Petru's body was heavy, making it hard for Mrs. Larry to breathe. She adjusted her breathing slightly and gently patted Petru's back, saying:
"Listen, Petru, time is running out. Don't move, listen to me—"
I've been dragged around by them these past few days, and I've roughly figured out some of the situation. This savage tribe has a very primitive social structure. The old man is their chieftain and also the shaman responsible for communicating with the gods. The scepter in his hand symbolizes divine power. Their population is small, so they regard sex and procreation as the most sacred things.
They planted some crops in the valley behind them, but these crops couldn't feed their entire population, so they also went out to fish and hunt.
Every morning at dawn, they would split into groups of ten or twelve to go hunting. There were no large animals on the island, so they could only hunt birds and rodents. Most of them went out fishing, consisting of about half men and a small portion of women. Normally, they would return at dusk, but some caught big fish and returned by noon.
Therefore, the morning is the quietest time in the entire tribe. If you want to escape, you must take advantage of this opportunity.
It's a sunny day, but look at the sky, there are no stars or moon, which suggests there might be a special spatial structure here. I don't really understand this; I've only heard Pardik mention it.
However, I could hear the sound of the ocean waves in the middle of the night, which meant that the moon's gravity could reach this area. Judging from the sound, the beach should be in the opposite direction of the window of the room where I was imprisoned, and it's actually not far from here.
There is a large house on the right side of this courtyard, which is the chieftain's house, but he only stays here at night. During the day, he usually stays on the high ground outside the main gate of the courtyard, where he can see the crops growing and the hunters returning from hunting.
When you escape, whatever you do, don't go that way. The old man is a bit strange; he seems to be able to control people's minds. I guess it's related to the scepter he's holding.
You can go around to the left side of the courtyard; there's an altar there where they worship their gods. Women might be praying there, so be careful.
After passing the altar, you can see a waterfall flowing upwards in the distance. I guess it might be an optical illusion, meaning that no matter how low the terrain, it could be seen by the savages standing there. So, you can't go in that direction. You should head towards the side of the waterfall, at about a 60-degree angle. Although I don't know what's there, it's relatively safer. Because if the principle of the upward-flowing waterfall is as I guess, then the refraction of light will attract people's attention like a black hole, and the human eye and brain will automatically ignore things on either side of it."
When Mrs. Larry finished speaking, she seemed to have exhausted all her strength, and her voice grew softer and softer, " Petru... did you understand? Petru..."
Petru's tears streamed down Mrs. Larry's cheeks, soaking a large patch of withered grass.
He barely remembered what happened after that; his mind was filled with Mrs. Larry's words. When the campfire party ended, he saw Mrs. Larry being led into the savage chieftain's large house.
The sounds from next door were still ringing out; Petru knew that the beast guarding him was currently venting his lust on Mrs. Larry.
The military dagger was left lying on the ground by the door.
Petru tried to twist his body, trying to break free of his restraints. But the vines binding him were naturally thorny, and he would get pricked with the slightest movement.
The vines were binding him tightly, making it impossible for him to break free or move his legs. Fortunately, there were no pillars or anything like that in the house; he was simply tied up and left in a corner.
He simply lay down and rolled around on the ground. Thorns dug into his flesh, making him wince in pain.
Gritting his teeth, he rolled to the doorway, grabbed the dagger with his hands bound behind his back, and cut the vines.
Without even having time to remove the thorns still embedded in his flesh, he gripped the knife in his other hand and went to the house where Mrs. Larry was being held.
There was no one in the courtyard, Petru pushed open the half-closed door and slipped inside.
The savage was on top of Mrs. Larry, like a pig rooting for food. Mrs. Larry was expressionless, but a painful groan escaped her throat. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Petru, Petru raised his index finger to signal her to be quiet, and then stealthily crept up behind the savage.
Just as things reached a critical moment, the savage's movements suddenly quickened. He tilted his head back, about to let out a triumphant roar, when suddenly a large hand reached out from behind and covered his mouth. Before he could even understand what was happening, the sharp blade had already severed his carotid artery and trachea. Because the blade was so sharp, blood didn't gush out from the wound until he fell to the ground.
"Let's go, madam!" Petru said, kicking the body aside.
"You might succeed if you escape alone, but taking me along would only be a burden," Mrs. Larry said calmly. "Go! You've killed someone; they won't let you go!"
"No, I must take you with me! Otherwise, my conscience will torment me for the rest of my life." Petru made up his mind and helped the lady up. "I thought my conscience had long been eaten by dogs. Before last night, my only thought was to get Lawiye out of prison and stuff grenades into the crotches of those politicians who were making things difficult for me, making their asses bleed. For so many years, I've been like a mindless zombie, constantly killing and constantly on the run. To be honest, I'm tired of it all! It was you—last night—who brought me back to life, and my blood is warm again!"
Mrs. Larry smiled with relief, but her legs could not support her weight, and she collapsed in pain after taking only a small step.
"Don't worry about me, just go!" she said weakly.
Petru saw that her lower body was terribly swollen, and her thighs were covered in blood. He knelt down, took the woman's arms, and lifted her onto his back, saying firmly, "Don't worry, we'll get out of here!"
He carried Mrs. Larry on his back, put the dagger in his mouth, and placed his hands behind her back to support her thighs, not daring to spread her legs too wide for fear of hurting her.
The courtyard was quiet; the wild men had probably all gone out to work.
Petru stood at the door for a while, making sure no one saw him, before going out.
Mrs. Larry stopped insisting on staying, tightened her grip on Petru's neck, and said, "Go to the left... yes, there's a fence there... yes, go out from here..."
The savage tribe was larger than he had imagined, with hundreds of houses scattered throughout the valley. Mrs. Larry estimated their population to be between four and six hundred. Most of them had gone out, leaving less than a third of the savages in the tribe, including many elderly people and children.
But Petru didn't dare to be careless. His only weapon was a small knife, and he was carrying someone on his back. Following Mrs. Larry's advice, he carefully avoided potentially dangerous areas and headed towards the outskirts of the savage village.
On one side of the village is a large river, and on the other side is an open plain, where many crops are planted haphazardly, but they are not growing very well. Most of them are sparse, except for one patch of plants that look like sugarcane, which is thriving. Next to the sugarcane field is a trapezoidal platform built of stones, which looks like a half-built pyramid.
Mrs. Larry said that it was an altar where the savages worshipped their gods. Behind the altar was a large wasteland filled with rubble, which was likely their ancestral burial ground.