War and chaos raged on, and even a remote place like Zhao Family Village couldn't escape disaster.
When the group entered the village, they found many corpses that had been dead for a long time—most were already unrecognizable.
From the scene, it looked like they'd run into mountain bandits.
The area where Zhong Village was located was scorched black, clearly the result of a fire.
Mr. Lu, Mrs. Lu, and old Mr. Wang, along with other elders, looked on with a mixture of sorrow and gratitude.
Back when Lu Chang'sheng and Wang Heihou wanted to take them away, they had hesitated for a long time; only after much persuasion from everyone did they agree to head for Black Mountain Prefecture.
Looking back now, it turned out to be the right decision. Otherwise, they would've ended up like the rest of the villagers—just more victims of war.
The feeling of being close to home welled up inside them.
