Chapter 4: Hunger

But no matter how hard I struggle, I have to face reality.

I crawled out of the floating corpses floating on the shore before, and the feeling of being wet was very uncomfortable, although I came back to life, but who knows if I will get sick if I go on like this.

After observing the position of the lower sun and seeing the growth of the leaves, it seems that it is the turn of summer and autumn, but the sun is already quite cool in the mountains and forests.

Relying on some of the memory instincts left in the body, in the forest on the shore, clumsy and easy to light a fire, while gently moving his limbs, while barely drying his body and clothes,

But I couldn't help but recall the moment when I barbecued a huge lizard in a stuffy rainforest, and how many secrets were hidden in my body and memory.

Tie the braided straw bundles to the legs and waist, tie the hair with cut strips of cloth, protect the elbows and ankles with leaves to prevent further injury, and tie a small folding knife to the front of the cane, which becomes a nondescript weapon of self-defense.

Dig up the charcoal strips from the ashes, wrap them and kick them into their sleeve pockets, which are ground into a powder that can be used to start fires, mark them, or even temporarily treat wounds, or as a camouflage and self-defense.

Then I stuffed the excess into the hollow of a large tree, sealed it with dirt and marked it, and combined with the direction of the canopy and the position of the sun in the sky, I began to move northerly towards the upper reaches of the river.

After carving the forty-seventh mark on the tree

After staying up all night and my legs and feet were sore, I finally got out of this small mountain forest and came to an unknown dirt road, and the survival experience in the mountains and forests at night was not as beautiful as those who liked to pile up in the mountains with sleeping bags and tents in later generations.

The uneven ground, the ubiquitous mosquitoes and ants, as well as the damp ground air and dew, make people toss and turn and have back pain and poor sleep, but fortunately I have no headaches and nasal congestion, and other signs of illness.

As for the cuffs and the edges of the lower span of my jumpsuit, which have long been scraped and dragged like strips of beggar-like cloth, I still have some joy and anticipation to return to the world of people and civilization.

As a person who is accustomed to the reversal of day and night, almost non-stop online social consulting life, just one night of loneliness and loneliness makes people feel creepy and almost have the urge to go crazy.

I can't wait to meet someone and have a few words with him. With this complicated and bumpy mind, this deserted dirt road was quickly completed, and I saw a graceful figure......

And then

Although I was mentally prepared, I couldn't help but be shocked by the impact in front of me, the dirt road that was not spacious, the crowd was almost black, all kinds of skinny and bones, withered descriptions, and deep-set eye sockets, which almost made me think that I had entered a post-apocalyptic film and television scene such as The Walking Dead.

In other words, they are actually no different from the walking dead, the kind of sluggish numbness that makes people desperate to suffocation, not the red-faced and oily extras of domestic film and television can express themselves.

It was all the kind of vanity and powerlessness that was almost immediately blown down by hunger and trekking, covered in dirt and dust, with skin crumpled and crunched on dry limbs, swaying in the wind.

Many people were so hungry that they didn't even have the extra strength to speak, and only when their bodies collapsed to the ground, and they were trampled slowly by the people behind them, did they let out one or two groans.

But I was no better, for I was not conspicuous in the crowd of unkempt and ragged wanderers slowly moving along the road, as I was wrapped like a savage.

In my vague memory, in this era of wars and man-made disasters, these displaced people are the most common scene in cities and roads. It's just that I was sitting in a comfortable carriage, driven by the master who opened the way, and I didn't really have the experience of being a part of it.

They passed through the fields and woods like locusts, leaving behind a bare trunk and clods of earth that had been turned up by grass roots, and even underground rats and snakes and insects that hid deep underground within the radius of their movement, not to mention some of the weaker of their kind.

It's not that people vomit and fall down on the road, never getting up again, they eat preserved fruits indiscriminately, which can only give the stomach some false satisfaction, and it is often harmful, with the violent reaction of the body, the grass and leaves, and even the clumped residue of the fine soil, with the color of the internal organs, are splashed out little by little, and then convulsions become cold and stiff.

Numbness and sluggishness were the other most common expressions, and some men who appeared to be stronger in groups of three or five dragged some women who looked old and frail or wealthy to the side of the road, and never appeared again.

The rugged dirt roads have become potholed roads, and the potholed roads have become smoother official roads, and all kinds of fleeing and vagrant people are like rivers formed by countless streams, more and more, more and more crowded.

Luckily, at least on the road, there was always no shortage of prey, and so far no one had seen me as a potential target, but when the first night came, I didn't dare close my eyes against the tree, and kept my club and spear at my side, where I could swing it.

Because this is a time when there are still wild beasts on both sides of the road, even on the main road with many people.

From time to time, you can see several animals, I don't know if they are wolves or dogs, standing in front of a corpse that has been gnawed on the way to death, with a round belly, licking the residue on the mouth, and looking at the next potential possible target with blood-red eyes.

One of them, a large one, stared at the stick I was carrying, and followed it from a distance with bad intentions, only to turn back in disappointment and look for a new target. This is the so-called imminent death of the country, and even birds and beasts can be grandiose and brave the troubled times.

And I have seen with my own eyes some lonely people, after a night of exhaustion, turned into a stripped corpse, littered with those who have never woken up again because of weakness and hunger. The darkness of the night is enough to hide too much sin and cruelty.

After dawn, I continued to walk at the fastest speed possible, guessing my position against my surroundings.

If it is drifting down the river, this should be regarded as the direction of the south and east of Luoyang, I just want to find the next town, and then wait for the opportunity to figure out where I am located and the era, and then plan for the next step, it is best to find a means of transportation to get back to Luoyang, even if it is a meager hope, I still have some worries, and I can't let go of it without the end.

The only thing that can satisfy the stomach is a dozen eggs with burnt shells, pinched in the sleeve tube, I really feel that I can't hold it anymore before swallowing one, and then I feel the sound of stomach acid tumbling in my body.

Following the flow of people, at noon, I finally encountered the first village and town, but unfortunately, I did not see the order and the inhabitants I expected, and the only remaining coins that I had planned to use to obtain news and food could not be used.

Because the lingering smell of burning in the air is a sign of what has happened to this village and town.

All that remains here is the rubble and ruins destroyed by the war, and they are crow-black, and all kinds of unkempt refugees are entrenched, and even the ruins left by the fire have been ripped down and used as materials for fire, or as part of a certain pile of tents, which seem to have been stored for a long time.

They were like corpses, sitting or lying in the broken walls and rubble, and only people who were close enough could they perceive the fact that they were still alive from their heaving chests.

The only remaining vitality and sound was that of a woman standing on the side of the road, with her shriveled mind open, and in a hoarse voice, she touted her posture and body to the passing crowd, just to eat a bite.

"Good ......"

"Poor God,"

"As long as you have a big money, you will take away the ......"

"Eat less, you can do anything...... Just give me something to eat......"

A scrawny woman was pushing and shoving a half-grown child with no recognizable gender characteristics, and her voice was hoarse and howling.

Tightly wrapped around the skin on the cheeks, the malnourished child, wrinkled like an old man, only has extraordinarily large eyes bulging out because of the sunken eye sockets, full of helpless and sad despair and numbness.

The closer you get to them,

The sounds of begging in all sorts of strange accents hit my eardrums and the outlook on life constructed by modern morality, after all, looking at pictures in front of a computer and witnessing it up close are two different things.

Then my steps became faster and faster, and I left this qiē behind me as if I was fleeing, and I, along the way, had seen enough.

Turning into the remnants of the streets of the village and town, I suddenly tripped over something under my feet, and I could hear a low scream, but it was a woman curled up on the ground, and her daughter sitting on the ground, the corners of my mouth twitched a little with her dull eyes,

"I'll take it...... Just give the stutter."

The woman sat up like a spring, suddenly grabbed my trouser leg, and pleaded hoarsely.

After I broke free, I pulled my daughter to crawl a few steps and knelt down in front of me.

"Otherwise, if you want her, this child can do anything...... Just have something to eat."

She smirked flatteringly, and with all her might, she tore off the rag wrapped around the child, revealing the bony dryness underneath, and shoved it into my arms.

I took almost several steps backwards until I hit the earthen wall, and then I was distraught and took out a handful of roasted eggs and a few copper coins, and shoved them into her hand, and then, half disgusted and half ashamed, I turned away as if to turn away, leaving behind their cries.

Then I walked around the ruins of this village and town, disappointed not to find any inhabitants or normal merchants, and found only a few ruins in the shadows, if there was no intention to pay attention, I felt a little chilled, and hurried out of here.

Looking around the corner of the alley, I heard a continuous cry of mercy and screams, which came from a small circle of several men.

These men are thin and thin, but they are obviously much better nourished, and they do not hesitate to do their best. Subconsciously avoided them, but suddenly stopped.

I vaguely noticed that the mother and daughter, who had just sold themselves to me, had been trampled under their feet, and I could even hear the fragile cracking sound of their thin bodies, and all kinds of pitiful vomit gradually filling the floor and walls.

"Bad rules of the cheap slave blank ......"

"Hiding money ...... privately"

"I still steal ......"

"Do you dare to break the constitution of the group leader......

I suddenly felt my blood surge, and I grabbed a large piece of broken tiles in a rage, and rushed towards them.

Then there was a dull pout, hitting the back of one of the men's heads, and he howled, and fell to the ground like a shrimp with his head in his hands, and then rolled in pain, and faintly blood flowed from his fingers.

After all, this is not the kind of mechanical thin tile that was broken by hand in later generations, but an inch-thick kiln-fired terracotta tile, which is not much worse than a solid brick.

The rest of the people roared and cursed like enraged bulls, and rushed over in a swarm, and I stepped back to the corner of the street, and picked up my cane with great peace of mind.

When the first foaming face turned a corner, my body seemed to have been trained a thousand times, and my reflexive hands stabbed and poked the tip of the cane head-on the face of the person who was most forward. He screamed, and with a piece of bloody flesh torn off, I shrank my head again, and then went over his face-covered back, and stabbed him in the shoulder of the other man, and he fell to one side in the cry of pain.

This change startled the others, and the instinctive body was stunned. Then a few rocks came to me before I rubbed my body and smashed it on the ground, and I couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

Let go of a hand, pull down a large bag of grass and wood ash pre-placed on the windowsill, and splash it over with his head and face, which immediately blinded the eyes of several people, and he burst into tears and coughed.

When the guy who rushed out of the dust with a scream, he saw a head-on stick, and he jumped up violently, but he was hit in the shin of the leg by the heavy cane, and the fragile click made him hold his foot and howl in pain.

Well, another one who was temporarily incapacitated, and then I leaned down and kicked hard, hitting the other bewildered man with my left shoulder on the lower abdomen, pushing him up, and then slamming him upside down against the earthen wall, and suddenly the sour vomit gushed and splashed on my hair.

Looking at the roll of his eyes and the red splashing from the back of his head, well, another KO was knocked out, and the rest was the lame man who was looking at me with a frightened face, and he was also the leader of the beating of the mother and daughter.

“。”

He opened his mouth full of black ash and saliva, waved his arms, and wanted to say something to me in a panic,

Unfortunately, I grabbed a stone in anger and slapped it on the head, and I could hear the sound of my cheeks and gums cracking, and several bright red broken teeth, along with the blood lines, splattered out together, and they sank down like eggs at once, and fell to the side like a broken scarecrow, and I saw that I couldn't live.

In my roar, I could only see the back of the last man, running away from the long street.

Well, no, there's one more.

I walked slowly across the corner, grabbed a green brick, and threw it at a man who was not yet unconscious and was crawling away, well, missed, picked up another one and threw it again, hit the shoulder, and come again. Until the sound of his wailing completely disappeared into the large mass of blood beneath him.

After the intense exercise and venting in the rampage mode, the strength was suddenly emptied from the body, I felt that my stomach was extremely hungry and acid regurgitation, supporting my soreness and numb legs and feet, I picked up the cane, slowly walked to the mother and daughter who had not moved, and sighed slightly.

The woman's eyelids twitched, and she looked at me pleadingly, and I nodded with an expression and said, "She's fine." ”

Then whether she understood it or not, the woman seemed to be relieved and didn't move anymore, this was her last return to light, so she didn't notice it, her daughter who was protected by her, her face was already blue and she stopped breathing.

A kind of sorrow and anguish soaked my whole body, and the anger and disgust that I had born before now turned into an indescribable emptiness and melancholy.

Dragging them into one place and burying them in rubble was the last thing I could do for them in the water.

Although I had just killed several people with my own hands, I surprisingly did not have any guilt, disgust or disgust, and the instinct in this body seemed to have adapted to this way of survival of taking someone else's life, or being robbed of life by someone else. Only a deep sense of burnout and exhaustion and emptiness remained on the soul level.

But apparently things didn't end so easily.

Suddenly, the shouts in the ruins of the village and town were like a hornet's nest.

"This guy is in that ......"

"Did He ......"

"Chop this thief to death......"

"...... for the second son"

"Where's the dog who killed my brother......

Finally, an exceptionally loud voice.

Then more roars and roars came towards me, and it was not a few men, but a whole gang entrenched here, who, like an overturned anthill, rushed out of every corner and chased after me, so I had to take advantage of the crowd of people who had been struck on their backs, and galloped away.

As they began to stir, several men on horseback and a group of armed men armed with swords pushed several carts and drove the crowd away.

The baskets of things in the car were carried to the side of the road, and then sprinkled like raindrops to the crowd, but they were gray-black bumps, rolling down in the dust and making a hard sound, these walking corpses seemed to come to life in an instant, and they roared and pushed and beat the people around them, and pounced viciously.

The lumps covered in dust and sludge were rushed to the mouth, or punched and kicked out of other people's mouths, bloody and pulled out.

The people who fought the most were circled out one by one by nodding their heads with guns, and they were basically young and strong, and I rushed in without looking back.

"Count me in ......"

Then, with the cover of the crowd, I rushed out from the other end and left them behind. I can even faintly hear the sound of exclamation and scolding faintly in the wind,

"Want to eat more...... Keep up and have it"

I walked through the open fields in one breath, through the trampled mess of fields and ditches, through the hills and bushes, and I was still able to run, and the potential and simplicity of my body far exceeded my expectations. Until.

"Enough, enough is enough......"

I heard the sound of horses' hooves behind me, and a huge figure suddenly passed me.

"......"

I paused for a moment, looked at the rider who was suddenly in front of me, and hit my head on the stinky horse's belly with unabated momentum, and then was bounced away by a heavy loss, and the sudden loss of strength made me sit down with my ass, gasping for breath, and my lower limbs were so sore that I almost didn't want to get up.

Then I found that not far behind me, there was a small group of people who were inexplicably following, some of them were gnawing on black bumps while running, and glaring viciously at the hands of others, and their expressions were a little complicated when they looked at me.

What a rhythm this is.