Chapter 79: Female slaves
Chapter 79: Female slaves
The woman trembled in fear, desperately bowing and babbling incoherent pleas for mercy.
However, it was of no avail.
This was not the time for competing over prey in the fall; it was a brutal war where both sides discarded weapons and engaged in a deadly fight. When the Flying Snake tribe attacked the Green Sparrow tribe's settlement, it destined the war to be a bloody and fatal conflict.
The people of the Green Sparrow tribe had no sympathy or compassion for these ruthless enemies attacking their tribe. Compassion was reserved for the friendly, not the enemy. For enemies, there was only indifference and slaughter.
Third Senior Brother walked through the snow and approached. He looked at the woman with a cold gaze, raising the spear in his hand. He wouldn't show mercy just because she was a woman; she was an enemy, and enemies must be killed.
"Wait a moment."
A voice sounded from behindit was the Divine Child.
Third Senior Brother halted the spear he was about to thrust, and the coldness and murderous intent in his eyes dissipated. He turned to look at Han Cheng, switching the bloodied spear to his left hand, moving it aside, and placing his bloodied right hand on his chest, respectfully bowing to Han Cheng.
Upon seeing the Divine Child, the others also paid their respects.
Han Cheng had a grass rope in his hand, tied around the neck of the Flying Snake tribe's warrior. Whether uncomfortable with the restraint or provoked by the pervasive smell of blood, the warrior occasionally swung its head, attempting to break free.
It only calmed down somewhat when Han Cheng slapped its head.
Under the intense threat of impending death, even a foolish person would become clever.
The terrified woman, like someone seeing the last straw for survival, begged Han Cheng while continuously bowing to him differently.
Even when her head hit the tree trunk hidden in the snow multiple times, she didn't stop for a moment. The hard trunk broke her skin, leaving blood all over her forehead.
Han Cheng waved his hand, signaling everyone to stop the ritual greetings. After a while, he focused on the woman and said, "Leave her."
Hearing Han Cheng's words, the crowd was somewhat surprised. After all, this woman was from the hostile tribe that had just attacked their settlement. Why spare an enemy who had fought against them?
The Divine child was truly too kind.
Han Cheng was not kind, and while he had a soft side, he wasn't a pushover. He spared the woman because the tribe was short-handed, and keeping her could be useful as a female servant in the future.
Oh, don't get it wrong. This female servant is not what you're thinking.
Although Third Senior Brother and the others were somewhat unwilling, they dared not disobey the Divine Childs words. After leaving the woman, they continued stabbing other bodies, gathering around those who were injured and wailing further away.
There was no need to worry about Han Cheng's safety. Elder Senior Brother assigned four people to guard him when he came out.
The woman who narrowly escaped death under the rain of spears bowed to Han Cheng twice, collapsing to the ground as if all her strength had been drained. She gasped heavily, casting a gaze filled with gratitude, awe, and fear toward Han Cheng.
Han Cheng ordered the two people behind him to lift the woman from the ground. Meanwhile, he led the giant beast, Fu Jiang, to a corner and picked up a straw basket used by the Flying Snake tribe to carry stones. He held it in his hand, inspecting it repeatedly.
Han Cheng felt a mix of happiness and regret. He was happy that he discovered a good object for carrying soil and fruits but regretfully forgot about the existence of such a useful thing as a straw basket.
To be fair, it wasn't entirely his fault. It was due to the era he was born into. When he was born, the country of the future had already started its reform and opening up, rapidly advancing and modernizing in various aspects of life. Many things from his childhood were unique to that disappearing era.
As he grew older, these things were left behind in his childhood, never to return.
Due to the passage of time, many memories have become somewhat blurry. They only became clear when triggered by certain events, breaking through the fog of forgotten memories.
There were not only the women but also six others who couldn't escape due to severe injuries. Besides the woman, there were six others who failed to keep up with the fleeing group due to their critical conditions.
Among these six people, four were men, and two were women.
Two of the men were severely wounded, barely clinging to life.
The remaining two men, with relatively less severe injuries, had initially intended to resist. However, upon seeing that the woman was not killed, they immediately discarded the stones or wooden sticks in their hands. Mimicking the woman, they knelt in the snow, repeatedly bowing their heads, praying for forgiveness and preservation of their lives.
According to Third Senior Brother and the others' initial thoughts, these injured enemies who couldn't escape, regardless of whether they begged for mercy or not, would be pierced through the heart with two spears. However, they couldn't do that due to the Divine Childs decision to spare the woman. Instead, they roughly dragged them together.
Han Cheng shifted his gaze away from the crudely crafted straw basket in his hand, looking into the distance at the chaotic ground and the injured members of the Flying Snake tribe piled together. He commanded his bodyguards, "Kill the men, spare the women, and take them back to the tribe."
Han Cheng also had the idea of keeping these men as slaves. However, after considering it, he gave up on that idea. The current Green Sparrow tribe was too small and not formidable enough. If these men were kept, they might easily unite and rebel. Once that happened, the damage to the Green Sparrow tribe would be too significant.
Therefore, Han Cheng had no choice but to order their execution, sparing only the women.
Without men to rely on, these women, who were originally in a subordinate position, would be more easily controlled.
Developing slaves was not a historical regression but a necessary step under the current conditions. In this era, the appearance of slaves was, in fact, a significant advancement.
As for Han Cheng, although he had a soft side, he wasn't a bleeding heart. He wouldn't feel any pity for enemies who came to attack them, intending to kill and plunder food.
Third Senior Brothers mood was somewhat low. He wanted to kill these damn enemies. For him, the best ending for these invaders was to be killed. However, now that the Shaman prohibited killing, he could only glare at these damned people without taking action.
Ironhead approached and relayed Han Cheng's instructions to him.
Sand Junior Brother showed a pleased expression, looked at Han Cheng in the rear, and received a nod from him.
Third Senior Brother grinned, raised his hand without hesitation, and stabbed the spear into the chest of the man who had just breathed a sigh of relief.
The man screamed in agony, his body arched, hands tightly gripping the spear. He looked at Third Senior Brother with a mix of anger and fear.
Unmoved, Third Senior Brother stepped on the man's abdomen, firmly held the spear, pulled it out with force, and a stream of hot blood spurted out, splattering him all over the face.
The message Ironhead had conveyed just now was heard by the other members of the Green Sparrow tribe as well. The other injured men from the Flying Snake tribe, shocked and frightened, attempted to resist, only to be ruthlessly stabbed to death.
The two women who had fainted in fear had their legs dragged through the snow into the Green Sparrow tribe's territory.