Inscription of Different Cases

"You—" Zhuzhen pointed at that thing, the assassin's instinct kept him from showing timidity, but the shock was already written on his face.

Seeing this, the man lifted his hands, and the monster's forelimbs climbed onto his arms, and its thick and long tail dangled behind.Only now did Zhuzhen see clearly that the monster was about four feet long, with a flat head, golden vertical pupils, and a smooth and long tongue.Its fingertips had hook claws, and it was firmly grasping the man's clothes at the moment. Its body was covered with colorful circular markings, and its tail had thorns, which looked extremely strange.

But looking at it this way, it is much more approachable than in the cave.Zhuzhen was injured that day, her mind was confused, her body was poisoned, and what she saw was hallucinations and reality coexisting, so she thought she saw a monster.This time he remembered that there used to be something similar in the darkroom where the poison was made at home, but it was not that big, and it was as long as the palm. After removing the internal organs, it was dried and could be used to dispense medicine.

I remember it was called Skink.

He said to the man, "You raised this too?"

The man nodded, squatted down, and the skink crawled to the ground along his hands.Looking at it this way, this thing is not too ugly, with a pair of oily eyes, looking around timidly and cleverly.The surrounding animals didn't seem to dare to provoke it, and automatically moved out of the way. At first, the three-legged dog barked a few times reluctantly, but when the skink approached, it hurriedly fled with its tail between its legs. up.

Skink climbed up to a short tree in the yard, found a branch to lie down on, and did not move.

Zhuzhen went to make lunch with the man with her hands behind her back, watching him skillfully split wood in the yard with an ax with a chipped edge.The sun was shining brightly, and the man's bronze-colored skin was soaked in a thin layer of sweat, shining brightly, giving people a sense of vitality.For a moment, Zhuzhen felt that this person was not so simple, a dumb person who lived alone in the forest and raised a group of animals, "Have you ever practiced martial arts?"

The man shook his head.

Zhuzhen looked suspiciously.

He still didn't ask much later, it should be his intuition from years of licking blood, he couldn't smell any worldly quack air in the man.After the man chopped firewood, he started to cook and boiled a pot of vegetable porridge.Zhuzhen has always kept her fingers clear of Yang Chunshui, she just stood by and watched, and the man ignored him, but some cats and dogs always like to look at him with disgust, as if he is an aggressor.

Lunch is very simple, just a bowl of porridge, not even pickles.The man set up the dining table in the yard, and the animals circled around, waiting to pick up the leftovers.The atmosphere was unexpectedly harmonious, although Zhuzhen disliked the tasteless food, she didn't say anything.He seldom eats so quietly, mainly because the person in front of him is too silent, no different from a stone.

"what's your name?"

After the meal, he helped the man clean up the dishes and asked casually.

The man put down the things in his hand, picked up a piece of firewood in the yard, and signaled Zhuzhen to follow.Zhuzhen saw that he had written the word "Ruan Ping" on the sand.

"Have you ever read?" Zhu Zhen raised her eyebrows.

Ruan Ping nodded, and wrote the word "dumb disease" again.

"Where are your parents?"

Ruan Ping shook his head.

This kind of dialogue is too difficult to rely on guesswork.Zhuzhen roughly figured it out, this person became dumb later, both parents died.He looks like a man of backbone, at least he has studied, and he will not fall into the situation of begging in the street like ordinary dumb people.Coming here to live this kind of secluded life, although poor, is also very comfortable.

Zhuzhen somewhat appreciates such people.

While they were "talking", the skink slowly climbed down from the tree, looked around, and then rushed to Ruan Ping's shoulder.Ruan Ping touched its back twice, and it arched its neck with its head, as if a kitten met its owner.Zhuzhen tried not to imagine what kind of touch it was, it was probably like a snake, cold and slippery.

"You raised it?"

Ruan Ping shook his head and wrote the word "mountain fire".

Zhuzhen thought about several possibilities, so she had to ask them one by one.Of course he knew about the fire a few days ago, and he set it with his own hands.But he didn't mention it, he just asked if it was related to that incident.Ruan Ping nodded, teased Skink with his hand, and pointed to his hut.

"Its home was burnt down, so it ran out?"

Ruan Ping continued to nod.

The two actually "chat" like this all afternoon, Ruan Ping had farm work to do, so he answered very slowly, but Zhu Zhen sat aside and waited.Living in isolation from the world especially cultivates people's patience, Zhuzhen never thought that she would live such a leisurely and even boring life.He has an excellent audience, so he, who had seldom talked, began to chatter inexplicably.

"You mean, you picked up the cat because it was nearly killed by fishermen nearby?"

After speaking, Zhuzhen covered her nose and almost sneezed.Ruan Ping is using realgar to boil cattail grass, so that furniture such as straw mats and cushions can prevent insects and moisture, which is a necessary work in the mountains.

Later, Ruan Ping went down the mountain to fetch water with a pole, and the clingy skink was still lying on his shoulders, and Zhu Zhen followed closely behind.After walking too far, he couldn't stay idle any longer, and asked with his mouth open, "What's the point of raising them if they can't pay you?"

He had too many values ​​and interests in his mind, so he naturally couldn't understand Ruan Ping's behavior.Money can measure everything in this world, and even life can be bought. It is hard for him to imagine that someone would make such a deal that in his opinion is completely loss-making.

After hearing this, Ruan Ping just glanced at him lightly, his eyes were a little subtle, and then he gestured a few times, which probably meant that he didn't care.

Zhuzhen waved her hands helplessly: "Forget it, anyway, you are just a countryman."

What Ruan Ping meant was that he took the skink in because he felt sorry for it.This animal is more or less a spirit monster that has lived for a hundred years, and it can't grow up to this size.The fire destroyed its home and forced it to leave its kindred.It was frightened, became timid and suspicious, and had accidentally hurt people before.Now Ruan Ping seems to be helping this guy find his kind.

Of course, the above are all guesses by Zhuzhen herself based on Ruan Ping's gestures and expressions.

That night, on the bed filled with realgar smell, Zhuzhen had a weird nightmare.I can't remember the previous episode clearly, I just remember that I was standing in a dark dense forest, someone was following him, and he was eager to get rid of him, so he could only try his best to escape.There were always strange footsteps following him, da da da da, like the sound of wooden shoes stepping on a gravel road.He ran all the way back to his residence, opened the door in a panic, but felt that the door was sealed, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't push it.

Da da da da, such footsteps disturbed him.In reality, he was never afraid, but in his dream, he was so afraid that his whole body turned cold, and he felt that the voice was a ghost calling for his life.He blocked his ears, but the sound seemed to have been soaked in blood, directly hitting his bones.

When he finally broke open the door, a hand grabbed the corner of his clothes.It was an ugly child with a snub nose and small eyes, wearing a colorful robe, dragged to the ground.This is a boy, but he is painted with jet-black lip balm, his entire lips look poisoned, as black as if he just drank ink.

He doesn't have a weapon, but he still wants to drive the kid away.The child's dark eyes stared at him firmly, and the empty eyes reminded him of a clam shell with its mouth wide open, which was full of dark, sticky soft flesh.Just at this moment, the child suddenly uttered two words, intermittently, as if from far away: "...you... compensate..."

He opened his mouth, and his mouth was so big that it took up two-thirds of his face.It is full of densely packed teeth, like a loofah that has burst.Every time he said a word, his huge lips opened and closed once, and the turmeric saliva flowed out from the innumerable gaps between his teeth, all the way to the ground, forming a shallow puddle.

Zhuzhen felt her stomach churning, and she could hardly stand up.At this time, he woke up with a start, the room was pitch black, and in the quiet environment, only the long breathing of another person could be heard.Ruan Ping gave him the bed, and made a bed next to him.Zhuzhen was covered in cold sweat, and wanted to move, but found that her limbs were stiff, and she couldn't even open her mouth.

He was crushed by ghosts.

He didn't sleep well that night, and he couldn't figure out what was going on.Perhaps the toxin has not been completely eradicated?He could think of no other reason.

He was always proud and never showed weakness, so he didn't tell Ruan Ping about this.As a result, the next night he had the same dream again, and he was still running away in a hurry, densely packed with children full of teeth.After waking up in a cold sweat, he was crushed by the ghost again. He had difficulty breathing, and only his eyeballs could move.

At this time, a black shadow appeared on the windowsill and he saw it.It was the skink, quietly crawling under the moonlight, its smooth body reflecting the color of pottery.Zhuzhen suddenly had a weird association, he remembered seeing skinks with their mouths open before, which were full of tiny teeth.At that time, he was still thinking that if he was bitten, his body would be full of needle-sized holes, which would be itchy and painful.

Is it, what does it want to do?

Blame yourself?

Heh, he used money to do things, but he was plotted against later on. His business has already been completely lost. What else can this kid complain about? He is almost as unlucky as him.

But Zhuzhen felt unwell for no reason, her heart was in a panic, as if a large piece of cold lead was stuffed in her throat, and a disgusting metallic smell continued to permeate.

Could it be that he was also infected by Ruan Ping, and after a few days of leisurely life, he forgot his identity?Guilty?No, it might be guilt, how could he feel sympathy for an animal after killing so many people?

This place was too dangerous. In just a few days, he felt that he was going to be assimilated by that bumpkin.

When his heart was full of mixed emotions, he suddenly found that he could move. He hurriedly got up and walked to the water tank, lowered his head, scooped up water with his hands, and drank it heartily.This time he calmed down a lot, and suddenly heard some movement behind him, and when he turned around, he found that Ruan Ping had lifted off the thin blanket with holes in his body, straightened up, and cast a suspicious look at him.

"It's okay, I just can't sleep." Zhuzhen explained.

Ruan Ping smiled, lit a lamp, turned over and fell asleep again.Zhuzhen was stunned for a while, then suddenly remembered a saying in the past: When a child has a nightmare, as long as a moon lantern is lit, the child can fall asleep peacefully.The moon lantern is a small lantern carved in stone. It is small and cute, and its light is as white as the first moon. It is said that it has the effect of dispelling nightmares.However, ordinary people do not have such a special lampstand at home, so ordinary lamps and candles are used instead.

Thinking of this, Zhuzhen became a little annoyed, kicked Ruan Ping angrily and said, "Isn't your family poor, so you don't feel bad for this bit of lamp oil?"

Ruan Ping glanced at him with one eye open, raised a slight arc at the corner of his mouth, then turned his head down again, completely ignoring Zhuzhen.Zhuzhen lay back on the bed angrily, at first she wanted to turn off the lamp, but felt that "you are wasting lamp oil for my shit", so she simply covered her head with the quilt, closed her eyes and fell asleep.

A night without dreams.

The next day, he was woken up again by the sound of animals. He saw Ruan Ping filling the pottery bowls with food one by one, and the animals crowded around to enjoy it noisily.The skink was not there, Zhuzhen went out and looked around but couldn't find it, and later found it hidden in a mud hole behind the wall.Zhuzhen felt that she had really seen a ghost, and she actually felt that the mood of this thing was a little gloomy.

He stretched out his hand, and the thing immediately took several steps back, almost completely buried in the mud hole.Zhuzhen clicked his tongue, just happened to see a sparrow flying by, he bent down to pick up a stone, raised his right hand, and quickly knocked the sparrow's head off.After picking up the corpse, he looked at the mud hole proudly, and threw it over like throwing away garbage.

Ruan Ping was doing farm work in the field, and Zhuzhen went back to the courtyard to bask in the sun.The animals still hated him, but not as loudly as the previous few days, but they always gave him a cold look when they passed by.He didn't care, he practiced martial arts in the yard by himself.The injury has almost healed, and his internal strength has recovered by [-]% to [-]%. He took out a dart from the dart bag, and threw it viciously after secretly gaining strength.The dart drew several silver arcs in the air, and accurately hit the five leaves on the treetops in the distance, no more, no less, the accuracy is amazing.

He hooked his lips, and a rare look of joy appeared on his cold and arrogant face.Then he practiced step by step, trying to change the speed and direction according to his current physical strength, to ensure that the dart technique was as accurate and ruthless as ever.Later, he stopped wasting darts and replaced them with gravel that can be seen everywhere on the ground.Two hours later, the sun had already risen so high, he was already sweating all over, thinking to himself that the toxin was really powerful, his body was so weak, and he hadn't recovered yet.

At this time, there was applause from the side, Zhu Zhen looked in the direction of the sound, and happened to meet Ruan Ping's gaze.The man put the hoe aside and seemed to have been looking at it for some time.Zhuzhen snorted coldly, threw the stone in her hand casually, and said bluntly: "Look at you farmer, are you stupid?"

Ruan Ping smiled gently.

Zhu Zhen snorted: "When martial arts practitioners are practicing martial arts, other people should avoid it. This is common sense, right? Even if you don't understand anything, just standing here and watching foolishly will affect me."

Ruan Ping threw something to him, and he received it, it was a fresh orange.

The bamboo chastity was peeled off and eaten, it was so sour that his teeth fell down.He wanted to throw it back to Ruan Ping, only to find out that the place had been cooked by fire, and the place was covered with charcoal ash, and he thought it was dirty, so he didn't go there.Ruan Ping went into the mountain again after lunch, Zhuzhen was bored all by herself, and went around to the mud cave to have a look.

The dead sparrow he threw was still there, but the skink didn't eat it.But where did it go?Zhuzhen looked around suspiciously, and happened to bump into the animal.Just as Zhuzhen wanted to scold him a few words, she saw the black shadow flicker, rushing towards the direction of the dense forest, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Hey!"

Is this an escape?

A thought flashed in Zhuzhen's mind: If this little monster is lost by herself, the country bumpkin Ruan Ping will definitely feel bad.So he didn't think much, and ran after him.