Human dimension reduction

The two men took a spoon and dried up half of the pot of boiled Da Lieba, and the remaining half continued to simmer on the fire. In order to prevent it from sintering into lumps, they dug some snow from the outside and threw it in.

Of course, it was Petrosa who went out to dig the snow against the wind.

He stayed outside for nearly 10 minutes, and when he came back, his shoulders and hair were covered with snow, which was turned into water by the heat of the house. Richard sat in front of the fireplace and looked at him with his head tilted, with an indescribable expression: "Does it take so long to dig some snow? No wonder you can get yourself passed out in the snow..."

Petrosa raised his eyes innocently and looked at Richard, who was younger than himself. His golden brown hair was pitifully wet from the snow and stuck to his neck, and his iron gray eyes with blue metallic texture With his eyes wide open and his pale skin, he might be very attractive to women, but what a pity he is facing a child who doesn't know what it means to be sympathetic and sympathetic.

"You need to exercise well," the other party advised with a straight face, "beautiful thin and slender boys were popular in Paris, but when my brother brought me here, Paris also began to change its direction. I heard that here The aesthetics are strong and tall men, it will be difficult for you to please the ladies in the future."

Petrosa coughed in a low voice, took the pot and hung it back on the iron hook again, stretched out his hands to the fireplace to bake, listened patiently to Richard's ramblings, and after listening for a while, he suddenly asked: "You guys?" Is it from Paris?"

Richard frowned at the poor-looking food in the pot, and said casually, "I've been there before, to be honest, I don't think it's any different from London—Pegya, it's time to add fuel."

Petrosha turned his head, with a strange flush on his face, and blinked at him: "I seem to have a fever, and I feel a little dizzy..."

Richard stared at him for a few seconds, and suddenly his green eyes widened: "Huh?! Are you acting like a baby to me? You are too unmanly! Why don't you smash the table while you can still move?" .”

Petrosha thinks this kid is really interesting, call him bad, but he can save people, and generously shared the scarce food; call him kind... which kind person can be so confident Severely ill people go to work to blow the air?

He thought for a while and decided to remind again: "According to the usual point of view, it is not very humane to ask a sick person to work."

Richard stopped working hard while holding the spoon, turned his head slowly, narrowed his eyes to look at Petrosa, and said thoughtfully: "You mean, I can't ask you to go Work? But you promised to take care of me."

He announced his little calculation almost frankly: "I brought you back just to let you take care of me. If you don't work, I won't divide your food."

The child said this kind of selfish words extremely generously, and he didn't feel that there was anything wrong at all. Seeing that Petrosa didn't answer, he explained a few words condescendingly: "It's like an exchange of equal value. It cost your life, you help me find my brother, and take care of me instead of my brother during the process, isn't this a very reasonable deal?"

As soon as these words were uttered, the strange contradiction in Petrosha's heart was immediately resolved.

Therefore, in Richard's view, his actions were not based on common human emotions such as love, kindness, and warmth, but a reasonable and clear exchange of equivalent values, and everything followed quantifiable rules.

This kind of behavior is very common among adults, but it seems... very abrupt when it happens to children of this age.

And this new discovery made Petrosa, who was originally lacking in interest, suddenly regain his energy.

He seems to have discovered a great little monster.

"What if I don't want to take care of you? Will you regret saving me?" He rested his chin on the back of his hand and asked enthusiastically.

Richard raised his head and assumed the scene, without any hesitation, blurted out: "Then I won't save you, you just freeze to death outside."

The child's brisk and sweet tone seemed to be singing a hymn dedicated to the Lord, but the words in his mouth seemed extremely cold.

"But you have already saved me," Petrosa continued to dig deep into the gemstone mine he had just discovered. "It's useless even if you regret it. What can you do now?"

He noticed that Richard's expression sank slightly because of his words, and there was a thin layer of orange halo on the baby's fat cheeks: "You want to trick me."

Richard said with certainty, his eyes filled with childish contempt: "What bad idea are you thinking?"

Petrosa opened his eyes slightly in surprise. He didn't think there was anything wrong with his tone, but why was Richard so vigilant?

"Your tone is exactly the same as when my brother lied to others." Richard announced the answer proudly, with an expression of "you want to trick me too".

Ah this...

Petrosha suddenly felt that if Richard's brother hadn't been frozen to death by the Siberian snowstorm, then he must still be alive somewhere. Judging from the information revealed by Richard, his brother was not a simple person.

And Petrosa was now more curious than ever about them.

Hope such an interesting person doesn't die too soon, otherwise this world full of chaos is too boring.

Petrosa, who discovered something interesting, changed his style of trying to be lazy, stood up and split the table and cupboard into suitable wooden strips, and filled them into the fireplace bit by bit. Watching the flames inside grow stronger again, outside When the sky became dark, the howling cold wind carried the blizzard down, rustling the windows, and the snow accumulated on the window lattices at a speed visible to the naked eye. Presumably, by tomorrow, the doors and windows would be completely blocked by snow.

But let's wait until tomorrow to talk about tomorrow's matter. Now the snow has wrapped a warm cover outside the wooden house to trap the heat inside the house. Even though they only have a thin layer of shirts, they don't feel so cold.

"When the snow stops, we will go west. There is a river there. After crossing the river, we can walk a few days to Yekaterinaburg. Your brother will also go in that direction. If you are lucky, Maybe you can meet him on the road." Petrosha held a stick of wood, and drew a simple map for Richard on the dirty ground, with three or two strokes of the long national border, several major rivers and mountains, and Important cities are highlighted.

In this era, the serfs were illiterate and did not know a single character, and the nobles and landlords did not necessarily have high cultural literacy. Most people with land and wealth were immersed in the dream of eternal glory, and books were only used by them. As a tool to decorate the facade, there was even a ridiculous farce in Moscow where a judge needed a clerk to read the case files to him before he could work. What is even more ridiculous is that this judge has been shining in his post for more than 30 years, until a dysentery sent him to the hospital. Let go of this ignorant fat man.

Therefore, a person like Petrosha who can draw a map by hand can be regarded as a one-in-a-million talent.

This unobtrusive person is patiently explaining to Richard the route they need to take,

After listening for a while, Richard frowned: "Why do you think brother will go there?"

Petrosa was silent for a while, and glanced at Richard with the affection of a little idiot.

Because just by listening to Richard's description, he probably knew that the other party's brother was definitely a rare and intelligent man. Going to Yekaterinaburg was the most sensible option. The leader of the revolutionary army there came from a noble family, which is rare. As a person who has no extreme prejudice against nobles, he believes that Richard's brother will definitely choose this direction just like himself.

"I don't think he will go there." Richard thought for a while and rejected Petrosha's opinion.

"Because he hasn't found me yet, I can't find Yekaterinburg, and that brother will definitely not go." The child said in a tone as if he was swearing the truth.

Petrosha found his persistence very interesting: "If you want to survive, going to Yekaterinaburg is the best choice. Do you think your brother can't think of this?"

"No," Richard showed displeasure as if offended, he emphasized, "It's not that I can't think of it, it's that he didn't find me!"

"My God, Peggy, you're such an idiot."

Richard unceremoniously laughed at this sick beauty who kept coughing. Seeing that the other party almost stuffed his whole body into the fireplace because he was afraid of the cold, he couldn't help pulling the hem of his clothes out: "You If you want to kill yourself, you'd better get out, I'll be very troubled if you die in there."

Petrosa moved out with his strength, still trembling, Richard looked at him in disgust for a few seconds, then walked over to him with a speechless face: "I'll give you a hug, Don't spit in my hair!"

The child's body was like a high-heating stove, exuding constant warmth. Petrosa stared at the golden hair in a daze with lowered eyes, silently hugged the snug stove, and continued Said: "If we don't go to Yekaterinburg, then we have to be prepared to stay here for a long time..."

Richard didn't listen to what he said later, because a new dialog popped up suddenly.

[Lack of enough food, firewood for heating, and candles to set off the atmosphere. As for the clothes that can cover the body...it doesn't matter if you have it or not. In an environment where supplies are scarce, you need to survive here for a month. Known extremes The environment will cause human beings to secrete more hormones. How will you progress in a month?But in order to ensure survival, you can try to explore outdoors, and there may be unexpected surprises.

a. The frozen river holds the miracle of life, heading west.

b. The snow-covered forest is also a treasure trove of resources. Go east.

c. Good things that are easy to obtain often grow in frozen swamps, so head south. 】

……What is this?

Richard felt that the introduction of this game was getting weirder and weirder. What kind of game would think that it doesn't matter if you don't have clothes?Is there an age limit for this game?

To the west is the river, to the east is the forest they came from, and to the south there is a swamp, so what about the north?Why is there no option for the north?

Richard's rebellious energy came up again, he wanted to go to the north to have a look, but the snow outside was so heavy...

Heh, why should he go out and run around looking for things?Can't he just sit in the room like a robber and rob passers-by?

Besides, why did he follow the game's instructions and stay here for a month?

From the beginning to the end, he regarded this dialog box as an exchange for obtaining information, and he didn't mean to follow it at all.

The dialogue box was stubbornly lit in front of Richard, but was ignored by the more stubborn and determined Richard. He turned his attention back to Petrosa's small geography lecture hall, and suddenly asked, "Where are you heading north? What's there?" place?"

Petrosha pressed his thin chin on his shoulder: "It's a garrison of the rebel army, about three hundred miles away, and the nearby villages are under their jurisdiction, so we should try to avoid it as much as possible."

Stuffing a few pieces of firewood into the fireplace to ensure that the fire would not go out, Petrosa stood up and rubbed his sore, numb and aching legs: "Go to sleep."

At this time, he behaved like a qualified elder brother, holding Richard under his arm, his cheek against Richard's hair, and the other hand holding Richard's waist...Richard felt that he should be holding himself It can be used as a useful heating pillow.

After a night of blizzard and snow, the wind outside was much weaker, the sky was still not clear, and it was overcast and overcast. When they gathered around the iron pot to finish off the last bit of boiled Da Lieba left over from yesterday, there was a creaking noise outside the house. creaking sound.

It was the sound of thick boots stepping on the snow.

Someone is approaching here.

"Thank God, there is indeed a hunting house here... Hey, kind people inside, can you open the door for me?"

A rough and hoarse male voice sounded.

Richard and Petrosa exchanged glances, each of them noticed a highly nervous look in each other's eyes.

But what was on their minds had nothing to do with tension.

really?Why is there such a word as expected?Richard thought about it, the visitor had obviously trekked in the snow for a long time, and was alone, the two of them were very careful not to leave any traces of activity outside the cabin, and the dusty and broken curtains on the windows were also Still hung up, why did he assume there was someone inside as soon as he opened his mouth?

Petrosa held the iron spoon, his gray eyes half-closed silently, he was very curious, what would Richard do in the face of a stranger whose identity was unknown asking for help?Instinctively dumping him, a useless trader, for a stronger collaborator?Or is there another option?

And... how does this young child with a detached style of behavior think about depriving others of their lives?

Observing humans is one of Petrosa's interests, and Richard is a particularly interesting specimen.

The two looked at each other for a moment, Petrosa stood up and walked to the door.

Richard hadn't stopped him the whole time.

Or choose to save lives?Predictable choice, Petrosha thought casually, but a bit boring.

He opened the door a crack to prevent the cold wind from blowing in, and after a few seconds of staring at the outsider, the stranger suddenly burst into a shuddering roar of joy: "Aha! Look what I found! A nobleman The—little bastard!"