The bumps in the road weren't for a hurry, and it wasn't until the light had begun to dim that Kasia saw a low-rise bungalow at the end of the dirt road.

A few rows of houses were built on either side of a stone-paved road, surrounded by a circle of trees full of new leaves, and two dilapidated lamps that did not correspond to the scene illuminated a small square in the middle of the buildings, dimly lit and flickering from time to time, as if at any moment it were about to end the journey of life.

It is said to be a small square, but it is not really not, at best it can be seen as a large flat land. There were several stone benches made from construction waste, the surface of which was polished smooth and reflected a faint light.

In addition, there were a few small fires that had risen early on the side of the stone bench, and it was not suitable to raise a fire in such weather. Kasia slowed down, looked at the darkening sky, and then at the old men with all gray hair sitting on the stone benches, as if to understand the purpose of the fire.

The air was moist and cool, as well as the coolness of rolling down from the clearly visible outlines of the mountains.

"This is probably the closest residential area to the volcanic terrain, right?" said Kasia, who parked the limousine on the edge of a very small town, and walked towards the small square illuminated by lights and fires, while looking at the humble houses around him.

They are generally only two storeys high, and almost all of them are wooden doors and windows, without any characteristics at all. It's just that there aren't as many people living here as Kasia imagined, and it can be seen that some of the houses on the roadside are uninhabited, and they are already in a ruined state that has been abandoned for a long time.

But the electricity was finally connected, and it must have been a diversion from the city where he came from with a pipe planted, Kasia thought. This place was a few years ago, or maybe more than a decade ago, maybe not the way it is now, gradually decaying, until it is swallowed up by the increasingly crazy wild grass around it. It's going to be even more lively.

Arriving at the small square, Kasia immediately became the focus of several old people. There is curiosity in their eyes, and it has always been strange that someone will come to them.

The old men were not repulsive to Kasia, but they did not show welcome, only a little curiosity. From their mouths, Kasia received some necessary information.

"There are roads, there are a few towns ahead, but no one lived there a few years ago, and I moved here from the front. A lot of people are like that, moving here from a few different towns, and having a few people to talk to. Kasia found an old man who was a little more sturdy, and asked some questions respectfully.

"、、、 big town, of course there is. Do you see that mountain range, there has always been a small lake at the foot of the mountain, and the largest town here is next to the lake, dozens of times as big as here, maybe a little bigger. I remember when I was younger, I ran to the lake and saw it. In the past, there were still people living there, all of whom came from nowhere, wanting to go into the mountains to dig for stones and some medicinal herbs. But I don't know what's going on, only people go in there, and few people come out, so there are fewer and fewer people who know here, and in less than ten years, almost no one comes here. My own sons have moved away for a long time, and most of those who remain here are the same age as me. ”

"In other words, were there still people living at the foot of the mountains more than a decade ago?" asked Kasia, according to the information in the map infographic, because of the volcanic eruption, and then it became a no-man's land. I thought that the local Imperial Authority might redevelop it, after all, after the eruption, there was a chance that the ore from the ground would be brought out. But looking at the state of the surrounding cities, Kasia no longer had this illusion.

The old man shook his head to himself, as if to reproach Kasia for not understanding what he meant. At this time, the person next to him interjected.

"Don't listen to him, he doesn't work very well here. The man next to him patted his head, as if to say to himself, "A long time ago, the mountain there was on fire, that is, the volcano erupted, and then the town at the foot of the mountain was deserted. The people of the town have moved, some to nearby cities, some to rebuild houses farther away, and this town is a product of that time, and it has been renovated many times. ”

The old man spoke with great difficulty, and took a few breaths before answering: "No one has passed at the foot of the mountain for more than ten years, in short, when I was a child, my parents warned me not to run into that mountain range, saying that there are wild people in that mountain range, who specialize in eating children like us." Actually, it's not eating children, they just scare us. But it was very dangerous, and when I was growing up, there was a group of people who went in and drove in loud limousines, and they had guns that were more powerful than shotguns, and they even had explosives. ”

"They said they went in to look for minerals, because there was a volcanic eruption, and their grandfather seemed to have been here, so he made a lot of money from the minerals he found there. I still remember that the man in the lead took out a cloth bag, which was full of diamond particles the size of a little finger, and it was still shining. ”

"I also remember this, at that time, dozens of limousines came, a lot of tools were pulled, and there were more than 100 people. They spend money on food from us, meat to dry, quilts and so on. People in several surrounding towns knew about it. They bought something and went into the mountains. But he came back two days later, saying that he couldn't find his way and that he had to pay for a guide. A lot of money was given, and many young people in the town rushed to go there at that time. At that time, there were many people in the town who would walk not far from the foot of the mountain, and after the volcanic eruption, the lake that used to be there was blocked and became a dead lake, but the snow on the mountain still flowed down, and there were still people fishing in the lake. Some people are familiar with the mountains. ”

"、、、、," the old man spoke slowly, and after half an hour, the topic returned to the group, "and it was always almost not forthcoming." It was about two months later, and it was still raining lightly, but the sound of those big cars could be heard from a long distance. Only one came back, we originally thought it was to come back to pull food in, but we didn't expect to pull back a cart of people. All of them were sick, their necks were swollen greatly, their hair was gone, their skin was much reddered, as if they had been exposed to the sun for a long time, some of them had flesh bumps, and some of them were festering, which was very scary. ”

"When they came back, some of them died, and some more died on the way to the hospital. But in the end, no one survived, and the longest lived was in the hospital for more than half a year, but in the end he died. Later, the officials found out about it, so they sent some people to investigate, but we don't know what the result was. But after that, they told us not to go in, and they put a long cordon on the danger. But you know, you can't control us. Some people were curious, and shortly after, they sneaked in. The people did not find it, but they found that the lake seemed to have changed, and the stench could be smelled from a distance, and when they got closer, they saw that there was a layer of dead fish floating on the lake, and the corpses of the birds that ate the fish. It became a real dead lake. ”

"And the people who came to see later?" asked Kasia in a whisper.

"I still had the same disease, but it was milder, and I died a few years later. ”