Chapter 160 – The Lurker
Translated by Joycelyn
“What’s the matter?” Chen Jia, however, did not immediately walk out. He stood there without moving and asked.
“Chief wanted me to bring you guys over. This time there are too many from the Martyr tribe, we most likely won’t be able to hold them back. You guys won’t be safe here.” The other replied.
Seeing that Chen Jia was still doubtful, the man then brought out a square token made of bone. There were Drumming tribe’s totem patterns on it. This was the sign of the chief, an identity token.
Looking at it, Chen Jia felt slightly relieved
“Then what about my house’s Water Moonstones? Chen Jia once again asked.
“Bring them along then, they will be found if we left them here.” That man said.
“Okay.” Chen Jia felt that the chief and the rest would not lust over his house’s Water Moonstone. Being able to bring the Water Moonstones over to the central area would also be a lot more safer.
Pressing down his heart’s suspicions, Chen Jia pried open the wooden boards, pulled out his house’s Water-Moonstone-filled rattan basket. He then held it tightly and walked towards the window. Meanwhile, he asked: “Have Tail and the rest gone over already?”
Tail was a kid around Chen Jia’s age living nearby, who frequently played with him. Because his hair was always tied up to a pony tail and it was also slightly stiff it looked like a real crocodile’s tail. This is why everyone gave him the nickname ‘Tail’.
“En, they are waiting for you at the edge of the forest. You will see them soon.” That man said, then looked around. The rest of the houses all had people looking over, he faced them and waved, beckoning them over to him. “You guys should come out too. Let’s leave together.”
“Okay!” One of them replied.
Hearing that most of his friends were there, Chen Jia felt joyous for a moment. He hugged his rattan basket, planning to climb out from the window. However, at this time, he remembered Shao Xuan’s warning. He had told him not to open the window no matter who came. So, to go out or not?
With half a step already taken, Chen Jia halted and looked at the man outside.
Due to the moonlight, the man was almost hidden in the shadows. He had yellowish-brown eyes. The eyes of a Drumming tribe member. However, they seemed weird. Why did it feel like the more he looked at his face, the blurrier it was to him?
Blurry face?
For a moment, Chen Jia stood there stunned. Then he looked at the man outside with a shocked expression.
“What’s wrong, come out quick. Everyone’s waiting.” That man urged him.
Not only did Chen Jia not go forward, but he also moved back quite a lot. He stared warily at the man outside the window. His heart was filled with suspicions of the person in front of him. But the fact that he could take out the bone token, which was definitely something given by the chief, made him wonder if he should still go out.
Seeing that Chen Jia had not moved for a while, the man waiting outside the window changed his tone for the worse and gave a warning. But Chen Jia still did not move. It looked like that kid was still hesitating. He was tightly holding on to the rattan basket, sporting a face like there was a thief in front of him.
After the warnings proved ineffective, the man started to lose his patience. He lifted his foot up, eyes flashing with the desire to kill.
At the moment the other looked at him, Chen Jia was somehow reminded of the day he was pushed into the river.
It’s him! It is the guy in front!
Chen Jia’s heart felt like it was suddenly filled with ice. He wanted to flee, but could not. Just when he planned to scream, the man who was exposed dashed forward. The ensuing scene stunned him.
The man jumped up and stepped on the window frame. Just one more jump and he could go into the house. But the moment he set foot on the window frame, a sudden clamping sound rang out.
The silhouette outside the window halted. His legs and arms were tied to his body by very thin threads.
What’s going on?
Why does the window have this sort of thing?!
Not giving the guy any chance to react, a stone knife came down from behind, stabbing into his chest.
Shua!
Dark stains of blood could be seen dripping from the tip of the knife under the moonlight.
“You… you…”
He twisted his head to the back and saw that the guy he originally thought had already left was standing soundlessly behind him.
When he was sneaking over a while back, he had seen Chen Jia and Shao Xuan, who was living together with Chen Jia’s family. He, however, did not know of Shao Xuan’s abilities; therefore, he was wondering if he should continue on with his plan. So after seeing that Shao Xuan had left, he made his way over here.
He originally thought that Chen Jia was dumb enough to be easily tricked to come out. Who would have thought that everything would become such a mess!
Shao Xuan threw the man, whose ability to move had already been stripped away, aside and turned to look at Chen Jia, who was standing inside the room and staring absent-mindedly.
“No, no… no problem, can I now…?” Chen Jia looked at the window frame. His mind was still playing off that scene. The man was trapped in just a split second! No wonder Shao Xuan did not let him touch the window.
“It’s okay now.” Shao Xuan informed.
Chen Jia put down the rattan basket, climbed out from the window, and looked at the guy who was thrown aside.
After being tangled with a very thin string and even stabbed with a knife, he was no longer threatening, although not dead yet.
“You knew someone would come?” Chen Jia asked Shao Xuan.
“Guessed it.”
At this time, the people were still excitedly packing and planning to leave. They looked at the situation before them, each of them scared stiff.
“What happened!? Chen Jia, you guys killed one of our own?!”
“He said he would bring us to the chief’s side just now! Did you not hear him?!” Someone said unhappily.
“He was a spy! He betrayed the Drumming tribe!” Chen Jia exclaimed.
“He was not.” A voice rang out from somewhere close to them.
Shao Xuan had actually realized there was someone approaching. Before he made sure of the person’s identity, he kept quiet.
“Qing Yi?” Chen Jia stared at the man who was walking over.
Qing Yi was the youngster who was together with Hao on the day Shao Xuan was wrongly accused of killing the baby crocodiles. He was the chief’s child, with a very high standing in the Drumming tribe. Shao Xuan also realised that many in the Drumming tribe feared Qing Yi a lot.
“You said he wasn’t a spy, never betrayed the Drumming tribe? How can that be? It was definitely him who pushed me into the river the day!” Although his voice was a little different, Chen Jia believed it was this person from that day.
“Chen Jia, you are probably mistaken again.”
“That’s right. Chen Jia, you must have recognised the wrong guy, it was him who wanted to bring us to the chief’s side!”
The children at Chen Jia’s side, who were around the same age, were all explaining to him.
Shao Xuan did not speak up, waiting for Qing Yi’s next words. The reason why he did not end the guy with one strike just now was so that he could interrogate him later. But Shao Xuan was not suspicious of his identity. The baby crocodile in the river had been glaring at the man and opening its mouth, like it couldn’t help but bite into him.
“I said he did not betray the Drumming tribe since he is not even one of our own. What’s there to betray?“ While saying that, he extended his hand and grabbed onto the outsider’s neck who was still laying on the ground, gently twisting it.
Ka!
The man who Shao Xuan had purposefully kept alive was now actually dead.
After his last breath, the man’s body started morphing. His body shrank a little, his face also changed.
Shao Xuan slightly moved his hands and the originally tightly tied strings slid down like they were alive.
Seeing that everyone was staring at the threads in his hands, Shao Xuan explained: “These are tools to set traps for beasts in our tribe.”
A few had expressions of understanding on their faces. However, in their hearts, they thought about what their elders had said. In many tribes, their battle strength was not very good. So, to prevent starving, they resorted to using other means of hunting, like traps.
Therefore, the children, including Chen Jia, all thought that Shao Xuan’s tribe warriors must be weak.
Upon retrieving his threads, Shao Xuan looked at Qing Yi and asked: ”Who is this guy?”
“Don’t recognise him.”
Knowing that spies would certainly appear, the tribe did have arrangements. However, this place was the core area of the tribe and was more on the side. Therefore the people who were appointed by the tribe had not arrived yet.
Qing Yi was actually chasing after a Martyr tribe member and did not expect to encounter such a scene.
“Chief did indeed allow the children to bring the Water Moonstones and go over. However, the one to inform the group here was supposed to be me, not him.” Qing Yi explained, while pointing at the already dead man.
There were already people from the Martyr tribe, whose specialty was hiding, intruding. They had already crossed the outside border, where all the killings and battles were, and made their way into the internal area of the tribe. With their hiding abilities very high, they lurked around silently and waited for a chance to strike. Even the tribe members who were patrolling around could not find them all, there were bound to have missed some.
Even more were the people who were striking from the very start only to attract attention.
The tribe had already put people on standby at every area, just so that they could clean up every one of these who were hiding around. But looking at the imbalance in strength, the Leader had someone notify the guards at the sides to move inside a little more. When this was over, they could go back. After all, more than half the people hiding inside the houses were children. They did not have much battle strength and still needed protection.
Knowing that they were still going over to the chief’s side, the few who were disappointed lifted their heads high again. Talking to each other excitedly, those who were still at home very quickly packed their stuff and gathered together.
“There’s something I still have to tell you. Even when you are by my side on the way to the chief, there might still be someone about to ambush us on the road. While fighting, I won’t be able to take care of all of you.” Qing Yi advised the group that was gathering.
There were kids everywhere, the youngest not even ten years old, the oldest roughly the same age as Shao Xuan. There were still some children carrying their newborn sisters. If they were ambushed, there would definitely be casualties. After all, the ambushers may not hold back just because there were children.
After hearing this, the people unsurprisingly started to worry. But they had already been mentally prepared. Ever since they were born, such things were a frequent occurrence.
“Actually, you can get the smallest to be sent over first.” Shao Xuan exclaimed.
“How?” Everybody turned to Shao Xuan.
He pointed at the sky, “Chacha”.
A sound rang out.
A large shadow quickly descended from the sky.
When flying over, Chacha was even holding onto someone. It was someone from the Martyr tribe. Its claws were piercing through the guy, who was no longer breathing.
Chacha abandoned the already dead intruder and landed. Shao Xuan then led a few of the youngest children onto the eagle’s back, some of them also carrying babies.
The first to be carried up were all children under ten. Shao Xuan then let Chacha bring them to the chief. Chacha knew the road there, there was no need to worry. The intruders also did not have the means to attack in the sky. Therefore, the sky was a lot safer than being on the ground.
There were still five more children left. Shao Xuan wanted Chen Jia to also go up, but as expected, he refused and insisted on waiting for the next ride.
“Then you better pay more attention, don’t stray too far from me.” Shao Xuan instructed.
“En.” Chen Jia hugged the rattan basket and walked over to Shao Xuan’s side.
As for the other four, every single one of them gathered at Qing Yi’s side. From what they could see, Qing Yi was much stronger than Shao Xuan, so it was better to follow him.