Chapter 223: Encirclement and Slaughter
A Xi—the shaman—looked even more beautiful than before. After surviving a bitterly cold winter, she had actually grown more full-figured, her skin a shade fairer. The contrast was striking compared to them, who had grown much thinner from hunger.
The group was somewhat afraid of the shaman, as well as the big bird and the giant python beside her. But the joy of seeing A Mang again emboldened them to approach.
Or perhaps it was that they were already fearless—what they had endured before was far more terrifying than a shaman or a few fierce beasts.
The men looked at A Mang. One of them spoke up. “A Mang, come back with us. The cannibal tribe isn’t what it used to be. The clansmen no longer stand united. The new chief is incompetent—he squandered the stored food, yet couldn’t lead the men to hunt enough game during winter. At the hardest moment, he even killed two injured warriors from the tribe and had everyone eat them. And when the people were starving, they actually gave in!”
A Hua also spoke, her eyes red. “In the past, ritual cannibalism was an honor reserved for warriors who died in battle. But now… Chief, we’ve already decided—if you’re willing to return, we’ll follow you. If you’re not, then we won’t go back to the tribe either.”
“I don’t want to go back. I like living out here with A Xi,” A Mang refused without a second thought.
Seeing their faces smeared with grime, Nan Xun guessed they had been traveling for days to get here. She said to them, “It’s getting late. You can rest here for the night.”
They had expected A Mang’s refusal, but hadn’t expected that A Xi wouldn’t hate them—and would even invite them to stay.
A Mang treated them to roasted meat, and Nan Xun brought out the fruit wine she had been saving for a long time. Everyone sat in a circle around the fire. The big bird came over, while the giant python—afraid of fire—returned to its snake burrow.
The men talked about what had happened in the cannibal tribe these past days. A Mang listened absentmindedly, unmoved.
What did others’ life and death have to do with him? He wasn’t the one who killed them.
They gave up the stone cave to the seven clansmen. When the group crossed the suspension bridge and entered the cave halfway up the stone slope, they were stunned once again by the cave’s unexpected luxury.
Early the next morning, A Mang saw them off.
It was near nightfall when he returned.
“I found them two stone caves,” A Mang said. “From here, it’s only half a day’s journey.”
Nan Xun was puzzled. “A Mang, why didn’t you let them stay here? If they were willing, they could live in the treehouse.”
A Mang patted her head and said seriously, “Because they once wanted to hurt you. And because I don’t want outsiders disturbing us.”
Nan Xun was touched by the first reason—then rolled her eyes at the second.
Little Eight snickered. “I get it, I really do. With outsiders around, it’s inconvenient to do things. Let me count—stone cave, treehouse, little river, big tree, grass… If it weren’t for me, who knows how many brats you’d have by now. A whole litter of little savages, heh.”
Nan Xun: ……
Nan Xun didn’t give much thought to the brief appearance of A Hua and the others. But over the past two days, she had an uneasy feeling.
“Little Eight, my right eyelid keeps twitching. Is something bad about to happen?”
Little Eight said, “Wait, let me check.”
After checking, Little Eight yelped. “I see a group of cannibals—twenty or thirty savages carrying spears, coming aggressively! Someone leaked your location. They’re heading straight here—their target is you and A Mang!”
Just then, Da Hui—who had gone out hunting—swooped down in a hurry. “A Xi, this is bad! The cannibals are coming this way!”
After hearing Nan Xun, A Mang was surprised. He didn’t understand why, after he and A Xi had already left the cannibal tribe, his former clansmen were still targeting them.
“A Xi, go back to the stone cave first!”
A Mang sent Nan Xun into the cave, then slashed through the suspension bridge connecting to the treehouse with a single strike.
Nan Xun cried out, “A Mang, what are you doing?!”
He turned to look at her, his voice deep. “A Xi, stay here. Don’t go anywhere.”
With that, he turned and jumped straight out of the cave.
A drop of seven or eight meters was nothing to him. He landed steadily on the ground, spear in one hand and stone knife in the other.
Nan Xun was frantic. She leaned out of the cave and shouted at him, “A Mang, get back here! Do you hear me?!”
He ignored her. Left with no choice, Nan Xun spoke to the bird. “Da Hui, can you fly over and carry me down?”
Da Hui chirped a few times. “Just hide in the cave. That stupid snake and I will help your man.”
The giant python roared, “You dead bird—who are you calling stupid?!”
Nan Xun: ……
Before long, the new chief indeed led twenty or thirty savages to surround the place.
“Look! A Mang really is living with wild beasts in the forest!” one savage shouted, pointing at the python and the bird.
Another roared at A Mang, “A Mang, hand over the shaman—hand over that woman! Do you know what she’s done to our people? Half the tribe fell ill, and more than twenty have already died!”
“He’s no longer A Mang!” the new chief shouted. “He’s been cursed by the shaman—turned into another shaman himself! It’s the two of them who brought hunger and disease to our tribe!”
“That’s right! Kill A Mang! Kill that woman! As long as they die, our tribe will be saved!”
The cannibal warriors roared in unison.
Hearing this, Nan Xun cursed their ignorance. Killing them would solve nothing—it was obvious the tribe had been struck by a plague.
Watching A Mang facing twenty or thirty savages alone, she felt worried.
A Mang wasn’t reckless. Perhaps he truly could handle so many by himself—especially with Da Hei and Da Hui helping. What Nan Xun truly feared was something else.
If some of these people were already infected, what if A Mang caught it?
A Mang didn’t waste words with the savages. He lifted his spear and charged. Da Hei and Da Hui joined the fight as well.
Nan Xun didn’t know what A Mang looked like fighting fierce beasts—but now, the man before her left her utterly stunned.
He killed without blinking, often finishing with a single strike. Even though those in front of him had once been warriors who fought alongside him, once they betrayed him, he regarded them wholly as enemies.
The slaughter was brutal and bloody. Corpses quickly piled up, blood flowing like a river.
The remaining cannibals tried to flee, but Da Hui swooped over and slashed their backs with a single claw, nearly tearing them in half.
Not one of the twenty or thirty savages survived. Every last one died there.
