Chapter 2, This World Never Believes in Tears

Because of the matter of the robber and the sudden fall into unconsciousness, Ren Xiaosu returned late, he glanced at the sky about to be enveloped by darkness, it was an extremely dangerous thing to pass through the market town at this time of the day with his prey.

During the daytime, there were still people from the refuge barriers who came out to rule the order, but at night those people went back to the barriers.

Of course the people in the refuge barriers were by no means kind, but they were worried that too much chaos in the market town would affect the labor of the stragglers.

“Yo, Ren Xiaosu’s harvest isn’t small today!”

When Ren Xiaosu ran into the market town carrying an iron pot someone greeted him, the man’s face was all black, as if he hadn’t washed his face since he was born.

Many people in the market town were like this, on weekdays, in order to exchange for food, they went to the nearby coal mine to dig coal, which was transported into the refuge barriers, and then the workers were able to get just enough black bread or potatoes to survive.

Not only digging coal, but also the dirty work needed inside the barriers is done by people outside the barriers.

The wells in the market town were rationed, and no one could get more than a little bit of water per day. There weren’t any clean water sources nearby, or the clean water sources were too dangerous, gathering wild beasts that drank from them. So the whole town was dirty and unrecognizable, and Ren Xiaosu was no exception.

Only Ren Xiaosu never went to dig for coal, he had his own way of surviving.

At this moment, Ren Xiaosu didn’t respond when he saw someone greeting him, he just wanted to quickly return to his hut.

When Ren Xiaosu passed through the small road of the market town, he was not far away from the towering wall of the walled city, raising his head as if he couldn’t see the end of the sky generally full of depressing feeling.

The market town did not have too many earth and stone buildings, more like shacks.

Ren Xiaosu, who was originally quite relaxed, suddenly became vigilant after entering the market town, and he even drew a bone knife from his waist. The atmosphere on the streets became heavy, as if there was some kind of danger hidden inside those shacks, but when Ren Xiaosu drew out his bone knife, the people who were so foolishly moving calmed down again.

The first thing Ren Xiaosu learned from living here is not to trust anyone …… except Yan Liu Yuan.

Whispers came from the roadside shack, “Ren Xiaosu actually caught prey again.”

“What kind of prey is that, it’s just sparrows.”

“That’s not like the sparrows in the ancient textbooks, I’m guessing that’s how big the eagles were before the Calamity, right?”

“Don’t mess with him,” a voice ended the whispering, as if someone knew about Ren Xiaosu’s past.

Ren Xiaosu lifted the curtain of his house, the warmth inside made his body seem less stiff.

Yan Liuyuan, who was sitting inside the hut and doing his homework, looked up and saw Ren Xiaosu returning, and was pleasantly surprised: “Did you get the sparrow?”

“Why don’t you light the kerosene lamp?” Ren Xiaosu asked with a frown.

Yan Liuyuan was not usually well-behaved, at least not in front of people other than Ren Xiaosu, but when facing Ren Xiaosu’s “older brother”, he would always be unexpectedly meeker: “I want to save some kerosene for the family.”

“What if you get nearsighted?” Ren Xiaosu put the sparrow down.

Yan Liuyuan’s eyes lit up and said, “The gentleman at the academy said that there were such things as eyeglasses before the calamity, and he also said that there are actually such things now, only that inside the refuge barriers, with this thing even if you are nearsighted, you won’t be afraid.”

Ren Xiaosu disdained this kind of argument, “I’ve seen people carrying that thing you’re talking about, it’s just that trusting your vision in this wilderness to an object that could fall at any time is tantamount to sending someone to their death. Don’t listen to that gentleman of yours, some of the things your gentleman says aren’t always right.”

“O……” Yan Liuyuan nodded, “Then you still send me to the academy?”

Ren Xiaosu choked, “Which is so much nonsense.”

“When can I follow you hunting?” Yan Liuyuan pursued.

“You’re only 14 years old, why would you learn to hunt? You don’t need to hunt if you go to the academy,” Ren Xiaosu said, “Learn how to do accounting, learn physics and chemistry, and then you’ll be better than hunting?”

“You’re only seventeen,” Yan Liuyuan was unconvinced.

In these times, even the most barbaric people were aware of the importance of knowledge.

This was also the reason why the pedagogue could survive in the market town, no matter what kind of chaos occurred in the market town, the pedagogue was always the safest one, and no one would hit the pedagogue’s head.

Only, the tuition fee is expensive, otherwise Ren Xiaosu himself would want to go and listen.

Ren Xiaosu proficiently dissected the sparrow while setting up the iron pot: ”What did Mr. Teaching talk about today? This sparrow can only give you some internal organs to eat, the rest will have to be taken and sold tomorrow.”

“Are you injured?” Yan Liu Yuan frowned when he saw the injury on Ren Xiaosu’s tiger’s mouth, it was pecked out by the sparrow and the blood flowed.

The large iron pot was set up on a stick, and the fire in the shack reflected Ren Xiaosu’s cheeks in light and dark: “A small injury.”

The room fell into silence, not long after Ren Xiaosu fished out the sparrow’s innards from the pot and handed it to Yan Liuyuan: “Eat it.”

Yan Liu Yuan’s eyes suddenly reddened, “I won’t eat, you eat, you need to nurse your wounds.”

“I’ll just have some soup,” Ren Xiaosu said, “I still have black bread here.”

“I’m not eating, this isn’t a small wound at all, I saw someone in the market town a few days ago just because of a small wound, they ended up dying of inflammation and infection, we don’t have any medicine here,” Yan Liu Yuan stubbornly said, her tears on the verge of flowing down her face.

Snap.

Ren Xiaosu suddenly caught off guard and slapped Yan Liuyuan’s face and said, “Remember, you and I can’t shed tears if we survive in this world, this world doesn’t believe in tears.”

Ren Xiaosu continued, “Look at what kind of people we are surrounded by, what if you don’t eat your fill and someone rushes in at night and stabs me to death? I let you go to the academy, is not want to let you like me can only go hunting, you have special ability, as long as you study well you do not have to go to the wilderness like me to get up in the morning and night to beg for life. I let you go to the academy because I don’t want you to become as savage as them!”

Yan Liu Yuan suddenly took the sparrow innards that Ren Xiaosu handed over and wolfed it down, his tears didn’t fall after all, he had to learn to be as strong as Ren Xiaosu.

“Cough, after you finish eating bring me a clean cloth to bandage my wound,” Ren Xiaosu said.

“Oh,” Yan Liuyuan agreed.

“Usually quite quirky outside, how come you’re like a little aggravated bag back home,” Ren Xiaosu sighed, “Did anything happen in the market town today.”

“Right,” Yan Liuyuan said while looking for a clean cloth, “A group of people came out of the refuge ledge, saying that they were looking for a guide who could lead the way to refuge ledge 112, they wanted to cross the Transit Mountain directly.”

“To Refuge Barrier 112?” Ren Xiaosu froze for a moment frowning, “And they have to go through the Transit Mountain?”

“Do you think they will look for you, everyone in the market town knows that you are familiar to the outside world,” Yan Liu Yuan blinked his eyes and said, “I heard that they are a band and singers inside the 113th refuge ledge, invited to perform at the 112th refuge ledge to come, I haven’t met the singers yet. ”

“I’m not going,” Ren Xiaosu shook her head, “That area of the Realm Mountain, whoever likes to go should go. You avoid them a bit, this group of people have oddities.”

At this time, Ren Xiaosu’s mood was a bit complicated, what kind of world is this, that there are people who specialize in singing, and bands? What is it like in the refuge barriers?

Ren Xiaosu was suddenly a bit yearning.