Chapter 90: First Contact

After many days of observation, Gongda knew he could wait no longer: the outsiders had already begun building a camp near Xingang Creek, not far from his village. Today he came, wanting to know what price he would have to pay so that his people could avoid the fate of having their village gate smashed open by the gods' thunderfire.

When Cai Feiming arrived at the Japanese village, he found it deserted; laborers of every tribe were apparently all at the construction site. The first house inside the village was the guard post, and now only a convalescent Ming overseer was eating there, with no Transmigrator carrying an AK in sight.

Cai Feiming's brow furrowed slightly. Though he knew the Transmigrators must all be at the construction site, he still wanted to suggest afterward: the village should have someone on duty 24 hours a day. With natives coming straight to the village today, in theory Cai Feiming should have gotten a phone call at the first moment, not have a garrisoned Japanese come running to report.

Just as he stood there distracted, Dongye's other deputy left in the village, a Japan samurai named Xishan Xingjian, came before him leading two natives.

At first glance of the native walking in front, Cai Feiming couldn't help being a little surprised: this native was actually wearing clothes! A piece of indigo coarse cloth, uncut, simply wrapped around his upper body, with a cloth skirt of the same style below.

This was a rather interesting native — at that moment, Cai Feiming suddenly felt a spark of interest. After all, the younger native behind him wore only a grass skirt, and as far as Cai Feiming knew, a grass skirt should have been their standard dress.

Cai Feiming, Dongye Shangche, the gate of the Japanese village, and Gongda, who had been lurking to the side at that time — for the few of them to meet again today at this place where gunfire had once been exchanged, one couldn't help but say it carried a hint of fate.

He signaled the Japanese to lead the natives into the duty room off to the side. Reaching the doorway, Xishan Xingjian, the Japanese man already very familiar with the Transmigrators' habits, said a couple of things to the natives, and then the two natives obediently placed their weapons — a kind of springy wooden javelin — at the door.

While Cai Feiming was still marveling at how polite these natives were, he actually had no idea that Village Chief Gongda was, at this moment, slightly afraid.

A people who never read books, never played video games, and never grinded Honor of Kings generally have quite good eyesight, and besides, the natives ate deer meat, fish, and pork, so they didn't even have night blindness. The moment Gongda laid eyes on Cai Feiming, he recognized this headman among the outsiders — it was after he had waved his hand that the thunderfire had descended and the village's wooden gate had been blasted apart.

The duty room at the village entrance didn't have that many chairs; the Japanese usually sat directly on the floor. Cai Feiming now had no choice but to do as the locals did and beckon everyone to sit in a circle on the ground.

After observing up close, Cai Feiming found that this native village chief was not very old, looking to be around thirty. His hair was tied behind his head, his eyebrows were straight, his eyes were set wide apart, and his cheekbones were more prominent than those of most Transmigrators. Gongda's height was probably around 1.67 meters, with a well-proportioned build and strong, powerful muscles; the soles of his feet had thick calluses. Some kind of ornament hung from his ears, and several strings of handmade ornaments hung around his neck — naturally, among the ornaments polished from wood and stone, a few glass balls were mixed in. This was bound to appear, from Manhattan to Dayuan, wherever the Dutch were present.

Xishan Xingjian, stationed year-round in the Japanese village as the Chaya Family's regional manager responsible for purchasing deerskin and a low-ranking samurai, could communicate with nearly all the various tribal groups under the Sirala Tribe.

After exchanging a few words with Gongda, Xishan Xingjian told Cai Feiming that the natives hoped the outsiders would "stop expanding the camp further upstream along the river; that is their traditional deer ground."

"Not bad, he can tell we're still going to expand." Cai Feiming chuckled. "Tell him we'll go cut down some trees and move away some rocks; we won't compete with them for deer."

"Hai!"

After Xishan and Gongda exchanged a few more rapid words, Xishan translated: "The large-scale slash-and-burn activity has already unsettled many native villages. If the lords continue to expand, the situation will make them even more uneasy."

For some reason, from the moment he met Gongda, Cai Feiming felt that this native village chief was a little afraid of him. At first it was just a feeling, but later Cai Feiming realized: his feeling was right. This native had a pair of clever eyes, which proved he was intelligent, but being clever also meant his eyes would betray him — especially for someone who didn't usually lie.

The way he instinctively dodged Cai Feiming's gaze made Cai Feiming sense an opening. Trying it out wouldn't get him pregnant, after all, so he suddenly put on a stern face and roared loudly at Xishan Xingjian: "Failure to cooperate with the lords' land reclamation means war! All the natives will die!"

Xishan, as the translator, naturally followed suit, and so the roar erupted once more.

The next moment, though Cai Feiming kept a stern face, inside he was already roaring with laughter — because what the panic-stricken Gongda said was: "Please do not use thunder to kill the villagers; they are willing to offer deerskin and pigs."

"This guy must have been the one who escaped from Shang Hall that day and saw the RPG livestream." Cai Feiming's guess, though not exactly on the mark, was not far off.

"Tell him the lords from Kunlun will not extort the villagers. As long as they cooperate, the lords will visit them bearing goods and rewards."

"Hai!..."

Not long after, Cai Feiming sat in the Great Office and cheerfully reported on the contact with the natives.

"Hmm, looks like there's something to work with after all. I originally thought we'd have to fight a couple of rounds first to break the ice," Feng Jun, sitting to the side, said with a laugh.

"Not necessarily..." CEO Xia sighed off to the side. "Natives are a lot of trouble. The key problem is the language barrier — your good intentions get taken for malice. It's easy to end up with half-cooked rice. You need a strong stomach for this!"

"Everything's hard at the start. I think this is a good opportunity. Whatever the next policy step is, early contact is still a necessity," Cai Feiming was quite optimistic about the matter.

"Contact is definitely necessary, but safety must be the top priority." Xia Xianze nodded. "Form a team; have all the relevant departments send people. Gather as much intel as possible."

The village where Village Chief Gongda lived was on the south bank of Xingang Creek, already not far from the Kiln District Industrial Base the Transmigrators had planned. Because there were several giant camphor trees behind the village, it was called "Dazhang Village" in the Xingang language.

Two days after Village Chief Gongda's visit to the Transmigrators, early this morning, the company's newly formed "Native Pacification Envoy Group" officially set out. The envoy group was quite large, numbering as many as thirty people. Transmigrators made up half of them, and the rest were laborers responsible for carrying the luggage.

Among the Transmigrators were Feng Jun and Cai Feiming, whose specialties matched the task, as well as Wei Yuan and his men responsible for security. Master Miaoshu and another medical colleague, Dong Qiang — their medical skills serving as the "reward" Cai Feiming had once promised — also set out this time. Professor Luo, who knew everything under heaven and earth, walked at the very back leading fifteen porters; he was responsible for trading the goods they brought with the natives.