Disaster Apocalypse: Farming, Family, and My Hidden Secret Space

The first to fall was the children's mother. Despite him immediately boiling medicine for the family, it couldn't stop the spread of the infection.

Now, besides his eldest son, everyone in the family has been infected, and each day more are dying. Even his brother-in-law's family wasn't spared, and the children's mother quietly passed away early on, her body taken out early in the morning and buried behind the house.

There is grain available now, but no lives left to eat it.

Zhang Dali regrets deeply, blaming himself for his wishful thinking and for listening to his wife's words, ultimately bringing harm to the whole family.

Now, he can only hope his son remains safe and can continue the Zhang family line.

He himself has also been infected, the medicine is gone, and he doesn't have the strength to go to the mountains to gather more. Zhang Dali simply decided to give most of the grain to the eldest son to take to his room. They are destined not to survive, so there's no point in wasting food.

But life often doesn't follow one's desires, just as Zhang Dali felt he was about to cough out his lungs, the eldest son also got infected. Although the symptoms were mild, vomiting, diarrhea, and dry cough had started. At this moment, Zhang Dali felt his life plunge into darkness, spewing blood before rolling his eyes and passing out.

Days later, a foul stench of death wafted from the Zhang family's yard, and for a long time, there were no signs of life from the Zhang household, but still, no one dared to approach.

Qin Shu gazed from afar at the Zhang family's earthen house, his expression solemn.

The stench so strong indicated the people had died for more than a day or two. This weather was peak season for mosquitoes and flies. If.... Qin Shu couldn't help but shudder.

He could not let the bodies remain exposed; a solution had to be found, otherwise, even if all Zhang's family were dead, they might not escape the threat.

"Father..."

Qin Shu conveyed his worries to his father word by word, making Qin Dagen shudder as well, hurrying immediately to share his son's concerns with the other village households.

Thinking of the mosquitoes and flies, everyone couldn't sit still. After discussion, they finally decided to burn down the Zhang residence, or they would have to live in fear every day.

No sooner said than done, they fully armed themselves, bringing firewood from home while gathering more from outside, dumping it all in the Zhang's yard.

Yet, before that, they yelled loudly towards the yard several times, but unfortunately, no one responded.

At this moment, Zhang Gou Dan lay in his room, using all his strength to turn his head towards the source of the voice, his eyes filled with the desire to live, but at this point, even the slightest movement was difficult, his throat so sore that he couldn't even perform the simple act of opening his mouth. Looking at the firewood piling up in the yard and towards the few pounds of grain in the corner of the house, he unwillingly closed his eyes.

Regret gnawed at him like maggots into the bone. If... if only he hadn't helped his mother persuade his father, might things have been different?

But the world doesn't allow for 'if.' Soon enough, thick smoke infiltrated the house, enveloping Zhang Gou Dan entirely.

The fire burned quickly, with people continuously throwing firewood into the yard and onto the house. In no time, the entire Zhang house was engulfed by flames, burning for a full two hours, leaving only the earth walls, the intense smell of death dissipating with the flames.

Luckily, there were no other residences around the Zhang's, and the wind was calm; otherwise, such a large fire would indeed be uncontrollable.

Everyone involved breathed a sigh of relief, standing far outside the remains of the Zhang house, with no one daring to approach, even though the fire should have rid any disease, fear lingered strongly.

"Should be fine now, right?" Qin Zhuang said to the dispersed villagers.

"Definitely fine," another spoke as if convincing themselves or others.

"Alright, everyone should disperse now, remember to wash your clothes thoroughly with boiled water when you get back," Qin Dagen reminded.

Everyone looked complicatedly at the remains of the Zhang house, some shaking their heads, others sighing, dispersing quickly.

Qin Dagen also returned home, where Li Shi already had buckets of boiling water ready in the yard for washing and scalding clothes.

In the burning of the Zhang house, each household sent one person to ensure the family's safety. Of course, if unable to send someone, they at least had to contribute firewood.

Qin Dagen thoroughly washed and scalded himself before daring to get close to his family.

But things weren't as everyone expected, that once the Zhang family was gone, the plague would vanish. Three days later, infections started appearing again in the village.

Hence, each household burned more mugwort more frequently to fend off mosquitoes and flies, clearly aiming to eliminate the probable source of infection.

Even though everyone took stringent precautions, infections still continued, engulfing the village in trepidation, with no one daring to go to the fields.

The same was true for Qin Shu's family. Fortunately, they remained unscathed, with no infection yet.

"Husband, how about we go hide for a while?" Li Shi was truly scared, not for herself or her husband but for the safety of their three children.

Qin Dagen was deeply anxious too. He thought the village would be safe once the Zhang family was gone, yet who could have expected the danger to linger?

The children's mother was right; leaving to hide might indeed be a way out.

"But where can we hide, maybe head to the mountains."

Besides the mountains, Qin Dagen couldn't think of another place to go.

Not to mention that in the current epidemic, even before, other villages wouldn't accept outsiders, not even with someone from the village vouching for them.

"The mountains..." The mere thought of the terrible events that happened there left Li Shi with lingering fear.

"But what about our fields?" Qin Lu furrowed his brow.

They had toiled hard for the four or five acres, and they couldn't just abandon them now, especially with the seedlings growing well.

"No matter, the seedlings in the fields are doing fine. We just need to come by occasionally to weed and catch bugs,"

"Your father is right. It's just more work for us. But the problem is the mountains; many others would have the same idea, so it might not be safe."

Qin Dagen hadn't thought of that, and indeed, the mountains might not be a safe haven considering this angle. But they can't just randomly settle in an open field as it's too unsafe.

"Father..." Amidst his father's woes, Qin Shu spoke up, "Father, I might know a good place."

"Where?" The couple stared intently at their eldest son.

"Hua Village."

"Isn't that your classmate's place in Hua Village?" Qin Dagen immediately reacted.

Qin Dagen had a good impression of his son's classmate from Hua Village and liked him a lot.

The classmate's family was well off, reputedly with several livestock, and they sent all three sons to study, an admirable trait by itself.

The family's elder was even the village chief of Hua Village. Several years ago, during his son's exam travels, they were well cared for by this family, resulting in Qin Dagen bringing his family there to express gratitude. Instead, they were thanked back, bringing numerous items and returning with even more return gifts, truly leaving them no choice but to accept.