Zhao Lian immediately looked at Zhou Quchuan, and seeing him looking at her, she nodded slightly.
"Who is it?" she asked in a low voice, pushing Zhou Quchuan's shoulder to indicate that she wanted to get up.
Zhou Quchuan helped her up and put a finger to his lips, "It seems to be human, let's go look."
The two of them quietly approached the window and cautiously peeked outside.
Under the moonlight, three figures were carefully entering the yard, carrying iron rods and machetes and other weapons. One of them even had a flashlight on his chest. If Zhao Lian and Zhou Quchuan hadn't ducked in time, they would have been exposed.
It seemed that the three of them had originally intended to search the yard, but the person with the flashlight inadvertently flashed it on the drying fish under the eaves. His face changed, then he motioned to the other two and whispered something before they hurriedly left.
Inside the house, Zhao Lian made a quick decision: "Let's go!"
After saying that, she grabbed Zhou Quchuan and went to the other window, opened it, and climbed out. Although the light was dim just now and she didn't see clearly, she trusted her intuition. Those three men were either robbers or part of a convoy from the base. Either way, it wouldn't be good news for her and Zhou Quchuan.
In such a desolate wilderness, even if it was a convoy that abided by the rules in the base, they could instantly turn into fierce wolves, and their methods wouldn't be any gentler than the robbers.
In a situation where the strong prey on the weak, and not being able to figure out the other party's intentions, attempting to communicate with them would be the most foolish act.
The three men had obviously noticed that there were people living in the yard. They hurriedly left because they couldn't figure out the situation and were afraid of being ambushed. So, she took this opportunity to immediately call on Zhou Quchuan to leave.
However, just as they had jumped out of the window and were about to leave, they heard intense barking coming from outside the courtyard. At the same time, the sound of chaotic footsteps, clearly indicating that those three men had called for reinforcements. The surroundings suddenly became noisy.
Zhao Lian didn't know how many people had come, but when she heard the barking, her expression changed. She hadn't expected this group of people to bring dogs!
As they were about to climb over the wall to leave, someone outside the wall shouted, "They're trying to escape, quickly pursue them!" After the voice fell, the light from several flashlights shone on the wall.
Without wasting time looking back at those people, the two of them jumped onto the ground outside the wall without hesitation. It was at this moment that they heard gunshots from behind.
The sound of the gun startled her, causing her to stumble and fall to the ground. The other party actually had a gun! Zhao Lian endured the pain, feeling a sense of horror in her heart, then she was overwhelmed by a huge worry - Achuan, Achuan, is he okay!? She looked in the direction of the gunshot but could only see some blurry figures of houses in the moonlight, nothing else. Two flashlight beams alternately crossed, indicating that someone was chasing after her. Zhao Lian gritted her teeth and continued to rush into the woods, her nose uncontrollably sour - Achuan, he deliberately made her run in this direction! He wanted to draw away those people, draw away the hunting dog, to give her a chance to escape!
Zhao Lian felt her eyes getting hot and her head swelling, but her mind was clear. She ran to the vicinity of the trap, carefully identifying a place to hide. If, if Achuan really had an accident, she would immediately run to the river behind the woods and escape upstream! However, just as she was about to find a hiding place, she heard two terrified screams from outside the woods. The screams were extremely piercing, as if the person was seeing the most terrifying thing in the world before their death. Even though the sound was made by hostile intruders, Zhao Lian couldn't help but shiver and, without hesitation, she hid in a thicket. Subsequently, in the midst of silence, the screams echoed either near or far, accompanied by a sudden burst of intense gunfire. But soon the gunfire disappeared, leaving only the sound of frantic barking, and finally the mournful howl of the hunting dog before all the sounds fell silent. The farmstead returned to peace, as if no one had ever been there before. Zhao Lian hid in the bushes, feeling her heart pounding, not knowing what had happened outside and why the intruders seemed to have been systematically eliminated. She didn't dare to go out to confirm, and couldn't even move, as her body seemed to have stiffened. She had a feeling that something extremely terrifying, something she couldn't resist, had likely entered the farm.
She didn't know how long it had been, but it wasn't until the first ray of sunlight shone through the woods, illuminating the surroundings, that Zhao Lian slowly moved and stood up. Her feet, which had been crouched for too long, were about to cramp, and she hurriedly walked towards the edge of the woods.
There had been no movement for so long, so the intruders had either been mysteriously killed or had already escaped. She wanted to find Achuan, either alive or dead, and then leave this place immediately! However, as soon as she emerged from the woods, she suddenly saw a huge beast leap down from a tree trunk nearby! When she saw the appearance of the beast, Zhao Lian froze, feeling a chill rush from the soles of her feet to the top of her head - it was a mutant beast that looked like a cheetah, the size of a Siberian tiger, with a curved and undoubtedly sharp horn on its forehead! It's a mutant beast! A mutant beast of extremely terrifying power, deduced from its appearance alone.
Zhao Lian felt cold sweat on her forehead, and at that moment, her mind went blank, with only one thought in her head: she was doomed! However, perhaps because her will to survive was too strong, after the momentary blankness, Zhao Lian's thoughts raced at high speed, furiously pondering how to survive this situation. She looked into the eyes of the mutant beast in front of her, trying not to make any sudden movements so as not to provoke it. However, she despaired to find that she didn't even have a piece of jerky on her to use as bribery for the beast in front of her.
Escape? Faced with such a mutant beast, she would probably have been torn apart as soon as she made any movement! However, Lady Luck smiled upon Zhao Lian at that moment. The mutant cheetah in front of her either had no interest in the flesh on her or had already eaten its fill. After looking at her for a moment, it suddenly turned and ran towards the river a few times and disappeared.
Zhao Lian breathed a sigh of relief, feeling her legs grow weak, almost sitting down. But she struggled not to fall, and instead quickly ran back to the house where she had been living.
Unexpectedly, as she had only run a short distance, she heard a voice "Zhao Lian!" not far away. She turned her head and saw Achuan walking out of the bushes down the slope, with scratches and blood on his face and his clothes soaking wet.
Zhao Lian immediately went up to him in disbelief, looking him up and and suddenly hugged him, trembling as she nearly incoherently said, "You're okay! You, you're okay!"
Zhou Quchuan was taken aback, bending over slightly and feeling Zhao Lian's hands tightly clutching the back of his neck, suddenly smiled and patted her back, saying, "I'm fine."