Not to mention intelligent creatures, even low-level animals would not do something like devouring their own kind unless they were in a desperate situation, let alone intelligent creatures.
'Cannibalism' was bound to be a barbaric and brutal behavior in any civilization. Even though the Hellfire people and the mainlanders looked very different, it was undeniable that they were both human beings. The shock that Zhang Lisheng showed was no exaggeration in the eyes of the mainlanders.
When the tall woman saw that her words had an effect, she continued to speak in a hoarse voice, "You've come from a faraway country in a foreign mainland, so of course, you've never heard of the brutality and horror of these Hellfire people.
Cannibalism is nothing to them. These people are not some ridiculous' dwarfs' but the brutal barbarians who have destroyed countless civilized countries in our Oasis Mainland! "
"They're very brave when they hunt, but I really can't tell what kind of brutal barbarians they are. Not only that, they even eat humans. T-This is really hard to tell. I really can't tell …" Upon hearing this, Zhang Lisheng's body jolted. A look of disbelief crept upon his face as he muttered to himself. Lowering his head, he walked into the jungle in a daze.
Looking at his disappearing back, the tall woman became silent for a moment before suddenly whispering, "Navigator Hanoo, will he be our hope?"
"I can't tell yet, but it's not reliable to pin our hopes on a stranger whom we've only met twice," The skinny man muttered with a grave expression in another stone prison. "However, in this situation, he can be considered as a 'straw' floating in the sea …"
Just like this, Zhang Lisheng became the straw in the eyes of these prisoners as he wished. However, at this time, he began to loosen the reins only to grasp them better and no longer communicated with those prisoners. When he went to deliver their meals, he would always lower his head and work in silence.
On the contrary, the mainlanders in the stone prison began to cling to him through the cage and chatter nonstop. Most of them were talking about how they missed their family members at home.
Just like this, three to four days passed by. Zhang Lisheng calculated that it was time for him to add the final push. After delivering their meals to the mainlanders at noon, he walked into the jungle with a grave expression. His expression changed right away as he smiled at the Wizard Li headman who came up to him and ordered, "Tugra, summon a few chief warriors to eat two prisoners. Oh, look for women with big hands and feet this time."
"Yes, Conqueror!" The Wizard Li headman replied respectfully and turned to leave in a hurry.
A few minutes later, four powerful native warriors riding giant millispiders pushed the jungle apart with their spears and appeared in front of the prisoners. Soon, the two women in the stone prison where the female mainlanders were imprisoned wailed as they turned into greasy barbecued meat.
When Zhang Lisheng carried the wooden bucket filled with food and walked into the stone prison with the native choresmen at night, he realized that most of the prisoners' faces had already turned pale. He could not help but feel very satisfied, but he continued to do what he should do expressionlessly.
Upon seeing the young man silently scooping up the thick meat porridge with a long-handled wooden spoon while swaying his body with an uncertain gaze, the tall woman who often talked to him these few days suddenly stood up and walked to the edge of the stone prison. Looking into the young man's eyes, she said, "Two more of us have been eaten by the Hellfire tribesmen today. Their names are Lisa and Fei Li.
Lisa is a mother of four children. Her husband was originally a guard officer in the private guards of the previous Venis City's previous governor, but because he was stabbed in the lung while chasing the robbers, he could no longer work, so the whole family could only … "
"What does this have to do with me? I'm just an ordinary person, an ordinary person who has mastered some 'martial skills.' I'm not a legendary god or some bullsh * t hero who can slaughter tens of thousands of demons.
I've already recovered from my injury, so I won't be sending food to all of you anymore tomorrow. In the future, I'll resume my life of hunting beasts, and who knows when I'll die in obscurity.
I know that you and that skinny man keep nagging when you see me every day, but I can't save all of you. It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I don't have the ability … "
"You have the ability to save us?" The instant Zhang Lisheng's exasperated words left his mouth, a deep voice resonated from behind him. "I'm a navigator, and I know this sea area like the back of my hand. My companions are all good sailors, so we can sail any kind of ship.
So, as long as you cut these bark ropes with a knife at night and let us out, we can quietly run to the seaside to grab a ship and sail away. This is not only for us, but also for you.
Just like what you said, if you stay on this island and live a life of hunting beasts every day, who knows when you'll be eaten by beasts in obscurity. Your ending may not necessarily be better than ours.
Even if you're always lucky and can survive safely, are you willing to stay on this barren island for the rest of your life? Perhaps you don't feel it now, but think about it carefully. One year, two years, or even ten years later, do you think you'll be willing to sit on such a barren island and accompany the aborigines … "
"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" Zhang Lisheng turned around and glared at the skinny man who had a regretful look on his face as he shouted angrily.
"I'll only say one last thing." The skinny man looked straight at the young man's distorted face without fear and said bitterly, "I realized that those Hellfire tribesmen did not fatten us up and eat us. Instead, they treated us as some kind of reward for those meritorious warriors to choose and eat.
For this reason, if you plan to save us, you'd better make a decision quickly because everyone has a different taste. If I or Captain Anduki are eaten one day, you won't be able to escape even if you want to. "
"Don't worry, I'm eating and drinking well on the island, so I don't have the mood to take such a big risk to save all of you who I don't even know …" Zhang Lisheng's body froze for a while. It was only until the aborigine choresman knocked his head with a wooden spoon and signaled that it was time to leave that he muttered weakly and staggered into the jungle.
After he left this time, the prisoners in the stone prison did not see him again for a long time. Time flew by, and unknowingly, more than ten days had passed by.
On this night, when the aborigines had already fallen asleep, an agile figure suddenly jumped out of a simple bark house at the edge of the Wizard Li's ancestral land. Like an ape, he ran and jumped into the jungle, moving quickly and quietly. Not long after, he arrived in front of the cage that imprisoned the mainlanders.
"Skinny! Skinny! Are you still alive?" The figure under the moonlight curled up his body and hesitated for a while before shouting in a low voice, "Skinny! If you're still alive, make a sound now! Otherwise, I'll leave now!"
"I'm alive! I'm still alive! Is that you, foreign boy?" The skinny man, who was lying on a dirty leaf and looking up at the moon and stars, who had not slept in the middle of the night, suddenly got up with a jolt. Suppressing his excitement, he replied in a trembling voice.
"What foreign boy? I'm going to be your savior soon! My name is Lisheng, remember it!" Zhang Lisheng said softly, "Hurry up and wake up everyone in the stone prison. Don't make a sound. I'll break the rope and bring all of you away. It's getting late now, we still have to escape to the beach."
As the young man spoke, he took out a bottle carved with solid wood from his waist and opened the cork. Absentmindedly, he dripped some colorless transparent liquid onto the thick rope that was hooking the stone prison. When the rope was completely soaked, he grabbed both ends of the rope with both hands and clenched his teeth as he pulled abruptly, breaking the rope right away.
At this time, the skinny man had already woken up his companions. A teenager in the crowd, who looked to be at most 15 or 16 years old, saw Zhang Lisheng breaking the thick rope that had trapped hundreds of them for more than 20 days with his bare hands with the help of the moonlight. At once, he could not help but blurt out in bewilderment, "Teacher, this foreigner has such great strength!
If he's already so powerful with his bare hands, he must be even more amazing if he picks up a weapon! T-This kind of powerhouse is actually afraid of the Hellfire tribesmen … "
A tall old man whose snow-white beard and hair were covered in mud beside the teenager said in a low voice, "Young Master Annete, this foreigner is not as powerful as you think.
The reason why he can break the rope is actually because of the liquid that he dripped on the rope beforehand. Besides, if my guess is correct, his weapon is his own fists. For this reason, he didn't steal a knife to cut the rope … "
"You're quite knowledgeable, old man. That's right! The most powerful weapon of us monks is our own bodies. We'll always rely on our hands to deal with any strong enemy," Zhang Lisheng said as he broke the second rope. "Alright, all of you should be able to get out of such a big gap now. I'll go break the rope of the stone prison and then we'll hurry to the beach."
The gap exposed when the two ropes were broken was already as big as the mouth of a well. The men stared at the gap in ecstasy but did not fight for it. Instead, they climbed out of the stone prison one by one according to their status.
After Zhang Lisheng broke the rope of another stone prison, he inadvertently saw that the people who climbed out of the cage first were surrounding the gap to help their companions escape from the shackles of the stone prison. Everything seemed to be in order, so he could not help but mutter in an almost inaudible voice, "Looks like they're living in a world with strict order but civilized enough …"
"We were all unconscious when we were locked in this livestock pen. We'll be able to reach the beach in that direction later." The skinny man, who had been quietly watching Zhang Lisheng, saw him falling into contemplation under the bright moonlight after breaking the rope of the two stone prisons. After pondering for a while, he walked up to the young man and asked.
"Head west," Zhang Lisheng snapped back to reality and replied, "This dwarf, no, Hellfire tribe has already occupied the entire island. The western coastline is filled with docks and harbors. Some of the small harbors where old ships are parked are not guarded at all, so it's not a problem for us to steal a ship."
When the skinny man heard the young man's words, he suddenly smiled. "Lisheng, looks like you've long wanted to escape, haven't you?"
"Of course! If I could split myself into 80 to 100 petals and each of them could sail a big ship, I'd have long stolen a ship and left …" Zhang Lisheng sighed. "You can say that, but actually, it's very difficult for me to make up my mind. After all, it's related to my life. If I'm found out about this, I'll only have a dead end."
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