In a Great Famine, People Ate Each Other

At dusk that day, the carriage reached the outskirts of a deserted village.

Ahead, they suddenly saw more than a dozen refugees gathered together. Dressed in rags and emaciated to the bone, they whispered among themselves, their murmurs mixed with faint sobbing.

Zu Hao's thoughts stirred. He extended his spiritual sense into the distance, and his face immediately darkened.

Several grimy-looking men were pinning down a dying woman. Beside them stood a battered pot, its water already boiling and steaming.

Clearly, they were about to commit the atrocity of choosing someone to eat.

Zu Hao frowned tightly, his heart roiling, yet he did not intervene.

In these troubled times, human lives were as worthless as grass. He knew he was no saint; he could not save all the suffering in the world.

As the carriage drew closer, Zhang Wuji saw what was happening and heard the woman's mournful cries. His face went pale as he grabbed the reins. "Brother Zu, they... they're going to..."

His voice trembled, and he could barely form a complete sentence.

Zhang Wuji was about to leap down from the carriage to stop them, but Zu Hao held him back.

"Brother Zu?"

Zhang Wuji turned around in stunned disbelief, his eyes full of confusion. "Are you really going to stand by and watch someone die?"

Zu Hao looked at him, his voice cold. "How would you save her? By killing those refugees?"

"Just drive them away!" Zhang Wuji replied as if it were obvious. "How can we watch them eat someone?"

"And then?"

Zu Hao's gaze was piercing. "Look at them. They're nothing but skin and bones. If we spare that woman, how many more days can they live? Would you save one person and kill several, or kill one person and save several?"

Zhang Wuji froze, then blurted out, "We can give them some dry rations..."

Before he could finish, Zu Hao sneered. "Your compassion is certainly generous."

His eyes swept over the desolate fields around them. "Do you know how many disaster victims there are in all of Fengyang Prefecture?"

"The moment we reveal our food, these people will swarm us like locusts."

"By then, forget the dry rations. Even the horse pulling this carriage—and us—might be torn apart and eaten alive!"

His tone sharpened. "Even if they cannot harm us, if you give away our food, what will we eat for the next several hundred miles?"

"Do you want our whole group to starve to death, or end up like them, choosing people to eat?"

Zu Hao still had quite a bit of spare food in his storage space, but before so many disaster victims, it would be no more than a drop in the ocean.

Zhang Wuji looked as though he had been struck by lightning. His face turned deathly pale, his lips trembling, but he could not say another word.

Zu Hao's words were cruel, but realistic. They shattered Zhang Wuji's last trace of innocence.

Yang Buhui, Zhou Zhiruo, and Yin Li heard everything clearly inside the carriage. Their faces were pale as well, and they huddled tightly together.

Zu Hao said coldly, "Wuji, put away that savior complex. You cannot save everyone. Learn to let go of the urge to help others and respect their fate."

"When it is within your ability, there is nothing wrong with saving people. But in a situation like this, you must first protect yourself. Otherwise, you will only harm others and yourself."

"Brother Zu, you're right. Wuji was wrong, it's just..."

Zhang Wuji's heart was simply too soft. He could not bear to witness such a tragedy, and he felt terrible.

His eyes reddened, but he forced himself not to let the tears fall.

Zu Hao felt no better, but this was the way of the world now. He could only take care of those around him.

He patted Zhang Wuji on the shoulder, his tone softening slightly. "Remember this feeling. If you get the chance in the future, keep the people of the world in mind. Do not let a moment of softheartedness lead to a great disaster instead."

At that moment, the refugees noticed the passing carriage.

A terrifying green gleam suddenly lit in several of their eyes. Like starving wolves that had caught the scent of blood, they abandoned the woman and staggered toward them!

The first man bared his teeth in a hoarse laugh, staring at Zu Hao's face as he muttered, "Good... such a pretty child... the meat must be tender..."

Another held a sharpened wooden stake, drool streaming from his mouth. "Tender skin and soft flesh. Stew, stew is best!"

Others stared greedily at the horse. "Kill the horse. It'll feed us for half a month."

Someone else caught sight of Yang Buhui, Zhou Zhiruo, and Yin Li inside the carriage, his voice trembling. "And three little girls! What luck! What incredible luck!"

Zhang Wuji had never seen such a scene before. Shocked and enraged, he shouted, "Are you still human? How can you commit such beastly acts? Aren't you afraid of divine punishment?"

The leading man spat, his face twisting as he roared, "Heaven? Heaven went blind long ago! We haven't had a grain of rice in three months! We've gnawed all the tree bark clean! If we don't eat people, what do we eat? Dirt?!"

As he spoke, he raised the dagger in his hand and charged forward.

"You truly are pitiful, but you should not have set your sights on us."

Zu Hao sighed, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

The Three-Edged Sword left its sheath, gleaming with icy light beneath the setting sun.

A cold flash streaked through the air like lightning. In an instant, the necks of the charging men were cut open, and they fell to the ground, dead.

Those behind them who had wanted a taste of flesh were killed as well.

Zu Hao had not wanted to act at first, but some people insisted on seeking death.

Sheathing his sword, Zu Hao looked at the battered pot of boiling water and the bound woman on the ground. He casually threw the dagger from the ground, cutting through the ropes around her body, then said heavily, "Go."

As for how long the woman could survive, that depended on her own fate.

The carriage continued onward. Only after they had gone far from the deserted village did they stop to rest beneath a secluded slope.

Night fell. The land was silent, save for the wind's mournful howling, like someone weeping and lamenting.

Beside the campfire, the atmosphere was quiet.

Zhang Wuji sat by the fire with his arms around his knees, staring blankly at the dancing flames.

Zhou Zhiruo and Yin Li leaned tightly against one another, their faces still pale.

Zu Hao silently turned the flatbread roasting over the fire.

"Brother Zu,"

After a long while, Zhang Wuji finally spoke, his voice hoarse. "Those people... did they truly deserve to die?"

Zu Hao did not answer at once.

He distributed the roasted flatbread among them before speaking slowly. "In troubled times, life and death often hinge on a single thought."

"They chose to eat people to survive. I chose to kill in self-defense. Neither choice was wrong; we simply stood on different sides."

Zu Hao looked toward the pitch-black wilderness in the distance. "In this world, there has long been no right or wrong. There is only survival and death."

Zhou Zhiruo said softly, "But... those people looked so pitiful..."

"Pitiful people also have hateful sides."

Zu Hao's tone was cold. "If we had lacked strength today, we would already have become meat in that pot."

"In troubled times, a compassionate heart is certainly precious. But without matching strength and resolve, it is nothing more than seeking death."

Yin Li asked quietly, "Then in the future... will we encounter things like this again?"

Zu Hao fell silent for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Only more of them."

His gaze swept across their four pale faces. "You must remember today's lesson. In these troubled times, you must first learn how to survive. Only then can you speak of anything else."

Late that night, the four children fell asleep one after another.

Zu Hao kept watch alone, gazing at the stars filling the sky, his thoughts churning.

"Perhaps... I can do something for this world!"

Zu Hao looked into his storage space. One section contained some fruits and vegetables.

There were potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, and peanuts. If people planted them, perhaps famine could be reduced.

But Zu Hao did not have that much time or patience. He needed to find someone reliable, and Zhang Wuji seemed like a good choice.