Reunion

Only then did Qin Fang realize that the sky was already bright.

At that moment, besides the three or five men around him, several refugees were staring at him in shock, too.

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From the sturdy men's clothes, Qin Fang immediately realized that they were some of the people from True Martial County assigned to patrol the refugees.

"What are you doing?"

Although Qin Fang had stopped attacking, he quickly sat upright. His gaze steady and wary, he looked at the men surrounding him and asked in a low voice.

"I came over out of the goodness of my heart to check on you! You nearly put a hole in my neck, damn it! Have you gone mad?!"

As he cursed, the man felt at his neck, checking again and again to make sure he wasn't hurt...

That stab had come out of nowhere. If the other man hadn't suddenly opened his eyes and startled him so badly that he instinctively backed away... who knew? The strike might really have landed!

If it had, even the gods couldn't have saved him!

Qin Fang frowned, but before he could say anything, someone beside him spoke up in a low voice. "A lot of people died last night. The county magistrate ordered us to remove the corpses to prevent a major outbreak. We saw you sleeping the whole time, and thought..."

Only then did Qin Fang understand. He instinctively looked into the distance and, sure enough, saw that many people had gathered in the vast square. Some of them were refugees, carrying corpses onto a number of handcarts...

Qin Fang's heart tightened, but then he fell silent.

...Many refugees had died, clearly because their bodies had already reached their limits.

Before entering True Martial County, their will to survive had kept them going.

But after they entered, they'd eaten a full meal and finally let their taut nerves relax... Once their will slackened, their bodies, already pushed to the brink, could no longer hold out and quickly gave way.

It was like those disasters where some people held on for days, lasting until rescuers arrived.

Yet they died just days after being rescued...

It was the same principle.

"Sorry."

Qin Fang realized he'd misunderstood and apologized to the man whose neck he'd nearly stabbed.

The man was still cursing, but those around him pulled him back and quietly tried to calm him down. In the end, his face dark, he stopped saying anything.

"If you have an Identity Plate, you can register over there... There are too many disaster victims this time, and True Martial County doesn't have enough people. Good citizens with an Identity Plate can be temporarily assigned to help settle the refugees... There are benefits, of course... They'll provide basic food and clothing, and treat your injuries."

The man who'd explained things to him looked at Qin Fang's disheveled appearance, then at the wounds on his feet, and spoke.

Afterward, he paid Qin Fang no more attention. He called out to someone and headed off.

A refugee lay collapsed not far away. Someone called to him several times and shoved him a few times, but he didn't respond. They knew he was dead.

They called out, and several refugees accompanying the men came forward. With some effort, they carried the body to a nearby handcart and hauled it away...

Watching them leave, Qin Fang finally let out a long breath.

His racing heartbeat slowly settled.

...It wasn't that his reaction had been unreasonable.

Along the way, he'd seen countless people have their lives taken in their sleep.

Some refugees, unable to bear the hunger in the middle of the night and unwilling to wait for others to die on their own, would take a desperate risk. Under cover of darkness, they'd slit the throats of sleeping refugees and drink their blood...

...People driven mad by hunger were no longer human.

Qin Fang sat for a while, then looked up at the sky. It was already bright, though the temperature hadn't climbed too high yet.

It had gone four months without rain. He had no idea how long this damned weather would last...

He stared silently at the sky, a thoughtful glint in his eyes.

Everything else could wait. The most urgent thing now... was finding a stable place to settle down.

Staying mixed in with the refugees like this clearly wouldn't work.

It wasn't just that he never knew when he'd get his next meal. He was constantly on edge, too...

It was too dangerous.

And the danger didn't come only from the refugees.

Qin Fang hadn't forgotten the group from last night who'd tried to stir the refugees into rebellion...

If he kept mixing in with them, who knew what else he might run into?

Qin Fang had no interest in what they were trying to do.

As long as they didn't drag him into it.

"In ancient times, disaster victims were usually sent back to their original homes... But Jingping County is a thousand li from here... With so many refugees to relocate, they can't arrange carts or horses for everyone. The refugees will have to walk back on their own..."

Qin Fang's eyelids twitched.

A thousand li!

Walk all the way back!

He didn't want to make that journey again!

Getting here had been a brush with death every step of the way. If he had to go back... he wasn't confident he'd make it.

Food alone would be a problem.

The authorities might give you enough rations for a few days at most... After that, you'd have to figure things out yourself.

After all, you couldn't expect them to cover your travel expenses all the way home... True Martial County's finances probably wouldn't stretch that far, either.

Then everything that had happened during the journey here might play out all over again...

Besides, his cheat needed a relatively stable environment to be of any use.

If he was on the road every day... where would he find the time or energy to study martial arts?

...That journey as a refugee had made Qin Fang realize just how important individual martial prowess was in this world.

Right now, he desperately wanted to improve his own strength.

But staying behind probably wouldn't be easy.

This world's limited productivity capped the population each city could support. There couldn't be megacities with tens of millions—or even hundreds of millions—of people, like in his previous life.

And with so many refugees this time, only a minority would be willing to return to their original homes. After all, those who'd fled were probably mostly ordinary people with no food stored at home.

Those with some local influence rarely fled, even in a disaster year like this. Their accumulated reserves were enough to help them weather the calamity.

Only ordinary people with no food at home, and no ability to shoulder the risks, would be forced to flee.

They were penniless either way... What difference did it make where they lived?

So most people would probably want to stay in True Martial County.

But True Martial County couldn't keep all the refugees... It would put enormous pressure on local public order, the economy, social stability, and countless other areas.

It was easy to imagine the impact of tens of thousands of refugees staying behind.

Things were still chaotic, and refugees were still arriving in a steady stream, so the authorities couldn't worry about all that yet.

But once things eased up a little and the disaster passed, they would certainly arrange for people to be sent back.

Otherwise, True Martial County wouldn't be able to feed them...

And the imperial court wouldn't allow the refugees to remain, either.

What about Jingping County and all the other stricken counties and cities?

Their people had fled, leaving nine out of ten homes empty. If no one returned, wouldn't those places become ghost towns?

That clearly wouldn't be acceptable to the imperial court.

At the thought, Qin Fang let out a soft breath, his eyes flickering.

He began seriously considering how he could stay in True Martial County.

Naturally, he thought of the promise made by the people from the True Martial Fist Hall yesterday...

Join the martial hall.

Arrange for him to be registered as a local...

But...

A hundred taels of silver...

His eyes flickered as he gently rubbed the rough wooden stick in his hand.

After a long while, he let out a breath and got to his feet.

He had no shoes on, and stepping directly on the ground with his wounds made him hiss in pain.

Then a sharp pain shot through both legs, nearly making them buckle beneath him.

...His body had reached its limit. He had to find a way to treat himself as soon as possible.

Otherwise...

He looked toward the refugees' bodies being carried away nearby...

A lot of people had died last night.

More would probably die over the next couple of days.

It was because all their various ailments were flaring up at once.

He didn't want to become one of them.

He could only hope his body would hold out...

As he thought, he slowly made his way toward the direction the man had indicated.

If he wanted to stay, he'd naturally have to make contact with the local powers first.

Then he could see if there was a way to remain here...

"Identity Plate."

Beside the square, someone was registering the "good citizens" willing to help settle the refugees.

Qin Fang waited in line for a short while, and then it was his turn. He handed over his Identity Plate.

After another round of verification, the clerk confirmed that the Identity Plate belonged to Qin Fang, nodded, stamped it, and handed it back. "Follow the assignments during this period. Keep your Identity Plate safe; you'll need it later."

"Yes." Qin Fang quickly bowed as he took the Identity Plate, answering respectfully.

The clerk nodded. "Go wait over there. Next..."

Qin Fang put away his Identity Plate and joined the line of refugees the clerk had indicated.

He let out a soft breath, wondering what to do next, when he suddenly froze... because he spotted a familiar face in the crowd.

The man was disheveled, wrapped from head to toe in ragged hemp clothes. He looked no different from the refugees around him.

But Qin Fang's pupils contracted.

There was no mistaking it. He recognized the man... the one who'd blurted out, "Where'd the food come from?" outside the city last night.

Qin Fang's expression darkened.

What terrible luck.

Without the slightest hesitation, he turned and walked away.