Not far away, a young man was holding an old long shotgun. He looked to be no more than fifteen or sixteen years old. In the old days, this age was when he was studying. He shouted excitedly: "Second uncle, come here, I Hunted a saw-toothed rat!”
Not far away, a middle-aged man heard the gunshot and stumbled over. He saw a saw-toothed rat lying motionless on the ground with its legs in the air. The middle-aged man looked ugly and lectured: "Don't shoot randomly, bullets are expensive. If we can’t hunt any decent prey today, we will continue to be hungry tonight!”
The young man was still very happy to be scolded, "Second uncle, let's eat this saw-toothed rat tonight. I haven't eaten meat for more than half a year. They don't want this kind of prey anyway. Let's hide it secretly and don't turn it in, okay?" ?”
The middle-aged man looked around nervously and whispered: "Don't talk nonsense! If other hunters hear it, it's okay!"
The young man muttered: "Anyway, there is no one else here, only the two of us..."
At this moment, the dense trees beside the road suddenly shook violently.
"Who?! Come out!" The middle-aged man took the shotgun from the boy's hand and nervously faced the trees on the roadside.
Only then did Tang Shi slowly walk out of the bushes, raising his hands to show that he had no ill intentions.
When the young man saw a young stranger coming out of the bushes, he immediately became nervous. He hid behind the middle-aged man and stared at Tang Shi warily.
The middle-aged man pulled the trigger and threatened: "Who are you?! What are you doing hiding here?!"
"I don't mean any harm, I just want to ask you something." The reason Tang Shi didn't rush out suddenly was so as not to scare them. Yanxu was still hidden in the bushes and was not allowed to come out. Tang Shi had a delicate appearance and a kind face. Anyone who saw him for the first time would definitely mark him as "harmless", so it was most appropriate for him to come out and strike up a conversation.
This shotgun did not pose any threat to him, but he still raised his hands in a cooperative manner. The originally tattered True Iron Furious Armor on his body did not waste the opportunity to summon the vicious blacksmith after he killed Mayor Lin's group. , and asked him to repair it. Bullets could not penetrate his True Iron Crazy Armor.
"What do you want to ask?" The middle-aged man did not relax his guard. In this era, no one can trust anyone. He is too naive and can only die.
"I came from Lincheng, and I wanted to ask if you have seen the people evacuated from Lincheng pass by here." Tang Shi agreed to go find Long Mian, and he would definitely go find him.
"Lincheng?" The middle-aged man frowned and looked at Tang Shi from top to bottom and then from left to right. He saw that his clothes were in tatters and he was dirty and smelly. He had obviously gone through a lot of trouble. , but he still didn't believe that he was the young man who came from Lincheng and was hiding behind the middle-aged man. He said first: "Stop joking, Lincheng is a dead city now, and there can't be any living people in it!"
The middle-aged man glared at him and motioned for him not to interrupt.
Tang Shi smiled and said, "I did come out of Lincheng. My brother was among the people evacuating, so I wanted to find out if he had passed through this direction."
Hearing these words, the hostility in the middle-aged man's eyes lessened a little. This era is not easy for everyone. This young man still knows how to find his lost brother, which shows that his humanity is still there. The middle-aged man put down the shotgun he held and said, "We often hunt in this direction, and we haven't seen the mass flow you mentioned passing by."
"That's it." Tang Shi thought for a moment and then said, "Then, is there a gathering place nearby?"
The young man's eyes flickered, but the middle-aged man pondered and asked again uncertainly, "Do you want to go to the gathering place?"
"Yes, I've been walking for too long and I want to go to the gathering place to rest." Tang Shi was already sure that there was definitely a gathering place nearby.
"Yes, yes, but we are hunting..." The middle-aged man looked at the sky and sighed: "It's getting dark soon. Come on, I'll take you there."
The middle-aged man and the boy worked together to tie up the saw-toothed rat, thread it on a tree trunk, and carry it back.
"Wait a minute, I have a friend who wants to come with me." After Tang Shi said this, Yanxu walked out of the bushes.
The middle-aged man was a little surprised and couldn't help but start to be on guard again. As long as Yan Xu kept a cold face, he always had an aura of calmness and self-power, which made people feel even more stressed, and this time was no exception.
When Tang Shi saw this, he smiled and said, "He just has a cold face. He is not a bad person, so don't worry."
Yanxu nodded to the middle-aged man, and the middle-aged man looked at Yanxu carefully from top to bottom, left to right, and then turned around and said: "Let's go."
The young man peeked at them from the corner of his eyes as they walked, making Tang Shi secretly amused.
Tang Shi chatted wordlessly with the middle-aged man along the way. When he learned that the middle-aged man was named Guo Lihui and the young man was named Guo Lang, Tang Shi naturally did not hesitate to introduce himself.
After walking not far, Tang Shi suddenly felt that this area was somewhat familiar. After walking for about half an hour, a small town appeared in front of him.
Tang Shi was secretly surprised that this small town was exactly where he grew up - Meizhen. Although the surrounding environment of Meizhen had changed somewhat, the landscape near Meizhen was still the same as in the old days. The originally open area was connected by a straight road. In Xiangmei Town, the road is now blocked by a high wall. The high wall was obviously built after the end of the world, and the mud bricks are still very fresh. After his mother died in Tang Shi, his grandfather took him here to live. It was not until his grandfather passed away that Tang Minghai took him back to the Tang family. Having been away from Meizhen for so many years, it stands to reason that he is quite familiar with Meizhen. Not all the people in Meizhen are known to each other, but it is still possible to be familiar with each other. However, Guo Lihui's uncle and nephew did not know each other at all in Tang Dynasty. He guessed that maybe It was people who were fleeing from outside and fled into Meizhen.
Meizhen is just a fringe town near Lincheng, with a small population. The total number is only tens of thousands. Young people usually go to big cities to work hard, leaving only some old, young, women and children at home. After the end of the world, there should be no one here. Affected by the "meteorite rain", the buildings in the town are still intact.
It was getting late, and there were many people outside the town wall, huddled in groups, and some had already started to light fires to boil water. Tang Shi wondered why these people didn't go in. What were they doing here? Is it possible that in such a small town, they still have to pay an "entry fee"? Facts proved that Tang Shi's guess was indeed correct.
Guo Lihui whispered: "This is the gathering place. If you want to get in, you have to find a way on your own. I can only take you here."
Tang Shi asked: "How can I get in?"
Guo Lihui: "The mayor of Mei Town has given three conditions. First, if you are an awakened person and are willing to be loyal to him, you can enter; second, unless you can hunt two decent prey every day for rent. , you can also live in the town; thirdly, if you can't hunt decent prey, if you still want to live in the town, everyone must pay at least three saw-toothed rats every day. If it is good-quality prey, it depends on the situation. "
Tang Shi: "What kind of prey is called 'decent prey'?"
Guo Lihui shook his head and sighed: "I don't know the specifics. In short, it's just a sentence. Those who don't know and haven't seen them should be the prey that those people want. Those things are all kinds of weird, and some even have human legs. They are very fierce. , many people want to hunt them, but are eaten by them instead, it is too dangerous."
Tang Shi had already made some guesses in his mind. Those he didn't know or had never seen before. Even though the saw-toothed mice had expanded countless times than before, their physical signs as mice had not changed and they could still be recognized by others. The ones I really don’t know and haven’t seen are card creatures. The mayor probably doesn’t want card creatures for meat. It’s been more than half a year since the end of the world. Counting the time, the news about the Yuan Neng Crystal should also be there. Now that it has been announced, it is not surprising that someone in this remote town knows about Yuan Nengjing. However, after the alien is killed, the Yuan Energy Crystal must be taken out as soon as possible, otherwise it will dissipate into the air. This alien has requirements for the time of death and the integrity of the body.
Tang Shi tentatively asked, "As long as it's an unknown prey that I haven't seen before, it's fine. Are there no other requirements?"
"This is not true. There are requirements. After hunting decent prey, the integrity of the body must be ensured. After hunting, it must be sent back as soon as possible. They will not accept it after two hours. Someone did hunt it before. When I arrived at an unknown prey, I thought I could live in the town, but it was too late to bring it back, and the mayor and others refused to take it, so their work was in vain."
Tang Shi was surprised. Two hours was the time it took for the Yuan Neng Crystal to dissipate inside the corpse. The Yuan Neng Crystal taken out from the corpse could still be stored for a few days. He was afraid that it would dissipate quickly if it was placed in the corpse of a foreign race. It seems that this mayor is a person. He can even grasp the dissipation time of Yuan Nengjing so accurately. It is not easy!
Tang Shi had determined that the purpose of the mayor's collection of "decent prey" must be for Yuan Neng Crystal. Such things were very common. As long as he could get Yuan Neng Crystal, he could do anything.
Tang Shi glanced at the people gathered outside the wall, "Are they all people who can't afford the rent?"
"Yes, these are all, and some people have left and want to go out to find a gathering place that can accept them."
Tang Shi noticed that there were some older elderly people among the crowd. They probably did not come from other places. Most of them were locals from Meizhen. So he asked, "Can't locals from Meizhen also live here?"
"That's fine, but they can't come out at will. Except for the awakened ones, I haven't seen ordinary people come out."
"Then what happened to them? They should be people from the town, right?"
Guo Lihui looked at it and said, "I guess he is too old. It is a waste of food to stay in the town and he was thrown out."
While they were talking, they approached the entrance of Meizhen. Guo Lang didn't want to go there and stood still on the road. Guo Lihui didn't move even if he pushed him. Tang Shi and Yan Xu's eyes were attracted by Guo Lang, and they didn't notice that a man was originally planning to come out of the town. When he saw them, he turned around and ran away like a cat seeing a mouse.
Guo Lang glanced at Tang Shi secretly again, and stared at the saw-toothed mouse for a long time. He licked his chapped lips with a slanderous look. He was obviously reluctant to hand over the saw-toothed mouse. There were two handlers at the entrance of Meizhen. A strong man with a rifle on his back and a fierce face. Tang Shi knew they were the Awakened Ones at a glance. There was a table next to him with a box on the table and some small wood chips in the box. When he saw them coming, Then he stood in the middle of the road and blocked the road.
"What did you hunt?" One of the men came over and said displeasedly when he saw the saw-toothed rat tied to the tree trunk: "You didn't hunt any decent prey? What a bunch of losers. Are you just walking birds when you go out with guns on your shoulders every day?" ? Come back after hunting this garbage. I’m going to vomit after eating the saw-toothed rat meat. Put down the prey and get out of here!”
Although the middle-aged man was angry, he could only swallow his anger.
The young man stared angrily at the man dragging the saw-toothed rat inside, which was the meat he was planning to use as dinner! They actually took it away again!
"What's that expression on your face? Are you not convinced when I give you some rat meat? Or something? You originally wanted to hunt some decent prey to pay the rent and live in the town. Since you have no ability, you can only live outside the wall and use some rat meat." Why are you dissatisfied with your filial piety to me? If I hadn't taken care of this place, I wouldn't have cared about your life or death! Get out of here!" Another man noticed the resentful look in the young man's eyes, came over, and pressed the barrel of his gun against the young man's chest. After poking him, the boy kept retreating until he bumped into Tang Shi.
The middle-aged man hurriedly came over to say good things, and said timidly and respectfully: "Children are not sensible. Don't be as knowledgeable as him. We are leaving now. We are leaving now."
Volume 2: Indifferent Family Love