Kyushu · Endless Nagato

Chapter 105 The Gate to Hell (5)
"To a certain extent, they are tougher than wild beasts," said the old merchant. "I heard that they were a group of feathered people who threw themselves at humans in the Human Feather War hundreds of years ago. After the war, they were neither accepted by humans, nor Being spurned by the same clan, they simply moved here. Later, they gradually absorbed some fugitives and horse thieves, forming a tribe in the Gobi. There were people of all races, and they moved with the oasis. They will come here to survive, but most of them can't stay there for two days before leaving by themselves, preferring to be caught back."

"You have been here for decades, have you seen them?" asked the dark-faced young man.

"I have seen it once or twice," said the old merchant, "but I only saw their shadows from a distance. Sometimes they would take some prey or ore and go to the residents on the edge of the desert to exchange salt, medicine, etc. necessities, but they generally do not deal with caravans, and it is difficult for caravans to have the goods they need. I am just glad that they generally do not rob, otherwise, with their survivability in the Gobi, no guards can stop them. "

"That must be a group of amazing people," said the young man with an admiration on his face. "I really hope to have the opportunity to deal with them."

"It's better not to," said the old merchant. "Although they generally don't rob, they are more ruthless than horse thieves when they get angry. I have seen with my own eyes that they erected wooden stakes in the desert to warn the enemy. More than 20 people hung on them. A head with a nose cut off... I don't want my own head to be like that."

"Then do you know where their tribe is?" the young man asked again.

Before the old merchant could answer, the guide had already said coldly: "If you want to walk through this Gobi safely, there is one basic principle: don't inquire about things you shouldn't know. Brother Zhang, I don't know why you would treat those The nomads are interested, but I advise you not to ask any more questions, and don't make trouble for everyone."

The young man surnamed Zhang smiled lightly, and sure enough he didn't ask any more questions.As the sky gradually darkened, the guide led the caravan to the camp site that had been planned long ago—the backside of a rocky mountain, and began to set up camp.The young merchant surnamed Zhang seemed a little clumsy. He was not very good at tying camels, lighting fires, or pitching tents, but he worked very hard, and he looked around to help.

"Lao Sang, is this brother Zhang with you?" The guide watched him busy from a distance, and asked the old merchant in a low voice.

The old merchant shook his head: "No. We met in a small town inn on the edge of the Gobi. His family is Chinese from Wanzhou, but he has been doing jade business in Hanzhou. His elder brother was drunk and killed a barbarian on the grassland. With his family's savings, he had no choice but to take the risk and go to Ningzhou to try his luck. Sigh, it's not easy to survive in this world."

"If you're going out for the first time, it's understandable that your hands are clumsy, and there seems to be no flaws in other places," the guide said. "But I still feel something is wrong. Why is he so interested in nomadic tribes?"

"Young people's curiosity, right?" said the old merchant. "When I was his age, I also had a strong interest in all unknown things, but when I got older, I only cared about money and my own life." Interested."

The two laughed together.The journey in the Gobi was difficult, and people got into the tents early to rest after hastily consuming the dry food. The camp soon became quiet, only faint snoring could be heard.But in the middle of the night, a figure quietly walked out of the camp, left the camp against the night wind, went around to the other side of the stone mountain, and lit a bonfire. This was a young businessman surnamed Zhang.When we were camping together before, he used flint to start fire very clumsily, but now, he didn't use flint at all, just lightly with his hand, the flame burned out of thin air in the howling night wind, without any firewood underneath .

There is no doubt that this is a mystic.

Under the firelight, he twirled his fingers lightly, and the fire began to flicker regularly, flickering on and off, like a signal to people in the distance.After seven consecutive flashes, there was also a faint flash in the distance. He waved his hand again, extinguished the bonfire, and whispered to himself in the dark: "There is still a day to go."

A day later, the caravan came to a river valley that had already dried up.There used to be a wide river here, but now there is not a drop of water in the riverbed, only the white bones of animals reflected in the sun, projecting the breath of death into people's eyes.

Looking at those bones, the merchants felt a little uncomfortable, but the old merchant who was used to the world was still talking and laughing with the guide freely.The young merchant surnamed Zhang seemed a little absent-minded. He looked at the river bed for a while, and looked into the distance with his hands on his forehead for a while, as if he was looking for something.

"Attention everyone, the wind is coming!" The guide shouted, "Look at the livestock, tie up the goods, don't panic, follow my command!"

Following his yell, the sky became darker, and the sky in the distance was cloudy, as if someone was stirring the muddy water in the pool. stone.This is a common storm wrapped in sand and stones in the southwest Gobi. The merchants were terrified when they saw it for the first time. When the caravan was swept by the storm, they even had the illusion that they were about to stop breathing.But after experiencing it once or twice, I gradually got used to it. As long as you obey the guide's instructions, you will be fine.They quickly brought the camels together, formed a circle, let the camels kneel down, and the merchants all got down in the circle, grasped the reins tightly, and got ready.

The sandstorm came soon, and no one dared to move. They just restrained the livestock and struggled to breathe in the cracks in the sand.The oppressive force brought by the storm made everyone have the terrible illusion that they were about to be buried alive, but the guide had told them long ago that they would rather be buried in sand and rocks than stand up and run away, because no matter whether it is a person or a camel or a horse, they will never be buried alive. It is impossible to run against the wind, and the only outcome of running in a storm is to be swept away by the strong wind, fly around like feathers with the strong wind, and finally fall to death alive.

"Hold on! Don't move! Whatever you do, don't move!" the guide shouted hoarsely amidst the wind.

People gritted their teeth and finally survived until the sound of the wind gradually weakened and the storm subsided. Then everyone struggled to stand up, shook off the sand and soil on their bodies, and experienced the joy of breathing freely.At this moment, a merchant exclaimed: "Brother Zhang! What are you doing?"

Only then did people realize that the black-faced young merchant surnamed Zhang had stood outside the circle of camels at some point. The invisible rope is firmly bound.The person hanging in the air was another strange face in the caravan, a middle-aged businessman surnamed Gong, who had been taciturn and hardly spoke a few words along the way.No one knew why the young man surnamed Zhang was bothering him.

"I knew there was something wrong with this kid!" The guide roared, and pulled out his long knife, "I kept asking desert nomads along the way, and I don't know what I want to do..."

He was swearing and trying to charge forward with a knife, but the young man surnamed Zhang turned his head and rolled up his sleeves, revealing the tattoo on his arm: a lifelike black scorpion.

As if being struck by lightning, the guide suddenly stood still, his knife fell to the ground, and his body began to tremble like sifting chaff.The young man surnamed Zhang had already rolled up his sleeves again, and turned around as if nothing had happened, without looking at him again.

"So... so... I thought..." the guide stammered, "Please... do your business... I don't see anything, I don't know anything!"

He almost yelled and uttered the last two sentences, and fled in a hurry. The calm and steady way along the way seemed to be swept into the sky by the storm just now.The old merchant quickly stepped forward to support him, and asked in a low voice, "What's the matter? Who is he? Did he come to trouble the nomadic tribe?"

"No, I guessed wrong." The guide's upper and lower teeth were still colliding, "The guy named Gong who was restrained by him was here to make trouble, and he... this Zhang... he is a nomadic People of the tribe! That black scorpion tattoo is their mark!"

"I deliberately inquired about nomadic tribes in the caravan, just to see who is the most sensitive to this topic," the young man surnamed Zhang said with a sneer, "Any normal person would be interested in the mysterious tribes hidden deep in the Gobi, but You, every time you deliberately pretend not to listen at all, and if you are too deliberate, you will hide it. After that, I quietly tested it, and you have not weak spiritual power hidden in you, obviously it is the group mentioned in the news we got People—you Chenyue Sect, you want to find us very much recently."

"Since the skills are not as good as others, I don't need to hide it," the Chenyue believer dressed as a businessman was very calm, "Our purpose is not to harm your tribe, we just want to find someone. That person, if we don't judge Wrong, it’s hiding in your tribe. We only want to find him, and we don’t want to be your enemy, so why not be a favor? If you hand him over, we will give you a lot of gifts to make your life hard Improved."

The last sentence seemed to hit the young man.He frowned and thought for a while, then asked, "Who are you looking for?"

"A Featherman named Xueji," said the Chenyue believer, "he came to your tribe about 20 years ago."

The young man stopped talking.The Chenyue believers hanging in the air suddenly showed pain, as if the invisible shackles were tightening.Obvious strangle marks appeared on his neck, his eyeballs gradually protruded, and his breathing became more and more rapid.But there was still a smile on his lips.

"It's useless to kill me," he said with difficulty, "I have already found the signal that you contacted the tribe in the middle of the night, and sent back the location. Xue Ji is the person our Chenyue Sect must have, and you can't keep it." His...can't keep..."

With a "click", the necks of the Chenyue believers were broken by the invisible secret technique.He tilted his head, stopped breathing, the restraint was gone, and the body fell to the sand.The young man stared at the smiling corpse with a solemn expression.Not far away, people from the caravan were looking at him in fear.

And among the frightened crowd, the old merchant who had been talking to him along the way had the weirdest expression.Although he tried his best to look scared, there was a faint excitement in his eyes, and he unconsciously reached into his arms, gently stroking a small object in his arms.That small object seems to be a wrench.

(End of this chapter)