The town inside the cave has a population of more than 3,000. During the scorching day, the townspeople all hide in the cool ground, either sleeping and recuperating, or outside the house under the light of the artificial sun, tinkering with the sound of rushing water. The middleman's voice was very soft, no matter men, women, young or old, they walked with caution for fear of disturbing anything.
At night, the warriors in the town were going to hunt. The reason why the old, weak, women and children walked lightly was not to disturb their rest.
The terrain of the underground town is not flat, there are ups and downs. Bandena lives at the lowest point, close to the underground river. Once the water level rises, it will be submerged. The leader shoulders the burden of notifying everyone to go to a high place to avoid danger. Those who live in the high places are the respected elders in the town. They guard the town with their youth and give future generations a stable and safe life. This kind of honor is what they should have. Among the dozens of elders, there are seven elders, and decisions related to the survival of the ethnic group must be discussed by them before they can be confirmed to be implemented.
With the cooperation of the military, it is impossible for Bandena to hide from the elders.
When he proposed cooperation, Bandner had a plan in mind. He would use his "part-time job" once every ten days to enter the pirate oasis in the west, find an opportunity to meet the arrogant pirate leader, and persuade him to spread all The pirates are all called back...
Let's talk about how to complete this series of things, it will be a headache to discuss next.
His cooperation with the military has been aimed at killing the pirates from the very beginning, and it is far from enough to just destroy a pirate stronghold.
Unexpectedly, just as Bandena started to make a start, he was unanimously rejected by the elders.
In the small square where the elders used to discuss matters, several elders were sitting around, Bandena sat next to the oldest one, and asked anxiously: "Why? This is a good opportunity, you just need to go out and see We know that the army is very powerful, and the pirates are not their opponents at all. As long as we succeed, we will no longer have to live in the dark underground, and we will no longer have to become weak and fragile because of lack of sunlight, and there will be more When a child is born, the future of the children will be bright, they will have a vast world, they will become full members of the empire, they will have the opportunity to receive study and education, and they will live a healthy life like every ordinary person in the empire."
"No." The old man was stooped, his skin was pale and bloodless, he was too old, and he went to the ground less and less often, without sunshine, fresh air and healthy food, he suffered from the diseases of his grandparents Everyone has suffered from diseases, and their lives are counting down. The Great Elder looked at Bandena with old and cloudy eyes, and said in a weak voice: "I don't know if that army will be successful, but I'm sure that if we participate, we will be smashed to pieces."
"Why does the Great Elder think so?" Bandena was anxious, but he didn't dare to urge or force him, so he could only restrain his temper and ask softly.
The Great Elder squinted his eyes and looked up at the environment in front of him. This is the place where he was born and raised. He once wanted to struggle to leave, but failed again and again. In the process of failure, he lost his best friend, lost his lover, lost He lost his child... Even if he lost himself in the end, he would have no regrets. But what's the point of this, he can lose everything in exchange for it
Nothing.
They are still huddled underground, hiding in hiding, coerced by pirates, unable to see the sun or tomorrow.
"Bandena, I haven't been here all the time. I have been out before, and I have seen the outside world. More than a hundred years ago, following your grandfather, we took a small starship to a world beyond the wild star. "The elder squinted his eyes and recalled the past. He was very old, and many memories became blurred, and he recalled them upside down. "The outside world is technologically advanced and economically prosperous. Even the most ordinary People can also freely enjoy the sun and delicious food, which is heaven for us. But…”
But after going out, the disappointment experienced time and time again, the feeling of disappointment is still painful, "We went to the soldiers, do you know what the result was? They didn't trust us, and they locked us up and stayed in prison. After three months, we will be driven away. In the vast universe, there are only a few of us who have nothing left. In the end, there are me and your grandfather, more than a dozen young and strong, and the two of us survived. To Manghuangxing, come back here."
Bandena's mouth was bitter. He had heard this passage many times in the past, and the experience of the elders had shaken his determination once. If it wasn't for the belief of Emperor Qin Feng that supported him, he should have given up long ago.
"In the eyes of the army, there is no difference between us and pirates." The elder smiled, wrinkling his wrinkles, and his expression looked a little scary, "Even if we are not treated as pirates, we are still insignificant ordinary people. Pirates can be abandoned and abandoned at any time in their operations."
Three or four of the elders present have experienced this kind of thing.
They traveled with the pirate who changed his name to Starscream, and the pirate robbed the caravan. They couldn't bear to see a large number of civilians die, so they secretly reported to the military. As a result, the pirate's actions were blocked, and the pirate suffered heavy losses. It’s a good thing, but because the military didn’t protect the informants enough, the actions of the elders were leaked... The result was tragic. Everyone in the cave suffered a devastating massacre. If it weren’t for the hidden underground passages and many forks, the town would no longer exist. .
That devastating blow caused the town's population to drop from a peak of more than 6,000 to more than 2,000. After decades of recuperation, the population barely broke through 3,000.
Suffering massacre-style revenge from pirates, the residents in the cave dared not go out, and hid underground for five or six years, relying on food storage and groundwater to survive. Fortunately, Bandena's grandparents and fathers were willing to take risks and organize people to hunt on the ground. Only then can we survive. He survived quite a bit, but left an indelible haze in everyone's minds, and also created distrust of official organizations.
Later, Starscream got a new leader and changed the way of doing things. Only then did everyone in the cave town have a chance to breathe, and began to boldly contact the outside world.
Bandena also officially went out and got in touch with the outside world.
When Bandena preached about the outside world among his clansmen, talking about the empire's technology, culture, education, etc., the elders looked on coldly and did not object, but they never supported it either.
"Elder, we can no longer live underground." The elder said so much, nothing more than letting them be content with the status quo, even if the military and the pirates are fighting to the death, it is not easy to stand out, and they will enjoy the success of the military. As a result, if the military fails, they won't have any losses... But where in the world can they get something for nothing
The elder smiled, and in his squinted eyes he saw living and working in peace and contentment, and saw peace and tranquility, "Where can't we go on? It's been hundreds of years, and we have lived a good life."
The elders have life experience and experience brought by age, but because of age, the vigor and hard work in their bones have been worn away, and they can only see a little bit of what is in front of them.
Bandner cruelly asked them to open their eyes to see more, "The genetic sequence imbalance has suddenly increased from 2:1 20 to 30 years ago to 5:1 now, will we have polyandry in the future? "
The Great Elder opened his mouth, and a ho-ho sound came out of his throat, but he couldn't say a word, and the others were also silent.
Bandena continued: "The proportion of deaths caused by childbirth is also increasing. In the past one or two years, giving birth to a child has almost changed one life. Great elders, elders, can our ethnic group really continue to develop like this? In the end, we don't die in the dark..."
There are fewer and fewer gene sequences X, and every X is worth protecting and pursuing. It is now the norm for more than a dozen marriageable Ys to pursue an X. A situation where two Ys are together... their small society will become more and more chaotic, and finally become like a beast until it dies out.
The elders continued to remain silent.
In the distance, there was a noise, the adults cheered, the children screamed enthusiastically, just like the joy that everyone showed when a large amount of supplies were brought back, it was a lively scene that was rarely seen in the cave town.
Bandena stood up and looked over, and the elders also opened their eyes wide and looked towards the place where the noise came from. The elder was old and his eyesight was bad, so he couldn't see clearly, so he hurriedly asked Bandena what happened, and Bandena raised his lips and said, "Lian caught the white fish, two...the third one .”
There is a custom in the cave town that has been passed down for hundreds of years. Pregnant women must prepare white fish before giving birth. The nutritional value of white fish cannot be detected by the town without scientific equipment, but pregnant people become healthy after eating it. The health of the child born is obvious to all. If someone in the family is pregnant, then you have to often... no, it should be squatting by the river every day to try to catch fish.
Even if you squat every day, the white fish is cunning, agile, and the river is fast, so it is difficult to catch it. It is already a very good result for one person to catch one in two months.
Ryan's new friend Qinfeng Amelia wants to catch fish. His mother has a baby, but the baby's father is gone, and Qin Feng has no father, so the young child feels that he is the man of the family , You should take good care of your mother and baby, and it is right to catch fish to replenish your mother's health.
The little child squatted by the river, catching fish in the most primitive way—a hook under a fishing line, and the hook was covered with food that he was reluctant to eat. After the experience accumulated by the predecessors, if you want to catch white fish in the turbulent groundwater full of undercurrents, you can only use this clumsy method. Those who wish to take the bait.
The kid was very, very lucky. The bait moved within 20 minutes after putting it down, and cheered excitedly, but the fish struggled too hard, and the others were weak. Seeing that the fish was about to be caught back into the water, he struggled hard. Feeling a steady force coming from behind him, he hugged him and brought up the fish in the water. A white fish left the water, and it kept moving back and forth with tenacious vitality, patting the ground and making a crackling sound.
Qin Feng was still holding the fishing line in his little hand. He looked up and saw "Lenny" and saw an unfamiliar gentle smile on this familiar face.
Ryan is here to catch fish, and he wants to see how difficult it is to catch this kind of fish that has plagued the townspeople for hundreds of years! Facts have proved that fish are difficult to catch, and the impact of the turbulent water flow is even greater. Qin Feng was able to catch the fish just after he dropped the bait. Difficulties will not stop Ryan, and he has the aid of advanced weapons - two small robots - and no difficulties are too difficult.
In Yuanyuan and codename zero, another white fish was caught. When the crowd was boiling, Ryan was tapped on the shoulder, and it was Bandner.
When Ryan saw him, the expression on his face remained unchanged, and he lowered his voice and said, "The cave collapsed after twenty years."
Bandena's expression changed suddenly.