MOF Chapter 97
by VolareThe calamity of the world suddenly descended on a certain day, at a certain moment.
Or rather, it began even earlier. From the rivers starting to lower their water levels, to not seeing a single drop of rain in a month. But people were used to it, thinking it was just a normal spell of weather. Until the rivers dried up, the green mountains collapsed, and the weather turned cold but without a single snowflake.
As far as the eye could see, bare yellow earth slowly appeared. The people began to panic, inviting people everywhere to set up altars to pray for rain, but to no avail.
This year’s spring arrived in such a desperate environment. The weather warmed up, and people hoped for the rejuvenation of all things, but they only waited for three whole months of drought.
During this time, the people sowed seeds on time and dug for water everywhere to irrigate, until the last drop of water could not be dug out.
The crops barely sprouted, and just as they entered the height of summer, they were scorched yellow by the sun. Just as the people were complaining bitterly, even more desperate and tragic things happened.
A group of blood locusts, of unknown origin, spread throughout the Six Cities overnight. Wherever they passed, not a blade of grass grew. All crops and wild plants were eaten and disappeared.
The common people lacked food and water became scarce, so they sought refuge elsewhere. Upon hearing this, the Immortal Sects took out food to support them. However, it was just a drop in the bucket.
These blood locusts were different from ordinary locusts just by their appearance. They were dark brown all over, with blood-red eyes, like two red beans embedded in them. Their bodies were three times the size of ordinary locusts, and their hind legs were strong and powerful, allowing them to jump extremely far.
Not only that, but the blood locusts had tenacious vitality and were agile in their reactions. They could not be caught or killed, and would even actively attack and bite people.
The Immortal Sects dispatched a large number of disciples to eliminate the locusts, but found that these blood locusts were bred by evil spirits who had cultivated into demons. They carried a demonic aura, and it was difficult to completely eliminate them.
In this way, this was not an ordinary locust plague, but a fight between humans and monsters.
In the Six Cities, the people of the various Immortal Sects drove away and eliminated the blood locusts day and night, but the effect was not satisfactory. The number of blood locusts, their speed, and the density of their reproduction were beyond human reach.
This sudden disaster continued, seemingly without end.
Until the city was empty, and almost all the houses had been gnawed by the blood locusts until they were crumbling and uninhabitable. A large number of people in the city moved to the wilderness to find grass roots and bark to fill their stomachs.
In the face of disaster, no one, rich or poor, could escape.
The people who used to be rich enough to rival a city had no food to trade. Guarding the grain at home, they could only face the end of eating away at their wealth. Even with a lot of money, they could not exchange it for a bowl of white rice.
The yellow earth was cracked underfoot, the sunlight was scorching overhead, there were starving people everywhere, and wailing could be heard day and night.
The displaced people were as thin as firewood, digging through the soil in the wilderness. Large groups of displaced people gathered on the land, a dark mass writhing, like a walking swarm of blood locusts.
Nangong Ci encountered the disciples of the Southern Return Heavenly Pavilion while eliminating blood locusts. However, the two sides did not have extra time for pleasantries. After a hurried glance, they each continued to eliminate locusts.
The trees in the mountains and forests were dried up into lines, and occasionally wild rabbits and pheasants ran through. Yan Zhan carried a homemade bow and arrow on his back, and shot an arrow. Hearing a “cluck” sound, he knew he had hit it.
He ran over, picked up the pheasant, licked his lips, and said excitedly: “What a fat one! A Luo, prepare to make a fire!”
Wei Luo carried a bamboo basket filled with firewood on her back, and said with a smile: “Yan Zhan brother, I’m coming.”
She had been following Yan Zhan for a year. Her once sharp and thin face was now round like a pearl, her skin was as white as snow with a hint of red, and a pair of cherry lips opened and closed under her delicate nose, revealing a neat row of silver teeth.
Wei Luo was already skilled at making fire. After arranging the firewood, she quickly ignited it with a fire starter, then gently blew under the firewood to make the fire burn steadily.
Her snowy wrist condensed, and a silver bracelet lightly swayed on her wrist. When Yan Zhan came over, Wei Luo had already put away the fire starter.
The roasted chicken gradually gave off a fragrance. Yan Zhan turned the branches, constantly teasing Wei Luo, listening to her burst of silver bell-like laughter.
“Yan Zhan brother, it seems to be cooked!” Wei Luo’s nose moved. Although she said it seemed like it, she was already pinching the chicken leg and pulling it out.
“Be careful it’s hot.” Yan Zhan looked at her greedy cat appearance, and couldn’t help but smile.
Wei Luo held up the chicken leg and handed it to him: “Yan Zhan brother, you eat first.”
Yan Zhan did not stand on ceremony, and directly leaned over and bit the chicken leg.
Halfway through eating, the ground suddenly shook, as if some behemoth was running and approaching. Yan Zhan immediately stood up and protected Wei Luo behind him.
What came into view first was a group of disheveled and dirty displaced people, wishing they could fly over on all fours.
Their faces were like hungry wolves, their eyes shot out green light, and they rushed straight towards the roasted pheasant on the fire.
“Eh!” Wei Luo was frightened and squeezed Yan Zhan’s clothes tightly. Seeing them pounce on the fire, she couldn’t help but remind them.
However, no one paid attention to her. More than a dozen displaced people surrounded the roasted pheasant, tearing at it with their mouths. The scene was like a group of dogs biting each other, each unwilling to lose.
Until there was not even bone residue left, the displaced people gradually calmed down.
They finally realized that there were other people beside them, especially Yan Zhan, who had a sword hanging from his waist and a bow on his back. He looked like a martial artist.
Now food was life, was heaven. They had snatched this young man’s food, and might lose their lives because of it.
No one wanted to die. The displaced people knelt on the ground in unison, kowtowing incessantly.
“Hero, spare our lives!”
“Hero, let us go, we are really too hungry!”
“Please, adults don’t remember the faults of villains, spare us a way to live!”
Yan Zhan frowned as he listened. When these people were fighting for food just now, they were clearly killing each other and not recognizing their relatives. How come they are saying “we” now?
He carefully observed these people, seeing that there were both men and women, old people and babies. Although they were of different ages, they were all skinny.
Yan Zhan naturally knew why. Now everyone was talking about the disaster, and he and Wei Luo had traveled north and south, wandering aimlessly, and had encountered blood locusts several times.
But he was still a little unhappy. In the face of natural disasters, all beings are suffering, and this food was also hard-won.
Wei Luo looked at his expression and quietly tugged at his sleeve: “Yan Zhan brother, let’s go.”
The group of displaced people saw that they were about to leave, exchanged glances with each other, and one of them stood up and said: “Hero, please stay!”
Yan Zhan turned his head impatiently.
“Hero can hunt wild game in this situation, it is really extraordinary and beyond the reach of ordinary people…”
Yan Zhan frowned and directly interrupted him: “What do you want to say?”
At this time, the baby in the woman’s arms suddenly cried dryly, and this cry could not be stopped.
The displaced person took the opportunity to say: “Please, hero, help us and find some food for us. Really… can’t find anything to eat! Look at this child, from birth to now, hasn’t had a good day, and follows us around all day…”
“I’m not the child’s father.” Yan Zhan sneered, folded his arms, and said ruthlessly and unrighteously, “Are you going to die, and still want to get something for nothing?”
These words did not make the displaced person show half a bit of shame on his face, and the others also did not change their expressions. After this period of torment, they had long lost some of the things that should have existed.
Yan Zhan looked at Wei Luo, and the latter understood and nodded. The two turned around and left, unwilling to pay attention to this group of people.
However, no matter where they went, this group of displaced people followed them, and several of them died of starvation along the way. Yan Zhan was really unbearable, and sometimes gave them extra food.
Just consider it accumulating virtue and doing good deeds. Yan Zhan thought to himself.
After enduring the scorching sun, the temperature was much cooler, but there was still no rain.
Food became more and more difficult to find, and they were often attacked by blood locusts. Sometimes, Yan Zhan and Wei Luo didn’t even have anything to eat all day, let alone the displaced people who had been following them.
This day, Yan Zhan and Wei Luo found a cave, which not only provided shelter from the wind and rain, but also had firewood and a stove, probably left by the people who lived there before. They took a temporary rest in the cave, and the displaced people followed and entered one after another.
Yan Zhan hadn’t found much food these days, just enough for Wei Luo to take a few bites to fill her stomach. Because he was worried about Wei Luo’s safety, he would not go to very far places to forage for food.
But with the hunger pangs tormenting him, this was not a solution. Yan Zhan saw the displaced people sitting or lying on the ground, like corpses, and thought of the swarms of locusts outside, so he said: “Are you willing to go out with me to catch locusts? Catch them and roast them to eat.”
Although the proposal was good, the displaced people were now dizzy with hunger, how could they have the strength to fight wits and courage with the locusts? So they waved their hands and said: “Hero, those locusts don’t look like ordinary locusts at all. We are unarmed, how can we catch them?”
Yan Zhan snorted coldly at their lack of ambition.
The flames baked the mud, and the displaced people stuffed the baked soil into their mouths as rice. Yan Zhan had never seen this kind of eating method before. He wanted to stop them, but he felt a deep sense of powerlessness.
“Ouch, my stomach!”
Suddenly, someone cried out in pain, clutching his stomach and rolling on the ground.
“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! It hurts me to death!”
The remaining displaced people turned a blind eye to this, only burying their heads in eating the soil. Yan Zhan couldn’t stand it anymore, and stepped forward to ask the man: “What’s wrong with you?”
The displaced person on the ground did not have time to answer, and died of pain in front of Yan Zhan.
The young man’s face was shocked. The sun was shining brightly outside, but his back was cold, and he subconsciously took two steps back.
Wei Luo walked over, her face whiter than snow, and said in a low voice: “He, he seems to be dead.”
Yan Zhan nodded with a complicated expression. The displaced person twisted his face in pain before he died, his facial features were distorted, and he died with his eyes wide open. He met those protruding eyes, and suddenly felt a little panic in his heart.
He couldn’t help but think: Will he and Wei Luo end up in this situation in the end?
“Don’t worry, Yan Zhan brother.” Wei Luo patted him on the back, “We will definitely live well. Don’t forget that you promised me that you will accompany me to release sky lanterns every year.”
Yan Zhan squeezed out a little smile, his eyes gradually firm: “A Luo, today, I will go to a farther place to find food. You stay here obediently and wait for me to come back, okay?”
“Yeah!” Wei Luo understood his intention and nodded, “I won’t run around, Yan Zhan brother.”
Yan Zhan left a dagger for Wei Luo, turned and walked outside.
Wei Luo sat at the entrance of the cave, propped her cheeks and watched Yan Zhan go away. Even when she could no longer see the young man’s figure, she still stared in that direction blankly.