In the reed marsh next to the Yongliu River, the old man standing on the bow of the boat called to a few young men on the pier who were pulling nets and catching fish.
"Boy, you can't touch these fish, they all eat dead people."
Several young men with tanned skin looked up and saw the old man on the boat saying with a smile.
"What joke are you talking about, old man? Why can't you eat the fish of a dead man?"
"that is!"
"Everything flying in the sky, running on the ground, and falling into the water are all fish. The fatter they eat, the better they can be sold!"
Looking at these ungrateful youngsters, the old man shook his head and sighed.
"You also know that everything flying in the sky and running on the ground end up in the water, so do you know what they ate before they fell in."
Several young men looked at each other, speechless.
In the end, it was the young man who pulled the net who didn't know what the world was up to and answered mischievously.
"I don't care what the snakes, rats, insects, and birds eat. We collect the fish to exchange for money and don't end up in our own stomachs! If the other fish collectors don't talk, what can you say!"
The other boys came back to their senses upon hearing this and shouted in agreement.
"that is!"
"Isn't this also a fishing boat? Have you never fished before?"
"The old man is not a good guy. He is probably worried that we will ruin his business!"
Why……
The old man shook his head, said nothing more, and swung away on the long bamboo pole.
It is true that he makes a living by fishing, and he raised some ducks before, but that was all last year.
At the beginning of the new year, the ducks he raised in the river were poisoned to death by something in the water. The fishmonger he often cooperated with stopped collecting fish from the Yongliu River and switched to a seafood business.
Everyone is doing business in the neighborhood, and they usually look up but not down. No matter how unscrupulous a person is, they would not dare to make such unconscionable money.
But having said that, it seems that the new fishmongers who have arrived recently are no longer selective. They accept all kinds of fish, but the price they give will be lower. It is said that they only deal with tourists.
No matter what kind of business they do, the old man can't exchange things that can kill people for money.
Unlike those young men, he lived one day at a time, and he might go to see the Silver Moon Goddess one day. There was no need to sacrifice his moral character for a small amount of money.
Besides, he is not short of money either.
As early as when Wu Tuo was still alive, he had three ancestral houses rented out.
As for why it is still floating on the reed marsh, firstly, it is because he has no time to relax, and secondly, the city hall gave him a new job, asking him to clean up the "dirty things" in the reed marsh.
This work can only be done by experienced fishermen.
When he encountered a person floating on the water, he would poke him twice and rescue him if there was still movement.
if there is not……
Of course I still fish it out.
I remember that a few days ago, a researcher from the alliance came over, took a scoop of water from the Yongliu River in a small cup, pointed at it and shook it, and then shook his head.
From that day on, he knew that this river was completely ruined...
The sunset is setting.
After wandering in the reeds for a day, he was about to call it a day and return home when he saw a sudden flutter deep in the reeds, like a wild duck suddenly awakening.
Of course there were no wild ducks on this part of the river, so the old man quickly turned back with a bamboo pole, and sure enough he saw a person flapping in the river.
I don't know if his feet were entangled in reeds or something else, but the pale man who was soaked in river water struggled for a while.
"Grab it!"
The old man handed over the bamboo pole in his hand. After the man caught it, he finally calmed down and stopped struggling wildly.
When the man had no strength left, the old man moved closer and rescued the 40-year-old man onto the fishing boat.
He took a blanket from the cabin and handed it to the soaked man.
"Put it on, it's windy and cold."
The man tremblingly took the blanket, his face full of fear, like a frightened rat, the kind that ran out of a trench and was hit by a machine gun.
His body was covered with bruises, but luckily they were all cut by grass and there were no gunshot wounds.
It can be considered a lucky one.
The old man has seen too many swollen corpses these days. They were not completely drowned, but simply soaked in the river water.
The man was trembling and said in a stuttering voice.
"Don't, don't kill me..."
"Don't worry, no one will kill you here."
The old man smiled reassuringly, patted the man's shoulder gently, and handed him his thermos bottle, indicating that he could drink a little if he didn't mind.
Of course the man would not dislike him, but he was worried that the old man would dislike him. After thanking him for a long time, he unscrewed the cap of the bottle and drank the hot water.
The old man lit the heater and placed it at his feet. Then he leaned on the shore with a bamboo pole and chatted.
"What do friends do?"
"Fishermen..."
Oh, fellow travelers.
No wonder you can swim here.
But looking at the rush, my wife and children are probably left behind...
The old man said with a smile.
"It's good if you know how to fish. Once you get to the shore, you can tell me the person who registered you. They will arrange for you to go to the dock to find a job. There are many fishing boats there, although it is not the same as fishing in the river.
, but you’ll get used to it once you’re familiar with it.”
The man nodded and just said thank you and said nothing else.
The fishing boat rode the sunset and docked at the pier. The children who had previously fished had returned with their loads and were pushing the trolley towards the market.
Looking at the bustling market in the distance, the man wrapped in a blanket suddenly cried uncontrollably.
The old man knelt down, patted his shoulder and said comfortingly.
"Okay, okay, we're about to go ashore, why are you crying?"
It seemed that he was thinking of the other people who died on the road, but he couldn't stop crying. The man choked and said.
"I only hate that God has no eyes, and misfortune always rushes to the poor."
When the old man saw him, he smiled and said.
"Could God have no eyes to let you get here? Just be content."
The man was still unwilling and said with hatred.
"But I don't understand why I have been kind throughout my life and have never done anything bad, but I have not been spared any suffering in the world."
The old man shook his head.
"Be kind all your life... Haha, what is kindness? If you don't steal, rob, lie, be honest, you are called kindness? Then I saw that the fish in the river are quite kind, the birds in the sky are even more kind, and the snakes in the grass
and insects, that is both good and good.”
The middle-aged man's face turned red.
"That can't be said. How can humans, snakes, rats, insects, and birds be the same?"
"Yes, how can you set the same standards for kindness as snakes, rats, insects, and birds?" The old man said with a smile, "You are not young at all, how come you are still so confused in your life, and you regard being kind as a kind person.
"
The man looked at him blankly.
"Then...what is kindness?"
The old man thought for a while and didn't know how to answer. He just sighed softly.
"Probably... people who really want to go to hell think you are a fool."
God does not have eyes.
There is no retribution.
And it came earlier than expected...
The man lowered his head and thought for a long time. Then he suddenly looked up at the old man, his Adam's apple moved and said.
"Is there any way... to avoid going to hell?"
The old man was stunned for a moment and said with a smile.
"This...how did I know."
Looking at the lost man, the old man was silent for a while, then sighed and said.
"There is a church with a crescent moon hanging on the shore. There are many cats basking in the sun near the church... Go find a priest named Melgio, he may know."
…
Tiandu.
There is a hint of solemnity hidden in the jubilant atmosphere.
General Grove, who returned to Tiandu, was in good shape for the first two days. He talked nonsense at the meeting. However, within a few days, he was captured by Zaid as Savva expected.
But the next script was exactly what Savva, the chief member of the committee, had guessed.
After all, Gopal, the "grey wolf", walked in front of "Iron General" Grove.
The indignant young men blocked Gopal in their mansion. No one was allowed in or out, including the curry Gopal had to eat every day.
Not long after, people found a beast-fighting chess set from the Xilan era in his home.
After hearing the tip from his servant, Gopal knew that he was about to die soon. Feeling sad and angry, he finally made up his mind to lead the old Gray Wolf team to fight to the death. Unexpectedly, the plan was exposed, and a few phone calls that he shouldn't have made turned out to be the breaking camel's back.
The last straw.
In desperation, he arranged an escape route for himself and his family. He first sent out the news to go to Golden Gallen Harbor, but secretly prepared a small boat at West Sail Harbor and planned to run to General McClung's place.
But maybe because I have done too many bad things, it rained heavily that day, and there was thunder and lightning.
The person who came to arrest him arrived half an hour early, but the person who came to pick him up arrived late.
"Heaven is going to kill me!"
Looking at the soldiers coming in through the front door, Gopal looked ashen as a lost dog.
In desperation, he had no choice but to use an excuse to go to the toilet and prepared to leave through the toilet wall in the backyard, but he did not want the soldiers who came to arrest him to see through his trick.
Seeing that Gopal was already riding on the wall, the young man grabbed the bamboo pole and stabbed him in the butt. However, he didn't want to act lightly, so he stabbed Gopal down, who was panicking, and plunged his head into the stone road.
"boom--!"
Maybe there are so many ghosts coming to claim their lives that even God can't stand them anymore.
There was a thunder in the air, and a flash of light illuminated the dank alley.
His whole body was covered with muddy water, and he was lying on the ground twitching. He tried to struggle, but he choked on the muddy water in his mouth.
"Help……"
So far, he still has one breath left. As long as someone comes to help him, he can live.
Unfortunately, he saw in despair that every household around him had closed its doors and windows, completely ignoring the noise outside.
Pity.
We both walked on a rainy night, but some people died standing while others walked like wild dogs.
The "Army God" Gopal fell to his death under the wall behind the toilet in his backyard...
The next day.
News of Gopal's death spread throughout the city.
The people clapped happily, cheering that the gray wolf was finally dead, just as they cheered when he entered the city.
Grove, who was under house arrest behind bars, heard the sound of gongs and drums outside, and wondered what a happy day it was, so he whispered to the soldiers at the door.
"Family... may I ask what's so noisy outside?"
The voice was submissive, not at all domineering like an "iron general", but rather like an old man who has aged prematurely.
The young soldier looked at him coldly, his eyes seeming to say "Who are your family members?", but he still replied with a cold face.
"Gopal, the traitor, is dead."
Grove felt a buzz in his head, like a 200-pound aerial bomb exploding next to him.
Maybe it's the rabbit's death and the fox's sorrow.
He was so frightened that he held the iron window with both hands and shouted.
"Go, Gopal is dead?! How is it possible?! How did he die? I don't agree! No - he is a traitor! I am innocent! Zaid knows me, give him a call again
Come on! Please..."
The iron window creaked as the skinny wrists shook it, but the soldier seemed not to hear it.
On the matter of "who can add insult to injury, and who needs to be open to one another", most Borneo people have a consensus, which is like psychic power and does not need to be explained in words.
Gopal is finished.
Can Grove survive?
Even the children in Tiandu know that after eating the wolf meat, it is time to kill the dog...
…
The wolf is dead.
The dog is dead.
The prince Sava and a group of heroes also sat on the fire pit, and they were restless and their buttocks were burning.
Tiandu seemed to be plunged into a battlefield without gunpowder smoke. For the first time, those tough guys who only knew how to fight realized what it meant to be able to block an open gun but hard to defend against a hidden arrow.
However, what really shattered Gale's outlook was not Gopal's miserable end.
It was the fate of Commissioner Cabaha, whom he had despised most and even hated to the core.
It was a sunny morning.
Although Tiandu has turned into a burning fire pit, the boiling fire has not yet burned into the gate of Tiandu University.
Gale, who was sitting in the classroom, was dozing out of boredom, recalling what it was like to be a female student last night, but he didn't want to be woken up by a "bang" and was so frightened that his textbooks fell to the ground.
Fortunately, the stick did not hit him on the head, but on Commissioner Cabaja's skull.
Since the joint establishment of the school, this education committee member has served as both a principal and a professor. He has never fallen down in the wind or rain under the roar of bombers, but this time his nosebleeds were splashed on the lecture table.
Commissioner Cabaha seemed not to have thought that this day would come to him. He glanced blankly at the children carrying sticks, and then at the adults behind them.
But he didn't say anything in the end, he just silently picked up the textbook that fell on the desk.
"Students, turn your textbooks to page 37. Today we are going to talk about "Mr. L", which was completed with great effort by an old friend of the teacher——"
Snapped!
The stick danced like the wind, knocking him to the ground like a whirlwind.
"We're asking you a question!"
"That day in the theater! What did you say! And why was there no applause!"
Cabaha didn't say anything. He just pretended that the people who punched and kicked him didn't exist. He reached out to pick up the textbook that contained the blood of countless people until the textbook was snatched away and torn up.
He stopped touching the textbook and tried to stand up to speak, but was knocked down, stood up again, and fell down again... until his head was bruised and bleeding, and even the sticks were broken.
His bones were indeed very strong, and he finally stood up.
The child who was only twelve years old frowned, and his enthusiasm followed his temper. He raised half of the stick and was about to give him the final blow, but was stopped by the man behind him.
The man stood for a moment, looked at the students sitting in the classroom, and said in a cold voice.
"Classmates, you are Cabaha's students and the people who know him best. Since he refuses to confess his crimes and reflect on his own problems, you are here to speak for him."
"one by one."
There was silence in the classroom.
Everyone was stunned.
Including Gael.
He felt as if his brain had been shot, and he was so dizzy that he couldn't recover.
Kabah...
It's obviously me who should hate this guy. It's all because this guy made a fool of himself by doing such a big test and giving his opportunities to those low-class people. Why should these low-class people hate him on their behalf?
Why...
This is unreasonable.
He couldn't understand.
Maybe it's because he's too normal, or maybe it's because he was made stupid by reading books.
And at this moment, he suddenly remembered what Nayak, that smart monster-like younger brother, said to him before he left.
'I have four generals, A, B, C and D... I know I will kill them all sooner or later.'
'Hide yourself when you go back...coward if you can...imagine yourself like a soft maggot...'
Gale suddenly regretted it.
Maybe he should have gone with that guy at that time, but now it was too late to regret it.
but……
Why leave?
Gale suddenly laughed out loud in his heart, because at this moment he suddenly realized that he was surrounded by a group of sheep eating dirt.
What a wonderful sheep.
The master wants to eat meat, but he is afraid that the master will not have enough to eat, so the master does not even need to sharpen his own knife.
They took the initiative to bite the unsociable sheep to death and sacrificed his flesh and blood.
He remembered Nayak's third sentence.
'It will be your turn, I said so.'
Gale stood up unexpectedly, and all the eyes in the front and back of the classroom looked at him.
Including members of Cabaja.
His face, bruised and swollen with blood, still had the same cold expression on his face.
He actually had a way to survive.
But he chose to die standing.
So……
It would be better to die in a more meaningful way.
"Teacher... please go away."
Gale thought silently in his heart, stared into those eyes, and made a loyal and honest look on his face.
This was the first time he recognized this guy as his teacher, and the first time he addressed him with honorifics.
And it comes from the heart.
Cabahar looked at him with the same sneer in his eyes, as if to say, "You deserve to call me teacher," but unfortunately he was speechless.
but--
That may not be a real sneer.
Maybe it's actually a kind of protection.
Or be kind.
Standing on the podium, Gale made eye contact with a familiar man and took the stick from his hand.
Those were his father's soldiers.
He would recognize him whether he was wearing military uniform or not.
Gale clutched the stick in his hand like a blazing torch.
Looking at those indifferent eyes, he whispered softly in his heart.
"Lend me your life."
"Your hatred——"
"Fifty years later, I will repay you."
…
Golden Gallon Port, beside the Yongliu River.
The red soil has disappeared, and the sugar cane fields of Nihak's time have turned into lively markets.
After coming out of Camp Rowell, Ye Shi and Dora came here.
Jodu, who is busy with official duties, has returned to the city hall.
However, he did not leave the group to dry, but arranged for his secretary to serve as a guide beside them, performing the kindness of the landlord on behalf of the people of Jinggalang Port.
Looking at the grilled fish on the food stall, Dora swallowed with greed, her face full of desire.
Although there are many barbecues in French Fries Port, the grilling methods and flavors are completely different.
The spices here were sprinkled as if they were free, which brought out the glutton in her stomach again.
Ye Shi was also hungry, and when he was about to pay for something, he was stopped by the local guide sent by Mayor Yodu.
"That's a freshwater fish."
The guide hesitated for a while and was too embarrassed to tell the truth, so he just spoke vaguely.
“Not very hygienic.”
Ye Shi gave him a strange look, feeling that it was strange to hear the word hygiene from a local, but he still followed the advice and pulled Dora away from the grilled fish stall.
There is a lot to eat here, and there are other things to try.
"Where's the grilled corn? And the pork?"
"That's no problem," the guide said with an embarrassed smile, "You just have to check whether the fish and shrimp are from the river or the sea."
Recently, there have been reports in the news that eating fish is bad for your stomach. The National Congress is discussing legislation to ban the fishing of river fish and putting it on the market, but the relevant regulations have not yet been followed.
Ye Shi nodded clearly, then picked up the menu and ordered a barbecue that cost almost 100 silver coins.
100 silver coins is equivalent to 1,000 gallons, enough to feed a dozen of them.
At this time, the sky was gradually getting darker.
Looking at the hot air balloons in the distance, Ye Shi suddenly thought of the doubts he had when he first arrived at the port, so he looked at the guide sitting across the table and asked.
"What are those balloons for?"
The guide followed his gaze and said with a smile.
"What you are talking about was made by the pastor of Silver Moon Church. His name seems to be...Melgio."
Melgio.
He always felt that the name sounded familiar to him. He thought he had seen it on the forum, but he couldn't remember when.
"It turns out they are from the Silver Moon Sect." Ye Shi nodded suddenly.
No wonder the hot air balloon had two ears growing on it. After a long time of work, it turned out to be cat ears.
This is too abstract.
Looking at those hot air balloons, the guide had a hint of piety and admiration on his face.
"Speaking of Mr. Melgio, he is also a famous person in this area... Since he moved here from Sifan Harbor, he has done a lot of practical things, including building churches, helping refugees, and teaching poor people how to read.
Although I don’t believe in the Silver Moon Goddess, he is indeed a kind person. I really don’t understand why those people in the west want to drive him away.”
"West?" Dora blinked.
"It must be Xifan Port." Looking at the balloons in the sky, Ye Shi sighed and said, "The Weilant people are really ruthless, they even took away the church."
The guide gave a wry smile and said nothing, but turned his gaze to the sunset in the distance.
"Mr. Melgio knew some... good people from Willante, as well as some citizens who had made some money in the early years. They made some hot air balloons, put dry food in them, and let the balloons float westward. The contents inside
When the fuel is gone, the hot air balloon falls like a parachute, wherever it lands."
Ye Shi glanced at him in surprise.
"This...how many people can be saved?"
The guide shook his head and said.
"How many can be saved? Maybe some people can survive with just a mouthful of food?"
Dora asked puzzledly.
"Is there no food there?"
The guide shook his head.
"No."
She suddenly remembered that she needed money to buy what she ate, so she timidly asked again.
"Then...you don't have money?"
"No."
"That's—"
"Don't ask." Looking at the guide with red eyes, Ye Shi patted Dora on the shoulder with high emotional intelligence, "Tomorrow we will go to Silver Moon Bay... By the way, try it and see if you can sense it.
Brood? Or something like that?”
The latter sentence was his whim, and it is also a debate that has always existed on the official website forum.
Although there is no mother nest in Borneo, I heard that the DNA of mutant slime mold was referenced and improved during the design process of Red Soil.
Dora was stunned for a moment, closed her eyes, meditated for a while, then opened her eyes and shook her head.
"No."
"Not at all?" Ye Shi still refused to give up, "Where are those soils? They -"
"I can feel that they are alive. The soil is actually alive. This is really amazing..."
With an incredible expression on her face, Dora continued in a very small voice.