At the foot of Hudal Ridge, Shuigou Village, the sun sets in the west.
Meng Hai stood on the wall of the village with a knife on his waist, looking at the wheat fields in the distance.
When he first arrived in Shuigou Village, he was turned away by the villagers and was on strict guard against them.
But later, after Meng Hai and his party helped the villagers resist the besieging zombies outside the village, the villagers' attitude towards them changed.
So he allowed them to stay for a few days and gave them the food they needed most.
Although Shuigou Village survived, after Meng Hai learned about the actual situation in the village, he knew that if changes could not be made, the village would eventually perish.
This is also the reason why Meng Hai drove all the way from Chengde and didn't stop at so many villages he encountered along the way, because these villages could not last long.
Although Shuigou Village was the same, the unique terrain here gave Meng Hai hope.
The village is surrounded by dense water networks and winding creeks, which can be used to isolate zombies.
So Meng Hai found the elders of Shuigou Village, explained the situation to them, and told them his plan to deal with it.
Meng Hai agreed to help Clear Shuigou Village to eliminate zombies, but he only had one condition: the village must agree to resettle those who would follow him.
This deal was very advantageous, so several clan elders were finally persuaded by Meng Hai.
So, Meng Hai gathered all the young men and trained them to fight against zombies.
But their confrontation is not about fighting zombies head-on, which is really difficult for these villagers.
Even people like Meng Hai have experience in killing zombies, but that ability is only unleashed when they are in a favorable location and in a desperate situation.
And if you want to take the initiative to kill zombies, the difficulty can be said to have increased dramatically.
So Meng Hai used some techniques, such as using sound to attract zombies and lead them into pre-set traps.
After more than a month of busy work, not a single zombie can be seen within a two-mile radius of Shuigou Village.
And the wheat outside the village has also come to harvest time.
Just as Meng Hai was thinking about the future, Zhang Yang appeared behind him.
"With such a large piece of land, we can survive here, and the days of escaping are finally over!" Zhang Yang said with great relief.
Meng Hai turned around and said calmly: "Yes, at last my role as big brother was not in vain and I found a place for you to live!"
After saying this, Meng Hai turned around and looked outside. The young man who had left the village to cut wheat had returned.
"And it's time for me to continue on my way!"
Hearing this, Zhang Yang almost thought he had heard wrongly.
"Brother...you want to leave?"
Meng Hai smiled and said: "I never said I wanted to stay!"
"Why are you doing this? Yuanyang must have fallen and suffered a narrow escape. How about living a good life here?" Zhang Yang spoke urgently, with a hint of sullenness in his voice.
"You have to go and see it!" Meng Hai still smiled.
"Brother, many brothers have died along the way. We all rely on you to survive. You can't leave your brothers behind!"
Since he couldn't be persuaded, Zhang Yang simply used brotherly love to trap Meng Hai.
"The monsters here have been cleared, you will not be in danger here!"
"But……"
"Okay, stop trying to persuade me!"
Meng Hai's eyes were firm, and Zhang Yang knew that there was no use in buying more money.
"Brother, if Yuanyang falls, you must come back as soon as possible!"
After getting off the fence, Meng Hai told the other brothers that he was leaving.
He originally thought that the brothers no longer wanted to take risks and no one would be willing to follow him, but Mashan expressed his willingness to accompany him.
"Follow me to Yuanyang and you won't want your wife and children?" Meng Hai asked in surprise.
Mashan wiped the sweat from his face and replied: "They are safe here. There are other brothers taking care of them. They will be fine... I don't feel at ease if you leave alone!"
Although Mashan was just a butcher, Meng Hai was deeply moved by his words, and the phrase "Every dog is slaughtered in a righteous manner" came to mind.
"Don't get too hot-headed and go back quickly!" Meng Hai pushed out the door.
"If you leave, I'll leave!"
After saying these words, Ma Shan turned around and left, leaving him deep in thought.
At this moment, a voice came from outside the house and said: "Brother Meng, my father invites you over for dinner!"
Meng Hai looked outside and saw that the person coming was the son of the clan leader of Shuigou Village. It was not an exaggeration to call him the young clan leader.
"I harvested grain today. My dad said that we are here today thanks to you, so I want to thank you!"
"Okay, I'll go over right away!" Meng Hai replied.
He took this opportunity to inform him that he was leaving.
………………
Two days later, Meng Hai stood by the river outside Shuigou Village, surrounded by people who came to see him off.
If you talk more, everyone else comes up to say goodbye.
"Brother Meng, take care along the way!" Zhang Yang said solemnly.
In addition to the people he brought, the elders and villagers of Shuigou Village also came to see him off at this moment.
"Brother Meng, do you really have to leave?"
Even after arriving here, the elders of Shuigou Village still tried to persuade him to stay. They needed young people with "leadership" like this.
At this time of year, young people like Meng Hai are needed to lead the villagers to survive.
"Elder of the clan, I still want to go to Yuanyang to have a look. If Yuanyang falls, I will come back!"
Several old men nodded, and then stopped
"Okay, okay, don't cry... there's nothing to cry about, I'm not dead yet!" Mashan scolded with a straight face.
Then he turned to his eight-year-old son and said, "Son, you must listen to your mother and don't run around!"
As they were talking here, Meng Hai had already said goodbye to everyone, boarded the bamboo raft and left.
Fortunately, Mashan's eyes were sharp enough. He immediately rushed over and jumped onto the bamboo raft.
"Brother, what do you mean?" Mashan asked, with anger on his face.
Meng Hai didn't answer, but just sighed. He really didn't want Mashan to accompany him. Who knows what he will face next.
"Brother, I know you are afraid that something will happen to me, but we are walking by water, what do you think could happen?"
"More than ten miles east from this river, we can enter the Bahe River. Along the Bahe River, we can go directly to the outside of Yuanyang City. This small bamboo raft can be used to swim around the moat... What do you think is so scary?"
In fact, this is indeed the case, but this is under smooth conditions. Who knows if there will be an accident on the road.
So Meng Hai doesn't want Ma Shan to take risks together, not to mention that he has a wife and children.
"Stop talking. Since you're here, help punt the boat!"
Looking at the slowly swimming bamboo raft, Meng Hai was not satisfied with the speed at all.
After entering the Bahe River, they will row against the current, and their speed will only be slower.
The river outside Shuigou Village becomes wider as you go forward, and there are many zombies scattered along the shore. They are chasing Meng Hai's bamboo raft on the shore.
Perhaps it was the instinct of the zombies. They were just chasing him on the shore. No matter how much noise Meng Hai made, he didn't attract a single zombie to jump into the river.
At noon the next day, their bamboo raft sailed out of the tributary and entered the wider Bahe River.