---
"Please let us go! We won't cause any trouble, we'll leave the village tomorrow and never come back."
He really felt like he was going to die.
He could barely breathe, the wounds hurt terribly, and blood kept flowing.
Gianna moved her foot away and coldly said, "What about your four families?"
The others quickly promised that they would leave the village tomorrow and would never cause trouble again.
In the end, Floyd and Gianna let the five people go.
As soon as they left, Floyd looked at Gianna with surprise.
He had been with her every day, yet he never knew she had suddenly become this strong.
After hesitating for a long time, he finally asked, "Gianna, how did you become so strong? Three men weren't even your match."
Gianna felt a strange nervousness in her heart.
But soon she calmed down and said, "I don't know how I got this strong. When I think about how these people had evil intentions toward our family, I did it for the three kids…"
Floyd didn't doubt her explanation.
After all, at that moment, his mind was full of thoughts about family.
That night, Gianna and Floyd didn't rest. Instead, they kept watch outside the courtyard.
The lights from the houses of those few families in the village stayed on all night.
The next day, they saw the five families hurriedly leave the village, pushing carts.
When the families' members met Gianna and Floyd's eyes, they all showed signs of avoidance.
Gianna and Floyd were worried the five families might retaliate, and the five families feared Gianna and Floyd would do the same.
Floyd frowned and said, "Letting them go is still a future problem."
Gianna was also scared.
But, if they didn't let them go, they couldn't just kill them all!
Although she wasn't afraid of getting blood on her hands, she couldn't wipe out an entire family. She wasn't some evil villain.
The world was chaotic.
Whether they let them go or not, it was bound to bring trouble.
She comforted Floyd, "We just have to be more careful from now on. Anyway, we have enough food, and we have water, so we can stay at home. If we have to do something, we'll take the kids with us."
The only family left in Mud Nest Village was theirs, and it was much safer than before.
Mud Nest Village was quite remote.
The nearest village was about five or six miles away, and they had to cross two big mountains.
The village called Menjia Village, known for buying people, was even farther away, about ten miles.
Floyd didn't want his family to face danger and said, "Tomorrow I'll set traps at the village entrance. You shouldn't wander outside. I'm guessing someone will come to our village to spy and see if we've all left."
Just like when they had gone to find water and passed through the abandoned village, it had been visited by countless people.
With the biggest problem solved, Floyd was feeling uneasy.
After the five families left the village, they began to resent Gianna and Floyd.
Big Tiger's injuries were serious.
He couldn't walk and had to be pushed by his family, making his resentment toward Gianna and Floyd grow even stronger.
"Should we just let them act so arrogantly?" Big Tiger grumbled.
Second Spring, in worse condition, hadn't recovered after lying in bed all night.
He also hated them, but there was nothing he could do.
He sighed, "What can we do? You know Floyd's been good at fighting since he was a kid. Aren't you still feeling the pain from last night?"
They had thought five of them could handle Floyd alone, but they hadn't expected that woman to be even better at fighting.
He didn't want to leave the village to escape the disaster.
But now, he had no choice but to leave.
The feeling of almost dying last night made him fearful just thinking about it.
He had no courage to get revenge on Floyd's family.
So, he decided to go to his wife's family for a while. Maybe he could stay there for some time.
Da Hu looked at the other three families, hoping to hear what they thought.
But their answers were disappointing. None of them wanted trouble—they just wanted to leave peacefully.
Da Hu was furious.
"You're all cowards. One scare and you back down? What's there to be afraid of? If we can't deal with them ourselves, we can let outsiders handle them!"
As soon as he mentioned outsiders, Er Quan knew what Da Hu was thinking.
He wasn't a good person, but Floyd grew up in the same village as them. Even last night when they tried to steal food, it was to help their own family survive. They never really wanted to wipe Floyd's whole family out.
He warned Da Hu, "Don't do anything stupid. You know what kind of beasts those people from Menjia Village are."
Da Hu snorted coldly. "I can't swallow this anger."
Er Quan frowned but said nothing more. When they reached a fork in the road, he told his family to split off from Da Hu's.
The other three families quickly followed Er Quan.
Even though they hated Floyd's family, they didn't want them dead.
Besides, Da Hu's thinking was too dangerous.
It was better to keep their distance, just in case Da Hu dragged them into trouble.
Da Hu watched the four families walk away.
His eyes were full of hate.
His father tried to talk him down, "Da Hu, maybe just let it go? We were wrong last night to go to Floyd's house. He already treated us better than he needed to."
A lot of people in the village cursed Floyd, but Da Hu's father never joined in.
He understood how hard times were. Floyd giving them ten catties of grain was already a huge favor.
But his son was too stubborn and had no mind of his own. Whatever outsiders said, he believed.
He still held a grudge against Floyd.
After trying to talk him out of it a few times and failing, the old man gave up.
Da Hu hated Floyd deeply. There was no way he would listen to his father's advice.
Annoyed, he glared at his parents and said, "Stop talking. I know what I'm doing. Dad, take Mom and go to Grandma's place. Their house is near the big river—maybe they still have water."
In times like these, if you had relatives, you should go to them.
If not, you headed to the big cities.
You had to find a way to survive.
In Niwo Village, Gianna and Floyd went to check the old well.
Seeing there was still about one bucket's worth of water in it, both of them were happy.
Especially Gianna. She had been worried the well would stop producing water completely.
"Husband, since the well still has water, how about we use the water we brought back from the mountain valley to bathe the kids?"
Honestly, she wanted to bathe too.
She could store supplies in her space, and she could go in herself, but she couldn't bathe there now.
If she suddenly came out clean, Floyd would get suspicious and start asking questions.
Even taking things from the space had to be done using her mind, without being seen.
So for now, she had to endure.
The stink on her body made her feel awful. Even during the end times, she hadn't had it this rough.
Floyd smelled himself too. It was pretty bad.
He agreed, "Alright, let's use the water we brought back to wash. But we need to collect the used water and use it to water a small patch of land. Let's see if we can grow something."
Gianna agreed without hesitation.
As long as she could bathe, anything was fine.
Back at home, Gianna started heating water and called the kids to get ready to wash up and wash their hair.