Traveler in the Pirate World

This town, like its buildings, is called White Stone Town. It was accidentally discovered and established by a group of desert hunters decades ago. The old woman was also one of the first generation.

At that time, the land here was still green, and the central lake was a sapphire in the golden world. It was the most precious resource in the desert, and it was loved and cherished by everyone.

When I first came here with my husband, there was only an old and dilapidated old city. People built a new civilization on these ancient ruins bit by bit, like flowers blooming on corpses, cruel yet beautiful.

At first, there were only hunters and their families here. People lived by the water, and the few families became the only fireworks in this desert.

Hunters always go to the desert together to hunt wild animals and bring back meat for their families. Some precious desert animals will be sold to the nearest big city in exchange for other daily necessities.

But hunting is not a safe job. The old woman’s husband died in an accident more than 20 years ago. In fact, it was not an accident. The old woman had been mentally prepared. It is actually very easy to die in this line of work.

Fortunately, at that time, Baishi Town had already been able to exchange goods with big cities, and she raised two children with her pretty good skills.

I heard from the people who were accompanying him that my husband had been poisoned by a hallucinogenic scorpion venom and ran away when no one was paying attention. When he was found, he had died of thirst.

When her husband was sent back, she hardly dared to look at him. It was so cruel that she could hardly recognize him.

What does it feel like to die of thirst? Later she experienced it. Three years of drought dried up the earth, the blue lakes evaporated, and the vegetation turned into withered yellow that could be ignited by a spark. The only life seemed to have been wiped out by the world.

People barely survived by digging muddy water from beneath the earth, and the prey that hunters sacrificed their lives for could not be exchanged for enough water to feed a family in the nearby big city.

Finally, we had to go to the farther Rapeseed Flower, where there is a seawater conversion base and the water is very cheap and clean.

But the desert of Alabasta is dangerous. The old woman's son was lost just like that. They were attacked by wild beasts, just like they had attacked wild beasts before, and were killed in one blow!

This time she didn't even see the corpses. She only heard from those who escaped that they were all eaten by the giant worms hidden underground in the desert, and the water they had worked so hard to get was gone.

During that period, it was difficult for people to care about the lives of other families because they had no water.

Hunger and thirst were really unbearable. Her nasal cavity was dry and bleeding, and her body temperature kept rising, making her a little confused.

The burning sensation from below her abdomen surrounded her body like a torture. Her tongue was so swollen that she couldn't speak clearly and she had almost no strength to struggle.

"So you were in such pain at that time?" She couldn't help but think of that ordinary man, the ordinary man she loved all her life, "Do I feel the same as you? That was a really good way to die!"

But she did not die. The water brought back by the mayor saved her and her grandson, but her poor daughter-in-law died.

The daughter-in-law didn't die of thirst, but someone cut her wrists and bled her to death, and her blood became food to sustain the lives of others. The man who killed her was also dead, shot in the head by a man under the mayor's command. That was the first time she felt that killing someone was a good thing.

Daker, who was in a daze at the time, didn't know all this, and the old man didn't tell him. No one told him. How cruel it was to tell a child that his mother died in such a miserable way. To this day, Daker still thinks that his mother died of thirst.

"Maybe I should have told him. Maybe this will help him survive better in this world." The old woman couldn't help but sigh. She didn't know that the young man upstairs was already squatting in the corner, crying. He gritted his teeth and didn't let himself make a sound. His red eyes showed anger, helplessness, sadness, pain and self-blame.

Since then, many people have left the town, many of whom originally did not have the courage to cross the desert, but now they left because hunger and thirst are more terrible than death.

The old woman originally planned to leave, but Daker disagreed. He knew that the old woman could not walk far, and he did not want his grandmother to fall in the endless desert without even a tombstone.

Most of the people left in the town were from families like theirs, poor people who had lost their support and had no ability to cross the desert.

They all knew that the mayor's water was donated free of charge by the seawater conversion base, but they said nothing, because no matter what, they had to stay alive first, at least to keep the people they cared about alive, which was just buying life with money.

"I won't live long, and this water won't stay here for long. I might as well find a way to give my boy some money for the trip so that he can leave here." The old woman said calmly. She was not actually old, because she was only about fifty years old, but she was really too old, because both physically and mentally, she had reached the edge of life.

Lily could see that the old woman was seeking death. She no longer wanted to live, and she didn't want her grandson to be trapped in this lifeless place because of her.

"Bang!" There was a noise from the stairs. The young man Daker punched the simple wooden guardrail hard, and blood flowed out from between his knuckles. "Who wants your money? Just drink the water you bought, you stinky old woman!"

He roared angrily and fled like the wind, forgetting the pain in his feet for a moment. He knew he couldn't persuade the old man, he had tried many times.

Hiding in an empty street corner, he covered his chest in pain, his heart seemed to be grabbed by someone, and he sobbed softly.

"Why are you crying? Tears are also water, very precious!" After a long time, Daker stopped crying and whispered to himself.

Tina looked at the old man who was watching the boy leave for a long time and was unwilling to come back to his senses. She took out a few golden Baileys and gently placed them in the old man's dry palm. The skin was as rough as old tree bark, but it made people feel at ease. "Tina, take the water, and the rest is the money for tonight's accommodation."

"Really?" The old man smiled happily. It was an ugly, horrible smile, but Lily felt the old man's happiness from the bottom of his heart, leaving herself with only sadness.

"This is the water for the guests. Please go upstairs!" A hunched body led the way in front. The skinny and short figure stepped on the old and dilapidated stairs, making a creaking sound in the twilight, as if walking towards oldness and death.

Looking at the old man's back, Tina bit her thin lips hidden under the veil, and grabbed Lily's hand with her backhand, using force unconsciously. She had just bought the old man's life!