Chapter 63 - 63 Be Good and You Can Eat Meat
63 Be Good and You Can Eat Meat
The shackles on their necks seemed to make the wolves very uncomfortable. They shook their necks as if they were trying to get rid of the shackles, but no matter how they struggled, it was to no avail.
“Don’t struggle. You can’t escape. Just be good and walk forward.”
Howl! Howl! The alpha wolf glared at Su Ying furiously.
Su Ying raised her eyebrows and gave a scornful laugh. She tugged on the tow rope, and the wolves howled in pain.
The wild wolves wanted to run elsewhere, but as soon as they moved, the collar locks on their necks would shock them with an electric current, forcing them to return to the group. They could only let Su Ying lead them forward, just like dogs!
The alpha wolf glared at Su Ying furiously. The look in its eyes seemed to reveal it had suffered immense humiliation, but there was nothing it could do.
Su Ying grinned. “Be good and I’ll give you all a taste of meat. Let’s go.”
As she was carrying two injured people, Su Ying’s speed was not fast. Based on her current speed, she should be able to meet up with the group before they reached Yan City’s Western Pass.
In order to speed up the progress, Li Da made the criminals get up before dawn to get ready for the journey.
“My Lord, do you have any water? I haven’t had any water for two days. Please give us some water.”
A criminal crawled up from the ground with difficulty and begged.
“I… I don’t have any water either. My Lord, please give us some water to drink.”
The official said ferociously, “There’s no more water. There’s no more water in the buckets either. If you don’t want to die of thirst in this Gebi Desert, get up and hurry on with your journey.”
“What? No more water?”
The bad news spread among the group members in an instant. It would still take quite a number of days before they reached Yan City’s Western Pass. If they ran out of water now, how were they going to survive?
When Xiao Jin heard the news from the front, he instructed Cheng Ming to tell everyone to protect their water bags. When Su Ying was around, their buckets and water bags were always full. This was likely the only water source left in the entire group.
If the criminals were thirsty and become anxious, no one knew what they would do.
“Yes, Master. I’ll remind everyone to put away their water bags first.”
Xiao Jin nodded. “Don’t start a fire to cook before we arrive at Yan City’s Western Pass. We’ll eat dry food as the main staple.”
They needed water to cook. If anyone saw that they still had water for cooking, they would definitely think that they still had a lot of water in their hands. It could easily give rise to evil intentions.
“Understood.”
Everyone knew that there was no more water in the buckets that the officials were pushing. They could not help but panic. They were worried that they would die of thirst on the way. So for the rest of the journey, even though many people were extremely thirsty, they were unwilling to drink the remaining water in the water bag.
Li Da only had one water bag left. If he followed his usual path, he would not be able to make it to Yan City’s Western Pass at all.
“Old Huang, you’ve walked through the Gebi Desert many times. Do you think that path is feasible?”
The official named Old Huang let out a big breath of air. He was much older than Li Da, and after this trip, he would be able to retire and enjoy his later years. Otherwise, Li Da wouldn’t have been the leader this time, as Old Huang was more familiar with the terrain of the northern wilderness.
“You want to take a shortcut?”
Li Da furrowed his brows. “If we don’t take a shortcut, we’re all going to die. I only have half a bag of water left. It won’t be able to last until our destination.” As he spoke, he reached out to Old Huang’s water bag and shook it. The water inside was even less than his.
“That place is in the center of the sandstorm. We still have to be careful of the quicksand under our feet. Aren’t you afraid of dying there?”
“But if we go by that way, the distance between us and Yan City’s Western Pass can be shortened to less than two days. We can reach our destination in less than two days as long as we keep moving without stopping. We will definitely be able to reach it.”
Old Huang disagreed, however. “The perils of taking a shortcut are much more terrifying than not having water. Don’t be rash. That place is not somewhere you can simply walk out of.”
However, Li Da gritted his teeth and looked at the criminals at the back of the group. He said, “Those people with chains don’t look like they’re easy to deal with. Do you think they’ll let us go if they finish drinking all their water on the way? I won’t be surprised if they kill people and drink their blood to quench their thirst! Whichever way we choose, danger still awaits us, so we might as well take a gamble!”
Old Huang still didn’t agree. He wanted to persuade Li Da again, but Li Da seemed to have made up his mind. He opened the map and pored over it. When the group reached a fork in the road, he headed down the fork without hesitation.
Old Huang looked at the clueless crowd and furrowed his brows tightly. He could only grit his teeth and follow.
The group continued to move forward for a while before Xiao Jin noticed the changes in the environment. There was more sand and stone on the ground here than before, and the wind was a lot stronger.
He called out to the children who were still playing with the oxen and goats to come to the carriage. Even the goats were tied to the side of the carriage with a rope and pulled the carriage along with the oxen. “Uncle Hea, get in the carriage. Ask them to shift their positions so that everyone can get into the carriage.”
Hea Shouyi had traveled extensively and he also realized that something was wrong. He quickly packed his things and got into the carriage behind.
As everyone had gotten on the carriage, the carriage suddenly became crowded.
In the first place, the space was already not wide for Madam Sun and the rest. Now, it became even more narrow.
“Why did you all come into the carriage? Don’t you know your own status?”
“If you don’t like it, then get out.” Hea Shouyi had long disliked Madam Sun. If it were not for Wang Lang’s sake, he would have slapped her long ago.
Madam Sun was not happy to be scolded. She wanted to say something more but was firmly held back by her daughter-in-law, Madam Zhou. “Mother, you should not talk so much.”
Although Madam Zhou felt that it was Xiao Jin’s fault that they had ended up in this state, with things as they were at present, their lives were obviously much better than before when they followed Xiao Jin. She was also content. At least her husband didn’t have to die. However, she was worried that something would happen to Madam Sun sooner or later if she carried on like this.
Madam Sun was not pleased. She raised her hand and slapped Madam Zhou’s face. “It’s not your place to interrupt me, you cheap slut. If you didn’t jinx your husband, would your husband have such bad luck?”
“Mother, that’s enough. If you continue to make a scene, you can get down and walk!” Wang Lang saw that Madam Zhou’s face was red from the slap and became very angry.
“What? I’m doing this for your own good. If I hadn’t come looking for you, you would have been dead.”
Wang Lang frowned. “Don’t talk so much. His Highness and the others don’t owe me anything. I’ve followed His Highness and shared his honor and disgrace. I don’t regret it.”
“You’re so stupid!” When Madam Sun saw that the people in the carriage were all glaring at her angrily, she finally shut up.
All of a sudden, a gust of sand and dust blew over, causing the curtains to rustle. A lot of the sand and dust was blown into the carriage.
Tian Mu tried his best to control the reins so that the oxen and goats would not be blinded by the wind and sand.
However, in the next moment, a sandstorm blanketed the sky and came sweeping in their direction. For a moment, they could not see the group in front of them clearly.
Tian Mu was a little flustered. He couldn’t help but speed up and finally saw Xiao Jin’s carriage.
At this moment, there was a cry of alarm mixed with the howling strong wind in front of the group. Due to the blinding sandstorm, they couldn’t go to the front to check the situation.
Xiao Jin looked at the sandstorm covering the sky. He found a very long rein from the carriage and handed it to Cheng Ming. “Stop the carriage first. Use the rope to tie the two carriages together.”
Cheng Yang then took the reins and jumped off the carriage. In the blink of an eye, his figure disappeared in the sandstorm.