Yuzhou, a quiet valley.
The morning mist floats in the valley, and among the mist, tall and straight unknown trees can be vaguely seen.
In this silence, not a single bird could be seen in the gray sky, neither the chirping of insects or birds could be heard in the forest, nor could a single animal be seen.
If I could use two words to describe this valley, it would be deathly silence, as quiet as death.
Not far from this valley, there is a small village.
There are only a dozen families in this village, and they have lived in isolation for generations. They usually rely on a few acres of paddy fields to support themselves.
"What? Are you going to the Valley of Death?"
An old man with white hair and beard and wrinkled face looked at the young man and woman in front of him in shock.
His voice immediately alarmed the entire small village, and several old men and women wearing coarse cloth came over one after another on crutches.
"Old Man Li, what's wrong with you?"
"It's broad daylight, what are you shouting about?"
"Huh? Why are outsiders coming to our remote place?"
Several old men and women looked at the two of them with surprised eyes, obviously they did not expect that there would be young people coming here specifically to do this.
place.
The plainly dressed woman covered her mouth and said with a smile, "It seems like all the grandparents don't recognize me anymore. Can you come in and talk?"
The old man, who was called Old Man Li, kept staring at the woman's face. His brows furrowed more and more as he stared at her. In the end, he seemed to be thinking about something, and seemed to want to say something. However, as he spoke, the woman suddenly looked at him. , and gave him a look, so Old Man Li swallowed his words again.
"Okay, okay, come, girl, come to my house and sit and chat, sit and chat." Old Man Li, with a smile on his face, quickly walked to the front to lead the way.
The old men and women around were a little surprised. They didn't expect that Old Man Li would suddenly become so enthusiastic.
Walking through the narrow field ridge, we came to a bunch of thatched houses. It was very quiet here, and every household had their doors closed.
"Our village is very small, with a total of eighteen households." Old Man Li led everyone on the path between the houses and said loudly, "Everyone, come out and take a look, a noble person is here!"
As we walked, we saw old faces peeking out of the thatched houses along the way. After seeing the young man and woman, they all walked out tremblingly.
"Old man Li, who are these two children?"
"Why did you bring outsiders here?"
…………
The young men and women were quickly followed by more than a dozen old people.
When Old Man Li walked to a dilapidated thatched house in the corner of the village, almost everyone in the village was attracted.
Old Man Li struggled to move two shabby chairs out of the small thatched house, one of which was missing a leg.
Old Man Li frowned and looked at the two chairs brought out of his room, then pointed at a slightly fat old woman in the crowd and said, "Brother Wang, your family is doing carpentry work, and you are the only one in our village." The chairs at home are the best. Come quickly and bring two chairs for the distinguished guests to sit! Everyone also collect some things from home to entertain the distinguished guests. I will go to the village chief. The distinguished guests who have been waiting for so many years have finally arrived today. !”
Old Man Li's face was full of joy and he looked very happy.
The woman also laughed, and then suddenly said, "Don't the village chief live in this village?"
Old Man Li pointed to the huge valley behind the thatched house. About halfway up the mountain, there was a large bamboo forest. A small bamboo building could be vaguely seen among the bamboo forest.
"The village chief lives in that bamboo building. The distinguished guests will sit here for a while. I'll give a shout and the village chief will be here soon."
"That's thanks to Grandpa Li," the woman said with a smile.
However, the man on the side suddenly interrupted and said, "The village chief is probably an old man. Why does he want to live there alone? It's not convenient to climb up and down, let alone live alone in that mountain forest. If you encounter any danger, there will be no one to take care of you..."
"Haha, don't worry, young man. Although the village chief is old, he still has a son with extraordinary skills and a grandson of a ghost. His son is the only hunter in the village. He can catch him by himself. He is a strong man with a wild boar weighing several hundred kilograms. Moreover, he is also very sensible." Old man Li glanced at the woman with a meaningful look, and then walked behind the thatched house with his hands behind his back.
This group of old people also walked towards their homes, while a few old people with limited legs and feet sat on the steps nearby, looking at the two of them curiously.
The woman secretly poked the man in the waist with her elbow, lowered her voice and said, "I told you not to talk nonsense after you come here, and you still do this!"
"Isn't this also because I think this place is very suspicious? Don't you think the people in this village are very strange? They are all old people, and there is no one young..." The man whispered into the woman's ear.
The woman hesitated after hearing this, her eyes rolled twice, and her face showed a thoughtful look, "I remember that there used to be more than eighteen households here, and the place was much more spacious than it is now. But that was all when I was very young. I saw it when I was here. After so many years, I still don’t know what happened here. However, now that we are all here... just keep an eye out."
The woman turned to look at the elderly people on the side, and a smile instantly appeared on her face, "Grandpas and grandma, what is the name of your village?"
An old woman with wrinkles on her face opened her mouth without many teeth and said kindly, "This is called Luojin Village. It is said that an immortal wandered here and dropped a piece of gold when he left. So this place was called this place. But, this is a legend after all. If there really was gold here, our ancestors would not have to work all day long and not have enough to eat."
"Yes, yes, we have lived here for so many years, and we have never seen a trace of gold. But you two nobles, I don't know where they came from?" An old woman tapped her leg lightly and asked.
The woman smiled and said, "We are from Chang'an. Have you heard of Chang'an?"
"Chang'an..."
Several old people frowned, with looks of surprise on their faces.
"It's Yongzhou. Do you know Yongzhou?" The man on the side thought they didn't know, so he asked again.
An old man suddenly said, "I wonder if one of the two of you has the surname Huo..."
"What are you talking about? Their identities haven't been determined yet!" An old woman sternly interrupted the old man's question.
The old man realized that he had made a mistake and lowered his head, as if he had done something wrong.
At this time, the woman on the side smiled and said, "My surname is Huo, and my name is Huo Xue."
As she spoke, the woman glanced at the man beside her.
The man also smiled and said, "Yes, yes, her name is Huo Xue, and my name is Zi Lan."
Several old women frowned when they heard this, and gathered together to mutter something.
At this time, shouts came from the distance one after another, which seemed to be the voice of Old Man Li.
“Village chief—village chief—the distinguished guest is here!”
Not long after, Huo Xue and Zi Lan were sitting on clean stools. In front of them was a mahogany table with some paint peeling off. On the table were two small plates of dried fruit snacks.
An old man with snow-white hair, wearing a black coat and a ruddy complexion sat opposite them.
The old people in the village were sitting around and watching them quietly.
"Grandpa, is this the distinguished guest you have been waiting for?" A childish child wearing animal skin clothes and long braids squeezed out from the crowd. He looked at Huo Xue and Zi Lan sitting on the table. Said, "Didn't you say there was only one distinguished guest? But why did it become two?"
"Hey, Atong, the village chief is here to entertain distinguished guests. You can't be rude. Go back to the house!" Old Man Li said hurriedly.
The old people around also coaxed the child named A Tong.
It can be seen that these old people are very fond of the only child in the village.
Huo Xue was also very curious about this child and said, "Let this child come and sit at the table. There happens to be snacks here, so let the child eat some."
Old Man Li looked at the village chief at the table. When he saw the village chief nodded, he said, "Since the distinguished guest said so, then Ah Tong will go to the table to accompany the distinguished guest, but remember to understand the rules."
As soon as Ah Tong heard that there was something to eat, he immediately sat down on the stool next to the village chief excitedly, raised his little hand and reached for the small plate on the table.
A Tong grabbed a large handful of dried fruits and stuffed them into his mouth excitedly.
However, he obviously overestimated the size of his mouth. He only took in a small handful of a handful of dried fruits and most of them were accidentally dropped.
It was everywhere on the table, on the stools, on the body, and on the floor.
"You kid, why are you so careless? Alas!" Old Man Li said anxiously and angrily.
A Tong was punished by him so much that he drooped his head and looked very pitiful.
This scene made the old people present extremely anxious. Immediately some old people came forward to comfort A Tong, and some old people immediately began to criticize Old Man Li.
"Isn't he just a child? Isn't it necessary to get so angry at him if he makes a mistake?"
"The baby is still young, why shouldn't we pamper her a little?"
"That's right, if you don't pamper your children, you deserve to be beaten and be single for the rest of your life, unable to marry a wife!"
…
Old Man Li was very aggrieved by this scolding, but faced with the accusations from so many old people who were protecting Atong, he wisely kept his mouth shut and did not dare to say anything more.
However, seeing Old Man Li deflated, Ah Tong was amused and he laughed proudly.
The children's laughter filled the small Luojin Village, making the group of elderly people burst into laughter.
Except Old Man Li was ashamed and annoyed, blowing his beard and staring in anger.
Even Huo Xue and Zi Lan sitting here laughed.
Laughter floated over this valley, and the wind blew the laughter up and spread it farther away.
In the deep and secluded forest, a middle-aged man seemed to be attracted by the burst of laughter and slowly raised his head.
Behind the man, lying on the trunk of a big tree, was a strange insect whose color perfectly blended with the tree.
The insect, which had been hiding for who knows how long, seemed to have noticed the man's distraction. Like an excellent hunter, it was ready to take advantage of the moment when the prey relaxed its vigilance and kill it with one strike.
The next moment, the insect's eight powerful claws expanded and contracted violently.
This leap actually spanned a distance of nearly ten feet and flew directly to the exposed skin on the man's neck.
However, the man didn't seem to notice it and was still distracted, looking up at the sky from the gap in the forest.
The bug wasted no time and wasted this good fighter opportunity.
Resolutely, he stretched out his dark and slender mouthparts and stabbed the man's fragile skin.
But the next moment, the skin on the man's neck instantly turned green. If you look closely, you can see that the green layer is actually composed of countless extremely small insects.
This green color was like a dye vat, instantly dyeing the originally brown bug green.
When the whole body of the bug turns green, it is no longer alive.
With a sinister smile on his face, the man stretched out his hand to catch the body of the brown bug that fell from his neck.
"finally come……"
The man held the brown bug in his hand, rubbed it vigorously, and then stuffed the broken corpse into his mouth.
As he chewed, his originally cloudy and dark eyes turned completely green.
