Chapter 641: Conversation by the fire on a snowy winter night
. The heavy hooves of the horses trampled through the snow, leaving small potholes. The saddles and various accessories carried collided with each other during the run, making crisp sounds, and quickly passed through the snow-covered forest.
Outside the Stone Forest Fortress, large and small settlement teams gathered. Most of them rode horses, carried weapons, and had different clothes and races.
The iron chain was slowly pulled, and the main gate of the mountain fortress opened. Teams of neat warriors walked out. These warriors were dressed in uniform armor and held bayonets and muskets. They were the standing armed forces in the mountain fortress, about hundreds of people.
After these warriors came out, the open space under the mountain fortress became a little quiet, and then the high-ranking members of the Gray Feather Clan, who were the rulers of the mountain fortress, came out and announced the matter of gathering everyone today.
Following behind the Gray Feather Clan riding a tall horse in front, Tilan was also wearing a black cloak and hood, riding a horse behind the team.
Standing on the small hill in the open space, the leading Gray Feather raised his hand, and the people behind him gradually stopped, then rode forward and glanced at the members of the settlement present.
These were the combatants of the settlement near the mountain fortress, with dozens of people at most and only five or six at least. There were hundreds of people in total, slightly more than the number of warriors in the mountain fortress, but the quality was very uneven.
"Everyone, we are gathered here today to eliminate the savage unrest in the east. Unlike usual, this time it is not a single savage migration and destruction, but there are other intelligent creatures leading them. If they are not eradicated, they will expand further and threaten our living space."
...
"For the safety of Stone Forest Fort and the settlement where you are, this action is imperative. Please follow me."
After explaining the course of events, the settlement members present did not show too much surprise. They probably heard some rumors before. Then the leading gray feather species divided the team into eight groups and searched and cleared along the route drawn on the map. If they encountered difficulties, they would immediately send a signal to ask other teams for help.
After that, the gathered combatants began to act, and Heshia stayed on horseback until most of the people had left.
"In the next few days, please ask Miss Heshia to join us and rescue the wounded on the road." A few minutes later, the leading gray feather species rode over. He looked thin, but very energetic.
"Yes." Heshia nodded slightly. The rescue work was not difficult for her. She was just curious about what happened in the east. The series of things she encountered recently seemed to be related to that place.
"Then let's go too." As he said this, the leading gray feather species raised his whip and waved it in the air, summoning the remaining more than 100 people, and then rode down the mountain.
Two days later, the group arrived at the settlement in the easternmost part of Shilin Mountain Fort.
Along the way, Heshia followed the team to see more than a dozen settlements of various sizes. Some of them were hidden in the forest, some hid in caves, and some dug pits to live underground. The races they saw were also different in form. Some were similar to humans, with only a few differences in features. Some were only one-third the size of humans and looked like children all their lives. Some only had the most rudimentary spears and wooden armor, while others were equipped with rifles and bulletproof vests. The living environment was also very different.
When passing these settlements, the team would stop for a while. The leading gray feather species would talk to the members of the settlement, ask about their recent situation and surrounding intelligence, and then draw on the map to determine the trajectory of the invasion force.
They didn't encounter any battles on the way, but the other branch teams were different. Two teams encountered a small group of savages and defeated them easily. One team encountered a more dangerous enemy team. After the battle, both sides were injured. Two of the more seriously injured ones were sent to Heshia.
Standing in the temporary wooden tent, Heshia held a lamp to watch the injured members. He had several gunshot wounds on his chest and shoulders, which looked a bit serious, but after stopping the bleeding, he was not in danger for the time being. But the one next to him was different. A deep wound that could see the bone slashed down from his shoulder. If it were a normal person, he would have died long ago.
The gray feather species will enter a dormant pupa state when facing serious injuries, which is why he can survive.
When he was sent, his body was wrapped in a thin layer of yellow pupa shell. Even if the blood and internal organs inside were damaged, they were protected by the liquid in the pupa shell and did not expose or further fail, which saved his life.
After two hours of surgery and healing, Heshia put down the forceps and scalpel in her hands, took off her gloves, and walked out of the tent.
"Thank you for your hard work, Miss Heshia." Sigmund, who had been waiting for a long time, thanked her and asked about the situation.
"His life was saved, but many of his internal organs were damaged and failed, and he needs extra careful care and recuperation." The girl replied.
"Judging from the form of the wound and the residual magic power, the opponent is at least a Sequence 4 Transcendent. Are there many such people?" "
Very few. Currently, there are only a dozen high-level Transcendents above Sequence 4 near the Stone Forest Fort, and they all have names." Sigmund recalled.
"From their description this time, they encountered an opponent who used a stone axe, wore a bone helmet, and wore thick fur. We guess it is an unknown tribe in the mountains in the east and north." Sigmund said while unfolding the map he carried with him to show Tilan.
The mountain where the Stone Forest Fort is located is the edge of a north-south mountain range. This broad mountain range extends to the north and east. There is relatively little pollution on the mountain range. This is because the toxic particles of pollution in those years were mainly accumulated in the lower atmosphere. The lower the altitude, the more serious the pollution.
"So, the settlements and strongholds of intelligent life on this land are mostly built on the mountains." Sigmund explained.
"The vast land in the east is wilderness, and only the places near the northern mountains may have settlements and strongholds where intelligent creatures gather."
"So, you should have some clues." The girl nodded.
"Yes, the leader Ge Wen has begun to gather the scattered teams."
After a relatively peaceful night, the team that Heshia followed on the second day moved northward, and other teams that had been separated began to join on the way.
On the evening of the third day, in the open space between the mountains near the hills, all the approximately 800 people who were dispatched this time were gathered. They gathered around several huge bonfires to cook dinner, and various conversations and footsteps also made the night noisy.
Sitting in a separate tent, Heshia and Orles sat together, teaching each other some relatively complex theoretical knowledge, and opened her hands, and a model of the Aegika brand with light spots moving back and forth appeared, allowing Orles to slowly understand.
"This, I understand." After a long period of teaching, Orles nodded, indicating that she knew it.
Although she had forgotten a lot of things, she had muscle memory for many things. In addition, Orles was smart and learned quickly.
"Okay, let's stop here today. Do you want to go out for a walk?" Tilan dispersed the floating model light spot.
"No, I'm going to sleep." Orles didn't like the noisy environment outside, especially because many members had body odor, which made Orles, who had a mysophobia, even more reluctant to get close.
"Then you go to sleep first, I'll go out and take a look." After covering Orles with a blanket, Tilan touched her cheek and then stood up.
In the night, a group of people were roasting things around the campfire, some were humming unknown ballads, and others were beating the rhythm.
Among them were new races as thin as bones, and new races as tall and burly as horns on their shoulders. They each had different talents. Even if they did not systematically learn extraordinary knowledge, they could obtain some extraordinary abilities through the instincts in their genes.
"That day, after I met the savages, I jumped up, glided to the back of the enemy's formation, and rushed towards the leader. The other party was obviously frightened and ran away screaming, and let several savages stop me." "
I chopped several thick-haired savages in a row and chased him for more than a hundred meters on the ground. Only then did he dare to turn around and fight with me."
"At that time, I used the three-axe attack to chop off one of his arms, but this guy was not simple. He was steaming all over, and then even his breathing was like steam. When he fought back, he chopped down with a knife and almost chopped me off with the axe. I saw that the situation was not right, so I dodged several times. He was exhausted and couldn't catch up. He could only watch me leave calmly." A thin man with simple wings on his back boasted by the fire.
Standing not far away, Tilan also listened to the other party's description and guessed the enemy's race.
"Miss Heshia, are you interested in these?" A gray-feathered man came over. He looked to be in his 30s, wearing a dark coat. His gray-blue eyes turned and looked at the thin man who was boasting not far away.
"He actually has the blood of our Gray Feather species, but it is very thin. Only the pair of wings on his back can barely show the characteristics of the Gray Feather species. As for the enemies and opponents he mentioned, they should be the 'Boiling Blood Species'. This new race is extremely resistant to high temperatures, but I didn't expect them to appear in this land."
"In the past few days, I have seen many new races with various abilities. What I am more curious about is that it seems that only a small number of people have the abilities inherited in their blood."
"Yes, most of them overlap and pollute each other's genes during reproduction, resulting in the inability to express their abilities. This type of people accounts for a considerable proportion, and their genes are therefore very unstable. They are called 'promiscuous species'. In the native natural world, hybridization generally speaking has advantages, but the genes of new races are carefully designed. Once disrupted, the original advantages cannot be expressed, and instead become disadvantages."
"At present, the more prosperous races all have the custom of intermarriage within the tribe, which is also a way to maintain a strong foundation."
"I'm actually more curious about which race Miss Heshia is from. You don't seem to have any particularly obvious characteristics." When the other party said this, a slightly inquiring look flashed in his eyes.
It seems that this person is also a research fanatic. The genes of the gray feather species seem to have a tendency to love knowledge, Tilan thought to herself.
"I... Actually, I don't know much about my true life experience. I only know the origin of my mother." The girl said some truth, looking into the distance.
"I used to spend a lot of time looking for the answer, but there was no very clear answer. Later, I was relieved. Whether the essence of a person is defined by oneself or by blood, I think it should be the former, so I don't bother."
"Miss Heshia's ideas are very philosophical, and I quite agree with them. It's a pity that there are fewer and fewer people who understand philosophy and truth in this land, and most lives just follow their instincts."
"When I was a child, I also thought about what kind of ending this chaotic and decadent world would eventually lead to." He also thought of the past.
"Oh, what's your answer?" Tilan turned his head at this time, curious about the thoughts of the local gray feather species.
"I naturally couldn't think of it at the time. I thought that the world would eventually perish, and all life would die due to the spread of pollution, and only creatures without intelligence and reason would be left."
"On the one hand, I occasionally felt that there should be a powerful force and individual who would rise up and reunite the entire planet, and then begin to govern and eliminate all past problems, and finally return to the galactic space."
"The latter idea is quite fascinating, just like all the great existences in history, but as I grew older, I began to find that this was such a daunting task. Not to mention anything else, it was just a settlement of less than 50 people, and there were many problems in management. The living habits of the new races were very different. Their respective food preferences, daily routines, and behavioral habits had to be carefully adjusted to adapt to each other."
"Faced with such difficulties, I tried many times, and finally had to give up, send them each to their own ethnic group, and then maintain a single ethnic settlement."
"If someone can finally unify the entire planet, I think he will also be the leader of a single race. Such a victory and great moment means that other races are completely eliminated and suppressed."
"It's a very pessimistic idea, isn't it? But reason tells me that this should be the fact. If you want to pursue the truth, you must always pay attention to objective facts."
"So, later I gradually felt that maintaining the status quo seems to be not bad. Without such a 'great man', our scattered and weak races can continue to survive."
"What do you think, Miss Heshia?"
"Me..." The girl sighed and looked at the starry night sky above her head.
"I think what you said is indeed right. When there are more and more members in management, it becomes more and more difficult to maintain balance. Everyone has their own ideas and thoughts, and they all think they are right."
"Do you want to respect every opinion and idea? It is destined to be full of conflicts, mutual consumption, and endless fighting."
"But if you make a completely arbitrary decision, you will gradually lose the support of the majority of the people, and finally be torn apart from top to bottom, and resistance and tragedy will still happen."
She paused for a while.
"I used to be afraid of making mistakes and didn't dare to offend anyone. I always wanted to be a good person in everyone's eyes, but the result was that I had no persistence and no respect, and everyone thought I was easy to bully."
"In fact, people's personalities are not static, and people's ideas are not static either." She looked at the flickering flames not far away.
"As I grow older and gain more experience, I also begin to change."
"But in the end, after thinking and reflecting many times, I decided to follow my childhood ideas and become a kind person."
"However, this kind of kindness is not blind obedience and compromise. What I hope is that even a weak person can gain living space and dignity in a fair environment."
"What if someone disagrees with my ideas? What if someone insists on destroying the world I hope for? What if someone does something I can't tolerate in front of me." Tilan closed her eyes slightly.
"I have decided that if I want to be a kind person, I must maintain this beauty with a firm and strong belief."
"Punishment is necessary, and killing is always the last but not lost means." The countless fireworks and lives that were destroyed in space not long ago flashed through her mind.
If she and Blanche switched places, would she do the same thing? The answer is yes.
Life is precious, but if you keep compromising for it, then life will become dull and lose its color.
(End of this chapter)
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