The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 12: Drought and Famine (I)

heat.

This was Qin Huai’s first impression of this land.

The sun was hanging in the sky, scorching the earth. The dazzling sunlight made it almost impossible to open one's eyes. The land was as hard as stone, with irregular cracks one by one. There was no trace of green in the deep cracks. When the wind blew, it brought only heat waves and dust. Even the sky was covered with a layer of fiery red.

Thousands of miles of barren land, this was the first time Qin Huai had such a profound understanding of the word.

Qin Huai touched the ground, which was hard and rough, but he could not feel any temperature. He then deliberately kicked a stone with his foot, but the stone did not move at all and his foot did not feel any pain at all.

Very good, I am probably just a spectator in this dream.

But where is the protagonist?

This is a wilderness. All you can see is endless yellow earth, a few dead trees, and monotonous colors that make you feel suffocated. There are not even large rocks to block the view. There are no people, no animals, and not even weeds. There is no place to hide even if you want to.

Qin Huai was confused.

It can't be that the system tricked me into a dream and then made me survive in the desert, right?

There is no need to survive. I don't feel anything. The sun in the sky is so strong that I can't feel the heat. A normal person would probably get heatstroke and faint if he stayed in such a place for dozens of minutes.

Suddenly, the ground beneath Qin Huai's feet moved.

A small bulge appeared.

Qin Huai: !!!
With a scream, Qin Huai jumped to the side. The small bag became bigger and bigger, and a head broke out of the ground.

This adjective may be strange, but it really is breaking out of the ground. The man's hair and face were covered with dry dirt, and there was also dirt in his mouth. The man who broke out of the ground made several "Pooh, Pooh, Pooh" noises but failed to spit it out completely. In the end, he just closed his mouth and swallowed it, struggling to get out. A native man just appeared out of nowhere.

"Why is it still daytime?" The voice was that of a young woman, and it sounded a little familiar at first.

I saw the man touching his even dirtier face with his dirty hands, adjusting the color on his face, peeling off a lot of dirt, and barely revealing facial features that could be recognized as a human being.

Chen Huihong.

A younger version of Chen Huihong.

Although the person looked younger and not quite like a human, Qin Huai was definitely not mistaken; this was Chen Huihong!

Qin Huai looked at the younger version of Chen Huihong, who was more lively than before, and silently uttered two words: "Awesome."

Rich people are different. They usually dream of becoming rich overnight.

Chen Huihong was dreaming. Surviving in dry land and burying herself in the soil was only slightly worse than the zombie siege.

"No one's there yet." Chen Huihong looked around. "I've been to three or four places, but I haven't seen anyone. Did I go to the wrong place?"

"No, it's heading south."

After saying that, Chen Huihong looked up at the sky: "Southeast... this is... East is... where should I go?"

After talking to herself, Chen Huihong shook her head to deny herself, her fingers pointing everywhere restlessly, as if she wanted to make 800 small movements in one second.

"This way!" Finally, Chen Huihong successfully pointed to the south, "Walk for 10 days first and see if we can meet anyone."

Qin Huai:?
Loess Marathon?
This dream is too hardcore.

Then Chen Huihong really started to walk.

The kind that never stops.

He walked from day to night, without eating or drinking. After the moon hung over the branches, he would find a slightly flat place to lie down on the ground and sleep for a few hours. After waking up, he would take out a thin and narrow piece of bark from his clothes, roll it into a ball, put it in his mouth, chew it twice and swallow it, and then continue walking.

With this kind of physical strength and endurance, it is no exaggeration to say that he is superhuman.

Chen Huihong was gone for 6 days.

If Chen Huihong was fleeing famine, then considering the environment, she should have gone in the right direction.

Although the land was still dry and cracked, the sun was still scorching, and the dust and heat waves in the air had not decreased, Qinhuai saw a glimmer of potential life in the dry land, dried-up rivers, abandoned farmlands, dilapidated earth houses, and abandoned old wells.

There used to be people living here.

However, the famine caused by the drought forced people to leave their homes with their families. Chen Huihong was like a leisurely player who strayed into a wilderness survival game, searching for something every time she passed a village.

Of course, nothing good could be found.

There were certainly no clothes or food, but some water could be pumped out from the deep well, but it was all turbid and dirty. Chen Huihong pumped some water once and then poured it back.

In an ordinary farmer's home, every bowl, spoon, chopstick and piece of wood are precious possessions. What Chen Huihong could search in the house were nothing more than rotten wood that was not enough to burn as firewood, dry grass that could be spread on the ground to barely keep warm, gravel and burnt garbage that could not be identified as what it used to be.

Of course, it’s not entirely without additional benefits.

Chen Huihong dug out a few copper coins from the cracks in the wall of a brick house that was obviously where the landlord lived, and picked up two broken wooden toys - a wooden man that was vaguely human-shaped but missing arms and legs, and a wooden pony with only half a body. There was still some red paint left on the pony, indicating that it was once an exquisite toy.

Chen Huihong carefully put all these goodies into her clothes and kept them close to her body. Just like other players who ventured into the game world, she wanted to pick up everything she saw and put it in her backpack.

In this way, Chen Huihong walked and picked up things along the way for 13 days.

Qin Huai also followed Chen Huihong and walked for 13 days.

If you ask Qin Huai what he thinks, he really doesn't have any idea. This is Chen Huihong's dream. He won't feel thirsty, hungry, tired or sleepy. It's no different from watching a movie except that the plot is a bit boring and the scene is too real. And Qin Huai didn't make any discoveries during these 13 days. He found that Chen Huihong seemed to be learning something.

Chen Huihong has been looking for traces of people, but she is not obsessed with finding them. From her route, it can be seen that if she really wants to find people to join the main group, Chen Huihong should take the main road, or at least the small path trodden by people. But Chen Huihong refused to do so. She insisted on taking those "roads" that were obviously leading to the wilderness and uninhabited places, which would not be shown on the maps.

Fortunately, this area was so dry that no weeds grew, otherwise, if Chen Huihong walked this way, she would have to go deep into the mountains and forests.

Chen Huihong is not obsessed with finding people, but is very interested in the environment in which people live.

As long as she found a village, she would go to every house and check carefully, including the stove, bed, woodshed, and courtyard. Even if the earthen walls had been burned and collapsed and most of the original traces could not be seen, she would still observe these ruins carefully.

This feeling is a bit like humans observing small animals. We don’t know, we don’t understand, but we are very interested.

So weird.

Another night.

The clouds covered the moon, and the phrase "pitch-dark" became a real adjective. Chen Huihong lay on the ground with her eyes closed and slept. The small wooden horse hidden at her waist fell to the ground, making a slight sound. Chen Huihong didn't hear it, turned over, and continued to sleep.

Soon, a new sound was heard in the distance.

It's footsteps.

Very light, but seems very messy.

Qin Huai stood up and looked in the direction of the sound. Through the very weak moonlight, he vaguely saw a small black shadow, stumbling. It seemed to be a newborn fawn that had not yet learned to walk, stumbling towards the direction where Chen Huihong was.

The deer was getting closer.

When the deer was only four or five meters away from Chen Huihong, Qin Huai realized that it was not an animal, but seemed to be a child, a very thin child who could not even stand up and could only use his hands and feet to half run and half crawl forward.

Chen Huihong woke up.

She sat up and immediately picked up the wooden horse that had fallen on the ground. She tilted her head and stared at the child not far away from her. The child also saw Chen Huihong standing up and did not dare to move for a moment. The two of them were in a stalemate until Chen Huihong said, "Who?"

It's a female voice.

The child dared to move. He stood up tremblingly and tilted his head to see who was in front of him, but because it was too dark, he could only make out a black outline, which was bulging and looked tall and strong.

Of course, he was tall and strong because Chen Huihong stuffed a lot of dead grass that she carefully selected into his clothes. As an excellent scavenger, she did not even let go of the dead grass.

"My name is Hui Niang." The child said in a trembling voice. It was not known whether it was because of fear or something else, but the voice was very hoarse.

Chen Huihong looked at Hui Niang and said, "Come here."

Hui Niang didn't dare to move.

"Why are you here?" Chen Huihong asked.

"I...I..." Hui Niang tilted her head slightly, as if she wanted to see if there was anyone else around. After confirming that only Chen Huihong was alone, she mustered up the courage and said, "I got separated from my parents."

Seeing that Chen Huihong didn't answer, Hui Niang asked again: "Sister...sister, are you...lost too?"

Chen Huihong still did not answer. The two of them, one big and one small, just sat there quietly. You looked at me, I looked at you, neither of them could see the other clearly and neither of them dared to move. They were like two stone sculptures in the moonlight, making Qin Huai, a bystander, seem very out of place.

Finally, Chen Huihong spoke up: "Yes, I got lost too."

Hui Niang was instantly delighted, as if she had found a kindred spirit. She stood up and walked towards Chen Huihong cautiously. Seeing that Chen Huihong did not move, she became bolder and moved directly in front of Chen Huihong and sat face to face with her.

"Sister, are you also from Yu County?" Hui Niang asked with her eyes wide open.

"No." Chen Huihong shook her head and thought for a moment, "I live... next door."

Hui Niang was obviously a fool. Such a foolish answer was answered by her nodding in the affirmative. Then she asked, "Where are you going, sister?"

"do not know"

"Where are you going?" Chen Huihong asked back.

Hui Niang was silent.

Under the moonlight, Qin Huai inexplicably felt that Hui Niang's facial features were somewhat familiar.

"I don't know." Hui Niang's voice became even hoarser, "I got separated from my parents."

"Why did you get separated?" With just a few words, Chen Huihong took the initiative.

"I was so hungry that I couldn't walk, so I fell asleep." Hui Niang's voice was trembling. "When I woke up, my parents were gone."

"I was so hungry and thirsty. I wanted to find my parents, but it was too dark and I couldn't see. I seemed to have taken the wrong path, and then I met my sister."

Chen Huihong looked at the thin figure in front of her, thought for a while, took out a small piece of bark from her clothes, hesitated for a while, tore off a small piece and handed it to Hui Niang.

"that is all."

"There is an abandoned well nearby that should still be able to produce water. Go get some water yourself when the sun rises... I'll help you think of a solution." After saying that, Chen Huihong lay down, "Go to sleep, don't disturb me."

Seeing Chen Huihong lying straight like that, Hui Niang stood there in a daze. She looked at the bark in her hand and hesitated for a moment. She stuffed the bark into her mouth, chewed it hard and swallowed it with difficulty. Then she lay down beside Chen Huihong carefully, looking at her anxiously, until she heard Chen Huihong's steady breathing and was sure that she was asleep. Then she lay down and closed her eyes with peace of mind.

Soon, Hui Niang fell asleep.

It was already dawn. Chen Huihong, who should have been asleep, opened her eyes, looked at Hui Niang carefully in the faint sunlight, turned over, picked up the pony that had fallen again, and continued to sleep.

Behind Chen Huihong was Qin Huai, whose eyes were as big as bells.

No matter how weak the sunlight was, it was clearer than the moonlight, enough for Qin Huai to see Hui Niang's face clearly.

This is a standard face of a child who comes from a poor family, is thin, small and dark, and whose facial features have not fully developed due to extreme malnutrition. He cannot be called ugly but is definitely not good-looking.

But Qin Huai was too familiar with this face.

This is Chen Huihui!

When I first saw the child during the day, she still had twin ponytails and was wearing a dress. She was fair and cute, obedient and sensible, lively and cheerful, and sunny. I often dreamed about her being my good child.

This time in her mother's dream, she became a refugee.

Looking at the sleeping refugee mother and daughter, Qin Huai couldn't help but sigh: "This is really..."

"It's a dream of a loving mother and a filial son."

(End of this chapter)