Volume 4: How big is the heart, how vast is the earth Chapter 107 Bloody Carnival
Before Alex's smug look faded, Isaac punched him hard and dislocated his chin.
"You..." Alex didn't expect Isaac to attack him. He rolled his eyes and slowly fell down as soon as he uttered a word.
Isaac glared at the fallen Alex, his face changing several times, but he couldn't bear it in the end. He pulled him up, carried him on his shoulder, turned around and walked away.
"I hope this idiot isn't too deeply involved, otherwise... No, I'm not abandoning him. I just want to protect others. Am I going to watch Arnold and Malcolm get implicated? Am I willing to be implicated by this idiot?"
Isaac could feel several pairs of eyes staring at him maliciously in the darkness behind him, but this would not affect Isaac's decision. He did not believe that such a relationship maintained by short-term profiteering could be very close. The owners of those eyes were not worried about Alex, but were just wondering if he would "betray" others.
"Come on, if you want to kill people here, I will let you know the price of arrogance." Isaac gritted his teeth fiercely.
There seemed to be faint footsteps fading away in the darkness. Isaac breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a little pity for Alex... There was no doubt that this fool had been abandoned.
Isaac walked back to the hotel street with a grim face. As soon as he entered the block, he met two patrolling elven warriors.
These elven warriors on night patrol were not as gentle and courteous as they looked during the day. When their eyes met, Isaac saw only indifference and alienation in their eyes. One of them glanced at the unconscious Alex and seemed to reveal... a sarcastic sneer that he was too lazy to conceal.
Isaac passed the two patrolling soldiers in silence. As their footsteps faded away, cold sweat slowly dripped from Isaac's temples.
Are the elves, with an average lifespan of over 700 years and over a thousand strong men, an ignorant and arrogant race?
No.
For human nobles who have family inheritance, after more than a dozen generations of inheritance, fools among their descendants are only a minority.
Well, would the elves, who have a longer heritage and a longer lifespan, expose such obvious patrol gaps in their own port that could be easily caught?
As the second son, Isaac was not qualified to receive aristocratic management education, but he was at least qualified to enter the Robbins family's library. He at least knew that for thousands of years, no Beast King had ever won the battle with the Elf King.
Isaac glanced back secretly. The two patrolling elven warriors were still in his sight. Under the moonlight, they walked lightly and looked relaxed.
"——This is really a trap!" Isaac quickly retracted his gaze, cold sweat dripping down his back. "Most of the adventurers will enter the Elf Forest tomorrow. The forest elves will never welcome ignorant fools into their lair, so they gave those fools a chance to jump out by themselves. Solving the trouble here at the port is much better than getting involved with elven civilians in the Elf Forest!"
"This idiot Alex has finally implicated other people." Isaac smiled bitterly to himself, "Fortunately, I didn't plan to enter the Elf Forest from the beginning, otherwise... I don't know to what extent I would have been tricked by this idiot."
When Alex woke up, he found himself in a hotel room, tied tightly to a chair. After a few seconds of stunned silence, he realized what had happened and immediately turned his head to look angrily at Isaac who was sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Do you think I'm cutting off your source of income?" Isaac looked up wearily.
Alex gritted his teeth: "Do you know what you have done? This time you have offended not only me, Isaac, you -"
"That's enough. I don't want to know who your 'new friend' is or what his name is." Isaac raised his hand to stop him. "Windfall can break a farmer's neck. People who are keen on making a fortune will never have a good ending. I have said similar things countless times, but I'm sure you can't stand it, including this time... Then, Alex, since we are still friends, why don't we wait patiently for a night and see how many of your 'new friends' are left after dawn, how about it?"
Alex's face twisted: "You betrayed me?!"
"If I had betrayed you, you wouldn't be sitting in the room peacefully like you are now." Isaac felt very tired. "Let me put it another way... Everyone knows that the association brought at least 50,000 gold coins on board, and the cash box was placed on the first ship. Why didn't anyone plan to attack the first ship? Because the association arranged three gold medal hunters to protect the gold coins. When we got off the ship, the three gold medal hunters were still on the ship."
Isaac paused and looked at Alex, who made him feel very complicated. "During the time you were away for most of the day, who made you think that the Elven Port would be easier to attack than the Association's ship?"
Alex stared at Isaac for a few seconds, his angry expression gradually replaced by surprise and doubt.
"You are a cautious person, Alex. Although you have many bad habits, I still think you are a reliable partner." Isaac exhaled softly, "You are full of unreasonable confidence in taking action at the Elf Port. Where does this confidence come from? I thought about it again and again, and it seems that the problem can only lie with the association... Did an official of the association contact you privately and promise you that when you capture the Snow Wolf warrior, they will find a way to get you a ship so that you can return early with a full load of wealth?"
"you--"
"Think carefully about the strangeness of this matter, Alex, and don't be blinded by the immediate benefits." Isaac sighed, "Even a blind person can see how much the association values cooperation with the forest elves and how much money it has invested. So why would someone with a certain status in the association who is trustworthy enough to win your trust do something that doesn't bring much benefit and offends the elves?"
He looked at Alex with pity and said bluntly, "Whether you are willing to admit it or not, you and your 'new companions' are just troublemakers that the officials of the association find difficult to distinguish from the adventurers. It is better to deal with such dangerous elements in advance at the port than to let them enter the Elf Forest and cause more trouble... Use the value of the Snow Wolf Clan, or make up some non-existent elven treasure, to lure you out of the crowd, gather you together and catch you all in one fell swoop. This is truly in the interests of the association and the forest elves."
Alex sucked in a breath of cold air and became depressed. The panic in his expression completely replaced the insignificant anger, and beads of sweat dripped down his chin. Although he did not have the opportunity to receive a systematic education, he was not stupid. His life in the slums when he was young had already taught him that the worthless part of the crowd was destined to be abandoned. At this moment, Isaac pointed out the side that he had not expected or was unwilling to believe. He helplessly discovered... Isaac was probably right.
The dwarf Arnold was still sleeping soundly, and the orc Melken stood by the window, silently looking out. In the darkness, a tiny ray of light suddenly appeared from an unknown corner, and was quickly swallowed up by the night. This brief abnormality was captured by Melken's powerful vision, and he immediately turned around and said, "Isaac, it's time to start."
Isaac stood up and walked to the window. The moonlight was obscured by dark clouds. Under the thick moonlight, he could not see anything. The sea breeze enveloped the entire Elf Port. The unwilling moans of some people in their last moments of life were swept away and torn apart by the cruel wind. Isaac could only hear the wooden window in front of him creaking. Occasionally, he could hear a wailing in his ears, but it was difficult to tell whether it was the last struggle of a life or the wind playing tricks on his hearing.
"In the nine generations of the Robbins family, my ancestors have never seen anyone become rich overnight. Even if there are lucky people who risk their lives and make it to the top, they will disappear from people's sight in a very short time. And even such people can only be found in thousands or tens of thousands of people."
Isaac turned his head and looked at his companion who was looking down. "As a friend, I hope you can be more cautious when you bet your life, Alex. You are not the only one who is unwilling to be mediocre, but since you have the courage to fight for your life, why are you unwilling to take a longer road?"
The orc Melken looked at his leader with reverence. When this warrior from a remote village in the Orc Empire became a slave, the orcs' totem of faith had collapsed in his heart. Fortunately, this young man became his master, and later became his friend, and a leader worthy of his lifelong trust.
Alex, who had been silent for a long time, slowly raised his head and looked dejectedly at the captain who made him secretly jealous and crazy. His facial muscles twitched and he opened his mouth to reveal an ugly smile: "Are you willing to accept a stupid and short-sighted idiot like me, Isaac?"
Isaac smiled and spread out his palms: "Who is born knowing everything, my friend?"
A Tian frowned as he looked at the two human males lying on the ground. He hesitated for a moment before walking forward, squatting down and turning one of them over. He saw that the other was bleeding from his mouth and nose, his eyes were out of focus, and he was only half alive. The other one was even more miserable. It seemed that he hit the steps when he fell, and his neck was broken. A Tian felt that there was no hope after taking a look...
Another soldier wandered around for a while, then fell back, scratching his head and saying, "Ah Tian, there is no ambush around here, not a single person."
"Strange... What do these humans want to do? Why did they come to attack us? I thought they wanted to lure us into a trap, but they died so easily?" A Tian was also very puzzled.
"I don't know." The soldier was confused.
"Forget it, let's go back first." A Tian picked up the two human males in one hand, "This man is still breathing. Take him back and use A Yun's medicine to see if he can be saved."
"Aren't you sending it to where the humans live? Ugh, there's so much blood!"
"Everyone is asleep. It would be a bad idea to go there now. Besides, there are so many people there. We don't know who to hand it over to."
"Oh, that's right."
The two men returned to the night patrol team, and the other three soldiers who were chasing separately had also returned, and all the humans who had just launched a sneak attack on their team were also captured.
"Are these all dead?" A Tian was shocked when he saw those humans lying on the ground without any breath.
A soldier pointed at the body nervously: "I didn't mean to kill him. He stabbed my eyes with a knife, and I slapped his wrist back, and he cut his own neck."
"I just knocked this man on the head..." another soldier said in confusion.
The last soldier picked up the human he was chasing and turned him over to face everyone: "I didn't kill this man. He was too fast and I couldn't catch up. When I got there, he was already dead. Look, there's a bloody hole in his chest. I don't know who caused it."
Ah Tian took a closer look at the wound that was obviously caused by some kind of piercing weapon, and showed everyone the man with a broken neck that he brought back. "This one too, he fell down by himself... The other one was knocked down by me throwing something, but I didn't expect him to be so fragile. Eh, is he dead?"
Five human male corpses were placed together, and several Snow Wolf warriors looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Well... they were the ones who attacked us first. It can't be considered our fault, right?" the soldier who smashed someone's head said carefully.
"Well... we were just patrolling around where we live, and we didn't go anywhere else. They ran in on their own... and the guy with the hole in his chest obviously wasn't caused by us, but..." A Tian was very conflicted, "It's hard to say. What if others think we did it on purpose? Then we won't be able to explain it clearly..."
The scene was very heavy for a moment.
"I should have been gentler. Mumu's head is too hard. When she bit my leg, I hit her hard and she wouldn't let go. How can a human head be as hard as Mumu's!" The soldier who smashed the man's head pinched his thigh.
"Yeah, the worst that can happen is that he will stab my hand. It will heal after two days of rest anyway." The soldier who counterattacked and killed someone by mistake also felt very regretful.
"Why did these humans attack us? They came to eat and paid for their meals in broad daylight." This is what A Tian couldn't understand. "Did they think our food was not tasty, or that we sold it at a high price? There was no need for them to come and attack us in the middle of the night, and they were so cruel... If they talk it out, we can just pay them back."
"Is it so excessive? They eat our food and ask us to pay them back?" The other soldiers were shocked.
"That's not right. The bloody hole on this man's chest couldn't have been caused by him himself? He ran so far away and I couldn't catch up with him. It doesn't make sense for him to commit suicide."
"That's right, it seems this person was killed by someone else."
"Someone attacked the people who attacked us? Why would they do that?"
Several soldiers gathered around the human who had died in such a strange way, talking at once, but they couldn't figure out what had happened.
At this moment, there was a sudden big fire in the distance. The soldiers all turned their heads and saw many people holding torches and rushing towards this side.
Ah Tian sniffed and looked over in confusion: "Why is the smell of blood over there stronger than here?"
Among the people who came were elf warriors and humans. Many of them were covered in blood, but they did not look injured. Walking in the front was Hailin, an old friend of the Snow Wolf Clan.
"How's it going over here? Is there any situation?" Hailin waved from a distance and jogged along.
A Tian waved to his people and made way for the five corpses.
"Sure enough, there are some that were missed." Hailin walked closer and looked down at the bodies. "Ah Tian, are any of you injured?"
"That's not the case." A Tian scratched his head.
Hailin nodded and turned around to say, "There are still five of us. Someone move the bodies away!"
A dozen humans ran forward and worked in pairs to lift the body.
"The rest of you search the surroundings." Hailin shouted again, "Don't get close to the Snow Wolf Clan's cabin. They are more sensitive to the smell of strangers than we are."
"What's going on, Hailin?" A Tian asked hurriedly.
"They are just some greedy fools." Hailin sneered and raised her hand to point at the bodies that were moved away. "These guys gathered dozens of people to cause trouble at the port. They didn't take us forest elves seriously at all. The Adventurer's Association discovered their abnormality, so we prepared in advance to wipe them out. But these people acted too loosely, so we couldn't catch them all at once, and some of them slipped through the net and disturbed you."
Ah Tian was stunned: "... Huh?"
"Don't worry, nothing will happen after we clean it up this time. Okay, you guys get busy, we have to clean up the battlefield quickly. As for here, the vassal races will come to clean up in a while."
A Tian: “Oh…”
Not long after Hailin and the others left, a few people from the vassal races came with buckets and mops, washed away the blood, and sprinkled some pollen around before leaving.
A Tian and the others watched the vassal races busying themselves silently, and looked at each other in bewilderment… No matter how silly and cute they were, they could feel that something was wrong with such a weird thing.
"Everyone, just keep this to yourself for now, and we'll tell Ayun about it when we go back. This is so strange, but fortunately it seems to have nothing to do with us, so let's not cause trouble." A Tian instructed the soldiers.
The soldiers nodded in unison. Although no one was injured in the accident, the atmosphere of conspiracy frightened everyone.
The streets in the port were all lit with street lights, and bodies were being carried out from various places. The work of washing away the blood and cleaning up the battlefield took most of the night.
It would be strange that the hotel street was unaware of such a big commotion. Countless people quietly got up and hid behind the curtains to peek at the situation on the street.
"How stupid... He couldn't control his greed when he saw the Snow Wolf Tribe. Wouldn't he find ways to attack the elves after entering the Elf Forest? How could the forest elves let such idiots see the sun tomorrow?"
"Gold coins are good things, but you have to survive to spend them. Why can't these guys understand this?"
"How stupid..."
"What an idiot."
Ms. Benjamin, an official from the Research Department of the Adventurer's Association, personally participated in the "suppression of the rebellion" - the purpose of this group of people was to kidnap the Snow Wolf Tribe and then seize the Association's ship to leave, which was indeed a rebellion for the Association - when facing General Crest, the gentle and intellectual lady took the list and compared it with the sixty or seventy corpses lined up on the rocky beach on the left side of the port, and there was no mercy on her cold face.
"Only seventy-three? Have all the bodies been carried out from various locations?" After counting the number, Ms. Benjamin frowned and looked at her deputy.
The deputy didn't have the mental toughness of Ms. Benjamin. He was lucky to have managed to hold on without vomiting. He shuddered and stammered, "Yes, yes, ma'am. The Snow Wolf Tribe has also moved here."
"That means more than 20 people didn't show up because they got stage fright." Ms. Benjamin closed the list and said expressionlessly, "Greed is not a bad thing. If you can control your greed, you are a qualified adventurer. Since you have controlled yourself this time, you should be careful to control the disobedient beast in your heart in the future... You can't swallow an elephant. If you want to live long, you have to calculate your appetite carefully."
"Yes, ma'am." The deputy's face was pale and he bent down respectfully.
Ms. Benjamin turned around and waved casually to the back: "Burn all of this. Go and inform the lucky ones who shared a room and a team with these guys that the association's disposal of rebels does not include confiscating their property. These rebels can dispose of their inheritance as they please."
"Yes, ma'am," the members of the association responded in unison.
Does the Adventurer's Association have the power to decide the life and death of a group of adventurers? Of course not. It's fine if it targets a few people, but if it strikes a large area, the association will have a headache if the unruly adventurers fight back. But if most people are given the sweet taste of sharing the "rebels'" inheritance, adventurers who can even betray their companions when there is enough benefit do not mind participating in this bloody carnival.
When the sky was bright, Xiaohua, who had just finished her night patrol in the second half of the night, was about to call everyone to pack up when she heard voices coming from the direction of the square.
Xiaohua stopped and looked over, and saw a group of people getting off a large ship. They were carrying several heavy boxes and joined the people waiting in the square, then walked towards the direction of the hotel street.
Xiaohua returned to the cabin, washed up and prepared to catch up on some sleep. Just as she lay down, she heard a vassal race coming to knock on Yu's door next door, asking if the Snow Wolf Tribe could sell food in advance so that the adventurers could eat their fill before entering the Forest of Elves.
Xiaohua already knew what happened in the first half of last night. She was worried about those adventurers who had no idea what they were thinking, so she quickly got up to help.
After some preparation, noodle stalls and kebab stalls were set up again on the beach on the right side of the port. Adventurers who didn't want to fill their stomachs with bread came early to line up, some talking and laughing loudly, some joking with each other, and some people gathered around the stalls asking if they could sell them some sauces and hot sauces. Everything was no different from yesterday, as if the terrible incident last night when the smell of blood enveloped the entire port had never happened.
Xiaohua and several soldiers skillfully sliced the meat and put it on skewers, Hongye accompanied Mumu to collect money, and Yu stood behind the noodle stall to add toppings according to the customers' tastes. The soldiers were busy with their hands, and their eyes occasionally glanced at the crowd that looked normal. Everyone more or less understood why Ayun always told everyone those scary stories - the real world outside, perhaps... is even more terrifying than those dark and terrifying human hearts in the stories .
The thief Alex had a meal with bread yesterday afternoon, and early this morning, Isaac called him to the beach.
The food of the Snow Wolf Tribe was indeed very good, but Alex found it a little tasteless. From the ventilation window of the hotel bathroom, he saw the fire of the burning of corpses in the east of the port in the late night. Today, there were indeed fewer familiar faces among the still bustling crowd.
The Snow Wolf warrior worth thousands of gold walked past him, but Ali didn't even look at him. Human beings, unless they go through life and death, really don't know how much they are worth. Ali, who thought he could do anything, finally realized that he was not as fearless, brave and proud as he thought.
It was two weeks later that Xiao Yun learned about the bloody incident at the Elf Port from Hong Ye. He carefully asked Hong Ye about the details before and after the incident and the reactions of all parties. After a little thought, he felt a chill in his heart.
Such cruel "fishing enforcement"... is really beyond the bottom line of modern people's acceptance. Although the whole process had nothing to do with the Snow Wolf Tribe, it scared him so much that he broke out in a cold sweat.
"This world is really barbaric!" Xiao Yun sighed in his heart. Let alone dozens of people dying at once, in modern society, if a few people die at once in any place, it is a major case that the whole society and the central government must pay attention to... A lot of people died, but the others are still eating, drinking, and doing whatever they want as if nothing happened. It's simply unbelievable! Are the nerves of you people from other worlds made of steel? !
Even if the dead person was not a good person, it doesn't matter so much!
"Ayun?" Hongye saw that Xiao Yun's face turned pale, and hurriedly moved closer to see if he was feeling unwell.
"It's okay." Xiao Yun waved his hand. "You and Maomao have discussed this matter, what is your conclusion?"
"Uh..." Hongye hesitated and said reluctantly, "We feel that those adventurers deliberately let those adventurers die..."
This was a bit awkward, but Xiao Yun understood it and nodded, "Anything else?"
"It's just... I don't know how to put it. It seems that in the eyes of those people, the death of some people is actually a good thing?" Hongye was very tangled. "Maomao and I find it hard to understand this. Isn't it better to have more people of the same tribe? Why let some people die?"
Although they were still somewhat reluctant to join, at least Hongye and Maomao knew where the "threshold" was. Xiao Yun was very satisfied with this and said with a teachable face: "It is difficult for any intelligent creature, no matter how big or small the tribe is, to be united. Under strong external pressure, intelligent creatures will instinctively unite closely with their own kind. However, if this external pressure is not enough to threaten the survival of the tribe, then differentiation and opposition will appear between individuals. When the death of some people will not endanger the continuation of the tribe, internal struggles will manifest in various forms."
"The human kingdom alone has a population of several million or even tens of millions. The orc empire also has countless cities, villages, and tribes, with a population of at least tens of millions. With a large population base, the reproduction of the tribe will not be easily affected, so naturally they will not overemphasize their compatriots."
"This... does it mean that eloquence among a tribe is a good thing?" Hongye's brows were almost knotted.
"Of course not. A large population means a greater ability to withstand risks, so population base is very important. But with a large population, internal conflicts are bound to occur, and this cannot be changed by anyone's will. Solving this problem or limiting the scope of the conflict to the extent that the impact is minimal and no one can die is what people like us who lead the group must do."
"Our tribe now has a total population of 763 people, which is actually enough to cause internal friction. But everyone has to face heavy work every day and work hard for next year's food rations, so no one has the leisure to think about who has a good relationship with me and who I have a bad relationship with. This is also a means of reconciling internal conflicts. If we don't have time to spare, of course we won't have the energy to do anything else."
"But this system of suppressing personal selfishness and desires with high-intensity labor cannot last long. When we have enough food and the number of mouths to feed has not increased too much, there will definitely be people who think it's okay to be lazy, since there is enough food and they won't starve to death. In this case, a series of subsequent problems will arise. To avoid this situation, we need to think more and find more ways. For example, we discussed in the winter that we should bring back as many tribes as possible from the central grassland to increase the population and maintain the demand for food. Then, we need to adopt various incentives, such as snack subsidies, welfare departments and other measures, to focus everyone's thoughts on the direction of working hard to get good benefits and good treatment, and push and pull everyone forward without stopping."
Xiao Yun paused for a moment to let Hongye understand what he meant. Seeing Hongye's eyes begin to shine and seem to understand something, he smiled and said, "Our total population has increased to a certain level, and the labor force is relatively abundant, so we will allocate people to develop the new city. Build a new tribal city from scratch, so that everyone will always be working and always pursuing a better life. Think about it, the grassland is so big, and how much land is abandoned. For us, there will never be a day when manpower is idle, so how can we be like others and not care about how many people die without blinking an eye?"
"Hmm..." Hongye found that what Ayun said was right. This future seemed very wonderful, but she always felt that something was not right...
