Saving System: Calm Down, My Fleeing Host!

Chapter 245: Snowy Night Bandits

Unexpectedly, upon coming out, they were ambushed by the soldiers of King Yu. Outnumbered, the exhausted Lu Jingtian suffered a serious injury.

Naturally, Fang Zheng was also quite injured, although slightly better off than Lu Jingtian.

Had they not encountered Cheng Xiaoxiao, Lu Jingtian surely wouldn’t have survived, and Fang Zheng’s arm might have been lost.

During this period, they passed through a county town and three villages. Some villagers wanted to settle here, but unfortunately, the locals were very exclusive, forcing the villagers to keep moving forward.

That day, at two in the morning, Cheng Xiaoxiao was in a half-asleep state when someone suddenly woke her. She instinctively drew a dagger from thin air, clutching it in her palm, almost striking at Jiasun.

"Host, please don’t be impulsive."

The system’s warning brought Cheng Xiaoxiao back to her senses, realizing the person in front of her was Jiasun.

"Sister Xiao, wake up, it’s snowing." No wonder Cheng Xiaoxiao felt colder as she slept, curling her small body into a ball, still feeling chilled.

The swirling snowflakes laid a layer of white in the night, the icy flakes landing wetly on their faces, making the already cold weather even more bone-chilling.

With the snow, the temperature dropped even lower, making it truly uncertain how they would endure this. Cheng Xiaoxiao felt at a loss for what to do; her package was only so large, and bringing out anything more would not only arouse Fang Zheng’s suspicion but probably that of Old Li and his son too.

Just like other fleeing villagers, Old Li and his son also began foraging for wild vegetables in the nearby woods in the past two days to supplement their meals.

But in the cold winter, there weren’t many fresh wild vegetables to find, and those available had mostly been foraged by others ahead.

The quality of their meals plummeted, causing Cheng Xiaoxiao to be so depressed that she considered ignoring it and just taking out some good things for them to eat freely.

Suppressing herself with great difficulty, she barely managed to soothe her upset stomach.

The only good news was that when they reached this resting spot, the system reported that her team had finally appeared within scanning range, meaning the 132th Regiment was merely two thousand meters from her current location.

The joy of finding the organization made Cheng Xiaoxiao feel alive again.

She missed her loving father, missed her sister’s skills, missed everyone!

But Cheng Xiaoxiao couldn’t rush ahead since there were others in the team besides her.

If her family was just ahead and she hurried to catch up, they would surely ask her how she knew, and she would have no explanation.

Delayed by a day was delayed by a day! She believed if they quickened their pace tomorrow, they would surely catch up with the team.

The idea was good, but unfortunately, the changes came quickly.

Because of the sudden snow, they had to move to a new location.

The woods in the valleys on both sides of the official road were dense, but unfortunately, there were no caves nearby, so they had to build a makeshift shelter under a big tree.

After completing this, everyone lay down again. After all the fuss, none of them felt sleepy, so they closed their eyes to rest.

At this moment, the little one suddenly began to wail, and Cheng Xiaoxiao hastily got up to nurse and change the diaper, but the little one kept crying, seeming aggrieved beyond consolation no matter how much she tried to soothe him.

She didn’t know what was wrong with the little one. Singing children’s songs or patting his back didn’t work.

The loud cries carried far in the quiet snow night, sounding both desolate and tragic.

About 300 meters away from them was a resting family. Hearing the constant cries, they grumbled irritably, "Can’t you take care of the child? How can anyone sleep with all that wailing in the middle of the night?"

If it weren’t for a formidable man in their team, the complaints might not have been so simple.

Cheng Xiaoxiao had no mood to argue, her entire focus was on the little one.

She had a bad feeling—could the little one be ill?

She checked his pulse again, but with her limited medical skills, she couldn’t discern anything.

"Sister Xiao, didn’t the little one get enough to eat? Why does he keep crying?" Li Jiasun asked worriedly.

"It’s snowing today and the temperature dropped a few degrees. It’s easy for such young children to catch a cold. Why not make some ginger sugar water," Fang Zheng suggested, then regretted it—where would they get ginger during this escape?

"Little one, don’t cry, don’t cry," Cheng Xiaoxiao cooed, pacing back and forth as she soothed him.

She replied to Fang Zheng in passing, "It probably isn’t a cold."

Just then, the system suddenly spoke up.

"Host, bad news—there are bandits coming."

"Bandits? Where?" Her sharp eyes scanned the surroundings but found nothing suspicious; could they still be far away?

"Host, it’s not on our side, but the team’s side. There are about 150 bandits, and they have around ten horses, all armed. It seems they’re up to no good."

Cheng Xiaoxiao couldn’t care about being exposed and hurriedly crouched down to pack her things. The other four looked at her, puzzled about what was happening—why pack up in the middle of the night?

Cheng Xiaoxiao made up a random excuse, "I just felt a sudden panic, a very bad feeling, and with the little one crying incessantly, maybe his mother is in danger or my family is in danger. I need to go check immediately. After so many days of pursuit, they probably aren’t far from us."

Not giving the others a chance to react, Cheng Xiaoxiao picked up the little one and stepped forward, leaving them no choice but to quickly pack up and follow.

Fang Zheng called out to the hurriedly departing figure, "Sister Xiao, Sister Xiao, wait for us. Even if there’s danger, what use is it for you to go alone? Together, we can help if there’s trouble."

Sister Xiao was acting very strangely. Though puzzled, they dared not delay and quickly caught up with her pace.

In the still snow night, the five of them hurriedly moved along.

This group of bandits had occupied this mountain for many years. After two days of observation, they found that this team had the most abundant supplies.

With many elderly, women, and children, they seemed like an easy target. So on this moonless, windy night, the band’s leader led everyone to launch a big heist, planning to rob this small team.

But 132th Regiment was no ordinary team. They had plenty of night watchmen. Once something seemed amiss, they immediately sounded the gong. Within just a few breaths, everyone was ready.

The bandits were astonished. Though they moved lightly without making a sound, the team had discovered them. Their initial surprise attack now exposed, they decided to go all in, collectively showing up and instantly lighting torches that ignited the atmosphere of slaughter in the chilly snow night.

Everyone reacted swiftly; they were well-trained over the past few months.

Soon, the open space was filled with people, the elderly, children, and women encircled in the middle, with the young adults on the outermost perimeter.

Especially under the orderly command of the trained guard team, they moved in unison, with each person’s position predetermined, defending individually yet coordinating together.

In an instant, the two opposing sides were at daggers drawn.