Everyone was groaning in pain on the ground. Waves of heat washed over them. Jiang Si reached back and felt her clothes; they had melted from the heat, sticking to her skin like molten lava.

Suddenly, a well-defined hand appeared before her. Jiang Si grabbed Qin Shen’s hand and pulled herself up, then hurried to check on Shen Baoying and the others.

Everyone had burns of varying degrees on their backs. Jiang Si picked up a bag to get some medicine out, but just then, a few people emerged from deeper within the rock overhang. It was the old man’s sons and daughters-in-law.

They had managed to take cover inside the rock formation in time, so they weren’t seriously injured. Seeing their father lying unconscious on the ground, they didn’t even think to help him up. Instead, their eyes were fixed on Jiang Si’s group’s backpacks.

A man built like a short, stout winter melon named Liu Ling saw that Jiang Si’s group were all injured to some extent, lying wretchedly on the ground and looking like they couldn’t fight back. His eyes narrowed. He shot forward like a firecracker, covering the distance in a few quick strides, and reached for the nearest emergency pack.

Before his hand could even touch the pack, Qin Shen sent him flying with a single kick.

Liu Ling slammed hard against the rock wall. As loose stones rained down, his head swam, and he felt as if the impact had nearly knocked his insides out.

Liu Ling’s two younger brothers, Liu Hong and Liu Xuan, were tall, but pathetically timid. When Qin Shen kicked Liu Ling so hard he seemed to shatter the rock wall itself, a chill ran down their spines, and they instantly recoiled.

The other people around the rock wall were instantly cowed. They shrank back quietly, their faces filled with terror.

Liu Ling’s wife was a shrew. Seeing Liu Ling kicked so brutally, she charged forward, ready to fight Qin Shen to the death. "You dare hit my husband? I’ll kill you!"

Liu Ling grabbed the corner of her shirt, his gaze falling on the motionless old man on the ground. He spoke weakly to his two brothers, "Go check on Dad!"

He hadn’t shown any concern for the old man before, which Liu Hong and Liu Xuan found strange. Still, they did as he said, leaning over their father and giving him a little push. "Dad? Dad? Dad...?"

They called his name several times, but the old man didn’t react at all. Liu Hong reached out a hand to check for a breath, and his eyes shot wide open. He turned to Liu Ling in a panic. "Brother, Dad’s dead!"

The calculating glint in Liu Ling’s eyes intensified. He pointed at Qin Shen and yelled, "Everyone else is fine, so how is it that my dad is dead?! You must have used him as a human shield and gotten him killed! You also beat me half to death! You have to compensate us for our losses! You have to pay for my dad’s life!"

Jiang Linhai’s expression darkened. He looked at the old man, whose eyes were shut tight. "We were kind enough to carry your father in here, and we haven’t even asked you for compensation! And now you want us to pay you? Have you no shame?"

It was obvious the old man was frail and elderly; he had died from the shock of the blast. It had absolutely nothing to do with Qin Shen.

If Liu Ling had any shame, he wouldn’t have abandoned his father in the first place. He forced himself to his feet, his gaze cold and sinister. "If you hadn’t meddled, my dad would still be alive! You killed him, so you have to pay! Otherwise, even if it costs us our lives, we won’t let you have an easy time!"

Outside was a sea of scalding lava. Liu Ling was certain that Jiang Si wouldn’t dare to fight them to the death, so he was already preparing to negotiate. He figured he could get at least four emergency packs out of them.

As Liu Ling was busy with his little scheme, Jiang Si let out a cold scoff and calmly pulled a gun from her jacket. "Still want compensation?"

’Jiang Si has a gun!’

Liu Ling’s face was a mask of disbelief, while the others were scared stiff.

They were just glad they hadn’t tried to mess with Jiang Si’s group.

’How could an ordinary person possibly have a gun!’

Liu Ling convinced himself it couldn’t be a real gun. He cursed, "That’s a kid’s toy! Who are you trying to fool? I’m telling you, my dad—"

Before he could finish, a loud "BANG—"

A bullet tore through Liu Ling’s pant leg and embedded itself in the rock wall.

Jiang Si’s eyes were sharp. She blew on the barrel of the gun, then looked at Liu Ling, who had pissed his pants in terror. "Your dad... what?"

Liu Ling trembled uncontrollably, his lips quivering, unable to form a single word. His wife’s legs were shaking, and his two brothers wished a crack would open in the ground and swallow them whole.

The others who had been restless, planning to use the chaos to snatch some things, were thoroughly intimidated after witnessing Jiang Si fire the gun.

If not for the scalding lava and the sky full of fiery embers outside, many of them would have already fled in terror.

With the gun in her hand, it was difficult for Jiang Si to tend to everyone’s wounds.

Qin Shen, with practiced ease, took over for her. In no time, he had treated everyone’s external injuries.

Seeing that they had medical supplies, the cowering crowd felt a surge of hope, but they were too afraid of the gun in Jiang Si’s hand to approach.

Shen Baoying finished applying medicine to Jiang Si’s burns. When Jiang Chengwu went to treat Qin Shen, Qin Shen just shook his head and said, "I’m not injured."

Jiang Chengwu thought he was just being tough and looked down at the back of Qin Shen’s hand, only to freeze.

The fabric of Qin Shen’s clothes had been shredded by the blast, but there wasn’t a single scratch on him.

’The shockwave was so powerful it killed the old man Qin Shen was carrying. How could Qin Shen possibly be unharmed?’

Jiang Si frowned, her gaze fixed on Qin Shen’s face, trying to read the answer there. But all that met her was the same, unchanging depth of his eyes.

Jiang Chengwu said in surprise, "You’ve got some really tough skin!"

Qin Shen nodded nonchalantly. "Mm." He acted as if there was nothing strange about it at all.

Jiang Si looked away. ’Whatever secrets Qin Shen is hiding, it’s fine as long as he’s not a threat to us.’

Once everyone had recovered a little, they began to assess the situation around the rock formation.

The reed field had been turned into a sea of fire by the fallen meteorites. The area in front of the rock overhang was now a field of magma and burning rock, with sparks filling the sky.

The ground was like a giant furnace. If they went out there, one wrong step and they’d be cooked like streaky bacon.

In short, they weren’t going anywhere for a while.

They would have to wait, at the very least, for the embers in the sky to die down and the ground to cool off a bit.

There were more than thirty people hiding under the rock overhang, most of them young and able-bodied. The elderly and children made up less than a sixth of the group.

Their faces were etched with despair, hunger, misery, and sorrow, all consumed with worry for the future.

Jiang Si’s group didn’t have to worry about food or safety for the time being, but looking out at the world before them, they didn’t feel much better.

They had worked so hard to get their steamboat thriving, and life was just getting back on track when disaster struck from the heavens again.

’Huddling here forever isn’t a solution. Once these people get desperate with hunger, they’ll definitely come after us again.’

’But killing them all would leave everyone with some serious psychological trauma.’

’Besides, there’s no telling if more meteorites will fall from the sky. The uncertainty is unnerving.’

Jiang Linhai quietly asked Jiang Si, "Which direction might be safer for us to go?"

’Based on my past life, north should be safer.’

’The Northern Base will be established there. But in that life, Shen Baoying was on a mission when Sun Xiu and Shen Fu carved her up and killed her. From the bottom of her heart, Jiang Si was deeply resistant to the idea of the Northern Base.’

’But the sequence of disasters in this life has completely changed. It’s questionable whether the Northern Base will even exist.’

After a moment of contemplation, Jiang Si said, "Let’s get ready. We’ll leave tomorrow morning and head north!"

"Alright!" They had to pick a direction anyway, and listening to Jiang Si was never the wrong choice.

To ensure a smooth journey, the group found several large rocks inside the cave. When they encountered impassable terrain, they could use them as stepping stones.

The other people in the cave saw what they were doing and quickly followed suit, scrambling to find rocks of their own.