Chapter 114: Ba Bie'er's Whisper

They are the two people you said earlier would run away.

Nadixa reminded Luo De.

Although she didn't know these two people, through mind-reading Nadixa still easily recognized their identities.

"Hmm, I know."

Luo De snorted in reply.

He could never forget those two faces in his lifetime.

Even if those who once tried to rob and kill him turned to ashes, he could still recognize them now.

But now the situation has reversed.

Back then, it was Luo De begging them to let him go.

Now, upon seeing Luo De, they become like startled birds, repeatedly complaining to Ba Bie'er, trying to get Ba Bie'er to use tribal force to suppress Luo De.

And after hearing their words, Ba Bie'er's gaze toward Luo De also narrowed slightly.

However, before Luo De could defend himself, she first said to those two: "I remember you reported last time, saying that person used the Ice Element Divine Eye."

"Yes yes yes, it's the Ice Element Divine Eye, the... divine... eye."

Before they could even utter the word "eye," the two were unable to speak.

At Luo De's waist, the Grass Element Divine Eye shone brightly; anyone who wasn't blind could see it.

Upon thinking again about what he had just said.

They suddenly felt a dizzying sensation, as if the world was spinning.

No one can possess two Divine Eyes; this is the consensus on the Teyvat continent.

Since Luo De already has the Grass Element Divine Eye, it shows he definitely isn't the person who suddenly obtained the Ice Element Divine Eye and then, by himself, slaughtered almost the entire patrol squad.

"Elder Ba Bie'er, what are you saying about the murderer here?"

Luo De seized the moment, feigning timidity as he asked.

His innocent little expression, combined with the strong proof of the Grass Element Divine Eye, instantly left the two who had just been accusing Luo De dumbfounded.

Did they really mistake the person?

But that face, they could never forget it even if beaten to death.

A harmless little lamb suddenly bared its fangs at them, in an extremely violent way, nearly slaughtering the entire patrol squad; if not for his own swift escape, he would have also been left in the desert to feed the red vultures.

Now suddenly saying that the person before them, who looks exactly like that little lamb, is not the same person?

Or could they be twins?

Thinking of this.

Both of their eyes lit up, they glanced at each other, and saw the same thought in each other's eyes.

Yes, that must be it!

This guy must be a brother born from the same womb as that murderer!

"Elder, he must be related by blood to that murderer; even if not blood brothers, he must be a close relative. Capture him to avenge the patrol squad's brothers!!!"

As if they had grasped a lifeline, they pointed at Luo De and shouted loudly, wishing they could now cut Luo De into thousands of pieces; looking at his frantic, jumping appearance, it seemed as if they were deeply connected to those few who died miserably, swearing they would not be human if they did not kill Luo De.

This actually makes sense.

After all, the desert tribe's revenge never cares about who is right or who owes what.

As long as you are a relative or friend of the enemy, you kill them first and talk later; as for the main culprit, if you can find them you kill them, if not you kill everyone you can find who is related to them.

Judging by this method.

Luo De, identified as the murderer's 'twin brother,' is surely doomed to die today.

However, what the two could never have imagined is:

They have already said all that.

Yet Ba Bie'er still coldly said: "Get out, and don't point fingers in front of the honored guest, or I'll feed you to the crocodiles."

As soon as those words were spoken,

The atmosphere instantly solidified into a mass.

This is already blatant favoritism.

Luo De, who had coldly watched the two bandits go crazy, finally squeezed out a smile, sensibly stepped forward and handed over a list: "Elder Ba Bie'er, this is the children's class situation today."

After Ba Bie'er took it, she glanced at the two bandits still stubbornly staring at Luo De, her face turned cold again, and she frowned, saying: "Hurry up and get out!"

Seeing that she had truly decided to favor Luo De, the two bandits dared not utter another sound, immediately bowing and scraping as they fled in panic.

Sorry for the embarrassment.

Although she said that with her mouth, Ba Bie'er's face showed no apology; instead she adopted a superior posture and casually flipped through Luo De's evaluations of the children.

Poor, fair, excellent.

Luo De's comments are just these three.

Besides that, all the rest have a heavy cross drawn on their names.

This is the first time she's seen someone use this mark, but this simple symbol Ba Bie'er could instantly understand its meaning: the children with crosses are those Luo De drove out of the classroom.

"Mr. Luo De, more than half of the tribe's children have been driven out by you."

Ba Bie'er's voice was slightly cold; obviously this result made her very dissatisfied.

【The desert people's poor level of education is completely detrimental to tribal development.】

This is Ba Bie'er's original words.

In her mind, the tribe should not only know how to kill; it should also learn farming, reading, business, and other means of livelihood.

Only then can the tribe achieve true development.

Therefore, when she became an elder and successfully gained great authority,

She then began her own path of reforming the Tanite Tribe.

"Tribe children, it would be best if they all received a good education." Ba Bie Er threw down the list Luo De gave her, crossed her arms, stared at Luo De and said, "Just these children are not enough."

"I saw today that there are still many children in the tribe who haven't been sent over."

Luo De answered irrelevantly, saying: "Among these children there should also be some who are qualified and have potential."

But Ba Bie Er's reply was merciless: "Born as waste, they have no right to receive education."

"Besides them, what else?"

Luo De pointed in a direction: "Over there, I also saw quite a few healthy children."

That position indeed still has many children not sent over, scattered, numbering no less than a hundred.

According to Nadixa's observation.

These children are not the sick or disabled of the lower district; they all have very strong bodies and, at a young age, each possesses remarkable skills.

However, Ba Bie Er seems to have no intention of sending these children over, not even showing any sign of it.

This remark also made Ba Bie Er, whose face was already stern, furrow her brows even deeper.

She realized which children Luo De was talking about.

Then.

Then she calmly said: "Those children are Ma Sai La's hawks; they only need to fight, that's enough, they don't need to learn any knowledge."

Hawk.

This is not a title unique to the Tanite Tribe.

In many desert tribes, there is a custom of adopting or abducting young children and raising them into hawks loyal to the elders, specifically used to carry out some sordid and unsavory tasks for the tribe.

And Ba Bie Er,

she was a hawk of the Tanite Tribe before becoming an elder.

Luo De seemed a bit anxious, speaking bluntly: "Our contract wasn't meant to have me teach all the children in the tribe, is it? Are you, Elder Ba Bie Er, preparing to use these children as pawns to breach the contract?"

"Mr. Luo De, you're overthinking."

"Those waste tribes, the fact that they are willing to keep them is already thanks to the matriarch's kindness; whether they receive education or not doesn't matter."

"As for Ma Sai La's hawks,"

"If you want them to study, you can go find him and try."

Ba Bie Er's answer contains a major loophole.

She only said the lower district's children don't deserve education, yet she skipped over the matter of the hawks.

This is no longer a metaphor.

It is a clear indication that she will renege; if Luo De wants the contract to proceed smoothly, he should himself go find Ma Sai La to discuss letting the hawks attend class.

This Ma Sai La that Ba Bie Er mentions.

He is one of the nine elders of the Tanite Tribe, and the tribe's hunting instructor.

But what he teaches is not literal hunters, but the hawks Ba Bie Er speaks of.

With a considerable number of capable hawks under his command, Ma Sai La can be said to be an absolute power holder in the Tanite Tribe; at least for now, the formidable Ba Bie Er gains no advantage when facing him.

"Is it that you want to use me as a pawn to test Ma Sai La?"

Luo De remained calm on the surface, but inside he couldn't help sneering.

Ba Bie Er did not explain Ma Sai La's situation to me, but simply used a roundabout coercive method to urge me to go find Ma Sai La.

Quite obvious.

This is because Luo De's performance on the first day failed to satisfy her.

Compared to Ba Bie Er's performance yesterday.

Yesterday, when she first met Luo De, she slapped those insolent subordinates; today, however, she easily let go of the two bandits who tried to kill Luo De.

This already makes the problem quite clear.

Di Li Ye Xi, on the first class, drove away more than half of the children.

These things continually reduced Luo De's importance in Ba Bie Er's heart.

Further reduced.

I estimate she will no longer bother to maintain the pretense of protecting Luo De and upholding the contract.

"She wants to use you to test things out, see if she can, while you teach the hawks, seize command of the hawks from Ma Sai La's hands."

At this moment, Nadixa's mind-reading result also came out.

It is not far from Luo De's guess.

"Looks like it's time to give her a shock with a perfect score from the Vital Theory faction's assessment."

After a silent chuckle, Luo De did not refuse to go talk to Ma Sai La about sending the hawks to study; he nodded and agreed to the matter.

At the same time.

He also put forward another request.

"Oh? Mr. Luo De, do you think the food and water are insufficient?"

Ba Bie Er laughed: "In our tribe, the daily rations for most people are just these; I prepared your food and water according to tribal standards. I suppose you, Mr. Luo De, have been living too well in the rainforest area, unable to enjoy our desert folk's living standards."

This indefensible reason made Luo De's expression somewhat lost; after hesitating for a while, he awkwardly said: "Elder Ba Bie Er, you should remember I am a scholar of the Vital Theory faction of the Academy, right?"

"Di Li Ye Xi is a wandering scholar."

Ba Bie Er gave Luo De a cold glance, correcting his mistake: "Not yet a true scholar."

"Uh"

"It was my rashness."

Though this remark carried a somewhat heavy mocking tone, Luo De had long been prepared; seeing him bite his lip, unwillingly he said: "My topic for coming to the desert this time is to research a substitute for the Fertility Blessing, hoping to lower its usage cost; my advisor thinks highly of this topic, saying that if I succeed, I will surely pass the assessment and become a formal Tuo She Duo."

What are you saying?

Other than that, Babier didn't care, but the phrase "substitute for the Fertility Blessing" moved her.

As mentioned before.

Under Babier's influence, the Tanit Tribe placed great importance on their own farming.

But the desert land was too barren, so their reliance on the Fertility Blessing was especially severe.

Babier was a very far-sighted person.

She deeply understood that relying on others could not let the tribe progress further.

So she has always been devoted to developing a Fertility Blessing unique to the Tanit Tribe.

But it's still that phrase.

Babier is ultimately just an elder; no matter how great her authority or how strong her methods, the Tanit Tribe's matriarch is still above her, and there are other elders who share power with her.

Under such circumstances.

Even if she wanted to reform the tribe with all her heart, all she could do was force some obedient, underage children to go study with Luo De; she couldn't even manage the hawks on Marcella's side, let alone gather precious funds to develop a new Fertility Blessing.

Watching Babier's expression change dramatically.

Luo De's lips twitched imperceptibly upward.

Although the current timeline deviates somewhat from what Luo De knows.

But he could still accurately grasp Babier's thoughts, thereby proposing a condition that she could not ignore.

To prove his words were not false.

Luo De also carefully took out a well-preserved experimental report from his inner clothing, which he had prepared especially for Babier.

As expected.

After reading this experimental report, even though she couldn't understand many of the technical terms, just seeing that the experiment was feasible instantly changed Babier's gaze.

No matter when or where, whether rainforest people or desert people.

Whenever they see that crops can be grown in the desert, they will show this expression.

"Mr. Luo De."

"Why didn't you say this earlier?"

"Come, sit."

Babier suddenly changed her previous indifferent attitude, and her speech became respectful again.

And when she saw Luo De not sitting down as she had said, she directly got up from her seat, enthusiastically pulled Luo De to sit beside her, her face no longer haughty, and she said gently: "Aside from food and water requests, Mr. Luo De, what other requests do you have? Feel free to tell me. Oh, right, you don't want the hawks to study with you, do you? No problem; tomorrow I'll go with you to find Marcella, and I guarantee I can settle this for you."

She made many promises in one breath.

Only then did Babier voice her true thoughts: "Mr. Luo De, I don't know if you'd be willing to give us some guidance."

She said.

She pointed to Luo De's experimental report, the meaning obvious.

"Hmm, alright."

As he said that, Luo De made a show of difficulty in making a decision.

His performance also pleased Babier greatly.

Thus, a brand-new contract was reached in a cheerful atmosphere.

As he was leaving.

Babier personally saw Luo De out of her tent, and in front of many Tanit guards she whispered a few words in his ear, then smilingly ordered her subordinates to take Luo De away.

Such an action.

Naturally, this also made Luo De, who had previously attracted little attention, instantly become the target of everyone's resentment.

(End of chapter)