Chapter 247 The Secret of the Red Ant Tribe
"grandfather……"
After a while, Qie Ye finally ran in from outside. As soon as he entered the room, he ran to the bed, held the elder's skinny hand, and knelt on the ground with a "thump".
The elder showed a relieved smile on his face and said, "It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back..."
In addition to Guli and Qieye, the elder's other relatives also rushed over. They surrounded the house inside and outside, with very sad expressions.
The elder smiled and patted Qie Ye's head, saying, "Don't cry. Compared to my tribesmen of the same age, I have lived long enough. What else can I be dissatisfied with?"
The elder's eyes showed a look of reminiscence, and he said, "I want to ask you for a favor."
Gu Li hurried over and said, "Dad, you say it, and we will do it."
The elder looked toward the north of the tribe and said, "I don't want to wait for death here. I want to go to the pine forest where I used to hunt."
"this……"
Guli hesitated, because the pine forest was quite far away from the Red Ant Tribe, and no one could guarantee that the elders could hold on until there.
"Grandpa, I'll take you there!"
Qie Ye said this very decisively, because he knew that this might be the last thing he could do for his grandfather in this life, and he must fulfill his wish.
The elder patted Qie Ye's head with satisfaction and said, "Well, you are better than your father."
When Guli heard this, he felt ashamed. At this moment, whether he was willing or not, he had to help the elder fulfill his last wish.
"Dad, I'll arrange it right away."
Guli stood up and walked outside, found a few hunting team leaders, and asked them to lead the hunting teams to clear the obstacles along the way for the elders.
Afterwards, he asked someone to quickly build something similar to a sedan chair, intending to carry the elder over.
Soon, all the warriors of the Ant Tribe became busy.
Not long after, the sedan chair was ready. Guli ordered people to spread a layer of soft hay on it, and then two layers of animal skins.
Afterwards, Yu Qiye carried the elder out of the room and gently placed him on the sedan chair.
The witch also gave them some magic medicine that could temporarily keep them alive, so that they could carry the elder to the pine forest with more confidence.
"Let's go!"
Guli personally carried the sedan chair with several powerful warriors and ran quickly towards the pine forest. Qie Ye followed beside the sedan chair and kept talking to the elder.
Although the road in the forest was difficult to travel on, there was a hunting team leading the way and the sedan chair was carried by the strongest warriors of the Red Ant Tribe. As a result, the sedan chair hardly shook while moving forward and was very stable.
Along the way, the Red Ant warriors eliminated any potential threats they could find so that the elder could safely reach the pine forest where he often hunted in his youth.
Outside the Red Ant Tribe, Jiang Xuan did not leave immediately. However, a large number of Red Ant Tribe warriors soon appeared and did not allow him to stay nearby.
"What's going on?"
Even if a tribal elder dies, they should just prevent outsiders from entering the tribe. But why are the warriors of the Red Ant Tribe running away now?
Jiang Xuan was completely puzzled by this, and the warriors of the Red Ant Tribe had no intention of explaining it to him.
He could only climb to the top of a hill and observe the people of the Red Ant Tribe from afar, hoping to get some information from them.
However, his actions were in vain, because he would never have imagined that the elder of the Red Ant Tribe's dying wish was to go and take a look at the place where he had hunted before.
Half a day later, with the full efforts of the Red Ant Tribe warriors, they finally carried the elder to the pine forest far away from the Red Ant Tribe.
The sedan chair was gently placed in the open space in the middle of the woods.
The leader Gu Li said softly, "Dad, we're here."
The elder was already very weak. If he hadn't been holding on to his last breath, he would have died long ago.
He said weakly, "Guli and Qieye stay, let the others go. I want to die here in peace."
Gu Li wiped away his tears, stood up and said to the warriors of the Red Ant Tribe: "Everyone go outside the forest. The elder wants to leave quietly."
"yes!"
Although the warriors of the Red Ant Tribe were somewhat reluctant, they still followed the wish of a dying old man and left the forest one after another.
After everyone left, the elder asked Guli to feed him some magic medicine. Then he sat up and looked at the forest where he had hunted and fought with infinite nostalgia.
Guli and Qieye stood obediently by the side, looking very sad.
After the elder looked around, he took Gu Li and Qie Ye's hands and pulled them in front of him, then said in a low voice: "I am about to die. Before I die, I must tell you a very important secret."
"Secret?" Guli was stunned. What kind of secret needed to be told outside the tribe in such a place? Qie Ye asked, "Grandpa, you asked us to carry you here for this secret?"
The elder nodded and said, "That's right, because I can never tell this secret in the tribe."
Guli and Qieye were both shocked. They couldn't imagine any secret that couldn't be told within the tribe.
Because in the minds of tribal people, the tribe is the safest place.
The witchcraft began to take effect. The elder's blood flow began to speed up, his heart beat faster, and an abnormal flush appeared on his face.
His back straightened a little, and his whole mental state was extremely excited.
He pulled Guli and Qieye closer and lowered his voice.
"This secret was told to me by the previous leader before he died. Now, I will tell you this secret."
Neither Guli nor Qie Ye said anything, because at this time, no one knew how long the elder could hold on.
"A long, long time ago, we were not called the Red Ant Tribe, but the Ant Tribe, and our patron saint was a powerful black ant."
"But then one day, the red ant came and went deep into the ant nest, killing our original guardian. Then, it used a special method to confuse the black ants in the ant nest, making them support it as the new guardian."
"After the red ants became the guardians, they began to reproduce in large numbers. These red ants ate all the black ants' young ants and eggs. The black ants in the tribe were gradually replaced by red ants until they all disappeared."
"Under the rule of the Red Ant God, our tribe has more and more rules, but our people are living worse and worse."
"The previous leader said that our people have actually become slaves of the Red Ant God."
"At first, I didn't know what 'slave' meant until one winter when I saw many people in the tribe starving to death. There was a lot of food stored in the ant nest, but the Red Ant God was not willing to use it to save people."
"It was not until this moment that I realized that what the previous leader said was right. We have all become slaves without freedom and dignity, and are driven and exploited at will by the Red Ant God."
"Our people worked hard every day to hunt and find food, and plundered the nearby forests, but in the end, everything they gained was taken away by the red ants."
When the elder said this, he looked very sad. Countless tribesmen had starved to death or frozen to death over the years, but the red ants had reproduced faster and faster, and each one had grown very fat and strong.
The elder said to Gu Li: "I know you don't like Qie Ye and think he always breaks the rules, but do you know that these rules are the tools used by the Red Ant God to turn us into slaves!"
"When the Black Ant God was still around, our people were free and had more food. But now, look at how our people are living now?"
The elder's words were like a heavy hammer, constantly hitting Gu Li's mind, causing his previously formed outlook on life to collapse, and he felt as if he was about to collapse.
In comparison, Qie Ye is younger and his outlook on life has not yet been fully formed, so he is more likely to accept everything the elders say.
Qie Ye asked: "Grandpa, what should we do then?"
The elder glanced at Gu Li, then held Qie Ye's hand tightly and said, "Qie Ye, you are much better than your father. At least you know how to think about what to do in the future."
The elder's words finally brought Gu Li back to his senses. He looked at the elder with shame on his face, not knowing what to say.
"Listen!"
The elder's expression became extremely serious: "In the future, we must find a way to lead our people to escape the rule of the Red Ant God. Only in this way can our people avoid the fate of being slaves for generations."
"This is also the wish of all the leaders of the Ant Tribe."
After hearing this, Gu Li finally asked, "But even if we escape, we can't survive in the Southern Wilds without the Guardian God."
The elder did not directly answer Gu Li's question, but looked at Qie Ye: "You answer your father's question."
Qie Ye thought for a moment and said, "Since the Red Ant God can replace our previous Black Ant God, we can also find another god to replace it!"
Gu Li retorted: "It's not that easy to find a great tribal guardian god. How many great gods are there in the entire Southern Wilderness?"
Qie Ye said with a firm look in his eyes: "If you can't find a totem god from a large tribe, find a totem god from a medium-sized tribe. If you can't find a totem god from a medium-sized tribe, find a totem god from a small tribe. No matter what, it's better than being a slave!"
The elder looked at Qie Ye approvingly and said, "Yes, no matter what, it's better than being a slave."
"Gu Li, haven't you noticed that the ant nests in the tribe are getting bigger and bigger, the number of red ants is increasing, but our people are decreasing?"
"If this continues, sooner or later, our people will completely disappear and be replaced by those red ants!"
Gu Li fell silent again. The elder's words touched upon a question that had been buried in his heart for many years.
The territory of the Red Ant Tribe is getting bigger and bigger, but the number of its members is getting smaller and smaller, and they have almost no contact with other tribes. However, the number of red ants is increasing year by year.
At this moment, the elder suddenly trembled all over, his legs stretched straight, and his skinny hands tightly grasped the bones and leaves.
"father……"
"grandfather……"
Guli and Qieye were both panicked. Although they knew that the elder had reached the end of his life, it was still difficult for them to accept the moment when it really came.
The elder could no longer speak. He just kept looking at Guli and Qieye, his eyes full of hope for the future of the tribe.
Gu Li hurriedly said, "Dad, don't worry, we will definitely find an opportunity to escape the rule of the Red Ant God and fulfill the wishes of the previous leaders."
After hearing these words, the elder finally felt relieved.
He slowly closed his eyes, loosened his hands, and passed away.
Guli and Qieye both burst into tears. Soon, the warriors of the Red Ant Tribe rushed over after hearing the noise. Everyone looked at the elder who had passed away, and many of them were wiping away tears.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
