"Come, Sasha!"

The children shouted, almost all of them naked, their whole bodies submerged in the warm water, only their necks and heads exposed, the water was so clear and clean, and the sand could clearly see the small but dense scars that covered the dark brown or light brown chests and thighs—the children of Poseidon Island were not as pampered as the children of the city, nor innocent enough—the adults here rarely hid anything from the children, perhaps because they never considered what they were doing to be a crime, Or is it some kind of unspeakable, shameful dirty act? Whether it's smuggling, drugs, gambling, the red light district or even the arms trade, it's just work for the people of Masoye, but some governments allow it and some governments don't.

On Poseidon Island, however, the government has never taken it seriously, and they are not even as good as the statue of the Virgin placed in the alcove by the locals, who can at least hear a sincere prayer at least once a day, and when facing the government officials, every resident of Masoye will keep his mouth shut, like a seashell of cast iron.

The boy with the name of the Great Demon King swam near the docks, and he slapped the water very close to Sasha, "Hey," he warmly invited, "Come, swear to the Virgin, it will be absolutely exciting." He smiled at Sasha, as bright and warm as the sun today, though there was also a sunspot in it—Beelzebub, who had been born only half a year later than Sasha, was in the process of changing his teeth, and he had lost a front tooth on a piece of pie that had been cold and hardened.

When he walked out crying, Sasha thought he would be angry for a while, and if he was angry with Sasha—anyway, a boy who mistook another boy for a girl because of his miserable, apparently below-average ability to discern, and proposed to him, was embarrassing and embarrassing enough to happen to an adult—the odds were high, especially in the last two years, Sasha had already dealt with hundreds of his peers (not without any fun, but Sasha had to tactfully say that he wouldn't come a second time if he could), and the children of the 19th arrondissement failed to make a good or deep impression on Sasha, who could be said to have surpassed the minds of a small group of adults, who were as annoying as a bunch of artificially carefully raised animals.

That night, Beelzebub knocked on the door of the Hopkins father and son, apologized to the sand, and invited little Hopkins to the evening's activities, oh, don't get me wrong, it was the children's game, they waited for the turtles to come ashore to lay eggs, and when the hard-working "mother" left, they dug up the nest buried in the sand and took the eggs. There are about 100 eggs in a nest, and the children are allowed to take one from each of them and give it to their mother or sister the next day, and they will cook it for them with salt according to the tradition of Poseidon Island, which is said to be good for the child's health.

Sasha must admit that at the beginning he couldn't help but be a villain—he agreed to the offer, but he was always on guard—who knows if it would be a trap.

As it turned out, Beelzebub was a good boy, and what Sasha feared did not happen, and as the inviter, Beelzebub not only ensured that Sasha. Hopkins' harvest, safety, and punctual return also skillfully drew him into the children's circle of friendship; Sasha was certainly not a fool, and since Beelzebub had shown his kindness and open-mindedness, he would not continue to hesitate.

His father had taught him long ago in words and deeds that keeping a distance does not just mean "far".

Sprinkle sand whenever necessary. Hopkins can easily win the trust and affection of others like his father, and this time is no exception, and the children of Poseidon Island soon discover that this "city" child is not as delicate, stupid, and unapproachable as it seems, but on the contrary, he is smart, brave, powerful, and empathetic.

"Wait a minute," said Sasha, "I can't go into the water in such clothes." ”

He calmly took off the lambskin cut-out sandals, and stepped on the wooden planks of the dock with his bare/bare feet, the planks were hot and soft by the sun, and there was not a single burr on the surface, only some sparse sand, and then Sasha quickly took off the shirt directly over his head, unfastened the belt, and let the loose cotton silk trousers fall lightly, and now, he only had a pair of boxer briefs, exactly like the children of Poseidon Island.

"Our Lady of Mary, he is whiter than my sister." One child exclaimed heartily.

"Like cream."

"Like the flesh of an oyster."

Sasha pretended not to have heard anything, and he did a few minutes of warm-up before taking a deep breath, grabbing the edge of the dock plank with his toes, and leaping forward with all his might, into the water.

In a big splash, then the body into a ball of sand slowly sank down, the surface of the sea is hot, the middle layer is warm, and then it is a little cold, but it is only here, the sea sand is below, the sand opens his body at the bottom of the water, his feet touch the sea sand, the white fine sand is like a cloud in the sea water It seems, the sand straightens with the slight force of this kick, he waves his arms and floats up, and suddenly jumps out of the water.

The harsh light forced him to close his eyes slightly, he stepped on the water so that he could continue to float on the surface of the water, and at the same time exhaled outward, salty water squirting out of his nose, and then holding his ears in turn to expel the other excess water, he could feel the children of Poseidon Island surrounding him, and one of them leaned over: "You swim better than we thought." Beelzebub judged solemnly.

Sa smiled lazily, he had used to swim more in freshwater, surrounded by man-eating pomfrets, crocodiles, and anacondas; The water is also good, the water is more buoyant, especially for children, they can swim like dolphins in groups on the surface of the sea to their destination without much effort.

The environment around Poseidon Island is very well preserved - the inhabitants of Poseidon Island do not live by fishing, and certainly do not develop tourism, because there are always smuggling boats with miniature submachine guns and short-handled shotguns around the island, and the surrounding fishermen are not very willing to come here to fish, and over time, the surrounding waters here become an Eden of seagrass, corals, fish and children.

"Where are we going today?"

These days, Sasha has been to many places in their company, including several secret caves, the caves are submerged in the sea, connected to the interior of the island, the passage is wide, there are iron fences at both ends, and the dark stairs stretch into the dark river formed by the sea, small boats can travel on the dark river, and carry the contents of the big ships here to unload - the children do not have the key to the iron fence, they can only hold on to the fence to see the deep and bottomless darkness inside, but Sasha can imagine, How quickly and quietly the smugglers carried their goods up the narrow staircase, which is probably the cellar that any Poseidon inhabitant would find in his home.

Today Beelzebub took Sasha to visit a community of clams.

The shells that can hold a baby in the bath are quite surprising to a child, and the thick mantle of peacock blue, pink, emerald green, and brown red with the dense markings on it is indeed pleasing to the eye, but it is something else that attracts Sasha's attention.

It was neither pretty, nor of any significance, but a metal stick, stuck straight on a concrete pile, and swam over it to find that there was a crossbar at the top of it, which was firmly welded to the longitudinal one, and slightly exposed to the water, a rudimentary but sturdy cross.

"That's Christ's cross." Beelzebub swam to him, and the Chocolate Boy was unusually a little restless.

"Can you explain?"

"A tool," Beelzebub hesitated for a moment, after all, Sasha was not a child who grew up on this island, and might leave later—but he finally spoke: "We people here never accept the police, the law, and anything related to it, but sometimes, there are some unfortunate accidents within us, such as an uncle of mine who once hacked his friend to death while drunk, and then he was very remorseful, but it has happened, the dead need to be comforted, and the victim's family needs a fair sentence, This power is given to God, Our Lady and Jesus, who will be tied to that pillar at low tide and wait for the tide to rise, and if the tide does not drown him that day, he will be able to exchange money and a child for his own life. ”

"Did he get this chance?"

"No," said Beelzebub, "he drowned." ”

(To be continued)

Finally rushed to the first day of the new year. I wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year!