Chapter 761: Chishe

The captive looked in terror at his wound, which was seeping more and more blood, and no longer dared to move recklessly. Somewhat nervous and dazed, he let his injured arm hang stiffly, then used his other hand to laboriously prop himself up from the ground.

Now he was in a position sitting on the ground with his legs straight out. He stroked his belly to confirm his throat had not been slit and his intestines had not been removed; only then did his trembling hands calm down slightly.

The medic realized at this moment that it seemed only his intimidation was effective, so he squatted on the ground with a grin. The captive was so frightened by him that he kicked his legs backward repeatedly, but due to habit, he tore the wound open again, and blood began to flow out once more.

The medic's expression changed instantly. This time he was truly angry. Did he think the thread used to stitch wounds was abundant?

The medic said to the Soldier, "Come, hold him down again. I'm going to put a few more stitches in him."

The captive cried out in terror, "No, no!"

The Soldiers did not hesitate to pin the captive to the ground again. No matter how the scrawny captive struggled or resisted, it was useless; his thighs were not even as thick as the Soldiers' arms.

Right in front of the captive, the medic took out the needle and thread, threaded it, and waved the curved needle before the captive's eyes. The captive turned his head away in fear, but the medic gave just one look, and immediately a Soldier twisted the captive's head back with his hand and held his eyelids open with his fingers, forcing him to watch.

The medic, so relaxed and at ease, used the needle to pierce through the captive's skin and muscle, then pulled the thread through. Every second was a massive torture for the captive; the pain was one thing, but it was mainly the psychological torment—he did not know what this person was going to do to him.

The medic said to him while stitching, "I asked you nicely just now, but you wouldn't talk, insisting on suffering this pain. Now that you want to talk, I won't let you. I'll ask you after I finish stitching."

"If you still don't talk later, I'll cut open your belly, cut out your intestines, and then sew them back up. If you still don't talk after that, I'll saw off your legs, slice open your flesh, and dismantle your bones. I guarantee you'll be in agonizing pain but won't be able to die, and you'll have to watch the whole time."

The captive was already covered in snot and tears. The Soldier responsible for twisting his head and holding his eyelids open no longer wanted to look at him and turned his own head away; it was simply too disgusting, and he felt he might need to scrub a layer of skin off his own hands.

When the medic finished the last stitch and skillfully tied a surgical knot, the torture for the captive was over. To avoid his efforts being wasted again—and because if he had to stitch anymore, he would barely be able to find any good flesh left—he threatened him, "This arm, you are not allowed to move it again. Move it one more time, and I will chop it straight off."

The captive's snot had already dripped into his mouth, but he still promised repeatedly, "I won't move, I won't move."

The few Soldiers holding him quickly let go. The Soldier who had twisted his head trotted off to have others pour him some water so he could rinse his hands; he felt too disgusted to bear it.

The medic showed his instruments to the captive again. The captive was now just pleading, "Don't, I'll tell you everything. I'll say whatever you ask."

The medic was satisfied. Xiong took over the medic's position at this time, prepared to interrogate. The captive felt far less fear toward this biggest man than he did toward the smiling one just now; if the one before him got angry, he would probably just chop him to death directly and wouldn't torture him.

Xiong looked down from above: "Since you want to talk, then I ask you, which tribe are you from, and why were you peeking at us there?"

The captive felt he had suffered a great injustice: "I am from the Chishe, but we weren't peeking. Besides, this is the territory of our Chishe. We were just preparing to come here to fetch water, and then we saw so many of you arrive in our territory, so we wanted to observe what you were planning to do."

"Who would have thought you would actually use stones to smash the water? The water here is so precious, so clear and holy; it should not be insulted or destroyed."

"Ah, Chishe?" Xiong looked at Xi in confusion. "Do you know this tribe? This should be the territory of the Jiangshui Tribe, right?"

Xi stepped forward in confusion, carefully examining the captive again, wanting to see if there was any familiar aspect, whether he had truly misidentified him. Although his speech was different, what if he really was a survivor of his Jiangshui Tribe?

However, no matter how Xi looked, he still felt he did not recognize him and had never heard of such a tribe. The others also came over to look, all shaking their heads to indicate they did not know and did not recognize him.

Xiong just glanced at the medic, and the captive's teeth began to chatter in fear.

"You, tell me again properly and seriously. Are you really from this so-called Chishe?"

The captive nodded repeatedly: "It really is, it really is."

Xiong raised a question about this: "This is the territory of the Jiangshui Tribe; how could a Chishe exist here?"

The captive looked at everyone repeatedly and immediately realized these people knew about things in this territory, but their information must be very outdated. So he defended himself: "It was indeed the Jiangshui Tribe before. However, during the last cold season, when we came to attend the gathering, we found that the Jiangshui Tribe looked as if it had been destroyed by some god. The mountains had collapsed, the trees were crooked, and we couldn't see a single person from the Jiangshui Tribe."

"At the entire gathering, we didn't see the Jiangshui Tribe, and we didn't even see people from their rival, the Wulenge Tribe. Later, we heard that the people of the Jiangshui Tribe had offended a god and were punished with extermination."

"The tribes not far from the Jiangshui Tribe seemed to have been cursed as well. It is said they were originally coming to attend the gathering, but after seeing the state of the Jiangshui Tribe, they were immediately frightened and ran away, saying that it was the Jiangshui Tribe that was punished and they were just implicated. They ran away while cursing."

Xiong also curiously pressed: "Then what about you? Did you see that there were no masters here, so you occupied it? What about the other tribes? What happened to the gathering?"

The captive really wanted to use his hands to gesture, but considering the medic's threat, he did not dare move his arm at all. He could only shake his head and say, "Our Tribal Chief said that it was the Jiangshui Tribe that was cursed, not the land here. Moreover, the land of the Jiangshui Tribe is more fertile and more suitable for living than our previous land, so the whole tribe moved over directly."

"We searched for a place suitable for living along the way, and then we discovered this Dahu here. It is clear to the bottom, and you can't see a single fish. Our Tribal Chief said this is the holiest lake and we should live here. Therefore, this place was occupied by our Chishe."