under hope

This is a small island in the southeast of the Republic, and it has been living a peaceful life almost isolated from the rest of the world.

Alien beasts have never visited the island, and the Republic only visited here when it was unifying. At other times, the only connection with the mainland was a cargo ship.

However, the uninvited guests who landed on the island not long ago broke this tranquility. They brought more ships and steel behemoths that could drill into the seabed.

"Village chief, they have been stationed on the east side of the island. I don’t know what their purpose is, but they just release giant beasts into the sea every day."

A middle-aged man walked into the village committee and reported what he saw and heard to an old man.

"Humph, you ignorant guys, they will be punished sooner or later for doing this! The great sea god will punish them!"

The old man was leaning on a cane and scolding tremblingly.

"What about the village party secretary transferred by the government?"

The old man asked again

"He must have gone to those people's camp. He has been running there two or three times a day recently."

The middle-aged man scratched his head and said

"Pooh! That idiot, the festival is about to be held, he won't come back to make preparations?"

The old man spat and rubbed his feet on the ground again.

"Call that guy over here! This time we have to offer a living sacrifice. We can no longer listen to the village party secretary. There have been few good harvests in the past few years."

The festival that has been passed down in the village is actually similar to the ancient local river god festival. Every year, a girl is selected to sink into the sea and dedicated to the sea god.

But since the government sent the village party secretary, they thought that sinking a living person was too much. Cruel and pedantic, they asked to use paper figures instead.

The villagers were afraid of the weapons that the police would use to set fire to, so they had to obey. They were very resistant at first, but then everyone gradually got used to it.

However, the harvest in the village has been very bad in recent years, and often Unable to catch any fish, the villagers began to complain.

They believed that the God of the Sea was dissatisfied with the paper figures that had been offered as offerings. He wanted to taste the delicate flesh of the girl!

He was the village chief for several generations, and the old man had lost count. All he knew was that the festival could no longer go on in such a hazy state!

The middle-aged man had already left the village committee. The old man squinted and took out a bag of candies from under the table and walked towards an inconspicuous hut.

"Yan'er, open the door, grandpa is here to see you."

The old man knocked on the door and shouted amiably into the room.

"Grandpa, the village chief?"

A girl who was taller than the old man opened the door tremblingly.

"Yan'er, grandpa has brought you some candy."

The old man took out a red cloth bag from his pocket and handed it to the girl.

"Thank you, Grandpa Village Chief!"

The girl happily took the red cloth bag and ran to the back room to sit and eat candy.

Five years ago, in order to improve the situation of the village, the old man secretly sank the girl to the bottom of the sea, but he did not expect that the waves would kill the girl again the next day. The girl was sent back.

The girl was an orphan. Her parents encountered a shipwreck when she was ten years old, so the old man thought of giving the girl up.

The girl kept screaming when she was sunk to the bottom of the sea, and the same was true when she was sent back by the waves. The party secretary severely criticized him for this.

The girl became stupid after that. She trembled her hands every day and talked nonsense at home.

The old man had heard the nonsense the girl said, and they were all about the God of the Sea. Yes, he thought that the girl saw the gods under the sea, so he has been taking care of her. Now, it’s time for the girl to come in handy.

"Yan'er, is the candy delicious?"

The old man asked with a smile.

"Mmmmm, delicious."

The girl nodded happily, chewing toffee in her mouth

"Oh, it's delicious. Then Yan'er told grandpa, what did the gods say to you?"

The old man suddenly asked

"God...god...sir?"

As soon as she heard this word, the girl huddled in the corner in a panic, holding her head with trembling hands, and the half-chewed toffee fell out of her mouth.

"Yan'er is not afraid, grandpa is here, you say."

The old man stepped forward and hugged the girl tightly, gently stroking the girl's hair.

"There are...sinful...eat...eat...want...want...eat...sin...sinners."

The girl trembled and squeezed out a few indistinct words from her mouth, but the old man still heard them clearly.

"Okay, Yan'er is not afraid, grandpa won't ask anymore, just eat some sweets."

The old man helped the trembling girl to the table and peeled off a toffee for her with his own hands.

"Uh-huh."

The girl ate the candy obediently and then stopped shaking.

"Then Yan'er ate slowly. Grandpa left first."

The old man let go of the girl's hand and walked out of the house without waiting for the girl to answer.

"Yes, the sinner who stopped paying tribute must be punished, and the God of the Sea was angry."

The old man paced slowly in the village with his hands behind his back.

The villagers had already begun to prepare the decorations needed for the festival, and the gang from the police station also started to work. The sun hung high in the sky, but there was no warmth in the village. The cold wind blew from the sea, blowing the few remaining hairs on the old man's head.

"You will always have to pay the price."

The old man looked at the police station that was incompatible with the entire village and said viciously.

"The village chief and the village party secretary said that the group will come on the day of the festival and asked us to prepare more food."

The middle-aged man stopped the old man and reported in a low voice.

"Okay, no problem, go ahead and convey it."

The old man agreed boldly.

"ah? Oh, I see."

The man was a little confused, but he still complied. He thought the village chief would have to curse again.

The sun was setting.

The village party secretary chatted with the excavation team and introduced them to the village's specialties.

"Captain Zhang, this village doesn’t have frequent contact with the mainland, and I don’t have much to offer. You all should try this pickled fish, it’s pretty good."

The man wearing a safety helmet took the box handed over by the village party secretary, picked up a dried fish from the inside and put it in his mouth.

"Um--! Indeed, it is salty, and the food and wine are very good at the moment."

The man showed approval.

"What do you mean, you are not allowed to drink while working."

A young girl suddenly walked into the command room and sat leisurely on the office chair.

Just as the village party secretary was about to say something, he was stopped by a man's gesture. The man picked up a dried fish and placed it in the office. table, and then said to the girl:

"Captain Zhou, please try it, it’s a specialty of the village."

The girl picked up the dried fish, put it in front of her nose, sniffed it, and took a tentative bite.

"Hmm... so salty..."

The girl frowned, picked up the teapot, poured a glass of water, and drank it all in one gulp.

"The meat quality is pretty good and chewy, but you have to eat something bland."

The girl put the dried fish back on the table and wiped her hands with paper towels.

"Captain, this is the village secretary. He said that there will be a festival in the village in a few days and he wanted to invite us to sit down. You see, the team members have been working hard for several days, and they always eat convenience food."

The man hurriedly introduced the activities in the village to the girl, and the village party secretary also laughed with him.

"Yes, anyway, the dean has asked us to stop working now, and it’s boring to stay here, so let’s go and have a look."

As the girl spoke, she took out the blanket from under her body and covered her body.

"Go out, I'll take a nap."

The girl waved her hand towards the man.

"okay."

The man left the command room with the village party secretary.

"Is that the captain? So young?"

As soon as he went out, the village party secretary couldn't help but ask

"Yes, she was still the main force in the reconstruction of coastal cities before, and she was usually very strict. No wonder she could lead such a team."

The man lit a cigarette and just put it in his mouth when he heard the girl's voice coming from the command room.

"Lao Zhang! How many times have I told you, no smoking!"

The man scratched his head in embarrassment, stubbed out the cigarette butts with his fingers, and took out a transparent bag from his pocket.

The village party secretary noticed that there were many cigarette butts in the bag, which were all stubbed out as soon as they were lit.

"You see."

The man lifted the bag and put the cigarette butt he had just put out into it.

"But she was still very nice. She didn't confiscate our cigarettes. She just asked us not to smoke inside or outside the command room and when she was present. She just grabbed cigarette butts and threw them away in other places."

The man put away the bag and smiled at the village party secretary

"It's getting late, Captain Zhang, I'm going back first, the festival will definitely come."

Noticing that the sky was getting dark, the village party secretary hurriedly said goodbye to the man.

"I must go, the captain has agreed. If possible, prepare more wine, everyone is greedy."

The man waved goodbye to the village party secretary.

Returning to the village, the village party secretary saw the village chief standing at the door of the village committee from a distance, not knowing what he was doing.

"The ingredients you asked for are all ready, and I also got some more wine for you."

As soon as the village party secretary arrived at the door, the village chief spoke.

"Okay, thank you for your hard work."

The village chief's sudden open-mindedness surprised him. This old gentleman had not dealt with each other since the day he took office.

"By the way, don’t let everyone see it when you submit the offering. Paper figures are unlucky. I plan to cancel the offering from next time.One link."

The village chief went on to say

"What? Village chief, you don’t have to…"

"It's okay, I have figured it out, let the next generation completely get rid of this pedantic activity."

The village chief interrupted the village party secretary, and after finishing speaking, he left the village committee, leaving the confused village party secretary far behind him.

"Why did that old gentleman suddenly become enlightened?"

The village party secretary scratched his head and walked into the village committee very puzzled.