Before everything goes out

Surrender?

These words immediately silenced the villagers whose emotions had just been ignited.

Recalling the tragic scene of this trip into the mountains, of the seven who went in, only three returned.

Even Snake Seven, who was most familiar with the mountains, did not return alive.

The numerous dangers involved need not be elaborated upon.

"Izuku..."

"What do we do...?"

The villagers looked at each other in bewilderment.

The village is said to have over sixty people, but in reality, only about a dozen are still considered young and middle-aged adults.

Each of them is also the pillar of their respective household.

What if something unexpected happens if we send the main beam into the mountains to look for someone?

Although the village adopts a distribution system for various resources, those whose families have contributed labor are more justified in distributing the resources.

Find the person, take revenge.

These two things are important, but asking them to bring more people in would be too risky, so naturally no one is willing to do it.

In a short time.

Silence fell over the riverbank, broken only by the faint crackling of grease popping from the fire.

"I understand your difficulties. Don't worry, anyone willing to help can come to me anytime this week..."

Before Liu Yongxiao could finish speaking, he saw a man in the crowd, whose demeanor was not rustic at all, raise his hand.

It's Li Fei.

"Village Chief Liu, count me in."

Li Fei spoke calmly.

He had already made up his mind on the way back without Liu Yongxiao needing to persuade him.

Regardless of what happens next, he will go find Niu Zhiyuan and Snake Seven's daughter.

One of them may have the means to travel back in time, while the other is the dying wish of their savior.

Since these two did not die in the pile of rocks, it means there is a high probability that they are still alive.

Liu Yongxiao is right.

Live to see people, die to see corpses.

"Okay, you're in."

Liu Yongxiao gave Li Fei a deep look.

Then the Niu brothers also raised their hands.

"Village chief, my brother and I are going too."

"Only one of you two can go. I forgot to mention earlier, but each household must have at least one man left to work."

"Well... let's discuss it again."

Niu Wenbing and Niu San exchanged a glance and lowered their hands.

After that, no one raised their hand until the flames burned the body to ashes, leaving only a pile of ashes on the riverbank.

"Okay, that's all for today."

After Liu Yongxiao finished speaking, he left.

The villagers whispered among themselves and then dispersed.

"Teacher Lin, Xiao Wu, you can go back first. I'll be back as soon as I'm done."

Li Fei watched Lin Wen and Bai Xiaowu leave.

Then he took a shovel from Niu San.

I glanced at the pile of dark ashes, then at the rushing river beside it.

Because it's close to a water source, there's no need to dig a pit to bury it, which saves effort.

Under the glaring sunlight, he and the Niu brothers shoveled all the ashes into the river, letting them drift away with the current.

"Come on, let's have noodles at my house for lunch. My mom made noodles, they're really delicious."

On the way back, Niu San, carrying three shovels, extended an invitation to Li Fei.

"Noodles?"

Li Fei raised an eyebrow.

If he remembered correctly, rice couldn't even be grown in this area; Lin Wen's family ate corn and potatoes every day...

Wheat can actually be used to make flour?

"Yes, hand-pulled noodles. My family eats them from time to time, thanks to the village chief."

Niu San chuckled.

Li Fei couldn't help but swallow hard at the mere mention of noodles.

This is ingrained in his genes—a craving for refined carbohydrates.

Noodles are a very common food, and he ate them quite often in his previous life, but he never thought he would have the chance to eat them again in this deep mountain forest.

"Let's go, the three of us survived this ordeal, let's celebrate."

Look at Niu San's honest and simple smiling face.

In the past, Li Fei would have thought that this bald man had ill intentions, but now he knows that the other party is sincerely inviting him.

After hesitating for a moment, he asked again:

"Do you have any extra noodles? Or flour would be fine too, I'd like to take some back with me."

"this..."

Thinking of all the mouths Lin Wen's family had to feed, Niu San looked troubled.

In this area, there would be at least seven or eight ounces of flour, enough for their family to eat for more than half a month.

"No need for that, just invite them over to eat."

Unexpectedly, his brother Niu Wenbing readily agreed.

Even Li Fei was taken aback.

Turning his head back, he looked at Niu Wenbing's sunken eye sockets again and suddenly felt that they were not so gloomy anymore.

...

...

Half an hour later.

The Niu family.

The two families sat together, crowded but lively.

After a brief pre-meal prayer, a large bowl of hand-pulled noodles was served.

"Come on everyone, two pounds of noodles, all you can eat today."

Under Aunt Niu's guidance, the noodles were distributed reasonably and placed into everyone's bowls.

The bowl already contained a pre-mixed sauce, made of chopped pickled cabbage and minced meat. When the hot noodle soup was poured over it, the aroma was released, making everyone's mouths water.

It's not just children.

Even the adults' eyes lit up, and they couldn't wait to start eating.

"tasty!"

"It's delicious!"

"I haven't had anything this delicious in ages!"

A chubby boy slurped his food until his mouth was glistening with oil.

Of course, he is only relatively fat compared to these sallow-faced and thin children.

Its name is "steamed bun".

He is the oldest child in Lin Wen's family besides Bai Xiaowu.

However, compared to Bai Xiaowu's precociousness, he has the maturity that a peer should have.

such as.

"I haven't had noodles in ages! Our teacher Lin only knows how to stew potatoes, she can't make noodles!"

He ate the steamed bun while complaining.

Lin Wen, who was holding Xiaodou next to him, glared at him.

"You talk too much; even noodles can't shut you up."

As she spoke, Lin Wen chewed up a small piece of dough and fed it to Xiao Dou.

"It's okay, it's a good thing that kids have a sweet tooth. They'll grow taller quickly and maybe they'll grow up to be as tall and strong as our Niu San."

Aunt Niu tried to smooth things over.

"That way, if you ever crave this food again, just come to Auntie's house to eat."

"No need, ma'am, this kid can eat more than I can."

Lin Wen smiled shyly.

"Oh, don't be so polite. How much can a child eat? Look, this child looks a bit like me, so he's practically one of our kids."

Looking at the old woman with her wrinkled face, Li Fei felt a strange sense of kinship.

He didn't expect it either.

So this is what happened to the Niu family.

My father left the village a few years ago and his whereabouts are unknown.

Now, only the old woman, the eldest son Niu Wenbing, the youngest son Niu San, Niu Wenbing's wife, and two teenagers remain in the family.

In the past.

Before Niu Zhiyuan was abducted, the Niu family had a total of eight people, making them a well-off household in the village.

"If only my second brother were here, he would love noodles the most and could eat two big bowls every time."

After finishing one bowl, Niu San got another.

Niu Wenbing glared at him, signaling him not to bring up such depressing things on the table.

Although Niu Zhiyuan has not yet found him, in his view, there is hope, but it is quite slim.

"We will find it."

Li Fei, standing next to him, put noodles in his mouth and nodded seriously.

"We will find Niu Zhiyuan; we'll be heading into the mountains next week."