Old Bellman hummed a tune he had learned out of nowhere, and walked into a shack made of tin nails. Even in the town a few kilometers away, this little leaky tin shack can be considered a mansion.

Dusk soon came, and the rotting wolves, who had slept in hunger all day, howled and began to wander around ghostly, looking for an opportunity to fill their bellies.

With a creak, old Bellman pushed open the iron door of the shack and walked out, squinting at the sunset that was about to sink. After a nap, he felt much better. Not far away, the mine was empty, and the workers had already come out, had finished their rations, and had gone back to their habitats. When the sun goes down the horizon, the intricate tunnels are filled with ferocious gophers more than a meter long, their powerful upper and lower jaws, sharp and strong incisors can easily bite through iron bars two centimeters thick, and no matter how solid the rock is, it is not worth mentioning in front of them. Fortunately, as soon as the sun rises, the ferocious gophers burrow deep underground and fall into a deep sleep, so the miners have at least half a day to dig for the ore.

Almost at the same time as the sun sank completely, a thin figure appeared at the mouth of the pit. The boy staggered out with a basket of ore almost as tall as himself.

Old Bellman's eyelids jumped a few times, and he remained silent as he watched as the thin boy dragged the ore on his back over the scales, and then poured it on the pile like a hill, and then walked slowly with a note written by the foreman. The strip of cloth wrapped around the boy's body had been dyed with large patches of red yellow and mixed blue with mineral powder.

Watching the boy come over, old Bellman walked around to the back of the house. There, against the tin house, there was a large shed, and Peter, who was missing half a leg, struggled to move his body, which weighed more than 100 kilograms, and shouted, "Boy, come here!"

The boy walked under the shed and handed the note. Peter the Cripple glanced at it, whistled, and said, "Boy, not bad! Come on, here's the list, see what you want to exchange. Are you literate? Oh, yes, that's amazing! I only know half of the words on this list. Hey, don't look over there, you can't afford to change it right now! Look down here. ”

Peter used his thick fingers to swipe in the middle of the long list, and the boy looked over the list. His gaze stayed on the "drinking" column, and then looked up again until his view was blocked by Peter's thick fingers.

"This is it. The boy pointed to the list with his fingers wrapped in strips of cloth.

"Nutrient solution, luxurious fellow!" Peter shrugged, and tossed a can of equally undated drink from a pile of wooden crates behind him, and tossed it to the boy. "Give!"

The boy carefully tucked the can into the blanket and turned to leave, but Peter the Cripple scratched his head, took the fist-sized moldy bread and threw it to the boy: "Boy, mining is hard work, and you can't do without eating. Take this, and remember, you owe five dollars to Cripple Peter, which will be deducted from your wages to-morrow!"

The boy took the bread, tucked it into the blanket with the same care, and bowed deeply to Peter the lame before walking into the darkness.

In the darkness of the wilderness, dozens of pairs of wolf-like eyes stared at the boy, whispering one after another.

"That kid seems to have done quite a bit today, or shall we go over and see what he has changed? ”

"I bet he must have a big piece of roasted wolf meat in his arms!"

A lazy, but murderous voice next to him took over: "Hey, a few rookies over there, don't you know the rules of old Bellman? ”

The previous voice was obviously not convinced: "Old Bellman, what can he do? I can beat ten of this old man!"

The lazy man laughed and scolded, "It's up to you, and it's not worth licking his ass!"

The person who was scolded as a rookie was still not convinced, and was about to argue, but who knew that the other party suddenly lost his patience, whistled, and shouted: "Boys, chop up this guy who wants to make trouble and feed it to the rotting wolf!"

More than a dozen black shadows rose in response and gathered around.

After a brief scream, the wilderness returned to its quietness. People should seize the time to rest so that they can carry an extra basket of ore out tomorrow.

In the barn, the lame Peter could no longer see the boy, he scratched the head that had no head left, and muttered, "Where is this boy going? If he is eaten by a rotting wolf, my money will be ......."

Old Bellman, who had been leaning on the pillar, spread his hands and said, "God knows." ”

Peter the Cripple struggled to his feet and began to gather the food and record list on the counter. His remaining thighs were thick and powerful, enough to support his body of more than a hundred kilograms to jump around the barn without the use of crutches. He picked up the last note handed over by the boy, and was about to throw it away, when he suddenly remembered something, looked at it again, and said to himself: "Nutrient solution, I really don't know what he wants this for." ”

Old Bellman took the note from Peter's hand, glanced at the numbers, crumpled it, and threw it into the fire pit outside the barn.

Old Bellman coughed a few times, spat out thick phlegm, and said, "Peter, from tomorrow onwards, the child will be deducted ten kilograms less per basket." If he can work here for a full month, give him a full amount. ”

"It seems a little out of order," Peter said. ”

"He's raising kids. Old Bellman lit a half-baked cigarette and spoke in a dull voice.

Peter looked up in surprise and said, "What? How old is he, how can he raise a child?"

"You don't care about that!"

Life in the wilderness was monotonous and repetitive, and a year passed like this.

In this day and age, it is already a rare happiness to be able to live monotonously and repeatedly. What could you ask for without having to fight with rotting wolves for food, and drinking water that is not so contaminated and not so strong? As for boredom, it is too extravagant for only a madman to think about occasionally.

In the beginning, there were new rookies among the homeless who wanted to beat the boy, and the ignorant enough rookie followed the boy away in the night. Three of them were never seen again, and the one who came back was following the boy away. Early the next morning, the homeless people found the man hanging high on a wooden pole outside the old Bellman's house, and the bodyguard in a black suit fired ten shots at him with the double ******, and he still did not lose his breath. When it comes to torturing people, the black suit is clearly quite talented.

From then on, the old birds among the outcasts knew not to hit the boy.

Another three years.

The sunlight drove the wandering rotting wolves back to their lairs, but it also brought howling winds and fist-sized gravel. To the west of the mine, there is the endless Gobi Desert, where the fiery red rocks are blown by the wind and sand into stone pillars full of holes. As far as the eye can see, you can only see a few low, sharp thorns, and the branches and leaves contain highly poisonous sand wattles. Rock scorpions and giant bellied black bees are deadly threats, but the greatest danger is the lack of water.

When the rock scorpions hid in the crevices of the rocks to hide from the sun, the teenager appeared on the edge of the Gobi. He wrapped himself tightly in a black blanket, and in his bandaged hands he held a small child, who was also draped in a black blanket.

In the compound eyes of the rock scorpion, two figures, one large and one small, held hands and slowly walked towards the depths of the Gobi.

"I'm thirsty...... the tiny figure suddenly raised its head and said to another figure.

However, he didn't seem to hear it, and still pulled her along unhurriedly.

She lowered her head, was silent for a moment, and pursed her lips. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, and the blanket on her head was lifted, and a long piece of silk satin spilled out, shining with a thousand dazzling brilliance under the reflection of the sun.

The girl suddenly looked up again, "I'm thirsty!"

The boy stopped, leaned down and said to her gently, "Wait a minute, it's coming soon!"

"But I'm too tired to walk!" said the girl's eyes.

Seeing this, the boy stretched out his hand, and his wrist, which had always been perfectly white enough to make a woman jealous, was exposed. He lightly cut a scar and sent it to the girl's mouth.

"Drink......" The young man's voice carried a hint of helplessness and doting. The girl immediately lowered her head and took the wound in her mouth, as if she had become accustomed to such actions. The boy looked at the girl, and the corners of his mouth slowly showed a smile, but he didn't care about his increasingly pale face at all. He didn't make a sound, just waited quietly for the girl to drink satisfactorily before stopping, gently helped her wipe a trace of blood from the corner of her mouth, carefully gathered her length, covered her with a blanket again, and then took her hand and continued to walk into the depths of the Gobi.

After walking like this for a whole week, they finally found the cave that old Bellman had spoken of, and found the mutated leech. The boy set the girl up in the cave and went alone to the wolf's den in the darkness of night.

Although rotting wolves are common, there are some unknown deadly substances on their bodies, although Xiao may survive it, but the girl is obviously impossible.

It wasn't until dusk on the third day that the boy struggled to come back. The little girl sat quietly at the entrance of the cave waiting for him to return, and she didn't know how long she had been sitting.

On this night, the little girl frowned, and with her little snow-white teeth, she tore at the blue and white flesh that was as tough as a piece of rubber. The gray wolf's wolf meat was tough and fishy, but she tried to chew each piece of meat carefully, swallowing it, and even licking the juice on her fingers.

In the depths of the cave, the boy hid in the darkness, cleaning the wounds crisscrossed his body little by little, and the bones were visible.

The blood-soaked leeches lazily climbed out of the porcelain bowl, silently slid into the shimmering sewage pool, dived into the depths of the pool, and left half a bowl of clear water in the porcelain bowl.

Three years later, the leech died.