It was a rift valley.
The valley was dark and dreary all around, with only a glimmer of light overhead. There was an uncomfortable white mist in the air.
The young girl crouched in front of a stone crevice waiting patiently.
After a while, a scorpion crawled out from the crevice, the girl’s eyes and hands quickly moved and grabbed it.
She threw away the scorpion tail and stuffed the rest into the belt seam.
One was definitely not enough to eat, she planned to catch another three, so that they would barely last another day.
Just as she had caught enough of them and was ready to go back, three men suddenly surrounded her.
One of them was one-armed, with a mouthful of uneven teeth and a fishy stench, and the other two were each mutilated.
They held the young girl down on the ground, while bracing her strong struggle, their hands moved to her waist and grabbed the palm-sized scorpions.
The young girl choked as she desperately tried to shout, the red cloth tied around her neck was dirty from the mud…… the girl finally relaxed on the ground, after those people left, she slowly got up.
She wiped away the tears that flowed all over her face, she squatted close to the stone slit, then she saw that there was a scorpion left in place.
There was a total of four, they actually left her one.
She froze, haphazardly wiped her face clean, grabbed the scorpion in her hand, and trotted back the way she came.
A pale young man was leaning against the cliff with his eyes closed.
The young girl sat next to him and showed a bright smile: “Ah Jiu, are you hungry? I caught something delicious, it’s different from the worm meat yesterday, the taste is very good!”
The youth barely opened his eyes and shook his head with little expression: “Guoguo …… eat it yourself ……”
Guoguo laughed loudly: “I’ve eaten! I was too hungry, this is for you!”
The youth called Ah Jiu saw the bruises on the young girl’s body, and once again closed his eyes expressionlessly and refused silently.
Guoguo and Ah Jiu hadn’t been married for long but it had been tough.
They belonged to a small tribe nearby that had few people, the structure was so simple, the children ran together to play and grew up together.
Guoguo especially hated Ah Jiu, because Ah Jiu wasn’t only not strong enough, but he didn’t like talking to people.
When the two of them went out together to pick fruits, if there was no third person present, Ah Jiu would quietly pick the fruits, not caring about her. Every time the little girl was so angry that she hit him, he never fought back.
Then when they went back to the village, she got scolded.
If anyone asked her to point at the most annoying person, she’d confidently point to him.
Because of her good hands, Gougou was added to the tribe’s hunting activity.
It was her first time following the warriors, naturally she was very excited and chattered all the way.
She was beautiful, agile, cheerful and lively, the tribe had a lot of boys of the right age like her, seeing her in high spirits, they gathered around her.
And the pale, thin Ah Jiu, like a ghost, quietly followed them.
Sometimes, when Guoguo turned around, her eyes swept over the silent Ah Jiu, she felt uncomfortable.
Accidents came unexpectedly. They encountered a giant adult elephant in the middle, she didn’t know what disturbed it, it was in a rampage. In the confusion, Gougou and the crowd got separated, unaware that only Ah Jiu was left beside.
The two looked for a way back to the tribe together, Guoguo didn’t want to talk to a mute, so their journey was very silent.
“Say something!” Finally she couldn’t hold it in any longer, and launched herself at Ah Jiu.
Her shout was sharp and sudden, a giant snake whose color blended perfectly with the environment was disturbed, it fiercely scurried out to meet the source of the sound, Guoguo got bit and was infected with its venom, she kept screaming, and her vision was gradually covered by darkness.
“Ah Jiu!!! Ah Jiu!!!” She desperately pleaded for help, her body was strangled raw, and her lungs couldn’t get fresh air in.
It was her first time hunting, and she was only instinctively extremely panicked in the face of danger, and all she could think about was Ah Jiu.
But Ah Jiu didn’t respond to her at all.
She couldn’t see anything and could only rely on her ears to catch the voice of a rescuer, but no matter how much she pleaded and screamed, Ah Jiu refused to respond to her.
Along with the pain of her brain about to explode, she gradually lost consciousness in despair.
The snake’s poison wasn’t fatal, and it didn’t take long for Guoguo to wake up after being rescued. When she regained her sight, she looked at the messy Ah Jiu and knew that Ah Jiu had saved her.
This man had always been silent, the more tense it was, the more silent he became. He mustn’t have thought her sight would fade after being bitten, and thought she could see ……
Guoguo understood, but the emotional resentment that accompanied that moment of helplessness was deeply imprinted in her mind.
Why didn’t he respond to her? Why did she call out for so long, but Ah Jiu wouldn’t even say one word to her?
After returning, the relationship between Guoguo and Ah Jiu dropped to a freezing point.
Guoguo was a little afraid to go hunting, she stayed at home and learnt craft from her ama, her plan was to marry and take care of the family business. But to her surprise, the tribe chose, finally she was assigned to Ah Jiu.
Guoguo was so angry that she almost exploded, she ran to find the chief, to find the elders, to find her parents, but after searching all over the tribe, there was no solution.
Because their tribe was really too small, as long as she still wanted to stay here, then Ah Jiu was already the best choice.
Guoguo cried to her ama, “Ah Jiu must hate me too! He has hated me since he was a child!”
But Ah Jiu was silent as always, and was ready to marry Guoguo – he found a red-yellow flower that could dye fabric and made a beautiful red neckband, which he intended to give to Guoguo.
So far, the matter had been finalized, the two married, but the relationship remained indifferent, the husband and wife seemed to be in a feud.
Until the night of the land subsidence, a sudden change occurred.
Guoguo was grabbing Ah Jiu during a quarrel, when the earth suddenly cracked under her feet. She hadn’t reacted and was about to fall into the cracks, but she was brought forward by Ah Jiu and fell to the ground.
The violent shock plus the reaction force, Ah Jiu couldn’t stand firm on his heels, he fell directly into the crack, Guoguo quickly quickly grabbed his hand, her elbow fiercely ached, but she gritted her teeth and didn’t let go.
She didn’t cry or scream, her mind was on the red neckband that Ah Jiu sent her when they became partners. She hated Ah Jiu’s mute personality but she no longer expected him to talk overnight.
She just wanted to keep this person.
“Guoguo!” Rocks rolled down one after another, some hitting Guoguo, but she didn’t seem to notice, instead she was shocked at Ah Jiu’s heartbreaking roar.
“Guoguo, let go! Your hand will break! You can’t support my weight, let go! Guoguo! Guoguo!!!”
The man who would only use uh-ah-oh, for the first time shouted so many words, but he was asking her to leave him.
The play was reversed, Guoguo didn’t say a word, but Ah Jiu shouted fiercely, her tears soaked the neck band on her neck, making it turn an ominous crimson color.
The shock finally subsided. In the end, Ah Jiu was pulled up, several of his ribs were broken and he was drenched in blood, while Guoguo’s hand was dislocated, other than that, she was fine.
After discussion, the tribe decided to send them and a few other seriously injured, old and weak people to the “fairyland”.
The fairy realm was a legend widely circulated among several small tribes in this area, it was said that when seriously injured people entered into the Rift Valley, they would be healed and nourished.
The tribe wanted to migrate, they couldn’t bring so many useless people, so they made a good-sounding excuse, blinded by a vague hope.
Guoguo and Ah Jiu already had a premonition when they were pushed down the Rift Valley. They fell in a white mist, hissing in pain, the sound melted in the surrounding darkness.
Some people fell down and died, but Ah Jiu still had a faint breath. Trying to survive, Guoguo looked for food and other things everyday.
There were many people in this rift valley, most of them were dying, and from time to time they could hear the echo of desperate cries.
She herself was actually afraid, but she was more afraid that Ah Jiu would leave her.
She regretted that she didn’t dare to become a warrior, otherwise she wouldn’t be as powerless as she was now.
She even regretted not getting along with Ah Jiu earlier.
Ah Jiu always refused to eat the scorpion meat she found, she had to rip the bit of meat in half and stuff half of it into her own mouth before she could barely get Ah Jiu to swallow it.
“Ah Jiu, Ah Jiu, I went for a stroll to the west today and I think I heard some water sounds. Tomorrow during the day when it’s lighter, I’ll go over there to see if there’s water, and then I’ll get it for you ~ are you thirsty? I see your mouth is cracked!” She chattered incessantly, as usual, like she was trying to talk for Ah Jiu.
“Guoguo.” Ah Jiu suddenly spoke, albeit hoarsely, but he spoke.
Guoguo lifted her spirits and came closer, her round eyes shining in the darkness.
The silent man’s eyes showed a trace of tenderness, he tilted his head and gently touched her lips. He watched the red clouds rise on Guoguo’s face before he spoke again, “I’m sorry.”
Guoguo’s eyes suddenly reddened.
Not far away, there was a half leaning granny muttering: “God, God will save us ……”
This granny kept muttering this as long as she was awake, her muttering distracted Guoguo, she turned her head with anger and aggression and yelled, “god, your mother’s god! god d*mn it! Every day you keep chanting, has your god saved you?!”
But at that moment, a white light descended from the sky!
It wandered through the dark valley floor like a swift lightning bolt, splitting the fog, swallowing the darkness, and dropping a shocking bomb in the hearts of the crowd!
What was this! It could actually swallow the invisible fog! Could it really be ……
Everyone at the bottom of the valley looked up in unison. Without the thick fog, they could see the sky and a black silhouette appeared, white balls of light surrounded him.
Guoguo stumbled: “god, god, god ………… god ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!”