Chapter 44: National Curse

The eleven women exchanged from the Suiren Tribe were the primary objects of concern; if it were discovered that any of them intended to escape, the preferred method of handling them would be to kill them.

The arrow retrieved was covered in white matter, as well as blood and clinging flesh, which made Baifeng feel a bit nauseated; he didn't want to touch that arrow under any circumstances, but he hadn't expected Xiong's archery to be so accurate, hitting the target directly from over a hundred meters away. Baifeng decided that after returning, he would make a better bow for Xiong and make him the tribe's master archer.

Baifeng didn't actually have a very clear understanding of his own bows, mainly because he lacked measuring instruments and didn't know exactly how many jin of draw weight the bows he made had; he hadn't used them in actual combat before, but seeing the strong lethality at a hundred meters now, it meant the bow was at least over one hundred jin.

As they hurried along, Baifeng told everyone what had happened and why they needed to rush; once the tribesmen knew, they didn't express any opinions, they simply increased their speed.

The women who had been exchanged, however, felt that Baifeng was lying; it was impossible for anyone to launch a war during a gathering, as this would be punished by the gods, and everyone had sworn an oath.

Only the few women from the Suiren Tribe began to tremble after hearing Baifeng's words, walking unsteadily, feeling that Baifeng might kill them on the spot, but they did not refute Baifeng's words or explain for their own tribe, which proved that Baifeng's guess was basically correct.

None of them tried to escape either, perhaps they had resigned themselves to their fate; Baifeng might also have been too nervous, as he had chosen these people himself, and there shouldn't be any spies among them. Even if they could return to the tribe smoothly, they wouldn't dare to run back to deliver a message; walking alone in the Wasteland was no different from seeking death.

Baifeng and his group were almost jogging the whole way, and when the sun was about to set, Baifeng had no intention of stopping, only instructing everyone to cut pine branches to make Torches, especially some fallen pine trees whose trunks were full of resin and almost transparent. These were excellent materials for Torches and would burn for a long time. Dozens of Torches were lit together, moving forward like a fire dragon.

It wasn't until the moon was very bright and they could see the road without Torches that Baifeng and his group ran to a high ground, where they could clearly see what was happening downstream; even if someone chased after them, they could discover it in time and escape.

Even if the Suiren Tribe discovered something was wrong and started chasing them now, they wouldn't arrive here until dawn. Baifeng ordered them to set up camp, gather the fires, and take turns keeping watch. The women exchanged from the Suiren Tribe had their hands and feet tied with ox-hide ropes to prevent them from escaping.

Taking out the remaining Beef, everyone ate a little bit very sparingly, and those who didn't need to keep watch immediately lay down and fell fast asleep.

Baifeng couldn't sleep, so he sat on a rock and looked downstream, hoping to see what was happening.

Baifeng's guess was correct; faint firelight could be seen rising from the gathering place downstream. That wasn't something that could be produced by the scattered campfires of a night camp, but rather someone had set fire to the forest around the gathering place, with several places burning simultaneously, and the fire was growing larger and larger.

Just like when Baifeng and his group hunted herds of cattle, except the Suiren Tribe used walls of fire to surround both sides, and people to block the upstream and downstream of the river. No one would dare to rush through the encirclement of fire to escape; as expected of the tribe that first played with fire, they were extremely proficient in the use of fire.

If Baifeng hadn't run away in advance, he would now be one of those being surrounded and killed. He could even hear the wailing and screaming of the savages at the gathering. Baifeng didn't understand what there was to rob; everyone was equally poor.

This robbery was definitely not a spur-of-the-moment decision, nor was it specifically aimed at Baifeng's tribe, but Baifeng should have caused their plan to be moved forward.

He didn't know how many people were in the whole world now, a million? The entire Asian continent probably didn't even have that many; he didn't know why they still had to kill each other with so few people. The Suiren Tribe wasn't a Cannibal Tribe, so why do this? Baifeng didn't understand; at this time, everyone should be getting rich together and developing civilization, as Heaven and Earth were big enough for everyone to expand.

After feeling a bit sentimental, he told the tribesmen on watch to be more vigilant about both banks downstream, and to sound the alarm immediately if there was anything unusual. Baifeng's tense nerves relaxed slightly after the fire started; they would still need to clear the battlefield and wouldn't chase them immediately, so he lay down and forced himself to sleep and rest.

There were no pursuers all night, and by morning, most of the fire downstream had gone out, though it was still spreading in one direction, and the smoke was drifting everywhere with the wind.

The women of the Suiren Tribe had no intention of escaping at night; he got up and untied the ropes on their feet, though their hands remained tied.

While traveling, Baifeng wondered if they would say things like "I need to relieve myself," and then "relieving oneself" would become the meaning of going to the toilet in the present, but they just squatted on the spot and then continued to follow the team, leaving behind a puddle of water.

Now Baifeng and his group's speed was relatively slow because they had been jogging all day yesterday and their bodies hadn't recovered yet; furthermore, they felt that since they had run so far, they would definitely not chase them anymore, so they relaxed.

The tribesman responsible for guarding the rear suddenly gave a loud alarm. Baifeng looked in the direction he was pointing; on the opposite bank far downstream, a group of savages was moving quickly. Standing on high ground and looking over there, they were dense and numerous, probably numbering in the hundreds.

Although he could see them, even if Baifeng stood still, it would take them most of the day to catch up, so Baifeng wasn't panicked at all.

With so many people on a forced march without much food, they definitely wouldn't be able to chase for long; they probably thought Baifeng and his group hadn't gone very far, which is why they chased them out.

Baifeng stood upwind, cupped his hands around his mouth, bent over, and roared: "Baoxi!"

The wind carried the sound into the distance, along with the echo rebounding from the valley; Baifeng had never thought his voice could be so loud.

After several seconds, the team stopped; they must have heard something. Baifeng shouted again: "Baoxi!"

They heard it clearly this time.

They seemed to be shouting back, but the wind blew it away, and it couldn't reach Baifeng at all.

Baifeng shouted: "I can't hear you! Don't chase anymore, you can't catch up!"

After shouting several times, Baifeng was sure they had basically heard what he said.

They were shouting again, as if several people were shouting at the same time. Baifeng still couldn't hear clearly, but he vaguely heard words like "Wait for me" and "Kill."

It looked like they shouted several times, then turned around and went back, with no intention of chasing further. Baifeng also knew this definitely wasn't a ruse; seeing Baifeng running, they might not even be able to catch up, and if they turned around just to confuse Baifeng, it would be even more impossible to catch up.

Although they retreated, Baifeng still felt unhappy in his heart, so after shouting "Baoxi," he followed it up with a classic four-character national curse, which made him feel a bit better.

It was just that the tribesmen nearby had very strange expressions after hearing what Baifeng had just shouted.

"Tribal Chief, are you planning to be the Tribal Chief of the Suiren Tribe? We can't beat them."