Hanamal was born in a small village called Gorob Village near Walvis Bay.
For as long as he could remember, he felt that he did not fit in with the siblings around him.
As a child, he had a strong sense of curiosity. He would pester his parents with many irrelevant questions such as why there was day and night, why there was wind and rain, what was on the other side of the sea, and so on.
These questions continued to linger in his parents' ears until his parents became impatient.
Later on, when he grew older, he realized that even his parents did not know the answers to these questions...
However, Gorob Village would often be visited by a group of people dressed in strange outfits. They carried large satchels on their backs. These people had a different skin color than Hanamal. Instead of being palm black, they were a strange light color. They spoke a language that Hanamal could not understand.
Some of them had blue eyes while others had black eyes like Hanamal.
Hanamal was curious about these people who came from the outside world. However, the elders in the village did not want children to approach them. So, every time Hanamal saw someone coming to the village, he would only look at them from afar.
One day, when Hanamal was around 10 years old, he suddenly overheard the conversation between the elders and the group of outsiders.
The conversation was conducted through a profession known as "translator".
Hanamal knew about this profession because many people in the village said that if one could learn a foreign language, they could act as the village's translator and earn Namibian dollars every day.
Namibian dollars were very important.
On this day, according to the procedure, the translator brought the group of outsiders to the most knowledgeable elder in the village.
"Nasara, he's greeting you. He's a guest from Mainland China."
Nasara was the name of the elder.
"Another guest from Mainland China? Where is Mainland China? How far away is it? "The elder was surprised.
"One of those giant birds that fly in the sky. It'll take them more than ten hours to get here!"
"Oh, that's even further than Angola, right?"
"Yes, even further than Angola!"
"Even further than Cameroon, right?"
"Even further than Cameroon!"
Cameroon. That was the furthest place that Hanamal and the entire village knew.
Soon, Hanamal saw his elder move on to the next question. "What about children? How many children do these outsiders have?"
"They said they don't have children!"
"That's impossible!" Hanamal saw the shock on his elder's face.
"I'm not lying to you guys. They said that raising a child in Mainland China costs a lot of Namibian dollars. So, you have to think carefully before having a child!"
"How can that be? Who will graze the cows in their family? We need to have a lot of children so that someone can graze the cows. The more children we have, the more cows we can raise and the more money we can make. How can raising children cost a lot of money?"
Hanamal suddenly felt a sense of shame as he looked at the blabbering, confused Nasara and the amused looks of the outsiders.
He didn't know what this emotion was, but he could read the eyes of the outsiders.
The look in his eyes was clearly one of pity, just like how the village chief looked at Lilia, Panama, and the other orphans.
To those outsiders, their own village was like an orphan abandoned by the world …
From that day onwards, Hanamal had made up his mind to leave this village sooner or later. He would leave this place that his parents had never set foot in.
Compared to his peers, Hanamal had a spirit of exploration that would not stop until he reached his goal.
However, Hanamal did not expect the opportunity to come so soon.
When Hanamal was eleven years old, his father's health began to deteriorate. The entire village was not surprised by this.
This was because some people in the village were destined to die before the age of thirty.
Sure enough, within a few months, his father breathed his last. His mother passed away not long after his father, leaving behind Hanamal, his three elder brothers, and two younger brothers.
The loss of his parents made the situation in the family even more tense.
In order not to burden his brothers, Hanamal finally decided to leave the village where he had lived for eleven years...
...
Hanamal slowly opened his eyes.
In the pitch-black room, Hanamal slowly sat up and exhaled softly.
He did not know why, after thirty years, he would once again dream of the small village where he was born. He dreamed of his parents whose faces had long been blurred...
He didn't know if his elder brothers were doing well.
He looked at his watch. It was only three o 'clock in the morning. There was still some time before dawn.
Therefore, Hanamal did not turn on the lights. He lit a cigarette in the dark and silently savored the taste of loneliness.
This world was a strange one. His parents were both HIV-infected but he was born a perfectly healthy child. It was because of this that he was able to survive in this world for so many years.
Not only did he survive, but he also left Namibia through self-study and was admitted to the University of Cape Town Polytechnic in the Rainbow Nation.
This was the best university in the African Continent.
After graduating at the age of thirty, Hanamal joined the Apex Electronic Technology Company in Cape Town as an electronics engineer.
Who would have thought that life was so wonderful?
Just as Hanamal was silently lamenting the ups and downs of his life, the cigarette in his hand suddenly paused.
Because he suddenly heard the sound of the lock being unlocked coming from the living room door outside his bedroom.
"Click..."
The darker the environment, the more sensitive the human hearing. Although he was more than ten meters away, the sound of the door being unlocked was exceptionally clear.
Someone was trying to break into his room!
A thief? A robber? Or the girlfriend he just broke up with a few days ago?
Just as Hanamal was in a state of panic, he heard a loud bang and the door was kicked open!
How could the other party be so bold?
Hanamal's hand trembled and the cigarette fell onto the bed. However, Hanamal could not care less. He quickly climbed out of bed and was ready to jump out of the window!
However, before he could climb out of the window, he heard a flurry of footsteps behind him. Then, a large, rough hand grabbed the back of Hanamal's collar and pulled him off the windowsill!
"Don't kill me, I don't have any money!" Hanamal only managed to let out a scream. The next second, he felt a sharp pain in his head and lost consciousness.
...
When a basin of cold water was poured over Hanamal's face, he quickly regained consciousness.
He felt a searing pain in his head. He quickly looked around and found himself tied to a chair. Even his mouth was stuffed with an extremely smelly rag.
What he saw was an unfamiliar room. A few men in black stood around him, and right in front of him was a slightly hunched figure.
Kidnapping?
Hanamal's heart sank. He kept begging for mercy but all he could do was whimper.
"Everyone, please leave."
At this moment, the hunchbacked figure suddenly spoke.
"Yes, Godfather."
The group of menacing men in black retreated from the room like a flock of sheep. They even closed the door on their way out.
The hunched figure slowly walked into the room. It was then that Hanamal realized that the man looked somewhat familiar.
Oh God... Wasn't this the Senator Dlamini who always appeared on the news?
Dlamini gently removed the rag from Hanamal's mouth. He then asked with a strange expression, "You're Hanamal, the Hanamal from Gorob Village?"
"Your Excellency Senator Dlamini!"
Hanamal quickly defended himself. "I was wrong. I swear I'll never insult you online again. Although your proposal for the mayor election was ridiculous and I voted for the current mayor in the end, I'll definitely vote for you if you're going to run for mayor in the next election. I only ask that you let me off the hook...!"
Hanamal rambled on incoherently. Even he himself had no idea what he was saying.
"Enough!"
Dlamini scoffed. "I'll ask you again. Were you born in a village called Gorob?"
"Yes, I was born in Gorob Village. But I'm definitely not a spy sent by Namibia. I swear in the name of God!" Hanamal frantically defended himself.
"D * mn it, don't bring up God in front of me!"
Dlamini was suddenly enraged. Hanamal did not understand why he was so angry.
As if realizing that he had lost his composure, Dlamini quickly exhaled and continued. "Since you're Hanamal, that means we've got the right person."
As he said that, he turned around and walked to the desk. He gently turned on an Apple laptop.
When the laptop was turned on, it did not display the Windows interface as usual. Instead, the screen flashed and turned into a pure black background. A strange logo appeared on it.
Hanamal was certain that it was not the Apple logo...
"Good morning, Mr. Hanamal."
Just as Hanamal was feeling puzzled, a voice suddenly came from the computer. At the same time, a scribbled, hand-drawn map appeared on the computer screen.
"Mr. Hanamal, please forgive our presumptuous behavior, but I still have to ask where you got this map from."
"This map?"
Hanamal was taken aback. When he saw the contents of the map, he was instantly horrified. "How is this possible! I drew this map a few years ago based on my childhood memory. I've never posted it online. How did it end up in your hands? "
"So, you're saying that you drew this yourself?"
The voice on the computer did not get angry at Hanamal's nonsensical answer. Instead, it asked patiently, "Are you sure that everything on the map is real?"
Hanamal hesitated for a moment. When he saw Dlamini glaring at him, he quickly nodded. "Yes! I discovered the cave when I was young. I'm sure of it. Besides me, there are two or three other children my age who know about it. "
"There are two or three other children your age who know about the cave?"
The voice on the computer seemed to ponder for a moment. After that, it asked, "Do you know the names of those children?"
"I'm sorry, I don't remember that..."
Hanamal quickly shook his head. "That was more than thirty years ago. Even I only have a vague recollection of it. If it wasn't for the cave in my dream, I would've forgotten about it!"
"I see. That's a shame."
The voice on the computer said faintly. After that, the voice spoke again. "Mr. Dlamini, I'll leave the transportation task to you. I hope to see Hanamal in person in one day."
"I understand, Sir Judas."
Dlamini nodded and said respectfully, "I've arranged for someone to book the plane ticket. He'll meet you soon."
"Wait!" Hanamal panicked when he heard the conversation between the two. "Where are you sending me to?"
"Back to Gorob Village, of course."
The voice on the computer seemed to chuckle before the computer shut down automatically...
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