Chapter 402: Run Away

Watching that troop, without any greeting, and without seeing Gongxia or Lanzai give any orders, they just ran off on their own; the crowd was suddenly seized by panic, and after exchanging a few glances, they hurriedly ran toward the direction of the shacks.

Unexpectedly, before they even reached the shacks, they saw fresh, undried blood on the ground; the crowd rushed into the first shack, only to see it stuffed full of corpses, and at this moment, sweat began to bead on everyone's faces, and their backs felt icy cold.

Clinging to a final shred of hope, they carried the corpses out one by one, only to find the mangled remains of Gongxia in the very back.

The few people in front were so terrified they sat down on the ground, stuttering and unable to speak, while the rest hurriedly ran to another shack, where the same scene awaited them.

Everyone could only drag the corpses out one by one now; if Lanzai were not dead, or if his corpse could not be found inside, they could pin everything on him, including what had already happened, and just say that Lanzai was the true traitor.

But things did not go as they wished; Lanzai's corpse was in an even more wretched state, having become a pile of mush, though his head was mostly intact and he could still be recognized, and from the holes in his body, blood and visceral fragments flowed out, which was extremely disgusting.

Now they felt as if Heaven had collapsed; they could actually roughly guess why those people wanted to kill Lanzai and Gongxia: for one, the two men's behavior was truly too vicious, even toward their own tribesmen, and for another, those people already knew they would be forced to lead the vanguard, and facing the attacks of Huaxia, there was no chance of them surviving.

Whether it was to vent anger by killing or to escape out of pre-battle fear, or both, the trouble now fell upon the rest of them.

They were closest to the main commander and knew what had happened here; the main force of twenty thousand was still some distance away, because this place was too small to accommodate so many people camping, which was why they were separated to be stationed.

Now, these nearly one thousand people, whether they were Gongxia's soldiers or Lanzai's soldiers, had reached a consensus and began to find ways to exonerate themselves.

Some of the more timid ones prepared to do nothing and wait quietly for the Tribal Chief to come, to see how the Tribal Chief would handle this matter; they thought to themselves that this had nothing to do with them, so they shouldn't be punished, right?

But those with sharper minds had no such wishful thinking in their hearts. They knew this matter had blown up too big; too many people had died, too many had fled, and two such important people had died—these two were the main generals of this war, and they, as the people who were supposed to protect and assist the main generals, had actually allowed the main generals to be killed without any precautions, and the killers had even escaped scot-free; they would absolutely have no good end.

The shrewdest among the two troops began to huddle together to discuss whether to leave some people behind to take the fall with a suitable excuse, or for all of them to flee together.

The excuse for taking the fall was nothing more than choosing one main general, labeling him a traitor, and saying he led the team to kill before fleeing; as for where they fled to? Tie the corpse to a rock and throw it into the river—who would know? It would just be a free meal for the fish and shrimp in the river.

The troop belonging to the chosen main general would flee, while those left behind would stick to a unified story, not reveal the news, and take the blame for failing to discover it in time, so the punishment would not be too severe.

Another method was to sneak away entirely, leaving behind an unsolved mystery for those who remained.

However, no matter which one they chose, the danger to both sides was equally great; the first plan meant the fleeing troop would have to face the wilderness directly, wandering and never returning to the Suiren Clan, while the remaining troop would have to face a punishment of unknown severity and the battlefield of the great war they were about to step onto.

They explained the plans they had discussed to all the Soldiers and let everyone choose for themselves; just as everyone was silent, weighing the pros and cons, one person tried to sneak away from the troop, though their motive was unknown.

At such a tense moment, the slightest disturbance could tighten everyone's nerves; someone spotted this person acting suspiciously and, without a word, threw their Spear, piercing the person through.

The others were startled and hurriedly turned to look; the person who had fallen to the ground began to spit blood from their mouth, the blood bubbling, and they could not even speak.

The person who threw the Spear hurriedly whispered: "I saw them walking away sneakily without a sound; who knows what they were planning? At a time like this, we cannot afford a single mistake; if we are careless, all of us will die!"

The crowd deeply agreed, so one person stepped forward, used their axe to finish off the struggling wounded person, and dragged the corpse behind a woodpile to hide it.

Afterward, the group began to discuss again, but seeing that everyone could not make up their minds, and with the sky growing dark, the main force would soon arrive here to deliver food, and by then, they wouldn't be able to hide even if they wanted to.

At this time, one person said in a muffled voice: "Let's just run away together; we have so many people, all Soldiers, and we have Weapons, so no matter where we go, we don't need to be afraid. As long as we get far away from the territory of the Suiren Clan and go somewhere else to build a new tribe, why wouldn't it work? We can just buy some women then."

When the crowd heard this, they all felt it made a lot of sense, so they echoed it one after another; the few leaders, seeing that everyone had made their choice, said: "Then let's do that. There are no rafts here, and there's no time to build any, so we'll just swim across. If anyone drowns, it's their bad luck; as for other things, we'll talk about them once we find a place to settle down, how about that?"

No one objected, so everyone stopped waiting; without anyone needing to lead, they plunged into the water one after another, holding their Weapons in one hand and paddling hard with the other, starting to swim toward the opposite bank. Those with poor swimming skills, or those who couldn't swim at all, had no choice but to overcome their fear, jump into the water, and either drift with the current or struggle in the water.

One person was just about to enter the water but suddenly froze, as if they had thought of something, and began to turn back to run, but after only two steps, they were grabbed by someone nearby and questioned with an angry face: "What are you going to do? Are you looking for death?"

That person then remembered the people who had just been killed and hurriedly explained: "I saw Gongxia and the other one find something good before—it was the Arrow of Huaxia; it seems the arrowhead is iron, and it should still be on their bodies. I want to go back and find it."

The people around were stunned, all feeling a bit tempted by the word Iron; looking at the people already crossing the river and the quiet distance, they said: "Let's go together."