There is a bird in the desert called the raven, which is a bird that is completely black, and is also called the bird of death.

With the corpse, with death as the companion, in the northwest such a large battlefield where often wars break out, death is commonplace, the two armies fight, countless casualties, once there is a human corpse, there will inevitably be a raven scrambling for the carrion of the corpse.

They roam in groups, in mixed groups, black as dark clouds, their bodies and beaks are much larger than those of ordinary birds, and their claws are sharper, which allows them to tear through the fur of their prey and devour carrion.

Where there are ravens, there is death.

Therefore, the raven has become a bad omen, a bird of death, and everyone is afraid to avoid it.

In the desert to the northwest near the Dock City, there is a group of people who occupy an oasis, they are uniformly black, well-trained and disciplined, like a regular small army, they gather here for crime, arrogant, wanton looting, whether it is a passing caravan or the people scattered in the oasis, they have been harassed, and even attacked the garrison of the Dock City, like a flock of scattered ravens.

Therefore, the people who live here angrily call this group of sand bandits raven thieves, to indicate that the place where this group of sand bandits passes, wailing all over the field, but the sand bandits feel that this name is particularly loud, and they carry out the ominous that being a raven should bring, and it has become more and more rampant, and has become a great harm in the desert on the same level as the wind and sand, and even more frightening than the sandstorm, all evil, and appalling.

This group of sand bandits is not afraid of heaven and earth, but only obeys the orders of one person, the leader of the sand bandits, a one-eyed man who has just passed the age of knowing his fate.

The one-eyed man is rumored to be moody, cold, eccentric, tyrannical, and even rumored to have his missing eye gouged out by his own madness, which shows how terrifying it is.

It was he who commanded his sand bandits to loot wantonly, tease the people, and sneak attack the garrison of Wucheng, which inevitably made people wonder what happened between him and General Wan of Wucheng, so he has been entrenched in the desert to commit rebellion.

When he appeared, it was half a year after General Huwei died in battle, and it is said that it was because he was afraid of General Lin's iron and blooded wrist in the past, and did not dare to make trouble, as soon as General Lin passed away, he had no scruples, and he understood the character of the newly appointed General Wan, and did not take General Wan in his eyes at all, and began to do evil unscrupulously and became a pest in the desert.

For more than a decade, no one remembered his real name, and everyone simply replaced his name with Raven.

There is a way that black clouds overwhelm the city, and ravens become disasters.

○

Although the desert is dry and lacks water, there are still rainy days, but they are extremely rare, and the oases have more rainy days.

Every time it rains in the oasis, the eaves will begin to drip droplets, like someone playing a soft and soft tune in the cold wind outside, and the hollow socket of his gouged out eye will be dull and annoying.

Before dawn, he lay on the bed, but he could no longer fall asleep, tossing and turning, and remembered the boy who blocked the way he saw yesterday during the day.

What made him care more was the young man's hand

The sword in his hand.

When he saw the sword clearly, he only felt that the blood around him had congealed in an instant.

Even though it has been more than ten years in a hurry, the appearance of the sword is like a blood-stained brand, deeply engraved in his heart, he can imagine the appearance of the sword with his eyes closed, the sword body is silver and white, there is a dark green long line in the middle, the hilt and scabbard are made of fine jasper, exuding a warm luster.

The reason why he was so familiar was that the sword once belonged to a general.

This sword is very similar to his general, obviously born in the rivers and lakes, but he treats his subordinate soldiers very kindly, and even the name does not look like the cold wind and snow in the northwest, with some softness of the weeping willows in the south.

Lin Jingzhi, his great general.

He followed, the only great general to admit.

Although the swordsmanship used by the young man was not in the slightest resemblance to the swordsmanship used by the general, he would never admit that sword.

So, when the sword appeared in front of his eyes, he had mixed feelings, shock, joy, and remorse.

So, who is this teenager?

The only son who was sent away by the general back then?

If so, is he that old now?

These thoughts churned in his mind, and he could no longer lie down, and in the darkness he rolled over and sat up, and put on a garment.

The blindfold that he had removed when he slept was quietly placed at the head of the bed, and his right eye was pierced by a hideous scar that was deep and visible to the bone, and there was no pupil, only an empty eye socket, crawling with scabs, and the flesh at the knife marks was entangled, which looked a little terrifying, and forcibly destroyed the resolute and strong bronze face.

There was no light in the room, the light was dim, and he listened to the sound of the rain outside the window, and became more and more upset.

After a while, he finished dressing and went out of the door, and one of his subordinates on night duty was dozing under the porch, and was awakened by the sound of him pushing the door, and hurriedly rubbed his eyes and ran over.

"Boss, are you going out?"

The raven looked at the young face in front of him who was respectful to him, some of them were fresh, like a newcomer, and had been honestly guarding the porch since he had been sent to keep vigil, and the clothes on one shoulder had been wet by the night rain, and he was covered in cold.

He stretched out his hand and pressed the little sand bandit's shoulder, his voice was dry, like the air in the northwest in winter, and it looked particularly low and cold in the rain, which made the young little sand bandit tremble.

"Well, get out of here. The night is cold and rainy, beware of infection, come here today first, go back to sleep. ”

"Ahh

Hearing this sudden concern, the little sand bandit was a little flattered, but from the seniors, he knew that the leader known as the raven had always hated unruly people the most, and the little sand bandit did not dare to disobey the raven's order, so he bowed respectfully and retreated.

He sighed for no reason, stood under the porch for a while, and then walked down the corridor to the front hall, took his black horse, grabbed only a rain coat and put it on, turned over on the horse neatly, his body collapsed into a bow, and rushed into the thick night in the drizzle, and the cold wind carried the rain on his face.

The sound of horses' hooves is urgent, chattering, and stepping on the water

Flower.

Like that year, his great general rode towards him.

Ten years is like a dream, and the general's bones are cold.

○

I can't remember how long I hadn't seen a living thing, but when the raging flood receded, the ground was left in a mess, and everything that could be seen was soaked in the air, whether it was houses, haystacks, people, or people.

He lay on the ground and twisted his head with difficulty, his lips were already dry and chapped with a layer of white dead skin, his face was covered with a layer of gray color, and it was difficult to swallow saliva, and the only thing he could do was to open his eyes half-dead.

yes, soaking.

His father and mother lay dead under him, soaked by the flood, and supported him with their flesh bodies, so that he could survive, but they had lost their breath in the water, their eyes widened abruptly, their faces were soaked and distorted, and the air was filled with an almost gray smell of decay.

Corpses are everywhere, lifeless.

Is he going to die?

If everyone is dead, he will die too......

At that time, he was only nine years old, and his hometown was not in the northwest, where the yellow sand was full of yellow sand and the evil wind was howling, and he was born in a small town in the east of the gentle Jiangnan.

A few days earlier, the mouth of the big river in the town burst its banks, and there was a big flood, and without warning, the natural disaster instantly swallowed this small town, roaring to more places, and the muddy and dirty water washed down the houses, swallowed the people who were still asleep, destroyed his home, and engraved the four words life thinner than paper into his bones.

A natural disaster can take the lives of countless people in an instant.

To whom can you place your hope?

It's just a small town in the middle of nowhere, and no one cares if they live or die.

At least, in the eyes of those in power, their lives are as cheap as ants.

He was young but he also knew that there was a flood in the eastern part of the Yangtze River, and such news could soon reach the ears of the highest person, and if he rushed a batch of excerpts, the money and food for disaster relief would be sent to the eastern region as soon as possible, and that was the hope of the victims. However, those moth-eater officials who took the imperial court money didn't care about what kind of nightmare the people had suffered, and the disaster relief money that was pulled down was passed down layer by layer, and each layer was deducted a little, and when it was sent to the disaster area and used to relieve the affected people, the money and food were already left, and then in order to complete the tasks handed over from above, they made a show to help the larger towns that were not seriously affected, so that the people who still survived received the small favors of the court officials, but they still thought it was a great kindness, although it was a pretend, at least someone was willing to take care of it, and they were such a remote village could only resign themselves to fate and fend for themselves, and no one would care about the most severely affected places, care about the life and death of these people.

Otherwise, why was he lying alone in the pile of dead men three days after the flood?

He didn't have the strength to crawl out, and the survivors didn't have the strength to save him, so he could only resign himself to fate and fend for himself.

He's going to die.

Thinking so, the sound of horses' hooves suddenly sounded in the distance, and they stepped on it one by one

In his heart, a deep and majestic voice sounded in his ears.

"Everyone is under my command, and they must carefully search for any people alive in the vicinity, and bring the survivors back to the shelter. ”

"Yes!"

The man's men saluted in unison and scattered away.

It was a little far away, and his speech was hazy, but he realized something.

Who's coming?

Will they come to his rescue?

If you save him, will he be able to take a sip of water? He's really dying of thirst.

Hearing the sound of someone's footsteps nearby, he felt his heart beat a lot harder, and opened his mouth to make a noise to get the man's attention, but his throat was so dry that it was almost smoking, and he tried several times, but he couldn't make any sound.

He was lying on his father's corpse, his body stiff and swollen, his eyes blinking slowly for a long time, and he looked like a corpse.

At the end of the wall in his sight, there seemed to be a flock of black crows and crows, looking at him excitedly and turning their heads and ears.

That's the bird of death, and there's a lot of corpses here.

I think the man thought the same thing, and walked around him, but didn't notice him all the time.

He's right here!

He's alive!

Can you save him?

(End of chapter)