War.
War had destroyed an era, war has also created a new world.
No one knows when the night were not completely dark.
Under the night, two dots emitting dark and deep red light were floated slowly in the air
The area around these fireflies was full of thickened, dark green color and putrid smell water. Even in the corner which the firefly couldn"t shine, the sewage also emitted a faint green light, illuminated a small area around it. Compared with its unbearable filthiness, the deadly radiation was the most dangerous factor of this ubiquitous sewage.
Inside the small puddle of sewage, all kinds of dirty trash floated or sunk. There were rags, which couldn"t figure out original color, rusty metal cans and some rotten carca.s.ses of unknown animals. Sometime, a one - meter long huge rats appeared from nowhere, screamed squeaky, rushed through sewage and disappeared in the dark. It looked like the radiation enough to kill a mature horse didn"t have any effect in this huge rat. However, occasionally, a few pieces of meat fell from the body of the rat. If someone observed carefully, they could see that the meat was rotten. From this evidence, it"s clear that the huge rat wasn"t immune to the radiation.
Two red dots flew a few meters higher, stopped at the top of a sloping steel beam, looked around the world in the dark below. The only thing was reflected from it were frames of buildings, half - collapsed wall, as well as the wreckage of the car which was scattered around.
Under the night, everything in the world emitted a faint green fluorescence.
This kind of place, fifty years ago, it was called the ruins, fifty years after, it was called the city.
The fire was lit suddenly in a near corner. Crazy and hysterical cries intertwined together, quickly rushed to this place.
The red dot was frightened. It quickly spread out four transparent wings, vibrated it rapidly and flew up high. A fire just shined over, irradiated a huge, larger than one meter beetle, which was flying away.
The man was holding the torch didn"t pay any attention to this beetle. He just ran and followed with the crowd in the front of him, and roared like a beast sporadically.
The fire quickly went away, and the beetle returned to hide in the dark. Then, a sharp wind blew suddenly and the giant beetle screamed bitterly. Its sound was sharp like the needle. Its arthropod legs, which were sharp as knives, scratched to the metal and drew some sparks out; its wings vibrated desperately; but the beetle still was being pulled inside the darkness.
Then, corresponding with its scream, is the crack crack chewing sound.
Inside a dark alley, a burst of footsteps suddenly sounded, then an extreme panic woman rushed in. As soon as she entered the alley, she immediately noticed a figure who was leaning on the wall.
The whole body was covered in a black blanket, its head lowered, so no one could see the true face. According to the small size of the body, it looked like an 8 or 9 years old child.
The woman gritted her teeth and rushed to this figure after a few strides. She pushed the swaddling which she was holding tightly in her hand in the blanket wrapped around this body, begged with a cry: "Please, save her."
The fluorescence from a puddle under the wall shined the woman"s face. Even the light was very faint, it was clear enough to see that was a very young and beautiful face. Her appearance was about twenty; she had a rare, delicate and white skin in this era. It was beautiful enough to make most women jealous and want to cut some knife on her face. Her neck was also perfect; from the lower jaw, a curve line drew a near-perfect curvature, then extending all the way down. It suddenly raised on her complexion chest, created a deep cleavage. Her clothes were very transparent and only a few b.u.t.tons were b.u.t.toned. Half of her plump b.r.e.a.s.t.s were exposed outside, two seductive bulges could be seen vaguely through her shirt. On her shirt, there was a small stain of water. Probably she just fed her child milk.
She only stopped a second, didn"t wait for this person respond, then she suddenly stood up and ran to the depth of the alley. After she ran about ten meters, she uttered a tragic scream that nearly pierced the eardrum. In a hustle and bustle night, this screams spread very far. The frenzied crowd not far from here immediately burst out the shout, which couldn"t figure out that is about excitement or joy. Less than a minute, numerous torch illuminated this small alley. A mob created by more than ten thugs wearing ragged clothes; their faces were mixed of cruelty and excitement; rushed into the alley. They were hustling to each other and also chasing to the depths of the alley.
A stout-looking guy wielded his nail bat; his arms rampaged through the crowd, pushed other people in front of him. While chasing, he yelled: "When we catch that women, I want to taste her first! Who dares to fight with me, I will smash his head!"
Behind him, a lanky middle-aged man laughed noisily. The volume of his authentic mockery wasn"t commensurate with his body. "Come on, Black Duncan! That woman slept with demons! Who knows she has something on her body! Do you dare to poke her? Are you not afraid that your member will rot inside her body when you just insert partially?"
Black Duncan also yelled back: "That is nonsense, I am able to resist more radiation than you!" However, there was hesitation clearly in his voice.
His hesitation made some people laugh out: "Black Duncan, who had mounted on even mutated sow, now fears? Is your third leg rotten already? But its size and your body are really disproportionate!"
Black Duncan roared angrily, yelled back: "I don"t f.u.c.king care! Who think theirs are larger, do it! Anyway, I quit!"
Suddenly someone screamed: "If you don"t dare to do it, I will! My old guy already has rotten half! If I can screw a fine-skinned woman like her, even it will rot completely it will be worth!"
The shouting person was a skinny and almost naked old man. Some dirty rags were wrapped around his body. There were numerous rotten wounds on his emaciated body. His head was nearly bald, there were only a few h.o.a.ry hairs on it. He breathed heavily while running; there was a harsh sound came from his chest, which is similar to an old wind box. He just barely kept up with the crowd, but under his belt, his dark stick was as hard as a short and thin iron bar. It stood abruptly on his belly.
The small alley was not too long. Shortly after, dozen thugs rushed out from the other end. When the flickering fire had gone, the darkness, again, dominated this area. In the eyes of these thugs, which were full of violence and p.o.r.nography, the only thing left was the shaking white skin of this woman. They didn"t notice that the shade near the corner is a body. Even if they knew that, they wouldn"t pay any attention, because it is too similar to a person lying beside radiated sewage and waiting the last moment. These people were everywhere in this era.
Not too far from the alley, the sound of the thugs suddenly became higher, mixed with the tragically scream of a woman. Shortly after, her scream suddenly stopped; probably her mouth was blocked. The thugs" laugh went up higher again and again, and completely submerged woman"s voice.
In the dark valley, the body covered in a black blanket suddenly moved. He lowered head slowly lifted; from under the blanket, a swaddling was brought out. Partially of its hand was exposed from the edges of the rags; and its tender outline clearly showed that was a juvenile"s hand. However, its skin was extremely bright and smooth. It looked like the skin is shining, and it is completely out of tune with the environment around. Under the blanket over his lowered head, there was a point of deep jade green color. It was his eyes, which were focused on the infant inside the swaddling.
This infant didn"t cry nor cause trouble. A pair of big blue eyes was also looking back at the regiment of deep blue light. This is a little girl, her small nose was straight up high, and her skin was pristine like the highest quality crystal. It was clearly different from other babies affected by radiation in this era; there were a lot of black, blue, gray chunks on their skin. Her lips also had very rare perfect curves. Overall, she was very beautiful, especially for a non-weaned baby.
He blinked his eyes a few times, so the jade green light on the girl"s face also flashed. Finally, he stretched out his hand, loosened the tightened swaddling a little, so the baby could hear the sound around, which was the sound of thugs" gasp, as well as the occasional outbreak woman"s tragic scream.
That slender, fair-skinned hand and fingers acted like dark clouds in the night, only appeared a split second, and then returned to the blanket.
The baby’s head tilted slightly, her ears shook lightly, collected the sound around, and listened very focus. Now he noticed that there were two separated tips on top of her ears, which made it longer than other normal human ears by a half.
This tyranny and promiscuous feast afar did not last long. With a burst of an extremely disappointed shout, the thugs gradually became calm. Then, a huge flame reached to the sky and an unpleasant smell emanating around with the spread of dense smoke. The raging fire sometime could reached about ten meters in the air. At this time, this fire could even disperse the darkness in the alley for a moment.
Near the puddle of sewage in the alley, nothing was left. The child that had been wrapped in a deep black blanket has disappeared.
The sun rose as usual. The blazing sunlight penetrated the thick gray clouds, and shone on the black and yellow ground. Suddenly, a strong wind blew away a small piece of gray clouds, allowed the sun to shine down without obstructions. Immediately, all kinds of strange animals on the ground fled away to find the shade. Some of them hid in underground caves to avoid this deadly sunlight. The only thing that didn"t fear this sunlight was a tall plant, its pale stem was full of half meter long spikes. Every time the sunlight came down, it twisted its stems, in order to get as much sunlight as possible. Then it grew crazily with a speed could be noticed by bare eyes.
Bang, Bang! Waves of loud sound broke the quiet morning. A nearly 50 age old man, while knocking the ground very hard by an empty iron pipe, yelled around with a hoa.r.s.e voice: "Work! Wake up, you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! Let the old Hans see how many lucky people left today!"
Hundreds people immediately jumped out from the surrounded ground, then rushed to him. But when they were five meters away from him, they stopped automatically. It looked like there was an invisible barrier that didn"t allow them to move a single step ahead. In the hustle, some greenhorns who didn"t know the situation was still pushing ahead. Several brawny guys around immediately scolded: "New people stay behind! Squeeze for what?" The new people didn"t have any time to react. They immediately ate some heavy punches; their bodies involuntarily fell to the ground. People around instantly added their fists and kicks without any sympathy. After a while, the group of brawny people threw these greenhorns, which were beaten to nearly death, out e of the crowd, and also bitterly spat a few mouthfuls of sputum on them.
Old Hans, who had been used to see these atrocities, just shrugged indifferently. He wore a leather jacket which was completely lost its l.u.s.ter; inside was a piece of crimson dark red plaid shirt. On his lower body, there was an oily jean and a pair of military boots. Compared with the group of refugees around, who was wearing like the beggars, Old Hans was simply a king, and he was indeed arrogant as a real king. A silver badge was pinned on his chest. The background of the badge was a city afar, and at a middle, there was a hostile tank. In the sunshine, this badge shone quickly and became very appealing. There were almost 100 pairs of eyes focused on the badge. Among them, there was fear, there was respect, but most of them were the greedy eyes of a starved wolf seeing the meat.
Faced with hundreds of wild wolves, Old Hans didn"t show the slightest fear. He stood behind a table made from angle iron, and took out some food cans, which their brands couldn"t be seen from the wooden chest behind. He threw it heavily on the table, and yelled out with all his might: "Old laws! One hundred kilograms of ore for five cents! Price of food is similar to yesterday! You b.a.s.t.a.r.ds are very lucky, today I have some food cans! Let"s see who from you can take it! Line up, no squeeze, one by one!"
These refugees had already known the laws in here. They lined up and went to the front of iron table, one by one. Old Hans was like a butcher picking animal, he glanced at their physique, skin and face, then said: "You can, go there!" or "You cannot!"
The greenhorn refugees, who got approval from Old Hans, instantly ran to the pile of tools, picked up a metal pickax and a back basket, then rushed to the mine one hundred meters far way. They feared that if they acted a little slowly, Old Hans would treat them as useless, and said these terrible words "You cannot!" The experienced ones, in contrast, walked very slowly, like they were in their own courtyard. They knew that they had to work whole day long in the mine, and wasting stamina on the road was not a smart idea.
"Why am I not chosen!" A thunderous roar pulled back everyone"s attention. An approximately 190 cm (6"3”) height black man, which looked like a black bear, slammed the iron table and yelled to Old Hans.
Old Hans pulled out a clean handkerchief and slowly wiped out the saliva sprayed in his face. He pointed to an ulcer big as a cup on his black chest, and calmly talked: "You are sick! If I let you go to the mine, you will spread the disease to my strong mules. After that, who will work for me?"
"I can work! I want to eat, I also have to feed three children!" That black guy didn"t pay any attention to Old Hans" word, he just kept slamming the table noisily and yelling non-stop.
Old Hans knitted his eyebrows, managed his thick beard and secretly gave a hand signal to behind. Just one bang and black guy"s voice stopped. He was staggered to see a huge wound on his chest; his voice was stuck at his throat and he couldn"t say anything.
Behind Old Hans" back, a bald brawny man pulled again the trigger of his double-barrel shotgun. Another loud bang, and hundreds of metal sands. .h.i.t this black guy"s chest, doubled the size of his wound and thoroughly penetrated his generous chest. This bald brawny guy wore a horrendous wrinkly black suit, which also had some big holes. This suit was clearly a relic of a few hundred years ago. There were total three brawny guys like him behind Old Hans" back.
After cleaning everything on his face, Old Hans told back to the air, like that black man still was here: "One more thing, n.i.g.g.a, your saliva is so f.u.c.king stinky!"
There were more than one hundred refugees didn"t come to the mine. The greed decreased and the fear increased noticeably in their eyes. Some of them came to pull the corpse of that black guy and throw it a few hundred meters far away. Shortly after, Rotten Wolves and Vultures, who could track to the scent of blood, would come and eat his corpse completely, even his bone would not been left.
The line before iron table shortened quickly. Before the sun rose completely, most of the refugees had gone to the mine already. People who wasn"t chosen went to the town to gamble their luck.
"Number of sick mules are increasing, this month"s quota might be tough." Old Hans groaned, then stood up and twisted his sore back. When he was stretching his lazy waist half way, his action stopped immediately. He pressed his hands on iron table, then leaned his body to the front, and looked at the child who only higher than this table a little.
This child was wrapped in a very dirty blanket, which its original color couldn"t be recognized. Its face, his arms, every exposed outside part of its body was wrapped with dense cloth. Only the left eye was revealed, and this child was looking for Hans silently. This child looked like an eight - nine years old kid, but Hans didn"t know that child was a male or female.
Usually, Old Hans would never waste any effort in this kind of clearly unqualified refugee. He didn"t operate a charity organization. However, perhaps the b.l.o.o.d.y situation before softening his heart a little, perhaps the concern of labor lacking in this month, or perhaps the eyes of this kid; anyway, he just hesitated a little, then asked this kid: "Do you also want to work?"
The kid nodded his head.
"Alright! But first, tell me are you male or female?" Old Hans asked.
"Male." Finally, this kid opened his mouth. Compare to the kid at his same age, his voice was low, but it also had an unusual and indescribable enigmatic attraction.
"Good job, little boy, go there and take the tools. Similar to others, dug out one hundred kilograms of ore then you can get five cents. This is your greatest favor. Wearing like that, did you get sick already? Good, don"t worry, at least there isn"t any stinky scent on your body, and Old Hans" nose is very accurate. Go to work, finish it early, then you can fill your stomach early. When you couldn"t work anymore, find Lame Peter, he will tell you how much money you earned, as well as how many foods you can exchange."
In the nagging of Old Hans, this little boy carried a higher than himself pickaxe and wore a back basket that almost touched the ground, then gradually disappeared into the depth of the mine.
When his body finally faded away, Old Hans shook his head heavily. Suddenly he turned his head, asked the brawny man in the black suit behind him: "Am I too wordy today?"
In front of this neurotic old man, even the man in black, who was st.u.r.dy as a bull, had to take a step back, then hurry shook his hand firmly.
Old Hans dry laughed twice, then talked: "You are very smart, that"s why I let you be the chief of the guards. But you should know that at this place, I am the sole official agent of the company. Today I can let you kill the refugee in an instant like you kill a dog, but I also can turn you into the same dog as them in tomorrow. You should also know that I am quite old, and old man usually has some eccentric characteristics. You only need to fulfill your own thing, is it clear?"
"Understood, Mr. Hans!"
"You should call me Your Excellency Hans!"
"Understood, Your Excellency Hans!"
Old Hans, humming a song from an unknown place, walked into a flat room made from corrugated steel and iron nails. Even in the town few kilometers away, this kind of room which could protect the user from wind and rains completely would be treated as a luxury house.
The sunset came very quickly. The Rotten Wolves, who had slept a whole day in starve, started waves of howl. Then they began to wander around, try to find some prey to fill their stomach.
In the squeaking sound, Old Hans pushed the metal door of the flat room, walked out and squinted at the sunset. After a long nap, he felt much better. Not too far away, the mine was empty. Workers had left and took their ration and returned to their living places already. When the sun went pa.s.s the horizon, longer than one meter Violent Gopher would appear in the complex underground tunnels. With the combination of their powerful jaws and their sharp and solid incisors, they could break two centimeters thick iron bar easily by one bite. Even the hardest rock was nothing in front of them. Luckily, when the sun rise, Violent Gopher would hide in the deep underground and slept in there, so these miners still had half of a day for mining ore.
At the same time the sun disappeared completely, a small figure appeared at the entrance of the cave. The little boys, while carrying a basket of ore as high as himself, tottered out.
Old Han"s eyelid jumped a few times, but his face didn"t show any change. He looked at that child dragged the basket of ore on his back to the scale, then put near the huge heap of ore and finally took the record from the foreman. He walked very slowly to Old Han"s room. The rags wrapped on his body was stained with red, yellow and miscellaneous blue from the mine dust.
Looking at the little boy, Old Hans walked to behind of his flat room. At this place, there was a big shed, next to the steal room. Lame Peter, who didn"t have a half of his leg, struggled to move his over one hundred kilogram body. He yelled: "Come here, little boy!"
The little boy came to the shed, handed the report over. Lame Peter took a glance, then blew a whistle and told: "Not bad, little boy! You had done more than most adults! Come here, this is the list, what do you want to change? Do know recognize these words? You know it? That"s good, even me could only recognize half of the words on this list. Hey, don"t look at this side, you couldn"t exchange the items on the top side yet. Here, looking down from this line."
Peter used his rough finger to draw a line across the long list. The boy looked to the list; his eye stopped at the "drinking water" column, then looked up all the way until his sight was blocked by Peter"s rough finger.
"This is it." The boys used his fully wrapped finger to point to the list.
Peter called out at once: "Ah ha, rank 3 drinking water. Little boy, you must be a n.o.ble, right? I heard that the body of the n.o.bles is too tender, so they could only drink pure water. Yeah, that is it, that kind of water without any impurities, without any radiation!"
"This is it." The boy still pointed to the list. His voice didn"t have any fluctuation. Many people would have some doubts that whether it was an artificial voice.
Peter shrugged, took out a can of beverage from the bunch of wooden boxes behind. He threw it to the boy: "Here you are! Rank 3 drinking water, luxury kid."
Little boy carefully hid the beverage can inside his blanket, then turned over. Saw that, Lame Peter scratched his head, then took out a moldy bread, which was hard as an ore and big as a fist, then gave it to the little boy: "Hey little brat, mining requires a lot of stamina, you can"t eat nothing. Take this, brat. Remember that you owe Lame Peter five cents. I will reduce it from your earning tomorrow!"
Little boy received that bread, hid it carefully in his blanket again, then bowed deeply to Lame Peter. After that, he walked into the darkness.
In the Wilderness covered by darkness, dozens of wolf-like eyes were watching over him. Whispering sounded another after another.
"That little brat today worked very well, should we pay him a visit? I wonder what kind he exchanged. Perhaps it was half of a bread."
"I bet that inside his blanket is a huge piece of roasted Violent Gopher!"
Nearby them, a lazy and cruel voice took over the thread. "Hey, greenhorns! Do you know the rule of the land of Old Hans? In his area, no one is allowed to rob the exchanged item."
The previous sound appeared again, clearly showed its owner"s disobedience. "Old Hans? What could he do? I can beat tens old man like that at once!"
The lazy man laughed: "Just by you? Even licking his a.s.s, you are not qualified!"
The greenhorn, who was just criticized, still wasn"t convinced. He didn"t know that lazy man didn"t have so much tolerance. While he was going to argue, that man blew a whistle and yelled loudly: "Boys, kill that trouble maker then feed Rotten Wolves by his corpse!"
More than ten people listened to his call, gathered together.
After a short scream, the Wilderness returned to silence. Everyone tried to sleep as much as they can, so tomorrow they could bring out more ore.
In the warehouse, Lame Peter couldn"t see this boy"s body anymore. He pulled some hairs from his almost bald head, and muttered: "Where do he want to go? If he would be eaten by rotten wolf, my five cents would have been a waste. Hey, Old Hans, tell me, my five cents wouldn"t become a waste, right?"
Old Hans, who was lending on the warehouse"s wall, said: "G.o.d knows."
Lame Peter tried to stand up with all of his mind, and began keeping up the records list and the food on the operating table. His remaining thigh was strong enough to support a 100 kilograms body. Lame Peter could walk inside the warehouse without a stick. When he picked up the last record of the little boy, he just wanted to throw it away easily. But, it looked like he remembered something; he looked it again, then muttered: "Level 3 drinking water. I don"t know why he wants this. The radiation in the mine is stronger than that of sewage multiple times; and it couldn"t be cured easily by drinking a little pure water."
Old Hans took away the paper from Peter"s hand, took a glance, then crumpled it and threw it into the fire hole outside the warehouse.
He coughed a few times, spit out a thick sputum, then said: "Peter, go back and tell to Mad Dog Milde, from tomorrow, reduce the quota for every basket of this boy by 10 kilograms. If he can endure for a whole month, give him the full amount of weight."
Peter said: "This seems a bit against the rules."
"He is raising a child." Old Hans lit a cigarette, which only remained a half; his sound seemed a little heavy.
Peter looked up in surprise, said: "What? How old he is? Why does he raise a kid?"
Old Hans breathed out a ring of smoke, said: "For every child under three years old, if they can drink water without radiation and eat clean food, yes, d.a.m.n it, if they can consume level three food and drinking water continuously, they will not mutate, even when they become mature!"
Peter knitted his eyebrow, and said: "Oh my G.o.d! I supposed that everyone will have to mutate! But how could you know that?"
Old Hans responded calmly: "Because I also raised children."
Peter amazed: "You have never told me about that! How old is he? May be he is twenty already. Please, G.o.d bless him, don"t let him be ugly as you."
Old Hans smiled: "At this time, I was very poor. I couldn"t earn enough clean food and water for him. He encountered mutation when he was five. He couldn"t make it."
Peter didn"t know what he should say. After a long silence, he said: "Sorry, old man. I shouldn"t mention it, you know… Oh, until now, I"ve never met a woman who could give birth, I didn"t have a change to raise a kid."
Old Hans took a deep breath of smoking. He saw the sky night outside of the warehouse, said: "Bro, you don"t need to say sorry with me. This year, if it wasn"t you, I would become the food for Rotten Wolves already. I also wouldn"t become company official agent."
Peter picked up a 50 kilogram supply box from the ground, used his remaining leg as a pivot, jumped one step and put it gently on the highest shelf. He scratched his head again, then said: "Actually, I didn"t want to save you, but you know, at this time I was an expert in Fighting Domain. My ability to Strengthen Defense was upgraded to level 2; that wolf leader couldn"t kill me casually. But you was not. For an expert in Magic Domain coward like you, one bite is enough."
Old Hans gave the half of the cigarette, which was almost burned out to Peter, said: "Bro, go to sleep. It is too late already, there aren"t any woman would come to this place."
Peter inhaled the smoke deeply, then held the breath in the lung until he couldn"t bear it anymore. Old Hans had returned to his room already. Peter only heard a loud bang sound; he knew that mean Han threw himself to the bed already. Lame Peter pulled out a green box from under the operating table. He carefully took out from this box a rotten magazine, which could be scattered at any time. Through the light of the bonfire, he turned it page by page; his breath became more heavily.
The cover of this magazine suddenly fell off on the ground. The hot and s.e.xy woman on the cover, due to the age of this magazine, became a bit blurred. However, it was still easy to see the t.i.tle on it - PLAYBOY. Under the cover, a small line of text revealed the publication date of this magazine: February 1982.
No matter how many new arrivals came to the Wilderness, and regardless how many people disappear inexplicably, the sun always rose.
The little boy was similar to yesterday. He came when everyone had gone to the mine, came out when the sun hid under the horizon. The amount of ore that he dug out was also as much as yesterday; the exchanged item was similar, too. The only thing changed was his debt; from five to ten.
One month later, perhaps that boy got enough food, or perhaps his strength increased; his earning increased every day, and his debt also decreased gradually.
Life in the Wilderness is monotonous and repet.i.tive. One year pa.s.sed.
In this era, being able to live a monotonous and repet.i.tive life was a rare happiness. In this kind of life, people hadn"t to s.n.a.t.c.h food against Rotten Wolves; they also had low radiation food and water. Was there anything else to expect? About boring, it was an extravagant topic, only the lunatic people would occasionally think about it.
In the beginning, there were some greenhorns refugee want to steal food from the boy, but his full-wrapped body scared them. In this era, there were at least dozens highly contagious diseases; which no medicine could cure. These diseases had a same characteristic, it was decaying. Many people tried to guest, under these wrapping, how much his body had been rotten. They also bet how long he could live, counted by days. But when the deadline of the most daring gamblers had pa.s.sed, there were four greenhorns, who were both courageous and stupid enough to following him in the night. Three of them never appeared again, while the last one also lost the track of the boy. In the dawn of the next day, the refugees found that guy was hanged, upside down, on the wooden pillar in front of the house of Old Hans. The guard in black suit, used his double-barrel shotgun, fired full ten rounds toward him, but didn"t let him die. In terms of how to torture people, the black suit guard absolutely had talent.
From this moment, the refugees knew that Old Hans didn"t want them to lay a finger on that boy.
Three years pa.s.sed.
The amount of ore the boy could dig was increased four times, but his exchanged food also increased, so he didn"t have any saving. Wrinkles on Old Hans" face deepened, and the number of pages of Lame Peter"s treasure, Playboy 1982 edition, also reduced from 15 to 11.
In the fifth years, the amount of ore which could be mined decreased significantly, and the plain happiness on the Wilderness also reached its end.
In the dusk of one day, when the boy just got his item from Peter, Old Hans called him back. That little be from the beginning now was a young man; he followed Old Hans into that metal room. There were many different stuff in the room, but the most important thing was a bed. It was a real bed; a real bed with pillow and bedding. This bed was enough to distinguish the difference between Old Hans and others. The young man didn"t pay attention to the bed; his eye focused on a hand drawn map on the wall. The map was very rough; there were a lot of empty places on it; and some places were marked as dangerous by an eye-catching red color.
"We are here." Old Hans pointed at one place on the map. Then his finger moved across the west, and only stopped when it came near the dangerous area. He continued: "This place is the nest of Spitfire Ant. Its body is longer than one meter, and it is a very tough opponent. It don"t actually spit fire, but you have to be careful with the corrosive liquid it spits out. If you would get stained by this, it would have been worse than fire. The most dangerous thing is Spitfire Ant always moved as a group. However, there are some good stuff on a Spitfire Ant body. Its forelegs, which was also called its blade, are harder than steel, while the weight is light as a half. It could be sold everywhere; and its price is not so bad, because there aren"t so many people hunted them. Between their last pair of legs, there is a piece of meat without any radiation, however, the amount of it is really too low."
The young man looked the map calmly. It looked like he wanted to remember every detail on the map by heart. His only exposed eye had a deep jade green color; there were some gray patterns around its pupil. His eye was clear as crystal, and overall, it looked like a finest jade. After so many years, Old Hans realized it was the first time he saw it clearly.
Old Hans cleared his throat, then moved his finger to the south of Spitfire Ant"s nest. This place was marked with a letter W.
"There is a cave here; in the cave there is a sewage pond, and in the pond there is a mutated large leech. If you feed it with your blood, it will release excess water from inside it body. This kind of water has very low radiation, I think it is safe enough for a one year kid."
"The nest of Spitfire Ant is one hundred kilometers far away from this cave, I think you need to spend a few days on the road. Tomorrow, this mine will close, don"t come back." Old Hans waved his hand, and the young man left silently. Before going out, the young man looked at Old Hans, and thanked him gently.
The voice of the young man was gentle like a wind, and also had an enigmatic attraction. If he was in the previous era, he might have a potential to become a superstar.
In the early morning of the next day, the sunlight lured wandering Rotten Wolves back to their base, but it also brought a roaring tornado with fist - sized gravels. From the west of the mine, it was an interminable desert. The blowing wind cuts the fiery red magma into many rusty stone pillars. Looking ahead, there were only some bush of th.o.r.n.y Buckthorn, which contained virulent toxic in its branches and leaves. Although Rock Scorpion and Giant Belly Black Bee were also fatal threats, the greatest danger was the lack of water, even the highly radiation sewage.
When the Rock Scorpion had to hide itself in the rock crevices to avoid the sun, that boy appeared on the edge of the desert. His body was wrapped in a black blanket; the hand was wrapped by bandage was holding a little girl, which was also wrapped in a black blanket.
In the compound eyes of Rock Scorpion, two people, one big and one small, held each other hands and walked slowly to the center of the desert. Suddenly, a strong wind blew off the blanket on the little girl"s head, and a silky grey hair spilled out. Under the sunlight, it swayed out millions of dazzling radiance.
The young man stopped walking, tied carefully her long hair, and then put back her blanket on her head. Then he held her hand again, and continuously walked to the heart of the desert.
After one week of walking, they found the cave and the mutated leech mentioned by Old Hans. After settling everything, the young man walked alone to the Spitfire Ant"s nest in the night.
Until the dawn of the third day, the young man struggled to come back. The litter girl had been sitting in front of the entrance of the cave, waiting for his return. No one knows how long she had waited.
In this evening, she frowned and used her little white teeth with all her might to bite the greeny white Spitfire Ant’s meat, which was tough as a rubber. The ant"s meat was tough and fishy, but the little girl tried to chew each piece of meat completely; she even licked all the liquid in her hand.
Deep in the cave, the young man hide in the darkness, cleaned up little by little the crisscrossing wounds on his body. Some of them were deep enough to see the bone.
Saturated with the blood, the mutated leech got out of the bowl slothfully, then silently slid in the green sparkling sewage pond. It left behind a half bowl of clean water.
The young man need three days to go to Spitfire Ant"s nest and return, so the life of him, the little girl and the leech, repeated itself in a three-day cycle.
Three years after, the leech died.
No matter what happens, the sun would always rise.
The boy and the girl stood at the entrance of the cave. The strong wind blew the tattered blanket on their bodies. Sometimes, a broken piece was ripped off from them.
"We have to go to the settlement." The boy"s voice was always so gentle; the enigmatic attraction became more deep and broad.
Now the girl had grown up to the boy"s chest. She leaned against him; her hand held the blanket tightly; murmured: "I am afraid."
"Don"t worry, I will protect you." The firm voice of the boy showed the unchangeable determination inside it. However, only he would know how much confidence it could be.
The boy carried four forelegs of Spitfire Ant, which were selected carefully. Old Hans had said that this stuff could be sold for a lot of money in the settlement. A lot of money meant clean food and water. The experience at the mine told the boy that he shouldn"t bring a lot of stuff which could be sold at a high price, otherwise, troubles would come.
The boy walked ahead, the girl held his clothes, two people, walked together to the forward area, which was desolate enough to bring desperation to human.
Yorkston town was a settlement developed in the last decade. In the town, there were approximate five to six hundred people from every types stayed here for a long time. In this town, bars, inns, restaurants, grocery stores, clinics gradually opened up. There was even a sheriff responsible for maintaining the order in the town. The main power of that sheriff was the Uzi sub-machine gun, which was always hanging on his hip. Comparing with common weapons in this town, such as bottles, iron sticks, machetes or even homemade powder shotgun; the sub-machine of that sheriff was obviously more convincing than others. Due to that, Yorkston town had kind of basic order. At least, arbitrary killing was not allowed in here; if you wanted to kill someone, you should have a legitimate reason.
And, a reason accepted by the sheriff would be a legitimate reason.
Today, a real VIP came to Yorkston town, so most of higher status people in the town went to the outskirt to great. Other people, who weren"t qualified to go, stayed in the town and talked excitedly about that VIP, even though they didn"t know whether that VIP was a man or a woman. As a result, no one noticed the boy and the girl.
The town"s Butcher, who also ran the only inn in Yorkston, after receiving a high quality Spitfire Ant blade; was very happy to give the boy and the girl a double room, and he even offered them a free dinner. Of course, if the boy wanted the luxury stuff with low radiation rate, one Spitfire Ant blade was not enough.
The boy let the girl rest in the room, then went out of the inn with three other blades. He heard that he could sell this stuff at the grocery store for a higher price. Before going, he set up some normal alarm system at the door.
From the unnatural smile of the Butcher, the boy predicted that there might be trouble, but he didn"t know that trouble could come so fast. After he crossed an intersection, he was stopped by three men. According to their wooden sticks, which were ready to make trouble, he knew that they came with really bad attention.
"Hey, brat! We heard that you want to sale Spitfire Ant, so our leader wants to talk with you!"
The boy hesitated a little, then followed them to a quiet and uninhabited alley. Then he walked into a fairly completed big house. He saw a big man, which might be their leader, sat carelessly in the middle of the house. Three people behind the boy, perhaps intentionally or unintentionally, blocked the door silently.
The head was clearly satisfied with the att.i.tude of the boy, which was always lowering his head. "Brat, you can call me as Viper. I heard that you have some blades from Spitfire Ant, good word. No matter how many you have, I want all! Here is your remuneration!"
The boy watched a hard as a stone bread rolling to his feet. He slowly bent down to pick it up, and also put three Spitfire Ant"s blades on the floor. Although this bread was too hard, its radiation rate wasn"t so high. The little girl had grown up, now she could endure this level of radiation.
When he stood up straightly, he found that three people behind him didn"t want to open the door. The wooden sticks in their hands were already prepared.
Viper also stood up, pulled a homemade one barrel powder shotgun from his belt, and grinned: "Brat, you are not only smart, but also know the rules. Originally, after finishing the deal, I will let you go alive. However, Butcher said you also brought a white skinned woman, so there aren"t other ways. Actually, I am just the vice-leader, our leader is called Black Bear. I guess at this time he is s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g her already. Well, no way, his size is as big as a mutation, but his hobby is banging little girl. All right, it"s time to send you to heaven! I hope that when I come to that inn, that little girl haven"t died yet!"
At this time, through the ears which were wrapped under the blanket, the boy heard a very faint sound. This was the sound of breaking a piece of metal, which he put at the door of his room, through fictional. This kind of ten thousand hertz sound was something that normal human couldn"t hear.
He raised his head instantly. Although all of his face was covered in the blanket, his left eye suddenly lit up, like a jade flame!
"You….." Viper screamed, then his sound stopped. After that, a huge shooting sound came from his powder shotgun. The gunshot scattered the only piece of intact gla.s.s in the room; then the air quickly filled with pungent smell of gunpowder.
The boy wrapped in the black blanket appeared at the door of Butcher"s inn like a ghost.
The inn"s door made from some wooden boards was half-opened. The b.l.o.o.d.y scent inside could be smelled from a very far distance. In the inn, there was an unusual silence. Vaguely, it seemed that a little voice was sobbing.
The boy stopped at the door for an instant, then walked inside. Behind him, there were numerous consecutive bloodstain.
Butcher was at the door of the boy"s room; his eyes stared to their limit. Extremely fear solidified on his face. There was only his head left, his body was missing.
The door was half-opened. Blood was pouring out like a spring from under the door, which made others feel palpitation.
The boy stood in the blood. His senses told him that the blood was still fresh. He gently pushed the half-opened door, then walked inside.
The girl holding her knees sat in the middle of the room and hid her head between her knees. She was sobbing softly. The black blanket, which was wrapped over her body usually, was thrown into the corner of the room. The coa.r.s.e wooden bed was also completely collapsed. The girl was wearing a very rough but clean handmade skirt; her exposed skin, whether her arms or calves, was white and tender enough to drive man crazy. She was still young, but even in the old days, she was beautiful enough to make all the man of a city became s.e.x beasts.
The room became the h.e.l.l.
The flesh and the limbs were scattered everywhere, which lead to almost no place for settle. Some fresh organs were still peristalsis; and the wall was stained into black and red by blood. Blood was still pouring out from some limb fragments; there were even some centimeters deep b.l.o.o.d.y puddles on the floor. No one could figure out whether the body of Butcher was here; what piece of flesh belongs to Black Bear; or how many peoples, perhaps there or four, was died in here. Everything were shredded and mixed together.
The girl was still sitting like that, sitting inside the h.e.l.l made from blood and flesh.
Her long gray hair fell like a waterfall, like a silk, and it was immersing in the blood. Beside the girl, a big, one-meter long, square edge bone chopper was stabbed on the ground. On its blade, there were several holes and even some piece of human muscle were hanging on it. Only when dealing with Armored Fury Bear, which had the bone harder than molten rock; Black Bear would use this bone chopper, which was made from stainless steel.
Hearing the sound from the door, the girl raised her head. When she saw the boy, she immediately exposed her rainbow smile. Under the sunshine from out of the room, two drops of tear on her eyes was sparkling light like two bright diamonds.
The boy exhaled deeply, carefully found some foothold in a room full of limbs and flesh, walked to the girl.
The girl didn"t pay too much attention about that. She rushed to him and jumped to his chest; caused the leftover flesh to scatter around and blood to spill all the place. The boy gently rubbed her grey hair; it was still soft and warm. Even it was immerged in blood, there weren"t any stain on her hair.
"I am afraid." The girl said softly. Her little hands hold the wraps on the boy"s body tightly, made him fell a little hurt. He knew that she was really afraid, but he didn"t know how to comfort her.
A settlement always means trouble, but in the Wilderness, finding supply became hard and harder. Among them, water was the hardest one. In this era, the first thing that everyone had to face every day was surviving. In front of surviving, there wasn"t toleration nor sharing. Anyone, in every others" eyes, could mean clean food and water.
From outside of the inn, some noisy voice suddenly appeared. One person yelled: "Outsiders murdered! Butcher was died! I saw them were still inside!"
The shout was getting louder. It could been heard that there were some sound of metal percussion. There were at least ten people gathering around this small four-room inn. The boy patted the girl, then pulled out a well hidden Spitfire Ant"s blade from the blanket. This blade was cut a half, only the sharpest part was remained. Every tooth on the blade were flashing a deep green light. The grip of this blade was carefully made, and it was tightly wrapped by some duffle bands. The power of this blade was as high as military dagger in the previous era.
The boy gripped the blade tightly, and waited calmly for the moment that the crowd would break into the room. The girl also stopped sobbing, her beautiful blue eyes looked around the room, then stopped on that bone chopper. She stretched her little hand to grab it; she used it very smoothly.
The boy"s left hand stretched out and pulled the girl back. He didn"t allow her to touch this bone chopper. He kept the girl behind him, and quietly watched the door and windows. Although the windows was blocked by nailed wooden board, but it couldn"t guarantee that someone would rush into the room from there.
"Silent!" The powerful voice of sheriff came from outside. The noise around immediately became quieter, which clearly showed the power of the sheriff, although it wasn"t enough. "Let me see what happened first! d.a.m.n it, the b.l.o.o.d.y smell is so heavy; how many people died inside?"
After one bang, the door was opened by one kick of sheriff. The crowd instantly exclaimed, while the sheriff"s Uzi was immediately loaded.
At this time, a cold voice full of killing intent came from outside: "Scat! Get a way for Lady!"
The boy immediately heard several sound of scream and heavy objects falling to the ground. Obviously, the newcomers did not leave for residents leaving time. However, the surging noise outside disappeared completely. Either the residents or the sheriff, everyone was in perfect silence. No one dared to make a noise, and there weren"t any voice of dissension.
Then a thunderous sound came and everywhere was covered in dust and smoke. The inn"s walls, gates, and roof was forcefully opened. After another rattling sound, a hand in a black leather glove was inserted in the thin wall made from iron sheets. This hand"s owner tore the iron sheet easily and throw it 10 meters far away casually. This was a tall and handsome but cold and arrogant young blonde man. His golden short hair was bristling; it looked like a burning flame. His half plate made from a silver-gray alloy protected his chest, back, lower abdomen and a few other fatal places. Below the half plate was a black uniform with golden stripes, and the leather boots on his legs were sparkling. This guy weren"t completely suitable with the dirtiness around. This guy was also the person who used his bare hands to demolish everything from ten meters away in a few minutes. He created a five meters wide road in a block of chaotic buildings and constructions.
The boy, the girl, and the h.e.l.l in the house were completely exposed for everyone.
The girl raised her head and looked the crowd around dizzily. This was the first time she saw many people gathered together. She instinctively feel a touch of danger; her hand tried to reach the bone chopper, but it was seized tightly again by the boy.
At the moment people saw the face of the girl, everyone was stunned. Even the arrogant blonde bodyguard also had some stagnation.
Everyone’s breathing sound clearly echoed in the boy’s ears and it obviously became more and more heavy. He exhaled deeply then looked past the blonde bodyguard.
At the beginning of the new constructed road, a horse drawn carriage parked. This was a four-horse drawn carriage of the eighteenth century; its black gold body was old and elegant; and its copper lamp shone brightly. It was driven by four tall horses. More scarcity, all of them are albino horses.
No one in the Yorkston town would have known that they were four purebred horses. Anyway it didn"t make any sense, because a horse was far beyond the luxury of their imagination.
Eight fully armed bodyguards stood at the front and the rear of the carriage. Their uniforms and armor was same as the blonde"s ones. The only difference was the blonde man didn"t carry any weapons, while these 16 bodyguards were carrying heavy firepower gun. Compare with their Minimi heavy machine guns (*), sheriff"s Uzi submachine gun was just a toy.
Four male servants took a curl of scarlet carpet from the back of the carriage, and spread it out from the carriage to in front of the boy and the girl.
Inside the room there was h.e.l.l from blood and flesh; when the thick scarlet carpet came inside, it immediately sunk down the blood. These servants, without any hesitation, superimpose another set of ridiculously expensive carpet, until it was higher than the blood by five centimeters. They only stopped when they ensured that the blood would not came to the top of the carpet through osmosis.
The clothes of four servants, whether the black tuxedo, or white shirt with neatly knotted tie, weren"t belong to this era. On Yorkston town, even the upper cla.s.s people were similar to old era"s beggars. For example, sheriff"s pants had a large hole, but it wasn"t on the b.u.t.tock, so it became a representative clothes for upper cla.s.s. Moreover, due to the scarcity of water, so all the residents never bathed.
Unlike other people, the boy only noticed the leg of these servants. They gracefully set foot on the broken pieces of extremities, which were higher than the blood surface. They acted lightly likes the b.u.t.terflies. The softened muscles on these broken pieces only subsided a little when these servants step on it. Until they completed their job and got out of the room, there was only one small stain of blood at the soles of these eight polished, shiny black leather shoes. When the boy saw that, his pupil instantly contracted.
An old butler went to the carriage, opened the door slowly and gracefully. Then, he spread out a white handkerchief on his arm, and stretched it out.
From behind the door, a delicate, slim, and elegance like an orchid hand put on the butler"s arm. On its middle finger, there was a ring with a quail"s egg sized dark sapphire, which attracted all sights. The only thing made the residents fell abrupt was the five centimeters long nails. Their shapes was impeccable, but they were decorated with black and red patterns, which made the residents couldn"t help shivering.
Coming from inside the carriage was a woman dressed in old medieval court attire. Her hair was tied highly by a golden hair band decorated by rose patterns. She looked around twenty; her light grey eyes has typical coldness of aristocratic person; her skin was dedicated enough for being hurt from the wind. No matter from which point of view, she met even the most demanding standards of cla.s.sical beauty.
When the women came down from the carriage, the whole Yorkston Town exploded. They forgot the people who were lying death on the ground; they squeezed each other in order to see her more clearly. Most people in here had never seen a white skinned woman in their life; not to mention that she was wearing an old era formal dress, and these jewels which were luxury enough to make aristocratic ladies in the old era jealous (*).
Almost everything around this woman was out of tune with this age, to be more precise, they were extravagant and beyond the reach of the imagination of everyone in Yorkston.
The crowd, who were excited and agitated, pushed toward the carriage. As long as staying in the group, the most coward person would have an inexplicable courage. Moreover, in this era, the difference between man and beast had blurred.
When the group were nearly going out of the control, one bodyguard suddenly raised his gun. Minimi"s muzzle ejected a blazing fire without any warning. In the storm of gunfire, hundreds of bullets easily torn the people at the front into many pieces, and cut out an empty from the crowded wall!
This bodyguard lowered the burning heavy machine gun when the whole magazine became empty; his callous face didn"t show any emotion. It looked like he hadn"t killed dozens of people, but only dozens of cattle instead. In the ears of every Yorkston"s residents, the clicking sound when the bodyguard was changing the magazine was too clear and icy cold. The sheriff, swallowed his s...o...b..r difficultly, and quietly hid his Uzi behind his back.
The woman didn"t take a look at the ma.s.sacre. Since the moment she came down from the carriage, she was always noticing the little girl. She graciously raised her hand, then point her black and red fingertip to the girl, said: “I want the girl.”
Her tone didn"t allow any doubts nor disobedience. One sentence for both the boy and her steward. The old steward bowed slightly, said: "Yes, madam."
The boy understood that was a command without any room for negotiation. Since the moment that woman get off the carriage, he always bowed his head and didn"t take a look at her. However, his body trembled out of control. The closer that woman came, the stronger he trembled.
The old steward, which was working as the woman"s armrest, followed her step by step. However, he walked out of the carpet carefully and respectfully. Although he was walking in a ruins filled by blood; his shoes were still spotless. Moreover, his shoes soles didn"t have any blood stain, which was completely different from the previous servants. In fact, every step he walked hadn"t really contacted with the ground.
The woman went to in front of the boy, and pulled the girl from his back. She bent slightly and carefully looked at the very delicate face of the girl. After a long relief, she exhaled and praised: "What beautiful eyes."
Since the girl was born, she was so beautiful. Her beauty increased as along with her age. Perhaps because of their age, the girl didn"t fear, but looked to that woman curiosity.
Since the beginning, the boy had been standing with his head bowed. He let the woman take the girl away. Although he was wrapped in a thick blanket, but it couldn"t hide his body trembling.
The woman looked to the boy surprisingly, then nodded: "You actually fear me, not my men, that"s very good. You look like a smart child and know what you should do. What kind of choice do you think that I will give you?"
The boy silenced for a moment, then said: "I"m alive, she is yours. Or I’m dead, she’s still yours.”
The woman surprised because of his voice, not his answer. Her voice softened a little, and asked: “Tell me your name.”
"…… Su."
Before every responds, the boy always be silent for a moment. He needed to keep his body from trembling to maintain his voice steadily.
The woman smiled: "Well, Su. My full name is Angelina Fin Lenachsciz. Today I will take that girl. You couldn"t protect her. She can only expose and develop all of her talents at my place. Remember my name, you can find me someday if you are strong enough. Okay, now, show me your face.”
She leaned forward, raised the boy"s jaw by the long nails on her left index finger. The distance between two faces was less than ten centimeters, and the mysterious aroma on her breath even completely enveloped his face. Then, she used two nails to slowly pull down the bandage wrapped around his face. These bandages looked very dirty, but they didn"t have any strange smell.
Spike and black and red fingernails slowly moved over his skin.
The old steward, who was standing beside, continuously kept his head low; his eyes only saw his shoes toes. Every bodyguards turned their back against the woman and the boy, slowly raised their weapons to the crowd. Those dark muzzle make Yorkston residents become smart. They knew that only lower their head is not enough; they must also turn back to keep their lives.
In extreme silence, the feeling of time turned into a problem. Perhaps it was a moment, but it could also be a long time.
No one know when Angelina returned the bandages on the boy"s face. After that, she smiled while covering her mouth: "I am looking forward to the day you come to me."
Then, Angelina took the girl to the carriage. Behind her, the crisp, high pitched, unscrupulous and ambiguous laughter fell like rain on the b.l.o.o.d.y red carpet.
The girl didn"t cry or have the slightest action of resistance. But she turned her head and looked back all the way until the car door completely blocked her deep blue eyes.
On the carriage windows, Angelina suddenly raised the curtain, revealed half of her cla.s.sical beauty face, and then said to the boy: "At this era, the hardest thing is to live with dignity. I hope that you wouldn"t choose that worst way."
Until the four horse drawn carriage completely disappeared from Yorkston town, the boy slowly raised his head.
At this moment, he didn"t know the true meaning of the Lenachsciz name. He also didn"t know the meaning of Arachnid Queen of b.l.o.o.d.y Parliament in this era.