In the setting sun, a man and a dog climbed over mountains and finally reached the top of one.
"Look, there's a village over there."
Xigou suddenly barked.
At the foot of the mountain, wisps of cooking smoke rose, revealing a dozen inconspicuous straw-thatched huts amidst the encircling woods.
Fang Zhixing responded, "Let's stay in this village tonight."
Qingfeng County had suffered terribly from war. The county and its surrounding towns had almost all been devastated by several rounds of war, leaving them in ruins, with nearly every house empty.
Fang Zhixing and Xigou had been running for a day, but this was the first inhabited village they had come across.
The two descended the mountain.
Xigou stopped in the forest while Fang Zhixing walked into the village on his own.
Upon looking around, the village had only a few old women and women, each as thin as a rail from hunger.
Not a single man was in sight.
