Strictly speaking, the current number of people in the Fire Fist Tribe is not the 121 people shown on the stone tablet, but 136 people.
The extra 15 people are naturally the snow bandits who are still imprisoned in the dungeon.
As long as Soma is willing, these people can join the tribe as slaves and transform into new residents at any time.
At the same time, for the snow bandits who numbered tens of thousands, the loss of a dozen people did not matter at all.
This is the real big house in the surrounding area!
"It's just a few hundred kilometers to Qinggang City. Even with the map, only Thomas, the priest in the tribe, can make it back and forth with certainty. If the others go on the road, they may be giving away their lives in vain!"
The weather of minus 40 degrees was no joke. Sumo himself couldn't bear to go to Qinggang City, let alone other people.
After thinking about it, he decided to go to the dungeon to meet these snow bandit prisoners.
If you don't enter the tiger's den, you won't get the tiger's cubs.
Since these snow bandits can come here, they must have the ability to go back.
Of course, persuading people to surrender is not an easy task, at least not by letting a rough guy like Huang Xiangyu do it.
"I have to take action myself."
Being reduced to dealing with a group of ordinary snow bandits, Sumo enjoyed it.
At least it's much better than lying in bed every day for the first half of the month and just watching the sun rise and set day after day.
"I will pretend to be the guard of the dungeon later, and you will take me in for a walk."
"You come and tell these captives that the tribe is currently short of supplies. The tribe cannot afford food for fifteen people, and five people need to be disposed of."
Sumo called Huang Xiangyu and gave instructions one after another.
Huang Xiangyu nodded like a god. Ever since he killed two waves of snow bandits in a row, he respected Sumo, the clan leader, like the incarnation of a god.
Including the level of faith, it has also been raised to the same level of 'loyal believer' as Thomas.
"Remember, don't introduce my identity, just do what you have to do."
Sumo gave another uneasy instruction, and until the latter nodded solemnly, the two of them pushed open the dungeon door.
This was originally a warehouse built underground to prevent moisture.
Because a lot of supplies were plundered by the Benlei tribe, they were vacated and transformed into a temporary dungeon that could accommodate twenty people.
In order to prevent anyone from escaping, everyone was tied to the pillars of the warehouse, which looked a bit funny.
"Still sleeping, damn, did I let you sleep?"
Huang Xiangyu took out his straw whip and randomly selected an unlucky guy and whipped him twice.
Amidst the crackling and whining sounds, the others woke up with frightened expressions.
"Everyone, please wake up. I locked you here before because the head of my family was kind-hearted and killed the same kind of people, so that you could have a chance to live."
"But now, the clan does not have much supplies. It is only enough to survive for ten more people."
At this point, the fifteen people tied to the pillars all struggled.
Even though his mouth was stuffed with weed and he couldn't speak, he could still imagine what they would say.
Sumo focused on observing the few people with the strongest will to survive in the field, and silently remembered their faces and positions in his heart.
Within the next three days.
By delivering meals twice a day, Sumo quickly determined his goal.
The members of the secret killing team could not be chosen. Perhaps Duan Tianrong's death was a huge blow. All nine of them were depressed and lost their minds.
Coupled with the fact that the secret killing team has a big business and two second-level priests in charge, its position will remain stable in the short term.
Letting these people escape, Sumo couldn't guarantee that they would be able to follow his plan.
If he was tortured and interrogated, and Thomas's luxurious record was exposed, he would be shooting himself in the foot.
But on the other side, there is much hope of winning over the Red Moon Team.
After delivering food into the dungeon, Soma will take the weeds out of these people's mouths and untie them one by one.
He serves the food and the other party eats.
Being so close, it was natural to have a conversation along the way.
It's daytime again.
"Wake up, everyone, food is here!"
Pushing open the dungeon door, Somo picked up the hammer next to him and knocked on the wall a few times.
The fifteen people woke up immediately and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that only Sumo was standing at the door carrying a rice pail.
Ever since Huang Xiangyu said that only ten people could survive, they had been having nightmares for three days in a row.
Especially Delenn.
From time to time, he would dream of the miserable scene of being hacked to death with random knives and then buried in the wilderness.
Seeing Somo walking up to him, Delen immediately showed a flattering smile. Although he didn't think that a small dungeon guard could decide the quota, at least there was a glimmer of hope, right?
Somo reached out and took out the ball of weed from Delen's mouth.
"Brother Chen, we are so lucky to be able to see you today!"
"Oh, the patriarch is kind-hearted. He hasn't decided who will live and who will die. Maybe the supplies can last until the end of winter, so you don't have to be so afraid."
With these perfunctory words again, Delen didn't dare to ask any more questions. After Somo untied one of his hands, he quickly scratched the itchy areas on his body.
There are a lot of bed bugs in this underground warehouse and the environment is very poor. Just being tied to a pillar and being bitten by bed bugs at will is not something that ordinary people can endure.
Uncovering the rice bucket, Somo picked up the wooden bowl and took a bowl of gruel from the bucket.
Delen looked down and took a breath.
hiss.
There was actually less brown rice in the gruel.
Three days ago, there were hundreds of grains of rice in a bowl, which could barely satisfy my hunger.
Today, the rice grains in the bowl can barely make the water change color, and the number is no longer less than a hundred.
Are we out of supplies?
The thought came and the nightmare suddenly struck, and Delen was trembling with fear.
"Brother Chen, this is."
"What's wrong?" Sumo asked knowingly.
"It's okay, I'll drink it, please hand it over to me." Delen showed a smile that was uglier than crying.
He didn't dare to ask Somo what happened, for fear that he would get the result he least wanted to know.
Rather than doing this, it's better not to ask, so I feel somewhat relieved.
After going around, everyone noticed that the rice grains had decreased, but no one took the initiative to ask questions.
Sumo nodded imperceptibly.
In terms of psychological quality alone, these snow bandits are much stronger than any of the residents in the tribe, and are several times stronger than those frightened slaves.
If he could really conquer hundreds of snow bandits and join the Fire Fist tribe, he would definitely give his opponents a huge surprise once a tribal war started.
Back at the dungeon door, Somo came and sat down next to Delen, placing the rice pail casually on one side.
This behavior, which was completely abnormal in daily life, suddenly made Delen feel excited again.
Usually, the guard named "Chen Shen" would leave in a hurry after delivering the meal, and would not see anyone until the next meal.
If you stay here today, is it possible that the elimination will be selected soon?
"What, do you have something to say to me?"
Somo sat for a while and noticed that Delen was twisting around like a waterweed. It was funny, so he stood up and took out the weed ball.
"Chen Guardsman, Brother Chen, are we going to eliminate people today?" Delen's voice trembled.
"Maybe." Sumo nodded and glanced at the surrounding snow bandits who were listening. Everyone was extremely eager to know the answer.
"This year's late winter is indeed different from previous years. The temperature has dropped sharply. In addition, our tribe has been plundered by a neighboring tribe before, so there must be a lot of gaps in supplies. That is to say, Priest Thomas later killed him. The other party's priest, we just took advantage of the chaos to grab some supplies." The snow bandits had already seen this public information when they took the order, and they didn't doubt him at this time.
Delen was silent for a while, then suddenly said: "If we don't eat, can we survive without eating?"
Sumo thought for a moment and shook his head: "It's not okay if you don't eat. Your body will collapse."
"The tribe doesn't kill you because it wants to have more labor force in the spring."
"It's okay for you to go without food for two days now. But if you don't eat for three to five days, won't you be useless?"
"A bunch of useless people, a burden. Which tribe would want such people? They are not even slaves."
Seeing that Delen's eyes finally dimmed, Sumo suddenly realized that the opportunity had come.
He lowered his voice, glanced at the other person and said, "You want to live so much, do you still have any unfulfilled wishes?"
"I can't talk about my wish, I just don't want to be tossed around and die like this in the end."
Delen smiled bitterly and recounted his experiences in the past few years.
"Brother Chen, don't think I'm just an ordinary person, but over the years I've been lucky enough to go to four cracks and join more than a dozen tribes. It's a pity that these tribes who are willing to take me in are in a similar situation. Wandering on the edge of a cliff, one wrong step could cause everything to disappear, so I could only see the opportunity and run away immediately.”
"Two years ago, I came to Crack 37 and accidentally became a snow bandit. Then I joined Edwin's Red Moon Team and worked hard all the way to become the vice-captain."
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"If. If it weren't for my greed for success, in a year or two, I might become a priest, completely separate myself from my past life, and enter a new field. Do you think I would be willing to do so?"
Delen's experience surprised Sumo. He didn't expect that he had been to four cracks.
It’s just that no matter how rich the experience is, the final conclusion is a bit speechless.
Can becoming a priest lead you to heaven in one step?
Not to mention the two first-level priests of the secret killing team, even the third-level high priest Duan Tianrong was killed by Thomas' punch.
Delen was afraid that he thought too wonderfully about the priestly world, and did not realize that it was a more dangerous place than the mortal world.
But what Sumo wants now is someone with this obsession.
He smiled softly, said nothing more, stuffed the ball of grass back into Delen's mouth and went to the corner.
"The boulder god protects me and protects me from the pain of being displaced."
"The boulder god bless me and help me work smoothly and be appreciated by the patriarch's discerning eyes"
"Giant"
The gentle sound of prayer reached Delen's ears very clearly in the quiet environment of the dungeon.
Praying to the giant stone god in front of them?
Thinking of everyone's mission on this trip, the corners of Delen's mouth turned bitter, and his forehead drooped weakly.
Soon, another three days passed.
The cruelest stage of late winter has finally passed slowly, and the temperature has risen slightly, from minus 40 degrees to about minus 30 degrees.
Although humans are still unable to move in the wilderness for long periods of time, the threat is finally much smaller.
Including the Fire Fist tribe, they also relied on the round-the-clock operation of the heating tower to barely raise the temperature back to zero.
However, for the snow bandits locked in the dungeon, the temperature did not seem to rise at all, but became even colder.
“It’s time to eat!”
Somo picked up a hammer and knocked it, causing the only twelve people left in the dungeon to wake up quickly.
Everyone's faces showed deep exhaustion. Even if Sumo untied the ropes on these people, they would not have the strength to escape.
For these three days, one unlucky person would be taken away and disappeared every night.
In the first two days, everyone could barely comfort themselves. As long as they were lucky, they would not be drawn.
And it's only three more rounds at most, so the probability of survival is still high.
However, last night, that damn Huang Xiangyu came again!
"Due to the hesitation of the clan leader, the shortage of supplies is now even greater. Unfortunately, only eight people can survive."
Two were drawn, and two more places were lost.
Doesn't this mean that the draw was in vain?
The optimism that had just risen in everyone's hearts was ruthlessly crushed, and the shattering was even more complete.
Some people even felt that the Fire Fist Tribe had no intention of letting them live from beginning to end.
The current torture is just another kind of psychological torture.
Taking the weed away from Delen's mouth, Somo made a bowl of porridge, which was obviously much thicker than the previous few days.
But Delen, who was tied to the pillar, had dull eyes and looked lost.
"Why, you have nothing to say to me today?"
Sumo asked with a smile.
Delen didn't speak, he just lowered his head quietly, as quiet as death.
Maybe he also figured out his fate, that he would be drawn and buried here.
"If you don't want to be drawn, I think you should pay more respects to the Stone God. It'll work. As long as you are pious enough, you might be able to survive!"
Sumo finished speaking casually, and Delenn didn't take it to heart.
It's just a wild god worshiped by stupid people. The Snow Bandit organization has destroyed countless gods. If it is really effective, how can these gods be unable to protect themselves?
However, what is surprising is that after Somo left, there were actually people in the dungeon praying silently.
Even though the sound from the gagged mouth was just a whine, you could barely hear the words "The Stone God" in the repeated sentences.
Good guy, even if you know it's useless, you still engage in involution, right?
Delen refused in his heart, but in the end he couldn't help but pray along.
He learned the sentence format of Soma's prayers these days, and his unwillingness flashed through his mind, and he said in his heart:
"Bless the Stone God, help me survive this disaster. Don't be drawn. Don't be drawn."
"Bless the Stone God, bless me to leave here alive. I will definitely follow your guidance and teachings."
"Giant"
After reciting it, Delen didn't know how long he had been reciting it, and he fell asleep tiredly.
When he woke up again, he saw Huang Xiangyu came in with another person.
The other party looked at him for a long time, especially Delen.
This time, three people were drawn.
One member of the Red Moon Squad and two members of the Secret Killing Squad were dragged away by the guards howling miserably.
"Didn't you draw me?"
Delen was stunned and suddenly became ecstatic.
Now that three people were gone, the chance of survival undoubtedly increased dramatically.
However, the other person's attention on his behavior also made him feel uneasy, and he felt uneasy that he would definitely be drawn next time.
what to do?
Is there any use in praying?
Delen prayed again until he fainted, and then he was woken up by the sound of hammer banging.
Just when he thought this was the last time to choose someone, he found that it was Sumo who walked in.
The other party actually untied all the ropes in three strokes and helped him sit on the ground.
"Brother Chen, what are you"
"Did you pray to the Stone God to get out of here?"
"Ah, this." Delen was stunned, and found that Somo's expression was unusually solemn, so he had to nod quickly.
"Let's go. The Stone God told me in a dream that you shouldn't die here and asked me to help you. But what can I, a dungeon guard, do to help you? Take these foods with you and escape at night."
Somo said, untying a bag from behind.
After opening, there were more than a dozen baked potatoes inside, exuding a tempting aroma.
But at this moment, Delen didn't care, his head was shut down, and he looked stupid.
"Escape. Escape?"
(End of chapter)