It took Xinghe a while to understand that Du Ze was throwing an olive branch to him. He thought it was ridiculous, and Du Ze would actually offer to let him cooperate with him, even though the dagger that landed at his feet showed that the other party was serious.

However, Xinghe has not forgotten what happened the last time he was forced to cooperate with Du Ze, he almost died in the caveman ruins of Jiangcheng, Du Ze did not even let go of his own subordinates, there is such a precedent there, does he still think that he will believe him.

Du Ze waited a little impatiently, he pointed to the sleigh behind him, "Xinghe, I don't mind tying you back to that sleigh again." Or do you prefer that? ”

Xinghe was very unhappy, but at this moment he had to bow his head and pick up the dagger from the ground, but he still asked, "Why?"

"Don't worry, Xinghe, this is not a free lunch, when the time comes, I will ask you to do something for me. ”

Du Ze's words made Xinghe feel a little more at ease, but of course he didn't let down all his guard, he looked at the other party vigilantly, "What do you want me to do, I won't do anything like killing people and setting fires." ”

"Murder and arson, what do you think of me? Murderer? I never do that kind of thankless thing. Du Ze responded, "Don't worry, that matter is very simple for you, and it can be said that it is effortless." ”

After Du Ze finished speaking, he walked to Jasmine's side, helped her up, and at the same time turned back to Xinghe and said, "How long are you going to stand there, we should go." ”

"Give me a pair of shoes and a piece of clothing. Xinghe gritted his teeth and said that his endurance was not unlimited, and his whole body could not help but tremble after staying in the snow barefoot for so long.

"I'm sorry, Xinghe, I don't have any extra clothes and shoes here, but that Mao Wen was killed by you, and the things on him are also your trophies, so I won't rob you. Du Ze helped Jasmine, the corners of his mouth rose slightly, and at the same time reminded "kindly", "But you'd better hurry, it's not good if you wait for other Mao Wen to come over." ”

The slight smile on Du Ze's face made Xinghe very angry, but he was helpless, he walked towards Mao Wen, these big cats' hair is a natural tool to keep out the cold, so they don't need to prepare too thick warm clothes, they only wear leather armor that does not affect flexibility.

Xinghe took off the huge leather armor from the corpse, and used Mao Wen's hunting knife to cut two pieces from the leather armor, and he used these two pieces of leather to wrap his feet, and tied the mouth with rope to make two simple shoes.

As for the rest of the leather armor, Xinghe only removed the large piece of leather on his chest from it and tied it to himself, and the rest of the handguards and leggings were too different because of the size, and he didn't ask for it. As for Mao Wen's hunting knife, although it was very sharp, it was too heavy, and he felt that it was inconvenient to pick it up, so he didn't ask for it. But fortunately, this Mao Wen had a lot of dried meat in his bag, and he also laughed at it.

After picking up things from the corpse, Xinghe also took the white cloth on the sleigh and draped it over his body. Du Ze really didn't ask him for any loot, and after seeing that he had finished packing, he helped Jasmine and started to move forward, so he could only follow.

Xinghe felt that his feet should be frostbitten, and he didn't feel anything when he stepped on the snow, as if his feet were not his own. Du Ze definitely wouldn't care about his foot injury, but because of holding Jasmine, he couldn't walk fast, and Xinghe could catch up.

The scenery in the dense forest seemed exactly the same to Xinghe, he had long lost his sense of direction, he didn't know how Du Ze could tell the way, maybe he made some marks in the forest to confirm the direction, but these marks definitely wouldn't tell him, he could only silently follow the two people in front of him.

The Iron Curtain is known not only because of its steepness and difficulty in climbing, but also because it and the River Luoying divide the empire in half. Half of them have large fertile plains, rich and beautiful, called within the Iron Curtain, while the other half outside the Iron Curtain is full of hills and mountains, although the land is not barren, but the amount of fertile land that is really convenient for cultivation is less than half of the Iron Curtain, this number does not seem to be large, but when combined with the area outside the Iron Curtain accounting for more than two-thirds of the empire's territory, the contrast between the richness inside and outside the Iron Curtain is clearly visible.

The Forest of Mists is a huge primeval forest outside the Iron Curtain, it is located between the three provinces, although the terrain is relatively flat, but there are also many hills and rocky peaks in it. And Du Ze will take them to drill into these stone pinnacles now.

Xinghe didn't understand what Du Ze was doing here, until he finally saw the shelter, the so-called shelter was actually a karst cave in the mountain, but it only had one entrance, and it was hidden between several stone peaks, and the snow cover around it was very hidden at this time.

After entering this cave, Xinghe found that there is a cave in it, the terrain inside the cave is sloping, and the whole has penetrated the mountain, and along this ramp you can reach the top of the other end of the mountain, where there is a small naturally formed platform that can monitor a long distance, and at the same time, the light also shines into the cave from this place, ensuring the lighting and ventilation in the cave.

After entering the cave, Du Ze dug out a package from the ground, which contained some household objects and a pile of strangely shaped metal objects, which he took out and assembled into a cylinder on the flat ground. Then he took out a small jar from his bag, which contained some yellowish liquid that looked like some kind of grease.

Du Ze poured the liquid that seemed to be grease into a hole under the cylinder, and then took the black short stick and slashed the spout above the cylinder, and suddenly a fist-sized flame appeared at the spout, "This thing will not smoke when it burns, although the fire is not big, but it is barely enough." ”

"What is this, is it magic?" asked Jasmine as she walked over to the barrel.

Du Ze glanced at Xinghe, "I don't know magic, this is the stove made up by the group of dwarfs who live under the big tree, and it is burned with refined sandworm grease, which is very resistant to burning, and it is not a problem for us to use it for four or five days." After saying that, he set off and walked out of the cave, "I'll go out for a while, the package has food in it, and if you use the water, you can use the jar to get some snow and burn it, not to mention that I still have to teach it." ”

"Where are you going?" Xinghe clenched the dagger in his hand and looked at him warily.

"Xinghe, I'm really flattered that you care so much about me. Du Ze looked at him with a crying and laughing expression, "Don't worry, I won't be away for too long, I'm just going to deal with the footprints we left, you don't want Mao Wen to follow the footprints to find here." ”

Xinghe was suddenly a little speechless, and could only watch Du Ze leave angrily. Suddenly only he and Jasmine were left in the cave, and the atmosphere suddenly became a little awkward. No, feeling embarrassed that he should be the only one, Jasmine sat directly on the edge of the fire and began to roast the fire, he stood on the side for a while, feeling too cold to sit down.

Xinghe stretched out his hands to the flames on the barrel, and the warmth from the flames eased the stiffness of his hands slightly. At the same time, his heart began to stir, and Du Ze left him and Jasmine here alone, which was an excellent opportunity to hold this woman hostage.

"Xinghe, can I call you that?" Jasmine's sudden opening startled Xinghe, and he subconsciously hummed.

"Galaxy, I'm sorry to drag you here. Du Ze, his temper is not very good, but he is not a bad person. Jasmine said.

Wait, Xinghe wondered if there was something wrong with his ears, Du Ze was not a bad person, this was the funniest joke he had ever heard in all this time. He looked at the woman with a sincere face and asked, "What is the relationship between you and Du Ze?"

Jasmine replied, "We grew up together. However, she had been pretending to be calm as she said this, and her hair was a little messy, which made Xinghe feel that their relationship would not be as simple as just growing up together.

"How long has it been since you've seen Du Ze?" Xinghe asked.

Jasmine was stunned, "It's been more than ten years, when something happened in his family, he left Saku Village to make a living elsewhere, he came back six years ago, but I didn't meet him that time." ”

More than ten years, Xinghe is only twelve years old this year, more than ten years has exceeded the life he has experienced so far, he can't say what such a long time means to a person's life, but it should be enough for a person to undergo earth-shaking changes, "Don't you know what he did after leaving the village?"

"I don't know, but I heard from the village chief that he is doing well outside, and he left his contact information with the village chief, saying that if I have trouble, I can go to him for help. Jasmine shook her head blankly, "I wouldn't want to trouble him if I could, but I really can't help it, Lily and Lance are gone, and I really don't have anyone else to rely on." ”

Jasmine burst into tears as she spoke, and she stopped abruptly and said in a crying voice, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you that." ”

Jasmine stopped her tears, even though her body still sobbed involuntarily, and looking at the woman, Xinghe fell silent. In any case, this woman was just a poor person who had lost her husband and child, and he really couldn't arouse interest in telling her the true face of Du Ze.

Jasmine finally stopped her tears completely, but the redness and swelling of her eyes caused by crying did not go away so easily, she looked at the simple shoes on Xinghe's feet, and said, "Take off the animal skin on your feet, I see that there is some needlework here to help you make a pair of shoes." ”

Xinghe sighed secretly in his heart, and the idea of holding Jasmine hostage to threaten Du Ze was also dispelled at this moment.