Chapter 1 Prologue

  In the desolate small mountain village, where only a few households lived, the cold winter was even more chilling than in the bustling city. The vast expanse of withered grass stretched out as far as the eye could see, unlike the soft dogtail grass, each blade having endured decades of hardship, still standing at one and a half meters tall, all gray and dry, with sharp edges. The trampled grass on the ground crackled with every step, and drops of blood fell to the ground, while the withered grasses sucked them up like they had been thirsty for a thousand years.

  "Hao Yu, don't look back..." A low and soft voice that was almost inaudible, yet stubbornly pulled out the words with a strained vocal cord.

  She was Gu Xi, a cold and stubborn little girl. The wind howled crazily into the wound as she escaped, with only one blood-soaked long-sleeved T-shirt on her body, which had originally been white but now could no longer be distinguished from the softness that sagged against the man's body. Even without strength, she still insisted on guiding the way for the man.

  But the man was discovered by the thugs just as he had barely escaped, and a flying stick hit his right leg, making him limp and stumble, and running became extremely difficult.

  "Halt, don't run! You damn it, all of you get back here!" This loud and rude voice came from behind, getting closer and closer.

  A group of thugs chased from the head to the end of the village, not knowing if they were usually pretending to be strong or if the couple was too powerful. The thugs were all panting and couldn't catch their breath. Some fell to the ground, while others supported themselves with their hands on their knees. The fat man held a sharp knife like a crescent moon in his hand, lagging behind the main group by dozens of meters, and shouted desperately, "Useless things, get up for me! If Big Brother finds out, you're all dead!"

  "Yes, big brother!" everyone chorused in unison.

  If this couple escapes, they will all be finished. Although they are used to the smell of death in their line of work every day, none of them have received a single penny from the employer yet. If they run away, not only will they waste their efforts this time, but they will also be blamed by the employer for letting the hostages escape. Moreover, it has been a long time since the brothers smelled the scent of money, and this opportunity must be grasped firmly.

  "Don't be afraid, Yaotou, we'll be fine, we'll be fine!" Ling Haoyu stumbled and limped as he ran, still carrying the pale and weak girl on his back. Yu Hui saw blood dripping continuously from his back, how could someone so small and weak endure this?

  Even through the layers of clothing, he could still strongly feel the hot liquid seeping into his back. She was bleeding, and it hurt even more in her heart, wishing that he was the one who got hurt instead, letting a weak little girl suffer like this seemed like a huge joke from heaven, he said to himself quietly, "I will make you all pay back double."

  A faint rustling sound came from the small path on the left, and the people present could vaguely hear the sound of a knife cutting through flesh as someone slashed their own wrist. This section of the road was exactly the path leading to the tomb, where it was said that martyrs were buried decades ago. Except for being overgrown with weeds, the tombs were neatly arranged, one after another.

  Row upon row of graves blurred together, and with the pitch-black night and her nearsightedness of 300-400 degrees, she could only vaguely see a small figure clad in all black, running to the left with great effort. The girl was already in so much pain that her head was hanging onto his shoulder. Was God helping them escape? As the footsteps grew fainter, she finally let go and wondered who the masked person was who had saved them. She still managed to say, "Turn right!"

  "Big brother, what's going on? There's blood dripping from both sides."

  "Search separately!"

  The big fat man had a large beer belly sticking out, with thick whiskers covering the lower half of his face, only revealing a big mouth. He held a crescent-shaped knife in his hand, and he was the local bandit in this village. He often committed crimes at the intersection leading to the city, but there hadn't been much traffic in recent years. Finally getting a task, he had to get the cash, or else his brothers would be left with nothing.

  Since the village of Majiacun was buried with many martyrs' bodies, the whole village has been haunted every day. As a result, families with slightly better conditions have all moved away, leaving only a few weak and disadvantaged groups. The desolate fields are overgrown with weeds everywhere, and the barren hills have become a place for burying corpses.

  Ling Haoyu struggled to make his way through the tomb, and in front of him was an old brick house with a height of about two meters, surrounded by firebricks, with a small angle missing from the four-square brick house. It was so dilapidated that it had not been used for many years. The small door was only half a meter high, and Ling Haoyu's feet were almost unable to bear it.

  He then pulled Gu Xi in, and the small space was enough to rest for a while. He himself struggled to crawl out, using a bundle of grass to block the entrance of the small kiln house, and then covered the bloodstains with dry grass from the side. Then he ran north to lure the thugs away. However, his legs hurt badly, at this time Gu Xi's face appeared in his mind one after another, so he clenched his fists and got up to run faster and faster.

  "Where are the mortise and tenon?" The two scoundrels were a pair of twin brothers, tall and thin, with dark skin and skull-like faces. The only thing that could be identified at first glance was a black mole on the speaking man's lip, named Bangzi.

  "Go on, hurry up!" Bangzi shouted.

  It was probably too high a threshold, and all he could see was Ling Hao Yu's head moving towards the cliff. He made a great effort to catch up until he reached the edge of the cliff and saw a blood-stained black suit hanging from a small branch on the cliff. Yanzi looked at the vast cliff and said fiercely, "Enough! Falling from here is certain death. Good-looking: I was a fortune teller for those few years latest chapter!"

  "How did you know they really jumped down?" asked Banger with some doubt.

  "This is none of your business, you like to interfere with others' affairs, I'm leaving." The wooden stick pulled out a small tree branch from the nearby bushes, picked up the suit and ran back with a swagger.

  "Have you smelled the strong smell of blood nearby? Maybe they're still hiding in some grass nest." The stick was always timid and suspicious, and the gloomy cliff edge often had ghosts. He didn't want to give up searching, and with a fearful grip on the wrist of the stick, he sniffed around.

  The stick silently picked up the suit and returned, muttering to himself, "coward", a word that sent shivers down his spine, causing him to tremble violently. He immediately ran after the wooden ladle, fearing being haunted by ghosts from behind.

  Until the sound of crunching dry grass gradually disappeared, Ling Haoyu came out from a pile of grass beside him, patted off the grass dust on his body and ran back to the brick kiln to find Gu Xi.

  He was fortunate that Gu Xi was very strong, and although he was covered in wounds, he endured without crying. After coming out of the brick house, they took a shortcut and happened to see an old man carrying two bundles of fodder approaching them, kindly helping them return to the thatched hut by the creek to take refuge and recover from their injuries.

  "Ah-yu, it hurts a lot, but you have to bear with it for now. Let me clean your wound!" Ling Hao Yu looked at Gu Xi lying on the hard bed board, and tears flowed down his face naturally. This time, he was really heartbroken. The T-shirt stained with blood, even the lower half of her light brown Harlan pants were all dyed red, and there wasn't a single spot on her body that wasn't covered in bloodstains. She still didn't shed any tears, but just lay quietly.

  "Ling Hao Yu, run quickly, they're coming!" Gu Xi saw him with tears in his eyes, and still managed to find some fun amidst the pain.

  "How can you be so bad, and at this time, you're still making jokes like this?"

  He was shocked by Gu Xi's words, and he suddenly got up and ran to the window to take a look. This girl had actually played a joke on him. So he turned around and returned to the bedside, forcing a smile, trying to slowly pull her clothes from the hem up to her head, but seeing that many places on her clothes were stuck to her delicate skin with blood clots, he quickly took out a pair of scissors from an old bamboo basket hanging by the bed.

  He then held the scissors in his right hand and gently pulled at the hem of his clothes with his left. He carefully cut upwards from his navel, revealing dense scars left by the rope whipping. After lifting it up, he soaked a small piece of cloth in hot water to loosen the fabric stuck to his skin.

  "Am I bothering you? Don't mind me!" It took her a long time to make a sound. But with this one shout, her chest hurt vaguely, too many wounds, the pain felt like a whole piece of skin being cut open by a knife. Perhaps it was the first time she was so bluntly naked in front of him, and she couldn't help but feel embarrassed, wanting to shift her attention with this tone.

  "Alright, don't be angry! The wound is splitting open everywhere! How could I not care about you? Don't be mad, last time was too infuriating that's why I treated you like that. I didn't expect to fall into the trap. I was wrong, can you forgive me?"

  "Forgive? Forgive you? You must be dreaming! Even if you kowtowed to me eighteen times, I wouldn't forgive you. Do you know why?" Hearing Ling Hao Yu's sincere apology, she suddenly remembered the reason for this matter, the trivial things in life that she had long forgotten. This time being secretly caught in the wilderness of the countryside was all because of that pervert.

  "Will 100 lines do?" Ling Hao Yu gazed at her face, this little girl spoke very bluntly, but actually had a kind heart inside.

  "A thousand apologies are useless unless you apply ointment after poking out my eyes, then I'll really forgive you!"

  "Can't be, it's so cruel? Alright, bear with it!" Ling Hao Yu took a large bowl of herbal medicine from the old man, not knowing what the formula was. The greenish color was slightly sticky, like maltose melting. He applied it to the wound bit by bit, and the delicate skin had already been covered by scars and herbs. After applying the medicine, he took an old shirt from the old man for her to wear. She just closed her eyes and didn't speak again, her mind filled with memories of when she first arrived in F City...