Chapter 430: Deep in the Forest

Baifeng, having learned the truth of the matter, could only feel that his Soldiers were unlucky; for them to encounter such a low-probability event left him with no other options.

The Soldiers who died in the end were to be buried with honors; those who wished to enter the Martyr cemetery could do so, and those whose families wanted to take them home for burial were also permitted, all based on their own wishes. At the same time, compensation would be given to the families of those fallen Soldiers and to the injured Soldiers, ensuring their lives would not be economically affected as a result.

What made Baifeng slightly dissatisfied was that the commander of the Suiren tribe had not been caught. They had sent Soldiers to search both upstream and downstream, but they had not found a single trace.

Because Baifeng felt that person was relatively important and had to be found, he gave up the search after three consecutive days of no results.

Huangpin was sufficiently alert; after realizing something was wrong, he immediately took the few Soldiers around him and fled. They ran along the upper reaches, but considering that if Huaxia were to pursue them, they would definitely search along the Dahe, he plunged into the dense forest, moving far away from the Dahe.

They had originally thought to hide in the forest for a few days before going to the banks of the Dahe to find a way to cross the river and return to the Suiren tribe.

However, what they never expected was that after traveling for a day, they discovered the forest in front of them had been artificially cleared, presenting an empty state.

They immediately sensed something was wrong, so they hid in the forest to observe first, and only dared to go out and examine it carefully after discovering no one was around.

They didn't know until they looked, and once they looked, they were shocked. The hillside they were on, after crossing a ridge, actually had the same ground as the entrance to Huaxia City. Cold sweat broke out on them instantly.

A Soldier turned around and wanted to run, but was stopped by Huangpin. Huangpin felt this must be a huge secret; if they could figure it out, even if they fled back to their tribe, they could be spared punishment.

Under the verbal temptation of Huangpin, the other Soldiers dared to come up together, climb over the wooden fence, and step onto the solid ground.

Because Huaxia had stopped traffic between the two cities for some time, there were no traces of human activity on the road now, and fallen leaves drifting from afar were scattered across the road surface.

Huangpin guessed that this road must lead to some very important place, just like the city gate of Huaxia. But as they stood on the road, neither end could be seen; it was winding and twisting, and they did not know what would appear at the next corner.

In the end, Huangpin made the decision to walk in the opposite direction of Huaxia City to see what kind of scene they would encounter. However, the others were not very willing to listen to Huangpin, because they had already made a great determination just to get onto this road, and they did not have the courage to let them advance further. After all, Huaxia's methods of slaughtering them had already left them traumatized.

Under Huangpin's repeated persuasion and inducement, the others only agreed to walk forward and stop after reaching the first corner; no matter what they saw, they would leave. Huangpin could not go alone, so he had to agree.

The group was like quails avoiding a bird of prey, flustered and afraid of making even the slightest sound, but even the sound of wind blowing through leaves was enough to make them scurry about in terror.

When everyone's spirit was on the verge of collapse, they finally passed the first corner. There was nothing in front, only the same road. Although there was no harvest, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Now, no matter what, they would not stay on this road any longer.

So, regardless of what Huangpin thought, they climbed over the wooden fence directly and returned to the area below. They did not stop to catch their breath until they reached the forest.

Now they did not dare to go to the river bank, so they had to find a way to find some food. Fortunately, their Weapons were not lost, and there were suitable vines everywhere. Using their exquisite hunting skills, they set Traps everywhere. Afterward, they found a suitable place, built a small shed with wood, and covered it thickly with leaves, so that even they could not see it at a glance from afar.

After the shed was built and they had waited for a period of time, they separated to check the Traps. The direction Huangpin went was very close to that road, and he could even see it if he looked up. He hadn't been there before and didn't know what was on it, but now that he had been up there once, the image of the road appeared in his mind as soon as he looked over.

He took a look and then hurried to the Traps. His luck was good; he caught a pheasant, a male, which was quite large. If he ate it alone, he could be full, but if it were divided among everyone, it wouldn't count for much. He only hoped the others' Traps also had a harvest.

He checked several more Traps in succession, but they were all empty. One had been triggered, but there was no prey on it.

So he started to return. The pheasant was held in his hand, making clucking sounds from time to time. He didn't care at all; his mind was full of other things.

While passing by that road, he didn't know what madness suddenly took him, but he approached that road again. He always felt that this road must hide a great secret, but he didn't dare to walk it to the end alone.

As he got closer and closer to the road, he suddenly heard human voices not far away, as well as strange "rumbling" and "clattering" sounds.

He hurriedly turned his head and wanted to run back, but the sound was right in his ears; he had no chance to run. Sweating profusely, he looked around and finally found a semi-recessed area that could be considered a blind spot where he could hide. He hurriedly ran over, curled up and squatted inside, and even pulled some leaves over himself.

After he hid, he closed his eyes tightly, feeling the sounds coming closer and closer to his ears. When the sound was right above his head, he felt his lower abdomen become somewhat bloated.

It was at this moment that the pheasant, whose neck he had forgotten to wring after catching it, actually flapped its wings with a "flutter" and called out. He hurriedly squeezed the pheasant's neck and wrung it, and he also felt warm liquid flowing continuously over his calves and feet.

The "clattering" sound above stopped suddenly, and then human conversation followed: "Mancang, I heard a wild chicken calling. Should we go down and catch it?"

Another male voice said: "Forget it, let's hurry. If you want to eat meat, slaughter the chickens at your house. Now we need to hurry and pull the cargo, otherwise, it will be too late to transport the feed back to New City tonight. The Breeding Farm is in a hurry for it; it's been stopped for so long!"

The first person to speak sighed, then said "Oh," and said with some resentment: "Damn Suiren tribe, they actually have designs on our Huaxia, making us have to work overtime and run back and forth now."

Then, with a loud shout of "Tai!", the sound of some animal's hooves and the strange "clattering" sound started again, then gradually faded into the distance.