Running through the vast village carrying someone on one's back, it was inevitable that they would run into the village's savages. As they rounded a corner of a row of wooden houses, they were spotted by a female savage carrying a basket of fruit, with a child following behind her.
In the emergency, Petru displayed the combat skills of a former ace mercenary. Before the woman could react, he rushed forward and kicked her to the ground. As he kicked, he shifted his body to the side, allowing Mrs. Larry on his back to slide gently to the ground.
The woman let out a muffled groan, her body flying backward, smashing through the door of a nearby wooden hut, and falling inside. The child beside her stood there, stunned, neither running away nor screaming.
After setting Mrs. Larry down, Petru rushed into the broken doorway. He had to get rid of the woman before she made a commotion and attracted the attention of others. As he passed the child, he reached into his mouth, removed the dagger, and swiftly sliced it across the child's throat.
At this moment, his heart was completely calm.
He is Petru, the wolf of the jungle, and Redbeard, the pirate king. He has experienced real war, witnessed Boy Scouts with AKs slaughtering civilians, and seen entire villages instantly razed to the ground by bombs...
On the battlefield, no one cares about your age, whether you are young or old, male or female, or whether you have a disability; no one cares whether you are a virgin or whether you have a lover waiting for you in the distance... Here, there is only choking smoke, whistling bullets, and the choice between life and death—the only way to survive is to kill the enemy.
War is never humane.
As the child's body collapsed, Petru had already rushed into the house. He was as agile as a leopard; less than two seconds after entering, he rushed out again, picked up the child's body, and threw it into the other room. Then he returned to Mrs. Larry's side, picked her up, and said:
"Shall we continue? Or would you like to show us the way?"
Mrs. Larry said nothing, as if nothing had happened.
They continued to carefully navigate between the wooden huts, avoiding dangerous places, especially where they might encounter the savage elders.
Before leaving the village, Petru killed a few more savages, but not each time was as easy as the last. Especially the two strong men he encountered near the sugarcane field, carrying simple farm tools. Petru, with only a small knife and also needing to care for Mrs. Larry, struggled quite a bit before finally killing the two savages. Fortunately, they didn't shout or scream, probably thinking that dealing with two naked fugitives didn't require so many men.
Just then, a series of howling sounds came from the direction of the village. Petru knew that the villagers had discovered their escape sooner or later, and the bodies of those he had killed wouldn't be hidden for long either. Now, they needed to find a place to hide.
Before them lay a field of farmland, where crops grew taller than a person and resembled sugarcane. Petru dragged the two corpses into the sugarcane field and hid them, deliberately leaving some traces, before carrying Mrs. Larry toward the altar beside them.
Mrs. Larry asked, "Why don't we hide in the sugarcane field?"
Petru said as he ran, "This looks like the only place where someone can hide, and it will definitely be their main search target. They'll surround this area soon."
Mrs. Larry fell silent. She knew her strengths and weaknesses. In terms of experience in combat and escape, this Redbeard hulking man was a thousand times better than her.
Petru ran as fast as he could and finally reached the trapezoidal altar that the lady had mentioned. But when he got there, he realized that the mountain behind the waterfall was still very, very far away, and all that lay ahead was barren land with few obstructions.
The distant village was in an uproar. The howling of the savages rose and fell. Almost all the savages came out, scattering like ants whose nest had been disturbed, and then slowly gathered again, heading towards the farmland behind the village.
Petru, hiding behind the trapezoidal altar, cautiously peeked out and saw that the savages had indeed surrounded the sugarcane field; they estimated that the large area would keep them busy for a while. However, besides that field, there were also scattered savages searching other areas, which meant they could only hide here for the time being and couldn't go towards the sides of the waterfall. But once the savages finished searching the crops over there, they would definitely find their way here, and they had to find a way to leave.
Petru surveyed the situation. Behind the trapezoidal altar lay wilderness, somewhat like a mass grave, but with almost no vegetation, making it a place where people couldn't hide during the day. Everywhere else were savages; escape would be difficult for the two of them. The only way now was to climb over the altar and return towards the village. Of course, this was risky; if there were people on the altar, or if they had surrounded it, it would be tantamount to walking into a trap.
Petru, carrying Mrs. Larry on his back, tugged hard at her hands and said, "Hold on tight to my neck, don't slip!" Then he began to climb up the steps of the altar, using both his hands and feet.
The steps of the altar were steep, and wild grass grew in the cracks between the stones. The morning dew still clung to the grass leaves, making them very slippery. Fortunately, it looked very old and had never been repaired. Many stones had been weathered away, making it pitted and uneven, providing him with a foothold.
Mrs. Larry hugged his neck tightly and lay on his back without saying a word.
With great difficulty, the two climbed to the top of the altar. The top of the altar was not flat, but had steps leading down, which they could not have seen from below. Even Mrs. Larry had not expected that the top was not a platform, but a large pit.
The pit wasn't deep, and it was surrounded by steps, somewhat like a small stadium, except that the center wasn't a sports field, but rather a pile of messy, large rocks.
Petru poked his head out and looked into the distance. Most of the savages were gathered around the sugarcane field, presumably having discovered the two corpses. They were conducting a large-scale search, sending out signals as they looked for the people. Because there were so many people and they were far apart, he didn't know if the savage chieftain was also among them.
He crawled along the edge of the altar like a spider to the other side. Some savages from the village ahead were running this way, clearly heading to join the search party.
Petru lay motionless. His plan was to wait until most people had gone to the sugarcane fields, then run towards the village. Even if a few people remained, they couldn't stop him. He guessed his weapons were in their chieftain's house; once he retrieved them, the remaining ammunition and grenades would be enough to wreak havoc on the village. Only with enough chaos would they have a chance to escape. Even if they couldn't escape, he wanted to kill as many as possible to justify his actions.
The only gamble was on where the old man was. If the old man hadn't gone to the sugarcane field and had stayed in the village, things would be difficult. Recalling that terrifying Mental Power, he had no confidence whatsoever in escaping from the old man.
Just as he was thinking this, he saw several old men walking out of the village together, the one in the middle being the clan chief who was holding a scepter. However, judging from the direction he was heading, it seemed he wasn't going towards the sugarcane field, but rather towards the altar.
Petru cursed inwardly, immediately shrinking back and lowering both his and Mrs. Larry's heads. He then turned back to look at the steps leading down to the altar, his face showing slight hesitation, unsure whether he should go down.
Mrs. Larry seemed to understand their predicament and said, "Perhaps there are people hiding among those big rocks down there. Let's go down and take a look. At worst, it'll just be our burial ground."
Petru nodded and said, "If that's the case, madam, I would be honored to be buried with you!"