Chapter 1012: Gathering at Night

The few of them quickly reached a consensus, deciding to take turns standing guard today. Once they discovered any intention of Chengqie and those Leaders to gather together, they had to hurry over and intervene. No matter what method was used, they had to stop the people; in the worst-case scenario, they had to at least keep those thousands of able-bodied laborers.

Chengqie knew they would reach Huaxia tomorrow, and his heart was extremely restless. He did not know whether he should leave or not. He wanted to gather all those Leaders together to discuss a countermeasure, but most of the Leaders, seeing that they were already at the edge of Huaxia, felt that talking about leaving now had no meaning. If they followed Chengqie and left, they would be attacked by the Tribal Chief upon returning, and in the end, they would die, and their tribesmen would die too.

After being lectured by the Tribal Chief back at the tribe, they had now thoroughly learned their lesson; not moving meant no problems, and not moving recklessly meant no mistakes.

Only two were restless and had been harboring other ideas, but seeing that the other Leaders did not share the same thoughts, the two of them dared not act rashly, let alone take the initiative to find Chengqie, and could only wait for Chengqie to come find them.

The moon at night was exceptionally bright, and the chirping of cicadas, along with the howling of various wild beasts that one could not tell were near or far, made Chengqie exceptionally restless.

In the eyes of Shisi and the others, they watched Chengqie by the fire, shooing away mosquitoes. The white moonlight shone on Chengqie, clashing with the yellow firelight to see whose light could be more intense.

Chengqie turned his head and discovered that Wine and the others had already fallen asleep, but they were piled layer upon layer, so it was not clear; it looked like there were not enough people, but he did not look up. Shisi and the others, who were guarding the first half of the night, were squatting or sitting on tree branches, staring fixedly at the movement below.

It was unknown how much time had passed; Chengqie was likely unable to hold back anymore. He mimicked the sound of a nightingale and whistled a few times, while nervously looking back again, only to find that Wine and the others were still fast asleep.

The Leaders and their tribesmen slept very far away because there were simply too many people, and there was not much flat ground to give them to sleep on, so they each found a spot, or pressed down the Grass under a certain tree, drove away snakes and insects, and a few people would lie down in a circle and sleep.

After all, the temperature was not low now, so there was no need to set up a Tent, and most slept in the open. There were quite a few who climbed trees like Shisi, but this tested a person's skill, because if one was not careful, one might fall straight down.

Because they slept in the open like this, it often happened that upon waking up, the tribesmen beside them had been snatched away by tigers, leopards, or bears and other wild beasts; sleeping at the very edge of the Battalion was the most prone to this.

There were also quite a few who were bitten to death by poisonous insects and snakes in the middle of the night. After all, if you slept on the Grass, a snake passing along its path would just treat a group of warm-blooded people blocking the way as if they were sleeping cattle or sheep, and pass over them peacefully, but if one turned over and accidentally touched it, one would definitely be bitten.

Everyone knew what the signals for contact between the wild people were. There were plenty of birds like nightingales and hawk-cuckoos in the forest, but the frequency of their calls and the volume of their sounds were different from humans, or rather, Chengqie was deliberately making his sounds distinct from those of wild beasts.

The first time was a reminder, and the second time was truly calling them. Shisi and the others were already extremely nervous listening to Chengqie make the sound again. At a time like this, could he please, please not cause any more trouble? Let's just obediently arrive at Huaxia tomorrow.

All the Leaders were not asleep, or rather, they could not sleep. There were too many things on their minds. Their own tribesmen only needed to consider themselves, so they could fall into a deep sleep the moment they lay down. Only the Leaders had things weighing on their hearts; they were waiting.

But the moment the whistling sound actually rang out, they did not know what to do again. Should they really go find Chengqie and then say they could not leave and must go to Huaxia? Would that be doing something unnecessary? If too many people went, and they were swept along, would they still have a choice?

Thinking back and forth, the few Leaders who did not want to leave actually chose to feign sleep in unison. They returned to the Tent that they were required to have as Leaders and lay down to sleep. Even if it was fake sleep, once their eyes were closed and they were lying down, they instantly fell into a real sleep.

The two who wanted to leave had waited for this sound for too long. When it rang the first time, they were already unable to restrain themselves, but they still had to confirm if it was truly issued by Chengqie.

The second time, it was thoroughly confirmed, so the two of them began to act separately in their own territories. Without bringing a single person, they walked sneakily toward Chengqie's direction. Halfway there, the two met, exchanged a look, and everything was understood.

However, what made them somewhat uneasy was why the others had not come. Did they really want to go to Huaxia? Was Huaxia even more important than Chengqie?

The two of them came before Chengqie as quietly as possible, whispered "Leader," then looked around, and sat down.

One of them asked in confusion: "Leader, did no one else come over?"

Chengqie shook his head: "No, I didn't see anyone. Didn't you see them either?"

Both of them shook their heads and said: "Leader, is it too late? They are all asleep. How about we call again?"

Chengqie felt uneasy in his heart, but still issued the signal briefly again. The two Leaders' gazes were also looking around, fearing being seen by others.

The few of them sat in silence like this for a long time, but still did not see anyone coming, which also meant they would not come again.

Shisi and the others looked at each other. Shi'er asked with a gesture if they should go down now and interrupt them, while Shisi gestured that there was no need, because there were only three of them now, and they probably could not stir up any trouble. How many people did these two tribes have in total? He believed Chengqie should not be foolish enough to act. Since the remaining Leaders did not come now, they should not listen to Chengqie's order to leave either; Baoxi's order was still very effective now.

So Shisi and the others kept lying on the tree waiting to see what the final result would be.

And those two Leaders, one tall and one short, the short Leader asked first: "Leader Chengqie, you called us here, are you planning to take advantage of this moment to shake off those people and have us go directly to another place to establish a new Suiren Clan and then develop?"

The tall Leader also chimed in from the side: "That's right, Leader Chengqie, as long as you say the word now and give the order, I can immediately take my tribesmen and we can sneak away. Our Suiren Clan's territory is very large, and I believe Tribal Chief Baoxi will not attack us, after all, you are his most favored son."