Disaster Apocalypse: Farming, Family, and My Hidden Secret Space
Chapter 296. Pitiful

Chapter 296: 296. Pitiful

Little Four: "..."

Old Man Hua squinted with his uniquely narrow eyes and curiously looked on, his hand constantly stroking his goatee.

Honestly, it’s like a magic trick; in no time at all, the person looks completely different.

The important thing is that it looks very natural; you can’t see any traces of disguise at all.

This is impressive; the old man looked at his dear granddaughter with admiration.

No wonder she’s his beloved granddaughter, Old Man Hua couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride.

Meanwhile, when they finished tidying up, Hua Qiang and his group gathered outside the dilapidated courtyard wall of the Hua family.

"Village chief uncle."

"Coming," Old Man Hua quickly responded, taking the two children and walking out briskly.

"Village chief uncle, are we leaving...?" The word ’leaving’ was just on his lips when he paused, his gaze falling on Hua Jin and Hua Yunsi before he forgot what he was going to say next, circling the two children with great interest.

"Village chief uncle, how did this happen? In one night, the two kids seem like different people. This is good, this is good, now we don’t have to worry about the two kids standing out too much."

When they set out and saw the village chief’s precious granddaughter and little grandson coming along, to be honest, they were really quite worried.

The children from the village chief’s family all grew up so outstanding, one more impressive than the other, especially the only girl — exquisite and beautiful, as if all the family’s best traits were concentrated in this child, just watching her was delightful.

Admiration aside, to be honest, it would be better if the girl looked more ordinary, safer, and less likely to attract attention. Especially children from poor families, being too good-looking is not always a blessing. If you can’t protect them, it becomes a disaster.

Thankfully, their village is relatively secluded; the little girl doesn’t go out often, and being the village chief’s child with two outstanding brothers, there’s nothing to worry about.

If it weren’t for this great disaster, one could imagine how many people would be breaking the threshold of the village chief’s house.

Now, dressing like this and putting on oversized, worn-out clothes, in their eyes, they look like two poor teenagers suffering life’s hardships.

Indeed, to make things easier, Hua Jin had transformed herself into a boy’s appearance.

Seeing everyone’s reaction, Hua Jin was quite pleased. It had been a long time since she last practiced, but it seemed her makeup skills hadn’t rusted.

Old Man Hua saw that everyone was present, asked if they had all eaten, and upon knowing they had, announced the departure.

From Hua Village, walking on two legs to Shanggu Town would usually take over an hour, but considering the scorching sun overhead, the heat suggested it would take even longer.

He instructed everyone to carry the water they brought down from the mountain. Led by Hua Qiang and Hua Rong, the group quickly headed out of the village towards the town.

For the first half hour, they didn’t see a trace of life, although along the way they discovered many corpses, either fully or partially decayed.

... both animal and human.

Having seen many, their initial reactions were strong but they gradually became calm about it.

Without exception, the corpses they encountered would be buried in the ground.

This was partly to allow them a peaceful rest and to prevent air pollution by the bacteria and viruses produced by high-temperature decomposition incidents, along with the flies, maggots, and rodents attracted by the rotting flesh.

Old Man Hua didn’t exactly understand what bacteria were, as his granddaughter mentioned, but he understood the gist that it was not good stuff.

This slowed their already slow pace even further. More than half an hour of stop-and-go walking had only covered under thirty percent of the way when they encountered the first ruined village.

To say it’s ruined is actually quite understated; this village’s houses were almost completely collapsed, the few remaining ones were just some broken stones and walls, not even forming a complete outline. Small makeshift huts were vaguely visible behind the broken walls, with slight shadows moving within them, indicating to the people from Hua Village that there were indeed living people here.

Initially thinking their village was quite miserable, encountering the once-great Daliu Village, they felt a peculiar emotion rising; suddenly, they didn’t feel as sad anymore.

After all, their village was on good terrain, not only being high up but also surrounded by numerous forests, which greatly mitigated the impact of the flood. Some homes were completely washed away, but most houses in the village still retained their outlines.

Seeing this, the people from Hua Village exchanged glances: indeed, their village wasn’t the worst off.

As they observed Daliu Village, the people inside also noticed them.

A team of several dozen men of working age was hard not to notice.

Seeing so many people suddenly appear, the women and children left in the village, along with a few remaining men, all scurried into what they considered safe spaces — the huts that had just been built a few days ago — like a flock of startled birds.

The men nervously peered through the gaps in their tents, watching the distant official road. They feared the group of demons from the mountains had arrived, their hoes shaking uncontrollably in their hands.

The village chief, along with the remaining able-bodied men, had gone to the town, and that group had blocked the only road out of the village, leaving them extremely anxious.

Luckily, although these people stopped and observed for a while, they didn’t seem to intend to come in, leaving shortly after, which made the villagers breathe a sigh of relief, realizing they were drenched in cold sweat.

How could they not be afraid? With only a few of them and a dozen or so women and children, they couldn’t stand up to those people. Fortunately, this group wasn’t interested in them or didn’t notice them at all, giving them a chance to relax.

The people from Hua Village left at Old Man Hua’s shout.

If they didn’t have other pressing matters, they really wanted to check out the village and ask about the current situation in the town.

Hua Jin turned to take one last look at this village, which could be called ruins, clearly seeing in her spiritual power the men, women, and children huddled in their tents.

They were all very thin, even more so than when Mr. Zhao and Uncle Wei arrived, illustrating how difficult their lives were.

When they discovered their group, their faces were filled with fear, as if they had seen some devastating flood, only relaxing after they left.

Clearly, they had experienced many terrifying events; otherwise, they wouldn’t be so jumpy, so terrified, so defensive of strangers.

"What’s wrong?" Old Man Hua asked, noticing his granddaughter had turned her head.

"Nothing..." Hua Jin shook her head, "I just think the people inside are really pitiful."

"Kids shouldn’t overthink this; natural disasters are beyond our control. Just surviving is already a blessing. They are pitiful, but so are many others, and we can’t help everyone."

If it weren’t for the fact that they had their dear granddaughter, Hua Village might have shared the same sorry fate, perhaps struggling to survive like the countless Daliu Villages.

Thankfully, the heavens hadn’t completely abandoned them, granting them a few months of a buffer period. As long as seeds were planted, there was still hope for survival.

"Grandpa, when we return, I want to give them some food." Hua Jin’s clear eyes looked firmly at Old Man Hua.

It wasn’t a request; her gaze was exceptionally resolute, she felt those children were just too pitiful.