Chapter 45 – Cannon-Fodder Old Woman Fleeing Famine (Part 15)

Even though Wang Daya's group had already quickened their pace, the crowd of refugees along the road continued to grow in size.

Among their dozen or so members, most were either elderly, women, or children. There were only three able-bodied young men—making their group stand out like a sore thumb.

That night, someone finally couldn't resist anymore and tried to target them. But the attacker wasn't a fool—he chose to strike in the dead of night, when everything was quiet and still.

Unfortunately for him, Wang Daya spotted them ahead of time. But she didn't deal with it alone.

After all, if she had to handle every danger along the way, wouldn't she just become the full-time nanny for the whole group?

As a few dark figures crept near their donkey cart, trying to steal their food, Wang Daya flicked a small stone, hitting Lin Lao'er (the second son), who had dozed off during his watch.

This guy had zero vigilance. She'd clearly told them earlier to stay alert during the night shift, yet this lazybones had still snuck in a nap. He'd definitely need a good scolding later.

When Lin Lao'er woke up, he was still groggy—until he saw someone nearing the donkey cart. Suddenly, all his sleepiness vanished.

He sprang up, shouting, "Wake up! Get up, quick! There are thieves!"

The whole Lin family jolted awake, grabbing whatever they could as weapons. The adults wielded machetes; the children picked up wooden sticks. They all stared fiercely at the intruders.

The ambushers realized they'd been discovered, but the leader wasn't willing to back down so easily—a fight was inevitable.

At first, the Lin sons hesitated, unsure about using their large knives on people armed with mere sticks. What if they went too far and seriously hurt someone?

But compassion toward your enemies is cruelty to yourself. Seeing her sons faltering, Wang Daya snapped, "What are those in your hands for?! If you don't want to get beaten, then pick up your weapons!"

Now they understood—mercy to thugs meant disaster. They raised their blades and fought back without holding back.

As the saying goes, even a master falls under a flurry of random strikes. Faced with a fierce counterattack, the little bandits were intimidated. Their weapons were inferior—mostly sticks—only the leader had a blade.

That leader, Wang Tianba, glanced over and spotted Wang Daya. A cold smile crept across his face.

He had realized it was this old woman's early warning that had ruined their plan.

So he hatched a wicked idea: If he could capture the old woman, he'd have no trouble taking the food.

But just as he closed in, his foot suddenly slipped, and he fell directly onto the tip of Wang Daya's blade—dead with eyes wide open, shocked by his own pitiful end.

What really happened was this: as soon as Wang Tianba began creeping toward her, Wang Daya sensed it with her psychic ability. And to someone who threatened her family, she would never show mercy. So she sent him straight to the King of Hell.

To everyone else, though, it just looked like the guy had terrible luck—running headfirst into an old lady's knife.

Seeing their boss dead in such a pathetic way, the remaining thugs panicked and fled like startled birds.

Lin Laoda (the eldest son) foolishly tried to give chase, but Wang Daya shouted him back, reminding him how dangerous it was to run off alone.

Though the Lin family technically won the skirmish, all three sons had been hit several times by the bandits' clubs and were bruised and sore. They had to apply medicinal oil to recover.

The children had been shielded in the middle of the group and only got frightened, but were otherwise fine.

Two of the older boys had even managed to land blows with their sticks. They were puffed up with pride, proudly sticking out their chests.

Wang Daya had been monitoring everyone's actions with her psychic sense and was very satisfied with the two boys. She planned to reward them with something later.

She also noticed that Madam Wang had bravely fought back, knocking down several attackers. This raised Wang Daya's opinion of her considerably.

But where there are rewards, there must be punishments.

Wang Daya sternly scolded Lin Lao'er in front of everyone for dozing off during his night watch and sentenced him to watch the next three shichen (six hours) as punishment.

Lin Lao'er accepted it without complaint—he knew he'd been lazy, and if someone hadn't pelted him with that stone, their family might've been in real danger.

As for who had thrown it, Lin Tiezhu believed it must have been the ghost of his late father, watching over them. He even planned to hold a memorial when they settled down.

Luckily, Wang Daya didn't know what he was thinking—otherwise, she'd have given him a good beating to knock some sense into him.

This incident served as a wake-up call for everyone: the world was in chaos. They could never afford to slack off during night watch again.

This time, the enemy came for their food. What if next time they came to take lives? That chilling thought left everyone shaken.

Truth be told, the fight that night had made quite a scene. Plenty of people saw what was happening, but no one stepped in to help.

Some were hoping to swoop in later and take advantage. Others just wanted to stay out of trouble. Some were simply curious and wanted to watch the show.

All understandable reactions—and as long as they didn't make the first move, Wang Daya had no intention of dealing with their selfishness.

The next morning, the surrounding refugees kept their distance from the Lin family. Last night's fight had made an impression. One of the attackers had been killed—no one wanted to mess with that.

No matter what little schemes they had, they could only suppress them for now. After all, things hadn't yet gotten desperate.

But Wang Daya knew very clearly—this was only the beginning. As the drought worsened, situations like this would only increase.

She had considered ditching the donkey cart and pretending to be poor to blend in with the other refugees. But with five kids between her family and Madam Wang's, it was simply impossible not to stand out.

At breakfast, the two boys who had fought bravely each received a piece of pastry as a reward from Wang Daya.

The adults ate their food in silence, unappetizing and dull—only Wang Daya looked fully satisfied, unaffected by last night's incident.

Of course—she had been forged in her first apocalypse world. Something like this? Nothing at all.