Before dawn the next day, the caravan set off for the next village.
The caravan consisting of twelve horses and six mules faced the white fish belly that had just appeared on the horizon, and walked along an uneven mountain road towards the village of Hed, thirty kilometers away. Surdak was riding on the horse.
Standing on the upper reaches of the river with the highest terrain in Wall Village, I watched the caravan leave silently from a distance.
On the gray limestone formations, the sun jumped out from below the horizon, stretching their shadows long.
Surdak also followed the lizard hunting team in Wall Village and entered the mountains at the southern foot of Paglos.
The leader of this lizard-hunting team was naturally led by Chief Bright, who had the most experience in hunting in Wall Village. The villagers carried bows, arrows, ropes, and about seven days of dry food on their backs, and walked into the mountains on foot.
Going deeper into the Paglos Mountains, you will find that it is even more desolate. The sliver of green that could still be seen in the ravines has disappeared by the time everyone crosses a mountain ridge.
Looking around, the mountains in front of us are all made of gray rocks. Occasionally, we can see a few animal bones on the stone walls. This is a dead place.
Occasionally, you can see some sea buckthorn grass covered with thorns in the rock crevices, with dry branches and leaves swaying in the wind.
Village Chief Bright climbed to a steep rock crevice, reached out and broke off the branches of the sea buckthorn grass that had lost its water in the crevice. The wrinkles on his face became a little deeper. The vitality here has almost been cut off. Originally,
This area is the activity area of limestone iguanas. These seabuckthorn grasses are the source of life for these limestone iguanas. However, this year, these seabuckthorn grasses have dried up and died. Of course, there can no longer be limestone in this area.
Iguana.
The old village chief frowned, took a sip of water to moisten his thirsty throat, covered his face with a linen scarf, and waved to the team, and everyone headed towards the depths of the southern mountains.
The volcanic crater in the distance known as the 'pustule' became increasingly clear in Suldak's sight.
Chief Bright led the village's lizard hunting team and walked like this for a whole day, passing through four areas where gray rock iguanas were most active in the past. However, the situation this year was slightly different. The rock gaps in these places
There is no trace of the gray rock iguana in the area. Not only that, even the sea buckthorn grass that the iguana depends on for survival is almost all dead.
The team waited until the sun had set in the mountain col, and then set up camp under a cliff sheltered from the wind. These villagers did not carry tents, each of them just carried a worn-out blanket, and everyone raised a pile of small tents under the cliff.
Everyone was wrapped in blankets around the bonfire, tearing off a piece of some dry food they had brought and throwing it into an iron pot filled with water on the bonfire.
When the water in the pot boils, everyone will scoop out some food from the iron pot and gather together to enjoy the dinner.
This kind of big pot rice is not delicious, and the quality of the food brought by the villagers varies. Some villagers bring roasted wheat cakes, and some villagers bring chestnut rice cakes. At this time, no one will be picky about the difference in food.
, it’s just that the first day of hunting was unsuccessful, which made the atmosphere in the lizard hunting team a little solemn.
At this time, the old village chief gathered several villagers with rich hunting experience in the village together and began to discuss on an old piece of parchment which area would have a greater chance of having gray rock iguanas. These villagers frowned.
Locked up, things don't look good.
Surdak sat quietly leaning against the rock wall. He was beside the Bright village chief and listened to the discussion.
"All the sea buckthorn grass in this area has died. This area is too dry. Not a single sea buckthorn grass has survived. The gray rock iguanas must have migrated to other places." The wrinkles on the old village chief's face appeared deeper and his lips were a little dry.
, he wanted to take out the kettle and drink some water, but he held back and just pursed his lips slightly.
The youngest son Charlie looked at the old village chief with a puzzled look on his face and asked casually: "There is only a ridge between here and Wall Village. How could the drought be so severe?"
"This is not surprising. This happens every few years. As long as we continue to explore deeper into the mountains, we will always find something." An old villager who is skilled in twisting the bow string said to Charlie
said.
"In my opinion, the gray rock iguanas should have migrated in this direction. As long as we continue to chase them, we will definitely find their traces." Another old villager said confidently, pointing to the Pussy Mountain.
However, his words were immediately questioned by other villagers: "Come on, there has long been a dead land with no vegetation. Do you think the gray rock iguana can survive there?"
The villager stubbornly said: "Whether there are gray rock iguanas or not, we have to do some research to find out..."
The evening discussion did not produce any real results.
Early the next morning, the old village chief climbed to the top of a cliff. He held a piece of red silk high in his hand and felt the wind direction in the mountain.
He climbed down from the top of the cliff and continued to set off with the lizard hunting team, and then the team headed into the wind.
In the lizard hunting team, only Surdak was holding the horse. This ancient Bolan horse carried most of the team's supplies. They checked two hunting grounds in a row in the morning, but failed in both. The wrinkles on the old village chief's face deepened.
In the afternoon, the lizard-hunting team from Wall Village climbed another mountain ridge. In front of Suldak's eyes was a jagged limestone forest. These bamboo-shaped stone forests were on a slope. From a distance, they looked like
The ground is covered with sharp spikes. Some of the stalagmites are tens of meters high, while some are as short as ten meters. There are countless mottled cracks on the stalagmites.
Finally, in a stalagmite rock crevice, Suldak saw a blue-purple sea buckthorn grass swaying in the wind.
"In good years in the past, we could catch enough gray rock iguanas almost only in the previous hunting grounds. Although there are many gray rock iguanas in the collapsing rock forest, it is too dangerous after all. I will never do it unless I have to."
I won’t come here…”
The old village chief stood at the front of the team, looking worriedly at the stone forest in front of him.
"Is this place dangerous?" Surdak asked the old village chief curiously.
The old village chief nodded very seriously and said: "Almost all the stalagmites here have broken. A slight violent vibration will cause these stalagmites to collapse..."
Surdak was a little speechless. At this time, the Wall Village Lizard Hunting Group had arrived at the outskirts of the collapsing rock forest. Surdak had already seen countless piles of large and small gravels on the periphery of the collapsing rock forest. From a distance, it looked like
It was like a cemetery. After hearing the explanation of the old village chief, I realized that these piles of rubble were stalagmites from the collapse of the stone forest.
Surdak crushed a crisp piece of limestone with his foot, and suddenly a dark gray shadow sprang out from the crack under his feet and got into the crack on the side in the blink of an eye.