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………………
Ice and snow valley.
Everything was silent.
In a corner of this silent valley, between the trees covered with snow, there was a sudden rustling sound, and then a wild thing jumped out of it. Its ears stand upright, its fur is thick and short, its tail hangs low, its limbs are strong, and its eyes are yellow. It turns out to be an adult wild wolf.
After the wild wolf appeared, it wandered around quietly, looking left and right.
The valley after snow seems a little strange. In the cold wind, there seemed to be a scent that made it feel unfamiliar.
The wild wolf stopped, his eyes flashing fiercely.
Two or three feet away, there is a low snow hill. Scenes like this can be seen everywhere in the snow-covered valleys. The small snow hill actually started to tremble slightly, and then pieces of ice and snow collapsed, and a prone figure emerged from it, holding a sharp hunting knife in his hand.
The wild wolf arched his body slightly and pounced on it.
It was a young man. He hurriedly climbed up from the snowdrift. Perhaps out of panic, he dropped his hunting knife. But the beast had pounced on him, and he was suddenly at a loss.
At the critical moment, someone shouted:
"Don't be afraid of dogs!"
A middle-aged man jumped out of the snow a few feet away, waving his arm and throwing an iron fork.
The wild wolf was suddenly attacked and rolled to avoid it.
The moment the iron fork failed, the middle-aged man took the opportunity to run in front of the young man, picked up the hunting knife, and assumed a desperate posture.
The wild wolf bared its teeth, ready to pounce, but after a moment's hesitation, it tucked its tail between its legs and slowly backed away.
Middle-aged men are also afraid.
Facing an adult wild wolf, if the ambush fails, then hunting will have no chance of winning. What's more, he was concerned about the safety of the man behind him and didn't dare to act rashly.
The wild wolf stepped back step by step, and was about to jump into the forest.
At this moment, the snowdrift at the edge of the forest suddenly exploded, and a wooden stick flew out from it, poking directly into the wolf's eyes.
The wild wolf was extremely alert and pulled away to dodge. The wooden stick made a feint and hit it hard on the waist. Unable to avoid it, it screamed and rolled to the ground.
How could the middle-aged man miss this opportunity? He rushed over and slashed with his knife. Before the wild wolf could fight back, his head was chopped off by him. The beast twitched a few times and stopped moving.
"so close!"
The middle-aged man stretched out his hand to wipe the blood on his face and gasped for air. Feeling lucky, he turned back and said angrily: "Gouzi, you almost didn't survive!"
"It's not like mountain badgers, deer, elk, mountain rabbits, or wild wolves eating people. I can't help but panic..."
"Why isn't he afraid of Yu Ye?"
"Fifth uncle, I'm afraid too!"
Yu Ye stood in the snow at the edge of the forest, his head and face covered with snow, breathing heavily, still holding the stick tightly in his hand.
The young man who had been hiding in the snowy hills was Yu Ergou, and the middle-aged man who rescued him was naturally his father, Yu Shitou. The two men quarreled for a while and started to skin the wild wolf. After some busy work, the three of them came to a valley surrounded by woods.
There was a dead mountain deer, several hares, a bag of mountain fruits, and two bundles of medicinal herbs stored in the mountain depression.
"Well, let's go back!"
Yu Shitou looked at the harvest in front of him and nodded with satisfaction. After a few more days of hard work, this time I will be able to return with a full load. He was about to tell the two juniors to go back and continue hunting, but he couldn't help but sigh.
Someone walked up to him, knelt on his knees, and without saying a word, kowtowed heavily at him.
Yu Shitou struggled for a moment and said helplessly: "That's it, come with me!"
…
In the ice and snow, two people stood.
Yu Shitou still sighed. Next to him, Yu Ye pursed his lips and looked determined.
A few feet away, at the foot of the mountain, there was thick snow. The snow collapsed, revealing a small hole.
Yu Shitou pointed his finger and said: "This place is far away from the Kucao Gorge and adjacent to the Tiger Leaping Gorge. Last year and this time, your father and I chased wild animals here. The reality in the cave was unclear, so I didn't dare to go deep. Your father He's so brave, I didn't expect him to..."
Yu Ye pushed aside the knee-deep snow and walked forward.
Yu Shitou hurriedly stopped him and said, "Gouzi has gone to call for help, but you don't dare to take risks alone!"
Yu Ye didn't look back and went straight into the cave.
Yu Shitou complained: "This child is stubborn and disobedient..."
Inside the cave.
Yu Ye leaned against the stone wall and took a breath.
The reason why he participated in this year's winter hunting was not for fun or to hunt wild animals, but to find out the whereabouts of his father. After his repeated begging and coercion, Uncle Wu finally brought him to this place.
Is this the place where dad died?
Before his eyes, there was darkness.
According to Uncle Wu, when his father was in danger, the clan members also tried to rescue him, but gave up due to various reasons. The cause of dad's death was too strange, so no one wanted to mention it.
Yu Ye took out the fire seal from his arms and blew on it.
With the help of the light emitted by the fire fold, one can roughly see the surrounding situation clearly.
The cave is the size of a room and is covered with gravel, dead grass and snow; there is another cave entrance connected to it, and it is difficult to tell the depth for a while.
Yu Ye calmed down, holding a fire stick in his left hand to illuminate, and a wooden stick in his right hand to explore the way, and walked towards the depths of the cave.
The entrance to the cave is higher than a person's height, making walking easy.
After a few steps, the way forward was blocked.
A pile of broken stones, seemingly man-made, blocked most of the cave entrance.
Yu Ye climbed up the pile of rocks carefully.
At the touch of his hands and feet, the stone collapsed and rolled down.
Yu Ye climbed over the pile of rocks, and the sound of the impact of the stones still echoed in the darkness. He didn't dare to be too reckless, and waited until the surroundings calmed down before continuing his search.
After more than ten feet, there is no way out.
Yu Ye stopped.
This is another cave, more than two feet high and four or five feet in diameter, but the walls are empty and there is nothing, and there are no other cave entrances connected to it.
Uncle Wu personally told him that his father died here. If what he said was true, why didn't he leave any traces?
Yu Ye was stunned for a moment and then wanted to return the way he came.
When I find my fifth uncle, I must ask him clearly.
When Yu Ye turned around, there was a sound under his feet. He took a step back and looked at Huo Zhezi.
The ground is covered with gravel. There is something in the gravel.
A broken hunting knife?
There was only half of the hunting knife left, and it was stained with rust, but the handle wrapped in animal skin looked so familiar.
This is daddy's hunting knife!
The hunting knife is here, where is the man?
Yu Ye put down the stick and reached out to pick up the hunting knife. The moment he leaned over, he suddenly felt a chill running down his back, as if a cold wind was passing over his head.
The dome of the cave cannot be seen clearly. It seems that there is a crack in the stone, and there is a "chichi" sound, and there is a black shadow shaking.
What is that?
Just as Yu Ye was waiting to take a clear look, a fishy wind suddenly hit his face.
He was caught off guard and hurriedly raised his knife to block it. With a "bang", half of the hunting knife flew out. He was so frightened that he ducked back, but it was too late. The suffocating darkness swallowed him up in an instant. But in the blink of an eye, he was tightly imprisoned in the thick blood.
Yu Ye only felt pain in his muscles and bones, and it was difficult to breathe through his mouth and nose. He couldn't get rid of it, and he couldn't shout. At this moment, he seemed to be trapped in an abyss of quagmire, lost in ecstasy, crashing into the stormy waves, but unable to control himself, and would faint from suffocation at any time. While he was struggling desperately, he suddenly touched the short knife at his waist. Like a drowning man grabbing a weed, he pulled out his short knife and stabbed it upward with all his strength.
"flutter--"
With a slight but clear sound, a gap suddenly opened in the unbearable darkness.
Yu Ye tried his best to draw the dagger.
There was another "crash" sound.
Just like a river collapsing its banks, just like the rushing mud.
Yu Ye was still confused and had been thrown out of the "mud". He fell to the ground with a "plop", and the terrible restraint and unbearable suffocation suddenly disappeared. He didn't have time to take a breath, stretched out his hand to wipe his face, so that his eyes could be free, and then looked around with a frightened expression.
Still nothing could be seen, only the roar of the wind, the flying gravel, and the frightening "pop" and "bang" sounds.
Yu Ye lay on the ground, not daring to raise his head.
I don’t know how much time passed, but the movement like flying sand and rocks finally slowly stopped.
Yu Ye got up quietly.
The soles of his feet were slippery, and the strong smell of blood made him want to gag.
Yu Ye reached into his arms and took out a spare fire seal. He had just finished blowing the fire tune, and then he stumbled.
The object that stumbled was a torch, made of bundled pine branches, but only half of it was left, with traces of burning remaining on it.
Yu Ye picked up the torch and put it together and blew it hard several times. After a little trying, the torch finally started to burn. Looking through the light of the torch, the surrounding situation came into view.
A few feet away, there was a pile of black things lying. Looking at the shape of its head and tail, it turned out to be a big black snake, about half a foot thick and fifteen or sixteen feet long. A large gash was opened in the snake's belly, and the blood flowing from it was foul-smelling.
Yu Ye was shocked and frightened.
In a daze, he was swallowed alive by a big snake?
Even three or five hunters couldn't deal with such a ferocious snake. It's really unimaginable that I could survive being swallowed by it.
What about that life-saving dagger?
If he hadn't stabbed the big snake's belly, he would have died in the wild today.
Yu Ye hurriedly lowered his head to search and found the short knife in a pool of dirty blood. He wiped it clean and put it in his arms with great care.
The place where he managed to escape was still a cave. There are several other caves leading into the distance, which cannot be seen clearly in the darkness. In the corner more than ten feet away on the left hand side, there is a well-like crack leading to the ground. The big snake must have been hiding in it and launched a sneak attack at him in the cave below.
Could it be that this time last year, dad had the same experience?
If this is the case, it would be wrong to blame the fifth uncle. Even though he concluded that his father was in danger and died, he didn't know what happened at that time.
When Yu Ye thought of this, his knees softened and he fell to the ground, two lines of hot tears bursting from his eyes.
He always thought that his father was still alive, so he waited until today for this reason, but everything he saw in front of him shattered his last bit of luck.
That ferocious snake was already dead. Among the blood stains on the ground, remaining broken bones, beast furs, and fragments of rags could still be seen. There may be father's remains among them, but they are difficult to identify and cannot be buried.
Yu Ye was even more sad and burst into tears. Just as he was sobbing, he couldn't help but twitch the corners of his eyes.
Looking past the dead body of the big snake, there was a figure sitting under the stone wall more than ten feet away. It seemed that he had been staring at him for a long time, but it was obscured by the darkness and he was not aware of it for a moment.
Yu Ye's heart was pounding and he couldn't help but stand up.
The figure sat upright without any movement.
Living or dead?
Could it be dad?
And dad has been buried in the snake's belly, so...?
Yu Ye ignored his sadness and forgot his fear. He held up a torch and staggered over.
