What time is it, and these two girls still have the mood to tend to flowers and plants? Look at that basket of Dawn Cedar, which can neither be eaten nor is it valuable, yet they treasure it like a precious load on their backs, truly laughable.
And that girl’s flower wristband on her wrist, after being soaked in the river for half a month, still has the spirits to weave herself a wristband; isn’t this just a spring outing then?
Look at that leading young boy, as thin as a bamboo pole, with a sickly pale on his face, I’m afraid he couldn’t even take a punch.
The Lame Man Uncle watched this group’s appearance and the more he looked, the more absurd he found it.
However, as he estimated their strength, the Lame Man Uncle’s hostility also faded.
A few harmless children were not enough to cause alarm.
Moreover, having seen plenty of misfortune in this life, suddenly seeing a few children with dumb luck had Lame Man Uncle feeling conflicted.
The two parties faced off silently for a while, until the Lame Man Uncle suddenly made a sign with his hands in the sky.
His sudden movement made Bai Junjun think the uncle was about to start a fight, and Vine Whip was almost drawn. But the arrow feathers from the surrounding Tube-shaped Buildings slowly retracted instead.
And the Lame Man Uncle also spoke up at the same time.
"Have you heard of Death Valley?"
"???" The five people shook their heads blankly.
Watching these five children all shaking their heads in confusion, Lame Man Uncle revealed a wistful smile.
"That’s right, such a place, apart from the dying, how would anyone else understand?"
"What do you mean?" Bai Junjun asked subconsciously.
The lame old man glanced at them, "This is the rear defense of the Eastern Army at the end of the North River; all the ruddy men who aren’t dead on the battlefield have been abandoned here, also known as Death Valley."
As the lame old man’s voice fell, the surrounding Tube-shaped Buildings also began to emit the clicking sound of gears turning, followed by numerous old, weak, sick, and disabled emerging from those thin Tube-shaped Buildings.
Some had lost their legs, some their arms, others were blind, and still others were barely recognisable as living people, yet such people also shakily walked out.
And there among the crowd was the two-headed monster they had seen earlier.
By the dawn light, Bai Junjun could finally see that the person did not have two heads but had a large abscess on his neck, which was about the size of a head, and in the darkness, it indeed looked as if he had two heads on his shoulders.
This group of people had many like him, with abscesses on their necks, some the size of a chicken egg, some as big as a fist.
This group of grotesque and terrifying people frightened three children so much that they immediately buried their heads in Bai Junjun’s and Li Wenli’s legs, not daring to look anymore.
To tell the truth, Bai Junjun’s vision was also shocked; never had she thought that such a group of ruddy men who had struggled to survive from the battlefield would reside deep within the jungle.
When it comes to ruddy men, everyone knows.
After all, the Refugees move from place to place to avoid being conscripted and tossed into the front lines.
This kind of meat shield that frightens the commoners and is specifically meant to block swords and spears, called ruddy men.
"Everyone fears becoming a ruddy man, knowing there is no return, unaware that dying on the battlefield is lucky; the truly unbearable pain belongs to those who wish to die but cannot."
The Lame Man Uncle laughed mockingly.
In fact, behind each camp, there is a "Death Valley," a burial ground for ruddy men, harboring thousands upon thousands of wounded and disabled ruddy men, and of course, soldiers who have been declared incurable by the front lines.
They are nominally here to recuperate, but in reality, they have been abandoned; yet, it would be incorrect to say they have been completely forsaken, as they were after all conscripted strongmen, and as long as they draw breath, they must still serve their camp.