The dilapidated palace at night was not as tense as Song Pingcun and Ibsen had feared.
A small fire seemed to be the fire of life for these hundreds of people. It was weak and could be extinguished at any time. Except for the sound of a few thin sticks of dry wood burning, it was oppressively quiet.
"Give"
A woman sitting next to Lao Wang took out something the size of a little finger from what looked like a cloth bag hanging on her waist, and touched Song Pingcun lightly.
Lao Wang kept looking at him but didn't speak.
Song Pingcun took it. Although he couldn't tell what kind of animal it was, it looked like dried meat.
"This is Yinniao's dried meat." The woman saw Song Pingcun's doubtful eyes and explained. There was peace and a hint of warmth in his eyes.
"Thank you." Song Pingcun said quickly.
The corners of the woman's mouth raised slightly, "My name is Fu Ji, isn't Song Er your real name?"
"It's really that name." Song Pingcun had a very good impression of Fu Ji. She was the one who walked in front of the four women outside the palace, and she was the one who took the lead in speaking. She is a loving and righteous woman, and he does not want to deceive her. Song Er is indeed the name of his dissipated clone, so it is not wrong.
"In this land of hard labor, there are only two things you can eat, silver birds and fire rats. Although they don't taste very good, at least you can survive." Fu Ji continued, as if she was explaining to him how to survive in this land of hard labor. .
"Fu Ji, there's no need to explain so much to him. He will know it if he wants to survive." Lao Wang interrupted Fu Ji's words. Although his tone was not good, there was no blame at all.
"That's what Lao Wang is like, don't mind." Fu Ji smiled at Song Pingcun. Although the smile looked a bit scary because of his sallow face and thin skin, Song Pingcun felt her kindness and thanked her again.
"Old Yi" Song Pingcun handed the dried meat in his hand to Ibsen. Although he had a little fire, his body was very old after all, and he was very tired from yesterday to tonight.
Ibsen's dim eyes flashed with gratitude, but he didn't say a word and just accepted it silently. Behind him, there was suddenly a smell of blood.
Song Pingcun looked back and saw that the hook-nosed man who was at the palace gate just now was pulled in from outside by several people.
As soon as Ibsen put the dried meat that was as hard as a rock into his mouth, he saw those people dismembering the hooked nose with stone pieces. A sudden nausea came over him, and the dried meat in his hands flew out.
Among the people who landed in the second circle, several hands moved extremely fast, and finally fell into the hands of a long-bearded man, who threw it into his mouth without any hesitation. But even so, there were a lot of blood stains on the corners of his mouth and hands from others, and he fell to the ground. A smile appeared on his lips.
It wasn't until the bearded man's mouth stopped chewing that the others stopped. They all sat back to their original positions, and the bearded man also sat up with difficulty, as if the scene just now had never happened at all.
This is the real side of the hard labor land!
"I don't know what is good or bad," Lao Wang muttered, and glanced at Ibsen with contempt, "Sooner or later, you will end up like this."
Fu Ji, who had been friendly with Song Pingcun just now, now had a look of loneliness on her face, and moved her body closer to Lao Wang. The four women leaned against him skillfully and surrounded Lao Wang in the center.
Nothing else happened that night, but one of the four women kept her eyes open and took turns taking a rest. This made Song Pingcun feel that these more than a hundred people were not as quiet as they seemed. Just like the piece of dried meat that Ibsen flew out, it almost led to a bloody fight. If the bearded man hesitated for a moment, he didn't know what the result would be.
It took a long time to dismember the hooked nose with stone chips, but Song Pingcun didn't see the scene of eating it alive, which made him slightly relieved.
He didn't dare to close his eyes that night, but Ibsen slept a full night.
At dawn, more than a hundred people in the palace stood up, and Song Pingcun followed these people and left the palace again. They seem to be scattered in all directions, but it can also be seen that they are not completely focused on their own affairs, but are still in groups of threes and twos.
Just when he didn't know where to go, Lao Wang said to him: "If you want to survive, come with us."
When they left, someone brought Lao Wang a blood-red cloth wrapped in a package that still smelled of blood. It was only barely tied in a circle and not covered. It was clearly half of a thigh.
Song Pingcun sighed. Needless to say, it must be part of the hook-nosed man.
Less than half an hour after leaving, the sky was just getting bright. The silver birds that flew out of the palace last night seemed to fly back from afar at a fixed time. As soon as they saw the shadow, Lao Wang hid in a nearby building with the four women. In the slightly concave pit, even though he was already a little thin, he was still leaning over the four women, while the four women curled up and tried to make themselves as small as possible to prevent their bodies from being exposed more.
Seeing this, Song Pingcun looked at a similar pit not far away, and walked over quickly while supporting Ibsen.
"Brother Song, it doesn't have to be like this." Ibsen couldn't help but shed tears when he saw Song Pingcun hiding himself in the same way. Just like what Lao Wang said last night, sooner or later he would end up with the hooked nose.
Before Song Pingcun could answer, he felt a pain in his back. Fortunately, the clothes made by the spiritual weapon were strong enough to resist, but the hair was caught and scattered, and the back of the hand exposed outside the sleeve was bitten by the beaks of several silver birds, causing bloodshot eyes to flow.
I don't know why, but as soon as the blood streaks appeared, these silver birds seemed to be frightened, and flew up from Song Pingcun's back in panic, heading towards the palace.
Beneath Ibsen, he had nothing to say. This was more painful than simply saving his life. It was only at this moment that he truly let go of all his hatred for Song Pingcun.
"Get up, there's still a long way to go." Lao Wang stood on the ground and said to Song Pingcun.
He didn't see the scene just now, but he heard the silver bird falling and making a sharp cry, but he didn't expect that Song Pingcun only had a bloodshot cut on his hand.
Lao Wang gave Song Pingcun a meaningful look, but didn't say much. Fu Ji and the other girls were like silent women. They didn't seem surprised at all by what happened just now, and they continued to move forward.
Song Pingcun helped Ibsen up and followed him. Only then did he see that the clothes that could still cover Lao Wang's back had been torn out several times, and blood seeped out in several places, but his back was still upright. , move forward step by step.
It was a short half-day's journey, and when we looked back we could still see the dilapidated palace, which showed that the journey was not far. Just when Ibsen was about to collapse, they stopped. Only then did Song Pingcun see clearly and understand why there were big rocks outside the cave where they rested last night. It seems that they were lucky enough to find a sheltered harbor last night, and it happened that no one else had secured it yet. Otherwise there would have been a fight last night.
This cave is similar to the cave last night, except that it is larger. The inside of the cave is almost the same as the cave they lived in yesterday. The outside is only big enough for a few people to lie down, and the inside is narrow and small. I don’t know where to stretch. Where is the hole in the ground.
The four women took the hook-nosed limb from Lao Wang and stayed outside the cave entrance without entering. Fu Ji untied the binding cloth, and several women took out a piece of stone from their arms that was smaller than a palm, and it looked like it needed to be cut.
Fu Ji's hand paused in her arms for a moment, and she looked at Song Pingcun, "Brother Song, can I borrow your stone knife?"
After hearing Fu Ji's question, several people stopped what they were doing and looked at Song Pingcun.
Song Pingcun didn't hesitate at all and handed the stone knife stuck to his waist to Fu Ji. Compared with the stone fragments in their hands, the one Song Pingcun snatched from the hook-nosed hand was longer and had a handle that looked more like a knife.
With the stone knife in Song Pingcun's hand, they divided the half of the thigh into fingernail-sized pieces.
Lao Wang was sitting outside and took out a stone knife from his waistband, which was larger than the stone knife Song Pingcun handed to Fu Ji, and started polishing it on the stone beneath him.
Song Pingcun's eyes narrowed. In the situation yesterday, Lao Wang didn't even take out the knife in his waistband. Why?
The friction between the stone knife and the stone was very small, and Lao Wang's movements were very slow.
The movements of his hands were very mechanical, but his eyes kept looking into the distance.
After Fu Ji and the girls finished cutting up the meat, Song Pingcun originally thought they were going to lay it out to dry in the sun, but unexpectedly they gathered the pieces of meat together and wrapped them.
Looking at Song Pingcun's confused eyes, Fu Ji returned the stone knife to Song Pingcun and said, "At night, we will rely on these meats to trap the fire rats."
Song Pingcun nodded, feeling sad in his heart. The biggest hurdle in his heart was finally overcome.
It was already dark, and Song Pingcun saw that the few people resting in the cave had no idea of getting up, so he couldn't help but ask: "Aren't you going to that palace tonight?"
