At the first dawn, Geronimo returned on a tired lean horse.

Behind him, his soldiers all looked like they were seriously ill, and some of them actually fell asleep on their horses.

The purple-red sunlight shone from behind them, pulling out long shadows that spread to the turtledove's feet, swaying long and short.

With his gun on his back, Geronimo let the horse walk up to the turtledove before slipping off his horse.

"I'm back!"

"Good, Jerónimo!" The turtledove handed over a black meatloaf sprinkled with rose-red pepper flakes.

Jerónimo took it and took a bite first.

Then he waved his hand behind him.

Seven or eight soldiers stepped forward and placed the guns they were holding in their arms on the ground, neatly like freshly harvested stacks of wheat.

"Seventy guns, I brought you back without landing a single one, turtledove!"

Turtledove smiled faintly and nodded.

After the soldiers who had returned their guns stepped back, a dozen more soldiers came over with bulky bags and boxes.

Geronimo slashed the pocket with his bayonet, and silver and gold coins flowed out of it, reflecting the red sun of the early morning, shining brightly.

Geronimo opened the box again, and it was filled with colorful papers, some in dollars, some in pounds, some in pesos, their raw edges tainted by red blood, but that didn't diminish their value in any way.

Jeronimo opened the last box, and inside was a woman in bright silk pajamas, with long blond hair and skin as white as snow. A thin red rope gently strangled her body, making her mountain peak as majestic as the waves on the ocean.

"I've robbed three manors, and all the seizures are here, turtledove!" Jeronimo said.

The turtledoves grabbed the coins that flowed on the ground, and they made a tinkling sound as crisp as wind chimes under the eaves.

He picked up the colorful banknotes in the box, and a bloody smell came over the surface. Columbus on the banknote looked at him with blood on his mouth and smiled. The turtledove smiled at it too.

The turtledove came to the last box.

"Her name is Marilyn, Turtledove!" Jerónimo felt a hint of nervousness.

Turtledove smiled at the woman: "Good morning, beautiful lady! ”

The lady had flannel stuffed in her mouth and could not answer his question. But her eyes were full of horror, and her gaze involuntarily looked at Geronimo. Jerónimo didn't look at her at all.

"Also," Geronimo continued, "I've grabbed some guns and bullets, do you need me to hand them over to you?" ”

"No, no, you can keep it for yourself!" Turtledove said softly.

He turned and walked towards the lake. "You come with me, Jerónimo!"

Jerónimo hesitated, tightened the string of his shoulder, and followed.

……

The morning breeze blows the lake, and the lake laps against the shore.

The grass was covered with crystal dewdrops, and the stars that had fallen in the middle of the lake last night were now gone.

The red sun sets on the surface of the lake and dissolves into patches of golden fish scales.

"Jerónimo, will you hate me?"

"No, it won't...... No, Ikaruga, I don't understand what you mean. Geronimo replied.

"If you're going to hate me, hate it, Jeronimo!" Turtledove said slowly. "Without me, you would be a respected chieftain leading a powerful tribe. You can live in a house with glass windows and bright electric lights, and your people will thank you for giving them a stable life, and white people may extend an olive branch to you to travel to New York and Washington, D.C., singing the praises of love and peace......"

Turtledove's words seemed to have magical powers, and Geronimo reminded him of his childhood.

That's right, at that time, he once dreamed of such a life. Who doesn't want to live a life of stability and abundance?

Although he was an Indian, he was somewhat dismissive of the Indian way of life. So much so that he was not interested in everything around him, and people called him "Sleepy Man"!

"I'm ...... turtledove. Don't understand what you mean? Jerónimo said.

Turtledove turned around and looked at Geronimo, who was a head taller than himself. Dusted off the stalks of grass from his shoulders for him.

"I mean to say—", Turtledove thought for a moment, and said, "Perhaps you have your own ideas, and it is not wrong for you to want to live as rich and good as the white man; Maybe you were once kind, and although they say you have a heart like a femme fatale, you weren't actually born like that. It's just—"

The turtledove pondered the words, but until he felt that it had been a little long, he didn't know what to say. simply stopped hiding it, and said bluntly: "-Since the first day I saw you, you can't be that kind of person!" ”

Jerónimo chewed on the turtledove's words and couldn't help but laugh. "Turtledove, no one understands the hatred between us and whites better than I do. Whatever it was, it didn't make me put down the gun in my hand to fight them. ”

"That's not enough, Jerónimo!" Turtledove said.

Geronimo followed the turtledove and walked to a rock by the lake.

"You will become a wolf that will never have enough to eat, you will become a poisonous snake that will always watch over your enemies, you will become a poisoned knife...... You have to be more vicious, more ferocious, more cruel! ”

"Turtledove, didn't I do well enough last night?" Geronimo asked.

"No, you're doing a great job! Even better than I expected! Turtledove said. It's just that from now on, you have to be so good all the time! ”

Geronimo didn't seem to be a problem, like.

He used to be soft, but now he has been taught how to be cruel by this blood-soaked wasteland. And he felt that he would go on like this, never to regain his softness.

"One day, you will be disgusted with yourself, disgusted with the blood on your hands, and afraid of the cruelty with which you have gone mad. When that day comes, you'll start to hate me—"

"No, turtledove, I'll never hate you!" Jeronimo said. "From the blood of the enemy, I can only feel joy and joy!"

"You will never be able to live the life you dreamed of in your childhood! You will live forever in the white smoke and red blood! You will even dream of killing, you will be overwhelmed by bloodlust and rage, and you will never be able to return to peace! ”

"As long as I can get revenge, I'm willing to pay any price, turtledove!" Jeronimo said.

"You will be a demon, an executioner, a butcher, murderous, bloody and heinous!"

"That's my glory, turtledove!"

"Last night, and it will be the same for the rest of the year!" Turtledove said.

"I will, turtledove!"

……

Ikardove untied the dagger from his waist and thrust it into Geronimo's hand.

"Go ahead, don't test me with women in the future!"

Jerónimo grabbed the dagger in his hand, hesitated slightly, and then turned and walked back towards the camp.

When he came to the last box, he stabbed it without hesitation!

Turtledove, you don't love money, you don't love women...... What exactly do you love?