"Take out whatever else you have on you."
"That long red thing from yesterday, and those sweet things that tasted so good..."
"Tell us where you found them all!"
"..."
Several people clamored over one another.
Li Ping'an and Old Ox had brought Kitten along, intending to rest their feet in this stockade.
They had also hoped to ask about the whereabouts of Hezhai Stockade, the homeland Bone Man had spoken of.
They had not expected the stockade's people to take them captive the very next day.
"I can give them to you, but do you truly not know of Hezhai Stockade?" Li Ping'an asked.
The Clan Chief hesitated a moment before telling Li Ping'an that Hezhai Stockade had been wiped out over a decade ago.
There was no Hezhai Stockade anymore.
In a place like this, surviving the morning was no guarantee of surviving the evening.
Stockades being wiped out was commonplace, nothing unusual.
Yet Li Ping'an persisted. "Then where were they buried after they died?"
"In the snow. Either wild beasts carried them off, or the heavy snow buried them."
Li Ping'an nodded thoughtfully.
Unwilling to waste any more words on him, the Clan Chief motioned for his people to strip Li Ping'an of his possessions.
Li Ping'an did not mind and continued asking, "Please point me in the right direction."
The Clan Chief was puzzled. "They're all gone. What would you go there for?"
"I promised someone I would burn some spirit money for his family," Li Ping'an said.
The Clan Chief wondered whether something was wrong with this man's head and snorted coldly.
"Even if you find it, it won't do you any good. You'll be staying here, I'm afraid. Don't think about escaping. Behave yourself.
"Otherwise, you might end up with a broken leg."
Having