Pushing aside that terrifying corpse, Grace Walker's heart pounded violently. According to the village customs, stealing money from a corpse would get you paraded through the streets in shame.

In the past, Samuel Brooks from Tie Family Village once fished a corpse out of the ditch and stole a jade pendant from it. Later, when he tried to sell the pendant, he was caught by the authorities. The old clan chief gave Samuel Brooks thirty lashes with a rattan cane, then paraded Samuel Brooks around the village for a whole day as a warning.

Thinking of Samuel Brooks's fate, Grace Walker grew worried. Samuel Brooks's fourteen-year-old son had been too ashamed to show his face ever since, and to this day, no matchmaker was willing to arrange a marriage for him. She didn't want her own son to end up with no one to help him find a wife in the future.

Grace Walker wanted to throw away the satchel, but looking at the entwined lotus pattern on it, she just couldn't bear to part with it. Such a satchel could fetch at least twenty copper coins.

"Should I throw it away or not?"

Grace Walker muttered endlessly to her son, who had just woken up and was staring at her.

Ethan Brooks really wanted to tell his mother to throw away the satchel and just keep the money, but when he tried to speak, it only came out as meaningless babble.

Fortunately, Grace Walker was clever. She decisively threw away the satchel and kept the money inside. When Ethan Brooks saw his mother joyfully touching each copper coin and kissing the scattered pieces of silver, his expression turned blank for a moment.

He couldn't understand why this woman, who had just lost her husband, would act so frantically.

There should be characters on the copper coins. Ethan Brooks couldn't make out what was written, but the round coins with square holes at least reassured him a little—he didn't seem to have ended up in a strange place, since he had seen many such coins before...

At some point, the wind picked up over the water, and the heavy rain turned into gentle drizzle. Clever Grace Walker even knew how to use the broken umbrella to catch the wind, steering the washbasin purposefully along with the breeze.

The washbasin avoided the large trees sticking out of the water. Those trees were crowded with people, but Grace Walker simply believed that staying in the washbasin with her son was much safer than being up in the trees with that crowd.

The great flood had changed many people. Neighbors who used to be close could now turn into demons. That pig, desperate to survive, had taught Grace Walker a lesson.

In the face of survival, all bonds were nothing more than the moon's reflection in a water jar.

Along the way, Grace Walker had encountered people who had fallen into the water.

Not to mention the entire outskirts of Tokyo being flooded—even in just one Tie Family Village, there were well over a thousand victims.

The men had all gone to the river embankment, leaving only the old, weak, women, and children in the village. Andy was a blacksmith, kept behind by the clan chief to forge tools, which was the only reason he stayed.

Grace Walker dared not imagine the moment when the flood came crashing down...

Andy packed the raft full of people. When she and her son tried to get on, not a single person was willing to make room. If only someone had given up a little space, Andy wouldn't have died...

Because of this, Grace Walker coldly watched many people get swallowed by the flood, without the slightest trace of guilt in her heart.

Heroic deeds were for men like Andy. She was a woman—a woman holding a child. She didn't need to pity anyone.

Grace Walker tried hard to recall every happy moment with Andy, not letting a single detail slip by. Her expression shifted from pride to sorrow, as if as long as she kept Andy in her heart, Heaven would surely give her and her son a chance to survive.

Ethan Brooks, full from nursing, blew bubbles out of boredom.

Grace Walker had plenty of milk, more than enough. He was so full he was about to spit up, yet milk still dripped from her nipple onto his face. It seemed he was destined for a strong childhood.

Chapter Two: Ethan Brooks's Luck

Grace Walker was far from as carefree as Ethan Brooks. Right now, she was holding up a club, facing off against a snow-white fox. The fox was beautiful, its silvery fur spreading out even in the water. Its four paws paddled, its black nose held high, and it made a sound like a crying child.

On any other day, Grace Walker would have been delighted to catch this fox and trade its pelt for some copper coins. She'd had her eye on a pair of shoes for ages but never had the money to buy them, and Andy would never spend even a single extra coin on such things.

But today was different. This fox bared its teeth and tried again and again to approach the washbasin. Grace Walker didn't believe that anyone or anything besides herself and her son had the right to get in.

Even in the water, the fox held its head high with pride, its strange pale blue eyes fixed on Grace Walker. Time and again, it tried to approach from the front, only to be driven back by Grace Walker with her club.

In the end, Grace Walker was the victor. The fox took a blow to the nose, cried out pitifully, and was carried away by the current, but it kept looking back at the washbasin, reluctant to leave, as if trying to remember Grace Walker's face.

Thinking of the countryside tales about foxes, Grace Walker covered her face with her sleeve and loudly tried to scare the fox away as it drifted off.