Disaster Apocalypse: Farming, Family, and My Hidden Secret Space-Chapter 230. To Stay Alive

In temperatures below minus seventy degrees, those who struggled to stay alive, desperately searching for firewood and food, still wouldn’t stop for fear that once they did, they would never stand again.

To keep warm, they even lost their fear of wild animals, just to obtain their pelts.

The human potential, it must be said, is boundless. Faced with hunger-maddened humans who feared not even death, beasts could only flee.

All was for survival.

The people who had endured innumerable hardships to reach Qinggu Mountain felt immense relief that they had gambled right, otherwise the first wave of cold would have been unbearable, especially since there were elderly and children among them.

This was a place with many mountains and few people, so finding a cave to shelter in wasn’t difficult. With a cave, resisting the cold was possible to a larger extent, provided there was enough firewood, and the mountain was least lacking in that.

The mountain range here was high and lush with vegetation; wild greens could be found everywhere. Though the wild greens had frozen solid, they were better than eating bark or dirt.

Except for a few whose health was really poor, most people got through. freēwēbnovel.com

The Zeng family, the Liu family, and even Qi Xiu’s maternal family and her sister’s family were relatively lucky. With the caves they had found early and the firewood and bedding they had gathered and brought along before the extreme cold, the entire family managed to weather the days when temperatures plummeted.

In contrast, Sun Dama’s family had things a bit better.

With many sons and a hardworking family, once they reached the mountain and found a temporary cave, they didn’t dare idle even for a day. They scoured the mountain for food, wild greens, wild mushrooms, and even tree bark—anything edible was collected.

Additionally, Sun family’s sons knew how to hunt. They dug numerous traps with great effort, not resulting in daily yields but occasionally providing some, which, combined with saved food, helped them endure.

Moreover, while the ground hadn’t completely frozen, Sun Dama instructed her sons to dig a lot of soil and pile it inside the cave.

Thinking to try planting, if it worked or not, was worth attempting.

They tirelessly sought firewood daily. Even when the rain stopped and the temperature dropped suddenly, they didn’t halt their efforts. Later, only her sons could venture out, each time wrapping themselves fully with all the warm things from home and carrying pots full of ginger tea close to their bodies.

Despite this, they returned each time as though half dead, needing a good while to recover, which pained the old couple, Sun’s parents, greatly. But for survival, they had no choice; without firewood, the cave’s temperature was unbearably cold, especially for the children.

In short, everyone who survived struggled with all their might to stay alive.

...

"I wonder how Xiu is doing, on which mountain she is staying," mused Sun Dama, sitting by the fire in the evening after finishing their hot evening meal of dried wild greens mixed with some wild grains and a little bit of coarse grain.

Sun Yiliang, the brothers, ate a bit more, each getting a large bowl per meal and a piece of dried meat; they were, after all, the main workforce going out every day, needing strength to find food and bring back firewood.

Sun Dama and the elderly and young in the family got barely over half a bowl each; it wasn’t enough to be full but enough not to starve, and thankfully, staying by the fire helped them get by.

"Mother, Xiu sister is blessed and surely fine. Don’t forget how well her in-laws treated her. Hua Village, being at a high altitude, has time to escape to the mountains even in a flood. Besides, Mother, isn’t it thanks to Xiu that we saved so much grain? Back when she told her husband to remind us, otherwise, after the autumn harvest, we’d have sold most of it. We’re lucky to have listened; thinking back now is terrifying."

At this, Sun Yiliang truly felt gratitude towards Qi Xiu. Had it not been for her warning via her husband, they might have sold off their grain post-harvest. Luckily, they heeded her words, now realizing the potential peril in hindsight.

Of course, it also took the brothers’ strength to protect their grain, or else it would have been at risk of being taken by force regardless.

Reflecting on the frozen and devastating scene outside, they felt even more grateful for their swift decision to leave that frenzied place and come to the Qinggu Mountains.

One could only imagine the conditions of those still on the mountains, fearing they truly faced a kind of purgatory.

"You’re right, Xiu certainly is blessed and bound to be alright."

Sun’s wife nodded, simply expressing emotion, for in reality, she understood as well. With her husband and the village chief as parents-in-law, her situation was better than theirs. Even here, they couldn’t help but wonder, waddling where the child might be. But it was too cold now for long journeys, especially climbing over mountain after mountain.

"Don’t dwell on it, that child is surely alright. We must also strive to survive, and we’ll see each other one day," Sun Laotou reassured his wife, patting her arm before quickly placing his hands by the fire again.

"Mm," his wife adjusted the quilt over Laotou’s legs up a bit, nodding.

Meanwhile, thoughts of Qi Xiu not only crossed Sun’s wife’s mind, but also Qi’s family and their related kin. Regrettably, when temperatures hadn’t dropped drastically, they did attempt searches across many mountains. Apart from finding some food, there wasn’t a trace of anyone from Hua Village, and they couldn’t go any farther, ultimately having to give up.

With the temperature plummeting so rapidly, it was difficult to move a step, for fear of not being able to return from a little farther out.

"....Why did I give birth to such a heartless daughter, this heaven-condemned thing abandoned us so readily? If we had followed this girl, why would our home suffer such hardships? And now, where on earth are they hiding? If we can’t find them, what shall we do in the future?"...

Eating from a bowl containing old wild greens and wild mushroom soup, Qi’s wife began lamenting again.

"Mother, save your strength; the eldest sister can’t hear you anyhow," Qi Laoda said weakly, having drunk two bowls of food thick on water and thin on vegetables, ineffective at alleviating hunger.

Now, their family had started gathering edible tree bark, drying it, and grinding it into powder for reserve, also contemplating searching those few traps again tomorrow, hoping for luck with some catch.

After this ordeal, Qi Laoda and the two younger brothers changed, becoming much more industrious. There was no choice; with so many mouths to feed, the old and the young, and only their own stronger constitution to rely on, survival meant giving all they had.

Most crucially, there was little warm clothing at home, so all couldn’t venture out at once. As it was, only two brothers went out together each time, wearing every bit available, wrapping hats, faces, and necks tightly, leaving only eyes exposed, and layering foot clothings inside shoes. Yet stepping on the ground still pierced with cold.

At times like those, Qi Laoda hoped intensely to find his eldest sister. Unfortunately, the surrounding mountains had been combed upon initial arrival, except gathering plentiful edibles and stumbling upon wild chickens, there remained no human traces.

They had dug and collected numerous edibles, also gathering unfallen wild fruits and discovering a chestnut tree. While many fallen were spoiled, careful selection yielded eatables, all brought back home, dried by the fire and saved instead of consumed.

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