Chapter 385

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Protagonist:

Lin En

Lena

"Yes, Adult." The Mechanical Priest nodded.

"This matches the production and lifestyle characteristics of the natives of the Brevis Icefield."

"Although the wildmen have some trade with the Nest Capital, the tribe is not lacking in modern technological equipment."

"But they still largely retain Stone Age production methods, living by hunting, and like to wear crystals and beast bone ornaments."

Dominic stood up and looked out at the spacious ice valley around him.

Half a year ago, wildmen came here.

And there were absolutely quite a few of them, otherwise they wouldn't have left so many scattered remnants in places so far apart.

But when he visited the surroundings yesterday, he didn't encounter a single wildmen tribe along the way, and all living things were deliberately avoiding this area.

Something that makes wildmen who have lived on the ice plains for generations regard it as a forbidden land—what happened here half a year ago must be beyond imagination.

"Go."

Dominic made a quick decision and turned to leave.

"Go find the wildmen camp."

The ice plains are vast, and it's not easy to find a wildmen tribe that is deliberately hiding.

But Dominic was prepared.

He called in a Valkyrie Transport Aircraft and conducted low-altitude searches along water sources around the valley and hunting routes.

It took only two hours to find three wildmen camps hidden in the cracks of ice rocks.

The first camp was very small, with only a few dozen households; dilapidated beast skin tents were crowded together, and wind-dried ice plains rat meat was hung outside the tents.

Several thin, sallow children hid in the tent cracks, timidly looking at the transport aircraft in the sky.

Dominic got off the plane with two guards and had the accompanying translator explain their purpose.

He didn't put on airs as an Imperial Major General, but directly had people bring down two boxes of nutrient paste, one box of purification tablets, and several bundles of warm cloth.

For wildmen who couldn't fill their stomachs, these things were more precious than gold.

The Elder Clan Chief walked out trembling, his withered face full of wrinkles; looking at the supplies on the ground, a trace of desire flashed in his cloudy eyes, but was soon suppressed by fear.

"We... don't know anything."

He said in stiff Lowland Gothic, his gaze sweeping toward the direction of the valley, quickly making a strange gesture, like praying, or like warding off evil.

"That place... cannot be spoken of."

"I just want answers." Dominic's voice was deep, carrying the oppression unique to soldiers.

"Say clearly what happened in the valley half a year ago, and all these things are yours."

"I can even give you another transport aircraft's worth of food, enough for you to survive three harsh winters!"

A transport aircraft's worth of food.

For a small tribe on the brink of starvation, this was undoubtedly a huge temptation.

The Elder Clan Chief's lips trembled, and the fingers gripping his cane turned purple-blue from the force.

The tribespeople behind him also held their breath, their gazes shifting back and forth between the food and the Elder Clan Chief.

But in the end, the old man still slowly shook his head.

"Divine punishment will befall us."

His voice trembled, but his tone was unusually firm: "It will get angry."

No matter how much the translator persuaded him, the Elder Clan Chief refused to say another word, just kept his head down, not even daring to look toward the valley.

Dominic stared into the old man's eyes.

There was no cunning, no calculation, only awe deep in the bones, and fear hidden beneath the awe.

This kind of gaze...

He suddenly felt it was extremely familiar.

Over a month ago, when he first arrived in Brevis, he had once heard his subordinates' officers chat about local legends, saying that a group of ancient Frost Dragons lived in the depths of the ice plains, the guardian gods of the snow plains.

At that time, he had nothing to do and, on a whim, also took people to visit the ice plains, wanting to see whether the so-called Frost Dragons were native creatures or folk fabrications.

That time, he asked a wildmen tribe.

When those wildmen mentioned the three words "Frost Dragon," the expression in their eyes was exactly the same as the Elder Clan Chief before him.

Awe, fear, not daring to blaspheme.

He asked several wildmen tribes in a row, and the reactions were all similar.

Awe, not daring to say more.

An absurd yet perfectly natural thought suddenly struck Dominic's mind.

Was what happened in the valley half a year ago related to the Frost Dragon?

And was Keli Feng really connected to that legendary creature?

Weren't there always rumors among the people that this Young Governor's valor was because he had gained the recognition of the Frost Dragon?

Dominic's heartbeat inexplicably quickened.

If it were the Gene Thief of the Purge Plague Sect, it could still be explained as "a temporary expedient, secretly utilizing."

But a giant Abnormal Creature that could call wind and rain on the ice plains was absolutely not as simple as "utilizing."

To have the giant beasts of the native myths acknowledge him—whatever that represented behind it was absolutely not simple.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the stormy waves in his heart.

If soft won't work, then hard it is.

He was no soft-hearted good man, nor did he have so much time to waste with the wildmen.

"Take him away."

Dominic coldly spat out two words.

The guards immediately stepped forward and lifted the Elder Clan Chief.

The young and strong men of the tribe let out angry roars, raising stone spears to charge, but were frozen in place by the cold gleam of the bomb guns in the guards' hands.

"Rest assured, I won't kill him." Dominic looked at the wildmen who dared to be angry but not speak, his tone flat.

"Once the questioning is clear, I'll naturally send him back; leave the supplies, count it as my compensation to you."

After speaking, he turned and boarded the transport aircraft, taking the prisoner straight to the next camp.

Following the same method, he captured the patriarchs of two other medium-sized tribes.

Three tribes, one old, one middle-aged, one young, three leaders—enough to piece together the full picture of the matter.

When he returned to the starport, it was already late at night.

In the interrogation room of the James Tong, the pale light illuminated three terrified faces.

Dominic did not do it himself; he called two Spirit Energy Users from the fleet who specialized in psychic interrogation.

No torture, but even more tormenting.

As long as the psychic tentacles pierced into the depths of consciousness, all hidden memories could be dug out bit by bit.

The process was brutal, causing irreversible damage to the interrogated person's Jing Neng, but Dominic didn't care.

Before the truth, whether a few wildmen's Jing Neng was sound or not was not worth mentioning.

Three hours later, the interrogation ended.

The Spirit Energy User walked out of the interrogation room with a pale face, handing the organized intelligence to Dominic.

"Major General Adult, information compilation complete."

Dominic took the data slate and read it line by line by the light, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter.

The Ice Plains wildmen of Brevis were originally miners abandoned during the Hive World's industrial era.

Hundreds of years ago, Brevis transitioned from an industrial world to a Hive World.

A large quantity of mutated lower-class miners were abandoned on the Arctic Ice Plain because of their appearance, surviving with difficulty using remaining tools and Ice Plain resources.

Over a hundred years, they gradually evolved into two major clans.

One faction had a gentle temperament, living by hunting and gathering, occasionally trading with Hive World people, unwilling to be enemies with the Hive World, calling themselves the Ice Fang Clan.

The other faction was full of aggression, hated all Hive World people, often raided border caravans and outposts, calling themselves the Snow Claw Clan.