Two children, a boy and a girl. He was about seven or eight years old, and his face was stained with oil and black dirt. They were thin, skinny, skinny bodies shivering in the cold wind. Wrapped in a tattered blanket, his eyes staring straight at the roast on the stone. The boy swallowed, sticking out his tongue and licking his cracked lips.

"Do you want to eat?" asked Kaede with a smile.

The boy nodded.

Kaede picks up a few pieces of roasted meat with a dagger and places them on a clean stone. The two children immediately reached out to catch it, and they were not afraid of the heat. When he caught it, he shrank down in a pile of rocks not far from the cave, and blew on the barbecue with his small mouth. When the temperature drops a bit, they can't wait to put the roast meat in their mouths. For a while, a few pieces of barbecue meat were eaten clean.

Su shook her head and said, "You shouldn't give them something to eat." ”

Feng spread his hands and said, "Don't be like this, they are just two children." Besides, we can't finish eating all this meat. ”

"How long do you think they've not eaten?" asked Su.

Kaede shook his head: "Who knows, two days, or three days?"

"I haven't tasted the meat for a long time, and once I eat it, I can't stop. You give them just a few pieces of meat, but you turn them from people into devils. Su said softly.

Kaede seemed to understand what she meant, and when she looked again, the two children were gone.

Zero kept smiling, not interfering with the conversation between his two partners. He also ate a piece of barbecue, and then said, "Pack up your things." ”

"Now?"

"What do you think?" asked Zero.

Kaede was about to say something, but a human voice came from the wind. More and more footsteps approached the area, as if a pack of wolves had smelled the smell of meat and were surrounding it. In the wind, a child screamed, "Those people have food!"

Hearing this, Kaede couldn't help but show a bitter expression: "It seems that I have been in the civilized world for too long and have forgotten the rules of the barbarian world. ”

"It's okay, it's good to brush up once in a while. Zero patted him on the shoulder.

Soon, a group of homeless people, dozens of them, had surrounded the entrance of the cave. All of them have red eyes, and these people are more or less wearing mutated tissues, and they have iron rods or knives in their hands. At the front, a fat man with a revolver pinned to his waist seemed to be the head of these people. Two children squeezed out from behind him, and the boy pointed at Kaede and said, "Look, they still have meat!"

"Got it, little ghost. Get out of the way, I'll give you a barbecue to eat. The fat man felt out the left wheel.

The boy was stunned and corrected: "We said just now, my sister and I are alone!"

The fat man slapped him to the ground: "Bunny, there's no place for you to talk here." If you don't get out, Lao Tzu will kill you two. ”

The girl hurriedly helped her brother out of the crowd. The fat man grinned at this time, "My name is Luce, and I and my people have been hungry for two days. Looks like you have something to eat......"

Zero smiled and said, "Things for you, please get out of the way, let's go now." ”

The fat man was stunned, he didn't expect Zero to be so generous. His eyes rolled, and he sighed in his heart when he looked at him. People are sometimes like that, getting what they want, but wanting more. Greed is a bottomless pit, and some people never know how to be satisfied, just like the fat man in front of them.

Luce smiled and said, "You're so generous. It is better for you to leave your weapons behind. Wait, and that woman. Right. Stay this way, and you two can fuck me off. ”

Anger welled up in Su's eyes, and his hand was about to touch the Titan heavy sword resting beside him with strips of cloth wrapped around it. Zero had already stood up one step ahead of him, looked at the fat man and said, "Your name is Luz, right? If I were you, I wouldn't be so aggressive." Again, the food is for you, we go, and everyone saves a lot of trouble. ”

Luce looked at Zero seriously, laughed after a moment, turned back to the person behind him, and said, "Look, this monkey is still going to scare me." ”

He turned his head sharply, and the revolver nodded at Zero's brow: "It's a pity that Lao Tzu is scared!"

Zero Hand bounced, and suddenly a white light flashed in the hole. A short knife leaped into Zero's hand, slashing through Luce's wrist first. Slashed his revolver along with his palm, and then the white light flashed again, and the dagger plunged deep into Luce's chest. When he pulled it out again, Luce's eyes widened, and the body, which was no longer breathing, fell to the ground with a "bang".

No one thought that Zero, who was still kind just now, would suddenly pull out a knife and kill someone. And it was so fast that when they saw the smile on Zero's face again, the homeless people began to retreat in fear. They finally realized that they had provoked someone they could not afford to provoke.

Erasing the blood stains on the short knife, Zero put away the knife and said, "Get out of the way." ”

With a bang, the homeless people moved out of the way. Zero glanced at the first two of them, and the three of them left calmly. Once they were out of the crowd, the homeless people poured into the cave and scrambled for barbecue, even scuffling with each other for it. At this time, no one looked at Luce's body.

As he passed by the two children, Zero crouched down. The boy was so frightened that he retreated, but he still stubbornly protected the girl behind. He trembled and said, "Sir, the man is my name." Please spare my sister. ”

"What's your name?"

"Ender. ”

"Ender, you're smart, but it's a pity you're in the wrong place. Zero placed a packet of things wrapped in pieces of a cloak in front of his eyes: "Remember, to survive, you must first learn moderation. Whether it's food, or your ambitions. Now, take this thing and leave. I don't think you're going to want to let the people inside see this stuff. ”

Patting Ender's head, the three of them walked away. Ender opened Brie's stuff slightly, and it was four or five pieces of roast. He hurriedly and carefully put it away, and then pulled the girl away from the cave occupied by the outcasts.

Not long after Zero-3 and the two children left, a team quietly touched the vicinity of the cave. By this time, some of the homeless people in the cave were already lying nearby to rest, while others were still carefully scraping the ointment from the baking stones, and then sending it to their mouths to suck. So when a group of heavily armed soldiers appeared at the entrance of the cave, the homeless people couldn't even react.

Several gunshots rang out from the direction of the cave, and Zero turned his head and frowned, "That's the sound of a new weapon." ”

"Could it be someone from the council?" Kaede wondered, "What are they doing?"

"Who knows, let's go, go back and see. ”

By the time they returned to the cave, the council soldiers and most of the outcasts had disappeared. In the cave, there was only a thin, thin and short outcast, with only one leg left, huddled in a corner. He clutched his head, and it wasn't until Zero pulled his hand that he knew the soldier had left.

"What's going on?" Zero asked.

"They've taken them all, the devils. "The thin man was a little incoherent.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that his mood calmed down somewhat. His name was Waley, and he once broke the leg of a corpse wolf. He had cursed such a fate, but today, because of the missing leg, he was saved.

"Since the fall, they have been going around arresting people. Yes, the soldiers of the Dark Council. "At that time, the war had not yet reached our settlements, but we had heard of them arresting young men in some small towns or villages. ”

"Catch someone?" Zero frowned.

"Yes sir, after they took the man, I heard that he was thrown into the factory to work as coolies. When the coolie is good, the bitterness is a little harder, at least he can survive. Some of the unlucky ones were thrown into the troops, and each of them was given a broken gun and let them go into battle. They are not soldiers, and even less warriors, just cannon fodder for the consumption of enemy ammunition!"

Waley put his head in his hands and said, "It was hell, and many settlements were disbanded early because of this. We all hid in the mountains, or went further afield. But these devils are still behind us, and we are all going to die, we are all going to die! It's all this damn war!"

Kaede and Zero found a place outside the cave to bury the body of the fat man, and when they returned to the cave, Waley was already asleep. He was huddled in a ball, his body trembling slightly under the thin blanket. Looking at Waley, it is like looking at the silhouette of this era. The war has exacerbated the hardships of these people, who are already living an easy life, but in this era, the voices of most people are empty and powerless.

Only that small number of people are qualified to make their voices heard in this era, and a word from a big man affects the fate of countless ordinary people. The impact of the war is even greater, and it will continue to be so bad now that Prosius is out of prison.

Damn war!

He lit a small bonfire, leaned against the mountain wall, and fell asleep with a heavy sword. Zero and Kaede didn't feel sleepy, and seeing that Zero used dead branches to pull out the flames and make them burn more vigorously to expel the cold in the cave, Kaede said, "Head, what do you think?"

"The council is arresting people, it is nothing more than the way to clear the frontier, in order not to leave any living force for Valhalla. But it's a great move, and it looks like Oglok is being ruthless. After all, doing this kind of thing is tantamount to pushing people into the arms of the enemy. At this time, Asgard will use a little more gentle means, and they will almost fall to the side of Valhalla. Zero said.

Kaede shook his head and said, "So, isn't Ogellock digging his own grave?"

"No, as long as he beats Asgard before that happens, he's still the winner. When the time comes, the outcasts of the wilderness will have no choice but to cling to their wings. It's just that once this happens, it can only show that Ogellock also wants to end the war as soon as possible. Ben was right, he should have felt it. ”

"Prosius? It's a headache to think about, and at this point, our speaker still won't give up. Kaede scratched his head.

"He was an ambitious man, but anyone who is ambitious is not easily shaken. Maybe it's good for him to take down Valhalla, even if he is killed by Prosius the next moment. ”

Kaede lost his voice and said, "What's the point of that victory?"

"It doesn't make sense to anyone else, but for Oglok, it's all there is to life. Zero sighed and said, "Ben said that Oglock has been proving himself right all his life. ”