The night faded away, and only Ying Yanshu and his broken sword were left in the empty alley.

······

"Tell me, back then, after you were seriously injured by Xi, how did you escape from the Yisang Palace?"

Cold sweat the size of a soybean rolled down the top of Ying Yanshu's head, and his brain went blank, and he didn't know what to say at all.

"Aren't you going to say something?" the Blood Sword Slave's tone suddenly had a little more smile in his tone, "Xiu, let him go." ”

Xiu was stunned for a moment, but with a wave of his hand, he summoned the bone rope back. On top of the bone rope, the white color faded and turned into the original thin iron chain, coiled around her waist.

For some reason, she felt a little cold.

Ying Yanshu was also stunned for a moment, looked at the shadow under the cloak of the blood sword slave, and stood up tremblingly.

The Blood Sword Slave's right shoulder suddenly moved, and in the next moment, his right hand pressed on the top of Ying Yanshu's head. His skin was withered, his phalanges were jagged, but they were as strong as an eagle's claws, and his thumb, index and ring fingers were covered with gray bone. Before Ying Yanshu could react, he was pinched and smashed to the ground by his head. There was a muffled sound of "bang", which made Xiu on the side shudder. Ying Yanshu's left ankle instantly deformed and knelt heavily on the ground. The head was like an unripe coconut, and after it hit the ground, it bounced slightly, leaving a shallow pit and a patch of blood. The body froze in place for a moment before slowly falling to its side. Half of his face was covered with a nosebleed, the skin on his forehead was open, his eyebrow bones and the bridge of his nose were purple-black, and he seemed to have broken bones.

If it weren't for the cushioning of his knee on the ground, I'm afraid that even the skull would have been smashed directly just now.

The Blood Sword Slave raised his right foot and stepped on Ying Yanshu's deformed ankle, slowly exerting force. The severe pain was like an awl, stabbing Ying Yanshu from his semi-coma. He opened his eyes suddenly, gritted his teeth, and didn't shout.

"I don't know if I should be amazed at your ability or your courage. With a suffocating cough and gasp, the Blood Sword Slave laughed hideously, "What are you doing with the Yisang Palace?"

His right foot crushed hard, and Ying Yanshu opened his mouth in pain. There seemed to be a rough saw in his chest, rubbing back and forth against his spine, collarbone, and ribs, and the extremely suppressed howl came intermittently from the depths of his throat, diluted by the night, swallowed up by the tranquility, and dissipated into a sense of peace.

"The reason why you have survived until now is entirely because in the eyes of a truly strong man, you are nothing!"

"Nobody wants to waste time trying to crush an ant, you see?"

The Blood Sword Slave raised his right foot again, let go of Ying Yanshu's ankle, and then kicked him heavily on his lower abdomen. Ying Yanshu rolled and flew out like a broken puppet.

"Where's the thing?" the Blood Sword Slave stepped forward, lifted Ying Yanshu's head, and whispered in his ear.

"Stuff? hey, hey······" Ying Yanshu barely opened one eye and suddenly laughed.

Say. ”

"Where you can never find it. Ying Yanshu's voice was weak, but everyone could hear the mockery in his tone.

"Did you take me? or did I break your bones one by one and drag them over?"

"If you think my bones are more important than that, you want to break a few, break a few. ”

Ying Yanshu couldn't be clearer about the situation he was facing. That thing is the only hole card to save his life, don't say that he doesn't know where it is now, and even if he does, he must not just say it, otherwise it will be a dead end.

Hearing this, the Blood Sword Slave was silent for a while, then lifted Ying Yanshu's head slightly, and slammed it to the ground like a coconut. Ying Yanshu's forehead suddenly opened and the blood flowed like an infusion, but he barely maintained his consciousness and did not pass out.

The blood sword slave also understood that the person in front of him was not a stunned young man who had just entered the rivers and lakes, and he didn't eat his own set at all.

"Good, good, good, it's hard for you. I'll give you seven days. The Blood Sword Slave stood up, "In seven days, I will go to the Chenyuguan Palace with Your Majesty, and you will bring things there." Otherwise, I will kill Liu Xiaoyan first, and then chase you to the ends of the earth. ”

Ying Yanshu didn't reply, and the Blood Sword Slave walked to Xiu's side and said, "Keep an eye on him." ”

"Yes. ”

······

Poisonous needles, steel balls, and strange bone fragments spilled on the ground, like his crushed confidence.

This is the gap, a gap that cannot be bridged in a lifetime.

A self-righteous half-life, in fact, is nothing.

Xiu sat on the wall by the alley, looking at the guy below with some apprehension, who didn't know if he was dead or alive.

It's about to dawn, and if you don't wake up, you can only drag him away.

Revise thinking so. Ying Yanshu on the ground suddenly moved, and after a while, he slowly got up and limped out of the alley. When he was about to walk out of the alley, he stopped again, looked back, was silent for two or three seconds, and then wiped his head again, and froze in place, not knowing what he was thinking. Then, he turned and walked back into the alley, clumsily picked up the jade willow sword that had been broken in two, put it in the black box, and left slowly but surely.

Fragments of the sword rattled in the black box.

At the turn of day and night, the dim sky was slightly blue, and Ying Yanshu limped along. On the empty streets, there are some other figures. When they saw Ying Yanshu's tragic scene, they already knew his identity, and their eyes showed the sympathy of the rabbit and the fox, and the instinctive fear. Other than that, there was no other reaction.

They are all people who make food in the dark, and everyone is no longer surprised. The scale of Haoyuan City is not small, but even here, it is inevitable that the most primitive survival struggle is inevitable. At the end of the day, this is a world built on chaos.

The weak eat the strong, the strong eat the flesh and blood, and the stronger eat.

Ying Yanshu walked into another alley, and after turning around, he came to a dilapidated and heavy wooden door. A white lantern hangs from one corner of the eaves, and a copper kettle hangs from the other. As for what these represent, Ying Yanshu already knew it in his heart.

The knock on the door echoed through the silent alley, and after a long time, the sound of the wooden door turning was heard. Out of the door came an ugly-looking dwarf, with gray skin, a wrinkled face, and bulging eyes, like an indigestion jackal spitting out a piece of humanoid food. The dwarf was followed by a half-grown young man, seventeen or eighteen years old, with oily hair, but his facial features were very delicate. His right hand was clenched tightly, but Ying Yanshu could still see the seven deformed fingers at a glance. The young man hunched his back, making his originally tall figure look very short, and there was both fear and yearning in his eyes when he looked at the outside world.

Ying Yanshu looked at the young man, and the young man also looked at him. The two looked at each other for a moment, and the young man's waist suddenly straightened, his left knee bent, and his body leaned slightly to the side, as if he was imitating Ying Yanshu's appearance. Ying Yanshu's injuries were not light, and he didn't bother to pay attention to him.

The old dwarf didn't speak, he turned around and walked directly to the house, and Ying Yanshu limped to follow.

The young man was about to close the door, when a palm suddenly stretched out and held the door up, startling the young man. I saw a slightly emaciated black figure appear at the door at some point, the black ghost mask completely covering the face, leaving only a pair of eyes as deep as the night. The young man had never seen the outside world and did not know what the ghost mask represented. But as far back as he could remember, it wasn't that no guest with a ghost mask had been here, so he didn't panic, and naturally let the visitor into the house and close the door.

The old dwarf who walked in front turned back with Ying Yanshu. Ying Yanshu snorted lightly, but the old dwarf still didn't react, as if he didn't see Xiu, and continued to take Ying Yanshu to the depths of the house. Xiu followed without hurry, and the young man with seven fingers walked last.

The candle flame is dim.

The actual interior of the room is much larger than it looks from the outside, and there are many simple bed boards scattered in rows. Most of the beds were empty, and on the beds near the middle corridor lay several corpses, some of which had been wrapped in bandages, and some of which lay directly on the table, with hideous and disgusting wounds. There was also a corpse, with various bottles and cans and a set of kits on one side of the bed board, the lower half of the body was wrapped in bandages, and the dense arrow wounds on the upper body had been stitched up for most of the time, the blood stains were wiped clean, and a layer of bluish wax was applied to the surface of the corpse, which should be halfway through the treatment.

Ghost doctor, one of the darkest professions in the world. Their job is to dispose of the disgraced corpses, or to treat the wounds of the unknown, and their clients include rangers, mercenaries, officials, nobles, and even the military and generals. As long as the city grows to a certain size, there will be ghost doctors. They're either escaped alien slaves, abandoned babies who have been sent in or picked up, and cursed, shemale hybrids. All in all, monsters who are neither qualified to live in the sun, nor weak people who do not have the strength to fight in the night. Ghost doctors do not exist in history, but they are an integral part of history. They are the outcasts of the city, unable to enter, unable to escape, and digest the more completely abandoned parts of the city after those sunsets.

The old dwarf took Ying Yanshu to the deepest part of the room, and the firewood in the fireplace was burning brightly, even though it was not winter at this time.

Ying Yanshu was familiar with the road, pulled a bamboo recliner and lay down, not caring about the blood stains remaining on the chair. Xiu looked around, sat on an empty bed, and looked at Ying Yanshu. Ying Yanshu ignored it at all, his eyes were blank, like an empty shell. The old dwarf took out a roll of wet towel out of nowhere, put it on Ying Yanshu's face, and then lifted his almost deformed ankle, looked at it for a while, and twisted it roughly. With the roar of the bones, he forcibly broke the dislocated left foot back into position. Under the ghost mask, Xiu's brows furrowed, and he shivered unconsciously.

His right hand trembled and raised, holding down the towel covering his eyes, his fingers constantly straining, Ying Yanshu tried his best not to let himself cry out because of the pain.

The seven-fingered young man took the kit from the half-disposed corpse and handed it to the old dwarf. The old dwarf took out some bottles and jars, needles, and worn-out gauze. The needle seemed to have treated the dead just now, and he roasted it casually in the fire next to him, and began to treat Ying Yanshu's wounds.

It didn't take much time to deal with the wound, after all, the ghost doctor was not a skilled person in the first place. When it was over, the old dwarf took the tools back into the package, consciously found a few silver coins and copper plates from Ying Yanshu's clothes and pants, and turned around to go back to dispose of the corpse. Ying Yanshu was still lying on the bamboo chair, without any movement.

Holding on in front of the Blood Sword Slave before was completely an instinctive move to save his life.

After the crisis of death passed, all that was left in his heart was confusion and emptiness, and he drifted farther and deeper in his thoughts······

What have you done over the years?

The ancestral jade willow sword of the Ying family was broken in his own hands and in the hands of a thief.

The Blood Sword Slave was right, he was just a bold thief.

Claiming to only seek money and not kill people is just to cover up the guilt.

They are all criminals, and thieves are more cowardly than robbers.

It's a cheap life, but it's ridiculous that I'm still proud of it.

Liu Xiaoya, what does she have to do with her? Do you want to take this risk for her?

Forget it, don't lie to yourself.

It's just a little unclear emotion, and compared with life, it has no meaning.

But if that's the case, what makes sense?

People are going to die after all, what is the meaning of living?

Dying without pain is probably the happiest thing in the world.

I'm so tired, so sleepy.

After waiting for a long time, Ying Yanshu still didn't see any movement, and Xiu began to get impatient. If it weren't for the fear that Ying Yanshu had escaped from some other secret mouth, she wouldn't have entered this ghost place at all.

Boredom, Xiu looked around, and when he turned around, he happened to see the young man with seven fingers standing behind him. When the two looked at each other, the young man immediately took a timid step back. Xiu is not a perverse person, and the young man is handsome, not as annoying as the old dwarf, and Xiu has no ill will towards him. In order to show that he had no ill intentions, Xiu took the initiative to move to his side, vacating a small empty space, and motioned for the young man to sit beside her.

Seeing this, the young man looked surprised, and then took half a step forward with joy, but immediately stopped. The expression is both hesitant and fearful, as if looking at a trap full of temptation.

When Xiu saw the young man's appearance, he couldn't help but feel a little funny, and at the same time felt a little pity. So she stood up and took the initiative to take the young man's hand, but he was startled. The young man thought that Xiu was trying to attack him, and hurriedly retreated. She was stunned for a moment before she reacted, stood in place, and stretched out her right hand to the young man.

The young man looked at Xiu's hand, and he was stunned for a long time before he approached the direction of Xiu half step by step. He raised his clenched right fist, slowly released his palm, and then hesitated for a moment, as if he had made great determination, and suddenly buckled it and put it on Xiu's palm. Xiu took off the ghost mask with his left hand, smiled at the restless youth, and gently took his trembling hand in his hand. Twelve fingers were clasped together, and the young man's back unconsciously straightened a little, and the corners of his mouth raised a slight arc.

Just as Xiu was about to pull the young man to sit down beside him, the old dwarf suddenly hurried over, clasped his hands on the young man's elbows, and rudely pulled him away. The moment his hands parted, the young man's back hunched down again, and the curvature of the corners of his mouth disappeared completely. Xiu was stunned in place, and a wave of anger suddenly rose in his heart. Xindao, this old guy must have stayed in this ghost place until he was psychopathic, and he couldn't see anyone else's good. But after all, the old dwarf is a young adoptive father, and he is not easy to attack.

"Little girl, I know you must be scolding the old man for being perverted, but it's better to put away your kindness, he doesn't need it. Just as Xiu was thinking this, the old dwarf suddenly spoke, and this was the first time he spoke. To Xiu's surprise, he actually saw the identity of his woman at a glance.

"In some places, the seven fingers are ominous symbols. These children are born guilty, even though they have done nothing. It's the same with Xiao Shi, his parents sent him here, and I raised him as an old monster. The old dwarf pulled the young man aside and said as he lowered his head to dispose of the corpse.

"Xiao Shi hasn't always been like this. When he was a child, although he had never seen the sun, he was lively, active, and innocent, like all children of this age. He would pester me and tell me stories. I'm an old fool, I didn't dare to tell him how bad the outside world really is, but let him live in a good story all the time. I wouldn't let him out, but the trick of scaring the kids wouldn't keep him behind the door. Finally, one day, he ran away while I wasn't looking. In the street, he saw a group of children his age and ran to play with them. ”

Then they broke the two extra fingers of the rock, and deafened his right ear. ”

The old dwarf suddenly raised his head slightly, revealing a pair of cold eyes, and even Xiu couldn't help but feel a little flustered when he saw it.

"When I found him, I took him back here and healed his wounds, but not his wounds. Xiao Shi never went out again, never spoke again, and rarely opened his right hand again, living more like a ghost doctor than a ghost doctor. Those beautiful stories may be true, but they don't belong to us. I already knew this truth, but I couldn't bear to tell him that I hurt him. ”

"If you can't bring him out of despair completely, don't give him hope. The old dwarf lowered his head again, concentrating on the corpse, "Your kindness that has no beginning and no end may satisfy some of your vanity and whitewash the so-called nobility." But for Xiaoshi, it was fatal, and we couldn't afford to play it. ”

Xiu was stunned in place, and after a while, he put the ghost mask back on his face, bowed slightly, and said, "I've been taught." ”

At the same time, Ying Yanshu finally moved.