"Big Strength, Stone, Six-Finger, go push the stone aside."
Luo Chong pointed at the boulder blocking the cave entrance and spoke to the three of them, while nocking another arrow and aiming at the gap in the entrance.
The three of them began pushing the boulder. All three strained together, and the boulder scraped against the ground with a clacking sound, but it barely moved and slowly began to push back.
Damn it, do they think blocking the door means they'll be fine? How could that be? They killed my antelope and actually thought they wouldn't have to pay the price.
Luo Chong drew several arrows from his quiver, jumped down from the elephant's back, and walked to the side of the cave entrance. There was a long, narrow gap there that offered a perfect view inside.
Several adult men behind the boulder were desperately bracing against it. Luo Chong could even see the expressions on their faces contorted from exertion.
He bent his bow and nocked another arrow. Whoosh! This time, it truly pierced two men. The arrow entered from the side; with the target no more than two meters away, it shot straight through both men from the side of their ribs.
Another round of screams rang out. The others bracing the stone were frightened into fleeing at once, never daring to stand by the entrance again.
With no one holding the door shut, Big Strength and the other two successfully pushed the boulder aside. The three bodies behind it, still not quite dead, were crushed into a bloody mess and fell silent in the blink of an eye.
The cave entrance now stood wide open. Dim yellow firelight flickered inside. Deep within, a group of women and children cowered behind a huge pile of grass. Of the five remaining adult men, three stood in front of them holding spears, while the other two, injured earlier, lay in the grass moaning.
Luo Chong entered with his long spear in hand. The golden spearhead reflected a dazzling radiance in the firelight. Dashu and the others also charged in, carrying golden axes and spears.
The three men holding stone spears looked at Luo Chong and his group, their legs trembling. They babbled incomprehensibly, but judging by their expressions, they seemed to be begging for mercy.
"Begging for mercy now? Have you ever seen people beg for mercy while holding weapons? What were you doing earlier? Weren't you the ones who attacked our tribe first?" Luo Chong swung his long spear, knocking all three spears from their hands. Then he thrust the spear forward and pointed it at them as he shouted.
The man in the middle nearly had the spearhead sweep across his nose. Frightened, he dropped onto his bottom and pointed at Baldy's corpse, suddenly bursting into sobs as he babbled on. The other two also knelt at Luo Chong's feet, pointing at Baldy's corpse and cursing furiously—well, they should have been cursing furiously. Judging by their expressions, it certainly wasn't anything pleasant.
Tsk, so they're trying to pin the blame on Baldy? He came up with the idea, so does that mean you had no part in it?
Luo Chong looked at the men with contempt. When he saw one of the wounded men behind them quietly pick up a stone, apparently intending to resist, he instantly swept his spearhead around and thrust it forward. Pfft! It punched a hole through the man's left chest, and blood sprayed out as if it cost nothing.
"All of you, kneel! Anyone who resists dies!"
Luo Chong glared with both eyes and suddenly bellowed. His roar echoed through the resonant cave, repeating again and again in everyone's ears.
The children behind them began crying with a loud wail, and the women could not soothe them no matter how hard they tried.
Luo Chong pointed at the two men who were already kneeling, and the others immediately followed their example and dropped to their knees.
"Dashu, go find the food they've stored. Bring all of it out and take it with us. Also, see whether they have any salt." Luo Chong instructed Dashu behind him while beginning to persuade the group before him to surrender.
"We came here because your chieftain attacked my tribesmen first. Now your chieftain and most of your men are dead, but that still isn't enough. We'll take all your food as punishment." Luo Chong spoke while gesturing.
Luo Chong had his reasons for saying this. He wanted to absorb these people, but the two sides had already fought, and he had killed their people. They would inevitably harbor hatred. If he incorporated them into his tribe, they would become an unstable element. So he took advantage of the situation and shifted the blame onto Baldy.
It was your chieftain's fault, so you can't blame me. If not for him, I wouldn't have attacked you. As long as they understood that meaning, they would not resent Luo Chong too much.
But Luo Chong had clearly overestimated their loyalty to the tribe. They did not care whether their chieftain lived or died; all they cared about was Luo Chong taking away their food.
A group of women watched Dashu and his people carry away the dried meat they had stored, and they were so anxious they looked ready to cry. But with Luo Chong still standing there, they did not dare move and could only hurriedly beg him for mercy.
"Honored Chieftain, this wasn't our idea. It was all our chieftain's doing. You killed him, so that's enough. Please, please don't take our food. Otherwise, we won't survive the winter. Please!"
An older woman viciously shoved aside the three men in front of her, then crawled on her knees to Luo Chong and began pleading.
Luo Chong glanced indifferently at the woman, walked to where they kept their pottery, and picked up a pottery pot.
"This problem is easy to solve. As long as you join my tribe, I can give you endless food and let you drink meat broth every day.
"Your chieftain could trade you for pottery like this, but in my tribe, such things are everywhere. Each of you can have one. No one will freeze to death in winter anymore, and I won't trade any of you for anything. My tribesmen are priceless.
"So, are you willing to join our tribe and become my tribesmen? If so, you can stand behind me now."
After speaking, Luo Chong casually threw the pottery pot in his hand onto the ground. Crash! The pot shattered into pieces.
As a transmigrator, Luo Chong knew the art of showing off inside and out. Look at the pottery you treasure so dearly. To me, it's nothing but trash. I can make as much as I want. I'm giving you a chance to cling to a wealthy patron, so you'd better know how to cherish it.
The group stared dumbfounded at the "stone pot" that had taken two women to trade for, now casually thrown to the ground by Luo Chong. Moreover, this Young Chieftain had said that everyone could have one after joining his tribe.
Is this guy really that rich? This thing is worth two people! He threw it away just like that. Even if you're wealthy, could you please not waste things?
The women stood there in a daze after watching Luo Chong's display of wealth. Afraid that this spendthrift might smash another pottery pot at the slightest disagreement, they hurriedly rose, picked up a water jar, and stood behind Luo Chong.
Once one person did it, there was a second. Gradually, more and more people picked up their belongings and stood behind Luo Chong. The three adult men also quietly climbed to their feet and went behind him. Luo Chong pretended not to see them. He did not want to kill so many people now; killing them would bring no benefit. As long as they were willing to submit, it was better to keep them alive to work.
In the end, only one severely wounded man remained lying there. His leg had been smashed apart by a stone axe, leaving an open fracture with splintered bone jutting through the flesh. He had already passed out from the pain. With the medical conditions of the present, there was clearly no saving him.
Luo Chong led these newly joined tribesmen out of the cave, then instructed Beast Tooth to kill the man and burn down the cave.
Beast Tooth received the order. Together with One-Ear, he threw the corpses onto the pile of grass inside the cave, stabbed the severely wounded man to death as well, then took burning firewood from the fire pit and tossed it onto the grass.
In an instant, flames blazed through the cave and thick smoke billowed everywhere. Baldy and his tribe were reduced to nothing.
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Please give me some recommendation votes!!! Help push the book up, fellow readers.
The author's official rant~ New Year's Eve special
Today is New Year's Eve, a day to sweep out the old and welcome the new. Qing Shu, go sweep away the gloom in your heart too.
My dear readers, you may not believe this, but since testing the waters at two yesterday afternoon, in less than twenty-four hours, the book's results have actually fallen instead of risen. I wonder whether I tested sulfuric acid. It might also be that everyone has been busy these past couple of days and hasn't had time to vote in support of Qing Shu. In any case, the results have dropped by thirty percent compared to normal. (Qidian's waters are so deep, mmp.)
Now that the nonsense is over, the book still has to keep updating. The update time for tonight's chapter will remain at 11:50 p.m. Everyone may already be used to it, and changing it rashly might affect the results, so we'll stick to the old routine.
Finally, I wish everyone a happy New Year. May you sweep away all the bad luck today and welcome a wonderful Year of the Pig together with Qing Shu.
Before you continue