war.

War destroys an era, and war also creates a new world.

I don’t know since when, the night is no longer completely dark.

Under the night, at two o'clock, a deep, dark red light lit up, slowly drifting in the air.

Wherever the glimmering light shines, thick, dark green, always smelly sewage flows everywhere. Even in almost lightless corners, the sewage will emit a pale green glow, illuminating the A small area around. Compared with its unbearable filth, the most dangerous thing about these almost ubiquitous sewage is the lethal radiation.

In the vast pool formed by the accumulation of sewage, the original color of rags, rusty iron cans, and carrion carcasses of unknown animals could not be seen clearly. All kinds of filth were floating or sinking. From time to time, a giant rat nearly one meter long would emerge from nowhere, squeaking and screaming, rushing through the sewage, and then disappearing into the darkness. The radiation that is enough to kill a mature horse seems to have no effect on the giant rats. However, occasionally a few pieces of meat will fall off the giant rats with their fur. If you look closely, you will find that the meat has already rotted. From this point of view, it seems that giant rats are not completely immune to radiation.

Hongying floated up several meters and stopped at the top of a tilted steel beam, scanning the world under the dark night. What was reflected in the two-point red light were buildings with only their frames left, houses with half-collapsed walls, and car wrecks scattered everywhere.

The world under the night is reflected with pale green fluorescence everywhere.

Such a place was called a ruin fifty years ago, but now it is called a city.

A dazzling fire suddenly lit up at the corner of the street not far away, and crazy and hysterical shouts intertwined and rushed towards this side quickly.

Hongying was frightened and quickly opened her four transparent wings, vibrating rapidly and flying to high places. A piece of fire happened to shine through, and a huge beetle more than one meter long could be seen flying away into the distance.

The man holding the torch had no interest in the beetle. He just ran with all his strength along with the flow of people in front, roaring like a beast from time to time.

The fire quickly faded away, and the giant beetle disappeared into the darkness again. However, suddenly a strong wind blew by, and the giant beetle immediately let out a scream as sharp as a needle. Its sharp knife-like legs kept making sparks on the masonry and steel bars, and its four wings flapped desperately, but it was still trapped. Slowly dragged into the deep darkness.

Then, corresponding to its screams, there was the sound of chewing.

In a dark alley, there were sudden bursts of hurried footsteps, and a woman who looked extremely panicked rushed in. As soon as she entered the alley, she suddenly noticed a figure sitting against the wall.

The man's whole body was covered in a black blanket, his head lowered, and his face could not be seen clearly. Judging from his thin figure, he looked more like a 18-year-old child.

The woman gritted her teeth, rushed over with a few strides, forced the swaddle she was holding tightly into the man's arms, and said in a crying voice: "Please, save her!"

The fluorescent light emitted from the pool of sewage under the wall illuminated the woman's face. Although the light was flickering and dim, it could still be seen that it was a very young and beautiful face. She was only around 20 years old and had delicate and snow-white skin that was rare in this era. , enough to make most women so jealous that they want to stab her face several times. Her neck was also slender and straight. Starting from the chin, a straight curve drew an almost perfect arc, extending all the way down, and then suddenly stood up on her fair chest, squeezing out a deep cleavage. The woman's clothes were very thin, with only a few buttons on the front, exposing most of her plump breasts. Two tempting bulges could be vaguely seen on the shirt, and there was a small water stain around it, which must have been given to the baby just now. Feeding.

After staying for less than a second and not waiting for the man to answer, the woman suddenly stood up and ran deeper into the alley. After running more than ten meters, she suddenly let out a scream that almost pierced her eardrums. In the slightly noisy night, the screams spread far away. The frantic crowd not far away immediately erupted into shouts of excitement or joy. In less than a minute, torches lit up the alley, revealing more than a dozen mobs in tattered clothes with cruelty and excitement on their faces. Rushing into the alley, you pushed me and chased deeper into the alley.

A particularly thick-looking guy waved a wooden stick with several large nails nailed on his hand. He blocked the people in front of him with his arms and kept pushing them away. He chased and shouted: "I'll catch that guy later." Woman, I want to be the first to fuck her! Anyone who dares to fight with me will have his head smashed!"

A lean middle-aged man behind him laughed loudly and mockingly: "Come on, Black Duncan! That woman has slept with the devil, who knows what she has with her. You dare to stab her? Aren't you afraid that your dick will die inside her halfway through?"

Black Duncan muttered: "That's hard to say, I'm more resistant to radiation than you are." However, his voice was obviously hesitant.

His hesitation caused several people to laugh immediately, "Black Duncan, you dare to even get on a mutated sow, why are you afraid? Could it be that the guy is already rotten, right? But your guy and body shape are still good. It’s so disproportionate!”

Black Duncan roared several times angrily, and yelled: "I don't care! Whoever thinks your guy is bigger will do it, I'm not going to do it anyway!"

Suddenly someone screamed: "Don't just let me do it! Anyway, half of my dick is rotten. If I can get a thin-skinned woman, it's worth all the rotten things!"

The one who yelled was a skinny old man, with only a piece of dirty cloth randomly wrapped around his body, and other than that he was almost naked. His skinny body was covered with rotten sores, and the top of his head was bare except for a few strands of pale soft hair. He was panting all the way, and his chest made a purring sound, like pulling a set of old-fashioned bellows. He could barely keep up with the large army, but the black dick under his waist was as hard as a short one. The thin iron rod stood straight and abruptly on his belly.

The alley was not long, and a dozen thugs rushed out from the other end in the blink of an eye. After the flickering firelight passed, darkness reigned here again. The mob, whose whole body was filled with violence and pornography, only saw the woman's fair skin swaying in their eyes, and did not even notice that the shadow in the corner was a person. In fact, even if the thugs saw him, people like this were lying next to the radioactive water waiting to die everywhere, and no one would care at all.

Not far from the alley, the shouts of the mob suddenly became louder and louder, mixed with the screams of women that were too shrill to be human. Not long after, the woman's screams suddenly began to sob, as if they were blocked by something. The roars and screams of the mob got louder and louder, and finally drowned the woman's voice completely.

In the dark alley, the figure tightly wrapped in a black felt blanket suddenly moved. The lowered head slowly raised, and he took out a swaddle from under the blanket. Half of his palm was exposed from the edge of the rag. The childish outline clearly belonged to the future. An adult child, but his skin is ice-cold and moist, a bit dazzling and incompatible with his surroundings. And in the low-hanging blanket, a dark green light lit up. Those were his eyes, silently watching the swaddled baby.

The baby was neither crying nor fussing, and its big blue eyes were looking back at the deep green light. This is a girl, with a small and straight nose, and skin as clear as the finest cheese. It is completely different from the large patches of black, blue, gray and green skin stained by babies affected by radiation in this era. The small lips also have rare knife-like lines. All in all, she was extremely pretty, especially for a baby who had not yet been weaned.

He blinked, and the green light shining on the baby girl's face flashed a few times. Finally, he reached out and opened the tightly wrapped swaddling clothes a little, so that the baby girl could hear the sounds around her, including the roars and gasps of the mob, and the occasional screams of women.

The hands were slender and white, and the slender fingers were like clouds in the dark night. They bloomed quietly for a moment and then retracted into the blanket.

The baby girl's head tilted slightly, her ears twitched, taking in all the sounds around her and listening very attentively. Only then did he realize that the top of her ears actually had two tips, which were half longer than ordinary human ears.

The feast of violence and violence in the distance did not last long. With a roar of disappointment, the mob gradually became quiet. Then a burst of fire shot into the sky, and as the billowing smoke drifted away, there were bursts of unpleasant burnt smell. The fire was raging, occasionally rising more than ten meters into the air. At this time, the firelight could even dispel the darkness in the alley for a moment.

There was nothing in the middle of the accumulated sewage in the alley, and the child who was always wrapped in a dark black blanket was nowhere to be found.

The Sun Also Rises.

The blazing sunshine struggled to penetrate the thick gray clouds and fell on the black and yellow land. Occasionally, a strong wind blows away a small gray cloud, allowing the sunlight to shine through unhindered. All kinds of strange animals on the ground will scatter in search of shelter, or simply hide in underground caves to avoid this deadly thing. Strong sunlight. The only plant that is not afraid of the sun is a tall plant with pale stems covered with half-meter-long spikes. Whenever the sun shines down, it twists its branches and stems to accept the baptism of strong light as much as possible, and then grows crazily at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Bang, bang, bang! Bursts of loud noise broke the early morning tranquility. An old man in his fifties knocked hard on an empty iron pipe stuck in the ground and shouted in a hoarse voice: "It's done! Get up, you bastards! Let old Hans see what's going on today." There are a few lucky guys left!”

Immediately, more than a hundred people jumped up from the ground and ran towards this side, but when they were five meters away from the old man, these people automatically stopped. It seemed that there was an invisible boundary there, preventing them from taking another step forward. . Several people in the crowd were unaware of their situation and were still pushing forward desperately. Several strong men around him immediately cursed: "The new guy is in the back! Why are you squeezing?" Before those people could react, they had received several heavy punches in the face and fell to the ground involuntarily. The people around him immediately started fighting with fists and kicks without mercy. After a while, the strong men threw several newcomers who were beaten to death out of the team, and spit out a few mouthfuls of thick phlegm.

Old Hans had long been used to seeing these atrocities and just shrugged indifferently. He wore a completely tarnished leather jacket on the upper body, a fine dark red plaid coarse cloth shirt on the inside, a pair of jeans stained with some motor oil on the lower body, and a pair of high-waisted military boots on his feet. Compared with the homeless people around him who were dressed like beggars, Old Hans was simply a king, and he was indeed as arrogant as a king. On his chest was a silver badge with a distant city in the background and a rumbling tank in the center. Under the sunlight, this badge sparkles and is very eye-catching. Hundreds of eyes fell on the badge from time to time, some were fearful, some were envious, and most of them were greedy.

Facing hundreds of wild wolves, Old Hans was not afraid at all. He stood behind a table made of angle iron, took out a few cans with unclear trademarks from the wooden box behind him, threw them heavily on the table, and shouted at the top of his voice: "Old rules! One hundred kilograms of ore For five cents, the price of food is the same as yesterday, which is cheaper for you guys. There are even a few cans today, it’s up to you who can take them. Don’t crowd in, come here one by one!”

These people already knew the rules, lined up and walked to the iron table one by one. Old Hans was like a butcher picking up animals. He glanced at their physiques, skins and faces, and casually ordered: "You can do it, go over there to pick up the things and work!" or "You can't!"

The refugee who received the permission immediately ran towards the pile of tools nearby, picked up a pickaxe, put it on a backpack and ran towards the mine a few hundred meters away. He was afraid that if he moved even a little bit slowly, the old man would regard him as inappropriate. People who are good at it say the terrible "you can't do it". Those who already had experience walked leisurely and looked as natural and familiar as if they were in their own courtyard. You must know that this work will take a whole day, so it is unwise to waste energy on running.

"Why can't I!" A roar like thunder drew everyone's attention back. A strong black man, who was more than 1.9 meters tall and looked like a mountain bear, pounded the iron case hard and roared at the old Hans.

Old Hans took out a clean handkerchief, slowly wiped the saliva that had sprayed on his face, pointed to a bowl-sized ulcer on the black man's chest, and said slowly: "You are sick! Let you go down to the mine. , will infect all my strong mules, who will work for me then?”

"I can work! I want food, and I have three children to raise!" The black man didn't listen carefully to what the old Hans was saying. He just kept roaring and beating the iron case with a loud bang.

Old Hans frowned, and while trimming his thick beard, he gestured behind him. Hearing a bang, the black man's screams suddenly stopped. He looked at the big hole that suddenly appeared on his chest in disbelief. His throat made a roaring sound, but he was speechless.

Behind Old Hans, a bald man pulled the trigger of the double-barreled shotgun again. There was another loud noise, and hundreds of grains of iron sand blasted into the black man's chest, doubling the size of his wound and completely penetrating it. His broad chest. This strong man was wearing a rumpled black suit with several holes in it. It was obviously an antique from who knows how many years ago. Behind Old Hans, there were three such strong men standing.

Old Hans finished wiping his face and said to the air in front of the iron table: "And, nigger, your saliva stinks!" Judging from the tone of his words, it was as if the black man was still standing in front of the table.

There are still more than a hundred refugees who have not entered the mine, and their eyes are less greedy and more fearful. Several people came over, dragged the black man's body away, and dumped it a few hundred meters away. It won't be long before the carrion wolves and vultures smelling the smell of blood will eat up his corpse, leaving not even a single bone left.

The queue in front of the Iron Case shortened rapidly. Before dawn, most of the refugees had already gone down to the mines. Those who were not selected walked towards the town to see if they could try their luck there.

"There are more and more sick mules, and this month's quota is a bit tight..." Old Hans muttered, stood up, and straightened his aching back. He had just stretched his waist halfway when his movements suddenly stopped, then he supported the iron case with both hands, leaned forward, and looked at the child in front of him who was just a head taller than the iron case.

The child was wrapped in a blanket that was so dirty that the original color could not be seen. His face, hands, and any exposed parts were tightly wrapped with strips of cloth. Only one left eye was exposed, looking at it quietly. With Hans. The child looked to be no more than eight or nine years old, and he didn't know whether he was a boy or a girl.

Originally, Old Hans would never waste any time on such obviously unqualified refugees. He was not running a charity. Perhaps the blood he had just seen made his heart a little softer, or perhaps he was worried about the lack of labor this month. Maybe it was the look in the child's eyes, but anyway, he hesitated for a moment and then asked: "You also want to work?"

The child nodded.

"Okay! But first tell me whether it's a boy or a girl, right?" Old Hans said.

"A man." The child finally spoke. Compared with children of the same age, his voice is slightly deeper, but it has an indescribable magnetic flavor.

"Very good, boy, go over there and get the tools. Just like everyone else, you can get five cents if you dig out one hundred kilograms of ore. This is the biggest preferential treatment for you. You can't be raw dressed like this. What's wrong? Well, you don't have to worry. At least you don't smell bad. Old Hans has a very good nose. Go to work. Finish your work and fill your stomach early. When you can't work anymore, go. Ask Cripple Peter and he will tell you how much money you make and how much food you can exchange for it.”

In the midst of Old Hans's nagging, the boy carried an iron pickaxe that was almost taller than him, picked up the basket on his back that almost touched the ground, and slowly disappeared deep into the mine tunnel.

It wasn't until his figure disappeared that Old Hans shook his head. He suddenly turned his head and asked the strong man in black suit following closely behind him: "Am I particularly wordy today?"

In front of this somewhat nervous old man, the man in a black suit who was as strong as an ox involuntarily took a step back and shook his head quickly, forcefully and resolutely.

Old Hans laughed dryly and said: "You are very smart, so I made you the leader of the guard. But you must always remember that I am the only official agent of the company in this place, and I can let you kill those who want to A homeless person like a wild dog can turn you into a dog tomorrow. And older people are always a little weird. You just have to do your own thing, do you understand?"

"Understood, Mr. Hans."

"You should call me Lord Hans!"

"Understood, Lord Hans!"

Old Hans walked into a shack made of iron sheets while humming a tune he had learned somewhere. Even in a town a few kilometers away, this tin shack with little ventilation could be regarded as a mansion.

Dusk came soon, and the rot wolves who had slept in hunger all day howled and began to wander around like ghosts, looking for opportunities to fill their stomachs.

With a creaking sound, Old Hans pushed open the iron door of the shack and walked out, squinting at the sunset that was about to sink. After taking a nap, he felt much better. The mine not far away was already empty. The workers had already come out, collected their rations, and returned to their habitats. When the sun sets below the horizon, the intricate tunnels will be filled with ferocious gophers more than one meter long. Their powerful upper and lower jaws and sharp and strong incisors can easily bite through an iron bar two centimeters thick. What a solid rock. It's not worth mentioning in front of them. Fortunately, as soon as the sun rises, the ferocious gophers will burrow deep underground and fall asleep, so the miners still have at least half a day to dig for ore.

Almost at the same time that the sun completely sank, a thin figure appeared at the entrance of the mine. The boy staggered out carrying a basket of ore that was almost as tall as himself.

Old Hans's eyelids twitched a few times. He remained calm and watched the skinny kid dragging the ore on his back through the scale, then dumping it on the hill-like pile of ore, and then slowly took the note written by the foreman. come over. The cloth wrapped around the boy's body has been dyed with large patches of red, yellow and blue by the mineral powder.

Seeing the boy approaching, Old Hans walked around to the back of the house. There, there was a large shed erected against the iron house. Peter, a lame man who was missing half of his leg, struggled to move his body of more than 100 kilograms and shouted: "Boy, come here!"

The boy went under the shed and handed over the note. Cripple Peter glanced at it and couldn't help but whistled and said: "You're not a bad boy! He has done more than many adults. Here, here is the list, let's see what you want to change. Can you read? Oh, I can." , It’s amazing! I can only recognize most of the words on this list. Hey, don’t look over there, you can’t afford to change it now! Look down here.”

Peter ran his thick finger down the middle of the long list, and the boy looked down at it. His eyes stayed on the "drinking water" column, and then looked all the way up until his sight was blocked by Peter's thick fingers.

"That's it." The boy pointed at the list with his fingers wrapped in cloth strips.

Peter immediately shouted: "Aha! Third-grade drinking water! Boy, you must be a noble. I heard that the nobles' bodies are so tender that they can only drink pure water, which has no impurities at all. Radiant water!"

"That's it." The boy pointed at the list, his voice so flat that there was no fluctuation at all, which made people wonder if it was a synthetic voice.

Peter shrugged, dug out a can of drink from a pile of wooden boxes behind him, and threw it to the boy. "Here! Level 3 drinking water, luxury boy."

The boy carefully put the drink can into the blanket and turned to leave. Crippled Peter scratched his head, took the fist-sized moldy bread as hard as ore, and threw it to the boy: "Boy, mining is a strenuous job. Don't eat it." That's not good. Take this, remember, you owe Cripple Peter five cents, and it will be deducted from your wages tomorrow!"

The boy took the bread and put it into the blanket with the same care. Then he bowed deeply to Cripple Peter and then walked into the darkness.

In the darkness shrouded in the wilderness, dozens of pairs of wolf-like eyes stared at the boy, and whispers broke out one after another.

"That kid seems to have done a lot today. How about we go over and see what he has changed? Maybe it's half a loaf of bread."

"I bet he has a big piece of roasted dire rat meat in his arms!"

A lazy but ferocious voice next to him took over: "Hey! The new rookies over there, don't you know the rules of Old Hans? No one can steal them on his territory. s things."

The previous voice was obviously unconvinced: "Old Hans? What can he do? I can beat ten of these old men!"

The lazy man laughed and scolded: "It's just you? You're not even worthy of licking the ass of an old Hans!"

The person who was scolded as a rookie was still not convinced, and was about to argue, but who knew that the other party suddenly lost patience, whistled, and shouted: "Boys, cut this guy who wants to cause trouble into pieces and feed it to the rot wolf!"

More than ten black figures rose up in response and surrounded him.

After a brief scream, the wilderness returned to tranquility. People should seize the time to rest so that they can carry an extra basket of ore out tomorrow.

In the barn, Cripple Peter could no longer see the boy. He scratched his head, which had few hairs left, and murmured: "Where is this boy going? If he is eaten by a rotten wolf, I will give you five points." The money is gone. Hey, old Hans, you said my money won’t go to waste, right?”

Old Hans, who had been leaning against the shed pillar, spread his hands and said, "God knows."

Crippled Peter stood up with difficulty and began to pack up the food and record list on the operating table. His remaining thighs were strong and strong enough to support his body of more than 100 kilograms while jumping around in the barn without the use of crutches. He picked up the last note handed over by the boy and was about to throw it away when he suddenly remembered something, looked at it again, and said to himself: "Third-grade drinking water, I really don't know what he wants this for. In the mine The radiation is much stronger than the sewage outside the town, which cannot be solved by drinking clean water. "

Old Hans took the note from Peter's hand, glanced at the numbers on it, crumpled the note into a ball, and threw it into the fire pit outside the barn.

Old Hans coughed a few times, spit out thick phlegm, and said: "Peter, go back and tell Mad Dog Mad that from tomorrow on, he will deduct ten kilograms less from each basket. If he can work here for a full month, give it to him." Consider it a sufficient portion.”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Peter said: "This seems a bit out of order."

"He is raising children." Old Hans lit a half-empty cigarette and spoke in a dull voice.

Peter raised his head in surprise and said, "What? How old is he? Why would he want to raise a child?"

Old Hans blew out a smoke ring and said: "Children under three years old will not mutate when they grow up if they always drink water without radiation and eat clean food, yes, they always eat damn third-level water and food. ”

Peter raised his eyebrows and said, "God! I thought everyone was going to mutate. But how do you know this?"

Old Hans said calmly: "Because I have also raised children."

Peter was startled and said: "You never mentioned this. How old is he? He must be twenty years old. God bless him, he must not be as ugly as you."

Old Hans smiled and said: "I was very poor at that time and couldn't find enough clean water and food. He mutated when he was five years old and didn't survive."

Peter didn't know what to say. He was silent for a while and then said: "Old guy, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said this. You know...oh, I have never met a woman who can give birth to children in my life. There is no chance to raise a child.”

Old Hans took a heavy drag on his cigarette, looked at the light green night sky outside the barn, and said: "Man, you never need to tell me this. If it weren't for you, I would have become food for rot wolves. Now, it’s not my turn to sit as the company’s agent.”

Peter picked up a ration box weighing nearly 50 kilograms, jumped up more than one meter high with one leg, and gently placed the ration box on the highest shelf. He scratched his head and said, "I didn't mean to save anyone." You. You know that I am a master in the fighting field. At that time, my ability to strengthen defense was already at the second level. That wolf king couldn't kill me no matter what, but you are different. People like you play in the magic field. You weakling, it can tear half of your butt off in one bite!"

Old Hans handed Peter the small half of the cigarette in his hand, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Man, go to bed early. No women will come here so late."

Peter took a long drag on the cigarette, holding it in his lungs until he couldn't hold it in anymore before spitting it out. Old Hans had already returned to the iron house, and there was only a thud of a heavy object falling to the ground, which meant that he had thrown himself on the bed. Crippled Peter pulled out a green-lacquered iron box from under the console, and carefully took out a magazine that was so rotten that it might fall apart at any time. By the light of the campfire, he flipped through page after page, his breathing gradually getting heavier. .

The cover of the magazine suddenly fell off and fell to the ground. The voluptuous woman with a hot figure on the cover has become somewhat blurry due to age, but you can still see the eye-catching "playboy" on the cover. Under the cover, a line of small characters marked the publication date of the magazine: the February 1982 issue.

No matter how many new refugees arrive in the wilderness, or how many times the original refugees disappear inexplicably, the sun always rises as usual.

The boy was the same as yesterday. He arrived just as everyone was going down the mine tunnel. He came out of the mine at the moment when the sun completely sank. He dug out the same amount of ore as yesterday and exchanged the same items. The only difference was that the money he owed Cripple Peter changed from five cents to ten cents.

A month later, perhaps because he had enough food to eat, or perhaps because the boy was stronger, he earned more money every day than before, so his debt to Cripple Peter decreased day by day.

Life in the wilderness was monotonous and repetitive, and a year passed like this.

In this era, being able to live a monotonous and repetitive life is already a rare happiness. You don't have to compete with rot wolves for food, and you can drink water with less radiation. What else can you ask for? As for boredom, that is too extravagant a topic, and only crazy people would think about it occasionally.

At first, there were new rookies among the refugees who wanted to take advantage of the boy, but the cloth strips wrapped all over his body frightened them. In this era, there are at least dozens of highly contagious and incurable diseases. These diseases all have a common feature, which is decay. Many people were secretly guessing what kind of rotten condition he had under those strips of cloth, and betting on how many days he could survive. However, when the deadline set by the most daring gambler passed, four rookies who were bold enough and ignorant enough followed the boy away in the dark night. Three of them never showed up again, and the one who came back had lost track of the boy. Early the next morning, the refugees found the man hanging high on a wooden pole outside Old Hans' house. The bodyguard in a black suit fired ten rounds at him with the double-shot shotgun, but he still Not breathed out. Black Suit clearly has a talent for torturing people.

From then on, all veterans among the refugees knew not to take any chances with that boy.

Three years have passed.

The boy dug out four times as much ore as he had originally, but the amount of food he needed to replace was also increasing, so he never had any savings. The wrinkles on Old Hans' face deepened, and the number of pages in the 1983 edition of Playboy collected by Cripple Peter also changed from fifteen to eleven.

In the fifth year, less and less ore can be dug out of the mine, and the simple happiness in the wilderness has come to an end.

One evening, after he once again received food and water from Cripple Peter, Old Hans called him. The boy then, now the young man, followed Old Hans into the iron house. The room was full of clutter, but there was a bed inside, a real bed with quilts and pillows. Such a bed was enough to distinguish old Hans from everyone else. The boy didn't look at the bed, but kept looking at a hand-drawn map hanging on the wall. The map was very crudely drawn, with large blanks still left on it, and some areas were marked with eye-catching danger words in red pen.

"We are here." Old Hans pointed to the map, and then pointed all the way west until he pointed to the circle marked with scarlet danger words, and then said: "This area is the nest of fire-breathing ants. These one-meter-long The long ones are very difficult to deal with. They don't really breathe fire, but you have to be extra careful with the acid they spit out. Being stained with it is worse than being burned. The most annoying thing is that these guys are always adults. But they also have good things on them. Their front claws are harder than steel, but they are half the weight, so they can be sold in many places, and the price is pretty good, because not many people dare to hunt them. Fire-breathing ants. There is a small piece of meat in the middle of their hind legs that has no radiation and no toxins, but the portion is too small.”

The young man looked at the map quietly, as if he wanted to engrave every stroke on it in his heart. The only exposed eye was dark blue, with faint gray lines around the pupils, crystal clear, like a piece of the finest jade. In so many years, Old Hans found that it was the first time he could see the boy's eyes clearly.

Old Hans cleared his throat and pointed to the south end of the fire-breathing ant nest. There was only a w there, and he didn't know what it meant.

"There is a cave here, and there is a sewage pool in the cave. There is a big mutated leech there. If you feed it with your own blood, it will expel the excess water in the body. This water only contains slight radiation, not much , barely enough for a five-year-old child.”

"The fire-breathing ant's nest is about a hundred kilometers away from here. You may have to walk for a few days. The mine will be closed tomorrow, so you don't have to come over." Old Hans waved his hand, and the young man left quietly. The iron house. Before leaving the house, the young man looked at Old Hans and said thank you softly.

The young man's voice was as soft as the wind and had a mysterious magnetism. In previous eras, he might have had the potential to become a superstar.

The next morning, the sun drove the wandering rot wolves back to their lair, but it also brought with it howling wind and fist-sized sand and gravel. To the west from the mine is the endless Gobi desert, where the fiery red rocks have been chipped by wind and sand into stone pillars riddled with holes. Looking around, I could only see a few low-growing trees covered with sharp thorns, and the branches and leaves contained highly toxic sand thorns. Rock scorpions and giant-bellied black wasps are deadly threats, but the biggest danger is the lack of water, not even sewage full of radiation.

When the rock scorpions were hiding in the cracks of the rocks to avoid the sun, the boy appeared on the edge of the Gobi. He wrapped his whole body tightly in a black felt blanket, and held a small child in his bandaged hand. The child was also covered with a black blanket.

In the compound eyes of Rock Scorpion, two figures, one large and one small, holding hands, slowly walked towards the depths of the Gobi. Suddenly a gust of wind blew past, lifting the blanket on the child's head, and a piece of pale gray silk-like hair spilled out. Under the reflection of the sun, it cast thousands of dazzling brilliance.

The young man stopped, carefully gathered her long hair, covered her with the blanket again, then took her hand and continued walking deeper into the Gobi.

After walking like this for a whole week, they finally found the cave that Old Hans mentioned and the mutated leech. The boy placed the girl in the cave and walked alone to the fire-breathing ant's nest in the dark.

It wasn't until dusk on the third day that the boy struggled back. The little girl sat quietly at the entrance of the cave waiting for his return. She didn't know how long she sat there.

That night, the little girl frowned and bit into the bluish-white fire-breathing ant meat with all her might with her snow-white teeth, which was as tough as rubber. The ant meat was tough and fishy, but she chewed every piece of meat carefully, swallowed it, and even licked clean the juice on her fingers.

Deep in the cave, the young man was hiding in the darkness, cleaning his body bit by bit from the wounds that were crisscrossed and deeply visible to the bone.

The mutated leech that had sucked blood lazily crawled out of the porcelain bowl, slid silently into the shimmering sewage pool, and dived into the depths of the pool, leaving half a bowl of clear water in the porcelain bowl.

It takes three days for a boy to go to a fire ant nest. So the lives of the boy, the girl and the leech repeated over and over again, with three days as a cycle.

Three years later, the leech died.

No matter what happens, the sun will always rise.

The boy and the girl stood side by side at the entrance of the cave. The strong wind blew the tattered blankets on them, and from time to time a piece of lint was torn off from it.

"We have to go to the settlement." The boy's voice is always so gentle and calm, and the vague magnetism is deeper and broader.

The girl had now reached the boy's chest. She leaned against him, wrapped the blanket around her tightly, and said softly, "I'm afraid."

"Don't be afraid, I will protect you." The young man's voice was firm, revealing unwavering determination. However, only he himself knew how much confidence he had.

The boy brought four carefully selected fire-breathing ant forelimbs. Old Hans said that this thing should be sold at a good price in the settlement, and a good price means food and clean water. His experience in the mines told him that he should not bring too many things that could be sold at a good price, otherwise he would be in trouble.

The boy walked in front, while the girl held the corner of his clothes, and the two of them walked toward the hopelessly desolate front.

The town of Yorkston is a settlement that has only developed in the past ten years. There are already five to six hundred people of all kinds living here for a long time. Bars, hotels, restaurants, grocery stores and clinics have all been opened one after another. There is even a police sergeant responsible for maintaining order. The Sheriff's power comes from the Uzi submachine gun he always carries on his back. Compared with the common wine bottles, iron bars, machetes and even homemade powder guns in the surrounding areas, the Sheriff's submachine gun is obviously more convincing. Therefore, the town of Yorkston has a basic order. At least here, you cannot kill people casually. If you kill someone, there must be a legitimate reason.

Reasons recognized by the Sheriff are valid reasons.

On this day, a real big shot came to the town of Yorkston, and people of some status went outside the town to greet him. People who were not qualified to go were talking excitedly about this big shot, even though they didn't even know whether the big shot was a man or a woman. In this way, no one paid special attention to the young man entering the town.

The butcher in the town also ran the only hotel. After receiving a high-quality fire ant blade, he was very happy to open a room for the boy and the girl, and also offered to provide a free dinner. Of course, if you want low-radiation high-quality products, a fire ant blade is not enough.

The boy let the girl rest in the room and left the hotel with the remaining fire ant blades. I heard you can get better prices at grocery stores for this stuff. Before leaving the house, the young man carefully arranged an inconspicuous mechanism on the door.

From the butcher's somewhat unnatural smile, the young man had a premonition that there might be trouble, but he didn't expect that trouble would come so quickly. Just after passing an intersection, the boy was stopped by two people. You could tell from the square-headed wooden sticks in their hands that they had evil intentions.

"Hey, kid! I heard you sell fire ant blades, and our boss wants to talk to you!"

The young man hesitated for a moment, then followed the three people into a secluded alley, and then walked into a relatively complete large house. There was a big man sitting carelessly in the center of the room, who seemed to be the leader. The three people behind him blocked the door intentionally or unintentionally.

The leader was obviously very satisfied with the attitude of the young man who always lowered his head: "Boy! You can call me Viper. I heard that you have fire ant blades, which is very good. No matter how many you have, I will take them." It’s your reward!”

The young man looked at a loaf of black bread that was as hard as a rock rolled to his feet. He slowly bent down and picked it up. At the same time, he placed the three fire ant blades on his back on the ground. Although this piece of bread is hard enough and lasts long enough, the radiation level is not high. The girl has grown up and can withstand the radiation from this procedure.

When he stood up straight, he found that the three people behind him had no intention of moving away from the door, and the hands holding the wooden sticks were obviously straining.

Viper also stood up, pulled out a hand-made single-barreled gunpowder short gun from his waist, and said with a ferocious smile: "You are very wise and aware of current affairs. I should have let you live after making this deal. It's a pity that the butcher reported that you also brought a thin-skinned chick, so there's nothing you can do about it. Actually, I'm not the boss, I'm just the second one. The boss's name is Black Bear, and he's probably having a good time on top of that chick! The solution is that the boss is almost as big as the mutants, but he prefers to mess with children. Okay, kid, it’s time to send you on your way! I hope that girl is still alive when I rush over!”

At this moment, the young man suddenly heard a faint beeping sound in his ears hidden under the bandage. That was the sound of the metal piece he had put on the door being broken and rubbed. This kind of sound wave with tens of thousands of frequencies was simply not something ordinary ears could hear.

He suddenly raised his head, and although his face was deeply hidden in the shadow of the blanket, his only left eye lit up, like a ball of green flame!

"You..." Viper screamed, and then the scream suddenly stopped, and then a huge gunshot from a powder gun rang out in the room. The gunshot shattered the only intact piece of glass, and the pungent smell of gunpowder quickly filled the air.

The boy wrapped tightly in a black blanket appeared like a ghost at the door of the Butcher's Inn.

The door of the hotel, which was made of haphazardly nailed wooden boards, was half open, and the thick smell of blood could be smelled from a distance. There was an unusual silence in the hotel, and there seemed to be a faint voice sobbing.

The young man paused at the door before walking into the hotel, leaving a series of blood stains behind him.

The butcher stayed at the door of the young man's room, his eyes widened to the extreme, and extreme fear solidified on his face. All that was left of him was his head, and his body was nowhere to be found.

The door to the room was ajar, and blood kept pouring out from under the door like spring water. The amount was so heart-stopping.

The young man stood in the blood, and the feeling on his skin told him that the blood was still very hot. He gently pushed open the ajar door and was speechless.

The girl was sitting in the center of the room with her knees in her arms, her head deeply hidden behind her knees, and she was sobbing softly. The black blanket that was always wrapped around him was thrown in the corner of the room, and the bed made of rough wood collapsed completely. The girl was wearing a dress that was rough in workmanship but very clean. The exposed skin, whether it was her arms or half of her calves, was so white and soft that it made people crazy. Although she is still young, even in the old days, she could turn men in the entire city into beasts.

The room had become a hell.

Human flesh, flesh and limbs were scattered everywhere, there was almost no place to stay, some living organs were even squirming, and the walls were completely stained black and red by the splattered blood. Blood still gushes out from the broken limbs, forming a puddle several centimeters deep on the ground. I don’t know if the butcher’s body is here, I don’t know which piece of meat belongs to the black bear, and I don’t know if there are three or four people lying here. Everything is chopped up and mixed together.

The girl just sat like this, sitting in the middle of the hell made of blood and flesh.

Her beautiful long gray hair fell down like a waterfall, like a piece of silk, and the ends of her hair were soaked in blood. Next to the girl, a huge square-edged bone-cutting knife with a blade of one meter long was inserted into the ground. There were gaps all over the blade, and there were many fine pieces of muscle hanging on it. Only when dealing with a violent armored bear whose bones are almost as hard as rocks, will the butcher use this square-edged bone-cutting knife made of stainless steel.

Hearing the sound of the door, the girl raised her head and saw the boy. She immediately showed a rainbow-like smile. Under the sunlight coming from the window, the tears still hanging in the corners of her eyes shone like two bright diamonds.

The boy sighed, carefully found a place to stay among the limbs on the floor, and walked towards the girl.

The girl didn't care so much, she jumped up and threw herself into his arms, kicking pieces of flesh and blood everywhere along the way. The young man gently stroked her long gray hair. The hair was still soft and warm. Even though it was soaked in blood, no blood droplets could stay on it.

"I'm afraid!" the girl said softly. Her little hands tightly grasped the bandages wrapped around the boy's body, even pulling on them causing him pain. The boy knew that she was really scared, but he didn't know how to comfort her.

Settlements always mean trouble, but in the wilderness, food is increasingly difficult to find. What is most lacking is clean water. In this era, the first thing everyone faces every day is survival. In the face of survival, there is no tolerance and no sharing. Any one person, in the eyes of others, may mean clean food and water.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise outside the hotel. Someone shouted: "The outsiders killed people! The butchers are dead! I saw them still inside!"

The crowd's shouts became louder and louder, and the sound of metal banging could be heard from time to time. Judging from the sound, there were at least dozens of people surrounding the hotel with only four rooms. The young man patted the girl gently and silently took out a carefully collected fire ant blade from under the black carpet. Half of the blade was cut off, leaving only the sharpest tip. Each serration on the blade shone with a faint green light, and the handle was carefully polished and tightly wrapped with a coarse cloth belt. In terms of power, this thing is already comparable to the military daggers of the old era.

The young man held the blade tightly and waited quietly for the moment when the crowd broke through the door. The girl stopped crying. Her beautiful, flashing blue eyes looked around the room and landed on the square-edged bone-cutting knife. Then she stretched out her little hand to grab the knife. She used this thing very well.

The young man stretched out his left hand and pulled the girl back, not allowing her to touch the knife. He blocked the girl behind him and looked at the door and window quietly. Although the windows were nailed shut with wooden bars, there was no guarantee that no one would rush in from here.

"Quiet!" The strong voice of the police chief sounded outside the hotel. The noise immediately became quieter, showing the authority of the police chief, although it was not enough: "Let me see what is going on first! Damn it, it's so bloody. Weird, how many people died inside?"

With a bang, the hotel door was kicked open by the police sergeant. The crowd immediately screamed, and then with a crash, the police chief's Uzi had unbolted the gun.

At this moment, a cold and murderous voice suddenly sounded outside: "Everyone, get out of here! Make way for Madam!"

The young man immediately heard several screams and the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground. It was obvious that the person coming did not leave anyone any time to get out of the way. However, the turbulent noise outside had completely disappeared. The mob, including the police chief, were all silent. No one dared to make any noise, let alone any objection.

Then amidst the roaring sound, smoke and dust flew everywhere, and the hotel's courtyard, walls, gates, and roof were all torn apart. With a sneer, a man wearing dark black leather gloves was inserted into the thin iron sheet used as a wall. With a squeeze and a pull, the entire piece of iron sheet was torn off by him and thrown casually more than ten meters away. This is a tall, handsome, arrogant and cold young man, with short golden hair standing on end like a burning flame. He wore a half-length armor made of silver-gray alloy, which protected his chest, back, lower abdomen and other vital parts. Under the armor was a dark black uniform with dark gold stripes, and the long leather boots on his feet were polished to a shine, incompatible with the filth around him. This was the man who just now demolished it all the way from the street intersection more than ten meters away to here in a few minutes with his bare hands, and opened a five-meter-wide road in the block of randomly built houses.

The boy, the girl and the hell in the room were revealed to everyone.

The girl raised her head and looked at the crowd around her blankly. This was the first time she saw so many people gathered together. She instinctively felt a hint of danger, and wanted to reach out to grab the square-edged bone-cutting knife, but was held tightly by the young man.

The moment he saw the girl's face clearly, the noisy crowd suddenly fell silent, and even the arrogant blond warrior's expression was a little frozen.

Everyone's breathing echoed clearly in the young man's ears, obviously getting heavier and heavier. So he sighed, raised his head, and looked behind the blond warrior.

At the other end of the road, which had just been opened a few minutes ago, there was a carriage parked. This is a four-wheel carriage in the style of the old 18th century. The black body is ancient and elegant with gold inlay, and the copper headlights are polished to shine. The drivers were four tall horses. What was rare was that all four of them had the same snow-white fur, without any trace of color.

No one in the entire town of Yorkston would recognize these four thoroughbred horses, but it didn't matter, no matter what kind of horses they were, they were already luxurious far beyond the limits of their imagination.

In front of and behind the carriage, there were eight fully armed warriors standing on each side. The alloy armor on their bodies was exactly the same as that of the blond young man. The difference is that the blond young man is empty-handed, while the sixteen warriors are armed with firepower. Compared with those four heavy machine guns, the Sheriff's Uzi is simply a toy.

The four waiters took rolls of scarlet carpet from the carriage behind them, and spread them all the way along the road from under the carriage until they were extended in front of the boy and girl.

The room was a hell of blood and flesh. The thick scarlet carpet was laid down and immediately sank into the semi-solidified blood. However, the waiters did not hesitate to pile up the apparently ridiculously expensive carpet piece by piece until it was five centimeters above the blood level to ensure that the blood would never flow onto the carpet.

The four waiters, whether they were wearing black tuxedos, white shirts or neatly ironed bow ties, should not belong to this era. Even the decent people in Yorkston are little more than the beggars of old. There is a very conspicuous big hole in the Sheriff's jeans, but because it is not ripped on the buttocks, it is already a first-class status symbol. And because water is precious, people in the town never take a bath.

Unlike others, the boy was looking at the feet of these waiters. They stepped gracefully on the broken limbs that were bleeding heavily, as light as butterflies. The already obviously loose muscles on the limbs only sagged slightly to bear the weight of the waiter. By the time they laid down the carpet and exited the house, the eight shiny black leather shoes had only a little bit of blood on their soles. Seeing this, the young man's dark green pupils shrank slightly.

An elderly butler walked up to the carriage, opened the door slowly and elegantly, then spread a snow-white kerchief on his arm and held it up.

Inside the car door, a hand stretched out, as elegant, delicate and slender as an orchid, and rested on the butler's arm. The deep sapphire about the size of a quail egg on the ring on her middle finger caught everyone's attention. The only thing that makes people feel a little awkward is the long nails that are five centimeters long. The nails have impeccable lines, but they are decorated with black and red patterns that make people shudder.

Coming out of the carriage was a woman dressed in medieval court attire from the old era. Her hair was tied high into a bun with a golden rose-patterned hairband. She looked to be in her early twenties, her light gray eyes held a typical aristocratic indifference, and her skin was so delicate that it seemed like it might be broken by the wind at any time. No matter from which angle you look at it, she meets even the most demanding standards of classical beauty.

As soon as the woman got off the carriage, the residents of Yorkston Town immediately forgot about their neighbor who had been shot and was still lying at their feet. There was a bang, and you pushed me, trying to get closer to see more clearly. Most people here have never seen a woman with smooth skin in their lives, let alone the dresses that were only available in the old times and the jewelry that would make the ladies of the old times red-eyed with envy.

Almost everything around this woman is so incompatible with this era. To be precise, it is so luxurious that it exceeds the scope of people's imagination.

The excited and excited crowd pushed and pushed towards the carriage step by step. As long as they are in a group, even the most cowardly person will have inexplicable courage, not to mention that in this era, the difference between humans and beasts has become blurred.

Just when people were about to lose control of their emotions, a guard suddenly raised the muzzle of his gun, and the muzzle suddenly spurted out a stream of blazing fire. Amidst the heavy rain of gunfire, hundreds of bullets easily hit the people in front of him. Tear it apart and cut an unexpected hole out of the crowded wall!

It wasn't until the entire bullet chain was fired that the guard lowered the already hot heavy machine gun. There was no expression on his dull face, as if what he had just shot was not a dozen people, but just a dozen animals. In the ears of all the townspeople of Yorkston, the clicking sound of the guards replacing the ammunition belts was so clear and cold. The Sheriff swallowed hard and quietly hid his Uzi behind his back.

The woman didn't even glance at the scene of the massacre. From the moment she got off the carriage, she stared at the girl. She raised her hand gracefully, pointed at the girl with her black and red fingertips, and said, "I want this girl."

Her tone left no room for doubt or disobedience, not only to the young man but also to the housekeeper. The butler bowed slightly and said, "As you command, madam."

The young man understood that this was an order and there was absolutely no room for negotiation. From the moment the woman got out of the car, he kept his head lowered and didn't even look at her. However, his body was shaking uncontrollably. Every time the woman took a step closer, his shaking became stronger.

The old butler, who used his arms as armrests, followed her step by step, but he walked respectfully and cautiously outside the carpet. Even though he was walking in ruins covered with blood, the old butler's leather shoes were spotless, and unlike the waiters, his soles were also clean. In fact, he never actually touched the ground with every step he took.

The woman walked up to the boy, stretched out her hand to pull the girl from behind him to her, leaned over slightly, and carefully looked at the girl's extremely delicate face. After a long time, she exhaled and praised: "What beautiful eyes."

From birth, girls are beautiful to a fault. As she grew older, her beauty grew even more. Perhaps because of her age, the girl was not afraid, but looked back at the woman with some curiosity.

From the beginning to the end, the boy stood with his head bowed, motionless, and allowed the woman to pull the girl away. Although he was wrapped in a thick blanket, he could not hide the trembling of his body.

The woman looked at the young man in surprise, nodded and said, "It's me you're afraid of, not my subordinates. It's great! It seems that you are a smart child and know what choices to make. Do you think I will What options are given to you?”

The young man was silent for a moment and then said: "She is yours if I am alive. Or if I am dead, she is still yours."

The woman was even more surprised, but not because of the boy's answer, but because of his voice. Her tone softened and she asked, "Tell me your name."

"...Su."

The young man would be silent for a moment before every word he said. He needed to control his body tremors to keep his voice steady.

The woman showed a smile: "Okay, Su. My full name is Angelina Finn Lanaksis. I took this girl away. You can't protect her now. Only with me can she play her full role." Show all your talents. Remember my name. If you are strong enough one day, you can come to me. Now, show me your face."

She leaned forward and used the long nail of her left index finger to lift the boy's chin. The two faces were less than ten centimeters apart, and the mysterious aroma of her breath even completely enveloped his face. Then, she used two nails to slowly pull off the bandage on the boy's face. These bandages looked very dirty, but strangely did not have any odor.

The sharp edges of the black and red nails slowly slid across his skin.

The old housekeeper standing aside lowered his head, looking only at the toes of his leather shoes. The guards all turned around, their backs to this side, and their weapons pointed at the crowd of spectators. Those dark muzzles made the townspeople of Yorkston become smarter. They knew that just lowering their heads was not enough, they had to turn around in order to survive.

In extreme silence, the sense of time becomes problematic. It seemed like only a moment had passed, and it seemed like a long time had passed.

At some point, Angelina had pulled up the boy's bandage again, covered her mouth and said with a smile: "I'm looking forward to the day when you come to me!"

After saying that, Angelina pulled the girl towards the carriage. Behind her, the clear, high-pitched, unbridled and ambiguous laughter could not help but shake on the carpet as red as blood.

The girl did not cry, nor did she make any resistance. She just looked back frequently until the carriage door blocked her dark blue eyes.

On the carriage window, Angelina suddenly opened the curtain, revealing half of her face full of classical beauty, and said to the young man: "In this era, the most difficult thing is to live with dignity. I hope you have not chosen the worst path. road."

It wasn't until the four-wheel carriage had completely left Yorkston that the young man slowly raised his lowered head.

At this moment, he did not know the true meaning of the name Lanaxis. I don’t know what the Spider Queen of the Blood Parliament means to this era.