CHAPTER 381: CHAPTER 180: THE RIGHT CHOICE

On the Jinling Yangtze River Bridge.

The man named Yu Qian carried a heavy backpack on his back, pulled a towing rope for a trailer over his shoulder, carried his eighteen-month-old daughter in a sling on his chest, and held his barely four-year-old son’s hand in his right hand.

Among the many migrating civilians, he wasn’t the one with the heaviest burden.

Yet even so, he was already struggling with every step.

The nearly thousand-kilometer trek had almost drained his strength. Though they had received aid from the Mechanical God Sect for most of the journey, riding on steam trains and steamships they once could only watch from afar, these modes of transportation could only cover a limited route.

In two weeks, following the main group, he had measured nearly 400 kilometers with his legs.

Fatigue continually attacked his will. Even though they had previously rested in Jinling City, and now only 10 kilometers remained to the final destination, he still felt that he couldn’t hold on any longer.

"Dad, how much further do we have to go?"

His son asked in a voice filled with exhaustion.

"Almost there, almost there."

Yu Qian panted heavily.

"Before dark, we’ll reach Jinling New City. Once we get there, we can rest well."

"Son, hang in there."

"You’re already a man; you can’t fall here!"

This sentence, instead of being said to his son, was more like Yu Qian talking to himself.

He squeezed his son’s shoulder, and the latter took a couple of shaky steps before saying:

"Dad, my foot hurts."

"I know, my foot hurts too, but we’re almost there."

"No, my foot is bleeding."

Yu Qian was startled upon hearing this, and he hurriedly looked down to find his son’s right foot already stained with fresh blood.

"What happened?"

He asked worriedly and painfully:

"How did you get hurt?"

"I don’t know..."

His son crouched on the ground, took off his already tattered animal-skin shoes, and revealed an alarming wound when he lifted his foot.

Yu Qian looked at his son’s foot, then took out a water bottle from his back and poured water onto the wound.

"Ouch!"

His son screamed, and a Holy Blood patrolling at the edge of the queue heard and looked towards their direction, then approached and asked:

"What happened?"

"Sir, his foot is hurt... but it’s okay, we can still walk!"

No one knew better than Yu Qian that falling behind at this time was almost the same as dying.

The group had already left Jinling City, away from human settlements, and they were still quite a distance away from reaching the true Jinling New City.

Without the protection of the Holy Blood, those left behind would only become prey for monsters.

Seeing his anxious expression, the Holy Blood immediately waved to call the pharmacist from the group.

Meanwhile, several people worked together to move Yu Qian’s supplies to the side of the already narrow road to avoid affecting the passage of others.

"The wound is deep, it’s not that he can’t walk, but he probably won’t be fast."

The pharmacist wrapped Yu Qian’s son’s foot with a piece of clean gauze and poured an unknown potion on it.

The pain made the mere four-year-old child’s face contort, but after the brief pain subsided, he was surprised to find that the pain in his foot was actually diminishing.

"Let’s go, support him, and catch up with the group."

"We’re not far from Jinling New City, the advance scouts have already reached the destination."

"They’ll return to help us again. If you can’t keep up, then stay at the back."

"Don’t worry, this stretch of road is very safe and easy to walk, there won’t be any problems."

No problems?

Yu Qian’s eyes were filled with doubt.

In his past life, he had never heard such a statement.

How could roads in the wilderness possibly be safe?

His wife was killed by a group of Terror Demons outside the city.

And the place where she met misfortune wasn’t even truly wild.

The horrific state of her remains was something he still couldn’t forget.

In the midnight dreams, he often dreamed of his wife dragging her broken body, asking him why he hadn’t brought her back in time.

Yes, why?

Yu Qian couldn’t help but grit his teeth.

Now he was finally facing the same situation as his wife.

Knowing full well this was wilderness, why didn’t those "lords" from Jinling New City arrange enough manpower to assist?

Perhaps to them, a portion of this group was destined to be eliminated?

The Holy Bloods traveling with the group only needed to ensure that most people arrived smoothly; they wouldn’t turn back to check on those who fell behind...

At this point, the Holy Blood who had treated his son’s wound had turned and left.

Yu Qian sat by the roadside, feeding the thin rice porridge to the daughter in his arms.

The three of them blankly watched the procession passing by, wanting to ask for help, but found that no one was willing to stop for them.

It was already five o’clock in the afternoon, with only two hours left until dark.

Even if they couldn’t reach their destination within two hours, they still had to reach the safe zone as quickly as possible.

Injuries like his son’s, to them, were originally a burden...

"Let’s go, son."

"Hold on, we can catch up."

"Dad, I can walk!"

The son gritted his teeth, stood up, and limped forward with numb limbs.

Yu Qian cursed aimlessly in his heart, not even knowing who he was cursing at.

Perhaps he was just being hard on himself?

Was this long journey even meaningful, was his initial choice correct, would life be better after reaching Jinling New City, or would they even survive...