Because the winter night came earlier, not when the sun set earlier, but because the dark clouds that accumulated in the sky blocked the glow, the time of darkness was about an hour earlier than before, and there was not much work in winter, so the three meals a day were changed to two meals a day, lunch was canceled, breakfast was delayed by an hour and a half, and dinner was two hours earlier. Around five o'clock in the afternoon, dinner begins.

Of course, this time is not very accurate.

Although the autobiographical cycle of the Earth has not changed much, and the day is still twenty-four hours, there is simply no accurate timer in this era.

At Jack's invitation, Chu Tianjiang went to his house for dinner.

Probably Chu Tianjiang defeated Schneider, and Jack was so happy that he even asked Lucia to bring out her home-brewed wine, an alcoholic beverage made from fermented wild fruits.

With the strength of the wine, Jack said something about Schneider.

Schneider is also an outsider, but he is not a "traveler" like Chu Tianjiang, but from the church, that is, the guards sent by the church to protect the farm. Of course, he was not a saint, and according to the rules, the church would only send saints after it became a market town, that is, a township, and a church was established. He was just an ordinary person who had some skills to serve the church after converting to God.

Because he served the church, Jack had nothing to do with him.

Jack can order him to do something, but he can't remove him from his position as captain of the guard, and he can only mobilize the guard and give orders to the members of the guard.

It was precisely because of this that Jack would tell Chu Tianjiang not to kill Schneider.

If Schneider dies here, Jack will be responsible. If Schneider dies protecting the farm, such as fighting the Daredevils, then the Church may also carry out a clean-up operation near the farm to deal with the Daredevils who have been harassing the farm at night. The problem was that if he was killed by someone else, Jack would have to hand over the murderer, or at least tell the church who the killer was.

As for the fate of the murderer, it will definitely be very tragic.

Although Jack did not say it explicitly, it can be seen that in this world, the church has unsurpassed authority, and no one dares to offend the church.

"The other members of the guard were also sent by the Church?"

"No, it's just Schneider." Jack raised his glass and shook it at Lucia.

"Drink less, this is the last can." Lucia brought a clay wine jar, put it on the table, and said to Chu Tianjiang again, "It's getting dark, let's spend the night here." ”

Chu Tianjiang smiled reluctantly, he knew what Lucia meant, but he didn't plan to stay overnight.

Although Chu Tianjiang had a relationship with Sophia in a daze more than a month ago, Sophia did not conceive a child. After more than a month, Chu Tianjiang discovered a very important thing, that is, there were no pregnant women on the farm, and it seemed that pregnancy was a very difficult thing.

Jack poured a glass of wine and said, "Only Schneider was sent by the church, and the other members of the guard were found by him from outside." These fellows do not participate in labor, nominally responsible for protecting everyone, but in reality they are idle, doing almost nothing but looking after temporary settlements. ”

"They're all outsiders?"

"Most of them are exiled prisoners."

"What?"

"Most of them came from the cities, a few from the towns, did some very bad things, and then they were exiled."

"The punishment for criminals is exile?"

"Exile or gallows."

"This ......"

"In the past, criminals would be imprisoned, just to provide them with food, which was a big expense, so it was changed to exile. This is the system of the Church, and all exiled prisoners have a church imprint on them, and they must atone for their sins by helping and saving others, and they must wash the stigma from their bodies through atonement. Only after the stigma is gone can they return to the cities and towns. ”

"What branding?"

"A cross on the wrist."

Chu Tianjiang quickly thought about it, and there were indeed several members of the guard who had cross tattoos on their wrists.

"If you do a good deed, the imprint will disappear?"

Jack nodded and said, "As long as the person who is being helped goes to church and prays to God Lu, then the imprint on the person who helped him will fade." ”

"This ......"

"Amazing, right?"

It's amazing indeed. Chu Tianjiang smiled reluctantly and said, "I heard that there were many people here in the past, but now why are there so many people left?" ”

Jack was stunned for a moment, then sighed, and his expression became very solemn.

Chu Tianjiang looked at him and didn't ask. There are some things that Jack will naturally say if he wants to say it, and if he doesn't want to say it, it's useless to ask.

"Everybody's ideal." Jack let out a long sigh and said, "I was twenty-two when I came here, and Lucia was not yet twenty. Although we were forced to leave the city and become settlers, we had ideals, we wanted to build our own home here, and we wanted to be accepted by the Church after the age of 60 to spend the rest of our lives in the New World, and we wanted our children to be happy and healthy. ”

"The pursuit of happiness is everyone's right."

Jack shook his head with a wry smile and said, "It's just that we need dedication, and we need sacrifice, someone has to go where others don't want to go, to face challenges that others don't want to face, to overcome dangers that others can't overcome, and to create miracles that others can't create." ”

"You made your choice?"

Jack nodded and said, "When we first came here, there were quite a few people, about a thousand. Although they were all uncivilized primitive inhabitants, under the inspiration of the church, they returned to the civilized world and began to work and water the land with sweat. If done right, the farm will soon develop into a market town. At least initially, Lucia and I thought so. See the building in the center? It was the church we built, and it was the first public building we built after the farm was built. There's fertile land, there's water, there's timber in the nearby forests, and if we work hard, we're sure to get a harvest. ”

"And then?"

"In the first few years, the farm was developing very well, with farmhouses built and the surrounding land reclaimed, but instead of increasing, the population was decreasing." Jack sighed and said, "And then every year got worse and worse, fewer and fewer children were born, and more and more old people died. At first, we thought it was because of the aborigines, after all, their physical fitness was not good and their life expectancy was not as good as ours. But thirty years later, the real natives are almost all dead, and the population on the farms is still not increasing. This year, there was only one newborn baby, but seven people died, and even if you count you, the farm has five fewer people. ”

"Haven't you looked for a reason?"

"We've brought in priests and priests, and we've even quietly approached witch doctors, but no one knows exactly what's going on, as if it's a cursed land."

Curse!? Of course, Chu Tianjiang didn't believe in this kind of nonsense. "Didn't you think about going somewhere else?"

"Where are you going?"

"There must be other wastelands waiting to be cultivated, right?"

"All land belongs to the Empire and the Church, even uncultivated wasteland. We are reclaimers, and where to go to reclaim requires the permission of the empire or the church. Sure, we could have used the money to buy wasteland, but we don't have the money, and Lucia and I are both old. ”

"You're only in your fifties."

Jack shook his head with a smile and said, "We don't have the second thirty years, and the farm can still be maintained, all I'm worried about is Jackson and Sophia." ”

"Okay, you've had enough of it." Lucia walked over and took the clay pot. "It's getting dark, so I'm going to make my bed. Skyler, you stay. ”

"No, I'd better go back for the night." Chu Tianjiang stood up.

Lucia seemed a little hesitant, as if she was considering whether to let Sophia follow Chu Tianjiang over. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Chu Tianjiang slipped away.

For Jack's family, Chu Tianjiang still has some feelings, at least he is grateful to them. If Chu Tianjiang was an ordinary person and was willing to stay on the farm, he would marry Sophie as his wife and would not mind adding population to the farm, but he was not an ordinary person and would not stay on the farm.

In a sense, everyone on this farm was a stranger, and Chu Tianjiang was just a passerby.

Compared with Jack's home, Chu Tianjiang's "home" is very shabby. Of course, Chu Tianjiang had no intention of settling down, so there was no need to be extravagant.

Behind the round iron door is a narrow passage. The passage has several bends for safety, and there is also a door before entering the cellar. Although Chu Tianjiang had not been to other farmhouses, as far as he knew, half of the people on the farm lived in similar cellars, but the other cellars were larger and more complete, and only a few people in power like Jack lived in farmhouses with hydraulic lifting devices.

Opening the door of the cellar, Chu Tianjiang immediately pulled out the dagger.

There are lights on inside to indicate that someone is inside. On the farm, no door is locked, and no one locks the door. After all, everyone is very poor, there is nothing of value, and the farm is a collective, which is distributed collectively, and there is not much property owned by individuals.

The dagger is also made of special alloys and is very sharp.

The one who can enter the cellar and light the oil lamp must be a person, and there is definitely no night demon. Besides, it's not dark yet, and the Daredevil hasn't come out yet. The cold weather also had an impact on the Daredevil, at least for the past few nights, the Daredevil did not come to the farm to cause trouble.

Who will be here?

You must know that Chu Tianjiang is the poorest person on the farm, even if he has some valuable things, he will take them with him, and he will definitely not stay at home.