Winter is so cold - Lu Xun

In this cold winter, when the water turns into ice, the most comfortable thing is not to soak in the hot spring, but to steam in the sauna until the whole body is red and sweat profusely.

Charles sat on a wooden bench in the sauna with a bucket of water next to it, and a red-hot stone in the corner of the wall.

Fortunately, the people here know the dangers of carbon dioxide, and the stove has a chimney that leads to the outside of the cabin, otherwise someone would not dare to come in.

A spoonful of cold water was poured over the hot stone, and the steaming water vapor made the room a little warmer.

Now Ru is already steamed and red, and it is almost ready to be sliced and dipped in seasoning.

Behind him, Genia and Sonia sat back to back with him, all wrapped in towels made of animal hair.

Genia was also sweating a little, and she was reporting to Charles what she had just heard while playing cards.

The people who live here call themselves "Kven people", and in addition to some of the people who live here, many of them are found a little further along the coast and in the forests of the south.

The harsh living environment made the Kven people extremely worshipful of force, and the chiefs of the tribes fought with their fists.

Every five years, the villages send their toughest chiefs to run for the Great Chief.

When a new High Chief is elected, the previous High Chief will leave the area with his own tribe, and the new High Chief's tribe will move in.

For tribes living elsewhere, living in a stone house heated by a hot spring is as comfortable as staying in a five-star hotel.

Charles's brow furrowed, this was different from what he had expected at first.

He also thought that this place was not full because of the small population, but he didn't expect that whoever had a big fist could live.

"It is said that ......," Genia slapped back, striking Charles on the back with her shoulder, "and at first they came here with the intention of settling all here, but the gods hated them being too noisy, so only a few of them stayed. ”

Charles nodded slightly, it seemed that there was a god staring at this place.

Not long after, they came out of the sauna and took a cold shower, and then went to sleep in the house arranged by the old village chief.

Nothing was said all night.

When Charles woke up, it was already dawn, he was the only one left in the room, and there was a noise outside.

When he came to the beach, next to the longhorn whale meat distribution site, a large group of people were chattering around a deep-sea electric eel emperor with a diameter of more than one meter and a length of more than 100 meters.

Genia and Sonia saluted Charles when they saw him coming, and then reported in unison: "Report to Your Excellency Marshal, the Deep Sea Electric Eel Emperor has been caught!"

Charles returned the salute and said, "You guys go to the hot springs to warm up." ”

The old chieftain Kanelva approached, followed by Litmanin, and the two looked at the departing girls with fearful expressions.

Not to mention being able to catch such a large deep-sea electric eel, it is not something that ordinary people can do just because they can move under the cold sea for so long.

Since his subordinates are so strong, the adult who can command them must be stronger, maybe killing the longhorn whale is as simple as picking his nostrils.

The two bowed deeply to Charles, and Canelva said, "Your Excellency, this deep-sea electric eel ......"

Deep-sea electric eel is rich in nutrients, can replenish deficiency and nourish blood, can be used to alleviate the symptoms of long-term illness, weakness, anemia and other patients, is a rare tonic.

In this cold place, people are prone to illness, and if the patient does not have enough nutrients in winter, he is likely to fall ill, and he may not see the sun next spring.

Now such a long electric eel emperor is more nutritious, enough for each tribe to send one meter, and that favor is great.

After listening to Canelva's story, Charles thought for a moment and said, "I have a friend who needs the head of the electric eel, and I will take it away, and the body part will be taken care of by you." ”

"Since it's so useful, let's divide it. ”

Canerva and Litmanen were full of thanksgiving.

In the summer, many people were injured by longhorn whales and are still recuperating. There are almost no herbs growing around, and the wounded can only eat more meat to increase nutrition to speed up the healing of the wounds, and the tribe is short of meat this winter because of the horned whales, and the wounded can't share much, so they fall into a dead circle.

The children of the poor are in charge of the house, which is why the little girl named Jira went hunting alone, and her father, the son of the old chief, was also injured.

It's not that adults don't want to hunt, but hunting in winter mainly depends on luck, and the meat consumption of the Warcraft they control is not low for 100 kilometers, and if they don't do it, they will lose money.

I don't know if it's luck or what, Jira didn't lose anything on this trip.

But living in such a harsh environment, it is necessary to stress discipline and listen to commands, and you can't condone their wrong behavior just because you succeed by luck, so you still have to be spanked.

As they prepared for the ceremony, Charles and Canelva chatted about their parents.

After listening to the old chief's nagging, Charles agreed very much, and at the same time saw the discipline of these people.

Like last night, the Ice Wolf Warriors saw him and the two girls crawling out of their sleeping bags in a bit of a mess, and how they looked like weak chickens.

Not long after, the old chief said that this guy had received an oracle to help fight the horn whales, and none of the warriors objected, so that Charles, who was ready to show his might, was surprised.

It was almost noon when Litmanin came and informed the old chief that the ceremony was ready and could begin.

Charles was very curious and asked, "What kind of ceremony is this?"

"It's a ritual to ask the gods for gifts," Canelwa said. ”

Charles was a little nervous, he hadn't officially communicated with the ruling gods other than Reimu, but he didn't know which one they believed in and what kind of gift they would give him.

When the ritual was about to begin, Genia and Sonia said that they were tired and needed to rest, so they would not participate in the ceremony.

Charles didn't say anything, they belonged to the minions of the "evil gods", and they were really not suitable to appear in this ceremony.

Ten minutes before noon, in the square of the settlement, Canelva led the priests to stand in a circle on a freshly stoned altar, with Charles standing in the middle of the circle.

Next, the priests began the first step of the ritual: undressing.

Charles looked at Canelva with a confused expression, and they stripped off their thick leather coats in a few moments, leaving only a pair of small leather pants.

Surrounded by a group of middle-aged and elderly men with muscles who are all more than two meters tall, Ru felt a lot of pressure.

At this time, he also noticed something interesting, Kanelva's body was covered with tattoos, and these tattoos had a unique pattern, like some kind of magic circle.

Charles thought for a moment, this seems to be a long-lost "war paint"?

A long, long time ago, it was popular on the human side to use magic materials to tattoo a magic array on the mountain, so as to achieve the effect that the body is a magic weapon.

However, this craft disappeared because of too many side effects on the human body, leaving only a few words in the pile of old papers.

After all, the human body is not those cold magic materials, and the side effects caused by a slight deviation of the pattern will cause harm to the body, and it can only be used as a lose-lose hole card in the future.

Next, the muscular men waved canes made of animal bones and sang prayers like the roar of giant bears in their mouths, and danced in an incomprehensible way.

Outside the altar, young and old also roared, and the scene was very lively.

As midday approached, Charles felt a divine power descend on the altar and connected to himself.

"Hehe......"

"Huh?

Charles never expected that it was Reimu who was connected to him.