Chapter 257: Fleeing
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Yang Zhong whispered a few words to the warriors beside him. Thereafter, Su Ying’s group saw them riding their horses toward the stream.
To her astonishment, Su Ying saw a warrior go behind a large rock and activate some unknown mechanism. A rumbling sound was heard, and a stone bridge rose from the icy surface.
The sturdy stone bridge broke through the ice layer on the stream and gradually appeared in front of everyone.
“Tribal Chief, we can go across now,” a warrior shouted toward them.
Zhang Nuo looked at the stone bridge in astonishment. He had been to this place many times, but it never occurred to him there was a hidden mechanism here.
“City Lord Su, this way please.”
Su Ying nodded and rode her horse onto the stone bridge. The bridge, which had been submerged in the water, was now covered with moss. It appeared mottled but was very sturdy.
After she crossed the bridge, Su Ying saw the tribal chief and the others directing the cattle and sheep to go across the bridge in a single file.
After crossing the stream, the rest of the journey was not so difficult.
“City Lord Su, should we rest for a night when we pass by the Taloh Tribe before continuing our journey?” Zhang Nuo raised his head and looked into the distance as he rode over to Su Ying’s side.
Su Ying knew that he wanted to go home and take a look. “Mm-hmm. But you don’t have to follow me back this time.”
Zhang Nuo was a little surprised. “City Lord Su, don’t you want to go somewhere else to take a look?”
“Of course, I want to but I have been out for too long. 1 have to stay at home for a while first. Otherwise, the children will be unhappy.”
Zhang Nuo was even more surprised. “City Lord Su, you have children?”
Su Ying smiled so brightly that it seemed to light up the winter snow around her. “Yes, I have children.”
“Then City Lord Su, you should return home as soon as possible to reunite with your children. Your children and family members must miss you very much.”
“You know that family members will miss you very much, yet you still wander around all time?”
Zhang Nuo laughed heartily. “I’m not afraid of City Lord Su making fun of me. If it wasn’t for the fact that 1 can’t leave this place, I would have gone to other states to take a look and then draw a map of each state. This is my lifelong wish.”
“I hope your wish comes true.”
“Thank you, City Lord.”
The group was not in a hurry to continue their journey. After all, the snow-covered road was not easy to travel on. Safety came first above all.
However, the journey was not too far, and they were riding horses. In less than three days, they saw the tribe’s village hidden in the white snow.
Su Ying, who was traveling at the front, saw the bright red marks on the ground. She spurred her horse forward quickly and dismounted before squatting down to check the marks on the ground.
When she smelled the sickly sweet stench, she frowned. It was the smell of fresh human blood.
Su Ying stood up and took out her binoculars to check her surroundings. She found a person lying on the ground not far ahead.
She strode over in that direction.
In the snow, a man wearing clothes made from animal skin lay in a pool of blood. Su Ying reached out and turned the body over. When she saw the other party’s appearance, her expression gradually clouded over.
Zhang Nuo followed her. “It’s Pu Mo! It’s Pu Mo!” After seeing the other party’s appearance, Zhang Nuo’s expression changed drastically. This was his childhood playmate who had survived the earlier attack from the Nan State people. He had never imagined his friend would be gone after only a short while.
Su Ying pulled open his clothes and carefully examined his wounds. She ascertained that the wounds were indeed inflicted by a sharp weapon.
She jumped onto her horse and galloped to a high point further upfront. She took out her binoculars to look around and found that the colorful flags raised by the other tribes when Su Ying’s group left were gone.
Zhang Nuo had said that these colorful flags had a warning function. If the tribe was in danger, they would take down the colorful flags as a warning!
Now, the colorful flag was gone, which meant that something had happened to the tribe.
“Something may have happened to the tribe. Tribal Chief, please wait here for a while. I’ll go take a look with Zhang Nuo.”
The tribal chief recalled what Zhang Nuo had said before. If there were people from the Nan State attacking the tribes, then it was definitely not just one person. Since their Shepherd Tribe had followed them here, there was no reason for them not to help.
The tribal chief left five people to guard the cattle and sheep, then led the rest of his tribesmen to follow Su Ying to rush toward the tribe’s village.
The closer they got to the tribe’s village, the more blood stains there were on the ground. Corpses also appeared increasingly more frequently.
Zhang Nuo looked at these familiar tribesmen lying in pools of blood and his two eyes were about to pop from fury. He held back his tears and ran in from the back of the tribe’s village. He gritted his teeth as he shouted, “Is anyone there? Is anyone there?”
The tribe’s village ground was covered in blood, and the bright red blood dyed the snow red.
The tribe’s village was frighteningly quiet. Even the chilling wind that blew past carried a bloody stench.
Zhang Nuo ran all the way back to his house. There was no one at home, but there was no corpse either.
Su Ying discovered that although there were many bloodstains in the tribe’s village and there were corpses too, there weren’t as many corpses as she had expected. If the entire tribe had been massacred, there wouldn’t be just these corpses.
“Don’t move around alone. Let’s go to the other tribes to take a look.”
Zhang Nuo endured the grief in his heart and followed everyone to the other tribes. After looking at the other tribe’s villages, the situation was similar to that of the Taloh Tribe. There were bloodstains everywhere on the ground, and there were also corpses. However, the number of corpses was not that many.
“They must have fled. Let’s follow the footprints on the ground and see which direction they went.”
“Alright.”
With so many people fleeing at the same time, it was impossible for there not to be any traces on the ground. Soon, Su Ying and the others discovered that there was a large number of footprints behind each tribe’s village. Judging from the direction in which the footprints left, they were headed in the direction Su Ying had come from.
“Is there a common refuge area among your tribes?”
Zhang Nuo shook his head. “No. The terrain here is flat. There are no caves deep in the mountains. If we want to reach the mountains, we have to go in the direction of Sky Alpha City.”
Su Ying looked at the direction in which the footprints were heading. They were indeed heading toward Sky Alpha City.
“Let’s go. We’ll follow the footprints and take a look.”
“Alright.”
The tribal chief called out to his tribesmen and told them to bring the cattle and sheep and catch up quickly.
The group of people followed the footprints and quickly moved forward. The further they walked, the more Su Ying felt that they were heading in the direction of Sky Alpha City.
They hurried along the way and finally found the traces the fleeing tribesmen had left behind.
Zhang Nuo came to a campfire that had been extinguished to check the temperature. There was still some heat left, which proved that they had not left for long.
Zhang Nuo immediately got on his horse and went after them. True enough, he soon saw many people from his tribe.
He quickly spurred his horse forward and yelled, “Father! Mother…”
The group that was advancing suddenly heard Zhang Nuo’s shout and fell silent out of fear. However, when they saw that it was Zhang Nuo, those tribesmen who recognized him shouted back in response.
“Zhang Nuo! Zhang Nuo!”
When Zhang Nuo heard the shouts, he looked up and saw his tribesman.
He spurred his horse to the front of his tribesman and looked at him with red-rimmed eyes. “Pu Da, tell me quickly. Did something happen to the tribe? Where are my father and mother?”
“Don’t worry. 1 think I saw them escape earlier. They should be upfront.”
“Tell me! What’s going on?”
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