One of the Twelve Kingdoms

The farther the boat sails, the colder it gets.

The white tiger has been maintaining its animal shape, lazily flicking its tail and dozing off. The change in temperature made him start to shed its hair non-stop.Joshua huddled in the soft and thick fur of the white tiger like a kangaroo, and would not let go despite sneezing and sneezing.

"It's too cold." Joshua tucked his arms into his thin, rough sleeves and buried them in the white tiger's furry den, saying, "I won't be surprised if I see a penguin next second."

Zuoguo and Qiaoguo have just entered the early summer, and the sea breeze that was originally warm is now as sharp as a knife.The other people on the boat were clearly prepared, and Joshua looked at their padded clothes and animal skins enviously, wishing to take one off and wrap it around her body.

"Although Dai country is located in the extreme north, it shouldn't be so cold." Although Bai Hu didn't understand what a penguin was, he still replied, "Dai country seems to be really deserted."

"Ah, it's not that there are too many monsters." Another sailor said.The boat shook suddenly, the man looked at it, frowned and said, "It hit an ice floe."

The denser and denser ice blocks in the sea slowed down the speed of sailing significantly, and the gray-white continent in the distance was already in sight, and Joshya knew that they were about to land.

By the afternoon the ship was hitting the ice with increasing frequency.The helmsman began to direct the crew to use tools to break through the ice, and finally they moored the ship outside the ice that was hard enough to pass through the horse team. When Joshua got off the ship, he tried his feet twice before stepping on it with confidence.

The fleet left two people piling and tethering, and the others disembarked one by one, their expressions became serious and vigilant in a short period of time.

After walking about seven or eight meters, they set foot on the potholed land. It was originally a path made of stone slabs, but the sunken surface and cracked cracks made it more difficult to get off.

Josh Yaha breathed a sigh of relief and walked in the middle of the team. Ao Dou was obviously the leader of the Gold Rush team. He stood at the front with the huge sword on his shoulder. It seemed that everyone was more stable with him in the front line.

"Be careful of the trap." He reminded in a low voice.

This kind of mysterious and serious danger warning infected Joshua, and made him nervous.

He had no idea where the procession was going, in fact he thought the transfer boats were waiting on the shore, and he would just have to jump from one to the other.But now there is not even a shadow of anyone else.He wanted to ask when he could leave, but before he could say anything, the sailor who noticed that he was about to speak glared back.

So Joshua closed his mouth and swallowed the urgent question back to his stomach.

They walked through the woods in silence.All the way is bare, with dead trees, stones, and broken bones of animals everywhere.The hard and slippery permafrost had become barren of vegetation, and Joshya occasionally saw two or three white trees bearing one or two yellowed fruits the size of a fist.He still remembered how vigorous and fruitful the tree he saw for the first time in Zuoguo, but every tree here was so thin that it seemed that it would die at any time.

Joshya's feet were numb when the outline of the town was only a step away.

The main gate of the town was tightly closed to prevent the invasion of monsters, but the guards opened the side gate to let them enter the city.

Joshua suddenly felt that this country was not as terrible and bad as imagined, at least they still had a government and an army.

"We are lucky, this is a good sign." Everyone was very happy that they had not been attacked by monsters, and they relaxed a little as soon as they entered the city gate.

Joshua looked at this strange city curiously, and what he saw reminded him of the descriptions of cities suffering in wars in books he had read.There are quite a few people on the street, but everyone seems to be shrouded in their own invisible world and have nothing to do with each other. Their expressions are numb and tense, sad and dazed.The sun shines in every corner, but everyone's face is covered with mist.

The ubiquitous ruins of the building illustrate how often it has been attacked, and people lean on the closed store steps.It seems that they don't know where the road under their feet leads.There was some light in his eyes after seeing them.

Joshua suddenly felt very uncomfortable, and then he finally realized why their team, which came from a long distance, seemed so out of place.He saw almost no men, and even few young women. The only old people and children left did not bring any vitality to this ruined city.

"Boy, don't look around."

Ao Dou's reminder made Joshua look back, he looked at Baihu, and saw the same sympathy and pity in the other's eyes.

Trekking in the wild is physical work, and Joshya soon felt hungry.He remembered that there was still half a scallion pancake left over from noon in the bag, and he took a bite imagining the aroma when it was just out of the pan, it was really old and hard.

Suddenly someone bumped into her, it was a little girl of thirteen or fourteen.Joshua pulled her up from the ground, and she was so thin that he was stunned: "Sorry, are you okay?"

The girl wore a baggy flaxen dress, and had big indigo eyes. If she was a little fatter, she would be a pretty girl.

"I'm fine." She murmured, as if she didn't want to leave: "Are you from abroad?"

Joshua froze for a moment, "Yes."

The girl seemed to have something to say to him, her eyes flickered nervously, as if she was about to faint at any moment.Joshua was a little confused and asked, "Girl, what's wrong with you?"

"I..." The girl's lips were bitten red, and she looked at Joshua with a desperately fake smile on her face: "Do you want to stay here overnight? I'm the most beautiful girl in this town. "

Joshya didn't understand the logical relationship between these two sentences for a moment.At the next moment, Aodou sneered and took half of Joshya's scallion pancake and threw it to the girl: "Go home, little girl, if your father knows what his daughter is doing, he will break your leg."

Her face turned red and dripped with blood, she lowered her head while clutching the cake tightly in her hand, and then quickly disappeared into the street.

It turned out that she just wanted to eat.

"Hey, boy, don't bring out the food again. Fortunately, it's just a little girl this time."

It was only then that Joshua realized that countless eyes were staring at him. Perhaps it was because of the large number of them that they didn't pounce on him, but Joshua didn't feel lucky at all.

They stayed in a hotel like a family hotel at night. The four of them shared a room, but there were only two beds in one room.After Joshya and the white tiger squeezed together, it was very difficult to turn over, but Joshya still kept tossing and turning.

"what happened?"

Joshua sighed: "I can't sleep."

Bai Hu turned around and faced him: "Are you still thinking about that girl during the day?"

Joshua nodded, long golden eyelashes cast low shadows on her eyes: "I'm a little worried about her, I feel like a bad guy, let a girl make a fool of herself in the street for a little food, I should behave better Be nice and smart, just like you."

"Me?" Baihu asked hesitantly, his bright eyes showed a little shyness of being praised, and Joshya nodded without hesitation: "Of course, you are the nicest person I have ever met."

His forehead was almost touching the white tiger's straight eyebrows, and it was clear that the white tiger's face turned slightly red.

Joshua yawned sleepily, "I really want to introduce you to my friends, you look so cool when you become a tiger, they will definitely like you."

His voice gradually lowered, and then a slight snoring sounded.

Joshya didn't expect that he would run into that girl again the next day.

He had gone out to find a well to draw water to wash the legs freed from the gauze, and then he recognized the girl's dark green hair like seaweed at a glance.

The girl also saw him at the same time, and she took a step back in fear, then immediately ran away.

"Hey! Girl!" Joshua chased after him without even thinking about it. He felt that he had to explain something: "I have no malicious intentions."

He chased the girl until he ran into a dead-end alley. The girl turned around without retreating, and faced him with something defensively. Joshua saw that it was a chopstick.He raised his hand carefully and said: "I'm sorry to scare you, but I just want to help you. Look, I brought food."

He took out a piece of fresh pastry, the girl stared blankly at his movements, and suddenly burst into tears.

Joshua suddenly became at a loss. He walked over and stuffed the food into her hands. The other party raised her face and cried, "My mother left me."

"Ah..." This is bad news, Joshua said after a while, "I feel sorry for you."

"Where's your father?"

"Father was eaten by a demon when he was digging taro roots in the suburbs last year."

Joshua wanted to bite off his tongue.He suddenly realized that the little girl was already an orphan.At this time, Bai Hu also followed. He stroked the little girl's hair: "Where is your home? Maybe we can help."

The girl lived just one street away, and the house was dark and deserted, with no firewood in the stove, and the windows were sealed to keep out the wind.As soon as the girl came in, she ran to the bed, where her mother lay.

"Oh God..." Joshya never knew that a person could be so thin. The woman who had lost her life was so dry that only a skeleton of human skin remained. Those indigo eyes like a girl were shocking.

"We, we should send her to the cemetery." Joshua felt sad for a while, as if there was a breath stuck in his chest.

Baihu said: "The tomb hall is to the north, I'll go find a cart first. What's your name?"

The little girl said, "My name is Shu Le."

"Okay, Shule, go find some good clothes for your mother, and Joe will be here with you."

"Yes, that's right." Joshua felt his lips dry: "Everything will be fine."

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