The cold wind was biting, blowing on my body like a knife. Wu Gen and Sun Hong wrapped their heads with clothes, leaving only their two eyes exposed, and supported each other as they staggered along.
Without anyone else, Sun Hong became more active, chattering endlessly along the way, revealing everything from his origins to his family background, and even the girl he had liked since childhood.
Although he sounded annoyed, Wu Gen did not stop the other party.
Walking for a long time in a desolate and lonely place might drive you crazy. To this day, Wu Gen still remembers the situation when he was in Guixiao. The endless loneliness can really engulf people in the darkness bit by bit.
Suddenly, Wu Gen suddenly waved his hand to stop Sun Hong's words.
Sun Hong was stunned when he saw Wu Gen crouching low and tiptoeing forward quietly, and he couldn't help but feel nervous.
When they reached a sand dune, Wu Gen tensed up, listened attentively, and slowly took out the broken knife. After a while, he suddenly jumped up and inserted the knife into the fine sand.
Something in the sand struggled desperately and pulled out the knife. A gray scorpion more than a foot long twisted on the tip of the knife, and the pincers on its chelates clicked like scissors.
After struggling for a while, Scorpion finally died. Wu Gen carefully cut off the scorpion's tail and twisted the scorpion's body with both hands. Gray-brown juice dripped down his thumb. He endured the discomfort in his heart and frowned before taking the juice into his mouth.
I once heard Zhang Yuan say that sand scorpions are a rare thirst quencher and food in the desert, and they are not difficult to catch. In this deserted place, every piece of food is very precious.
He handed the scorpion to Sun Hong, who looked at him with some fear.
Wu Gen stuffed the scorpion into his hand and said coldly, "If you want to survive, treat it as the liver of a dragon and the marrow of a phoenix. To tell you the truth, we both have to live on this scorpion these days."
Lifting the scorpion with difficulty, Sun Hong imitated Wu Gen and sucked the juice. A fishy stench entered his nose, and Sun Hong's stomach turned upside down. He turned around and wanted to vomit, but when he saw Wu Gen holding the knife and looking at him eagerly, he had to force it down.
Seeing Sun Hong swallowing, Wu Gen smiled and touched his head. Sin cannot just be suffered by oneself. I found some sea buckthorn and the like, roasted the scorpions and shared them between the two of them.
Sun Hong discovered that Wu Gen's luggage was as straight as a treasure chest, full of strange things, including all the ingredients for cooking. At first glance, I thought he was here for a picnic.
As the two of them walked along, Wu Gen could always catch weird things under the sand without any clues. After walking for a long time, I have collected many scorpions, gophers and other things.
Sun Hong looked surprised: "Brother Wu, could it be that you have lived in the desert for many years." After breaking up with those Xiang soldiers, Sun Hong changed his name.
Wu Gen raised his head and said, "To be honest with you, I have been eager to learn since I was a child. I don't care about this collection of classics and history. I even dabbled in a lot of unofficial history and anecdotes. It's natural to know the desert, but I don't think about it on weekdays. Just reveal it.”
Sun Hong's eyes were filled with stars, and he looked at Wu Gen with admiration.
Wu Gen's cheek turned red in embarrassment. In fact, before leaving, Zhang Yuan had inquired about some information about the way to the afterlife, and specially prepared some temporary information for him. Naturally, he became more familiar with the situation in the desert.
It's no wonder that Bian He and others were aggrieved. With Zhang Yuan's overt and covert help, Wu Gen's trial journey was at a higher starting point than other servants.
However, there is no such thing as fairness in this world. Just like the world's scholars participating in scientific examinations, it is rare for the poor people to read a book. This is why there is a saying that books cannot be read unless they are borrowed. The wealthy family has a huge collection of books, not to mention a teacher to guide them, who can they ask for explanation?
It was almost dusk, and Sun Hong was already hungry and too tired to lift his feet. The two had no choice but to stop, find a leeward spot, light a bonfire, and slowly roast a scorpion. After a while, the scorpion's shell was burned red, and the fragrance spread, making people salivate.
The two chatted while eating, and Sun Hong asked vaguely: "Brother Wu, supposedly there are many people coming in on the way to the afterlife, why didn't we meet him along the way?"
Wu Gen swallowed the meat in his mouth and cursed: "If we meet other people, we may be dead by now. The official said before coming in that the one with the most cards will win. Doesn't this make it obvious for people to Are you robbing each other? Alas, my two brothers are not good at martial arts, so when they meet others, they will be like a sheep falling into a tiger's mouth."
While chatting, Wu Gen's nose twitched and he stared at the slightly shaking ground. He threw away the half-remaining scorpion in his hand and tightly grasped the handle of the knife.
Seeing Wu Gen's serious expression, Sun Hong didn't understand why and hurriedly pulled out the knife from his waist.
"Young man, you are quite aware." A middle-aged man with a black beard appeared on the top of the sand dune. Following his words, three more people appeared from around the dune.
The four of them looked at Wu Gen and Sun Hong jokingly as they slowly walked down the sand dune. Sun Hong looked nervous. He was about to retreat, but Wu Gen grabbed him and said, "Don't move."
A tall and thin man clapped his palms with a knife and said with a sneer: "This kid is still smart and knows that he can't run away. Even if you look like you and want to be the winner, you might as well make it happen for us."
Take out the food and waist badges, and grandpas will give you a good time. Otherwise, hey, grandpa is usually good at slicing meat. With one cut, it's as thin as a cicada's wing. I want to see how many cuts you two can take with your small bodies. "
Several other people burst into laughter and gathered around the bonfire, not afraid of the two of them escaping. The middle-aged man picked up the scorpion roasting on the fire and tried to take a bite. "Yes, the taste is not bad. I killed countless of these things along the way, but I didn't expect that I could still eat them. What a loss."
When Wu Gen heard this, he knew that these people had never been in the desert and did not even know this common sense.
"The two of us are willing to hand over our waist cards, and we also ask all heroes to spare a way to survive." Wu Gen pulled Sun Hong behind him and raised his hands to the four of them.
To be honest, when these four people touched this place, they didn't notice it. They just felt that there were foreign objects moving underground. The four of them were so handsome in martial arts. Wu Gen still knew himself, so he decisively surrendered.
A short but very capable man raised his fingers at the two of them. Regardless of Sun Hong's reluctance, Wu Gen took out the two waist badges and threw them over.
"Well, he's quite sensible, but he acts decisively." The man sneered.
Wu Gen pulled Sun Hong and turned around to leave. The middle-aged man said slowly: "Who asked you two to leave? We didn't agree to your conditions." A finger pointed at Wu Gen from afar.
The rest of the people laughed and looked at the two of them like a cat playing with a mouse.
Wu Gen and Sun Hong stopped and just now had a feeling that if they took one more step, they might die on the spot.
The strong man shouted, "Come here and bake some more food for the grandpas."
Wu Gen looked at the ground anxiously, but refused to take a step forward.
The strong man became a little angry, took out two iron claws and put them on his hands. He didn't see any movement. He turned around and was in front of Wu Gen. His dark fingers grabbed him directly.
Frightened, Wu Gen instinctively drew his knife and tried to block his attack. The man snorted, retracted his arm, turned his fingers into fists, avoided the blade, and hit Wu Gen's chest lightly.
Seeing the weak punch hitting his chest, Wu Gen felt as if he had been hit by ten bulls.
With a scream, Wu Gen spurted out a mouthful of blood. His body was beaten high into the air, flipped over and landed on the sand dune, then rolled down the slope to the bottom of the pit, where he lay motionless on the ground.
Sun Hong hadn't reacted yet and watched Wu Gen fly out far away with his mouth open. The strong man smiled ferociously and walked slowly towards Sun Hong.
At this moment, the ground next to the campfire suddenly began to squirm, and two long tentacles emerged from the sand. Immediately afterwards, a strange insect with black jaws and six legs came out.
The strange insect was more than a foot long, with its tentacles swinging around. Finally, it turned towards the strong man who was walking forward, twisted its body, and pounced like an arrow.
The strong man heard the movement behind him and turned around quickly. He suddenly saw such a monster and jumped up in fright. But the strange insect was very nimble, and with a flick of its tail, it blocked the strong man's path.
"How dare you dare to take advantage of grandpa." The strong man was furious and grabbed the strange insect's body with both hands. The iron claws rubbed against the insect's body, and sparks burst out. The insect's body was as strong as gold and iron, and it only left a string of white marks under its claws.
The body of the strange insect was winding and formed a semicircle to surround the strong man. The pair of scissoring jaws were flashing with light as they clamped down on his head.
The strong man grabbed its jaws with both hands and roared, stopping the monster's attack. It was only then that the other three people came to their senses and showed their weapons and came over to support.
The sword struck the strange insect with a clanging sound.
Even though its body was hard and its shell was hard, it couldn't withstand the crowd. The strange insect twisted its body in pain, flicked its long tail, and rushed towards a thin man like lightning. There was a click, and the thin man's thigh was caught by something. Being cut off.
"No, this bug also has a head on its tail." A few people took a closer look, and sure enough, the strange bug also had a head on its tail with two jaws, but it was smaller.
The thin man screamed and rolled to one side to avoid it. But after crawling a few steps, his body gradually turned green and black, and he fell to the ground without moving.
The remaining three people woke up and realized that this strange insect was highly poisonous, and they couldn't help but panic.
The sword was thrown at the insect desperately, but the short man was still alert and shouted: "Cut its belly, it's softer there." He couldn't help but secretly rejoice that he was wearing an iron claw, otherwise he would have been poisoned to death.
The black-bearded middle-aged man flicked his finger, and a red fireball flew out, hitting the monster's abdomen firmly. With a bang, the fireball exploded, knocking off a lot of the scales on the monster insect's abdomen.
The three of them cooperated with each other and went to the abdomen of the strange insect to greet them. Sure enough, not long after, the body of the strange insect was broken open, and green juice flowed out.
In pain, the monster's body twitched, and a stream of black mist spurted out of its mouth. A man in black directly opposite him bore the brunt and was sprayed all over. The man covered his face with his hands and screamed repeatedly.
The black mist of this strange insect was so poisonous that soon the body of the man in black shrank and turned into a puddle of pus, leaving only a skeleton.
The middle-aged man nearby saw that something was not going well and no longer dared to get close. He just fired fireballs from a distance. The strong man who was fighting with him was about to let go and run away. After a burst of black mist, he also died on the spot, and a pair of iron claws fell to the ground.
The body was freed from the trap, and the strange insect burrowed into the sand with a roar, and quickly disappeared.
The middle-aged man drew a long sword from his back and observed the surroundings vigilantly. Suddenly, the sand behind him flew up, and the strange insect flew out from the sand again, its jaws wide open, its six legs dancing, and it rushed towards the middle-aged man.
"Beast, you're seeking death." The middle-aged man waved the long sword in his hand, the blade of the sword flashed with brilliance, and struck right between the monster's jaws. The hard jaws were violently broken open, and the long sword slashed downwards along the head.
"Oops." The middle-aged man secretly exclaimed that something was wrong. It turned out that the insect's body was so tough that it could no longer move after cutting it down three feet with the long sword. It was stuck in the hard scales.
Seeing that he could not kill his opponent with one blow, the middle-aged man was decisive and let go of his sword to separate from the strange insect. As soon as the body jumped into the air, the long tail of the strange insect shot out from under the sand and hit it hard on the back.
With a scream, the middle-aged man was sent flying more than ten feet away, and his back quickly turned black.
poisoned. The middle-aged man's expression changed drastically, he turned around and galloped into the distance, and disappeared after a few falls.
Although the middle-aged man was beaten away, the strange insect had already been seriously injured in many places. After struggling for a few times, he fell to the ground and died on the spot.
