"Judging by the size of your village, you must have nearly two hundred people at least.
Without a reliable food supply, you couldn't possibly feed them all."
Even if they lived by hunting in the forest, they couldn't bring back enough game for two hundred people every single day.
Twilight Forest wasn't suitable for farming, but most of them were human. They would at least raise some livestock.
Tang Qi didn't believe these people couldn't spare even a little food.
Fide gritted her teeth.
"Before every twin-moon night, we offer most of our food to the mist in exchange for our safety that night.
During that period, we mostly get by on cheap black rye, bought with the proceeds from selling our hunting spoils in the city.
But the twin-moon night only just passed. We haven't had time to stockpile enough black rye. How could we spare as much as you want?"
"Offering food to the mist?"
Tang Qi frowned, considering her explanation.
"Don't tell me the mist filling this forest is alive, and every twin-moon night it threatens you into handing over your rice?"
"It's our village's tradition. If we don't do it, people disappear or die on the twin-moon night," Fide answered grimly.
"Why?"
"How should I know? If I fucking knew, would I need to give away that much food every year?"
So she had actually agreed to provide food in exchange. She simply couldn't supply the amount Tang Qi wanted.
That left Tang Qi with a different question.
"How much can you give us?"
"I can give you one day's worth of food."
"Too little."
"Three days."
"Half a month."
"Impossible! The village would starve!"
"Would you like to see the losses the tribe suffered? Shall I bring out the legs and feet bitten off the