it weren't for Lin Wen's kindness and her frequent sharing of food with Bai Xiaoyan, that crazy woman would have starved to death long ago."

"So, all the children in Teacher Lin's family, I mean, the ones right now, were all taken in by the village chief?"

"Yes, we find one every now and then. Thanks to Lin Wen, they're all still alive and well."

"I remember Teacher Lin saying that they were all children of 'Tai Sui,' so what exactly is Tai Sui?"

Taking this opportunity, Li Fei quickly asked a question.

This problem has been bothering him for a long time.

Putting aside the origins of these children, he had already eaten two pieces of the Tai Sui meat, and if possible, he would certainly like to find out where this meat came from.

"have no idea."

"Even you didn't know?"

Niu Wenbing's head shaking made Li Fei even more confused.

"I don't know either."

The bald man next to him also shook his head.

After a pause, Niu Wenbing explained in a deep voice.

"Not only us, but other villagers also don't know. Apart from the village chief, no one knows what Tai Sui is."

Previously, if Li Fei had asked, Niu Wenbing would have simply replied:

"Don't ask what you shouldn't ask."

Now that they've been through last night, they've become close friends who've been through thick and thin together, so it's no harm to say a few more words.

Every now and then, the village chief would bring back some "Tai Sui meat" from outside and share it with the villagers. The meat was indeed delicious, but what it was, nobody knew.

At first I asked, since it was something I was going to eat, but the village chief only said it was given by the Tai Sui and didn't say a word more, so I didn't dare to ask any more questions.

Later, they simply stopped asking. Who cares? These days, having meat to eat is good enough; who cares about anything else, as long as it's not human flesh.

Only Liu Yongxiao knew what "Tai Sui" was.

Is it necessary to be so mysterious?

Li Fei frowned slightly, becoming even more curious.

"By the way, don't ask around when you get back. The village chief seems all smiles on the surface, but he actually has a bad temper."

"Yes, I understand."

Li Fei nodded in agreement.

He is a person who listens to advice; he will never inquire about things that are not his responsibility.

"By the way, our positioning..."

Here, he looked at the bracelet again.

The three of them ran for several miles in the mountains from last night until this morning.

Looking at the map, the distance between us and the rings has indeed increased, from 2 kilometers when we were in a maze to 8 kilometers away.

It seems they were right before; Huanzi was indeed hiding from them.

As soon as they approached, the rings ran away; but once they were far away, the rings did not chase after them.

What the hell is going on?

Li Fei couldn't understand it.

But right now, he doesn't have time to worry about that.

Dry rations, food, light source...

Physical strength, mental strength...

After two days, all resources have been exhausted.

Seven people went out, but only three returned.

So the most important thing now is to go back to Shuanghe Village, report what happened in the past two days to Liu Yongxiao, and then make plans after we've sorted things out.

On the bright side, at least he kept his promise to Bai Xiaowu.

Mom was indeed found, but she was already dead.

"We can't take these bodies back. Let's mark them and find someone to come and haul them away when we get back."

Niu Wenbing said.

After calming himself down, he climbed out of the pile of rocks and beckoned Niu San to pick some grass leaves from the side and cover the body with them.

This way, there's some cover, which makes it easier to see and also prevents animals from gnawing on it.

While the Niu brothers were busy, Li Fei was also keeping busy.

After returning to the village, how do I find this place again?

That is a problem.

Without Snake 7 as a guide, there's no way to locate it.

The trees in the forest can move, so marking them won't work.

After a brief moment of consideration, he took out his bracelet and repeatedly memorized the number of rings and their relative positions to the outpost.

Using the "immovable outpost" as a reference, we can find this place again in the future.

"Alright, let's go."

After a quick cleanup, the body was covered with green plants.

In this way, even if a starving animal passes by, it may not necessarily find a carcass to eat.

"etc."

After thinking of something, Li Fei jumped back into the pile of stones.

After lifting the grass and scanning Bai Xiaoyan's body, he took off one of her cloth shoes and put it in his pocket.

"I'll take this back with me; it can serve as evidence."

As he was saying this, he got up to leave, but then he caught a glimpse of something black beneath the corpse.

A nylon strap clearly doesn't belong to these villagers.

Upon pulling it out, they discovered that the other end of the strap was connected to a submachine gun.

It was pressed right under Bai Xiaoyan's body, and you couldn't notice it unless you looked closely.

"I recognize it, it's an MP5 player!"

Amidst the surprised looks of the Niu brothers, Li Fei fiddled with the magazine for a bit and removed it.

He had never handled a gun in his previous life, but based on his intuition, he guessed that there was still half a magazine of bullets inside.

"It's a gain in itself, you can keep it for now, we'll talk about what to do with the gun when we get back."

Niu Wenbing was quite generous.

Firstly.

Neither he nor Niu San knew how to use a gun.

Secondly.

After these two days, he was certain that Li Fei was a trustworthy comrade-in-arms.

"Um."

Li Fei slung his gun over his shoulder and climbed out of the pile of rocks.

At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder: Huanzi killed someone, so why did he leave a gun here?

Is the gun broken?

They should at least have removed the magazines and taken them with them; there shouldn't be so many bullets left here...

I don't understand.

who cares.

Niu Wenbing is right; at least this can be considered a gain.

"Let's go, head south. As long as we reach the river, we can walk back to the village."

Guided by Niu Wenbing, the three set off again.

Actually, he went into the mountains twice.

A few years ago, when the harvest was poor and people were starving, the village chief called on every household to send people into teams to go into the mountains to pick some wild fruits to eat.

At that time, Snake Seven was still the guide, but we didn't go too far, basically just circled around the foot of the mountain.

So, he was completely clueless about how to get out, but he did have some ideas about how to get back.

Six o'clock in the morning.

After determining the direction of the sunrise, the three headed south.

Without Snake Seven, and with their legs feeling weak, the three of them walked even slower than before. Fortunately, they were lucky and didn't encounter anything strange along the way.

at last.

After walking for another six hours, near noon, the three stopped by a river.

The river is neither big nor small.

Under the blinding sunlight, the entire river was illuminated and made clear.

In the rushing current, no fish or shrimp can be seen in the river, only churning mud and sand.

Li Fei recognized the river; it was the same river that ran from east to west, traversing the entire Shuanghe Village.