Chapter 9: Dining (Part 1)

  Xu Ming's consciousness gradually recovered, and he seemed to hear the sound of ducks quacking and dogs barking in his ears. He slowly got up, and surprisingly found himself standing in front of a familiar village.

  The rapeseed flowers that fill the mountains and plains are like a bright oil painting on the earth, taking a deep breath, what a wonderful feeling! It turns out that this refreshing breath is so comfortable.

  He strode towards the village, where lived the people he was most familiar with - his father and mother. Since he escaped from the countryside and indulged in the endless gaming career in the city, he had almost forgotten about home. He didn't know why, but now he particularly yearned to see those two people who used to annoy him.

  A middle-aged man carrying a hoe walked out of the village and saw Xu Ming, unable to help but exclaim in surprise: "Isn't this little Ming? When did you come back?"

  "Hey Third Uncle, you're up so early, I just got back too."

  Xu Ming happily replied, wanting to take out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, but unexpectedly touched a handful of fresh blood.

  "What's wrong, Xiaoming? Why are you covered in blood?" San Shu's look of surprise quickly turned to fear, and he stuttered: "You didn't kill someone, did you?"

  "There's no way... how could it be..."

  Xu Ming felt that even uttering these few words was somewhat pale and powerless.

  Suddenly, San Shu's figure became extremely blurred. Two or three big men suddenly appeared beside Xu Ming and seized him, beating him up with a flurry of punches while shouting: "This is a murderer, hurry up and send him to the police station..."

  "No... I'm not..."

  The scene changed again, and I found myself handcuffed to a chair. Two police officers in uniform sat opposite me, one of whom sneered and said, "Isn't that right? Humph, I advise you to confess, leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist."

  "I really didn't... I didn't kill anyone..." Xu Ming wanted to shout loudly, but his voice might only be audible to himself.

  "It seems you're not going to confess properly, so I'll make sure you sober up and help you recall..."

  So cold!

  "Achoo"

  Xu Ming sat up with a terrified face, but found a devil-like man smiling at him.

  It's Colonel, it was just a dream!

  "Are you okay?" A small hand helped Xu Ming up.

  Xu Ming turned his head and said with a surprised face: "Maya, you... are great, you're still alive, I... am I dreaming?"

  Maya's face flashed a hint of blush, and she thought to herself, he actually dreamed of me in his dream, and couldn't help but feel a little delighted.

  Young girls are always full of spring, if they encounter people who talk nonsense, they will naturally have immunity. But in this era of collapse of the rule of law, everyone is in danger, who still pursues love?

  Xu Ming didn't know that his first words after waking up from the dream would effortlessly cheat an extremely excellent bombing beauty.

  "Having a dream? Hehe, you'll be able to have a dream soon." The lieutenant colonel flashed his signature smile again, and Xu Ming and Maya couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines. If he had two horns, the lieutenant colonel would definitely be a devil.

  "I'm delighted to inform you that you've all passed the initial assessment. Congratulations!" The lieutenant colonel's smile remained unchanged, but his tone shifted as he continued, "At the same time, I regret to inform you that the next round of assessments has already begun. Remember, I only need six people."

  "Mr. Shang Shi, take them to have a meal and then go to the barracks to rest."

  A soldier emerged from behind Captain Li and politely asked Xu Ming and Maya to hand over their pistols, then led the two into a side street.

  Maya was somewhat excited, after all, she had survived and had the opportunity to enter the 48-to-6 selection, which still had a high winning rate. However, Xu Ming was secretly thinking about what Lieutenant Colonel had said earlier, the next assessment had already begun, and from the action of taking guns from the upper officer, it was clear that they would not be participating in mutual firefights, but rather entering an even more difficult test.

  It seems tonight is destined to be an extraordinary night.

  The upper officer led them away for about half an hour, bringing them to a place similar to an abandoned warehouse. There was a rusty iron lock on the warehouse door, and the upper officer raised his assault rifle and suddenly smashed it against the iron lock, breaking it in two.

  "This is where you will have your meal. You have fifteen minutes to finish eating, and I'll wait for you here." The sergeant said mechanically, then turned around to look at his wristwatch.

  Xu Ming and Maya looked at each other in dismay, what's going on?

  But Xu Ming still opened the warehouse door, a musty and moldy smell wafted out, causing both of them to cough non-stop.

  "What about food?" Maya asked, suppressing the cramps in her stomach. Eating in this environment was a bit nauseating, but it wasn't unbearable either.

  Xu Ming pulled Maya and said: "There will be, let's go in and take a look."

  Inside it's pitch black, nothing can be seen.

  Xu Ming took the opportunity to put his hand into his pants and pulled out a lighter. "Ka", the lighter was still very powerful, and a small flame burst out.

  Taking advantage of the lighter's brightness, Xu Ming saw the rag and iron rod. With that, Xu Ming extinguished the lighter, relied on memory to feel for the pile of rags and iron rods, and quickly made a simple torch, igniting it with the lighter.

  The illumination of the simple torch has now surpassed that of incandescent bulbs, and the entire warehouse is clearly visible. This place was probably a storage room for miscellaneous items before, with things scattered all over the place. However, it should have been abandoned for a long time, as everything has already rotted and emits a strange odor.

  "Can't we just starve for a few more minutes?" Maya's small face was somewhat purple, apparently very angry.

  Xu Ming made a "shh" gesture to Maya, then closed his eyes and listened for a moment before chuckling and saying, "Of course not, I don't want to go hungry again tonight."

  Xu Ming fixed the torch on the wall of the warehouse and squatted down to rummage through that pile of rubbish.

  Maya couldn't help but run to Xu Ming's side, sighed and said: "Ming, stop looking, these are all useless things that can't be eaten at all, and they have already rotted like this. Even if we found something, it would be inedible."

  "Who said that?" Xu Ming chuckled and rummaged through a pile of miscellaneous items, pulling out a black thing.

  Maya Dingqing took a look and was so scared that she almost jumped up, her face turned pale as she pointed at the black thing in Xu Ming's hand, trembling and saying: "Old...old mouse..."

  "Right." Xu Ming threw the already rotten mouse corpse, which was almost a skeleton, onto an empty space and continued to rummage through the miscellaneous items, saying as he searched: "Still, it's not bad at all."

  "How can this be eaten?" Maya's face was still pale, and she shook her head firmly, saying: "I won't eat."

  "Don't jump to conclusions so quickly."

  Xu Ming has found a few thin wooden sticks, a bundle of nylon rope and a large piece of wood from the pile of miscellaneous items. The board is already somewhat rotten and not in good shape, but it's still an intact piece.

  Xu Ming weighed it in his hand and felt that the weight was not enough, so he found a few more stones, tied them tightly with nylon rope, and bundled them onto the wooden board.

  Then he took those few thin wooden sticks and tied them together with nylon rope into a shape.

  "What are you doing?" Maya asked with some puzzlement, unable to help herself.

  Xu Ming smiled mysteriously and said: "Catch wild game."

  The thin wooden stick was quickly tied up, and Xu Ming flipped over the wooden board with the thin wooden stick as a fulcrum to support the board. Then he roasted the mouse's corpse on the torch.

  The mouse's corpse had almost become a mummy, but the skin was still intact. As soon as the skin caught fire, a savory aroma immediately wafted out, filling the entire warehouse.

  Even Maya, a girl who was naturally afraid of mice, couldn't help but swallow her saliva.

  The mouse's corpse was soon roasted to the size of a thumb, but the fragrance became even stronger.

  Xu Ming took down a torch from the wall and pulled Maya saying: "Let's go out, I'll tell you a story."

  Maya unknowingly followed Xu Ming out of the warehouse.

  Upper officer saw two people walking out of the warehouse, coldly said: "Finished eating? So fast? Do you want me to take you to the camp for a rest?"

  "It's all right, Mr. Shangshi, we haven't started eating yet, it shouldn't have been more than 5 minutes." Xu Ming replied with a smile.

  The superior officer glanced at his watch on his wrist, turned his head and ignored them, as if they were air.

  Xu Ming naturally didn't bother with him either, extinguished the torch and pulled Maya to sit on one side of the warehouse door, gazing at the bright moon in the sky, unable to help but feel a little distracted.

  Maya had never accompanied a boy to watch the moon together. Looking at Xu Ming gazing up at the sky in a daze, she couldn't help but lift her head too.