Chapter 53 Chapter 52

I struggled hard, kicking my legs on the ground, and the person had to let go. "Shh!" he said to me, "Be careful they find out!" I turned my head and saw a man in a hood.I couldn't make out his face in the dim light, but I was sure there were a pair of bird's eyes in the hood, probably from a pigeon.Then I saw my friends, D, Little S, and Emily, all gathered here, and a few other villagers who also wore hoods. "What's going on?" I couldn't help asking. "It's not safe here, let's talk about it when we go back." The person who dragged me spoke again.Then he listened quietly for a while, chose a bushy path, lowered his body and walked out.

All of us followed him.Not long after, the field of vision gradually widened, and we came to a village. These small houses are very simple, most of them look like small shacks, and the roofs are randomly covered with hay.Several naked children were playing with stones on the ground, and beside them a figure like their mother, wearing a rough linen gown with a hemp rope tied around his waist, was picking dry corn kernels.The bodies of these people are not different from ours, but above the shoulders they all have the heads and necks of birds, the most common birds, either sparrows or swallows.

The hooded man walked around them, came to the door of a small house behind, and gestured for us to enter. Standing on tiptoe, I was startled when I saw a man who looked like a soldier standing at the entrance of the village not far away.Although his armor is not as gorgeous and exaggerated as the two soldiers in the forest, he still has the same sharp and huge beak after all. "Don't worry about that," said the hooded man. "He's just a regular patrol, not here to make arrests." He walked into the room and took off the hood covering his head, and it turned out to be a gray pigeon.Several other hooded figures showed their true colors, mostly pigeons, but also crows, and a pheasant.But the pheasant was blind in one eye, and the feathers on his head were so sparse that it was almost invisible.

"I haven't seen a human for a long time." The leading gray pigeon said, "Who are you and what are you doing here?" "It's just an ordinary traveler." D replied, "We heard that the Land of Evergreen is beautiful and rich, and we yearn for it wholeheartedly." "You are unlucky, this is not a time of peace." Gray Pigeon sighed, "I advise you, go back wherever you came from." "Didn't you say there's banquets and dances all night long here?" Emily interrupted. "That was a long time ago." The Gray Pigeon glanced at her. "Since the new king came to the throne, we have become what we are now."

"What happened? In the woods just now, why did those soldiers arrest people?" I couldn't help asking. "Taxation and labor, what other things can there be?" The guy with the crow's head said impatiently, "Those soldiers came from the royal city. They came here to collect taxes. If they can't collect them, they will capture slaves and go back." "Then will they take us away?" Emily immediately asked nervously. "Of course not." The crow man looked at her with a weird smile, "A pretty little girl like you will only hang in a cage as a pet to watch, and I will never let you become a miner."

Emily screamed and shrank behind Xiao S. "Go out and have a look to prevent the enemy from raiding." Gray Pigeon made an excuse to push Crow Man out of the room. He sighed and apologized to us, "Both his younger brothers were taken away. He didn't do it on purpose." D nodded in understanding. "What kind of person will be captured as a slave?" Xiao S suddenly asked a seemingly random question. But the Gray Pigeon was stunned. "The old and the weak? The disabled?" Xiao S continued to ask, "Where did all the able-bodied people in this country go?"

"Isn't this obvious?" The pheasant, who was blind in one eye, said angrily to him, "Those healthy and beautiful ones have already gone to the royal city, so how can they live a life of fear in this small village!" "So your social hierarchy is divided by appearance?" Xiao S suddenly realized. "Aren't you?" Pheasant stared at him with his only eye.Little S shrugged. "In that case, we can see peacocks in the royal city!" Emily continued to speak inappropriately.Little S quickly gave her a hand. "I advise you to go back." Gray Pigeon said, "The farther the better, the better not to get involved in this turmoil in the Wind Nation."

Before he finished speaking, there was a sudden commotion outside the house.I heard the child's heart-piercing cries, chaotic running steps, and shouts and screams.The door was slammed open, and the previous crow man broke in.He had an arrow stuck in his arm. "They're back again! This time they plan to destroy the village..." He gasped, "Go!" The gray pigeon man's face changed.He stood up immediately, and distributed a weapon lifted from the corner to everyone. "How many people?" he asked. "A lot..." The crow man gritted his teeth and broke the arrowhead with one hand.He took a sword from the other party.

"Then let's withdraw." Gray Pigeon made a prompt decision.He took one look at us, and then said to the blind pheasant, "You take them first. Go find Sylph." Pheasant snorted, crossed his arms, and looked disapproving. "They are trapped here now, they can only follow us." The Gray Pigeon hurriedly urged him, "Go, Sylph will make a decision for us." After speaking, he and several others opened the gate and rushed out, blocking the soldiers from chasing us. D pulled me, Xiao S and Emily, and we ran out with the pheasant man and rushed into the bushes.The sharp blades of grass scratched my face and hands. I heard the long howling of a falcon above my head. I didn't dare to raise my head or even open my eyes. I just ran desperately.

The wind was chasing, and I heard crackling and crackling sounds behind me, as well as the sound of giants collapsing.The blazing fire reflected half of the sky red.Even the woods could feel the burning heat. "They... burned the village?" Emily asked tremblingly. Pheasant glanced at her with a disgusted expression of "Isn't this obvious?" "So, what about those children? And their mother..." Emily asked sadly, her tears streaming down her face. The pheasant stopped. "They're all dead," he said. "There's nothing we can do to save them."

"Why is this..." Emily cried. "The law of this country is like this." Pheasant said through gritted teeth, "Born ugly and lowly, they don't even have the fundamental right to live. Only those noble and rare birds are worthy to live like nobles in the royal city. " "It's not fair!" Emily exclaimed. "Yes, so what we have to do is to change the law and write our own history." A strange voice suddenly sounded from the depths of a silent jungle, and I was startled. A man in a black cloak stepped out from the shadows of the trees.He took off the hood on his head. I have never seen such a bird.His feathers are as black as ink like a crow, but the beak is very short, and there are feathers on his head. The most peculiar thing is that there is a long and thin blue feather on the back of his head, fluttering in the wind. "Welcome to Evergreen Land." He held out his hand to us. "I'm Sylph."