Chapter 51 – Cannon-Fodder Old Woman Fleeing Famine (Part 21)

The moment Wang Daya received the notification about the binding of a trading system, her original system immediately followed up with a warning:

"Host, an unidentified wild system has attempted to bind to you. You now have two options.First, allow it to bind—however, this will unbind your current Quick Transmigration System, and you will be permanently stranded in this world.Second, spend 10,000 points to allow me to fuse with the wild system. After the fusion, you can continue to use its features in future worlds. However, the outcome of the fusion is uncertain. Please choose carefully."

Wang Daya didn't hesitate and instantly chose the second option—allowing her own system to fuse with the new one.

She had always been clear about her ultimate goal:She had bound herself to the Quick Transmigration System for the sake of resurrection.If she unbound from it now, she would be trapped in this world forever as Wang Daya, and never be able to return to her true self, Lin Qingxue—something she could never accept.

As for the trading system, Wang Daya strongly suspected it was the one previously used by Qian Lan.It was far too uncertain—it had unbound itself from Qian Lan, which clearly indicated that it had the ability to sever ties unilaterally.

And since Qian Lan was unlikely to have willingly given up such a powerful system, the only explanation was that it had chosen to leave on its own.

Wang Daya was someone who understood how to weigh pros and cons.She wouldn't trade a watermelon for a sesame seed—she wasn't that foolish.

About an hour later, the system chimed again:

"Congratulations, Host. A new module has been added—System Mall.This feature will unlock once your point balance reaches 100,000. Please look forward to it."

From this, Wang Daya understood:After deducting the 10,000 points she had just spent, she still had 80,000 remaining—which wasn't enough to unlock the new mall feature yet.

In short, she had gained another golden finger in this world, though it was still locked away for now. Whether it was a blessing or a curse, she'd have to wait until this mission ended to find out.

That night, Wang Daya felt a bit excited—after all, she'd just gotten her hands on something valuable.

But as soon as she remembered her notoriously bad luck, her excitement cooled.It was highly likely that this wasn't the original version of the system at all, and there might be hidden traps lurking inside.

Still, since the future was uncertain, there was no point overthinking it.Whatever came, she'd face it head-on.With tomorrow's journey ahead, Wang Daya eventually fell asleep.

That same night, things inside Anyang City were anything but calm.

More and more citizens began showing symptoms like foaming at the mouth.

Panic quickly spread within the city, and the townspeople began to intensely resent the refugees outside, blaming them for bringing the plague to their gates.

But the truth was, the rats of Anyang had eaten the corpses of plague victims outside the city.The disease had entered the city via rodents, not people.

In other words, the plague could spread not only from person to person—but also through animals.

From this perspective, the citizens of Anyang weren't entirely wrong:There was indeed a tangled connection between the internal outbreak and the presence of those outside the gates.

Meanwhile, the city officials were not fools.Upon receiving the reports, they quickly organized isolation zones and summoned doctors to treat the sick.

However, there were always people who chose to hide their symptoms, convinced they were fine and distrustful of the authorities—opting to stay secretly at home.

In the end, because of human selfishness and denial, combined with the limited medical skills of the time, Anyang fell to the plague.

Most of the city's population was lost—a ghost town, nearly emptied out.

When disaster strikes, if the people can't unite, the end result is always tragedy.

These events were only known to Wang Daya and her group later on, when they encountered refugees who had escaped from Anyang.

The next morning, the Lin family woke up early, quickly ate a rough breakfast, and began preparing to depart according to their new route.

Because they had to detour around Anyang, they'd need to travel for two extra days, but there was no other choice.

Along the way, many people tried to join their group, but Wang Daya turned them all down.She didn't care if they were elderly grandparents with small children, or helpless women—she showed no mercy or compassion.

Because she knew these people posed too many unknown risks.Some might be carrying the plague, and she had neither the ability nor obligation to help that many people.

Her decision was met with unanimous support from the group.After surviving this long and hard journey, they all understood—strangers should not be allowed in.

As for Madam Wang and her companions, they had only been accepted earlier due to pure luck.If they had tried to join now—even their high status wouldn't have swayed Wang Daya.

Another two weeks passed.

After long and tiring travel, they finally arrived at the southern region of Jiangnan.But due to the plague, the northerners fleeing famine were still turned away.

Fortunately, Wang Daya already had a plan:They would wait until nightfall, then arrange a private meeting between Madam Wang and the city's gate officials.