Three Philosophical Questions for Travelers

"Kill you," she said.

So the female slave plunged the dagger into the master's neck.

The feeling of piercing someone’s skin with a weapon for the first time is amazing. At first, it felt like it was pierced on a piece of leather, and a small pit was squeezed out of the leather by the tip of the knife. deep.Then it felt like piercing a hard cheese...

A strange thought came to her mind: This feels great!

She has also helped in the kitchen before, she has cut animal meat, fish, beef, chicken and lamb... but no animal meat has given her this feeling.This is very strange, it is obviously the same thing-yes, is there any difference between human flesh and livestock flesh?Almost nothing, all skin, flesh and blood.Just as warm, just as soft.

There is no difference between the meat of humans and livestock, and even less the difference between the meat of slaves and the meat of their masters.

The knife is stuck on something hard.

The slave owner yelled in pain, the voice was distorted and terrifying, he turned around and slapped Violet fiercely, with a sound of "slap", Violet's slapped eyes stared at gold stars, and she fell onto the caravan.Then he rushed up and pinched Violet's neck, Violet saw that his eyes were blood red, and blood was oozing from his neck.

The bleeding was profuse and it was fatal.Violet thought to himself, he is going to die, but I may die before him!

The man burst out with great strength before he was about to die, and he clasped Violet's neck like a mad beast.There was a choking sound in Violet's throat. She wanted to ask for help, but she couldn't cry out.She just passed out a few minutes ago due to lack of oxygen, and now she is about to lose consciousness again...

Then the slave master fell on her.

Violet breathed heavily, coughing violently from the hot air mixed with yellow sand, but even so, the air was pleasant to her.

She opened her eyes wide, and a large piece of gold star receded before her eyes.She saw the boy standing there with a dagger in his hand.

"Ma'am, I killed someone." The boy's teeth were chattering, "For you."

sand eight

sand eight

The fat man's corpse was pressed on her, and blood was still oozing from his neck.Violet wanted to move the man away, but she had no strength at all—she hadn't had enough food for several days, and she was continuously deprived of oxygen, and now she couldn't even lift her own hands.

"How are you, ma'am?" Ariel Hess leaned over and asked.

"Help me," Violet said to him.She saw that the boy's scalp was oozing blood, the right half of his face was covered with blood, his hair stuck to his forehead, and his right eye could no longer be opened.

Violet felt distressed, and said: "You..." She didn't know how to continue talking.She could think of nothing to comfort the boy.

"I'm sorry," she said to the boy.

"If you apologize, then I can only apologize, ma'am, because I don't know why you apologize." The boy tried to move the man's body, but the slave master was fat, and the boy's arms were as thin as branches. Try to move this rotten meat away.In the end, the two of them worked hard together, and the corpse turned over and rolled down.

Violet breathed a sigh of relief, but she immediately thought: By the way, where are the bugs?

I don't know since when, the surroundings have been dead silent.Violet said in her heart: something is wrong.There were a lot of people running away at that time, no matter how powerful the worm was, it couldn't eat them all in such a short time.It is probably still chasing and killing those people on the other side of the dune, but it has a huge body, as long as I move, I can definitely hear loud noises. Why is it so quiet now?

On the other side, the boy is checking his injuries.His face was bruised from the beating of the slave master, and a large piece of his scalp was torn off.There is no mirror here, so he can't see how badly he is hurt.He touched it lightly with his fingertips, then gasped in pain.

Pain turned to anger, and he vented on the body of the slave master lying on the edge of the caravan.He said "fuck you" and kicked the body out of the car.

Violet wanted to stop him but it was too late, the body hit the sand with a muffled bang.

In this dead desert, the sound was very harsh.

Violet had a terrible premonition, and she gave Ariheth a hard look.Arihes also knew that he had made a mistake, he whispered: "I didn't mean to..."

"Shut up!" Violet growled, and then she said to the other slaves, "No matter what you see for a while, keep quiet! Remember, be quiet!"

The slaves were so frightened that they dared not speak. They were all like stones, and they would not speak even if they were not instructed.

At this time, Violet heard a certain sound—it was like the sound of oxen plowing the field, or the sound of wild horses running. The difference was that it was ten times louder and ten times faster than the former... That sound Swimming underground, Violet saw a sand barrier raised from the sand by some kind of force, and the sand barrier spread towards them.

"Sandworm!" she whispered.

The sand barrier suddenly exploded the moment it approached the caravan!That scene was as terrifying as a volcanic eruption!The sandworm rushed out of the ground, stirring up a layer of sand waves.The caravan was nearly overturned by the sand waves.

The sandworm bit out the slave master's body in one bite.It threw the corpse into the sky, and the slave owner's heavy body flew into the air.The giant worm opened its mouth below to catch him, and he fell straight up and down, just in the mouth of the worm, and disappeared completely.

The bug ate him, shook his head in satisfaction, and opened his mouth to let out a mouthful of foul-smelling air, which seemed to be hiccupping.

Violet thought to herself: I hope it is full.

But sandworms are not so easy to please.It looked in the direction of Violet, Violet trembled violently and stopped breathing.

She came face to face with the giant worm, the first time she had seen the monster so close.

It has a sand-yellow carapace, rough and thick. At this moment, several weapons are inserted into the carapace, and yellow juice flows out of the wound.This is the result of the battle just now, but at this moment there are only weapons and no soldiers left, presumably the people have all been defeated.

Its mouth was deep and large, and the ring of sharp teeth spiraled inward, from the edge of the mouth to the esophagus... In the depths the violets could not be seen, and there might be.The worm's tubular body seems to be full of these teeth, and its entire body is a meat grinder.

Bugs have no eyes and seem to have no ears.The body structure of this monster seems to be very simple. In order to adapt to this harsh environment, it discarded all useless organs.

But without eyes or ears, how does it perceive the outside world?

The giant worm moved slowly towards her, as if observing the food, choosing which one to eat first.The slaves were too frightened to move; the boy shrank behind Violet's back; Violet wanted to back down too, but there was no way for her to retreat.

She quietly picked up the dagger, thinking: If the insect wants to eat me, I will use this to pierce its mouth.I will die for sure, but it will hurt.The mouth is injured, maybe it will end this hunt and go back to recuperate, so that it will let others go.The probability of this is very low, but this is the only thing I can do, only I can do it, because no one else has the courage to pick up a knife at this moment.

Violet is not a selfless devotee. When she was still in Mustang Town, she had questioned some of the methods of the Mustang King in her heart.But she also knows that a saint has the thoughts of a saint, and she is not a saint, so she doesn't understand.

But it is different now, everyone in this car is going to die at this moment.It's nothing more than a death before death.

Since everyone is going to die, it is good that she can save one person.Every extra slave who survived was equivalent to one more roar from her against this unfair fate.

Holding the dagger in her hand, she imagined herself as a warrior—an ancient hero, a legendary god of war... But these weird thoughts didn't suit her, didn't give her much courage, and only made her feel like a funny clown.

The bug was getting closer and closer, and the stench came over her face. Not only was it difficult for Violet to breathe, she couldn't even open her eyes.His eyes were sour from the smell, which was the fishy smell of the bug itself and the revenge of the dead.

The monster's sharp teeth grew in a staggered manner in its throat, chewing and spinning as it wriggled, let alone a human being, even a stone statue would be smashed into pieces by it.Its segmented body wriggled like a centipede, and it was digesting something, which could be a camel or a person.At this moment, it opened its mouth wide, casting a huge shadow down, blocking the sky above Violet's head.

The foul-smelling mucus dripped on her head, she couldn't hold on any longer, her courage poured out like water.

She is not a saint, she is just a slave who is a little smarter than ordinary slaves, and slaves cannot bear the fear of death.She could no longer hold the knife, or even stand upright.

I shouldn't have done this, she thought, I should have gone backwards, I should have died last, I had to live...

By the way, Mammy told me to live!I swear, I must live!

Instead, Mammy's wish became an excuse for her cowardice. Violet hated herself for being weak, but she had no other choice.

She handed the knife to Ariehus and whispered, "Little man, please take this."

Arihesi looked at the knife in his hand stupidly, and made a dull voice: "Huh?"

"do you understand me?"

"Do you want me to kill it with this?" Ariheth compared the knife with his hand, and the handle was not as long as his forearm. "Are you kidding, ma'am?"

sand, nine

sand, nine

It is immoral to entrust the responsibility of survival to this child at this moment.Violet understands the truth, but emotion and reason are two different things, she has been dominated by fear.She pointed to the bloody mouth above her head and said, "Arihes, my little man, give it a knife and let it know how powerful you are."

Ariheth growled: "Why don't you give it a knife? Ms.! I think you are also very good!"

"I'm not good at all," Violet smiled wryly, "It..." Violet stared at the bug, and the bug was also "staring" at him, but the bug hadn't moved for a long time, and Violet wondered, thinking: If it We should have eaten it long ago, what is it waiting for?

It ate the corpse so happily just now, why is it hesitating now?

why?

One person and one insect were still, and no one moved a half step.

The sun was scorching, and Violet's sweat hung on her neck and quickly evaporated, taking away what little of her remaining bodily fluids.Her mouth was dry and her eyes were sore and itchy.

The worm slowly lay down on the ground, still staying still.

Does it want to wait until we die of thirst before eating?Does it want jerky?Violet felt that her idea was too bizarre, which was obviously impossible.

But the worms just didn't eat them, and the giant worm kept a three-step distance from the caravan.It was as if the caravan had magic.

"Why doesn't it eat us?" the boy asked.

Yes, why?Violet began to think about this problem, and she felt that if she could understand the weird behavior of the bugs, maybe they had a chance to get out of the predicament.

The sun was so poisonous that the worm couldn't stand it any longer. It began to burrow underground to avoid the sun.

And just when the worm was about to go back into the ground, Violet suddenly saw a scar on the top of the worm's head - a piece of skin was worn off there, as if it had hit something.

Violet wondered: Was it the robbers who wounded it?should not.Because this position is a key place for bugs, and the position is still high, it is impossible to be harmed by humans.

How did that happen?other animals?But it should have no natural enemies on this land.

That is itself?

Did it hit a rock while digging?Violet only thought of this for the time being.

The worm disappeared completely into the ground, and the boy asked her, "Ma'am, is the worm gone? Are we safe?"

"No." Violet shook her head, "It's not far underground, I daresay it will attack us as soon as we leave the caravan."

The boy looked at her puzzled, and said, "The caravan is just a few pieces of rotten wood, it can't protect us."

"I also understand, but the bugs just don't attack the caravan, why..." Violet was troubled.

When she was thinking about the problem, the sound of camels sneezing came from not far away. She looked up and found that the camels had stopped running around and lay down on the ground, keeping quiet.Violet counted and found that only one camel was missing—the one she had been riding at first.

This made Violet even more confused - obviously camels are excellent prey, why don't sandworms eat camels?

Why doesn't the camel run?

Why don't sandworms attack us?

All kinds of strange things happened one after another, and the Lord of Seven Colors gave her a riddle waiting for her to answer.If you can answer this question, the prize may well be survival.

Violet tried to connect all these clues. She first thought about the characteristics of the giant worm, then thought about the composition of the environment, and finally thought about the behavior of various things...

First of all, a bug has no eyes and ears, so how does it perceive?When the sense of sight and hearing are gone, only the sense of touch remains.

touch?Is it sensing vibrations in the sand?

This is very possible, because when the sandworm found us, the mercenaries were killing thieves and fighting. At that time, the camel charged, the crowd ran wild, and the vibration was the biggest. Then the sandworm ate my camel, because the camel was running fastest.

Oh yes!I understand!

The clues gradually formed a thread in her mind.

The reason why the camels run around is not because of fear, but running around is actually an act of survival.

The camels running around will form a chaotic shock wave, which is to interfere with the giant insect's senses, so that it cannot lock the camel's specific escape route.After the bugs come out, they kneel down on the spot without making any movement, so that the bugs can't find them!

Yes, this is the wisdom of the camel!These living arks that have lived in the desert all their lives know better than humans how to survive.

So as long as we don't move the bugs won't find us...but that's not right either!The bugs apparently knew where the caravan was.If it can feel the sand around it, it should also be able to feel the caravan on the ground.It will sense that there is something heavy here.

But it can't tell what the thing is.

The wound on its head should be because it hit a rock not long ago. It knows that there is an object here, but it doesn't know what it is. Sometimes it hits a rock while tracking an enemy.Or after the small animal escapes into the cave, it will hit the cave.

The caravan hadn't moved anywhere, so it probably mistook the caravan for a rock or a cave.It doesn't want to bang its head against the rock again, so it just waits here.

Now in the eyes of this worm, we are a group of animals hiding in the cave, and it is guarding underground at the entrance of the cave, waiting for us to come out by ourselves.

Well, everything is understood!Violet took a deep breath and thought, but the next step is the most important thing.

How do we escape?

The bugs are guarding under the caravan and will devour us as soon as we get out of here.We couldn't leave the caravan.

But we have no water or food, and the sun is so hot, we can't survive here for long.Violet's mouth is parched by now.

We can't get enough of this worm, it lives underground, and it is said that there is a river underground, where it is cool and humid.A day later we'd be roasted to jerky, and the worms would eat us without a hitch.

We have to figure out a way to trick it away.

Violet used her brain quickly, the lack of water, hunger and heat made her feel confused, and thinking about problems was several times more difficult than before.

Cheated, cheated, how to cheat?As she thought about it, she looked at the group of slaves huddled in the corner, and she couldn't help but feel an inexplicable anger in her heart—a bunch of trash who are eating and waiting to die, they can't help at all, you deserve to be slaves!

These slaves are just waiting to die, a pile of living corpses.

So can I use them?A terrible thought came to Violet's mind.

Can I use these slaves as bait?