Crossing to the Wild - Chapter 8

It was a rift valley.

It was dark all around the bottom of the valley, and there was only a light on the top. There was an uncomfortable white mist in the air.

The girl squatted in front of a stone crack, motionless and waited patiently.

After a long time, a scorpion sprang out of the gap. The girl grabbed it with quick eyes and hands and broke it with a click.

She threw away the scorpion tail and stuffed the rest into the seam of her belt.

One was definitely not enough to eat. She planned to catch three more, so that she could barely survive another day.

Just as she caught enough and planned to return, three men suddenly surrounded her.

One of them had one arm, a mouth with uneven teeth and a mouth that stank. The other two were also disabled.

Without unnecessary nonsense, they pressed the girl to the ground, restraining her strong struggle and resistance, and took out those palm size scorpions from her belt.

The girl uttered several suffocating whines from her throat in despair, and the red cloth tied around her neck was stained with mud… The girl finally collapsed on the ground and didn’t get up until the people left.

She wiped a handful of tears on her face and was about to squat in the stone crack again when she saw that a Scorpion was left in place.

Those three men actually left one for her.

She was stunned, she quickly wiped her face, grabbed the scorpion and trotted back.

A young man was leaning against the cliff, with his eyes closed and a pale face.

The girl sat next to him and showed a bright smile: “Ah Jiu, are you hungry? I caught delicious food. It’s still insect meat but it tastes very good!”

The young man reluctantly opened his eyes and shook his head without expression: “… Eat it yourself…”

She tried to hand it to him again but when the young man called Ah Jiu saw the blue and purple bruises on the girl, he closed his eyes again without expression and refused silently.

Guoguo and Ah Jiu had been together for long, but they had quarreled a lot before.

They belonged to a small tribe nearby, with few people and simple structure. Children ran together to play. They had known each other since childhood.

Guoguo especially hated Ah Jiu, because Ah Jiu wasn’t only not strong enough, but he also didn’t like to talk to people.

When they were young, they would go out to pick fruit together. If there was no third person present, Ah Jiu would quietly pick fruits all day. Every time, the little girl was so angry that she fought him, but he didn’t fight back.

But she was always scolded when she got home.

If you asked who Guoguo hated most, it would have been Ah Jiu.

Once the tribe started recruiting hunters, Guoguo was also among them because of her good skills.

It was the first time she went hunting. Naturally, she was very excited and chattered all the way.

She was beautiful, agile, cheerful and lively. Many school-age boys in the tribe liked her and kept trying to get her attention when they saw her in high spirits.

The pale and thin Ah Jiu followed them quietly like a ghost.

Guoguo sometimes turned around and glanced at Ah Jiu’s silent appearance, he made her feel uncomfortable.

The accident came unexpectedly. They met an adult giant elephant on the way and somehow it got disturbed, it moved around wildly in the forest. Guoguo was separated from everyone, except Ah Jiu in the chaos.

They looked for the way back to the tribe together. Guoguo didn’t want to talk to the mute. The road was very silent.

“Speak!” Finally, she couldn’t hold back and got angry with Ah Jiu.

Her cry was sharp and sudden. A giant snake with perfect integration of colour and environment was disturbed. It suddenly rushed out, wrapped around her, and bit her, injecting its venom into her. She kept screaming, and her vision was gradually covered by darkness.

“Ah Jiu!! Ah Jiu!!!” Desperate for help, she was strangled and couldn’t get  fresh air in her lungs.

It was her first hunting trip. In the face of danger, she was left with only instinct and extreme panic, and only Ah Jiu was left in her mind.

But Ah Jiu didn’t respond to her at all.

She couldn’t see anything and could only rely on her ears to listen for any response.

However, no matter how she begged and screamed, Ah Jiu refused to respond to her.

The pain made her brain feel like it was about to explode, she gradually lost consciousness in despair.

The snake’s poison wasn’t fatal. Guoguo woke up soon after she was rescued. When she regained her sight and looked at Ah Jiu in a daze, she knew that Ah Jiu had saved her.

The boy was always silent. The more nervous he was, the more speechless he became. He must have never thought she would lose consciousness after being bitten. He thought Guoguo would understand the truth, but the emotional resentment, accompanied by the helplessness at that moment, was deeply imprinted in her mind.

Why didn’t he respond to her? Why did she shout for so long, yet he refused to respond to her?

After going back, the relationship between Guoguo and Ah Jiu fell to the freezing point.

Guoguo was a little afraid of hunting. She worked with her aunt’s students at home and planned to take care of her family after she got married.

Unexpectedly, the tribe picked and matched her, and finally gave her to Ah Jiu.

She was angry enough to explode, she went to the leader, the elders and parents, but there was no one else after they searched the tribe.

Because their tribe was really too small. As long as she wanted to stay here, Ah Jiu was the best choice.

Guoguo cried to her mother, “Ah Jiu must hate me too! He has hated me since he was a child!”

But Ah Jiu was as silent as ever and was ready to marry Guoguo – he found ChiYan flowers that could dye cloth, made a beautiful red neck band and gave it to Guoguo.

So far, the matter had become a foregone conclusion. They had made a contract, but their relationship was still indifferent. Being husband and wife seemed to have created a feud.

Until that night’s subsidence and sudden changes.

Guoguo was quarrelling with Ah Jiu as usual, and the earth suddenly split under her feet. Guoguo didn’t respond well. She was about to fall into the crack, but she was thrown to the ground by Ah Jiu.

With the violent vibration and reaction, Ah Jiu didn’t stand firm and fell directly into the crack.

Guoguo turned back and quickly grabbed his hand. Her elbow hurt fiercely, but she bit her lip and didn’t loosen her hold.

She didn’t cry. Her mind was fixed on the red neckband that Ah Jiu gave her when they got married. She hated Ah Jiu’s mute character, and no longer expected him to become amusing overnight.

Now she just wanted to keep him.

“Guoguo!” The stones rolled down one after another, and some hit Guoguo, but she didn’t seem to notice it. Instead, she was shocked by Ah Jiu’s heartbreaking roar.

“Let go!! Your hand will break if it gets caught! You can’t hold me, let go! Guoguo!!”

A man who she knew well, shouted so many words at her for the first time, but it was for her to leave him alone.

The scene was reversed, Guoguo didn’t say a word, but Ah Jiu did. He shouted until Guoguo’s face was covered in tears, which soaked the neck band on her neck and turned it into an ominous dark red.

The vibration finally subsided. When Ah Jiu was pulled up, several of his ribs were broken, and he was covered with bl00d. One of Guoguo’s hand was dislocated, but their injuries weren’t fatal.

After discussion, the tribe decided to send them and several other seriously injured, old and weak people to “fairyland”.

Fairyland was a legend widely spread among several small tribes in this area. It was said that seriously injured people would be nourished by immortal Qi and finally recover when they entered the rift valley.

When the tribe wanted to migrate and couldn’t carry so many useless people, it took a good sounding excuse to cast illusory hope.

Guoguo and Ah Jiu had a hunch when they were pushed down the rift valley. They fell into a white fog, roared with pain, and their voices melted into the darkness around them.

Someone fell and died directly, but Ah Jiu still breathed. Guoguo strived to survive and looked for something for them to eat every day.

There were many people in this rift valley. Most of them were dying. They could often hear the echo of desperate crying.

She was actually very afraid, but she was even more afraid that Ah Jiu would leave her.

She even regretted that she didn’t dare to be a hunter again, otherwise she wouldn’t be as powerless as she was now.

She regretted that she didn’t get along with Ah Jiu earlier.

Today, Ah Jiu refused to eat the scorpion meat she found. She had to tear the meat into two parts and put the other half into her mouth before she reluctantly made Ah Jiu swallow it.

“Ah Jiu, Ah Jiu, I went to the West today. I seemed to hear the sound of water. I’ll go there to see if there is water when it gets brighter tomorrow. I’ll get it for you then. Are you thirsty? I think your mouth is cracked!” She kept chattering. As usual, she spoke enough for the both of them.

“Guoguo.” Ah Jiu suddenly spoke.

Although his voice was hoarse, it was clear.

Guoguo cheered up and leaned closer, her round eyes shining in the dark.

A trace if tenderness lingered in the silent man’s eyes, he raised his hand and gently touched Guoguo’s lips. He looked at the red marks on her, “I’m sorry.”

Guoguo’s eyes turned red.

Not far away, there was a half leaning old woman who murmured, “God, God will save us…”

As long as she was awake, the woman kept muttering this, which made Guoguo upset. With anger and grievance, she turned her head and shouted, “God, whose’s God! God is a ghost! You talk every day, has your God saved you yet?!”

But then, a white light fell from the sky!

It swam at the bottom of the dark valley, like a swift lightning, splitting the thick fog, swallowing the darkness, and dropping a shocking bomb in the hearts of everyone!

What was it? It could swallow the invisible fog! Was it really…..

Everyone at the bottom of the valley looked up at the same time. Without the thick fog, a black silhouette appeared in the sky overhead, and a white ball of light surrounded him.

Guoguo couldn’t help herself, “God, God, God… God!!”