The weather is getting hotter and hotter, especially now that we are heading south, the humidity in the air is getting bigger, it is stuffy and hot, and the clothes stick to the body after walking for a while.
There is wilderness everywhere here, and there are no roads at all. Even traveling merchants from large tribes have to invite war beasts, guiding birds, or old merchants to lead the team, and they need to confirm the location after walking a certain distance, such as Finding the local natives and asking them to lead the way is the most common measure, otherwise, no matter how powerful you are, you will get lost in the endless wilderness and forest.
Now a relatively large team appeared in this vast wilderness with few people.
The leader rode wildebeest, followed by a large number of walkers. The wildebeest's speed was very slow, as if it was swaying, so that the walkers behind did not have to hurry up, as long as they followed at a normal pace.
If you look closely, you will find that most of the pedestrians have mutilated facial features, and their facial features are also different, like the aboriginals from many different places gathered together, which looks extremely weird.
Luo raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, grabbed the skin pouch hanging on his belt, unplugged it, and took a sip of water.
Generally, skin pouches will have a strange smell when they are filled with water in summer, but this skin pouch is not because of the careful production, even though the water has become warm, there is still no strange smell.
Not to mention him, a former slave soldier, such an exquisite skin, even the high-level hyena clan may not be able to possess it.
But now such a skin, everyone in the team has one, including the freed slaves like them.
In addition to water bags, they also have their own clothes and shoes, wooden bowls, chopsticks and spoons for eating, straw hats to block the sun, and bedding, but the bedding is heavy and inconvenient to carry around. The bedding is all put into the bone storage container, and only when it is needed will it be distributed by the person in charge of keeping it.
Luo touched the cotton and linen clothes on his body, and touched the wooden bowls, chopsticks and spoons hanging on his waist, and felt that he had never been so rich.
Lord Lie said that this body is their property, and they will still get their own reward every month in the future.
This makes Luo full of expectations for the future. Even though he has been subjected to extremely cruel tortures before and was deprived of his qualifications as a male, he still can't help looking forward to the future.
"What are you smirking about? Walk well and don't leave the team!" Sis, the leader of the slave soldiers who had been taking good care of him, frowned and scolded him in a low voice.
"No, I just feel like I'm dreaming." The young Luo said with a dark face.
Si said expressionlessly: "You slap yourself, if it hurts, it's not a dream."
Luo smirked, he wouldn't slap himself in the face, he stepped up, walked evenly with Si, and boldly said: "Si, where are the leader and the priest going to take us?"
Si didn't seem to want to answer him, but he still said: "You care so much, we will follow."
"I, I just think this neighborhood looks more familiar, maybe my tribe is here, I want to see if Eminem is still there, maybe..."
Si was silent for a while, "Do you still remember where you came from?"
Luo nodded and shook his head again, "I don't remember much, I just remember that there is a very big river near our tribe. The great witch of my tribe once said that the river is just a small river, and there is a bigger river at the end of her." River, I have always wanted to see the bigger river, but before I was old enough to go out with the hunting team, the tribe was attacked, and the whole tribe was killed and caught. I remember that my mother and the others dispersed with us, and I don’t know if she was caught or hid, I... miss her.”
"You speak the Common Tongue very well. You should be from a relatively large tribe, right?" Stan asked.
"Hmm." Luo nodded again, "Our tribe doesn't seem to be very far from Mucheng, and caravans from Mucheng pass by every few years."
"The neighborhood looks familiar to you?"
"Well! Even if it's not near my tribe, I will definitely follow the slave team to pass here."
"What is the name of your tribe?"
"Alpine Cave Clan."
They rarely had the opportunity to talk like this before. The slaves who were selected into the slave soldiers had to receive a lot of training every day, and they would fall asleep when they went back to the slave camp every day. In addition, most of the slaves could not even speak completely. Everyone didn't want to say anything more.
Because of his young age, Luo Luo had just been selected into the slave army not long ago, and he had not been completely infected by the terrible numbness in the slave barracks, but he usually didn't dare to talk too much to everyone, even if the leader Si took care of him intentionally or unintentionally.
Si is not in the mood to understand the past of his subordinates, so what if he understands, he may die anytime, anywhere as a slave soldier, either he cannot stand the training, he is punished to death, or he goes out hunting with the soldiers and is bitten to death by wild beasts. Either... In short, it is impossible for any slave soldier to live too long.
When he first became a slave soldier, he would feel sad because of the deaths and injuries of his companions, and even fought for it, but after being punished again and again, seeing the familiar people around him disappear at an extremely fast speed, the new slaves came again. After a long period of time, he became numb like other old slave soldiers.
But now everything will be different!
The Jiuyuan people defeated the Hyena tribe, and they changed from the slaves of the Hyena tribe to the slaves of the Jiuyuan people, and the Jiuyuan people were obviously much more merciful.
Yes, Si didn't believe in their status change at all. Although the benevolent Master Mo Wu had repeatedly stated that they were no longer slaves, Si had already passed the age of trusting others easily.
Only teenagers like Luo who are half-grown and not young really believe that they are free and will live a good life with food and clothing from now on.
"Si, if I beg Master Hunter and the others, do you think they will let me go back and have a look? I'll just go back and have a look."
really! When he heard the kid say that he looked familiar nearby, he had already expected that the other party might make such a request.
Sure enough, he was still a child, to make such a naive request. Si directly gave Luo's behavior a big cross in his heart.
He couldn't bear to let this foolish boy who finally smiled again anger the leader of the warriors in Jiuyuan and be punished, so he took over the matter, "I'll ask when I'm resting, maybe the adults are looking for it too. The nearby indigenous tribes, if there are really Gaoshan cave people here, I will try to let you go and have a look. But don’t mess around yourself, do you hear me?”
Luo was excited and kept thanking in a low voice.
The other slaves didn't respond to the conversation between the two, they just walked in silence. The snail looked so different inside, but he didn't realize it himself.
How long would such a snail live, Si thought? Any master doesn't like slaves who have too much of their own thoughts, and the same is true of their new master Jiuyuanren.
He doesn't know how long he can protect Luo, and he doesn't think too much about it. If Luo can be happy now, then let him continue to be like this.
Si looked up at the sun, and then looked at the front of the team. According to the practice before yesterday, when the sun was about to rise above the head, the adults would find a place for everyone to stop and rest, and now it was almost that time.
And there happened to be a miscellaneous forest not far from the direction they were traveling, and he heard the sound of a stream. As long as there were no dangerous beasts there, the adults should choose to rest there for a while until the hottest noon was over. Will go again.
Speaking of which, the adults who walked at the front seemed to have never lost their way. They seemed to have been walking in one direction without stopping or hesitating, and they even found a more suitable place for every break.
Is it because of the big bird with a human face that will only turn into a child? Or was it because of the mysterious and benevolent Lord Silencer
Si couldn't figure it out, he couldn't figure out many things that the adults in Jiuyuan had done along the way. For example, what is the ultimate goal of Jiuyuan people? Why walk all the way and leave a very flat, wide and strong road, and build bridges when encountering rivers? Why are they always so unhurried and let a few children play around in the wild every day
And why did they bring them slave soldiers? And it is said that they are asked to help with vigilance, to help collect plants and herbs, to help that engineering team build bridges and pave roads, but these days they really have to do so little
Si couldn't figure it out no matter what he thought, but it didn't matter, he had already learned not to think too much, as long as he obeyed the order and acted.
The forefront of the line.
Yuan Zhan stroked his priest's hair and teased him: "Finally willing to change back?"
Yan Mo, who was looking at the map, pushed him, "It's so hot! Don't get so close." In such a hot day, wearing such a long hair every day, if it wasn't for acting and doing a full set, why would he have to suffer like this
After calculating that half a month has passed since his blessing, he has almost been able to "recover as before", mainly because he didn't want to wait any longer. As soon as he woke up this morning and felt the temperature outside, he immediately pulled his hair out. becomes shorter, but the color remains white temporarily.
Yuan Zhan found that he also prefers Yan Mo's short hair, which will make him look more energetic and less... distant.
"Are we almost at the border of Wood City?"
"Well, you can avoid Mucheng by following this road. According to our current pace, if we don't delay, we will have to walk for about a month before we can enter the virgin forest made up of rolling mountains, and the ancient ruins should be in the In those mountains and old forests."
"Are there any larger tribes on this road?"
"Jiufeng went to investigate, and he will tell us the details when he comes back. According to the information given to us by Mucheng, there should be two or three small tribes with hundreds of people. No matter how small they are, they don't pay attention." Yan Mo put away the map.
"What are you going to do with those slave soldiers? You can't take them with you all the time, right?" Yuan Zhan fanned him. In fact, the two of them are not very afraid of the heat, but in such a hot day, even if the body self-adjusts, it is still the same visually. It will feel unbearably hot.
"Those slave soldiers have performed well during this time, and we can't let them continue to be disabled like this." Yan Mo relaxed his body, and the person who was shouting hot just now leaned into the arms of the person behind him.
"You want to help them recover?" Yuan Zhan hugged him.
"Ok."
Yuan Zhan frowned, "There are more than a thousand people."
"I didn't say to help them recover all at once. You can use rewards and encouragement to come one by one." Although with his current ability, it is not difficult to perform another large-scale blessing, but it is not difficult for so many people to have their limbs amputated together. Regeneration requires much more energy than the large-scale blessing he performed in the Rong Clan last time. Even if he can slowly replenish the lost life energy, he will feel distressed.
"So that's why you didn't send them back to Jiuyuan, but took them with you on the road?"
"This is just one of them. We still have too few people in Jiuyuan. How many big and small forces have we gone along the way? Even if one force keeps one person, it is not enough for us to consume. In the future, the forces that join Jiuyuan will become more and more powerful." The more we have, the more fighters from other forces we will absorb to become Jiuyuan's soldiers, but do you dare to guarantee the loyalty of these fighters who just arrived?"
"Have you taken a fancy to these slave soldiers?"
Yan Mo admitted, "You also said that these slave soldiers are selected elite soldiers. It's a pity to waste them like this. Although the Hyena tribe is a bastard, they have a good eye for picking people. I also have a general look at those slave soldiers. Yes, although they have been tortured a lot and have many hidden wounds, two-thirds of them are blood warriors. If you want to upgrade the technique, it will be very fast.
For the remaining one-third of ordinary fighters, those who can persist until now are those who are more resolute and can endure polishing. If you teach them how to practice Qi, I believe their achievements will not be better than the other two-thirds of the blood warriors. Difference. "
Yuan Zhan was a little puzzled, "We have seen and rescued many slaves and slave soldiers before. Why do you only favor the hyena group? You didn't even bring one from the Rong group."
"Because they have been beaten to the bottom, including their spiritual world has been destroyed." It can be said that as long as these slave soldiers are well trained, they are simply the best puppets and dead soldiers.
To put it bluntly, the Hyena clan has actually helped him do the cruelest thing, and he just needs to stand in front of these people as a savior and give them a new life, and this rebirth is not only physical, but also spiritual.
And the people who were completely destroyed by his rebirth, not to mention treating him as a god, their loyalty is definitely higher than that of ordinary fighters who have been favored by him.
Yan Mo didn't know how to explain this to Yuan Zhan. He couldn't say that he had contact with similar "mental patients" in his previous life, so he had some experience in this area, right
This group of slave soldiers can be said to be the most extreme and intractable mental patients, and what he has to do is to become their god and give them hope and new life.
It's a jerk to think like this, but it's better than treating them well and letting them go.
These slave soldiers not only need medical treatment, they also need spiritual reconstruction, and this will be a long-term job, it is impossible for Yan Mo to pay attention to them one by one, so the best way is to keep them by his side.
Now that he stayed by his side, he couldn't raise so many people for nothing. In that case, he might as well rebuild these people according to his own ideas and let them be used completely by him.
Yuan Zhan and Yan Mo had a heart-to-heart relationship, and he didn't need Yan Mo to say more, he understood what the other party meant.
Although I don't know how his lord priest will train these slave soldiers, but knowing that the result is not harmful to Mo, he can also build a private army that is the most loyal and not weak for Mo. Easy drudgery.
At noon, Yuan Zhan immediately ordered the Jiuyuan engineering team to build simple houses in the woods and streams in advance, and at the same time let everyone speed up to rest by the woods.