The tiny black shadow under the wings kept squirming, as if it was struggling and had not given up the idea of escaping. The little paper crane pressed it for a while, tilted its head to one side and secretly peeked at the thing under the wing. After looking for a long time, it suddenly let go of one wing, then flapped it down again to hit it hard.
After clapping seven or eight times in a row, the little paper crane tilted its head again to look at the small black shadow under its wings. The thing, which was not much bigger than eye boogers, was no longer moving. Then the little paper crane loosened its wings, revealing a strange little flea-like insect underneath.
At this time, there were some new movements coming from the direction of the kitchen of the house. A slightly suppressed smile could be clearly heard, as well as the sounds of chewing and swallowing.
The little paper crane raised its head and looked in the direction of the kitchen. After a blurry and dim light appeared on its head, the part above the neck turned into a lifelike crane head, but it was much smaller.
"Beep..."
A soft crane cry came from the little paper crane's mouth, and the noisy sounds from the kitchen suddenly quieted down.
The little paper crane caught the strange little insect in its beak, then flapped its wings and flew up again, flying towards the kitchen of the house, and then crawled in through the gap between the eaves and the wall.
With a "creak", the kitchen door was opened, and the elderly man surnamed Li leaned out holding a candlestick, shining it into the yard.
"Dad, did you see anything?" "Yes, Uncle Li, what was that sound just now?"
The old man squinted his eyes and looked around by the candlelight, but didn't see anything.
"It sounds like some bird's cry. Maybe some hungry bird landed in the yard in the early spring. It's okay. It's definitely not a human."
"That's good, let's go and eat."
Several people returned to the kitchen with peace of mind. The old man looked into the yard twice and then closed the door. As long as they were not discovered and did not arouse envy, it would be fine.
There were nine people in the kitchen, eating and drinking together around a large table for eight people. They were obviously in a very good mood. The food and drinks were hot, and there was a charcoal fire in the kitchen, making it very warm.
The little paper crane was still perched on the beam of the kitchen, staring at the people below very seriously. Although he did not miss any small details of each person, he focused his observation on five people: the four people who came out of the tunnel and the old man.
When the little paper crane saw the leader of the four people scratching his back at least a dozen times but always unable to reach it, it also stretched out its wings to scratch its own back, but it was very easy and suddenly felt no interest, while the atmosphere below was becoming more and more heated.
"Hey, you four smell really strong! Come on, let's do it."
"Hahahaha, I haven't taken off my shoes yet. It will be more aggressive if I take them off! Do you want me to take them off now?"
"No, no, no, we're eating!"
“Hahahahaha…” “Your feet aren’t any better!”
The old man drank the wine in his glass, scratched his right hand with his left hand, and sighed.
"After Er Shunzi and the others come back, we can live a more peaceful life in the future."
"Yeah, but Uncle Li, Old Man Li still said to make as many preparations as possible."
"Why? Is the war really that bad? Isn't it all great victories?"
The four of them fell silent, and the lively atmosphere cooled down a bit. Then the leading man spoke.
"I don't know the specific situation, but I heard that many people died in the army ahead of us, and those immortal masters were also quite scary."
"Yes, yes, yes. Some immortal masters say they are immortal masters, but how can this be the legendary immortal? He doesn't even look like a human being..."
"Shh..."
"It's so far, what are you afraid of? The two who came back to the camp looked like skeletons. One look at me gave me nightmares all night. I dreamed that my whole body was crawling with bugs. Oh, that was scary..."
"Hahaha, okay, stop talking. It makes me scared. Eat, eat, eat. Anyway, I'll be back soon. Let them beat me!"
"Yes, yes, yes! Drink!"
"Come on, do it!"
…
After looking for a while, the little paper crane turned its head towards the kitchen window, as if it heard some other sound, and quickly flew out without anyone noticing who was eating and drinking in the kitchen.
When Ji Yuan first came to Nandao County, he felt that it was quite chaotic. Family like the Li family, who had tunnels in their home, were not considered good people. It is better now, but still limited, and this is because many restless people have joined the army to make money.
On a quiet street, a group of people were lined up in a row, moving quickly along the street. Their steps were swift and silent, and each of them had a weapon on his back or waist.
The little paper crane followed slowly in the air. It saw the group of people walking for half an hour and finally arriving near the government office, where they jumped into a courtyard with lanterns on.
Then there were short screams and sounds of fighting coming from inside, but they didn't last long and soon became quiet.
The little paper crane followed the sound and flew into the yard. It found itself in the Nandao County prison. Two officers were lying at the prison door, with a pool of blood on the ground. It flew into the dark prison, where the smell of stench mixed with the smell of blood was everywhere.
"Brother, how are you?" "Brother! How did you become like this?"
"Brother - I'm going to kill all those bastards!"
The suppressed and painful voices of several men were heard from inside. The little paper crane flew to the depths of the cell, grabbed the ceiling and looked down. In that cell, there was a ragged man, covered in blood and pus, lying on the bed in the cell. The stench was so strong that it seemed extremely exaggerated in this big prison.
"You! How dare you be so cruel to our eldest brother!"
A man in black grabbed a man dressed as an official, and his fingers tightened around his neck like an iron clamp, causing the official's face to turn red and his breathing to become difficult.
"Master, please spare my life. Master, I really have never made things difficult for Master Xu. Master Xu is a hero on the front line. I dare not..."
"Hmph, open the door quickly, open it quickly!"
The man slammed the jailer against the cell door.
"Ahem... Ahem... Yes, I obey your orders. Please spare my life, gentlemen. I really have never made things difficult for Xu..."
The jailer untied the key chain from his waist with a slight tremor, and after searching through the keys one by one, he found one of them, but he couldn't open the iron lock on the cell door. The jailer was sweating profusely and apologized repeatedly for getting the wrong key due to nervousness.
"Who, who is outside... Yes, it's Desheng... Is it you..."
Suddenly, a hoarse voice was heard from the cell. The motionless man seemed to wake up at this moment, and the group of men outside suddenly became more excited.
"Brother!" "Brother, it's us, we are here to save you!"
"Brother, the brothers are late and you are suffering!"
The man in the cell struggled to raise his head, and through his disheveled hair, he saw a group of people outside in the candlelight, and also saw the jailer with a knife at his neck trying to open the lock.
With a "click", the lock finally opened.
"Uncle, the lock is open, I uh..."
Before the jailer could finish his words, he was stabbed in the chest and back. He slowly fell to the ground in pain, fear and unwillingness.
The other men tried to untie the chains themselves and were about to open the door to enter the cell, but the man inside became agitated.
"Don't... don't come in! Don't come in at all!"
The sudden increase in voice stunned all the men outside, and they were a little at a loss.
"Brother, it's us!" "Brother, we are here to save you!"
The man inside propped himself up, stretched his hand outward, and panted.
"I know, I know, but don't come in, go away, the farther the better, burn this cell, burn it, burn me to death! Something is drilling into my heart, liver, spleen and lungs... I, I don't know what it is, burn, burn this place..."
"Brother, stop talking, let's go first, we'll be discovered soon!"
"Yes, take the eldest brother away first!"
The few of them didn't say anything more. They didn't mind the thick water and stench on the prisoner's body at all. They entered the cell, carried the man inside and left.
The little paper crane followed them out of the cell, and after following them for a while, it flapped its wings and hesitated in the air, then flew directly out of the city, straight to the direction where Ji Yuan was.
…
At this moment, Ji Yuan had already fallen asleep. Perhaps it was because of the dream-traveling technique he created. Even though he did not often have dream-traveling experiences, sometimes he still had the feeling of seeing distant mountains in his dreams, and they seemed extremely real.
Ordinary people feel that dreams are real because they don’t know they are dreaming, but Ji Yuan can practice in his dreams. It is even more special when he occasionally feels that they are real. Sometimes Ji Yuan will deliberately seek this feeling.
When Ji Yuan was sleeping soundly, a small paper crane flapped its wings and flew rapidly towards the mound. Jin Jia, who had been sitting cross-legged under the stone, did not turn his head or look up. He just rolled his eyes and glanced into the distance. When he saw that it was a paper crane flying towards him, he had no reaction.
The little paper crane gently landed on the stone and gently pushed Ji Yuan's forehead with its wings. The latter opened his eyes slightly, looked at the paper crane in front of him with a pair of eyes as bright as moonlight, and asked with a smile.
"What's wrong?"
After a hazy change above the neck of the little paper crane, it turned into a lifelike little red-crowned crane head.
"Beep..."
"Hey, you can make a sound now?"
Ji Yuan sat up and looked very happy, but then his smile gradually disappeared and his expression became very serious, because a small insect the size of eye booger came out of the mouth of the little paper crane.