The cry of a bird broke the tranquility of the early morning. The sunlight fell on the earth, covering the buildings and plants with a layer of golden gauze.
The shabby wooden door creaked and was pushed open from the inside.
The red-haired man who pushed the door was carrying a hoe. He sat by the door, tied his trouser legs, and waited for other people to pass by him before he staggered after them.
He walked among the crowd without speaking or looking around.
The group walked for an unknown amount of time before finally arriving at a half-cleared field.
The steward had already arrived and was enjoying the cool air under a tree, holding a cup of water in his hand. He shouted at them, "Hurry up and work! You useless slaves! If you dare to be lazy, I will sell you to the sea!"
The slaves quickly jumped down from the field and waved their hoes eagerly.
The people who were guarding them had whips in their hands. Anyone who dared to be lazy or look around would be whipped hard. Even if no one was lazy and the guards had nothing to do, they would still whip them.
The red-haired man was hunched over. His back had long been unable to straighten. Although he was not even sixteen years old, he had already become hunchbacked.
"You should thank the lord for giving you work and food." The steward was holding a cup of water and walking leisurely by the side - although he was clearly in the fields, he was wearing a formal suit with a snow-white false collar and two mustaches on his face.
It seemed as if he was not supervising the slaves at work, but was going to a dance.
"Lord Wells is kind and generous." The steward dragged out his tone and repeated the same sentence over and over again, "No other slaves have so many clothes to wear and full stomachs like you do. You should thank Lord Wells and dedicate everything to him, otherwise you will be worse than livestock!"
The red-haired man listened to these words that he could recite by heart and thought in confusion - are they really living better than other slaves?
Then why is it that he still can’t eat enough, still can’t get enough sleep, and his back still can’t be straightened?
He wanted to rest for one day, just one day would be enough.
But the master will not let them rest. They are the master's property, the master's cattle and horses. They must give everything for the master, even their lives. But even so, the master will not even look at them, and will never know their names.
"What are you thinking about?!" The sharp sound of a whip rang out behind the man, and he was hit hard before he even had time to dodge.
Those who ruled over them often took advantage of them for fun, and whipping was just the most common of them.
The red-haired man endured the pain, bit his tongue, and continued working while waving the hoe.
His back was covered with whip wounds, and before the previous one had healed, another one had already landed.
After working for a whole morning, it was finally time to eat. Wooden barrels were brought in from the foot of the mountain. The slaves put their hands together to form a bowl shape, and the person serving the rice would pour the porridge directly into their hands. There were no bowls, let alone spoons.
The red-haired man hunched over, shrunk his neck, and lined up carefully in the queue. He didn't want to look up, and even more didn't want to be beaten again.
Hunger filled his mind with only one thought - to eat.
The hot porridge contains wheat bran and bean dregs from which oil has been extracted. Water is added and boiled together until it is soft and mushy. No seasoning is added. Cows and horses eat better than this.
The man stood at the front of the line, cupped his hands, and looked eagerly at the porridge in the wooden barrel.
This was the only meal they had in a day. The extremely hot porridge was scooped into his hands. Even though his palms were covered with thick calluses, his hands were already red from the burns.
But he didn't dare let go - if he did, the goo would fall to the ground and seep into the soil, and there would be even less to eat.
He held the porridge in his hand and walked under the tree, licking it from his wrist.
It was very hot, but he was so hungry that he didn't even notice that a layer of skin had been burned off his lips.
The man who was serving food to the slaves said to his companion with a smile: "They look no different from dogs, they only know how to eat."
The companion curled his lips and said, "They are worse than dogs. Dogs are more lovable than them."
When he got to the last three slaves, the man suddenly got excited and scooped up the remaining paste at the bottom of the barrel. He held the wooden spoon in front of the slaves, and the slaves quickly reached out to take it.
The man exerted force with his arms, and the hot paste splashed onto the slave's face.
The slave let out a hoarse cry of pain, and he squatted on the ground, covering his face.
The man said to the two slaves behind him, "There's nothing left. If you want to eat, go lick the ground."
The two slaves didn't move. The man whipped up his whip, frowned and shouted impatiently: "I told you to lick! Don't you understand what I'm saying?! Dogs are smarter than you!"
It was not until the man swung his sword once and hit the slave's ear that the slave hurriedly knelt down, stretched out his tongue to lick the paste on the ground, and swallowed it into his stomach along with the mud.
The man laughed at their appearance and pointed the whip at them. He laughed for a while and then felt bored. He shouted at the slave: "Go away! Don't come near me!"
The slaves then used their hands and feet to run to the other side.
The slave whose face was splashed with paste got burned and blisters appeared on his face.
"I should have made this stuff hotter." The man was obviously not satisfied with the slaves only having a layer of skin burned off. He said to his companion, "Next time, let them kneel together, pour the paste on the ground, and let them lick it together, just like dogs."
Companion: "Aren't you tired of playing yet?"
The man sighed and said, "I'm tired of it. I don't know when I can leave here."
They were sent by the lord to open up the wasteland. There were no towns or villages nearby, so they couldn't go to brothels for fun or buy alcohol. Although the lord would occasionally send dry food to them so they wouldn't starve, there was nothing to enjoy.
So they could only find entertainment for themselves, and the easiest entertainment was slavery.
The lord is very rich. It doesn't matter if a few or even a dozen slaves die. It is normal loss and he will not punish them for it. If they die, he can buy new ones. Slaves are really worthless.
"Just wait until all the land here is opened up." His companion comforted him, "Don't play with them anymore. Let them do more work so that we can go back earlier."
The man nodded without comment: "Why didn't you bring a female slave with you this time?"
The companion laughed and said, "Didn't you say you didn't want it?"
The man spat on the ground: "How disgusting."
"It makes me sick to think they were slaves."
The companion shrugged: "You have so many problems."
After the meal, the slaves had no time to rest - they were born to be cattle and horses, but real cattle and horses were precious assets and had time to rest, but they were not. Being cheap meant that they would not be cherished, and when one died, the next one would be immediately replaced.
The red-haired man worked numbly until the sun set, night fell, and the slaves could no longer see clearly.
To prevent the slaves from escaping, they had to return to the huts, and the people who managed them would lock the wooden doors from the outside.
More than a dozen slaves were crowded in a narrow thatched hut, so crowded that they couldn't even lie straight.
They had no time or chance to drink water or urinate, they were just driven into the house.
The red-haired man huddled in a corner.
He was not sleepy at all. He stared blankly at the moonlight filtering through the cracks in the straw, with a lingering stench at his nose.
The stench of sweat, excrement, body odor, and bad breath, countless kinds of odors intertwined together, but he seemed to be unable to smell them at all.
There was no sound outside.
The slaves around him were also asleep.
The man carefully stood up against the wall, his hands clenched into fists and breathing rapidly.
Just as he was about to get close to the door, a hand suddenly grabbed his ankle.
The man was so frightened that he stood there in a daze, with cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
He stiffly lowered his head to look at the person who grabbed his ankle.
There were blisters all over the other person's face, especially in the middle, a huge blister seemed to be glowing.
"Are you going to run away?" The man endured the pain and asked in a hoarse voice, "Take me, take me alone."
The red-haired man quickly squatted down to cover the man's mouth.
Fortunately, many slaves had fallen asleep.
Not all slaves wanted to escape. Some slaves had become accustomed to such a life. They were born slaves, and under day-to-day brainwashing and insults, they had long given up resistance and thinking.
If someone wants to escape, they may also report it in exchange for a reward.
The probability of escape is too small, and the possibility of failure is too great. If you fail to escape, you will lose your life. But if you inform on others, not only will you not lose your life, you will also get a reward, maybe even a piece of black bread!
The red-haired man pursed his lips. He looked at the blisters on the man's face and finally said, "Don't sleep. Wait until later."
After saying that, he sat down where he was, leaning against the man.
Under the cover of the other slaves' mumbling, grinding their teeth and farting, the man whispered, "I can't stand it anymore. If this continues, I will die."
The red-haired man looked at his hands in silence.
He had been a slave for less than two years, but his body was already riddled with holes. He would suffer from body aches and dizziness from time to time, but he could not rest. Lately he had felt like he could hardly breathe.
If this continues, he won't survive this year.
"My name is Kane." The red-haired man suddenly said, "If I am caught, I will not give you away. After I die, you should find a way to build a tombstone for me. A wooden one will do. My name is Kane Ken."
The man was stunned: "Ken?"
Kane pursed his lips. He was the son of a manor owner. Although he was not a descendant of the nobility, he came from a wealthy family and was a real young master. He lived better than many impoverished nobles. He had boots made of calfskin, and the pony he rode was also a purebred horse.
He was born with everything he needed.
Until his family was convicted by His Majesty the King, his parents were hanged, and he and his brothers and sisters were reduced to slavery.
He hadn't thought about his brothers and sisters for a long time, and he didn't dare to think about whether they were still alive or living well.
He was not born a slave. He had felt the breath of freedom and knew the happiness of being a free man. So even if he would die if caught, he still wanted to give it a try and take a gamble.
Maybe he managed to escape?
Maybe he won't die?
Even being a beggar is better than being a slave.
Kane didn't want to hear his last name mentioned, so he said, "Just call me Kane."
The man said softly, "Okay."
They waited like this, and the night became extremely long, with every minute and every second being infinitely stretched by an invisible hand.
There was no sound outside except for the chirping of insects and the rustling of leaves in the wind.
Kane stood up again by holding the wall. He tried to open the door, and sure enough, it was chained from the outside.
The iron chain made a clanking sound as he pulled it, and Kane immediately stabilized the door frame to prevent it from moving.
"What should we do now?" the man asked anxiously. He was excited and afraid. He was afraid that a slave in the house would wake up and tell them that they were going to escape, but he was also excited about the possible freedom that might come.
Kane whispered, "Do you dare to bet?"
The man looked at him in confusion.
Kane: "The door is chained, but we can break the door frame, but that will wake people up, and we have to run as far away as possible and hide before we are caught."
There was no way for them to sneak away, so the best thing to do was to cause chaos so that all the slaves would serve as their cover.
The man swallowed his saliva, subconsciously shrank his neck, and said cautiously: "Forget it, forget it..."
"I, I don't want to die."
Kane had already made up his mind. He pursed his lips and said, "Then don't scream."
After saying that, Kane raised his leg and kicked the door frame.
He had limited strength, and after several kicks, the sound of the chains colliding became louder and louder, and the door frame began to shake.
A slave called out in the darkness: "Is it daybreak?"
He thought it was the man in charge who was untying the chains.
Before the slaves realized someone was kicking the door in an attempt to escape, Kane had already crashed into the door frame.
After a "bang" sound.
Kane, lying on the ground, leaning against the door, was bathed in the moonlight.
"Someone's running away!" someone in the slave group shouted, "Someone's running away! Quick! Catch him!"
"Catch him! We can get black bread!"
Kane got up. He didn't know where to run, so he could only run towards the moon. He hoped that the Moon Goddess could show him the way to survival and lead him away from this nightmarish world. He would rather die in the pursuit of freedom than as a slave.
He didn't know whether the man caught up with him or not, he just ran!
Keep running forward!
As long as he keeps running, he will be free!
Soon, torches were lit in the woods. The flames cast fierce shadows on the surrounding trees. The stewards shouted angrily at Kane who was running in the woods: "You damned pig! I guarantee that you will be caught and brought back! When the time comes, I will smash all your teeth with my own hands! Cut off your fingers and toes and let your toothless mouth swallow them!"
"Go and catch him! Bring him back! A slave who dares to escape should die in front of everyone!"
Someone brought out the hounds.
The barking of dogs and the voices of people were particularly loud.
Kane fell and felt a sharp pain in his ankle, but he didn't dare stop. He limped forward, taking one deep step and one shallow step.
The barking sound was getting closer and closer, and Kane saw the exit of the woods.
He abandoned all other thoughts and had only one thought in his mind: "Get out, and you will be free."
Out of the woods he was free!
Kane thought he was getting faster and faster, but his painful leg held him back, and his speed did not increase, but instead became slower and slower.
When the hound was less than ten meters away from him, Kane finally fell out of the woods.
He raised his hands with hope and looked forward.
There is no freedom, no hope, only a crescent moon above head and a cliff not far away.
Kane suddenly lost all his spirit.
He lay powerlessly on the ground, his face covered with mud and water. He looked miserable and desperate. He felt that the moonlight was extremely cold, so cold that it was freezing and cutting his flesh.
"Catch him!"
"Take him back!"
Kane looked up suddenly. No! He couldn't be taken back! He knew how these people would torture him!
They would skin him alive, break his legs, pull out his teeth and nails, they would injure him in the most cruel way and would not allow him to die easily.
Kane stumbled to his feet.
He would rather jump off a cliff and die!
He limped forward, sweating with anxiety.
"Woof!"
Kane felt a sharp pain.
He was knocked down by the hound from behind, and someone shouted from behind: "Yes! Joel! Hold him down, don't let this stupid and dirty slave stand up!"
Kane's shoulder was torn into a bloody mess.
But he no longer felt the pain. He stretched out his arms, grabbed the dry grass, and slowly crawled towards the edge of the cliff.
The hounds were on his back, and each one looked more like a man than he did.
Kane kept moving forward, and he could feel the footsteps of the person chasing him getting closer and closer.
The hounds bit his shoulders and back, and blood and flesh fell to the ground, but Kane just looked ahead.
He wanted to die on the cliff, but it seemed like a luxury.
The person who ran up from behind grabbed his hair. His hair, which had not been cut or washed for more than two years, was tangled together due to dirt and grease. The person who grabbed his hair threw it away with disgust, then stepped heavily on his back.
It seemed as if his internal organs were about to be stepped on and ejected.
Kane gasped in pain as the man kicked him from the side. The hound on his back jumped away and he was kicked and curled up on his side.
The man turned his head triumphantly and shouted to the back: "I caught him!"
"Don't even think about running away! I win this time!"
The man took out a rope and bent down to tie Kane's wrists. The moment he bent over, Kane suddenly spat fiercely into his eyes.
The man yelled in disgust and jumped away a step.
"You're dead! You lunatic! You filthy monster! You pig! You beast! I'm going to kill you with my own hands! I'm going to dig out your organs while you're still alive and let you eat them yourself!"
Kane couldn't hear what he was saying, so he took the opportunity to run towards the cliff.
The man yelled, "Joel!"
The hound ran toward Kane.
It hit Kane, and it was this collision that pushed Kane, who was originally some distance away from the cliff, to the edge of the cliff.
Kane glanced down.
The cliff was deep and dark. He didn't know what was under the cliff, nor did he know how his death would end. Kane turned his head again and looked at the managers who were walking towards him angrily and had just come out of the woods.
Kane spat out a mouthful of blood. He took one last look at the moon, and then -
He jumped off the cliff without hesitation.
"He jumped off a cliff!"
"Damn it! He died too easily!"
A group of people came to the edge of the cliff and spat down.
But the wind blew it onto his face.
"Pah, pah, pah!"
"Let's go back. Those slaves are waiting for us to give them black bread."
"Black bread? Let them eat shit."
·
It was unknown how long it had been before Kane woke up in pain. He opened his eyes with difficulty, and severe pain that could not be ignored came from all over his body. His chest felt stuffy and painful, and he coughed hard, coughing up a large amount of blood.
Kane slowed down, and while enduring the pain he looked around him - he had fallen on a tree branch, one of his legs had completely lost sensation, and he was feeling severe pain in his stomach and arms. Only one of his hands could move, and his face felt sticky, probably because he had broken his head, and blood was all over his face.
He didn't die even after this.
Kane didn't know whether he was lucky or unlucky.
No one would find him here.
He can only endure this slowly. He may die today, or he may die after several days.
Kane looked up at the gentle moon.
He pulled the corners of his mouth with difficulty. After all, he was finally free, right?
He died not as a slave but as a human being, which was probably the luckiest moment for him in the past two years.
Kane leaned against the tree trunk and gave up resisting. When he saw a bird flying by, he was still wondering whether the bird was a carrion eater. After he died, would the bird eat him and take him to other places?
He thought drowsily, his eyes gradually losing focus.
Just at the last moment when Kane was about to close his eyes, a light suddenly lit up in the sky, brighter than the moonlight, even covering it.
Kane stared at the light in a daze - he thought it was an illusion before his death, or maybe the Moon Goddess came to pick him up.
However, he did not see the goddess in that light.
The ball of light fell on a huge rock at the bottom of the cliff, close to the mountain wall.
The light gradually faded away, and Kane saw a square house with a strange shape. It didn't look like a stone house, nor a noble castle, nor a poor man's wooden house. He opened his mouth slightly.
miracle?
miracle!
It must be a miracle! That must be the palace of the Moon Goddess! The Moon Goddess came to save him!
Kane looked over with burning eyes, wishing he could burn through the wall with his gaze so that the goddess would notice his presence.
He was determined.
The goddess will definitely save her believers and will never abandon her children.
In the supermarket——
Ye Zhou was holding a telescope and saw the unlucky guy hanging on the tree branch almost at a glance.
He turned to Zou Ming and said, "Did he climb up there by himself or did he fall down from there?"
On the way to landing, Ye Zhou observed the environment and realized that they had landed under a cliff.
There is no smoke from cooking and no houses, so there should be no one here.
"Forget it, let's go get the person down first and ask where this is."
"I don't know if there is magic at all."
Zou Ming took the binoculars Ye Zhou handed him and looked in the direction of Kane. Compared with Ye Zhou, he observed more carefully and said seriously: "He should have fallen from the cliff. He was probably chased by someone. There are wounds on his shoulder that were torn by an animal. It might be a dog, but it doesn't look like a wolf."
Ye Zhou nodded: "I've checked, he's the only one around, don't be too nervous."
When you first arrive, you should be careful.
Ye Zhou: "Why do I feel that every time we arrive at a plane, the first person we meet must be miserable?"
Zou Ming thought about himself.
Silence.
Ye Zhou put down the telescope: "I feel like he might be the worst one we've ever met."
"Come on, I'll go with you."
I don’t know what this Minzil continent is like, whether there is magic, or whether it is peaceful.
If possible, he also wanted to meet the Western Dragon.
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