Section 071: Gain and Loss

When Ruo Yan, Li He, and Jin Xue came back through the east gate leading to the hills and returned to the heart of the tribe, five wild horses and four oxen followed behind them. The night before, when the tribe was attacked, Li He and Jin Xue had already taken the risk of being spotted by the enemy and run out of the wooden house to open the cattle pen and the horse corral, driving the animals toward the undeveloped hills to the east so that the cattle and horses they had worked so hard to tame would not be seized by the raiders.

Seeing that Li Zhan had come online, Ruo Yan hurried over and said to him with an apologetic look:

“Last night’s attack came so suddenly. I...”

Li Zhan raised a hand.

“You do not need to blame yourself like this. An ambush with no warning, no signs beforehand, is something no one could have held back. You did very well. At the very least, not a single villager died in the attack.”

Ruo Yan still could not shake off her guilt and remorse.

“But that hateful True Love... I was the one who told you to add him as a friend...”

Li Zhan said calmly,

“It has already come to this; what is the point in saying any of that now? Besides, weren’t you deceived by him as well?”

After a pause, he went on,

“Still, let us talk about last night. How many troops did True Love bring? He could not have attacked us with only the forces of his own tribe, could he?”

Ruo Yan thought for a moment and replied,

“It was very dark, so I could not see clearly, but by my estimate there were at least forty or fifty people. It seemed that, besides him, there were two other tribal leaders. But later, those two leaders somehow disappeared, and when the troops withdrew, only True Love remained as a leader.”

Li Zhan nodded and asked,

“Why did he withdraw?”

It was the seven war wolves. When the militia had surrounded the tribal hall and were attacking it, almost bringing it down, seven war wolves suddenly came from nowhere and bit to death more than a dozen militiamen. True Love saw the tide turn against him and hurriedly led his men away.

Hearing this, Li Zhan let out a long breath and thought to himself: well done, Wolf Pack Leader. I owe you one, Li Zhan.

Seeing him staring into the distance without speaking, Ruo Yan could not help asking,

“What are you going to do?”

Li Zhan was still looking far away. He gave a cold snort, and his eyes suddenly turned icy as he squeezed a sentence out from between his teeth:

“Blood for blood. An eye for an eye.”

...

Jiujiang County, True Heart Tribe.

True Love and the two brother chiefs were, at this moment, both pleased and resentful. What pleased them was that the three of them were each wearing a new outfit seized from the Flame and Yellow Tribe; it really was different from the coarse linen clothes provided by the system, not only more comfortable, but also attractive and practical. What infuriated them was that they had believed last night’s raid would destroy the Flame and Yellow Tribe in one blow, only for seven war wolves to suddenly appear on the way and bite to death more than a dozen militiamen. In the end, the operation had cost them over a dozen dead militiamen and gained only a few items of clothing, far below what the three had originally envisioned.

Even worse, the two tribal leaders had not stayed with the militiamen. Instead, they had been wandering around the tribe, hoping to stumble upon something new. When they reached the carpenter’s workshop, two shadows suddenly leaped out of the darkness and, with a few swift strokes, killed the two leaders. Because it was dark, the two leaders could not make out what the attackers looked like, let alone who they were. They only heard the two shadows speak after bringing them down:

One said, “Oops, sorry. We thought you were apes and killed you as monsters. It was not on purpose, right?”

The one beside him said, “Maybe.”

...

“That is all? Nothing else?”

After hearing the two leaders’ account, True Love asked the question.

The two leaders were extremely dissatisfied with the raid. It was a classic case of missing the chicken and losing the rice. Facing True Love now, they said irritably,

“Obviously. They are not our accomplices. Do we need to keep anything from you?”

“Exactly. We thought we might make a small profit beforehand, but now look at this. We were killed for no reason at all. With the little civilization we lost, who knows when we’ll ever get it back? Ever since half a month ago, my civilization has not risen once.”

True Love knew full well that the blame for this operation lay largely with him; after all, it had been his own fervent urging that led to this outcome. He had never imagined things would end like this. The Flame and Yellow Tribe’s surroundings were truly complicated. Two mysterious players kept bursting out of the darkness at the drop of a hat, and who knew whether they really had any connection to the Flame and Yellow Tribe. And this time, seven war wolves had appeared as well. Those creatures were terrifying beasts; in an ordinary tribe, if just three war wolves appeared near the settlement, everyone would be too frightened to breathe. He could not understand how the Flame and Yellow Tribe had managed to survive.

Although he had suffered the greatest losses in this operation—nine of the dead militiamen had belonged to the True Heart Tribe—True Love still had to force himself to act as if it did not matter, and he worked hard to comfort the two leaders.

“It does not matter. Civilization can be lost and then raised again. Do you really have no confidence in your own abilities? Besides, I already promised each of your tribes one hundred gold pieces as compensation. As for what we gained from this operation, well... heh heh, did we not capture four female villagers who make clothing? As long as we bring them under our control, we can produce clothing ourselves. Once the clothing is made, the wealth will pour in like a flood. And then there is that missionary—ha ha! Who knows where the Flame and Yellow Tribe got hold of such a foreign monk? With a missionary at our side, any future military operation will be much safer for us. Hahahaha!”

Seeing True Love laugh heartily, the two leaders turned their heads away in irritation, thinking: Damn it, you make it sound so easy. The one who died is not you. If it had been your tribe that lost even a little civilization, you would probably already be furious. Besides, what do those four female villagers and the missionary have to do with us? Can you give them to us or what? Wouldn’t your True Heart Tribe just keep them all for itself?

True Love laughed for a while, then, noticing their cool response, awkwardly stopped and cleared his throat twice.

“All right, let us stop thinking about unpleasant things. Come, let us go outside and take a look at those four female villagers and the missionary.”

...

Outside the tribal hall, five wooden stakes had been set into the ground. Zhou Min and the other three female villagers, along with the missionary, were tied to the stakes, while several militiamen holding whips stood nearby.

The three female villagers were clearly terrified, their faces streaked with tears. Thanks to Zhou Min’s constant efforts to comfort them, they had finally managed to quiet their crying. The missionary’s eyes darted left and right as he desperately searched for a chance to escape. Unfortunately, he had only a crude understanding of his “conversion” skill, and without the aid of his holy book he could not convert the enemy at all. Otherwise, he might at least have been able to have the militiamen beside him loosen his bindings or something.

At this moment, True Love and the two tribal leaders were walking this way from the tribal hall.