Chapter 42 – Cannon-Fodder Old Woman Fleeing Famine (Part 12)

That night was anything but peaceful. After finishing her hour of night watch, Wang Daya didn't go to sleep. Instead, she quietly used her psychic ability to monitor the surroundings.

Just when she started to think she was being paranoid, she noticed movement on a nearby hillside — several shadowy figures were heading in the direction they had come from.

Pitch-black night, an unidentified group of people — no matter how you looked at it, something was clearly wrong.

Wang Daya immediately roused her sleeping family and quietly signaled her eldest son, who was currently on watch. The family quickly extinguished their campfire with dirt, then pulled the donkey cart and hurried into the nearby forest to hide.

At first, the Lin family was skeptical — they thought perhaps Wang Daya's old eyes had deceived her.

But a quarter of an hour later, screams of terror echoed in the distance, accompanied by the distinct clash of swords. The whole family went deathly silent, not daring to make a sound.

As it turned out, a group of bandits had seen Master Wang's caravan earlier that day during their patrol. Coveting the wealth, they had plotted to launch a raid under the cover of night.

These bandits were criminals fleeing from surrounding provinces, each with blood on their hands. In a famine year like this, they wouldn't let a fat sheep like that slip through their fingers.

When the ambush began, Madam Wang was relieving herself with her two children in the woods. The moment she heard the sounds of battle, she realized something was terribly wrong and immediately hid deeper in the forest with her children.

Master Wang had brought many attendants, but most were maids and footboys, with fewer than ten actual guards. In the face of brutal, well-armed bandits, the caravan fell like a flock of sheep before wolves. The group was quickly overwhelmed, and what followed was a blood-soaked slaughter.

The bandits didn't kill the young women; they knocked them out instead — not out of mercy, but because they needed "comfort women" in their mountain stronghold. They were already bored with the last batch.

At the moment of the attack, Master Wang was mid-tryst with his newly favored concubine, Concubine Qin. When he heard the clashing blades, he literally wet himself in fear.

Seeing his pathetic state, Concubine Qin was filled with disgust. If this fool wasn't rich — and if her former lover had enough money to buy her freedom — she'd never have chosen a worthless backup like Master Wang.

When the screams finally stopped and the blood-soaked earth glistened eerily under the moonlight, the scene was downright chilling in the remote wilderness.

The bandit leader, a one-eyed man called Cyclops, surveyed the carnage and immediately ordered his men to haul away all the loot and women. His men cheered and began tallying up the spoils.

When they reached Master Wang and Concubine Qin, one bandit realized these two were of higher status and brought them directly to Cyclops. But when Cyclops saw the naked, urine-soaked, bloated body of Master Wang, he was instantly repulsed.

His subordinate, knowing what to do, plunged a blade into Master Wang's heart without hesitation. As for the pale and delicate Concubine Qin, Cyclops took a liking to her immediately.

This woman had been flirting with him since the moment she was dragged in. Cyclops knew what this little fox was after — but with a body like hers, he didn't care that she was "used goods." He preferred this type, because they lasted longer and were more fun to toy with.

At this moment, Concubine Qin had only one thought — survival.

She was a woman who knew how to assess the situation and use her beauty. Once, she had bewitched Master Wang into buying out his other concubines just for her. Now, she was ready to trade her body for her life once more.

So, with Concubine Qin in his arms and his underlings in tow, Cyclops swaggered back toward the mountain stronghold with his haul.

Although the bandits had gone, Madam Wang and her children remained frozen, not daring to move.

Sure enough, a short while later, another bandit underling returned, scouring the area to confirm there were no survivors before quickly running to catch up with the others.

Watching this, Madam Wang finally let out a long, silent sigh of relief. They had lost their possessions, but her children were alive, and she still had money on her. They would rise again.

Madam Wang was no fool. When they first fled the city, she had exchanged all her personal savings into high-value money drafts and kept them hidden on her person. Even her children's clothing linings had gold leaves sewn inside.

She had done all this because she knew her husband was unreliable. If it hadn't been for her capable older brother, that heartless man would've discarded her long ago.

Even though the bandits were gone, Madam Wang and her children still didn't dare come out. They huddled together, waiting silently for daylight to arrive.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the woods, the Lin family also didn't dare sleep. The memory of those screams still echoed in their minds, and now the only sounds were the eerie chirping of cicadas, which made the contrast all the more chilling.

That night, aside from the children who had already fallen asleep earlier, none of the adults in the Lin family closed their eyes. They each clutched their machetes tightly, staying alert until dawn.