Yellow sand everywhere.
The hot afternoon sun shines unobstructed on the desert, reflecting light that is difficult to see directly. The hot and dry air pours into people's mouths and noses, and even their throats are as dry as if they were burned. A group of ragged slaves were walking under the scorching sun, carrying heavy water jugs on their backs. Their eyes were dull and their lips were chapped. They stepped on the sand step by step, slowly heading south.
Ming Na was walking in the queue of people, breathing heavily. Although she was very tired and her eyes hurt from the sunlight reflected on the sand, she still squinted and carefully observed the surrounding terrain. Especially any rock or animal skeleton that could serve as a signpost.
There was a sudden sound of cracking in the air. She reacted immediately and fell to the ground following the sound. She avoided serious damage from the whip, but a bloody mark was still swept away on her arm by the tip of the whip.
"What are you looking at?! Leave quickly!" the supervisor cursed. Ming Na had long been used to it. She quietly got up and continued walking forward. Behind her came the screams of other slaves being whipped.
They walked for more than an hour before returning to the campsite. This is a low mountain of red rock. Red, red, and even dark red sandstones fill the entire area. They have been affected by wind and sand over the past few decades, forming various weird appearances. The mountain brings all kinds of terrible legends.
This place is located southwest of Tuli, a town on the border between Noga and Weisha. It is still more than ten kilometers away from Tuli, and there is no oasis or water source. No one knows why people choose this place as a settlement, but in the past ten years, more and more people have come to live here for a long time. Most of them are Weisha people, and a few are from Nuojia, but there are also many people from other countries, but these people have more or less evil auras about them.
Ming Na walked through the camp with her head lowered. In her ears, she could hear several shirtless men teasing a few young slave girls unkindly. She turned a deaf ear and passed a large number of tents before arriving at the cave dug on the red rock slope. In front of a row of caves specially used to store food and water.
The slaves lined up in several lines and poured the water they carried back into large vats and pitchers. When Ming Na was pouring water, she caught a glimpse of a few water droplets bouncing up after the water fell into the jar. With a flash in her eyes, the water droplets disappeared in an instant, and no one else present noticed.
"What are you doing?!" A burst of yelling came from the side, and then a seven or eight-year-old girl was kicked to the ground. The supervisor whipped her twice fiercely: "How dare you steal water?! See if I don't beat you. Kill you!"
"Don't hit, don't hit, I won't dare anymore, I won't dare anymore..." The little girl cried and tried to avoid the torture of the whip. In the end, she was beaten seven or eight times before she was let go. Everyone around them just watched, and no one took action to stop the overseer.
Ming Na bit her lip and said nothing. This kind of thing happens every day. She once tried to help the person who was beaten, but the result was that the two of them received more beatings together, and the person she helped might not thank her.
After pouring the water, all slaves must be inspected by the overseer before being released to make sure they did not steal the water. Seeing that everyone's lips were chapped, the supervisor nodded with satisfaction: "Okay, I will give you water in the evening, but if I find you stealing water, huh..." He sneered, without saying what would happen. Like this, but everyone shuddered, lowered their heads and went out obediently.
Ming Na also lowered her eyebrows and returned to her "master's" tent, which was further away from the other tents. When she reached a place where others could not see her, she moved her fingers, opened her mouth slightly, and a dozen little Drops of water suddenly appeared and entered her mouth, moistening her thirsty throat.
She touched her lips with her fingers to make sure that she would not reveal what she had done. Then she approached the tent. Suddenly she felt something. She turned her head sharply and avoided a wine bottle thrown out of the tent: "Damn it." Where did the girl go?! How dare you be lazy and not work?! Come in now!"
A trace of disgust flashed in Ming Na's eyes, but she quickly covered it up. She got into the tent and saw the "master" leaning on the felt, leaning on a few cushions, with a red face and smell of alcohol. There were seven or eight glass flasks swaying in his hand, with only bacon left on one of them. The broken plate showed that he was drunk again.
"Where have you gone?! I have a lot of work here waiting for you to do! I spent so much money to buy you, and you are actually lazy?! Be careful that I sell you to a brothel!" The cloudy eyes are already somewhat sane. It's unclear, but the words coming out of his mouth are still so ugly.
Ming Na didn't answer. She knew that even if she did, the drunkard wouldn't listen. He just wanted to curse. She pursed her lips and cleaned up the mess on the floor, but just wiped the stain with a cloth. The water resources here are precious, and of course it cannot be used to clean the blanket stained with wine and oil. Anyway, when the "master" can't bear it, He'll use a cleaning charm.
Sure enough, the drunkard didn't pursue the answer to the question anymore. He just cursed and talked about how much money he spent to buy her and how uneconomical it was. Then as he spoke, he cursed those blind Shaonan people for looking down on her. His skills, and so on, and then he snored drunkenly.
Minna gave him a cold look, walked to the big pot on the other side of the tent, stirred the potion being boiled inside, lowered the fire a little, and started cutting hellebores and peeling fig shells. After a while, she spied that the drunkard had completely fallen asleep and would not wake up for a while. She quickly put down the fig shell in her hand, quickly took a small crucible, put in the ingredients, and carefully placed it on the stove to cook. , and at the same time, be distracted and pay attention to the situation of the drunkard.
God knows why this drunkard is a magician? To be more precise, he was a potion master who was expelled from both the Shaonan Magicians Association and the Potion Masters Association. The reason for his removal is unknown, but according to the private discussions of other people in the camp, it seems that he prepared some kind of potion with a strong hallucinogenic effect, which can make people unconsciously act according to the instructions of others, and successfully used this to defraud several people. The money of an aristocratic lady caused a great panic in the upper class, which led to such a result.
Although I don’t know how he came to this place, he still has some status here. Every month he would make a large batch of potions that were expressly prohibited, and the camp leader would sell them to a businessman in Tuli in exchange for a large amount of money. In this camp, he is a well-known wealthy man, and he is also a taboo object because everyone is afraid that he will drug them with LSD.
Thanks to him, although Ming Na was still beaten and scolded every day, no one dared to seriously injure her, for fear of making the former potion master angry.
More than a year has passed since she fell into the hands of slave traders in the autumn when she was nine years old. When the slave traders brought her back unconscious, they were afraid that she would cause trouble, so they gave up selling people in Matt Port and took all the girls to other cities overnight. They also drugged Mingna along the way and made her fascinated. Confused, unable to resist them.
When Ming Na woke up, she found that she had arrived in a strange place. Judging from the clothes and accents of the people around her, she roughly judged that she should still be in East. She tried to escape several times, and almost succeeded once, but was discovered at the last moment, struggled desperately, and was taken back again.
The slave traders finally discovered the fact that she had practiced martial arts. Because they were afraid that her escape would threaten the survival of the entire trafficking team, they were cruel and tried to lose money. They broke her legs and gave her dumb drugs. , just to deceive unsuspecting customers, they had her superficial injuries healed. At that time, her legs seemed to be fine, but once she stood for a long time or did strenuous exercise, the pain would become unbearable. In addition, she was unable to speak and had nowhere to ask for help. She was really indescribable despair.
At that time, Mingna finally couldn't help but resent her mother who ignored her calls, her father who hadn't visited her for many years, her grandfather who left her to go back to his own world, and her father who deceived her into taking away her storage ring. Yutan and Sibylla also resented Corbin who refused to let them go. What they resented most was the person who drove them away in front of their grandfather's house that day.
I don’t know how many times she was beaten and scolded, and I don’t know how many slave traders she went through. She was regarded as the most troublesome cargo and was sold at a low price to Weisha. She was sent to this place together with more than a dozen other male and female slaves, and then because of He was found to have magic waves in his body and became the servant of this alcoholic magician.
Perhaps it was the previous losses that taught her to behave. Mingna never let the slave traders know that she knew magic. She was not exposed to the drunkards, and she even behaved very clumsily when learning to cut potion materials. Although he got beaten and scolded by the drunkard in exchange for this, he did not take her to heart because of this. He only regarded her as a little devil with some magic talent but no other skills, and asked her to help him guard the fire or handle potion materials. .
He was drunk all day long, but Ming Na found an opportunity to secretly hide some magic materials to heal his foot injuries and throat. In the past six months, great progress has been made. She can now walk for two or three hours without feeling as much pain in her feet as before, and she can make sounds in her throat. However, she was afraid that others would become suspicious, so she continued to pretend to be mute and often walked with a limp.
The liquid in the small crucible gave off a faint medicinal fragrance. Mingna quickly threw down the last ingredient, stirred it, then removed the pot and took out a broken glass bottle from the corner of the cupboard...thrown away by the drunkard. No... pour the potion carefully, plug the mouth of the bottle with a cork, and hide it in your pocket.
The drunkard turned over, and while Mingna turned to see if he was awake, she quickly wiped away the remaining liquid in the small crucible with a cloth and put it back in its place. Although the Cleansing Spell could have been more successful, she didn't want to take the risk of casting a spell so close to a magician who, if discovered, would reveal what she had done before.
The scent of the potion still lingered in the air, even coming out of her pocket. Mingna fanned the air around her, but seeing little effect, she simply grabbed a handful of hellebores and threw them into the cauldron where the drunkard was brewing medicine. The original psychedelic medicine quickly emitted a strong aroma, and the original psychedelic medicine in the tent was completely destroyed. The smell of wine has been covered up, and the faint medicinal aroma is naturally not to mention.
The drunkard smelled the aroma, jumped up suddenly, rushed to the cauldron to check, kicked Minna hard several times, and then added several other medicinal materials to offset the side effects of hellebore. He would never throw away the wrong potion. In this hellish place, every potion ingredient was extremely precious.
Ming Na endured the pain on her body and carefully protected the medicine in her pocket. It didn't take long for the drunkard to get addicted to alcohol again. When he turned around, he couldn't find the wine and there was no water to drink, so he said: "Watch the fire carefully! If you make another mistake, you won't get food!" and went out.
Minna secretly saw him entering another tent and knew that he was looking for someone to drink. She immediately turned around to get the water bottle and water bag, ran to the place where the water was stored, used the excuse of "the owner" to ask for water, filled the water and came back. Pour out more than half of the cup with a cup, and carefully carry it to your small nest in the corner of the tent. Open the bed, push aside the sand, and lift up the wooden board underneath. Inside is a broken earthen pot with a lid, and a water bag in the pot. There are also a few half-pieces of dry flour cakes. This kind of food, as long as it is stored well, will not go bad for a month.
She poured the water in the cup into the water bag, took out the medicine bottle and took a sip of the magic potion, then put it together into the jar, buried it again, filled the cup with water and put it on the drunkard's table. Return to the fire and tend the large pot of potions.
She could feel that the pain in her body was slowly disappearing. That bottle of potion is specially used to regulate the body. As long as she continues to drink it, she will soon regain her strength. In addition, she has figured out the surrounding terrain, and the food and water will be ready in a few days. It won't take long... It won't be long before...she can leave here...
She still remembered the national city distribution map that her grandfather told her, and she also learned geography in school. There is only less than three days' journey between Tuli and Mengli, but nearby Tuli has a deep relationship with the camp owner. Escaped slaves have been captured there, so she can only go directly towards Mengli. .
Although it was desert all the way, she had the experience of crossing the desert with her grandfather, and for several months she went to the oasis in the north with other slaves to carry water, so she would definitely be able to make it down. As long as you get to Mengli, there is grandpa's house there, and maybe there are people from the Xiao family business. Soon, she will be able to go home!
She seemed to see her father smiling at her, her mother holding her and crying, Grandpa Marshall saying that he would make her delicious food, and Winnie nagging about making her new clothes...
"Damn girl, what are you in a daze?!" A roar woke her up, and when she looked up, it turned out that the drunkard was back. He was anxiously stirring the ** in the pot, and kicked his foot angrily: "Look at the good things you have done! You have ruined all my medicine! There is no food to eat tonight! Get out!"
Ming Na curled her lips. It was a good thing to cook less of that kind of harmful medicine. Moreover, if he really valued the medicine so much, why would he go out to find someone to drink with? If there is no food, there is no food. He is not the only one who has food in this camp.
She got out of the tent amidst the roar of the drunkard and walked to the slaves' "dining room"...a tattered felt tent. Originally, a slave like her who had her own "master" didn't have to go there to eat, but she didn't want to go hungry, so she ran to grab food from a large group of men, women, and children, and secretly hid half a piece of dry flour cake with her. Go back to your tent and hide.
She was sleeping in her own little nest, and when she thought about what was hidden under the bed, she felt indescribably excited: It's almost, it's almost, as long as she can endure it for a few more days...
In the middle of the night, she was woken up by several horses neighing, and then she heard the drunkard cursing loudly. Someone came outside and called the drunkard out, saying something in a low voice.
Ming Na quietly got up and listened carefully. She heard that some important guest was coming and asked him to accompany him. The drunkard followed, and Ming Na was a little curious. Who was coming
When she went to get water the next morning, she finally saw the visitor. He was a strange young man in his twenties, with sharp eyebrows and starry eyes, a very handsome appearance, and an indescribable noble demeanor. Judging from the way he was dressed, even though he was wearing simple Noga civilian clothes, he just didn't fit in with the others, as if he was a prince running into a beggar's den.
He spoke very kindly to a slave girl and asked her to get him a basin of wash water. The slave girl entered the cave with water in a trance. Ming Na heard several slave girls making fun of her, saying that if she was taken away by the nobleman, she would not have to suffer anymore.
When Ming Na heard this, her heart moved. She lowered her head, picked up the water jug, and walked back, secretly thinking about whether to ask the guest for help. He seems like a nice guy...
However, many people she thought were good people have done things that hurt her. Can this "good person" be trusted
She just lowered her head and meditated. Without paying attention, she bumped into a fat man and fell to the ground. The fat man glared at her: "You stinky girl, how dare you bump into me?! Let me beat you to death!" Then he kicked him over.
Ming Na secretly screamed, this person is the enemy of drunkards, she never buys his blame, he might really beat her to death. She quickly dodged, but the other party came around with two of his accomplices. After receiving a few punches, she didn't care about the water jug in her hand. Seeing that there was a gap between the three of them, she rushed out. Unexpectedly, before she ran a few steps, someone suddenly stretched out a foot from the side and knocked her to the ground. In a blink of an eye, four people surrounded her.
She secretly gritted her teeth and prepared to endure the beating. No matter what, she could not ruin her escape plan.
"Stop!" A male voice sounded, vaguely majestic. The fat man and his accomplices couldn't help but stop their movements, but they became angry: "Who is meddling in other people's business?!"
Looking back, it was the young guest who stared at them sternly: "Let that little girl go!"
(Ming Na is eleven years old... jumping the new year again~~~)