Chapter 764: The Whistle of the Chishe

"Alright, I will take them on foot to the Chishe. All of you, set up camp here and wait for orders. If you haven't seen us by this time tomorrow, follow our tracks, send a message to Huaxia, and then, at any cost, wipe out the Chishe."

Xiong gave the order to the remaining men and had the Soldiers carry some Bombs, then immediately made the captives lead the way, preparing to head toward this Chishe.

However, just as they were about to set off, a military dog barked a few times. Xiong turned his head to look, and then decided to bring it along as well; if there were an ambush on the road, the military dog would be the first to discover it.

While Xiong and his men were preparing to leave, several of the captives' escaped companions had already hurriedly run back to the tribe. At this time, the tribespeople were almost entirely absent; most of the Soldiers and women were out searching for food. Fortunately, their Tribal Chief, Ma, was still there.

Several people arrived in a panic outside the Tribal Chief's Tent and shouted loudly: "Tribal Chief, Tribal Chief! It's bad, enemies are coming!"

Ma, who was processing animal hides, was startled by the shouting. He immediately clamped his Stone Knife in his mouth and rushed out of the Tent. His eyes were wide as saucers as he looked around, but everything was calm. Only the frightened tribespeople, like birds startled by the mere twang of a bowstring, were also hunched over, staring intently at their surroundings.

Ma looked at the panting men, took the Stone Knife from his mouth, and asked solemnly, as if facing a formidable enemy: "Where are the enemies? Which tribe? How many people?"

The men pointed into the distance: "Shenhu, at Shenhu. We heard there were many people there, so we secretly watched from the side. But they actually threw big rocks into Shenhu. We were scared, and as a result, they discovered us."

One of them took a few big breaths before continuing: "We originally thought they hadn't noticed, because we only made the bushes rustle, and we were quite far away. But they seemed to have a very powerful kind of bow that shoots especially far. Fu was hit, and we ran immediately, but Fu couldn't get away and was captured by them. We few ran back."

"They have so many people, and they also have many, many cattle beside them, as if they live together with the cattle. And, and the clothes they wear are also especially good. It looks like they are a very powerful tribe."

After hearing this, Ma's hand trembled involuntarily. He looked at his tribe, which had just been established and was somewhat bleak. If what these few people said was correct, then it seemed he only had the option to run away. He only hoped that Fu would not reveal their location, and also hoped that the people of that tribe would not come looking for them; otherwise, how could such a small tribe as theirs possibly resist?

Ma felt very aggrieved and angry. He held the Stone Knife high and was about to stab one of the men. The man was so scared that he immediately hunched over and covered his head with his hands.

However, Ma did not actually stab down. His hand stopped in mid-air, and he sighed: "Forget it. Tell everyone to hurry back to their Tents. Now, there are only a few dozen of us left here; the others are not here. I hope they won't be discovered."

A person who knew how to count said at this time: "Tribal Chief, they don't have as many people as we do. They have many cattle, but they don't even have half as many people as we do."

Ma's eyes suddenly lit up: "Are you sure?"

That person nodded repeatedly: "I'm sure, Tribal Chief. I was there counting for a long time."

Ma took a long breath, then punched the tribesman who had said the other side had many people. One punch wasn't enough, and he hit him for a long time. After delivering a final kick, he shouted angrily at everyone in the tribe: "Hurry, go call back everyone who can be called back! Prepare to fight the enemy!"

Hearing the Tribal Chief give the order, those men and women who were still watching immediately headed toward the places where the tribespeople usually went to forage. Several Soldiers also disregarded the camp and immediately ran to find their fellow hunting Soldiers.

Ma stopped paying attention to these messengers and told them to hurry and find the tribespeople and call them back. If they were fast enough, there would still be time. He believed that Fu would not reveal the tribe's information. By the time those people found their way here, his own tribespeople would all be back, and he would have the confidence to deal with the enemy.

Afterward, Ma returned to his Tent. Among a pile of hides, he rummaged to find the bone whistle he had wrapped in birch bark. After taking it out and wiping off the wood shavings, he walked out of the Tent, took a deep breath, and blew the extremely shrill bone whistle.

If it were a short blow, it wouldn't be much different from a bird's call, but Ma blew until he was almost out of breath before stopping. Such a long whistle—as long as his tribespeople noticed it, they would know that something must have happened to the tribe and that they needed to return quickly.

The sound of the bone whistle traveled far enough, and he believed the tribespeople would definitely be able to hear it. After catching his breath, he blew it forcefully again. After repeating this, he put down the bone whistle. Now all the tribespeople should have heard it; he hoped they could return early.

Just as Ma hoped, the sound did indeed travel very far. The captive Fu, who was leading the way, also heard it. The Huaxia military dog was the first to prick up its ears; this was not a sound that should exist in Nature. Xiong and his men also heard it and stopped in their tracks. After hearing the whistle repeat in a cycle, he was about to ask Fu, but Fu gave him the answer first.

"This is our tribe's whistle. Because this whistle can scare away snakes, we are all quite familiar with it. But blowing it like this means something must have happened to our tribe; the Tribal Chief is calling us."

Fu, who had not yet figured out the truth, immediately wanted to speed up his pace, but was stopped by Xiong.

"What are you in such a hurry for? What do you think could happen to your tribe?"

"Ah?" Fu was very nervous and anxious, but he didn't know anything either. "I don't know, but there must be something important that requires us to go back."

Xiong told Fu the truth: "It must be those few companions of yours who escaped who told your Tribal Chief that we were coming, which is why he is blowing this whistle. According to the time, your tribespeople are still out looking for food right now and are not in the tribe. There are very few people in the tribe, right?"

Fu felt that what Xiong said made a lot of sense, but his tone was still not very certain: "I suppose so... but there really aren't many people in the tribe right now."

For Fu, he didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing. He really hoped that all the Soldiers in his tribe were there to scare off these Huaxia people so they could continue to live here in peace. But he also held a glimmer of hope for Huaxia; he also wanted to latch onto a powerful tribe like Huaxia to get the Chishe protected, although he didn't know what price he would have to pay, nor did he know if what Huaxia said was true.