Chapter 958 Twenty-five. And the return gift

   "Mom, I'm so hungry..."

   The timid voice sounded in the bursts of breathing.

   The woman who was curled up in the corner was awakened by her daughter, struggling to get up, her long weed-like hair covering her face, and struggling to hold her daughter into her arms.

   rustling…

  The woman unbuttoned her clothes, turned slightly sideways, put her body into the shadow, and quickly lowered her head and bit her fingers.

   A faint sound of sucking sounded.

   "Why did the milk become salty?"

   The daughter's incomprehensible children's words rang out.

   "To make you grow up faster." The woman stroked the child's rough hair and said.

   The sound of breathing around him gradually became clear, and other citizens who were spending time and hunger in a deep sleep gradually woke up.

   Then they heard faint shouts from outside the iron bars of the "house".

The    shout gradually became clearer, just as the tide was approaching here.

The oil lamps lit up the bewildered faces, and the shouts made them uneasy, thinking of the spread of plagues and strange invasions... But they gradually heard those shouts without pain and fear, but excited cheers, like Mattou The mayor of Sri Lanka came in person.

   The unease of the citizens who were curled up in the "house" became curious, crawling in the hay and approaching the guardrail, squeezing the flesh on their faces to peep at the cheering voice.

   They soon heard the familiar crisp clutter of boots beneath the hidden cheers,

  The soldier wearing the forbidden magic armor refined in Midnight City appeared on the corridor, dragging two huge wooden barrels half a person high.

   Each withered arm scrambled out of the cage, spread out, waiting.

  The soldier grabbed two pieces of food from the barrel and put it into the palm closest to him.

The owner of the    palm couldn't wait to withdraw, and then was stunned by the food: a piece of bread the size of a palm, a piece of boiled meat the size of a fist.

   "Master Captain, this is..." a citizen asked with anticipation and tension.

   "The Lord Mayor and Your Excellency Lu Li got it, eat it with confidence." A steel-like voice came from under the helmet. A soldier now opens the iron gate, and he continues: "Because of the New Year, you can walk around until the night comes."

   Handed the last two servings of food to the woman and the little girl, the soldier captain glanced at the numbness and replaced his face with ecstasy, and walked to the next room.

   "Eat quickly... Let's go outside when we're full..." The woman shivered and hid a piece of food, breaking apart the rest of the bread and meat, not caring that the blood oozing from the pale wound on her index finger stained the food.

  …

   "We were treated like prisoners!"

   "The plague from the north is spreading here!"

   "The wall digging vibration is getting closer again! It might be here soon, it might be next door!"

   "No one cares about us, no one cares about us, we can only survive on our own!"

   "We are animals kept by noble officials in the center of the refuge area. They have warm beds, lights that never go out, delicious food and clean water!"

  !

The    fist hit the wall and the skin cracked.

   At this moment, they heard footsteps sound from the corridor behind the closed iron gate, which became more and more clear.

   "Soldiers come to catch us—"

  Kacha——

  The iron door was suddenly opened, and the light from the corridor entered the room, making the exclamation stop abruptly.

  The soldier captain swept over the citizens who were clenching their fists nervously, and distributed the bread and pieces of meat indifferently: "It's the New Year's food brought by Lord Mayor and Your Excellency Lu Li."

   There are also unlocked doors.

   "Return to your room before night falls."

   After the captain of the soldiers left, the citizens holding the food were still staring at the open iron gate in a daze.

   "Maybe Your Excellency Lu Li won't leave us alone..." someone said.

   Michael De, who was bleeding from his fist, gritted his teeth and said, "They let us out... Let's go out and see for ourselves!"

  …

  Mitra groped for the last rock in the dark shadows.

   The cold wind and the sound of the waves from the harsh winter were blocked.

   made chaotic footsteps, and Mitra fled back to the bright, warm campfire.

  The cave was flickering with the swaying flames of the bonfire.

   "Be careful! Mitra." The others in the cave exclaimed.

  Mitra didn't say anything, leaned closer to the bonfire and stretched out his hands to warm up his body as soon as possible.

  It was terrifyingly cold, and he heard a clack from the sea breeze. It was the sound of frozen ice being pushed ashore by the sea. Maybe after today Wiener Freeze Port will become Wiener Harbor.

   "How many more days are we going to wait here?" Potter looked towards the edge of the campfire, huddled over the outlines of their clothes. "Gail has been running a low-grade fever, and he'll die here if he goes on like this."

   "That's why we took him out of there." The middle-aged man said.

   Potter continued to chatter: "Does the Land of Light really exist? Maybe it's just a hoax, Andrea is a monster who eats people without blinking, and everyone who boarded the ship was eaten by her..."

   "Shut up! That is Your Excellency Lu Li's mount."

   "But we didn't see Your Excellency Lu Li, maybe he has been—"

"who is it!"

   The middle-aged man looked alertly at the darkness outside the bonfire.

  A silhouette slowly emerged, and the middle-aged people recognized the silhouette in horror: "Businessman...?"

   "Andrea is about to return, this is your New Year's gift." The merchant put down the meat.

   "Your Excellency Lu Li gave it to..." The people around the bonfire looked at the food and swallowed.

"Yes."

  The merchant retreated into the misty gloom.

   "Wait a minute!" Mitra suddenly shouted: "Some of us are sick, can you bring medicine!"

   "15 shillings."

Mitra and his companions looked at each other and suddenly said, "We are going to the land of light to become Lord Lu Li's people... Mr. Lu Li also brought a New Year's gift, didn't he? Can you... owe it to us on credit, etc. We'll return it to him when we get to the Land of Light..."

The    businessman did not answer and disappeared again. It showed up quickly, bringing the medicine they needed, and a few eyeballs.

  …

  噔噔噔噔——

   The staggering figure rushed into the cabin.

   "I see it! I see it!"

   His roar attracted the passengers in the cabin to appear.

   "I saw...light..."

   He fell to the ground, his voice getting weaker and weaker, and he lost his breath with satisfaction and longing.

   Lumbu, who touched his neck, said in a deep voice, "He's dead..."

  The passengers dispersed in fear, and Lumbu thought of what he said before he died, and looked at the cabin leading to the deck: "I'll go and see..."

  As everyone watched him, he stepped up the steps, and his body suddenly stiffened when he was almost on the deck.

   "The Land of Light...really exists...we...we're here!"

  In the unbelievable murmur, the excited passengers crowded onto the deck in confusion, and in the cold and gloom, they saw colors beyond the darkness in the distance.

  OM——

   Andrea's whistle echoed over the dark sea.

   Far away on the gloomy sea, holy, beautiful golden beams shone from the clouds and fell into what seemed to be the lost old Belfast - the place of light.

  People are immersed in the sun, feeling nostalgia and curiosity falling on their bodies, dispelling the ominous warm light...

   Ten minutes later, Andrea docked.

   Those who are about to become citizens of the Land of Light are on a pilgrimage, setting foot on a stair-like path leading to the top of Sugard.

   (end of this chapter)