Cheng Dalei looked over from under the city gate and saw only the scene at the city gate: a bonfire was lit by the roadside, with three or five people standing around to keep warm. There was a pile of bones lying next to the fire. I don't know what kind of beast they were, a wild boar or a roe deer?
Human bones.
A black-skinned wild dog was chewing bones on the ground. When it noticed the outsiders like Cheng Dalei, it raised its head and barked twice, its eyes were red.
Five people approached Cheng Dalei quietly, two blocked his left and right directions, one stood behind him, and two others walked towards this side, and when they passed each other, they showed the knives in their waists.
Youzhou has always been a bitter cold place, with no human habitation for ten miles. The people living here are rougher and thicker than elsewhere. However, if you can get a knife here, you are obviously doing well.
As they passed each other, they pulled out their knives and stabbed Cheng Dalei in the waist.
They regarded Cheng Dalei as a little white sheep that fell into the wolf's den, just waiting to drink its blood and eat its meat. But they forgot one thing: if it was really a little white sheep, how could it go to Tiger Mountain knowing that there were tigers in the mountain?
In just an instant, Cheng Dalei grabbed one person's shirt and bumped into the other person. There was a loud thud and the two fell to the ground.
The other three people were all startled. They no longer cared about covering up. They showed their weapons at the same time and rushed towards Cheng Dalei and his party with a loud scream.
There is almost no need to describe the process. These three people were like eggs smashed against a stone. The harder they hit, the more powder they would break into pieces.
The whole place was silent, a cold wind blew by, and several people on the ground were wailing like mud, but Cheng Dalei never looked back.
The onlookers were shocked, and an idea popped up in their minds: A ruthless character has come to Luoye City.
One person frowned, his eyes were thoughtful, and suddenly stood up with a loud shout:
"Is it Mr. Cheng? Mr. Cheng!"
Cheng Dalei stopped and looked at him with a frown, wondering: Is there anyone in Luoye City who recognizes me?
I saw this man in ragged clothes, unkempt face, skinny with only bones left, but his eyes were fiery, staring at Cheng Dalei motionless.
Before Cheng Dalei recognized who it was, Xu Shenji recognized it first and said in surprise: "Is it the Qianzhang Snake? Why do you look like this?"
At the beginning, there were more than fifty cottages in Qingniu Mountain, with hundreds of people and a dozen or so people. This Qianzhang Snake was the leader of Goutou Ridge. Later, Cheng Dalei unified the Qingniu Mountain bandits, but there were always people who didn't want to follow him. This Qianzhang Snake
It's one of them.
Qianzhang Snake burst into tears: "Old Xu, you still recognize me."
Cheng Dalei looked around and saw that a group of people around him were still looking at him eagerly with unkind expressions. But because of the lessons learned from the past, he had not dared to take action until now.
"This is not the place to talk. Find a place." Cheng Dalei said.
"Follow me, follow me."
The Thousand-Zhang Snake led Cheng Dalei and his party to a house in a roundabout way. There were not many people in Luoye City now. Although the house was in disrepair, with rain falling above the head and grass growing under the feet, it was very empty.
Everyone settled here for the time being, and saw that Qianzhang Snake had not eaten for a long time. Cheng Dalei took out dry food and dried meat for him, and he ate it voraciously.
Cheng Dalei thought that he had endured hardships, but he never thought that people could live like this. In such a situation, people could still survive.
He took the rainwater from the water tank under the eaves to moisten his mouth. Seeing that he had regained some energy, Cheng Dalei asked: "Master Snake, how did you get into such a situation?"
Qianzhang Snake didn't listen to these words and started to cry bitterly when he heard this. Cheng Dalei couldn't bear to ask anymore. It was obvious that Qianzhang Snake had been tortured by the world and his mind was broken. It was not easy to survive.
Waiting for him to calm down, Cheng Dalei asked: "What's the situation in Luoye City?"
Qianzhang Snake sighed and said: "After the Rong clan came over, no one took care of this place. Everyone has his own job. You rob me and I rob you. It's like this."
"Why don't you go south? Life in the south is somewhat easier, right?" Cui Baiyu couldn't help but ask at this time.
Qianzhang Snake raised his head and glanced at her, saying, "Is this the sister-in-law?"
Cheng Dalei coughed slightly, but Cui Baiyu's expression remained unchanged. This was not the first time this happened.
"No matter how you live, there are wars everywhere, and you might be caught on the road and become a soldier." Qianzhang Snake complained bitterly: "It's better here anyway, no one cares about it, and I can barely survive to eat."
Qianzhang Snake raised his head and asked: "Master Cheng, what's going on outside? Is there still a war?"
Cheng Dalei was startled: "You don't know?"
Qianzhang Snake shook his head: "What do you know?"
It is hard to leave the homeland, and some people will never be able to leave here for the rest of their lives, even though life here is worse than death. For them, there are two worlds outside, and they have no idea what is happening outside.
Cheng Dalei sighed: "The battle is over."
"Is the fight over?" Qianzhang Snake's eyes lit up: "The Rong clan..."
"The Rong people were driven away."
Qianzhang Snake was stunned for a long time and did not come back to his senses. He stared straight at Cheng Dalei.
Cheng Dalei looked confused: he was frightened.
After a while, Qianzhang Snake suddenly burst into tears and kept kowtowing in the direction of Chang'an. He said something like God bless the King.
Cheng Dalei was speechless. You said that you are a bandit and have never had a good life. Do you need to pray for the Li family's royal family?
Qianzhang Snake cried bitterly, opened his chat box, and talked in a long way. Only then did Cheng Dalei understand the situation here.
Today's Luoye City is a place where no one cares. The Rong clan didn't want to take care of it at first, but Li Xingzai wanted to take care of it but couldn't. Besides, this place really doesn't have much value. So all kinds of evil people gathered here, and the strong were respected.
Rules, people die here every day.
But Luoye City is not without its leaders. The current "city lord" is named Wang Huai, nicknamed Iron-headed Ghost, and he was originally a pirate.
I don’t know how I ended up here. I have three to five hundred brothers under my command, and I am the de facto lord of Luoye City.
As for the Thousand-Zhang Snake, it has certainly gone through some experiences over the years. Now it lives a half-human, half-ghost life, which makes people unable to bear to question it carefully.
Cheng Dalei was lamenting when he suddenly heard footsteps outside, and a group of people carrying long spears and short sticks surrounded the place.
Qianzhang Snake's face was startled and he said: "They are Wang Huai's men, and the leader is his vanguard officer, known as the Black Shark Ghost."
The black shark ghost has a bald head, a face of hob meat, and wields a harpoon.
After Cheng Dalei and his group were surrounded, he came over with a big grin on his face and said: "I heard that the Dragon Crossing the River has come to Luoye City. My master asked me to see if he is a god from that road and is willing to settle in Luoye City."
Cheng Dalei rolled his eyes at him, his expression looking a little impatient.
"You are not qualified to talk to me. Call Wang Huai over. I have something to ask him."