At the foot of the mountain is a small village called Wood Village, a village where the whole village has been engaged in logging for generations. The village is small but there are not many people who come and go, because in this village surrounded by abundant natural resources, you can find any kind of wood you want, ironwood for houses, spruce wood for houses, mahogany for furniture, rosewood, and if you can name it, the lumberjacks here can find it from the forest.

Lumberjack is a job that requires an early riser, you need to be in the forest with the sun, and usually the merchants who buy timber will arrive in the village in the afternoon, so the lumberjacks need to prepare the timber for the order before that.

Chad can be said to be the first lumberjack to enter the mountains, he is a young lumberjack and a goal-oriented lumberjack, he needs to save a sum of money this year and marry the girl who laughs like the sun, every time he thinks of that smile Chad is always full of strength, and the axe in his hand is more and more powerful.

"Hey Chad, have you saved enough money? Raising a woman is not an easy task. ”

"I completely agree, especially beautiful women, they are a heaven for the eyes and a hell for the soul. ”

"And purgatory for wallets. ”

"Hahaha, you're so right, my brother. ”

Chad chooses to ignore the words of the two Finnish brothers, two cowards who hold women all day long but only talk about not daring to touch women themselves.

Big brother Harlan grabbed Chad's shoulders and said, "What's the matter, my man, why don't you speak, can't you refute it?"

Brother Hardy: "I think Chad has been tricked, he will never be able to break free again in his life, it's a pity Harun, we will lose a best friend." ”

The two brothers looked sad.

Chad: "Well, how can I tell the two flightless gophers how big the sky is?"

The two brothers froze.

"Hahahaha, that's a good point, Chad, two hairy boys who haven't tasted women still dare to point fingers here. ”

A gruff voice came from behind the trio, it was their captain, the old lumberjack Truman. Every group of young lumberjacks will be accompanied by at least an experienced "old man", and Chad will be in charge of this group by Truman, who is an experienced master.

Harlan was unconvinced: "Master Truman, do you mean that Chad already knows what it is like to be a woman? ”

Hardy chimed in: "That's it, it's even more bullshit than my sow giving birth to a litter of pups." ”

Chad did not respond to the questioning of the two, he looked at the two brothers condescendingly for a while, and suddenly smiled and continued to hurry, the two brothers looked at each other, and both saw the shock on each other's faces. The next moment, the two brothers rushed over, and one of them carried Chad, dragged him away from the team, and planned to use "torture to extract a confession", but the old lumberjack Truman did not stop him, so that the fight was what a young man should be and not like himself, except for the shiny axe in his hand, there was nothing.

In the midst of the fighting, the logging team arrived at its destination. In the early morning, the forest is foggy, and the field of vision is milky white three meters away.

Harlan: "Master Truman, what should I do in this situation? It's dangerous not to see people. ”

Truman: "That's right, it's important to make sure it's safe when a tree falls." ”

Knock, knock, knock.

The rhythmic, powerful sound of striking came through the fog, and everyone listened attentively.

Hardy: "Huh... Is this the sound of trees chopping down? Is there anyone before us?"

Truman also wondered how they were the first lumberjacks in the village today, and how could there be a team that was even earlier than himself?

Truman was shocked and shouted, "The boys are scattered, the trees are going to fall to our side!"

After pushing away a few young lumberjacks who were closer to him, Truman immediately rolled with his head in his hands, and everyone scattered, and in the next moment, a stout tree fell down in the position where everyone had just been, and the air flow blew away a lot of the surrounding white mist.

Truman finally remembered someone, and he was right that there were indeed no lumberjacks in the "village" who were earlier than himself, but he ignored a strange person.

Truman roared, "Damn it, Cracked Mouth!" you almost killed us!"

After a little silence, he replied, "This voice...... Are you old Truman?"

Truman: "Yes, you damn bitch, are you trying to bury me in the ground with this tree?

"Sorry old man, I thought there was no one at this point in time, so I picked a random tree. ”

In order to ensure safety, a point is generally selected, and the tree must be cut in a circle around the center, and the direction of the tree must also be outside, and the lumberjack team will work in the circle, which can prevent the big trees from falling to hit themselves or their own people.

As the two brothers approached Chad, Hardy whispered, "Is Master Truman talking about the 'Crackmouth'?"

Harun: "Otherwise, who else could it be, the forest is so big, and it really happened to us, I really don't know if we are lucky or unlucky." ”

Chad didn't comment, and the whole village of Wood had different things to say about him. Some people say that a cleft mouth has a mouth that is bigger than the face, so big that it doesn't fit and the jaw often drops, and because the big mouth is heavy even if it's just a chin. So once when I opened my mouth, I didn't pay attention to the force, my chin fell to the ground, and the big mouth cracked, which was called "cracked mouth". It is also said that Cracked Mouth is a strong man with an amazing appetite and half the height of a big tree, because his body is big and eats a lot, once he was too hungry to eat in a hurry, and stuffed too much food into his mouth to crack his mouth, so he was called "Cracked Mouth".

There are many more outrageous claims.

But either way, they all have one thing in common, Splitmouth is a weirdo who likes to live alone in the mountains, or a cursed weirdo.

So the people of the village more or less avoided him.

But today, this famous crack mouth was encountered by himself.

However, Chad found that Master Truman did not seem to be as afraid of cracking as the others, at least not as obviously as the two cowards around him, but rather as if he was greeting a friend.

Truman was still angry: "What's the matter? Can't you even apologize in person for doing something wrong? Or do you think you've been hiding for too long and now you're shy when you see people? Hurry up and roll over to Lao Tzu!"

There was silence again, and there was a powerful sound of footsteps in the fog, and the sound was getting closer, and the young lumberjacks began to get a little nervous, they had all heard their different versions of the "cracked mouth story", and the big trees that had just fallen were not as scary as the footsteps they were now.

A large hand cut through the white mist, and a man about Truman's height appeared in front of everyone, the man was a lumberjack, still a burlap vest, baggy trousers and a pair of sturdy shoes in the cool autumn, and a sharp axe in his hand.

But the same dress made the young people unconsciously take a step back, and the cracked mouth was exactly what his name suggested, and he had a deep scar on his face, from right to left, from the cheekbone to the left chin diagonally, and the scar also split his mouth into four, and there was a piece of flesh missing from the bottom, as if it had been cut off by some sharp weapon.

The atmosphere surrounded by white fog and the terrifying countenance made most of the young lumberjacks afraid to make any eye contact with them, and only Truman could look at them openly.

Truman: "Stinky boy, my courage is really not small, even I dare to scare me, you should be glad that I am nearly seventy years old and my body is still strong, if I change to Pushkin, I will probably be scared by you on the spot and die here." ”

Cracked mouth: "Don't be like that Truman, you know I didn't mean to, and you've never been so early." ”

Truman: "Hmph, is it our fault that you say that? ”

The old lumberjack Truman was unceremoniously, and he slapped his head according to the cracked mouth, and the cracked mouth was not annoyed, and he smiled obediently, but this laugh surprised the young man behind him again.

Truman glanced at them, waved his big hand and shouted: "Okay, okay, what are you doing, hurry up and eat something and then give me your axe to die, there are a lot of orders today, don't think about going down the mountain until you finish it, especially the two of you, Harlan and Hardy, if you are lazy again, I promise to open your ass and flowers, and then tie you to a tree to enjoy the feeling of a big tree falling!"

Truman's loud voice changed everyone's attention, and everyone began to move, each of them found an open space to sit down, took out dry bread and water, and prepared to eat breakfast, without exception, as far as the cracked mouth could go, only Chad was still looking at the cracked mouth while eating the bread, and he felt that this terrible cracked mouth seemed to be a man who loved to laugh, even if the mouth became like this, the look of his eyes did not lie.

Crackmouth began to clean up the outstretched branches of the big tree he had just cut down with an axe while everyone was eating breakfast, and like the lumberjacks in the village, he had his own orders, even if he lived in the forest all year round. Suddenly, a loaf of bread flew into his sight, and Crackmouth caught it, and Truman, who was sitting for breakfast, waved over to Crackmouth.

Crackmouth sat down and said, "I have my own breakfast, and I'll go back to breakfast after I finish this tree." ”

Truman was still a little angry when he spoke: "Go back, where to go back? I really don't understand why you like to live here, and you think you can pat your ass and leave if you apologize for what you just did? Hurry up and eat, and help me cut down this circle of trees after eating, this is the 'apology' that should be." ”

Crackmouth smiled, stuck his axe in the ground and began to eat bread, which attracted many people to watch secretly, and the young lumberjacks were curious about what it would be like to eat with such a mouth.

Truman suddenly stood up and waved the bread in his hand and scolded: "Can't the little cubs even concentrate on eating? Do you still need me to feed you one bite at a time? Hurry up, after I finish eating this bread, I don't care if you are full or not, I will work for Lao Tzu!"

Everyone returned their attention to the bread in their hands, and Truman snorted before sitting down again: "What a bunch of guys who are neither big nor small, just like you." ”

Cracked mouth smiled: "Don't blame them Truman, this is normal, I have long been used to it, it's not that I hate people looking at me like this, so I don't go back to live in the village, but ...... It's nice to be quiet in the mountains and not need to see too many people every day. ”

Truman froze, shook his head, took a bite of bread, chewed intently, chewed and muttered to himself, "Of course I don't see many people in the forest all day."

After eating, the lumberjacks began to find the tree they were responsible for, because most of them were young people with insufficient experience and skills, so the general method would be to cut down a tree with three or two people, don't look at the seemingly easy way to cut a tree with several people, the trees here are notoriously thick, and it is not easy for several people to cut down the tree together.

Harun: "Ha, ha, hey, ha, you, ha, what do you think?"

Hadi: "Haa, ha, what, ha, what, what do you think?"

The two brothers were swinging their axes alternately.

Harlan stopped, slammed his axe on the ground and said, "Whew, what else could it be, of course it's Crackmouth." ”

Hardy also stopped: "What's the matter, although it looks scary, it's not good to help us cut down trees now." ”

Harun: "I used to hear people in the village talk about what kind of character he was, but I didn't expect that even Master Truman could call him at will. ”

Hardy: "Even Master Truman, my good brother watch your mouth, even though Truman is old, I have no doubt that he can take us both down with a single slap." ”

Harlan: "A slap in the face? That's you, my words...... At least two slaps. ”

Chad, who had not stopped from beginning to end, continued to swing the axe in an orderly manner, and his breath was not as thick as that of the two brothers, obviously Chad knew the rhythm of swinging the axe that suited him, although it was the three of them cutting down a tree together, but almost all of them were Chad swinging the axe, and the two brothers always stopped from time to time to chat a few words.

Chad: "Okay you two, have you forgotten what Master Truman said? ”

Moving out of Truman didn't scare the two brothers, and Harlan asked, "Chad, you're not curious about the cracked mouth at all?"

Chad replied as he swung his axe, "Curious about what?"

Hardy: "Of course it's his mouth, do you see the incision in the chin? It's not that the jaw is too heavy, and the food in the mouth is too much, it's obviously cut off." ”

Chad: "So what? Do you dare to go over and ask him?"

Harlan: "...... That's not necessary. ”

Hardy: "...... That is, maybe others don't want to talk about it. ”

Chad: "In that case, let's do it with our hands instead of our mouths, we're almost slashing here, let's change the direction and cut it a little." ”

The two brothers shrugged their shoulders, and finally slowly began to concentrate on cutting down the tree, led by Chad.

......

...

"The tree is falling!"

"The tree is falling!"

"The tree is falling!"

Shouting loudly and repeating it is not only telling your peers to be safe, but also to all the loggers in the room.

With the three of them working together, Chad and the two brothers finally solved the first big tree, wiped their sweat together, and had a successful smile on their faces.

"The technology is good, and it takes less time than I thought. ”

An unfamiliar voice sounded behind the three of them, and everyone turned around to look, which frightened Harlan and Hardy backwards

It's a cracked mouth.

Crackmouth asked, "How long have you been cutting down trees?"

The two brothers opened their mouths but did not speak, and only Chad could answer normally: "I'm almost three months old, and they're a little later than me, but it's about the same." ”

Cracked mouth: "Well, technically, you are a lot more powerful, at least you know how to use better force, and where the axe cuts is more effective." ”

Chad: "These Truman masters have taught. ”

Cracked mouth glanced at the two brothers: "Have you been taught? ”

Chad helplessly: "Well, at this point, even if they are my friends, I can't help them say anything." ”

Harlan and Hardy unexpectedly settled, which was a performance that neither Truman had in front of.

Cracked mouth: "Truman gave me time to teach you how to cut down trees faster and more appropriately, I was going to start with the three of you, but now it seems that I can save a lot of effort, you can teach them alone, right?"

Chad: "Perhaps, if there's a problem, I'll ask you again." ”

"Don't ask me for advice, when it comes to cutting down trees, Truman is the most professional, and I'm just better than you, and you won't necessarily meet me next time." ”

Chad thought about it and was going to ask, "Why do you want to live in the mountains?"

Crackmouth touched the scar on his face: "I thought your first question would be about this. I live in the mountains because ...... It's probably a better place for me, and that's probably why. ”

Chad asked again, "It may be a bit rude, but I want to ask if one of the village's claims about you is true?"

The cracked laughter made the two brothers startled again: "How can it be true, it's all fake, these injuries are from a disaster, well, an unforgettable disaster." ”

The overly flat tone made Chad feel that this must be something extraordinary.

While the two were talking, Truman walked over, took out a letter from his bosom and said: "This letter is for you, it arrived a few days ago, and I haven't found you, so I will give it to you first when I happened to meet it today, and God knows when I will find you in this vast mountain next time." ”

Cracked mouth grabbed the envelope, quickly tore it open and checked the letter inside, he read it word by word with wide eyes, and when he read the end of the letter, his cracked mouth eyes began to burst out with high excitement. Cracked Mouth jumped on the spot, raised his hands and jumped in cheers, and even picked up Truman and spun around, and waved on the other party's bearded face.

Dorman had goosebumps all over his body, and his voice trembled with anger: "Damn, what are you doing? God damn it, don't you even let go of an old fellow?! I'll give you three seconds, put me down immediately!"

After Truman put Truman down, he was still excited: "I'm sorry, I'm so happy, do you know what is written on this letter? Oh my God, I can't believe it! No, no, I can't waste any more time here, aha, I'm getting out of here!"

Like a madman, Crackmouth ran all the way down the hill in such a frenzy that even the carpenter's life-like axe fell to the ground.

When the two brothers saw that they had left, they came over and asked, "So what? What is written in this letter?"

Chad: "Who knows. ”

Truman seemed to be aware of it, and he picked up the axe left by the cracked mouth and said, "Are you going to leave again after all?"

The three of them were curious: "Where are you leaving?"

Truman sighed: "This guy is not suitable for land, he is a man who is destined to bury his life in the sea." ”

The rebuilding of Haikou City is being carried out in an orderly manner, not so much rebuilding as to completely start from scratch, this time the disaster is devastating, none of the buildings in the city are complete, the number of casualties is high, and the key paper documents are seriously damaged and missing, which is an irreversible loss of life like life.

The sad past does not affect those who are moving into the future. Under the leadership of the Chamber of Commerce, the people who were confused at first got the direction and began to cheer up again, and in the past two months, Haikou City has begun to stand up again at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In Mike's eyes, the current Haikou City is unfamiliar, it has lost its former prosperity, there are no crowded people, no fragrant food, no dazzling goods, but it is still a beautiful city, a different kind of beauty from before.

The merchant and his party had been in Haikou City for a week, and it was still President Dean's secretary Barron who received them, but this time Barron did not accompany him all the time, he had too many things to do, Barron only arranged for the merchant, Mike, and Elijah to a temporary residence and left in a hurry, and almost never came back for the next week.

As for Dean, Mike hears his name every day but rarely sees him, even Barron is so busy, not to mention President Dean, the only time they meet is when Mike and Elijah are walking in the city and happen to meet Dean in a carriage, and that time Dean just stopped to say hello and left.

It wasn't just Mike and Elija who went out today, the merchants were with them. Every day of the week, the two of them will contribute to the rebuilding of the city, such as helping to prepare meals for the workers, helping to move some wood and pushing some stones, and Ilya will use some simple magic to help build the pillars of the house.

The Orn Empire is very large and has a large population, but the proportion of magicians is not high, among which there are fewer magicians above the third order, and there are even fewer magicians above the fifth order, which is known as the watershed, and there are only three Terran magicians in the "inhuman realm" in the entire empire, one is in the imperial city, one is missing, and the other is rarely known for personal information, only knowing that there is such an existence.

Therefore, in the trade city of Haikou City, if you want to find a large number of magicians to help build it again, of course the Chamber of Commerce can do it After all, money can make ghosts grind, but it is not easy, and the usefulness of entry-level first- and second-order magicians is actually not as great as imagined, especially for the city under your feet, Haikou City alone is one of the best in the entire empire.

But it's better than nothing, it's always a good thing to have one more magician, not to mention a magician who helps others, so Ilya's presence is still very popular in the city, of course, having a beautiful female magician to help, to a certain extent, is very morale-boosting, and can improve the work efficiency of the workers a lot.

After Mike had successfully delivered a square log to his destination, Elijah was hoisting a stake with at least "ten Mikes" in the air and placing it firmly in the designated position of the workers, and receiving loud applause from the workers.

Little Mike is a little weak, he and Elijah had a competition at the beginning, the content is to see who can help more, although he is young, but Mike feels that he is a boy after all, and he will not suffer in terms of contribution, but he didn't expect Elijah to use magic to help, although it is essentially true, but Mike always feels that something is unfair.

"Don't worry about Mike. The merchant also put a square log away, "Ilya was a habitual offender. ”

Mike: "Hmm, manager, shouldn't you say it's a magician?"

Merchant: "Really? It's all the same, don't you see how proud that guy is? Her nose can pierce the clouds. ”

Mike laughed, and the store manager was not satisfied with what Elijah had done, and he suddenly had a question: "Store manager, didn't you say that magicians need to chant spells? Why have I never seen Elijah chant spells?"

Merchant: "Mike, what do you think magic is?"

Mike: "Hmm...... Magic is the ability to do magical things with magical powers. ”

Merchant: "Well, that's true, so let's do as you say." Note that it's 'do magical things with magic', and it doesn't mention spells. ”

Mike: "But that's the idea of an outsider who doesn't know magic." ”

Merchant: "There's nothing wrong with that, no matter what the explanation, there has never been a deliberate requirement that every magician can only perform magic by chanting. Did you know Mike, spells are just a way to visualize magic, it can give you a more concrete and realistic idea of the magic you are about to unleash, so that you will know exactly where and how to use your magic when you drive it? ”

Mike: "Huh...... So, as long as you know what magic looks like, you don't need spells?"

Merchant: "So to speak. The brain, Mike, and the imagination in the brain are very important, and the same magic will have different effects in the hands of different magicians, not only because of the amount of magic, but also because of the influence of your own magic form. Inherent perceptions will cause you to subconsciously drive magic to form what it seems to you that magic should be, but magic has always been intangible, so everyone can theoretically create magic. ”

Mike listened a little foggy, felt as if he understood, and felt a little bit worse, and finally Mike summed it up in a word: "After all, if you are familiar enough with a certain magic, you don't need the help of a spell to deepen your understanding of the form of this magic, and you can activate it directly, right?"

"Exactly, little Mike, your sister Ilya is such a powerful person. ”

Elijah finished her work and came to the two of them, affirming Mike's statement and closing the conclusion for this discussion.

Merchant: "Alright, put your nose away, it's going to poke me." ”

Ilya glared at the merchant before smiling and said to Mike, "How is it, don't you admire me very much, and you are convinced?"

Mike thought slightly: "No, I think Sister Ilya is suspected of cheating in this competition, and the competition is invalid!"

Ilya was surprised: "Well, why, why is it ineffective, who said I was cheating? I didn't say that I couldn't use magic at first." ”

The words are a follow-up question, but Elijah's eyes have been accurately locked onto the target, and the usually well-behaved and obedient little Mike will not make such an excuse.

The merchant put his hands behind his back and calmly and quickly changed the subject: "Our captain has replied to us. ”

Ilya was disdainful, but Mike was very cooperative: "Really?!"

Merchant: "Well, because he didn't receive the letter at the first time, he didn't arrive in Haikou City at the same time as us, and on the day he received the letter, he asked people to reply to us first, and then immediately rushed to Haikou City, and the time should be tomorrow or the day after tomorrow." ”

Mike was a little excited: "Elijah, we will go to sea tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, woohoo!"

Elijah: "yes, yes, if you're happy. ”

Mike: "Of course I'm happy, no, I'm going to finish today's work quickly so that tomorrow will come sooner." ”

After saying that, he ran away alone to move a square log.

Elijah: "You told Mike that I was cheating?"

The merchant hammered his shoulders and said, "I often sit on the workbench and don't exercise much, and my back hurts." ”

Ilya narrowed his eyes and stared at the other party: "Can't afford to play?"

The merchant walked while hammering his shoulder: "You can't stop and be lazy, it's not good to be found by Mike." ”

Ilya watched some shameless guy go farther and farther away, sulking, and after a while, two workers came in the opposite direction, and their conversation reached Ilya's ears.

"It's a pity, I thought I could make a little money this time. ”

"I can't make much money, so Mr. Merchant pressed Little Mike alone, and the odds are too low. ”

"Mr. Merchant is also righteous, knowing that he will lose or pressure his employees, this is a good person. ”

"But it's not, I obviously said that Miss Ilya is a magician, so how can I lose, although Miss Ilya will not use magic to deal with a child, but an adult and a child who wins and who loses is not doomed from the beginning. ”

Suddenly, a figure stopped in front of the two workers: "I'm sorry, where are you two workers?"

"We are workers in the neighborhood next door... Isn't this Miss Elijah, why are you here?"

Ilya said with a gloomy face: "The gamble between me and Mike was set up by our store manager?"

"No, I think the merchant is just to let us have fun and at the same time do good deeds and make a little money, alas, what a good store manager. ”

Ilya's face was as black as carbon.

I finally know why you're not short of money, it turns out that you're following these evil ways!

Ilya gritted her teeth, her eyes were like knives, someone had been cut by a thousand knives in her eyes, and there was no corpse.