The citizen officer looked at the little girl from head to toe and said meaningfully, "You gave your only food and weapon to others. What about yourself?"
The little girl smiled. "I'm fine. I won't starve to death. At least they don't have to starve anymore, right?"
The citizen officer sighed. "That's not necessarily true."
The little girl was surprised. "Why?"
The citizen officer sighed. "You're talking about Zhiyun Village next door to the south, right?
The place with Star Weave Grass is at least a few hundred miles away from here. They've only eaten a few buns and don't have the strength to walk that far. "
The little girl was stunned. She suddenly realized that she had neglected these details.
The citizen officer continued. "Actually, these people won't live long. They've eaten too much bark and soil for too many days. Their internal organs are all damaged. Death is only a matter of time."
The little girl was stunned. "Is there no way to help them?"
The citizen officer shook his head helplessly. "How?
Food is stored in the main city's war preparation granary. Without the city lord's orders, no one can open the granary. Also, the food in the granary is not for these poor people. Do you understand? "
The little girl said, "Are we just going to watch these people starve to death?"
The citizen officer didn't answer. Silence usually meant silence. He had been stationed here for nine years and had seen too many refugees starve to death. He was numb to it.
In this era of disaster, what was a few people dying?
The little girl also fell silent. After a moment, she suddenly looked up and a glimmer of light flashed in her eyes. "No, I have to help them."
"Help them?
How? "The citizen officer looked at her curiously." You're already like this. How can you help them?
Let me tell you, even if you go to the main city to beg for food, you might not be able to get it. Besides, you can't enter. Refugees are not allowed to enter. "
The little girl didn't answer him. She straightened her back and walked into the cold wind with her head held high. The direction she was heading was the main city at the border.
Looking at the frail and tattered figure disappear at the end of the road, the citizen officer sighed helplessly. He didn't believe that this little girl could help these children because even he couldn't do anything, let alone a little child.
Do you expect a child to be able to do something that even adults can't do?
However, when the sky was about to turn dark, the little girl's figure appeared again. This time, her expression was very excited. She shook the little bundle on her waist and said, "Come and see what I brought back!"
As she spoke, she opened the cloth bag. Inside was a small ball of powder, about the size of a fist.
The citizen officer was also curious. "How did you get it?"
The little girl smiled and said, "I followed behind the grain cart and quietly cut open the sacks on the cart. Then, I collected the powder along the way."
The Citizen Protector disagreed. "What can this little powder do?
It's not even enough to make a small bowl of soup. "
The little girl called Ding Wenhe over and asked Ding Wenhe to carefully put the powder into a broken bowl.
"I can go again!"
The little girl's eyes flashed with hope. Although she was young, she was very persistent. She turned around and ran into the cold wind.
At this time, the sky was completely dark.
There was no starlight in the night sky, only the whistling and raging cold wind. At some point, the night sky began to snow. The snowflakes were like powder.
In the middle of the night, the little girl's figure returned again. This time, she was even more excited. She proudly opened the cloth bag. The citizen officer found that this time, she had brought back pure white rice.
There was not much rice. The number could be counted with the naked eye. At a glance, there was only a handful.
"What can this little rice do?" The citizen officer sneered disdainfully.
The little girl ignored his ridicule and said proudly, "I can go again. As long as I am willing to go, many little drops can make an ocean, right?"
The citizen officer looked at the night sky and said worriedly, "It looks like it's going to snow heavily. This little rice and powder can only last them for half a day at most. Who knows, they might freeze to death tomorrow or the day after."
The little girl said, "No, I believe in tomorrow. As long as there is tomorrow, we will have hope, right?"
After saying that, she ignored the citizen officer's reaction and disappeared into the night again.
The third return was at dawn. The sky was already snowing like goose feathers. The village and the roads were covered with thick snow. There was even a layer of ice on the snow. It was a standard cold day.
The little girl brought back a small bag of white rice. But this time, everyone was unhappy because there were a few children lying motionless on the debris in the shack.
They went forward to take a closer look. There was a layer of ice on their bodies. Their eyebrows and eyes were frozen. The pure white snow covered their little faces.
The little girl's throat was suddenly blocked. She couldn't say anything because these children were no longer breathing. They had been frozen to death.
"No, my speed is too slow. I have to speed up!" The little girl said with red eyes.
Ding Wenhe said decisively, "Sister, I will go with you!"
"You stay and take care of them. I won't be easily discovered if I go alone!" The little girl went into the wind and snow again.
The fourth time, the speed was much faster, and this time, the bag was full. However, the protector still noticed that something was wrong, because he saw that half of the little girl's face was swollen, and there were five clear fingerprints on it.
"You were beaten?" The citizen officer suddenly felt a little distressed.
"I'm fine!"
The little girl did not think much of it. "Because I stole this rice from a rich family. Being slapped is nothing."
The citizen officer was speechless. He looked at the weak little girl, her determined expression, and her swollen cheek. He suddenly felt that this child was the citizen officer of this place, and he was an outsider.
The fifth and sixth bags of rice were quickly sent to the dilapidated village. Although it was fast, it still took more than half a day.
There was a fire in the snow outside the shack. There was a pot on top of it. The rice was boiled into porridge. Ding Wenhe was feeding the malnourished children with small bowls.
The citizen officer had taken the initiative to raise the fire. Seeing the fire, the little girl smiled even more happily. "You are indeed different from other citizen officers."
The citizen officer looked worried. "This rice can last for one or two days. Don't go again. You should know the laws of our kingdom."
The punishment for stealing in the Da Sheng Kingdom was also very heavy. However, the little girl was just a child. She only received a few slaps and a few kicks for stealing a few bags of rice.
Even so, she was still limping as she walked. Her thin and weak figure walked in the snow that was as deep as her knees. If one did not look carefully, one would think that she was a small dog crawling.
The eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh bags were collected in the evening of the second day. They were neatly piled up on the rock on the side of the road. The number was not much, but for the group of children, it was the only hope for survival.
The Citizen Protector looked at the rice grains that were as white as snowflakes. He stood in the snow in a daze, unable to say a single word.
Was it right for a person to steal in order to survive?
If a person stole in order to let others live, was it stupid to steal?
The citizen officer suddenly felt that the most difficult problem in the world was survival. You could never tell right from wrong.
When the twelfth bag of rice was sent back, the little girl was obviously tired. There was a trace of tiredness on her face. "I just met the border guards."
"Are you okay?" The citizen officer asked with concern.
The little girl smiled and said, "I'm fine. I can run fast. Running has always been my strength. They can't catch me."
The citizen officer said, "Forget it. Don't go. It's very dangerous."
The little girl said, "I'll go again. Although there's not much rice, as long as we keep working hard, everyone can survive, right?
Although I don't know martial arts, I'm the successor of this hero knife. I can't give up on these people. Otherwise, the big brothers will look down on me. I believe that tomorrow, I believe that there is hope … "
The snowstorm suddenly intensified. The little girl braved the snowstorm and set off again.
This time, she went for a long time and didn't come back.
The citizen officer paced back and forth in the snow uneasily. Ding Wenhe also ran to the intersection from time to time to take a look. However, for the entire night, the little girl's figure did not appear on the village's path.
The snow became heavier and the wind became stronger. However, everyone's hearts turned colder. This was because everyone was afraid that the little girl would never return.
At the first glimmer of dawn, the little girl's figure finally appeared in everyone's field of vision as she wished. This time, she was carrying a large sack, staggering and limping as she struggled to move forward on the snowy ground.
The citizen officer and Ding Wenhe immediately went forward and helped her remove the sack. They helped her lean against a rock to rest.
It was obvious that she was very tired this time. Her face was dried and her lips were cracked. She gasped for breath as her small chest heaved violently.
Ding Wenhe hurriedly said, "Sister, I'll get you some water."
"No … There's no need …" The little girl was still smiling, but her expression was indescribably sad. "I'm … I'm sorry …"
Ding Wenhe asked in surprise, "What's wrong?
Sister? "
The little girl smiled with difficulty. "I … I can't go steal rice for you anymore. Perhaps this will be the last time …"
The citizen officer was shocked to discover that the snow the little girl had walked on was covered in blood. He was an Origin Energy user, so he immediately used his Origin Energy to investigate. Only then did he discover that there were three sword wounds on the little girl's back. One of them was very fatal. It had reached her lungs and heart from her back. The little girl's aura was rapidly weakening.
"What's going on?" The citizen officer panicked, completely panicked.
The little girl smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry. I ran into the border guards again. This time, I couldn't avoid them. I could only try my best to walk back …"
"You must hold on, hold on!"
The citizen officer turned his head and shouted, "Wenhe, quickly go get some cloth and medicine. Do you still have any medicine? Quick, quickly bandage her wounds …"
His voice sounded like he was crying, but the little girl looked at him with a very gentle gaze. "I told you, you're different from the other citizen officers. You're a good person because you were willing to spend nine years here to protect them. You're different …"