When Shen Feng left Yuzhou, the Yuzhou army was clearing mutated birds in the Dabashan Mountains. Without the interference of mutated birds and beasts, Yuzhou enjoyed a good harvest. Currently, Yuzhou has a population of five million, which is not much compared to the thirty million permanent residents before the apocalypse. However, compared to the depopulated areas elsewhere, Yuzhou was a scene of prosperity.
However, under such circumstances, migratory birds began their southward journey. No one knows how many mutated birds there are in Siberia, because even a large city like Qiūmíng was destroyed by mutated birds. The Far East is still vast forests and permafrost, unsuitable for human survival, and thus the situation of mutated birds remains unclear.
The people of China did not know the number of mutated birds, only seeing them everywhere as a dark mass. As soon as birds appeared, people had to hide indoors. Houses could protect them from attacks by mutated birds, but for the unharvested wheat, millet, and even corn, they were all targeted by the mutated birds, which then began to peck at them relentlessly.
This angered many farmers. Farmers are most concerned about their grain harvests. Even losing a single grain of rice would cause them great distress. Now, before the crops were even harvested, they were being ruined by a flock of feathered beasts. How could they tolerate this? They immediately opened their doors and fought back desperately.
If mutated birds appeared one or two at a time, it wouldn't be a problem; any old farmer could kill them. But when mutated birds appeared in large flocks, it was no longer something one person could handle. Those who rushed out to fight the mutated birds were immediately swarmed and killed, their flesh pecked at.
Under these circumstances, China could only implement a "scorched earth" strategy. However, implementing this strategy was truly a last resort, because anyone who appeared outside was easily injured, so they could only hide and store all their grain. Eventually, the mutated birds, unable to find food, had to leave.
However, the grain that could not be harvested in time could only benefit the mutated birds, and the shortage of grain directly led to famine.
Currently, China is filled with starving people. Wherever there is food, the starving masses rush towards it like madmen, just to get a bite to eat. When the migratory birds found that they could no longer find any food, they chose to head to the Southern Hemisphere to spend the winter.
The appearance of famine directly led to widespread chaos. Throughout Chinese history, as long as the peasant population did not fall into chaos, there would be no major crisis. But once famine occurred, strong conflicts would erupt, and famine would destroy a dynasty.
Shen Feng and his companions were unaware of the severe situation in China. Shen Feng had initially predicted that famine would occur, but he thought it would be limited to a small area. He did not expect that a widespread famine would occur in China, and the direct impact of this would be social unrest.
Shen Feng and his companions traveled south by sleigh and finally found a small town as night approached, where they began to rest.
Shen Feng said with emotion, "When I came to Siberia, most of the places I saw were in ruins. It seems the problem of mutated birds in Siberia is too severe."
Shen Feng's excuse for coming to Siberia was to investigate the situation of mutated birds. However, after arriving here, let alone investigating mutated birds, it was difficult to even find a few informed living people. Shen Feng felt helpless. If they couldn't even figure out the situation of mutated birds, how could they deal with the crisis of mutated birds?
Xu Xing quickly said, "City Lord, Yuzhou will surely be fine. I believe Mr. Guo and the others have cleared out the mutated birds at the end of Dabashan, so there's no need to worry about Yuzhou's situation."
At this time, Xu Xing thought Shen Feng was worried about Yuzhou's situation, so she couldn't help but comfort him. Shen Feng couldn't help but smile bitterly and said, "Yuzhou is fine this year, but what about next year? And the year after that?"
Shen Feng's concern was no longer about the safety of the city of Yuzhou. His greatest concern now was how to deal with the problem of mutated birds in the future. Compared to the mutated beasts in the mountains, the problem of mutated birds was undoubtedly much more serious because of their high mobility, especially migratory birds. Swifts can fly from Siberia to Africa to spend the winter. To deal with the danger of migratory birds, unless the entire world takes action, the crisis of mutated birds will definitely continue.
In the following days, the group continued to travel southeast. However, at this time, Shen Feng and Xiao Sheng had a disagreement on the route. Xiao Sheng suggested going through Central Asia, eventually reaching the Uyghur Autonomous Region, and then going to Yanjing from Xinjiang, perhaps even taking a train. However, Shen Feng believed they should go through Outer Mongolia, cross the Great Wall from the grasslands, and then return.
Xiao Sheng couldn't help but ask, "What are you thinking? If you follow our route, you'll also shorten the journey, and as a favor to us, you can take the train directly. What is your route, going all the way around Outer Mongolia? Don't you know that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points?"
Shen Feng said faintly, "I still have a mission. I need to go to the grasslands to find Zhang Jue's wife and son. You probably don't know, but Zhang Jue is already dead."
After speaking, Shen Feng recounted what happened in the coal mine on the grasslands. Zhang Jue, who was always timid, chose to self-detonate to protect his wife and child. The Wolf King lost an eye, and Zhang Jue lost his life. The remaining few pieces of bone were still in Shen Feng's hands.
After hearing Shen Feng's explanation, Xiao Sheng fell silent. He never expected that his former friend Zhang Jue was already dead, and he was a member of the Ability Administration. After his death, it was not the people of the Ability Administration who were responsible for the aftermath, but rather an outsider like Shen Feng who was trying to take care of Zhang Jue's descendants. This situation was a slap in the face for the Ability Administration.
Xiao Sheng then said, "Since that's the case, we'll also go through Outer Mongolia. Zhang Jue is still a member of the Ability Administration. Since his son is still alive, we should also help find him."
This time, no one from the Ability Administration objected. They had all looked down on the timid Zhang Jue before, but the most timid one died to protect his loved ones, which changed their perception of Zhang Jue.
However, there was a problem in the Central Asian region and the grasslands: there were too many mutated wolf packs. Even a group of ability users traveling together could easily be attacked by wolf packs on the grasslands. It was difficult to find food on the grasslands in winter, and the wolf population had recovered. The wolf packs on the grasslands now ranged from three to four hundred to over ten thousand. Even a city as large as Ulaanbaatar could be breached by wolf packs, and smaller towns would be directly destroyed.
Most importantly, there were always eagles flying in the sky. These eagles communicated with the wolf packs, so the eagles' vision could be shared with the wolf packs. The eagles' sharp eyes could spot rabbits on the ground, let alone the movements of humans on the grasslands.
Thus, during the journey across the grasslands, the biggest crisis the team encountered was harassment by wolf packs. The wolf packs were extremely hungry. Under these circumstances, the weak and sick among the wolf packs were even eaten. The competition within the wolf packs was so brutal. Now, humans were traveling on the grasslands by sleigh, which was intolerable! Naturally, they were targeted by eagles, which then summoned nearby wolf packs to attack the humans.
Unfortunately, the wolf packs were facing not ordinary humans, but ability users, of whom there was perhaps one in ten thousand. The result was that no matter how many wolf packs surrounded the group of ability users, they were directly cut through by the ability users.
Shen Feng and Xu Xing had once fought their way out of a wolf pack. At that time, Xu Xing was only a fourth-tier ability user, and now Shen Feng had twenty more ability users by his side. Such a force could even destroy a city. As a result, mutated wolf packs appeared at this time, and when they encountered the group of ability users, there was no doubt that they could only be slaughtered by the ability users.
It was currently winter, and winter was Zhang Zi's domain. The grasslands experienced a snowfall of fifty-year magnitude. Under this heavy snow, Zhang Zi's abilities could be fully displayed. Jin Zijue had also been holding back his anger in Siberia. Now, both fifth-tier ability users had the same thought: "If we can't beat the treants, can't we beat you?"
Ordinary ability users were no match for powerful treants. The mere characteristic of being impervious to blades and spears was enough to deter countless ability users. However, what appeared before everyone's eyes was not treants that were so powerful that they didn't know how to deal with them, but rather wolves that had grown in size. However, even if their size increased, wolves were still wolves, not tigers.
Then, the numerous ability users joined forces and fought their way from Outer Mongolia back to the Great Wall. The ancient Great Wall was then called Jiubian, and it was once a border area. Upon reaching the Great Wall, Xiao Sheng had someone report the news to the headquarters of the Ability Administration, while also using the authority of the Ability Administration to obtain information about Zhang Jue.
Shen Feng also took along a few soldiers who were staying behind when he passed by the coal mine. This act of Shen Feng's brought immense gratitude from the five soldiers who had narrowly escaped death. For them, Shen Feng had personally appeared and saved them when they were at their most desperate, and then brought them back from the grasslands. Such kindness was too great to repay, even with endless gratitude.
Meanwhile, Xiao Sheng, lying on the sleigh and being taken care of by others, gradually recovered his strength. His muscles became fuller, no longer shriveled. He also learned from a sentry near the Great Wall that "More than a month ago, someone did come in from outside, and they seemed to be family members from near the coal mine, but we don't know where they went."
"This means that Zhang Jue's wife and child are likely still alive. It's not easy. It must have been very difficult to walk back from the grasslands in the dead of winter," Xiao Sheng couldn't help but exclaim.
According to the information Xiao Sheng obtained, Zhang Jue's wife was not an ability user. Therefore, it was extremely difficult for a weak woman to return from the grasslands, which were full of wolf packs. She must have suffered a lot, and she was also carrying a child less than a year old. It was unimaginable how she managed it.
"Xiao Sheng, do me a favor. After you find Zhang Jue's wife and child, send them to Yuzhou. I will reward you handsomely. I will search the vicinity for a few days. If I can't find them, I'll go to Yuzhou," Shen Feng said to Xiao Sheng.
Xiao Sheng also knew that Zhang Jue's sister had already been sent to Yuzhou, so it was reasonable to continue taking care of Zhang Jue's wife and child. Therefore, he did not object.
However, Shen Feng searched for a long time near the Great Wall, even finding survivors who had escaped from the coal mine, but he could not find Zhang Jue's wife. Some survivors said, "It seems that Zhang Jue's wife couldn't keep up with our team and was eaten by wolves."
But some people also said, "No, Zhang Jue's wife didn't die. She just ran south by herself. Her mental state wasn't very good, she was probably driven mad."
Shen Feng was completely helpless. He searched many places but couldn't find her. It seemed hopeless now, and it was time to prepare to return.
Xiao Sheng first bid farewell to Shen Feng, "We are going back to Yanjing. I will be taking leave to get married soon. Remember to come to the wedding feast!"