As soon as he walked into the clouds and mist on the mountainside, Ning Que heard the sound of horse hooves coming from behind him as fast as rain!
The fearful memories that had been hidden deep in his heart for these years suddenly revived with the familiar sound of horse hooves, and then spread uncontrollably, occupying his entire body in an instant, making his body extremely stiff.
He bit the tip of his tongue fiercely, used extremely strong willpower to break away from fear, and forced himself to turn around and look back.
The mountain road that should have been in the thick twilight disappeared, and the clouds and mist disappeared. When I looked back, I saw a splendid majestic city standing between the sky and the earth, and a huge shadow cut off the official road to the north.
On the official road, dozens of Xuanqi, all dressed in black armor, were galloping towards them. Their hooves sounded like thunder, and the surface of the official road shook slightly, causing pedestrians to take cover.
Ning Que hid behind the tables and chairs in the tea shop, staring blankly as he watched the cavalry drive into the distance. Suddenly he noticed that he was much shorter than the horses and the pedestrians on the road.
He looked down and saw that he was wearing only a small shoe. His left foot had been pricked by a stone on the road at some point and was bleeding.
Leaving Chang'an City and heading north, he followed the travelers at a loss. After being questioned twice by the curious people of the Tang Dynasty, he discovered the danger and quietly left the crowd late one night.
He did not encounter wild beasts in the wild. He could pick up fruits and satisfy his hunger. Although hunger would always accompany him, and when he walked out of the mountain forest with a yellow face and a thin body, he had almost arrived in Hebei Province. At that time, he was again
There is no need to worry about someone finding out his identity, because there are children like him with yellow faces and thin faces all over the mountains and plains on both sides of the road.
Severe drought in the wasteland, severe drought in Hebei Province, and the Tang Empire ushered in a rare natural disaster in the first year of Tianqi. The new king had just ascended the throne and faced the first major test of his rule. He rushed back to Chang'an City from Daze
His Majesty, the Emperor, urgently began to arrange disaster relief matters. However, the refugees in the wasteland had already entered Hebei Road, and the victims of Hebei Road were heading south. The victims who were lucky enough to go first received relief from the imperial court. Those who were still staying in Hebei Road,
The victims around the vast Minshan Mountains are facing a more severe test.
All over the official roads, imperial officials and government servants were counting the number of refugees and distributing porridge and food. More and more victims were migrating from the north to the south. For people at that time, the north was the underworld on earth and the most terrifying world.
While everyone was walking south, Ning Que continued to go north, entering Hebei Province, and walked hard along the road at the foot of Min Mountain. On the road, he encountered thieves with malicious intentions, hiding in
He avoided the bushes, and in those bushes, he saw many cold corpses.
In a forest where the bark of the trees was about to be peeled off, he was surrounded by a group of skinny hungry people. Judging from their clothing, these hungry people must have come from the north of Yan. The Yan royal family was unable to provide relief, so these hungry people naturally came to the Tang Empire.
"It's a pity that he is a child and does not have a few kilograms of flesh on his body."
The hungry people looked at the little boy who was covered in dirt. The leader's eyes were glowing green, much like the wolf that Ning Que would be very familiar with in the future. However, this wolf itself was also very thin, and its fur was badly ulcerated.
"We don't have the strength anymore. Just take off your clothes and jump into the pot."
The leader of the hungry people put his fingers into his mouth, as if he wanted to pull out a few strands of meat. He looked at the little boy and said weakly: "Be careful when you jump in, don't splash too much water. These days, no one has
Use the extra energy to chop wood and boil water."
The seven or eight hungry people surrounding the little boy nodded slowly, like corpses that could barely move.
Ning Que looked at them and asked, "You have no strength, but I still have strength."
The leader of the hungry people laughed as if crying, stretched out his fingers like dead branches, pointed tremblingly at the little boy's face, and said: "If you still have the strength, then why don't you run away quickly?"
Ning Que didn't say anything else. He took out the hatchet that he had carried all the way from his waist. Using all the strength he had accumulated from using fruits, weeds and the few handfuls of rice saved by kind people along the way, he jumped up and waved.
The hatchet slashed hard at the nose of the leader of the hungry people.
He was too young, too small in stature, and too weak in strength. Even if he jumped, he could not jump very high. However, these hungry people in the forest had been hungry for too many days and had no strength at all. They could only watch helplessly as he swung out.
Got a hatchet.
With a pop, the little boy missed his chop. The hatchet that was intended to cut off the nose of the hungry leader hit the opponent's eye socket hard. Because he was so hungry that his skin was so thin that his bones were exposed, the hungry leader's eye sockets were very clear.
The image of entering was very clear, and the sound coming out was also very clear. The sharp edge of the rusty hatchet penetrated directly through his eyes and then penetrated deep into his brain.
The leader of the hungry people didn't even make a sound and fell straight down like a piece of wood.
Ning Que panted and walked forward, stepped on the neck of the hungry leader with his little foot, and pulled out the hatchet with force. As he moved, a greenish-yellow liquid shot into the air, but it was not blood.
He stared at the deflated eyeball hanging on the hatchet for a long time, then raised his face and looked at the ghost-like hungry people around him, and said: "If you want to eat people, just eat yourselves, I won't let you eat them."
."
The fog lingering on the mountainside behind the academy is getting heavier and heavier, and the last twilight of the outside world has been swallowed up. From somewhere in the woods, a strange call of a night bird can be heard. It may be a crow or other birds.
Ning Que was walking on the sloping mountain road. Every time he stepped on a stone step, his body would be stiff for a long time. It had been a long time since he had entered the fog. He had walked more than a thousand stone steps.
, but I don’t know how far it is from the top of the mountain.
If you look closely, you can see that his eyes are somewhat hollow and out of focus. It seems that he is not looking at his feet, but at some scenes further away, and at some time in the past.
All the way north, along the Min Mountain and deep into Hebei Road, ten houses and nine empty houses, the fields have been completely occupied by hungry people coming from the wasteland and Yanbei, but the drought lasted too long, and they exchanged food for each other.
Most of the hungry people have turned into corpses on the roadside, or food in the bellies of wild beasts in the Min Mountains. Accordingly, the dangers Ning Que may encounter have become much less.
On this day, the long-awaited rain fell from the sky, and some villagers crawled out of the cellars in the countryside. They cried and knelt in the rain, kowtowing desperately to thank Haotian for his mercy, while more people were so hungry that they had no strength to show anything.
expression.
In the heavy rain, Ning Que sat under a small tree beside the mountain, looking around with a confused expression, not knowing where he should go.
In the past few days, many disaster victims have ventured into the vast Min Mountains. Although there are many wild animals in the mountains, they can at least find enough food. But he has never entered the mountains because he knows that he is too weak now. Even if he fights for his life
It can kill hungry people who have no strength, but it has no strength to kill those terrifying beasts in the mountains.
He took out the dried meat from his arms, opened his mouth to bite it, and tore off a few shreds of meat. Then he raised his head to the sky and took a few mouthfuls of rainwater. He chewed it up and swallowed it into his stomach. There was no expression of enjoyment on his face.
.After many days of suffering, the fair and tender little boy in the general's mansion became extremely dirty and thin. The little boy's lips were covered with raised withered skin, and blood oozed out from time to time between the teeth when chewing meat.
The rain gradually became lighter. He checked the hatchet at his waist, picked up the wooden stick next to him, and continued north along the road at the foot of the mountain, always ensuring that he had time to escape into Minshan, because he knew that as the rain fell,
Life is resurrected, and those adults who are alive and healthier than before may become his enemies at any time.
There were many corpses piled on the road ahead. The skinny corpses had long since rotted. They were soaked in the rain and emitted waves of stench. Several wild dogs, also skinny as firewood, were squatting next to the piles of corpses to eat. One wild dog was leaning towards the corpse.
It was holding its head and biting an arm with white bones exposed, and was dragging it back hard, making low growling sounds from time to time. The other wild dog was squatting like a human, with its two front paws resting on a skinny and rotten thigh.
Chewing loudly.
Hearing Ning Que's footsteps, several wild dogs stopped eating, raised their heads warily, stared at the little boy on the road, and let out low and terrifying whimpers. Two wild dogs judged that the little boy's size should be harmful to them.
Not posing any threat, he even gave up on the unpalatable rotting corpse in front of him and began to approach Ning Que.
Ning Que stamped the ground with the wooden stick in his hand, then took out the hatchet from his waist, half-lowered his body, revealing his teeth that were slightly swollen and bleeding, and yelled fiercely at the two wild dogs.
Probably smelling the smell of blood on the little boy's body and realizing that he was in a different degree of danger than his size, the wild dogs retreated with a squeak and scattered around the pile of corpses, no longer eating, preparing to wait for him to leave before continuing.
.
The piles of rotting corpses beside the road, and the domestic dogs that were supposed to guard the home turned into wild dogs that ate the carcasses. Ning Que saw many such scenes along the way. He was already numb and had no feeling at all, so he
He decided to leave immediately, otherwise he would really get into a fight with these wild dogs, and maybe he would become one of these corpses in the next moment.
Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly heard a very slight sound.
He looked back at the pile of corpses soaked by the rain, but found no movement, so he prepared to leave again.
Just when he was about to leave again, the very slight voice sounded again, this time the voice was very clear.
It's a cry.
He walked back to the rain-soaked carrion pile beside the road, roared, brandished a wooden stick and a hatchet, and drove away the wild dogs that felt that their food had been invaded. Then he chopped off a rotten thigh with a hatchet and saw it far away.
Throw it into the rainy dry fields.
The wild dogs whined and ate around the rotting thigh, ignoring his movements for the time being.
Listening to the faint cries coming from under the pile of corpses, Ning Que began to move the top corpses. His strength was indeed very small. Fortunately, these dead people were already skin and bones when they died, and most of their internal organs were also gone.
The rot turns into water vapor, so it is not too difficult to move.
The tentacles were wet and slippery, like some kind of sludge eaten during the New Year in Chang'an City. Ning Que shook off the rotten flesh on his hands and continued to move. Finally, he saw the owner of the faint cry.
There was a half-hunched corpse lying in the field, wearing clothes that looked like a servant's. After turning the corpse over, we saw the baby soaked in rainwater and corpse fluid. The baby's face was pale and his lips were black.
Qing, her eyes were tightly closed and her breath was as thin as a thread. She couldn't imagine how she survived and how she could cry like that just now.
Ning Que wiped the rotten flesh on his hands on his pants, then carefully picked up the baby. After watching her silence for a long time, he said, "You don't want me to leave, so you cry, right?"
He jumped off the pile of corpses with the baby in his arms and walked toward the distance along the road. The wild dogs that had been staring at him for a long time with green eyes saw him finally leaving, and let out a grunt of joy and ran back to the corpses.
In the pile, a gurgling sound sounded after a moment.
Silently, the heavy rain fell again.
Ning Que glanced at the Minshan Mountain in the distance, looked down at the pale baby, and thought that if he let you get wet in the rain for a while, I'm afraid you would never be able to cry again. He wanted to find something to cover the rain, and then
He saw a black umbrella on the side of the road.
The black umbrella was big, old, and dirty.
The fog is still there on the mountain road.
Ning Que lowered his head slightly and stood between the steep stone steps, unable to take a step for a long time.
With a whoosh, a feather arrow accurately hit a gray rabbit.
Ning Que walked forward with lightning steps, and happily picked up the gray rabbit. With one mistake of his hands, he broke the gray rabbit's neck bone with great speed, and then threw it into the bag behind him. The bag behind the young man was heavy and seemed to have been broken.
Packed with a lot of prey.
Squatting under the tree and smelling it, he pulled out the kudzu vine behind the tree and climbed up a steep path to the cliff. In the grassland on the cliff near the spring nest, he saw with satisfaction what he had seen for three days.
the greatest results.
A blue sheep fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Two lambs were looking at it helplessly, pushing their heads against its mouth and nose from time to time, not knowing whether they wanted to give it some strength and confidence, or to give it some strength and confidence.
I want to comfort my loved ones before they die.
Ning Que quietly walked forward, picked up a rope end in the grass in his hand, and pulled hard. The animal trap hidden in the grass tightened suddenly, and the two lambs screamed in surprise and fell heavily.
After falling down, the hooves were tightly tied together.
The big blue sheep, whose hind legs were caught in the animal trap, struggled desperately, looking at the bound lamb, and screamed anxiously.
"Your life is good. At least there are people worried about you."
Ning Que walked to the animal trap, looked at the two lambs lying on the grass, shook his head, then pulled out a knife from his waist and stabbed the big blue sheep in the neck.
"I'm back."
Ning Que dragged the body of the blue sheep, carried a heavy bag, and led the two lambs back to the dilapidated hunting house in the woods.
A little girl ran out to greet him. She was about four or five years old. She was wearing animal skins and had a dark complexion.
The hunting house was very dilapidated and dimly lit. The old hunter who was sitting by the copper brazier put down his cigarette rod, looked at Ning Que expressionlessly, spat a mouthful of thick phlegm on the ground, and said, "How was the harvest today?"
"Not bad." Ning Que said.
The old Orion's face is full of wrinkles, but you should never expect to see any kindness on his face. All you can see is greed and cruelty.
"Let's eat."
The old hunter grabbed a piece of meat and took a bite. He felt something was wrong with the taste and yelled: "You damn girl! I told you to put less salt! Salt is so expensive! Who will give you money! You prodigal girl! You only know how to eat me."
If you use me, after I raise you for another two years, I will sell you to a prostitute village for money!"
The little girl lowered her head with a look of horror in her eyes. Ning Que lowered his head and looked at the potato porridge that was like clear soup in the bowl. His gaze reflected in the water, and he could vaguely see the star-like flames.
He has been listening to this kind of reprimand for many years. The old Orion eats meat, and he and Sangsang are not even allowed to drink the broth. He has also endured this kind of treatment for many years. He is used to it, but it seems that he can't help it.
Just keep getting used to it.
Little Sang Sang held the porridge bowl with her two small hands, her thin arms trembling a little, and she suddenly started coughing.
Ning Que stretched out his hand to steady the bowl for her.
The old hunter took a sip of strong wine, looked at them drunkenly and said, "You are sensible, if the bowl breaks, how should I clean it up?"
Ning Que glanced at the meat bowl in front of the old Orion, stood up and walked over, saying very sincerely: "Grandpa, Sangsang was ill again last night. Do you think we should let her eat a piece of meat too?"
The old hunter slapped Ning Que on the head, glared and cursed: "Is the prey used for you to eat? It is used to exchange money for salt! If you think I am treating you badly, then get out of here!"
When you catch a tiger for me and use the tiger bones to pay for your meals over the years, I will tell you to get out! I spent a lot of money to make a stainless steel clip, but you have no use at all!"
Ning Que silently retreated.
The old hunter finished his drink and went out to check on the prey that Ning Que brought back today.
A moment later, he walked in angrily with a whip, whipped Ning Que all over his face, and cursed: "You prodigal thing! How many times have I taught you! Drag them all back to me and kill them! Who told you?
They were slaughtered outside!"
Ning Que's face was covered with bloodstains, but he did not avoid it because he knew that there was no point in avoiding it. He lowered his head and explained: "That blue sheep is too heavy. You can't drag it back without killing me first. Besides, I'm very aggressive."
Note that peeling off the entire skin should be fine.”
"What's the use of you if you can't drag it back!"
The old Orion beat him angrily and roared: "You only know about leather, but you forget that blood can also be sold for money! You bastard!"
"Damn thing!"
The old hunter walked out of the hunting house angrily.
Ning Que looked at Sangsang who was holding the porridge bowl with her head down, wiped the blood on her face, looked at her and said with a smile: "You are so good, don't try to block the whip for me in the future, otherwise that old guy will whip me
more energetic."
Sang Sang hugged the big porridge bowl and nodded vigorously.
"Damn it! Hurry up and boil the bath water!"
The old hunter's angry and resentful yelling came from outside the house, and no one knew where his anger and resentment came from.
Sang Sang raised her head and looked at Ning Que nervously.
Ning Que was stealing the meat that the old Orion had forgotten to hide, and nodded after a moment of silence.
There are two worlds inside and outside Minshan.
The world outside the mountains has been five years since the Tang Empire was apocalypse, and for the people living in the mountains, life is just a monotonous repetition day after day. For the old hunters who took in Ning Que and Sangsang, this kind of
Finally there are some other pastimes among the monotonous repetition, such as whipping and insulting or something else.
Ning Que will be ten years old this year and is already a teenager.
This year Sangsang is five years old.
Sangsang poured hot water into the bucket, and the water mist evaporated.
The naked old hunter in the barrel looked at her and cursed: "You damn girl, you are dark and dirty. Wash yourself quickly."
Sang Sang nodded, then walked out of the door, took a basin of hot water from Ning Que's hand and walked back with difficulty.
The hot water in the basin has just boiled and is very hot.
Sangsang stood on the bench and poured his love on the old Orion from head to toe.
An extremely shrill scream sounded in the house.
The old hunter ran out naked, with blisters all over his body. He squinted his eyes and couldn't see clearly what was outside. He was holding a hunting knife that never left his body, waving it like a madman, and mouthing
Swearing the most vicious curse words he knew.
There was a crisp and loud bang, the metal pieces collided together, and the old Orion fell down, letting out an even more miserable scream.
His right leg was caught in a stainless steel animal trap used for hunting tigers, and half of it was broken.
Ning Que and Sang Sang walked over and looked at the old Orion lying in a pool of blood.
Even in this situation, the old Orion still retained the ruthlessness of the mountain people. He stared at Ning Que dying and cursed: "You bastard! You ungrateful thing! You don't deserve to die!"
"Well, we have taken revenge in the past few years, and now it is time to take revenge."
Ning Que took out the hunting knife from behind, looked at the drooping flesh on the old Orion's body, looked at the poor guy at the base of his thigh covered with blood, and said, "I originally wanted to endure it for two more days, but you refused to give it to us.
Give me another chance to endure it.”
"If you didn't want to sell Sang Sang to a prostitute village, we wouldn't want to kill you."
"If you didn't want to take a shower, we wouldn't try to kill you."
Ning Que looked at him and continued after being silent for a long time: "Actually just now... if you were willing to let Sangsang eat a piece of meat, maybe we wouldn't kill you, and we might just sneak away on our own."
The old Orion was panting and looked at him in confusion.
Ning Que tightened his grip on the hunting knife in his hand and slashed it down.
The old hunter's head dropped.
After a while, Ning Que walked out of the hunting house carrying a hardwood boxwood bow and quiver on his back, with the hunting knife slightly swinging at his waist.
Little Sang Sang followed him holding a worn-out big black umbrella.
"Come on my back when you're tired."
Then the two people disappeared into the vast Min Mountain.
Night has come, and the thick fog in the mountains behind the academy is as smooth and thick as milk.
Ning Que stood on the stone steps with his head lowered. After being silent for a long time, he slowly raised his hands.
His hand was hollow, as if holding an invisible knife.
The night wind howled on the mountain road.
He tilted his body slightly and slashed with the knife, cutting through the night and the mountain road.
The knife fell, and the stone steps went up another level.
There was silence in the thick fog on the top of the mountain.
A voice full of pity sounded: "I don't know what kind of suffering Ning Que has encountered in his life. I have never heard him talk about how this mountain road is... so difficult for him."
"The mountain road is long, and all the past disasters have turned into reality and blocked the way of climbers. If they can see through it or underestimate it, they may be able to relax. But if they cannot see through it and have regrets about retreating, then there will never be any hope of climbing the mountain.
."
The second senior brother's voice sounded slowly, and it was only then that there was finally serious respect in his voice.
"The two people climbing today are very interesting, especially Ning Que."
"Although he didn't know what the memories and pain deep in his heart were, he was unwilling to forget them at all, and he had no regrets at all. He even thought it was unnecessary to see through them. Facing the darkest things deep in his heart,
Corner, those most painful experiences, he is still the same today and the choices he made back then."
"If he can't see through it, how can he keep his true intentions and remain unchanged for many years?"
"Since you don't want to see through it, the only way is to kill it."