Chapter 59: Incorporation

By the time Baifeng arrived, he only saw Xiong and his men surrounding a group of people who, in Baifeng's eyes, were skeletons; they were so thin that only skin and bone remained, with not a single thing on their bodies to cover them—likely because they had truly run out of food during the winter and had even boiled and eaten their own furs.

Xiong had divided these people into two groups: one group was so weak that Baifeng felt if they squatted down like that, they would never be able to stand up again; the other group was slightly better, and Baifeng felt they still had the possibility of standing. The men had nothing but sturdy skeletons, while the women, who had once been full-figured, now hung on their frames like empty skin bags.

This scene was something Baifeng had only seen in documentaries about the famine in the Black Province in his later life; seeing it in reality before his own eyes still felt incredibly cruel and difficult to look at.

Baifeng walked up to Xiong, who was patrolling: "Have you asked clearly about the origins of these people, and how they ended up like this?"

Xiong pointed to the pile of people who were slightly more spirited and said, "They are a tribe from downstream of our Dahe, three days' distance from here. They had no food in winter and couldn't hunt much game, so most of the people starved to death and didn't survive the winter.

They even ate all the bark and roots in their territory, then walked all the way upstream, eating bark the whole way. They said even tigers didn't want to eat them; after biting one to death and taking a few bites, it probably felt it was too hard on the teeth and threw them away. That big guy is their Tribal Chief."

"Do you think they have eaten people?"

Xiong shook his head and did not answer.

Baifeng walked straight up to the Tribal Chief of the wild tribe and squatted down, not afraid that he would suddenly attack; after all, how could someone so weak possibly harm the incredibly strong Baifeng?

"Are you the Tribal Chief of this tribe? What is your name?"

The wild man felt that Baifeng asking this question, which had already been asked countless times, was idiotic, so he kept his head down and did not answer.

Baifeng was not angry: "Since your tribe is so poor that you are eating bark and roots, why didn't you kill those thin and weak tribesmen beside you to eat? If you ate them, you could have held out until the weather warmed up."

The wild Tribal Chief finally raised his head slowly, his eyes wide: "We are not a Cannibal Tribe; we do not eat people, and it is even more impossible for us to eat our own tribesmen." After finishing, as if remembering some sad event, he lowered his head again.

As long as they were not a Cannibal Tribe, that was easy to handle. Baifeng stood up and clapped his hands: "That's perfect, our tribe doesn't have much food left either, and catching so many of you means we can eat well for a long time."

The tribesmen of the Baifeng Tribe looked at Baifeng in surprise, one by one; Xiong's jaw almost hit the ground, his eyes full of "Have you lost your mind?" Sui also looked up at Baifeng in disbelief. Having stayed in the Baifeng Tribe for so long, she had long known that the Baifeng Tribe could not possibly eat people.

Among the surrounded wild tribe, some were trembling with fear, and a few who heard this thought they were unlucky and simply lay flat, waiting for this cannibalistic Baifeng Tribe to come and dine, so they wouldn't have to waste their own energy.

The Tribal Chief of the wild tribe had previously heard Xiong say he would pick the strong ones to be Slaves; he was unwilling but had no choice. At least he could save the lives of most of his tribesmen, and he resigned himself to the hardship and fatigue.

But upon hearing Baifeng's words, he had no intention of living. He had to put up a fight to let these cannibals know that although he, Yishang, had fallen to this state, he was not meat to be slaughtered at their will.

Just as Baifeng turned around, he took the small stone he was gripping tightly in his hand, suddenly stood up, and smashed it toward Baifeng's head, hoping this desperate struggle could severely injure or even kill the chief of this cannibal tribe.

Seeing the wild Tribal Chief suddenly attack, the Baifeng Tribe members all exclaimed and wanted to rush over to save him, but Baifeng turned around and easily pinched the wild Tribal Chief's arm. The agility he thought he had was a joke without the support of muscle and sufficient energy.

The moment Baifeng pinched the wild Tribal Chief's arm, over a dozen wild Soldiers in the pile of wild men stood up simultaneously, wanting to rush over. As a result, a few fell to the ground as soon as they stood up due to malnutrition, and the others were stopped by the Changdao instantly pointed at them.

Baifeng removed the stone from the wild Tribal Chief's hand. The wild Tribal Chief was controlled by Baifeng and could not move, so he had to resign himself to his fate, but in his heart, he was thinking about how to snatch the Knife from the person next to him, or just run into the blade and die.

Baifeng laughed: "I was just joking with you. We are not a Cannibal Tribe, and we have no thoughts or plans to eat people. Our tribe has enough food; I just wanted to confirm once more whether you were a Cannibal Tribe. I don't want to bring a Cannibal Tribe into my own tribe in a muddled way, and I also wanted to see if you had lost your instincts as Soldiers.

I am very satisfied, especially with you and those dozen or so people; you are truly good Soldiers. Don't worry, I will accept your entire tribe, and you don't have to be Slaves. You will work as much as the food you eat; just consider yourselves people we bought back with food."

The wild Tribal Chief was half-believing: "Are you really willing to do this, including those tribesmen of mine who are about to die? Won't your tribesmen object?"

Baifeng immediately raised his hand to Heaven: "I swear to Heaven that everything I said is the truth, otherwise let a giant rock fall from the sky and crush me to death."

Hearing Baifeng's oath, no rock fell from the sky to crush Baifeng to death. The wild Tribal Chief immediately knelt on the ground and rested his head on Baifeng's feet: "I, Yishang, will be loyal to you forever. My tribe will no longer exist and will be ruled by you. I hope you keep your oath and treat them as your true tribesmen."

Baifeng lifted Yishang up with both hands: "That goes without saying; you will all be tribesmen of my Baifeng Tribe."

Yishang suddenly went limp as if his bones had been removed. Similarly, a few people in the pile of wild men let out a long sigh and lay down, then stopped moving. Baifeng knew this was the result of long-term high pressure; once they relaxed, it was easy for them not to recover, so he hurriedly had people help them and pour some water into them, and only then was Yishang gradually able to stand up.

There would be no hunting today, but having gained so many people, Baifeng was very satisfied. Let's go home now. Baifeng ordered everyone to return to the tribe, and Yishang also called for those thin and weak tribesmen to follow. The Soldiers of the Baifeng Tribe also helped those people up one by one, and those who were too weak were even supported as they walked.

But there were still seven people who lay on the ground and could not get up again; they had all let out a sigh of relief and couldn't recover. A sadness rare in wild men appeared in Yishang's eyes. Baifeng had the Soldiers dig a large pit on the spot, just enough to bury those few corpses. After a hasty burial, they set off again.

The recovered Yishang began to talk more, asking what the Baifeng Tribe was like, how large it was, why the tribesmen were still so strong after a winter, stronger than they were in the autumn, what that thing tied together with wood and rope on their backs was, and how that Knife that shone with white light like Snow was made?

Baifeng was a bit annoyed by the questions, only telling him that he would naturally know when they reached the tribe, and he could look all he wanted then. For now, he should shut his mouth and save his energy, lest he die of exhaustion on the road before reaching the tribe.

Yishang did not disturb Baifeng anymore, but went to harass other Soldiers, touching someone's bow, then touching someone's Knife, and later directly taking an Arrow to study.

Xiong crept up to Baifeng and asked quietly why he didn't treat them as Slaves instead of tribesmen; wasn't this a waste of food?

Baifeng then explained to Xiong: "Our tribe of over five hundred people cannot support over two hundred Slaves, but we can become a tribe of nearly eight hundred people, understand?"