The yellowish weeds were sparse. Perhaps it was because they had been overgrazed by herbivores, or perhaps because of the extreme drought. There was almost no visible grass left, only hard gray-yellow roots exposed above the ground.
Some patches of grass and roots had already been torn up, leaving behind only dry, barren land.A gray-black rabbit jumped out of a sandy burrow and cautiously looked around. After confirming there was no immediate threat, it lowered its head and began gnawing at the roots.
Winter seemed to be approaching, and all animals were trying to fatten themselves during these final days in order to survive the long, harsh season ahead.In the distance, a tall figure held a spear with a sharply carved tip. He crouched like a wild leopard and quietly approached the fat rabbit.A sharp sound rang out.
The rabbit did not even have time to escape. It was struck by the spear and flattened instantly.The figure came closer. The rabbit's head had been crushed, but its fur remained undamaged. It was tied with a straw rope and hung from one of the barbs of the spear.The man was about to leave when he suddenly stopped and bent down to inspect the ground.As usual, he carefully observed the slightly barren grassland.
There was a trail of footprints leading from west to east, as if something heavy had been dragged along the ground.He knelt and examined the tracks more closely. The trail was long and extended farther ahead.The tall, dark man rubbed the dirt between his fingers and raised them to his nose.
There was dried blood on the ground, but the smell was still strong enough to recognize clearly. Whether the wounded creature was an animal or a human, it could not have been gone for more than half a day.That would depend on whether the injured thing was prey… or a person.The man licked his lips.
Beneath his narrow black eyebrows, his expression showed both cruelty and greed. Combined with the strange pattern on his face and his murderous gaze, he looked extremely fierce.One rabbit was too small to feed the family.He needed to find more food.Following the trail all the way east, he came upon a small patch of grassy land no more than three or four feet across.
There was a shallow depression in the middle of it that could barely be called a water hole. It was filled with turbid yellow mud-water, with wild grass still growing inside it. The hole was less than a foot deep. Yet within twenty miles, this depression was the only source of water to be found nearby.In a place where water was scarce, everyone knew how important a water source was.
There was someone lying beside it.Perhaps the person had been too exhausted to move farther, or perhaps he had already been close to death. It looked as though he had crawled all the way to the muddy pool. One hand was plunged into the mud, but his mouth had never reached the water.The body was naked except for a straw rope tied around the waist.
Judging from the exposed skin, this person was not very old, nor very tall. The body was thin and bony, with only the buttocks showing any sign of flesh.Flies buzzed around him. Along with the flies, other nameless insects had already turned the wounded human by the waterside into a feast, not only for today, but likely for the next few days. They were already searching for places on his body to bite into.Especially the right leg.
There was a large wound on that leg. It looked as though some beast had chewed into the knee, damaging the flesh and breaking the bone. The wound had received only the crudest treatment. The broken bones had been tightly bound with straw, but perhaps because of the heat or the lack of medicine, the skin around the wound had begun to rot and ooze pus.
A large number of white maggots crawled over the injury.A black beetle bit into the rotten flesh, tearing it open with its powerful jaws. With its sharp triangular head, it tried to burrow deeper into the fresh flesh underneath.
The figure on the ground shuddered and was jolted awake by the pain."Fuck...!"Yan Mo could hardly believe he had fainted. He had crawled for nearly a full day before finally finding this water source. He had thought he could at least fall into the muddy water and drink some, only to lose consciousness halfway through.Ignoring the throbbing pain in his injured right leg, Yan Mo forced himself upright. He dragged the leg forward and buried it in the water.
The water was not cold, but it was cool enough. For someone who had spent the entire day under the burning sun, even that was enough to reduce the heat in his body.Yan Mo did not drink from the water hole immediately. He only wanted to keep himself awake first.The water was filthy and unfiltered. With his current injuries and illness, drinking such dirty water directly could cause even greater problems.When he had crawled over, he had already examined the area.
He had seen animal tracks along the edge of the water. With his years of medical experience, he could tell that while the water quality was poor, it was unlikely to be poisonous. Before passing out, he had intended to scoop up a little water, let the sediment settle, and then decide whether he could drink it.
Now, however, he suspected he was developing a fever again because of the wound infection, and he could not afford to wait too long.He lowered his head and leaned closer to the muddy water. Thanks to the hot climate and desert conditions, there was no visible aquatic life in the water hole apart from the weeds.That had its disadvantages too.
He had wanted to find a few leeches to suck blood around the wound. In some cases, leeches could be useful. Unfortunately, there was nothing like that in this patch of desert.
Yan Mo propped himself up and pulled his injured leg closer. Looking down, he saw that the black beetle had already burrowed halfway into the wound.Instead of pulling it out directly with his fingers, he broke off a hard grass root and used it like the tip of a knife. Carefully, he parted the flesh and dug out the beetle that had wedged itself inside.
Blood immediately welled up.Yan Mo reached into the muddy water and scooped up some wet sand from the bottom, then splashed it over the wound.This was the crudest and most desperate way to stop bleeding.
Most of the little insects that had been feeding on the wound were washed away, leaving behind only the maggots feeding on dead tissue. The flies around him scattered for the moment. Yan Mo's lips twitched into a bitter smile.
Dragging his leg, he scooped up another handful of water. The muddy water contained too much sediment. Ideally, he should wait for it to settle fully, or use some sort of container and leave it for a day.This kind of salty, muddy water should not be used to quench thirst. After a while, it would only make him thirstier. But he had no choice.Was it better to die of thirst now, or risk becoming thirstier later? Was it better to die cleanly, or survive a little longer on dirty water?Yan Mo chose a spot that looked relatively clearer. He brushed aside the visible floating dirt with his fingers, licked his dry lips, and drank.
The strange-tasting water slid down his throat, and his whole body seemed to come back to life. Even if the water was disgusting, he still forced himself to swallow mouthful after mouthful. At the very least, it eased his thirst for the moment.After drinking, he sat there to rest for a while. He ignored the pain in his leg, because in any case, he had no better way to treat it right now.Looking into the water, he could just barely make out his reflection through the ripples.
His hair was a tangled mess, hanging to about half his neck. His scalp itched terribly, and Yan Mo had no idea how many lice were crawling through it.Touching his face, he found it still smooth, with no beard on the chin. This body should be fairly young. Judging from the skin and bones, Yan Mo guessed the body was somewhere between twelve and sixteen years old.
The range was so wide because he couldn't see his own face clearly, and also because this place seemed to have a harsh environment. People in desert regions often matured earlier, making age harder to judge accurately.A knife would have been nice.A lighter would have been even better.Yan Mo forced himself not to dwell on it. Once you started wanting things, you would only want more. And right now, he had nothing except the straw rope around his waist and a makeshift grass covering tied in front to protect his lower body.
That crude covering had been necessary while crawling across the barren grassland. Otherwise, he might have injured himself even worse. But the thing was horribly uncomfortable. Even without direct contact with the ground, the burrs and stiffness of the woven grass had already scratched and bruised him.Yan Mo guessed he had most likely been abandoned. With an injury like this and an obvious infection, whoever had left him here probably thought he would not survive.
They had not even left him a scrap of clothing, which made it even more likely. In their eyes, there was no point leaving possessions to someone who was going to die anyway.If that was true, then the people here were pitifully poor.Of course, another possibility occurred to him. Maybe this body had been kidnapped.
The kidnappers found him no longer useful and simply threw him away. To avoid leaving clues, they even took his clothes.If that were true, then at least there was a chance he could still return to modern society.But—Looking at this tanned skin, it was not the deep black of an African complexion, nor quite brown or yellow. Looking at the rough ankles and palms, it did not seem like someone who had done a lot of hard manual labor, but neither did it look like the pampered skin of a rich boy.So where exactly had he ended up?This place was either extremely poor and primitive, or filled with people who had no law, no morality, and no hesitation in abandoning a dying child.No matter which possibility was true, it was terrible.
"Ah!" Yan Mo suddenly cried out and plunged his head into the muddy water again.This time he was not trying to cool off. He was washing his hair.His scalp itched so badly he could almost feel the blood-sucking bugs crawling through it.If he had a knife, he would shave his head completely.When Yan Mo pulled his head back out of the muddy water, his scalp finally felt a little less unbearable.
Now he could start thinking about survival.First, he needed to search this small patch of grassland carefully. Maybe he could find herbs that could stop bleeding or reduce inflammation.It would be even better if he could find some harder shrub branches to replace the grass covering and perhaps use them to better brace and fix the broken bone.Second, he needed some kind of weapon for self-defense. Evening was approaching. Soon not only nocturnal creatures, but also wild animals would gather here to drink. If he couldn't leave before dark, and if he had neither weapon nor fire, then he would only be waiting to be eaten alive.He had to leave as soon as possible. Even though there was water here, it was far too dangerous to stay.Yan Mo swept his gaze over the patch of grassland and found no shrubs, only weeds.Focusing on the denser grass farther ahead, he lowered himself and crawled forward with his arms, hoping to find something useful.
Suddenly—A black spear stabbed into the earth right in front of him.Yan Mo froze. Then his heart leapt.Someone was here!The man standing behind him blocked his path with the spear, his eyes sweeping over Yan Mo's bare back and lingering on his body with the appraising look of someone judging livestock.The stranger's free hand hovered near his waist, as if he were deciding whether to kill the boy on the spot or tie him up and drag him back.
This kid was wounded so badly that he looked eighty percent dead already. If he died on the way back or was eaten by animals before then, bringing him back would just be a waste of food.Yan Mo struggled to prop himself up and looked back at the person behind him.He finally saw the man.And the man saw him too.Now that his face had been washed clean, the wounded boy looked unexpectedly handsome.
Yan Mo snorted inwardly. This man was definitely not a good person. When their eyes met, the stranger looked at him the way someone might look at a piece of meat.And this really was a savage land.No matter how good the man's figure was, he could not hide the savage and bloodthirsty aura around him.
Not to mention the fact that he had a strange tattoo on his face and wore only a piece of animal skin around his waist.Who in the modern world dressed like that?Yan Mo's heart went cold.This man wanted to kill him.Almost the moment that thought crossed his mind, Yan Mo forced out the most pitiful and flattering smile he could manage.
The man reached for Yan Mo's neck—then stopped.He had originally intended to snap the boy's neck and give him a merciful death. But it was getting late. The sun would soon go down, and he had to return to the tribe before dark.
This grassy patch was not safe at night."Brother, give me something to eat, and I'll work for you… okay?" Yan Mo said quickly.The man could not understand what Yan Mo was saying, but he looked at the boy's smiling little face and suddenly felt reluctant to kill him.…Maybe he could just bring him home and keep him for now.If the boy ended up crippled, he could still be used for something else.
As long as he still had some use, it would be fine.After all, winter reserves were winter reserves."Brother, I don't have a family. As long as you save me, I'll definitely repay you."The stranger still could not understand his words, but the voice sounded pleasant.
"Brother—"Yan Mo did not get to say a third sentence.The man struck him across the neck with the shaft of the spear, and Yan Mo fainted on the spot.