Hearing the man's words, Zhang Xiaoqiang took a deep breath. Hearing the man's words, it seemed that cannibalism was not a rare occurrence in this place, but a normal occurrence. At this moment, Zhang Xiaoqiang had a crazy idea of finding all the survivors on the ground and killing them all.
"You two stay here and keep an eye on them. If they do anything, just shoot them without warning. You, follow me."
Zhang Xiaoqiang ordered two of his team members to stay and keep an eye on the lame man and the man lying on the bed. He turned around and walked to the kitchen with the other one. He wanted to see how sick these people had become.
The house built under the rock was not very well lit. Zhang Xiaoqiang and his team members strolled along the dark passageway and checked the rooms one by one. The furnishings in these rooms were very simple. Except for a dark empty coffin in one room, the other rooms were all empty.
In other fireplace rooms, there were always some pieces of smoked meat on the roof beams. But in this room, there was nothing except for a layer of black ash on the wall near the roof. Above the fireplace, there was an iron chain with a straight hook that was blackened by smoke. This thing was usually used by farmers in the 70s and 80s to boil water. Now, it was almost extinct. Zhang Xiaoqiang did not expect to see it again here.
The kitchen was not very big. A huge waist-high stove took up one-third of the space in the kitchen. The other one-third near the stove was piled with some firewood. Except for a small part of the firewood, most of the firewood were tree roots of different shapes. The tree roots were twisted into a cookie, which was a bit like a root art.
A bluestone water tank was leaning against the kitchen door. Two heavy wooden buckets and a shoulder pole tied with a brown hemp rope were leaning against the side of the tank. On the wall opposite the tank was a wooden cupboard embedded in the mud wall. The cupboard was open, and there was nothing in it except a few big broken porcelain bowls and some plates.
From the outside, one could see black smoke billowing towards the sky, but there was no smoke in the room. Zhang Xiaoqiang opened the huge wooden lid on the big pot on the table. The pot was very big, but there was very little in it. At the bottom of the pot, there were some white meat slices and some unknown grass roots or leaves stewing together. It seemed to be about half a bowl.
Seeing the meat slices, Zhang Xiaoqiang searched for the victim's body in the kitchen. However, the kitchen was only so big, so he couldn't find anything. Instead, he saw a dirty kitchen knife on the log chopping board on the stove. There was some dark red blood on the edge of the kitchen knife.
Seeing the blood on the kitchen knife, Zhang Xiaoqiang looked at the ground. As expected, there was a pool of brown blood on the uneven ground. There were also some scattered bloodstains scattered around the kitchen, but the side of the stove was the most scattered. Although the bloodstains were a bit messy, Zhang Xiaoqiang could see that most of the bloodstains were evenly scattered on the ground.
Finally, there was a bloodstain that extended all the way to the door. Zhang Xiaoqiang used his flashlight to slowly search the bloodstain on the ground, until …
Zhang Xiaoqiang and his team members followed the bloodstain back to the bedroom. The bloodstain extended all the way to the man's body. The man was still kowtowing non-stop, his mouth repeating the words he said earlier.
"Stand up … stand up …"
Following Zhang Xiaoqiang's order, the man climbed up from the ground with difficulty. Looking at the trembling man standing before him, Zhang Xiaoqiang found that the man was very young. To be exact, he had not fully grown into a man yet. He was still a boy. The boy looked to be only 16 or 17 years old, with a face full of immaturity and confusion.
The clothes on his body were tattered like a beggar. Through the holes on the clothes, his skinny body could be seen. Of course, his cheeks were thin and weak, but he still looked like a human.
One of his thighs kept trembling as he stood up. The black trousers in the middle of his thighs were wet and stuck to his thighs. Zhang Xiaoqiang pulled out a military knife and cut open the trousers.
Blood dripped from the yellowish thighs. At the place where the blood dripped, a mottled piece of cloth covered the wound. Looking at the boy's thighs, Zhang Xiaoqiang was reminded of the meat slices that were continuously boiling in the pot.
"Have you eaten a human before?"
Hearing Zhang Xiaoqiang's question, the boy shook his head subconsciously.
Seeing the boy shake his head, Zhang Xiao Qiang heaved a sigh of relief. He had a lot of respect for the boy in front of him, and it wasn't just an ordinary respect. This boy had cut off his own flesh to cook for his sick mother when they were out of food. How much courage and determination did he have? Zhang Xiao Qiang had to admit that he wouldn't have been able to do it himself.
It was not only Zhang Xiaoqiang who could not do it. Most people in this world could not do it. The story of cutting off one's own flesh to use as medicine and begging for a carp on the ice was in ancient times. Modern people had come into contact with more things, and their thinking had become more complicated. All kinds of selfish thoughts filled this impetuous society. Perhaps most people were filial, but if they really had to cut off their own flesh to feed their hungry mother, they would definitely shake their heads. They could not do it.
The boy in front of him had done it. This boy who was born in the most difficult and barren environment had done it. No … he could not be called a boy anymore. He was already a man. He had done something that even a strong man might not be able to do.
"You really haven't eaten it?
As long as you tell me the truth, I will treat your mother. I have medicine, all kinds of medicine. I have food, countless food. Your mother will not suffer from hunger anymore. As long as you tell me the truth … "
Zhang Xiaoqiang's tone was soft and slow, like the snake that tempted Adam to eat the forbidden fruit. He constantly tempted the man in front of him with all the wonderful things in the future. He would not believe this person's one-sided words. The key was that what he said at the beginning when he begged for mercy to his mother was too suspicious, and Zhang Xiaoqiang could not be sure whether he had really eaten it or not. If he had really eaten it, Zhang Xiaoqiang would kill him, give him a quick death, and bring his mother back to the base to raise well.
"No, really, I haven't eaten it …"
With a swish, Zhang Xiaoqiang put the large-caliber pistol against his head, looked into his eyes, and asked,
"Then why did you ask us not to catch your mother in the beginning? Did you know that we would eat people?"
"I … I thought you were them … It's them … They also have guns, guns like you …"
Zhang Xiaoqiang looked into the man's frightened eyes and put down the Voice of the Desert in his hand. "Who are they?
How many people are there?
You, how do you know about them? And, how many guns do they have … "
In the end, Zhang Xiaoqiang decided to believe his words. A person who could kill and eat people would definitely not be as good at pretending as he was. On the one hand, he was not an adult yet, and on the other hand, he had not had the opportunity to experience the complicated society outside. In other words, this child was still a rookie. Even after being coaxed and scared by Zhang Xiaoqiang, he still did not admit to eating people, which meant that he had really not eaten people before.