Chapter 3: The Road of Escaping Famine

  "This......" Tie Niu waited for half a day, mustered up the courage to carefully ask; "Brother, do you have anything else to ask? Tie Niu still has to rush on his journey today?"

  The iron cow's dark face had been swaying in front of him for half a day before Yang Bo finally came to. His years of struggling in the workplace had made his nerves strong. In his heart, he secretly sighed and comforted himself: "Things have already come to this... making a crying face won't do any good either, since it's come to this, then just accept it!"

  After understanding, Yang Bo raised his head and smiled at Tie Niu: "I don't know where Brother Tie Niu is going? I'm not familiar with the road, why not take me along too?"

  Tie Niu said with a smile: "Really? If brother walks with Tie Niu, you can also take care of each other on the road."

  Yang Bo nodded and secretly praised him in his heart, this Tie Niu was indeed a simple and honest young man.

  "Alright, I'll go break off a branch to use as a walking stick. Let's get going..."

  So, Yang Bo set off on the road with his new friends in this new time and space.

  Many of the refugees passing by had already starved to the point of being on their last breath. Looking at them, Yang Bo couldn't help but shake his head, perhaps it would soon be his turn...

  "Brother Tie Niu, where are we going now?" Yang Bo asked after walking for half a day.

  "This road leads to Yunzhou Prefecture..." Tie Niu replied, not very confidently.

  "So we're going to Shandong after all! Tieniu, aren't you planning on going back?" Yang Bo stood up and gazed out at the distance, where the mountains in the far-off distance were a vast expanse of yellow flowers and bare trees.

  "Go back? My mother said, going back is also a death! At home, there were originally several acres of land, but the taxes and miscellaneous fees were endless, and in ordinary years, they could only barely make ends meet......" Tie Niu shook his head: "Even if we go back, those few acres of land now belong to someone else's family..."

  "Hey, Tie Niu, tell me about the situation in Henan Prefecture along this road?" Yang Bo managed to squeeze out a smile, but his eyes were still dark and he was just going with the flow.

  "...it's been eight months since the rain stopped falling in Guidu Prefecture, and it was like this last year too. But at that time, we didn't think it would be a drought for as long as eight months either." Tie Niu stroked his head, speaking calmly, as if it were someone else's business altogether.

  "...there were often reports of people starving to death, but the folks in our village all said it would rain soon. Everyone was waiting for the heavens to bring rain, but instead of rain, they brought a locust plague. This time, even more people starved to death, entire villages and towns. My dad said, 'This life has no hope, let's flee...' Iron Bull's eyes turned red, and several large teardrops fell. Along this journey, he had seen many sad things, but when speaking of his own family's experiences, Iron Bull still couldn't help but shed tears."

  "...our family of six followed the refugees in this direction, walking for several days...my dad and grandma couldn't make it" Tie Niu stopped and sobbed for a while before continuing: "After hastily burying them, not long after, my two younger sisters..."

  "Three days ago, my mom also left... Waaahhh..."

  At this point, Tie Niu stopped and squatted down by the side of the road, wailing loudly. Big drops of tears fell from his rugged face, and he cried like a wronged child.

  "I'd rather be a heaven-balanced dog than a lonely, difficult person! Alas..." Yang Bo let out a soft sigh and patted Tie Niu's thin shoulders.

  Because of long-term hunger, Tieniu was left with only a wide skeleton, and the touch was somewhat eerie.

  Less than a mile into the walk, Yang Bo was already panting heavily. His frail body really couldn't withstand the scorching heat for much longer, making him miss the air-conditioned office days even more.

  What's even more ominous is that his stomach has been growling non-stop, heaven knows how long this body had gone hungry before its demise?

  Tie Niu saw Yang Bo's footsteps were light and floating, so he said kindly: "Brother, there is a tree ahead, why don't we go there to rest for a while before continuing?"

  Two people sat in a cool place, two people had been chatting all the way and were already very familiar with each other. Yang Bo also asked directly without being polite: "Brother Tie Niu, what have you been eating on this road?"

  Tie Niu looked at Yang Bo in surprise, "Where is there still food? The dry rations we brought were finished long ago. Along the way, we've been eating whatever we see..."

  Yang Bo looked at the tree trunk that didn't even have any leaves left in silence, "Iron Bull brother, everything along the way has been eaten by people, how can we make it to Yunzhou Prefecture?"

  Tie Niu seemed to have never thought about this problem, he shook his head vaguely: "I don't know, I heard that it's fine as long as we arrive at the Gongzhou Prefecture? It's just... Tie Niu hasn't had anything to eat since the day before yesterday."

  Yang Bo let out a soft sigh, Iron Cow was inexperienced in the ways of the world and he could understand that, but he couldn't help but consider these things, surviving on this escape route was the most important task.

  "Alright, Iron Bull brother, let's not leave yet. Let's find some food to fill our stomachs." Yang Bo looked at Iron Bull's face full of longing and said with some reluctance: "Moving forward might also be a dead end!"

  Iron Bull nodded heavily in agreement, rubbing his belly.

  Looking around at the desolate scene, the two sat under a tree facing each other in silence. Yang Bo's suggestion was simply ridiculous, they had been walking for half a day and hadn't even seen any edible things, let alone grass roots.

  Along the way, refugees swarmed into the counties like locusts, eating everything edible. Even the bark of trees was stripped bare, and several nearby mountains were left completely barren.

  Tie Niu said he had seen several times under the scorching sun, refugees eating human flesh. These refugees were so hungry for too long, each one was weak and frail, and didn't know how much longer they could walk before reaching Shandong province, perhaps just walking like this until they fell down on the side of the road and couldn't get up again.

  "Alas, a single grain of rice can bring down a heroic Han." Yang Bo leaned against the tree trunk, his fate seemingly doomed, but he knew that according to Murphy's Law, or even more tragic things were waiting for him.

  Even if Bear Grylls from the TV show "Man vs. Wild" were here, standing at the top of the food chain, he would probably be completely helpless too.

  "But, brother? If we don't leave like this, it's not a solution to just lie here all the time?" Tie Niu had been resting for half a day and his stomach was getting hungrier. In the end, he couldn't help but complain to Yang Bo.

  "Tie Niu brothers, it's not that I don't want to go, but rather than wasting our energy like this, we might as well conserve some and think of a solution." Yang Bo shook his head. Just as he was about to explain the meaning of "energy" to Tie Niu, a small black shadow flashed by in the corner of his eye...

  "What's that? Iron Ox...Iron Ox!!" Yang Bo suddenly stood up, pointing at the withered corpse by the side of the road and shouting excitedly.

  It turned out that Mu Nong's Iron Bull was much more agile than Yang Bo had imagined, and as soon as Yang Bo got up, the Iron Bull had already pounced out...