Chapter 1401: The Bomb That Didn't Explode

They were searching too intently, to the point that they did not notice the dust-covered Jiang Cheng and his companion until the two of them walked to the foot of the hillside and were about to start climbing; only then did these Soldiers cleaning the battlefield notice them.

"Look! Look! There are two people over there!" a Huaxia Soldier spoke up first.

Two people coming over—this abnormal situation also made everyone a bit surprised; for a moment, they did not know what was going on. After the Xuanyuan Tribe Soldiers discovered them, they picked up their Weapons in their hands, prepared to just go up and fight.

However, a Platoon Leader in charge of the Huaxia side hurriedly said: "Don't be anxious yet. I will take some men down first to ask them and capture them. What if they are useful?"

The Xuanyuan Tribe Soldiers agreed upon hearing this, realizing they had been a bit too hasty, so they simply let the Huaxia men handle it. In their eyes, there was no such thing as Military Merit; whoever could fight had merit and would be put to good use, unlike Huaxia, which divided things so finely. Capturing one or two live prisoners like this to obtain useful information was also a merit.

The Platoon Leader took a few men and charged down directly, spreading out to surround them. Seeing people coming down, Jiang Cheng immediately stood motionless. He did not hold a Weapon in his hands; he had come for negotiations, so he had anticipated that such a situation would surely occur, which allowed him to remain calm. That big fool might have been heartless and fearless, as he did not show a shred of terror either.

After the Platoon Leader surrounded them, looking at their momentum, he felt that these two did not seem like ordinary Soldiers; otherwise, how could they not be afraid at all? It was just impossible to judge from their attire, because both were covered in mud and extremely dirty; even if they were wearing Silk, what could one see at a time like this?

Before he could even open his mouth to ask, the person standing in front spoke: "I am the Tribal Chief of the Jiang Cheng Tribe. I have come to negotiate with you."

Upon hearing that it was actually Jiang Cheng, the Huaxia Soldiers could not suppress the excitement on their faces; this was merit picked up for free. The Platoon Leader also smiled and pressed his hand down, signaling the Soldiers to put away their Weapons first and not be so tense.

"We are all Huaxia Soldiers. Tribal Chief Jiang Cheng, right? If you want to negotiate, come with us. However, we must first check if you are carrying any Weapons on you. Is that acceptable?"

At this moment, Jiang Cheng had no choice. To him, this was basically an insult, but at least the Huaxia attitude was not so overbearing, making it slightly easier to accept. He raised his arms, which was his tacit consent to be searched.

Two Soldiers immediately stepped forward and searched the two of them. Finding no Weapons, the Platoon Leader's expression became amiable: "Tribal Chief Jiang Cheng, please."

"?" Jiang Cheng did not understand, but he could not press for an answer; he just walked upward surrounded by a few people. Along the way, they saw far too many of their fallen tribesmen, and his heart felt extremely heavy.

Further up, he even saw these people stripping the clothes off his own tribesmen and looting everything on their bodies that could still be used. How could Jiang Cheng feel at ease?

So he clenched his fists, looked up, and tried his best to avert his gaze; if he could not see, he would suffer a little less.

The Xuanyuan Tribe Soldiers watched these people slowly walking up, their eyes lingering for only a moment, but thinking it had little to do with them, they continued their search.

The search areas of Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe were kept quite separate, and the Xuanyuan Tribe would search the battlefield a second time after Huaxia had already cleaned it once.

At this moment, something that had fallen on the ground and looked somewhat familiar was discovered by a Xuanyuan Tribe Soldier; its color was already indistinguishable from the mud.

"Huh? What is this?" he whispered in confusion, then squatted down to examine it. A comrade nearby also saw it; his heart was filled with shock, and he hurriedly rushed over to cover the man's mouth.

"Don't make a sound. Pick it up quickly and hide it inside your clothes. This is a Bomb."

Hearing that it was a Bomb, the eyes of the Soldier who first discovered it widened. They all knew what this thing meant for the Xuanyuan Tribe. All the Bombs they had ever seen were under the custody of Huaxia; let alone touching them, they couldn't even see them clearly, so getting their hands on a Bomb was almost impossible.

But now, here was one! They did not know why it hadn't exploded, but since they had seen it, it was their luck. They hurriedly turned their heads to look and found that the few Huaxia men were all far away and had not noticed the two of them.

So the two hurriedly pretended to be taking clothes from a corpse. One lifted the corpse, and the other quickly picked up the Bomb from the ground. However, the paper of the Bomb was already nearly shredded from being soaked by the heavy rain; even with several very thick layers of paper, it felt like it would completely fall apart if they used any more force.

So, with a signal from a glance, one Soldier quickly stripped the hemp garment off a nearby corpse and threw it over. With the hemp garment to wrap it, and then scooping it up along with the mud and wrapping it in the garment, a Bomb was thus retrieved. It might have already been broken inside, but at least the two of them had done their best to preserve most of it. For the Xuanyuan Tribe, it was still useful, and this was the merit they needed.

The Huaxia Soldiers had not yet noticed, so one man hurriedly stuffed the hemp garment into his own clothes, pretending it was his belly, though he dared not move around anymore, wanting to find an opportunity to return quickly.

"This thing, it won't explode in your belly, will it?"

The person holding the Bomb panicked and said with feigned composure: "It shouldn't, right? Isn't that how Huaxia stores them? I haven't seen them explode, so this one shouldn't either."

Although he said that, his excitement combined with a bit of fear had caused his legs to shake, which could not be faked.

"Hurry, go around slowly, don't get seen. Go back quickly and tell the Leader and the Tribal Chief!"

The person carrying the Bomb walked toward the mountaintop slowly, like a thief. It was just that his legs were shaking violently and the road was slippery; he even tripped once by accident. Fortunately, humans have a conditioned reflex to use their hands to support themselves on the ground, otherwise, he definitely would have let his belly hit the ground first.

Hearing the commotion, a Huaxia Soldier glanced over. He didn't pay much attention and just joked: "Why are you going back before finishing? Did you find something good and take it back first?"

These words made the hearts of the two jump. Fortunately, the Soldier below reacted quickly and hurriedly said: "No, what good things could these people have on them? Finding a Bronze Sword is the best one can hope for."

"He just slipped and fell, he can't work anymore, so he's going back to rest. Look, he can barely climb back now."

The Huaxia Soldier did not suspect anything and even smiled with concern: "Is that so? Then you should go back. Find our Military Doctor to take a look; we have medicine, just apply some."