Dian seemed to be in a very good mood and asked cheerfully, "What is it?"
Li Qing's eyes darted around: "Come with me."
Dian continued what she was doing: "Can't we say it here?"
Li Qing shook his head: "No."
Sensing the determination in Li Qing's tone, and then looking at Chu, who was also looking at him solemnly, Dian put down the boulder: "Should we call the Jie shaman?"
He vaguely sensed that this matter seemed to be of great importance.
Li Qing looked in the direction of the shaman: "He's a bit busy right now, so there's no need for him to come."
Dian: "Okay."
Clap his hands, Dian came to Li Qing's side, and his tone suddenly changed: "Is it bad news?"
Li Qing hesitated for a moment before choosing his words: "While this matter is still 'unknown,' it is indeed a terrible thing, but..."
After thinking for a moment, Li Qing said, "Overall, it's good news. At least knowing about this is better than not knowing."
Li Qing's words were difficult to understand, which made Dian, who was in a good mood, feel uneasy again. He looked at the busy people in the tribe and the warriors who were resting. "They just fought a deadly battle with us and the Black Wind Tribe. Why... do we have to keep this from them?"
Li Qing said in a deep voice, "This is better for them."
Dian sighed, didn't insist any further, and walked out of the tribe with Li Qing.
Li Qing led Dian up a small hillside, gradually moving away from the tribe.
They hadn't walked far when they came to a more secluded place, narrower than the previous "battlefield," overgrown with areca palms.
The road ahead was obscured by the broad branches of the areca palm, making it impossible to see further.
The area on both sides is shaded by poplar trees, so from this position, the Red Flower Village is almost invisible.
Frowning, Dian asked, "Why do we have to say this here?"
Li Qing pointed to the area below Dian's line of sight: "Chief, look."
Dian followed Li Qing's gesture and looked over there. There was a narrow path, only wide enough for one person to pass at most, but the road was unobstructed.
"There's actually a side path here?"
Dian exclaimed in amazement.
Having lived in the Red Flower Tribe for so long, he was already very familiar with the surrounding environment. Dian had been to this place once before, but he had accidentally wandered in while hunting. He left when he saw nothing there and didn't notice that there was a path below.
“What’s wrong with this path? Where does it lead?” Dian asked.
Li Qing: "I don't know where it leads, but I do know that someone will be coming over here in a little while."
Dian looked puzzled.
Li Qing said slowly, "This is what I wanted to say, Chief."
"Just as the shaman had suspected that night, it seemed that the Black Wind Tribe was watching our every move, whether it was going to the Moonstone or going to Liang Meng River, the Black Wind Tribe knew everything—"
Dian was jolted awake. At the time, he was only thinking about how to deal with the Black Wind Tribe's attack that morning and what the tribe's future should be, completely forgetting this more important question. After defeating the Black Wind Tribe, Dian's mind was filled with excitement, leaving him no time to think about this issue. Now, after Li Qing's prompting, Dian immediately asked, "You mean!?"
“Traitor, there is a traitor in our tribe,” Li Qing said. He paused, then added, “Of course, those who remain are all loyal and good men. The traitor is not among them. Chief, you can rest assured about that.”
Thanks to Li Qing's comment, which laid the groundwork for Dian to finally control his emotions, he took a deep breath and asked, "Who is that? Is he one of the people who left the tribe last night?"
This time, Chu spoke up: "No, it's a guy named Luo Xin."
"Luo Xin?"
Dian's eyes darted around; clearly, the name was unfamiliar to him as well. However, as the tribe's chief, he quickly remembered the person after a moment's thought. His face was filled with disbelief as he exclaimed, "How could he betray our tribe? He's such a coward..."
"Because he couldn't get enough to eat, the Black Wind Tribe could provide him with enough to eat."
Li Qing's words hit the nail on the head.
The classics are silent.
“Chief, when we returned to the tribe, you asked me whether we should bring back those who left the tribe,” Li Qing said. “Indeed, we won, but you must know that those people’s hearts no longer belong to our tribe.”
Like Jiewu, Dian was a kind and intelligent person, but he was different from Jiewu. He was the chief of the tribe. Sometimes, the kinder a tribal chief is, the more likely he is to lead the tribe into the abyss.
"The daytime attack, and even earlier, the deaths of Li and Yong, were all orchestrated by Luo Xin," Li Qing said quietly. "His goal was to weaken our tribe as much as possible, which would greatly increase the Black Wind Tribe's chances of attacking our tribe and reduce the possibility of us fighting them to the death."
Just as Li Qing was about to speak again, Chu gestured for him to be quiet, then pulled both Li Qing and Dian into the foliage and pointed to the path below: "Look, Luo Xin is back!"
Upon hearing this, Dian was struck dumb, his whole body trembling as if by lightning. He turned his head like a puppet and looked at the path.
On the road, Luo Xin cautiously peeked out and carefully made his way forward. Every few steps, he would look around to see if anyone was paying attention to him. However, the location of Li Qing and the others was too advantageous. Even though Luo Xin was extremely careful, he still did not notice Li Qing and the other two.
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