CHAPTER 94: CHAPTER 94: WILD BOARS, THE CULPRITS BEHIND THE DESERTED MOUNTAIN’S CALAMITY

While everyone was diligently farming, many exiles noticed something unusual about the crops in the fields.

Their vegetables were being visited by wild animals!

Though the cabbages in the fields didn’t look great and tasted bad, being dry and hard to eat,

it was still their own cabbage!

The cabbages they had worked so hard to grow.

With cabbages, they had hope, they could survive.

They were weak and didn’t know how to hunt.

If even the cabbages were eaten up by pigs, what hope was left for their lives?

Some people even suspected human involvement, as people these days...

When starved, would eat anything and could disguise as wild animals.

So, some people guarding their crops squatted quietly by the fields, waiting for the "culprit" to fall into their trap.

But when the "culprit" came, they didn’t dare act.

It was a wild boar.

Several wild boars, each strong and hefty, looking truly terrifying.

If it was squirrels or birds, everyone could still try to chase them away.

But these wild boars, they didn’t have the capability to chase away.

It’s not they didn’t envy the third house who could raise wild boars, but what was their combat power compared to that?

Forget about fighting wild boars; facing them would already be a death sentence.

Thinking of this, everyone cried out in despair, hating the unfairness of fate.

Why, when they finally found hope to live, were their hopes cruelly extinguished again?

Shu’er was tidying her fruit trees in the yard; these saplings were growing well, much better than the vegetables outside.

Clearly the worst land, but because of the black soil, it became the best land.

Of course, the third house’s other lands were also quite good because Shu’er had occasionally sprinkled Spiritual Spring Water before, so the vegetables grew well too.

They jumped from being inferior land to medium-grade land.

Compared to the other withered vegetables, the difference was stark, and the others were very envious.

At this moment, Yinxing hurriedly came over, speaking urgently to Shu’er.

"Miss, bad news, I heard that at the east end of the Deserted Mountain, wild boars are eating cabbages, and we also have land there, I’m afraid it might be affected too."

Shu’er immediately picked up a shovel and wooden stick as she walked off, asking,

"When did this start?"

She hadn’t heard of this before, so it must have happened recently.

Yinxing replied, "I heard it was just in the past few days. People didn’t notice initially, since the crops there weren’t good, and it wasn’t obvious at first."

"By the time they noticed, a quarter had already been eaten."

Tang Zan said, "I’ll go with you."

He said, slinging on a homemade bow and arrow, following the two to the fields.

Not yet reaching the place, they could hear a woman’s cries from afar.

"Damn wild boars, just when we finally had some grain, now it’s all eaten, such a sin."

There was also a man, eyes red with anger, "More than a month’s effort, all ruined by those wild boars. No, I can’t swallow this; if I don’t kill and eat these beasts, I won’t stand it."

Saying so, he picked up a homemade stone hoe, intending to fight the wild boars in the mountains.

A girl hugged the man’s waist, tears streaming down her face.

"Dad, don’t go, just three or five wild boars, even if you go alone, there’s no way you can handle them, forget it, if the vegetables are gone, we’ll just plant again."

The man looked at his emaciated family, the children near starvation, and slammed the hoe heavily on the ground, bowing his head and wailing.

His spirit seemed utterly crushed.

The surrounding people resonated with despair, eyes full of hopelessness and sorrow.

They knew, if the wild boars weren’t dealt with, the fate of these people today would be theirs tomorrow.

Unlike others’ sadness and despair, the third house people had bright eyes upon hearing about the wild boars.

These were wild boars, and several of them!

If they succeeded in breeding them, how many piglets could they have?

The exiles suffered so because they lacked martial power.

But the third house was different, due to Tang Zan’s special status.

Everyone with combat power had recently joined the third house.

So, the third house almost represented the highest martial power of the Deserted Mountain.

Now it was already dark, not the best time to enter the mountain for wild boars, so everyone decided to wait until the next morning.

At night, Shu’er had just finished bathing and was about to sleep.

Suddenly she heard cries, wailing, and calls for help outside.

She quickly opened the door, holding a large knife.

As she opened her door, Tang Zan also opened his, their eyes meeting.

Tang Zan’s gaze lingered a moment on the water-dropping tips of Shu’er’s hair, his eyes deepened.

"Let’s go."

Shu’er hadn’t realized Tang Zan’s "let’s go" wasn’t the same as what she’d envisioned, as he scooped her up sideways.

Then Tang Zan used Qinggong, quickly taking her to the scene of the incident.

During the journey, Shu’er clung desperately to Tang Zan’s neck to avoid falling off.

She could even hear her heart pounding, truly beating a bit too fast.

Tang Zan smiled, his lowered eyelashes revealing soft black eyes.

The closer they got to the scene, the more distinct the screams and cries became.

Shu’er looked up, witnessing the current tragedy.

It was like hell on earth.

Five wild boars charged madly at the crowd, their long tusks aimed at people.

Anyone hit was knocked down, blood and flesh flying, screams unending.

People outside the crowd scattered, no one dared approach.

Because those who went, all got injured and fell like ragdolls, their fate unknown.

Many shouted for their parents, cries shaking the sky.

With such a fierce assault by the wild boars and so many of them, everyone had no choice but to run.

Seeing the third house people, everyone’s eyes first lit up with hope, then dimmed when realizing only Shu’er and Tang Zan were there.

It wasn’t that the two weren’t capable, but two alone were far from enough to deal with such fierce creatures as wild boars.

As Shu’er and Tang Zan intended to step forward, Tang Peiyi, worried, eyes red, exclaimed,

"Zan’er, Shu’er, don’t go, it’s too dangerous."

Tang Peixiao also urgently said, "Think of your mother, think of your siblings in the third house."

Others dared not speak, but they too felt that if they went, the result would likely be an injured and maimed end.

Shu’er took a sip of Spiritual Spring Water, drawing her sword.

"No worries, we’ll handle it."

Ma hesitated before sighing.

Her eyes red, she touched Tang Tuo’s arm, tears falling uncontrollably.

Their Tuo, being too brave, had charged at the wild boars and been impaled through the arm by their tusks.

Luckily, they rescued him in time, otherwise, he might be dead now.

As Shu’er was about to step forward, Tang Tuo spoke up, his eyes full of concern.

"Brother Zan, sister-in-law, don’t go, it’s too dangerous, I’m an example."

But how could they not go, with so many people?

If they let the wild boars run rampant, there wouldn’t be many people left by tomorrow.