Chapter 284: Stand Straight

Baifeng ignored the puzzled looks of the crowd and went straight out to find the Soldier who had brought the bear paw. He hadn't thrown the bear paw away after all this time; firstly, because bear paw was the most famous of mountain delicacies, and in his past life, Baifeng had neither the capital to taste it nor did the law allow him to eat such things, although for some people, bear paw might still be obtainable.

Furthermore, Baifeng needed to vent his anger; because of this bear, Baifeng had suffered so much, so shouldn't it now pay the price with its own flesh?

Having found the bear paw, Baifeng did not cast those Soldiers aside, but instead called them over to enjoy this special ingredient together.

Baifeng did not need to personally handle the plucking and cleaning; after all, there were Soldiers there, and Baifeng was the one in command, and at critical moments, the one holding the ladle. Even though the tribe had developed for so many years and professional cooks had even appeared, when it came to whose culinary skills were the highest, it was naturally still Baifeng.

This was not flattery, but a fact, though Baifeng rarely cooked anymore. He had his own specially trained cooks whose skills were just a little bit inferior to his own, and he would occasionally cook some special food for his family to eat.

While Baifeng was busy preparing the bear paw, Xiong and Chi, in a state of extreme fury, began to assemble all the hunters of the Military Department, then took roll call to check exactly which people had followed to look for the horses, and which ones had fled.

What Xiong did not expect was that one of the deserters was actually in the ranks, shameless, and still thinking that nothing had to do with him.

Xiong would not say that he was so angry he laughed; he only felt that his head was about to explode with rage. If one looked closely, some of his fine hair had indeed stood up.

Xiong roughly dragged that deserter out. Of course, to ensure he hadn't grabbed the wrong person, he interrogated him first.

The deserter's story was: when he saw a giant bear attacking them, he didn't think about anything and ran away immediately, then untied a Boat and rowed it back to the tribe himself. The Boat was still sitting at the Matou now.

Because he hadn't heard that the Tribal Chief had met with an accident, he felt some lingering fear after returning, lay at home for a day, and finding that nothing happened, he went back to doing his own business. Since the tribe hadn't assigned him work, he had been resting at home these past few days.

After hearing this, what else was there for Xiong to be uncertain about? This was a deserter, and an ignorant, stupid deserter at that.

Xiong kicked him directly on the knee, causing him to fall to his knees in pain immediately. Xiong naturally was not satisfied, and kept kicking him with his feet. Chi also joined in, and the two of them kept kicking him in a circle until no sound could be heard.

Xiong thought he had misjudged and kicked him to death, which was when he instantly calmed down, because the Tribal Chief's requirement for him was that if they were in the tribe, he was to bring him in alive, including his family.

Xiong leaned over to check and found that he had just been beaten too hard and was out of breath, but not dead.

So Xiong grabbed him and hauled him up, dragging him away from the plaza like a dead pig. But thinking there were still several people to deal with, he called over twenty men from the Bow and Blade Team.

He had a Soldier from the Bow and Blade Team drag the deserter forward, with the rest of the Soldiers following.

The Bow and Blade Team were full-time Soldiers, so they kept their knives and armor on all day; such a state was the most intimidating when dealing with a few hunter deserters.

Before Xiong had walked very far, the people who had gathered scattered on their own in a chaotic mess.

Hearing the noise, Xiong realized that his discipline over this group of Soldiers was too lax and he had been too good to them, so they had no self-control at all and were not like warriors anymore. Otherwise, how could deserters have appeared?

He turned around and shouted: "Who told you to disperse! Everyone stand still for me!"

He then strode back and found his long-dusty whip from the warehouse next to the training ground.

"Who told you to disperse, huh? Which one of you left first, step out!"

No one answered, but no one moved again either, though the whole group was still swaying, with constant small movements.

Xiong felt that if this continued, he might be angered to death. He gripped the whip tightly in his hand: "Fine, not talking, are you? Suddenly so united now?"

Then he raised his hand and randomly whipped a Soldier. The Soldier was whipped for no reason, and his temper flared, but he didn't curse or move, just stared at Xiong with wide eyes.

Xiong stared back at him: "Not convinced? Tell me if you didn't just walk away yourself!"

The Soldier said nothing; he had walked away, and being on the outermost edge, he was one of the first to leave.

Xiong didn't say another word and whipped him several more times: "Any objections! Did I hit you wrong?"

The Soldier lowered his head and remained silent, having been beaten into submission.

Xiong walked with the whip and said: "Do you know why I am so angry? Huh! Because there were deserters among you, with courage smaller than a mouse!

When there was an enemy, you didn't know how to fight, didn't know how to protect the Tribal Chief, and ran away first, even taking the Boat and Dry Rations away by yourself. Do you know that because of these few deserters, the Tribal Chief was almost killed by a bear!"

Everyone suddenly looked up, panic and disbelief appearing on their faces. They didn't care about the deserters, but if the Tribal Chief had met with an accident, that would be the sky collapsing.

"Fortunately, our Tribal Chief is powerful; just a few people killed a bear and countless wolves, and only then returned to the tribe safely. If there had been any accident in between, what would happen to the Baifeng tribe, what would happen to you? Do you think that without the Tribal Chief, you could eat your fill, dress warmly, and have a place to shelter from the wind and rain?"

After hearing the ins and outs, everyone understood why the Leader was so angry. Everyone's gaze turned in unison toward their former comrade and partner—now a deserter—who was being dragged along half-dead, their eyes full of disgust and hatred.

And those who had been close to him before were even angrier.

The Soldier who had been beaten now had no complaints and stood obediently.

"The Tribal Chief said there were five deserters in total. Two fled halfway through the battle and were killed by the bear, so the Tribal Chief forgave their crimes. There were three others who fled without participating in the battle; this is absolutely unforgivable. Not only them, but their families will not escape punishment either.

As for you, although you are not deserters now, who knows if you will flee when facing an enemy? Just now, as soon as I walked away, you scattered in a rush; how much different are you from deserters!

Fine, since you want to leave, I will let you leave. Anyone who wants to leave now, walk out. Take one step, and you will be treated as a deserter. Those who don't want to be deserters, now, listen to the command!

Spread out with one arm's distance, front, back, left, and right!"

With a rustle, everyone followed the formation training they had learned and stood neatly, not a single person stepping out.

"None of you want to be deserters, very good! You will stand there properly for me. I don't say disperse, you are not allowed to scatter. If you are hungry, endure it for me; if you need to relieve yourselves, hold it for me! Even if you have to stand until tomorrow, you are not allowed to move an inch! Do you hear me!"

"Heard you!"

The crowd shouted in unison.