Chapter 5 Chapter 4 The last camel, to kill or not to kill?

The old guide's head hung limply, and after a while, he finally uttered three words: "I don't know!" After a while, he suddenly said: "Actually, we are already dead, and it is only our ghosts who want to break out of the desert." The old guide's words were so abrupt that everyone looked at him with wide eyes that had lost their luster, hoping to get a further explanation from his dry mouth. But the old guide just repeated what he said just now in a murmur. A young man who is usually the strongest, at this time, although his lips are cracked and bleeding, but his habit still does not change, he is the first to retort: ​​"Ghosts don't have shadows, we all have them, how can we all be ghosts?"

All the people still looked at the old guide, waiting for the old guide's answer. But the old guide didn't answer, but shook his head very slowly.However, everyone still understood what he meant. Some people looked down at their own shadows and thought in their hearts: Although there are still shadows, what is the difference between them and ghosts? Anyone who has ever wandered in the desert knows that there is a very scary legend in the desert: all the people who died in the desert, the ghosts are still trying to get out of the desert. Even ghosts don't want to stay in the desert, so we know that the desert is more terrifying than hell.

Pei Siqing also thought of this, he couldn't help shivering, and called out in a hoarse voice: "Don't think about it, this camel can at least give us another three days of life." Under such circumstances, "living for three more days" is already a very strong stimulus. Three days can generate endless hope, can bring people back to life from a desperate situation, can bring people back to Chang'an, and can make people stay alive in the heat of summer. , and you can slowly sip the chilled wine from the remote western regions. So, people chewed the old and fishy camel meat vigorously and drank the thick camel blood.

The old guide squatted on the side without moving, and when Pei Siqing came to him, he pointed to the only camel and asked in a hoarse voice, "How about this one?" Pei Siqing raised his head: "Let's talk about it in three days." At that time, everything was pushed to three days later because I was full of hope for the next three days.Moreover, everyone is thinking: three days is not too short, and after another three days, there must be new discoveries. But three days passed, and they were still in the endless desert. The only difference between three days later and three days ago was that there were six or seven fewer people in their ranks.The rest of the people walked more slowly, although there were still shadows, they looked more like ghosts.

Finally, it was time to slaughter the last camel. Pei Siqing raised his dagger, but he couldn't stab it for a long time - this was an unprecedented thing for a big man like him. In his memory, no matter what he did, he would do it as soon as he thought of it. Did not hesitate. But at this time, for the life and death of a camel, he couldn't do it for a long time, and he couldn't let go. Killing the camel would give them three or four more days to live, but they would have no more camels. In such a desert, without camels, it is tantamount to death - they don't know how far they were swept away by the big storm - they must be very far away, otherwise, after more than ten days, they have been walking eastward, and they should have returned Chang'an.

Perhaps, after the big storm, he stretched out his hand and pointed eastward, and decided to go back to Chang'an, which was a wrong decision.Perhaps, at that time, they were already on the edge of the desert. If they walked westward, they would be able to get out of the desert in a day or two. If they walked eastward, they would gradually enter the center of the desert. perhaps…… Perhaps by killing the camels, they could walk out of the desert by themselves within three days. Maybe keep the camels, and the camels will find water tomorrow. perhaps…… Pei Siqing couldn't make a decision by himself, he slowly rolled his eyes and looked at the rest of the people.

The skin on the faces of all the people is cracked. It seems that every face is lifeless, and every face seems to be carved out of dead wood.Naturally, there would be no expression on the dead wood-like face. It wasn't even like a ghost, it was just dead wood. Pei Siqing's last gaze rested on the old guide's face, and he found that the old guide was sitting very calmly with his head down, not moving at all.Seeing this situation, Pei Siqing felt chills all over his body, he stretched out his hand and gently pushed the old guide, and the old guide fell down. Pei Siqing closed his eyes: the old guide is dead.

After suffering for so many days in pain and despair, the old guide finally couldn't take it anymore and died. Under such circumstances, no one will think that death is the final release, there is no release at all-the soul has to keep struggling to leave the desert: no one knows what the situation of the soul struggling to leave in the desert may be far more than the body. Wanting to leave is easy, and it may be far more painful than the body wants to leave. As soon as the old guide fell down, all the people stood up at the same time, even the last camel seemed to feel that a greater misfortune was about to come, so it also stood up.

At this moment, Pei Siqing didn't even make a decision, but there was a "boom" in his head. The death of the old guide made him have to do something, so when he showed his hand, the dagger was gone. into the camel's neck. Moreover, he made a quick move, and under his eyes, he saw the dagger's light shining, beating, and circulating, like many demons and elves, circling around the camel. In the blink of an eye, he stabbed the camel's body seventeen times Eight times. Then, he bowed his head and sucked the wound on the camel's neck, sucking vigorously. The rest of the people didn't need him to say anything, they also rushed forward one after another, each biting a wound, sucking desperately.

The strange thing is that the gigantic camel didn't run away, but just stood there numbly, letting everyone torture it.From the way it looked, it seemed that it wanted to reach out and give a hug to the dead old guide. But it was unable to do so, and when it stretched its head towards the old guide as far as it could, it slowly fell down. At that moment, all the people who were sucking the camel's blood stopped their blood-sucking movements, looked at the fallen camel, and some even waved their hands helplessly. At this moment, Pei Siqing maintained his true character of a big man, and he muffled: "Don't leave a drop, rely on it to survive!"

Lived on it!But how long it will last, no one knows. Pei Siqing finally killed the last camel, and it is completely unpredictable what will happen in the future.Or maybe, to kill or not to kill, the final result is the same: death. That night, and the rest of the time, there was no sound other than chewing. Pei Siqing's hand was always pressed on his dagger, the gem on the sheath made a dent on his palm, his hand was very numb, but he didn't want to leave. He looked up at the sky, the sky was a very clear and deep blue, the stars in the sky, and when he was in Chang'an's mansion, holding Rou Niang in his arms, lying on a comfortable chair, looking up at the sky , no different.The starry sky is eternal, but the ground under the starry sky is so different every moment. Pei Siqing didn't know when he closed his eyes. When his eyelids felt tingling and he woke up, the day started again. Without the camels, all the people who woke up looked like children without the support of adults, with a helpless expression, and naturally focused their eyes on Pei Siqing. Pei Siqing didn't say a word, didn't even point out his hand, he just took a deep breath, and then, facing the rising sun, he started to walk forward. At this time, it is impossible to change the direction of travel—even if it was a mistake to decide to go east at the beginning, then you must continue to go on now, and go east. As long as you don’t die, you will naturally be able to return to the original starting point local. No one made a sound, let alone spoke.A dozen or so people lined up in a death row, struggling to move forward in the desert. Even a big man like Pei Siqing couldn't keep his head up, and would lower his head, not to mention the others. Jaws have been pressed against their chests. The sun sinks and rises, rises and sinks. For the first three days, camel meat kept them alive. On the fifth day, the two young men started to go berserk, shouting, jumping at each other, desperately trying to bite each other, twisted into a ball, and rolled on the sand.But no one paid any attention to them, not even a single glance at them. On this day, six people fell down. The next day, five more fell. The next day, there were only three people left. Pei Siqing couldn't maintain his normal eyesight anymore. No matter how much he blinked or rubbed his eyes, he was always dizzy when he saw them. Sometimes, the colors turned around in circles, and sometimes they were just blurred. When looking at two other people, the bodies of those two people will be fat and thin, tall and short.Watching and watching, the two suddenly became one person—one of them—he and the other, both could hear the screaming of the fallen man, the voice was hoarse as if the screaming was not with his mouth, Instead, it speaks from the heart. What the man called was: "I beg you...kill me...maybe you can escape...after birth...I can't do it anyway...If you get out alive, I just want to treat me well... family……" Pei Siqing only felt a convulsion all over his body, he almost shrank into a ball because of it, he didn't stop, he still walked forward step by step, of course he walked extremely slowly, so he could hear voices coming from behind him. The one who fell to the ground first yelled: "Wait a minute, you swear a poisonous oath first, if you... escape from the sky and don't take care of my family, then what will happen?" The voice that stopped said loudly: "My God, if you can keep me alive, I can go back to Chang'an. If you don't treat your family well, ask someone to kill me, drink my blood, and chew my blood." meat!" The one who fell on the ground panted for a while, and then suddenly yelled again: "Why are you putting your hands behind your back, and what gestures are you making? You lied to me!" Pei Siqing then heard the howling of two people, he didn't turn his head, because he knew that if he just looked back, he was afraid that the convulsions coming from his internal organs would make him fall to the ground.The howling behind him gradually subsided, and after a long time, no one caught up with him. He knew that the two died together, and no one could get anything from the other!