Martial Arts: I Have a Wilderness World-Chapter 72: Escorting Out of the City

At the back door, Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family was placing luggage onto a carriage.

Just as she was about to help her children onto the carriage, Mrs. Wang of the Li Family appeared at the entrance to the back alley.

"My dear, what’s all this?" Mrs. Wang of the Li Family asked, looking at the carriage in confusion.

Seeing it was Mrs. Wang of the Li Family, Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family thought she must have news. Her face lit up as she pulled her inside and asked anxiously,

"My dear friend, is there any news from Brother Li?"

Her attention diverted, Mrs. Wang of the Li Family nodded. She was about to speak, but then she remembered her husband’s repeated warnings to be careful. She lowered her voice and said quietly,

"After you left, my husband didn’t sleep a wink. He spent the entire night at the Government Office, asking around for you and keeping an eye on things. He only just got home this morning. He said the higher-ups are watching everything closely and not letting any unauthorized personnel near. So your Brother Li had to pull a lot of strings to find out anything. The good news is that Doctor Cheng is unharmed, but there’s no way for him to get out right now. If you have a message you need to send, Brother Li can use his connections to get it to him."

Hearing that her husband was safe and that she could even get a message to him, the weight that had been pressing on Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family’s heart all night finally lifted a little. She nodded happily.

"Thank you, and please thank Brother Li for me. My dear friend, please trouble him with one more thing. Just pass on a message for me: ’I am here to take care of the family, so don’t worry. Focus on keeping yourself safe.’ And please tell him, the Cheng Family will remember this favor."

Hearing that last sentence, Mrs. Wang of the Li Family’s smile widened.

’Wasn’t that sentence the whole point of all this effort?’ she thought. She immediately offered words of comfort, "Don’t you worry, my dear. I’ll make sure he gets the message. Doctor Cheng is such a good man; he’ll be fine. Well, I should be getting back now, then?"

"Wait, I’ll take you back," Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family said suddenly.

She then helped her three children into the carriage and asked Mrs. Wang of the Li Family to board as well. Then she took the reins and drove the carriage toward the Li Family’s home.

Mrs. Wang of the Li Family was confused.

"My dear, what is this about?"

Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family replied, "I was just thinking about hiring someone for an escort. Since Brother Li is at home, and it’s better not to trouble two different people for one matter, I was hoping to ask him to escort me and my children out of the city to our village and then return."

Mrs. Wang of the Li Family’s expression grew serious. She glanced at Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family, finally understanding her friend’s intentions.

「About fifteen minutes later...」

In the Li Family’s home, when Li Lu heard Chen Qin’s request—and her offer of payment—to escort them out of the County Town to Golden Bridge Village, his estimation of her rose considerably.

’This is a bold and decisive woman.’

’The villages outside have nearly all been destroyed, and there are countless refugees beyond the city walls. Yet she dares to send her children out in these conditions.’

He also understood that Chen Qin had sought him out because of his status as a government official.

’Wearing a government official’s uniform, most refugees outside the city wouldn’t dare to cause trouble.’

’Even though I’m not a Martial Artist, I still have lethal skills!’

"Alright! With a carriage, the round trip will only take about an hour anyway," Li Lu agreed.

He still refused to take the money, however.

’This is about building a connection. If I take money, it just becomes a transaction!’

"Thank you, Brother Li!" Chen Qin exclaimed, her face alight with joy.

Li Lu changed into his government official’s uniform, grabbed his saber, and after giving his wife a few instructions, he drove the carriage toward West City.

Since Li Lu was the one driving, and he was acquainted with the Soldiers guarding the city gates, he was allowed to pass without much questioning.

Once they were outside the County Town, Chen Qin, inside the carriage, breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, she stopped her young daughter from trying to pull open the carriage curtain.

’It’s not that I don’t want my children to see the tragic state of the world outside, but rather that I don’t want the people outside to see who’s in here.’

’The unknown is what inspires caution and dread.’

’Once they discover it’s not some important person in the carriage, but just a woman with her children, there’s no telling what might happen. That’s true even with a man in a government official’s uniform at the reins.’

In fact, things were just as Li Lu and Chen Qin had anticipated.

Among the Refugee Groups outside, many of the organized bands of refugees immediately extinguished any thought of robbing the carriage when they saw the driver was a Government Official.

In their minds, anyone who could have a government official acting as their coachman couldn’t possibly be an ordinary person.

Within one Refugee Group, a youth so scrawny he was practically skin and bones watched the carriage leave the confines of the County Town, a bloodthirsty madness in his eyes. He whispered to a scar-faced man beside him,

"Brother Sun, I bet that’s a big fish in that carriage, huh?"

The scar-faced man shot the youth a glance. "So what, Ribs?" he said coolly. "You got some ideas?"

The youth called "Ribs" gave a sheepish grin. "Not at all. Naturally, whatever Brother Sun decides."

The scar-faced man snorted and said to some of his lackeys, "You still can’t tell the difference between people we can mess with and people we can’t? The difference between one full meal now and being able to eat every day?"

"Of course! The boss is brilliant," one lackey cackled, revealing blackened-yellow teeth. He then handed over a piece of bone-in meat, roasted to a golden-brown char.

"Boss, it’s ready. This time, it definitely doesn’t have that... particular taste."

"Mm." The scar-faced man took the roughly foot-long piece of charred meat and took a large bite.

The other lackeys stared, a barely perceptible madness glinting in their eyes...

"Not bad." The scar-faced man nodded, baring slightly bloody teeth in a grin. "This is an improvement. You all can split the rest. Pick it clean. Don’t waste anything."

"Thanks, Boss!"

"Thanks, Big Brother!"

Amid their thanks, the dozen or so lackeys scrambled for the roasted meat by the fire, then began to gnaw at it with ravenous madness.

Watching his lackeys fight over the "delicious" meat, the scar-faced man rose slowly, contentedly gripping his Firewood Knife. He stared toward the Soldiers at the city gate, his tongue darting out to lick the blood from his lips, his eyes glowing with bloodthirsty insanity!

Scattered at their feet, all around them, were bones... fragmented, of varying lengths, of differing thickness...

Li Lu focused on driving, keeping to the middle of the path to avoid the makeshift roadblocks of corpses on either side.

Inside the carriage, Chen Qin held her children, lost in thought.

Cheng Zongwen held his nose, trying to block out the stench.

He had heard bits and pieces about the situation outside the city from some of the patients, and his mood was grim.

"Mother, what is wrong with the world?" Cheng Zongwen asked his mother in a low, muffled voice. "Natural disasters are already so difficult to endure. Why must there be constant man-made calamities on top of it?"

Hearing this, Chen Qin was silent.

It was a question that weighed upon all living beings in this vast world.

’I’m just an ordinary woman who has read a few books and devoted my life to my husband and children. How could I possibly have the perspective or wisdom to understand the workings of the world?’

But she knew her son’s heart was surely filled with countless questions. After a moment of thought, she spoke slowly, her voice full of love.

"Zongwen, your mother doesn’t understand these things. But your father once said that in this world, people no longer act like people, and dogs no longer act like dogs. The true cruelty is born from man-made calamity, not natural disaster. Natural disasters can be endured, but man-made disasters are the hardest to survive. It’s not something anyone can control... unless you become a powerful expert who commands the respect of all!"

’Natural disasters can be endured, but man-made disasters are the hardest to survive...’

’A powerful expert who commands the respect of all!’

Cheng Zongwen murmured the words to himself, falling silent as a thousand thoughts raced through his mind.

’If scholarship could make one command respect, then perhaps the members of the Imperial Court could do it?’

’But it seems they haven’t done so. Or is it that they are incapable?’

’Then what about Martial Artists?’

’Can they control these man-made calamities?’

...