The first volume of the early morning empire chapter 155 kills the road

As soon as he walked into the clouds and mist on the mountainside, Ning Que heard the sound of horses' hooves rushing like rain behind him!

The memories of fear that had been hidden deep in his heart for all these years suddenly revived with the familiar sound of horses' hooves, and then uncontrollably flooded, instantly taking over his entire body, making his body extremely stiff.

He bit the tip of his tongue fiercely, used extremely strong willpower to break free from fear, and forcibly twisted his body to look back.

The mountain road that should have been in the thick twilight disappeared, and those clouds and mist did not know where they went, and when I looked back, I saw a glorious city standing between heaven and earth, and a huge shadow cut off the official road to the north.

On the official road, dozens of black armored horsemen were galloping, the sound of hooves was like thunder, the surface of the official road shook slightly, and pedestrians avoided one after another.

Ning Que hid behind the tables and chairs in the tea shop, staring at the blank eyes, watching these cavalry drive into the distance. Suddenly, he noticed that he was much shorter than the horses and the pedestrians on the road.

He looked down and saw that he only had a small shoe on his foot, and his left foot was pierced by a stone on the road at some point, and it was bleeding.

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Leaving Chang'an City and heading north, he followed the traveler blankly, and after being questioned twice by those curious Tang people, he discovered this danger and quietly left the crowd in the middle of the night.

In the wilderness he did not meet wild beasts, he could pick up the fruit, he could have a full stomach, although hunger always accompanied him, and when he came out of the mountains and forests, he was about to arrive in Hebei Province, and then he no longer had to worry about being recognized, because the mountains on both sides of the road were full of children like him who were yellow and hungry.

The great drought in the wasteland, the great drought in Hebei Province, the Tang Empire ushered in a rare natural disaster in the first year of the Apocalypse, and the new king just ascended the throne, and ushered in the first big test of his rule. His Majesty the Emperor, who rushed back to Chang'an City from Daze, urgently began to arrange disaster relief, and the displaced people in the wasteland have entered Hebei Province, and the victims of Hebei Province are heading south, and the lucky victims who are one step ahead have been relieved by the imperial court, and those who are still in Hebei Province and around the vast Minshan Mountain are facing a more severe test.

The official roads were in the four fields, the imperial officials and officials were counting the number of displaced people, distributing porridge and food, and more and more victims were migrating from the north to the south, for the people at that time, the north was the underworld of the world, the most terrifying world.

While everyone was walking south, Ning Que continued north, entered the territory of Hebei Province, and struggled along the road at the foot of Min Mountain, where he encountered thieves with bad intentions and hid in the grass, and in those grasses, he saw many corpses that were already cold.

In a forest where the bark was about to be stripped clean, he was surrounded by a group of skinny hungry people, looking at the clothes, these hungry people should be from Yanbei, the royal family of Yan was unable to help, these hungry people naturally came to the territory of the Tang Empire.

"It's a pity that it's a child, and he doesn't have a few pounds of meat on him. ”

The hungry people looked at the little boy covered in mud, the leader's eyes were glowing green, much like the wolf that Ning Que was very familiar with in the future, but this wolf himself was also very thin, and his fur was quite festering.

"We don't have the strength anymore, you take off your clothes and jump into that pot. ”

The leader of the hungry people put his fingers in his mouth, as if trying to pull out a few strands of meat. He looked at the little boy and said, "Be careful when jumping in, don't splash too much water, these days, no one has the extra strength to chop wood and boil water." ”

The seven or eight hungry people surrounding the little boy nodded slowly, like corpses barely moving.

Ning Que looked at them and asked, "You don't have the strength, but I still have the strength." ”

The leader of the hungry laughed like a cry, stretched out his withered fingers, pointed at the little boy's face tremblingly, and said, "If you still have the strength, then why don't you run away?"

Ning Que didn't say anything more, took out the firewood knife that had been carried all the way from behind his waist, and used all the strength accumulated along the way with the few handfuls of rice saved by fruits, weeds, and well-wishers, jumped up, and swung the firewood knife to slash at the nose of the leader of the hungry people.

He was too young, too small, and too weak to jump high even if he jumped, but these hungry people in the woods had been starving for too many days, and they had no strength anymore, so they could only watch him swing his firewood knife.

Poof, the little boy cut off, the firewood knife that wanted to cut off the nose of the leader of the hungry people, and poked into the eye socket of the other party, because of the relationship between the hungry skin and bones, the eye socket of the leader of the hungry people was very clear, the picture of the firewood knife cutting in was very clear, and the sound was also very clear, and the sharp edge of the rusty firewood knife directly penetrated his eyeballs, and then penetrated deep into the brain.

The leader of the hungry people didn't snort, and fell straight down like a piece of wood.

Ning Que stepped forward with a gasp, stepped on the neck of the leader of the hungry people with his little foot, and pulled out the firewood knife with force, and with his movements, a blue-yellow liquid soared into the air, not blood.

He stared at the deflated eyeballs hanging from the wood knife for a long time, then looked up at the hungry people who looked like ghosts around him, and said, "If you want to eat people, eat yourself, I will not let you eat." ”

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The fog on the mountainside behind the academy was getting heavier and heavier, and the last twilight of the outside world had been swallowed up, and a strange chirping of night birds sounded from somewhere in the woods, maybe crows or other birds.

Ning Que walked on the mountain path that went up diagonally, every time he stepped on a stone step, his body would stiffen for a long time, and the time in the fog was already very long, he had already walked through more than a thousand stone steps, but he didn't know how far away he was from the top of the mountain.

If you look closely, you can see that his eyes are a little hollow and out of focus, as if he is not looking at his own feet, but at some pictures in the distance, looking at some time even earlier.

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All the way to the north, along the Minshan Mountains deep into Hebei Road, ten rooms and nine empty, the fields have been completely occupied by the hungry people who have poured from the wasteland and Yanbei, but the drought has lasted too long, and most of the hungry people who have exchanged food with each other have become corpses on the side of the road, or food in the belly of the beasts in Minshan, and the corresponding dangers that Ning Que may encounter have become much less.

On this day, the rain that lasted for a long time fell from the sky, and some villagers crawled out of the village cellar, crying and kneeling in the rain, desperately kowtowing to thank Haotian for his mercy, while more people were so hungry that they had no strength to show any expression.

In the heavy rain, Ning Que sat under a small tree next to the mountain, looking around with a confused expression, not knowing where he should go.

These days, many victims have ventured into the vast Minshan Mountain, and although there are many wild animals in the mountain, they can at least find food for their stomachs. But he never went into the mountain, because he knew that he was too weak now, and although he could kill the hungry people who had no strength, he did not have the strength to kill the terrible beasts in the mountain.

Taking out the jerky from his arms, he opened his mouth and bit it, tearing off a few strands of meat vigorously, then raised his head to the sky to take a few mouthfuls of rainwater, mixed with chewing and swallowing into his stomach, without any expression of enjoyment on his face. After many days of torment, the white and tender little boy in the general's mansion became extremely dirty and thin, and the little boy's lips were full of upturned dry skin, and blood oozed from time to time between his teeth when chewing meat.

As the rain began to fade, he checked the knife behind his waist, picked up the stick beside him, and continued north along the road at the foot of the mountain, always guaranteeing that he would have time to escape into Minshan, because he knew that as the rain came back to life, the adults who had come alive and were healthier than before could become his enemies at any time.

There were many corpses piled up on the side of the road ahead, those thin corpses had already decomposed, soaked in the rain at this time, emitting a burst of foul smell, several wild dogs who were also skinny as wood, were squatting next to the corpses to eat, one wild dog was biting an arm that exposed white bones, and was dragging it back vigorously, roaring vigorously from time to time, and the other wild dog was squatting like a human, with two front paws on a thin and rotten thigh, gnawing and gnawing.

Hearing Ning Que's footsteps, several wild dogs stopped eating, raised their heads vigilantly, stared at the little boy on the road, and let out a low and terrifying whimper, and two wild dogs judged that the little boy's body shape should not pose any threat to them, and even gave up the unpalatable carrion in front of them, and began to approach Ning Que.

Ning Que stomped on the ground with the wooden stick in his hand, then took out the firewood knife behind his waist, lowered his body halfway, revealing some slightly swollen teeth that were still oozing blood, and yelled at the two wild dogs a few times.

Probably smelling the blood on the little boy's body, and sensing that the other party had a dangerous Cheng Dù who was different from his body shape, the wild dogs squeaked and retreated, scattered around the corpse pile and stopped eating, ready to wait for him to leave before continuing.

The pile of rotting corpses on the side of the road, the house dog that was supposed to watch the home and the nursing home became a wild dog that ate after decay, Ning Que saw a lot of this kind of picture along the way, and he had already become numb, and he didn't feel anything at all, so he decided to leave immediately, otherwise he would really have to fight with these wild dogs, maybe he would become a member of these rotting corpses in the next moment.

Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly heard a very slight voice.

He glanced back at the rain-soaked pile of rotting corpses, saw no movement, and prepared to leave again.

Just as he was about to leave again, the faint voice rang out again, this time very clearly.

It's the sound of crying.

He walked back to the rain-soaked pile of carrion beside the road, roared, brandished sticks and a wood knife to chase away the wild dogs that felt that the food had been encroached upon, and then chopped off a rotting thigh with a wood knife and threw it far into the rain-soaked dry fields.

The wild dogs whined and ate around the rotting thigh, ignoring his movements for a moment.

Listening to the faint crying sound coming from under the pile of rotting corpses, Ning Que began to move the top corpse, his strength was indeed very small, fortunately, when these dead people died, they were already hungry to the skin and bones, and at this time, most of the internal organs also rotted and turned into water vapor, which was not too difficult to move.

The tentacles were slippery, like some kind of oil sludge eaten during the New Year in Chang'an City, Ning Que shook off the carrion on his hands, and then continued to move, until finally he finally saw the owner of the faint cry.

A corpse lying on its back in the field, dressed in a house-like garment, turned the corpse over and saw the little baby soaked in the rain and corpse fluid. The little baby's face was pale, her lips were blue, her eyes were closed, and she couldn't imagine how she had survived, and how she had been able to make that cry just now.

Ning Que wiped the rotten flesh on his hands on his pants, then carefully picked up the baby, looked at her and said after being silent for a long time: "You don't want me to leave, that's why you cry, right?"

He jumped off the pile of carrion with the baby in his arms, and walked down the road into the distance, and the wild dogs, who had been staring at him for a long time with green eyes, let out a happy whine of joy and ran back into the carrion, and a moment later there was a gurgling sound.

Silently, the rain fell again.

Ning Que glanced at Minshan in the distance, looked down at the pale baby, and thought to himself that if you let you rain for a while, I am afraid that you will not be able to cry in the future. He was looking for something to shelter from the rain, and then he saw a black umbrella beside the road.

The black umbrella was big, old, and dirty.

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The fog is still on the mountain road.

Ning Que bowed his head slightly, standing between the steep stone steps, unable to take a step for a long time.

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With a whoosh, a feathered arrow hit a gray rabbit accurately.

Ning Que stepped forward like lightning, happily picked up the gray rabbit, made a mistake with both hands, and broke the gray rabbit's neck bone very neatly, and then threw it into the bag behind him. The bag behind the boy was heavy, and it seemed that it had already contained a lot of prey.

Squatting under the tree and sniffing, he pulled out the kudzu vine behind the tree and climbed up a steep path to the cliff, where he was pleased to see the greatest result of three days.

A rock sheep fell to the ground, screaming in pain, and the two little lambs were looking at it helplessly, occasionally pushing their heads against its mouth and nose, not knowing whether they wanted to add some strength and confidence to it, or to comfort their relatives before they died.

Ning Que stepped forward silently, lifted a rope in the grass in his hand, pulled it violently, and the beast trapping rope hidden in the grass tightened suddenly, and the two little sheep screamed, fell down heavily, and their hooves were tied together.

The big rock sheep caught in the hind legs of the beast struggled desperately, looking at the little lamb that was tied to its hooves, and screamed anxiously.

"Your lives are good, at least someone is still anxious for you. ”

Ning Que walked to the beast trap, looked at the two little sheep who fell in the grass, shook his head, and then pulled out a knife from his waist and stabbed the big rock sheep directly through the neck.

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"I'm back. ”

Ning Que dragged the corpse of the rock sheep, carried a heavy bag, led the two lambs, and returned to the dilapidated hunting house among the woods.

He was greeted by a little girl, about four or five years old, dressed in animal skins and with a dark complexion.

The hunting house was very dilapidated and dimly lit, and the old hunter who was sitting by the copper brazier put down his cigarette stick, looked at Ning Que with an expressionless face, spit a mouthful of thick phlegm on the ground, and said, "How is today's harvest?"

"Not bad. Ning Que said.

The old Orion's face was full of wrinkles, but you should never expect to see any love on his face, all you could see was greed and coldness.

"Let's eat. ”

The old hunter grabbed a piece of meat and took a bite, feeling that there was something wrong with the taste, and scolded: "This dead girl! Tell you to put less salt! Salt is so expensive! Who will give you money! You ruined girl! You will only eat Lao Tzu and use Lao Tzu, and when I raise you for another two years, Lao Tzu will sell you to a brothel for silver!"

The little girl lowered her head, her eyes were full of horror, Ning Que lowered her head, looking at the sweet potato porridge like clear soup in the bowl, his gaze was reflected in the water, and he could vaguely see the flames like stars.

He had been listening to this kind of reprimand for many years, the old hunter ate meat, and he and Sangsang didn't even have to drink the broth, and he had endured this kind of treatment for many years, and he had been used to it, but it seemed that there was no way to get used to it all the time.

Xiao Sangsang held the porridge bowl with his two small hands, his thin arms trembled a little, and he suddenly coughed.

Ning Que stretched out his hand and stabilized the bowl for her.

The old hunter took a sip of the spirits, looked at them drunkenly, and said, "You are sensible, if the bowl is broken, how can I clean her up." ”

Ning Que glanced at the meat bowl in front of the old Orion, stood up and walked over, and said very sincerely: "Grandpa, Sang Sang was sick again last night, do you want her to eat a piece of meat too?"

The old hunter slapped Ning Que on the head, glared at him and scolded: "Is the prey used for you to eat? It is used to exchange money for salt! If you think I am not good to you, then let Lao Tzu go! When you catch the tiger for me and use the tiger bones to pay for all these years of food, I will let you go! Lao Tzu spent a lot of money to make a stainless steel clamp, but you are useless!"

Ning Que retreated in silence.

After the old hunter finished drinking, he went out of the house to check on the prey that Ning Que had brought back today.

After a while, he walked in angrily with a whip, slashed his head and face at Ning Que, and scolded: "You loser! How many times has Lao Tzu taught you! The big guys will be dragged back for me and slaughtered! Whoever let you be slaughtered outside!"

Ning Que's face was covered with blood, but he didn't dodge or hide, because he knew that there was no point in dodging, he lowered his head and explained: "That rock sheep is too heavy, I can't drag it back if I don't kill it first, and besides, I pay a lot of attention to it, and it should be no problem to peel the skin." ”

"What's the use of you if you can't drag it back!"

The old hunter slapped him angrily and roared, "You only know skin, and you can sell it for money if you forget blood!"

"Bastard!"

The old Orion walked out of the hunting house in a huff.

Ning Que looked at Sang Sang, who was holding the porridge bowl with his head down, wiped the blood off his face, looked at her and said with a smile: "This is good, don't try to block the whip for me in the future, otherwise that old thing will smoke harder." ”

Sang Sang hugged the big porridge bowl and nodded vigorously.

"Dead Nizi, don't boil the bath water yet!"

Outside the house, the old Orion's angry and resentful shouts were heard, and no one knew where his angry resentment came from.

Sang Sang raised his head and looked at Ning Que nervously.

Ning Que was stealing the meat that the old hunter had forgotten to hide, and nodded after a moment of silence.

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There are two worlds inside and outside the vast Minshan Mountain.

The world outside the mountains has come to the Tang Empire for five years after the Apocalypse, and for the people living in the mountains, the days are just a monotonous repetition of day after day, and for the old hunter who took in Ning Que and Sangsang, there are finally some other pastimes in this monotonous repetition, such as whipping and insulting or something.

This year, Ning Que will turn ten years old and is already a teenager.

This year, Sangsang was five years old.

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Sangsang poured hot water into the bucket, and the mist steamed.

The old hunter in the barrel looked at her and scolded: "You dead girl is black and dirty, wash yourself quickly." ”

Sang Sang nodded, then walked out of the door, took a basin of hot water from Ning Que's hand and walked back with difficulty.

The hot water in the basin was just boiling and it was hot.

Sangsang stood on the bench and poured out from head to toe on the old hunter.

An extremely mournful scream rang out from inside the room.

The old Orion ran out all over his body, his body was covered with scalding blisters, he squinted, he couldn't see clearly what was outside, he held a hunting knife in his hand, brandished it like a madman, and cursed the most vicious swear words he knew.

There was a loud thud, and the pieces of metal slammed together, and the old hunter fell headlong with an even more terrible scream.

His right leg was half-broken in the steel trap used to hunt tigers.

Ning Que and Sang Sang walked over and looked at the old Orion who was lying in a pool of blood.

Even in this situation, the old hunter still retained the ruthlessness of the mountain people, staring at Ning Que and scolding: "You bastard! You ungrateful thing! You don't want to die!"

"Well, we have taken revenge in the past few years, and now is the time for revenge. ”

Ning Que took out the hunting knife from behind him, looked at the flesh and skin on the old Orion's body, looked at the poor guy at the base of his blood-covered thigh, and said, "I originally wanted to endure it for another two days, but you refused to give us a chance to endure it any longer." ”

"If you weren't going to sell Sangsang to a brothel, we wouldn't have thought of killing you. ”

"If you weren't going to take a bath, we wouldn't be thinking about killing you. ”

Ning Que looked at him and was silent for a long time before continuing: "Actually, just now...... If you're willing to let Sangsang eat a piece of meat, maybe we won't kill you, and we might sneak away on our own. ”

The old Orion panted and looked at him in dismay.

Ning Que clenched the hunting knife in his hand and slashed it down.

The old Orion's head fell.

A moment later, Ning Que walked out of the hunting house with a boxwood hardwood bow and quiver on his back, and the hunting knife at his waist was slightly swinging.

Xiao Sangsang followed behind him with a big shabby black umbrella.

"When you're tired, come to my back. ”

Then the two of them disappeared into the vast Minshan mountains.

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Night had come, and the dense fog in the mountain behind the academy was as smooth and thick as milk.

Ning Que stood on the stone steps with his head down, and after being silent for a long time, his hands slowly raised.

His hands were hollow into fists, as if he were holding an invisible knife.

The night wind howls from the mountain road.

He leaned slightly, and slashed down with a knife, cutting through the night and the mountain path.

A knife fell, and the stone steps went up one level.

There was silence in the thick fog at the top of the mountain.

A voice full of pity sounded: "I don't know what kind of suffering Ning Que has encountered in this life, and I have never heard him say it in the old book building, how is this mountain road to him...... It's so hard. ”

"The mountain road is long, the past heart is all turned into reality in front of the climber, if you can see through or look down, maybe it will be easier, but if you can't see through, and give birth to remorse, then there will never be hope of climbing. ”

The second senior brother's voice sounded slowly, and it was only at this time that there was finally a solemn respect in his voice.

"The two people who climbed the mountain today are very interesting, especially Ning Que. ”

"Those memories and pains in the depths of his heart, although he doesn't know what the specific things are, he is not willing to forget them at all, let alone have the slightest remorse, and even think it is unnecessary to see through them. Facing the darkest corners of his heart, those most painful experiences, he is still the same choice he made today. ”

"If he can't see through it, how can he keep his heart and stay the same for years?"

"Since you don't want to see through it, you can only kill it. ”

"He wanted to break through the mountain path. ”

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