Chapter 71: Escape

Heichang held the Changdao, weighing it in his hand; it was quite heavy, and even more beautiful than the Bronze Swords he had once seen used by the bigwigs of large tribes. He slashed a corpse with it, and it immediately cut into the flesh, reaching all the way to the bone without the slightest sense of resistance, completely different from a Stone Knife.

This should only be something large tribes could craft, but he had never heard of any large tribes in this vicinity. Those large tribes with long-standing traditions were basically all in the lower reaches of the Dahe; why would such good things be here?

Moreover, looking at the physiques of these people, it was clear they did not lack food. The flesh on their bodies was far more abundant than that of many people from small tribes who had to survive the Winter, yet here lay nine corpses, and he had only found one Knife, which made Heichang increasingly puzzled.

If only one person had been strong enough, and there was only one Knife, Heichang could understand it as one of them being an important figure in the tribe. But all these people had such strong bodies; this was not something a common tribe could raise.

Heichang waved his hand, directing everyone to bring these corpses back to the Battalion they were occupying. With so much meat, they could eat for a few more days. However, Heichang was always afraid that if they accidentally provoked some large tribe, they would be retaliated against.

As the tribesmen dragged the corpses, they left behind several trails of blood. A Bamboo Tube dropped on the road caught Heichang's attention. He picked it up, and after opening it, discovered it contained wooden shafts stuck with feathers, with sharpened stones on the tips.

The peculiar design left Heichang stunned for a moment, but after a little thought, he remembered—weren't these Arrows? That kind of Weapon that was both laborious and ineffective; not many tribes would use this thing. Why stick these feathers on it? Decorations?

Heichang threw away this useless thing in disgust. Through this item, Heichang felt reassured; this tribe was definitely not some large tribe. However, among the people they had killed, there must have been an important figure of the tribe; perhaps the Tribal Chief was among them.

A Tribal Chief could use grain and beauties to trade for exquisite Knives, and those tribesmen growing so strong was probably because the resources here were abundant. The Zhique Tribe itself could easily catch many prey; as long as this tribe was a bit diligent, raising a Tribal Chief and several Soldiers this well was completely no problem.

Thinking this way, Heichang felt everything made sense. Moreover, looking at how they came to the water pool, they were very leisurely, which indicated they were very familiar with this place and came here often; perhaps that camp was just for their temporary residence.

Most of the people from the Zhique Tribe were catching fish at the water pool. After discovering the commotion, they had immediately set an ambush. Now that they had caught so many people, they could not control their drooling. As for the fish they had caught, it no longer mattered to them.

One by one, they put down the fish in their hands, greedily smelling the scent of blood, and followed behind the corpses. Unfortunately, they were scolded by Heichang after only a few steps; fish were also important food, and if they were discarded, then those people would have nothing to eat.

Only four people had escaped from the forest, and they had run in scattered directions, each carrying several Knives and several bows, rushing through the woods while having to be constantly vigilant about whether anyone was chasing them, or if a stone would be thrown at their heads from behind.

None of them carried Arrow Quivers anymore. For one, there was no time, and for another, almost all the Arrowheads were stone; there were only one or two made of Iron. Only the few master archers in the tribe could use Iron Arrowheads.

One tribesman was carrying two bows and three Knives, but his face had been struck, and his chest had also been hit. Now he felt he was in extreme pain and had no strength left. After running for a while longer, his throat suddenly felt stifled, and then he knelt on the ground, vomiting blood in large mouthfuls, before collapsing to the ground unconscious.

Another wounded one had only suffered some superficial wounds, but the bleeding would not stop. The Knives he carried were heavy, yet he dared not throw them away. The people of his team were almost all dead; he did not know how many would be able to return, but this Weapon must be kept in his hands and not be taken by those people.

Just as he was thinking this, a tiger's roar startled him. He hurriedly threw away the excess items, only unstrung his bow, nocked an Arrow, and then looked around. He realized there was a tiger right in the Grass beside him.

Seeing that it had been discovered, the tiger simply stopped hiding and walked straight out, its gaze fixed on the man. How could that tribesman dare to stare at or fight a beast of this level? Just from the tiger walking out, he had already been scared out of his wits.

His hand pulled the bowstring; he could have pulled the bow to full draw, but now he could only pull it halfway, his hands shaking. Then, by accident, that Arrow flew out weakly. Yet, just this one shot actually hit the tiger.

The tiger did not expect this lone, hairless monkey to be so arrogant. Although the Arrow did not penetrate deep, it was very painful. The tiger was provoked into anger, so it pounced over, directly gave the tribesman a slap, knocked him down, and bit his neck. With an Arrow stuck in its waist, the tiger carried the tribesman in its mouth and walked away into the distance.

The two who were still alive, and also uninjured, kept running forward while clutching their Weapons, not daring to stop for even a moment. Even though they were already panting and their calves were sore, they only wanted to return to the tribe as quickly as possible to tell the Tribal Chief about this matter.

After exiting the forest and entering the Wasteland, seeing the city wall of their tribe, they ran over almost in tears. The Soldiers patrolling on the wall saw their miserable state and the Knives and bows in their hands, and knew that things were a bit troublesome, so they hurriedly opened the city gate to let them in.

After entering, they quickly closed the city gate again and set up the Strong Crossbow to aim at the distance, not daring to be the least bit careless.

The two tribesmen found the Tribal Chief and sobbed as they recounted what they had encountered. Looking at the few Weapons placed on the ground that did not belong to the two of them, Baifeng knew that the owners of those Weapons would not be coming back.

Baifeng asked if anyone else had escaped besides them. They said that several people had run out together, but they had scattered while running, and they did not know if those companions had managed to escape.

However, they all had injuries on their bodies, and those people were in hot pursuit, so it was likely they were in dire straits as well.

Baifeng clenched his fists. It seemed he had been careless after all. He had only thought about the dangers in Nature, but had forgotten the threat from humans.

According to what these two said, that group of people was at least over a hundred, and they had a way to throw stones from a very far distance, which could cause great harm to people.

Baifeng thought for a moment; this should be the "sling," a simple and effective Weapon. In later generations, it was mostly used by shepherds to drive sheep and fight wolves, but he had not expected that someone would be using it now, and with such great power.

Now he could only hope that only this one team had encountered them. If all the hunters had scattered and then encountered those people, then his hard work would all go down the drain. His tribe, which had just begun to develop, was about to face a crisis of survival.