The sun was shining brightly in the sky. The young man was crouching behind a small mound. In front of him was a gray ruined village, standing on the gray horizon. Withered grass under his feet and cracked loess. As far as the eye could see, the land was desolate and windy and sandy. How could this happen? It’s a chilling scene in autumn, but the fact is that it’s midsummer now.
What is midsummer like? The young man had only heard about it from the descriptions of the old people in the village. The young man could only imagine this colorful world with wisps of willows, rippling blue waves, ten miles of lotus flowers, and the sound of frogs.
It is said that thirty years ago, Hanba was born, and the red land was thousands of miles away, and the world was suffering from a severe drought that has not ended to this day.
The boy's hometown is unfortunately within the Red Earth. He is only sixteen years old this year, so in his lifetime memory, the world is like this.
The young man was wearing a gray short robe, a gray scarf on his head, and a gray cloth covering his face to protect him from the sun and dust. He was carrying a flat gray trousers on his back, blending in with the gray environment. This was his best protective color.
The boy's stomach growled, and he looked up at the sun. It was time for dinner. This feeling of hunger had been there for as long as he could remember, probably because he had always been thin.
The young man fumbled for a piece of gray-black cereal bun from the sack, lifted up his face towel, took a big bite of the bun, and carefully put it back into the sack. This was his daily ration.
The young man carefully chewed the slightly musty steamed buns, which had the sweetness of potato and the bitterness of wild vegetables. Although it was not full, the satisfaction of satisfying his hunger was still one of his few enjoyments in life.
After eating a big mouthful of steamed buns, the young man felt much better and was considering whether to go into this strange village to scavenge.
Suddenly, a few black spots came into view. The young man's scalp tightened, and he quickly lowered his body behind the small mound and focused his eyes to look over.
In fact, the young man knew without looking that they could not be the same scavengers as him, because scavengers rarely travel together, and the only ones who dare to be so naked and appear in groups are...
Those black spots walked aimlessly and crookedly on the desolate and cracked wilderness. The boy could not find a more suitable word to describe the characteristics of their walking.
After all, the boy had never read a book seriously, but was forced to read by his uncle when he was young, because this was the only last wish of his parents who entrusted him to his uncle when they passed away, at the cost of their old scalper.
The boy was only three years old when his parents died, so he couldn't remember their appearance at all, but he would always remember the tears shed when the old scalper was slaughtered by his uncle two years later.
So as soon as he turned ten, he left his hometown without any regrets and began a career of wandering and scavenging.
Now it is the sixth year. Legend has it that there is a piece of green soil in the south that is not affected by drought, so the young man keeps walking south, but wherever he goes, the ground is dry and the grass is dry, evil spirits are rampant, and the population is sparse. It's not uncommon to encounter people with ulterior motives. He almost lost his life many times.
The thirty-year drought has long destroyed the original order of the world. The king's orders cannot leave the capital, and every city in the world is self-reliant.
At the beginning of the drought, riots by hungry people unsurprisingly occurred, and all were brutally suppressed.
In order to seize food, grass and water, life-and-death battles broke out among the cities.
After several years of riots and wars, the direct result was that the world's population dropped sharply, and existing resources were barely maintained, thus achieving extremely fragile stability.
Those large cities that were able to survive the disaster and still be self-sufficient would kill all the outsiders who escaped from the famine. The bones within thirty miles of the city were covered with bones.
The young man just walked and walked on the edge of death, and finally came to a place where there was still life, and simply settled down here.
During the short time that the boy was looking back on the past, those black spots passed near the small mound.
The young man lay motionless on the ground, but couldn't help but peek through a few stray wormwood stalks. At this moment, he could see their faces clearly. They were all haggard, skinned and skeletonized, with scarlet eyes, dull expressions, and ragged clothes, like walking corpses. , you can even smell the unique fishy odor on their bodies.
In fact, they are really zombies, monsters born of drought.
As the old saying goes: The drought-stricken beast is cruel, as if it is burning, the corpse first turns into a demon, and then turns into a beast. These black spots are the demons that people turn into when they first die, also known as corpse demons, that is, the people of drought demons.
One of the corpse demons seemed to sense that someone was watching, and a pair of red eyes shot out a sharp light in the direction of the young man...
The young man was immediately frightened and froze his eyes, trying not to look at the pair of red eyes. At the same time, he held his breath and did not dare to move. He was also prepared to run away if he was discovered.
Corpses are cannibals, and he has seen them eat people alive more than once. If he encounters a lone corpse, he still has the strength to fight, but facing several corpses, the only option is to take action.
Fortunately, the corpse demon didn't notice the boy's presence, and the few black spots gradually faded away. The boy let out a long sigh of relief, and his back was soaked with cold sweat.
After this false alarm, the young man strengthened his determination. In places where corpse demons were found, other scavengers rarely visited. This gave the young man a premonition that today's harvest might be richer.
The young man carefully observed the village in front of him and determined his escape route. After six years of scavenging, the young man had to prepare for the worst and prepare for the worst before doing anything.
Under the blazing sun, the entire village was covered in gray, like a wild beast that preys on people.
The young man held a sharp dagger in his hand and remained vigilant as he approached the village entrance step by step. A dead old locust tree stood on the roadside, with only the bare trunk left, and the bark had long been eaten away by the hungry people.
This is a medium-sized village with a few hundred households. There are no traces of living people, which can be judged from the dust accumulated on the ground.
Such a village, even if few scavengers visit it, cannot be an uncultivated virgin land. The young man can only pray that some fish will slip through the net.
More than half an hour later, the young man nimbly climbed into a dilapidated courtyard. The tall bird-headed door that was split open showed that this was a large household.
The reason why he climbed over the wall instead of going through the door was that the young man did not want to leave his own footprints at the door because he planned to raid this wealthy family.
When a natural disaster strikes, even a wealthy family has no choice but to flee. The whole family packs up their small silver coins and flees to a nearby big city for refuge.
Because the drought lasted for too long, and there were constant riots and fighting, many villages and towns where everyone fled were abandoned and became a paradise for scavengers.
Of course, that was only for the early scavengers, and today's scavengers can only rely on luck.
The boy's premonition was good. He had gained a lot today. The originally deflated bag had bulged out. It contained seven or eight weights, two bronze mirrors, a kitchen knife, and a few ancient books. These items were taken to the ghost market. , which can replace two or three days of food. Compared with the usual busy day, it is much better to only have enough to survive for one day.
The young man had great expectations for this wealthy family, but the greater his expectations, the greater his disappointment. He spent at least one stick of incense, but found nothing.
It's no wonder that such a large family has been visited by countless scavengers over the years.
The young man took a sip of shit, cursed and went to the latrine to deal with it.
Originally, when he was scavenging, it was always convenient on the spot, but at this moment, he felt angry, and he wanted to leave some souvenirs in this big family.
