Chapter 2- The cruel reality tells him, this is a world where others get dragged along with you
The back of his neck hurt, but his right leg hurt more.
He was very hungry and thirsty. But he did not dare shout or go find food. Even if he wanted to move he could not, both his hands are tied to the stake. His current posture looked like he was lifting both hands to praise the Emperor on the floor.
This is a very crude thatch barn. The roof is simply covered with hay, but you could barely see the sunlight outside. The barn is not big, it is about 40 square meters, divided into two rows on the left and right with an aisle in the middle. Not everything in the two rows are humans, some are living animals. He wasn’t sure if that was the reason the hut had such a foul odor. Smelling it could make people vomit.
Yan Mo originally thought that he was saved, but after waking up and seeing what happened, he no longer had that idea.
Just half an hour ago, a man was tied to a stake 2 feet away. The man was also injured but his injuries were more severe. His head was bleeding and he was moaning, however he did not wake up.
Soon afterwards, a strong looking man with a slightly protruding belly came in. He walked around the thatch barn once before stopping next to the man. He kicked him once, saw there was no reaction, untied him and dragged him out by his arm.
Yan Mo slept near the outermost side of the barn, he only needed to turn his head to see outside.
Outside the barn there is a small plaza. In the middle of the plaza is a large wooden pile. At the top of the pile there is an axe attached.
Around the plaza everyone was working. Some people were weaving grass, some people were cooking or marinating something.
When Yan Mo saw the brawny guy enter, he wanted to beg for a cup of water to drink. If he could get a bowl of rice to eat, that would be wonderful. But after seeing the behavior of the man, he wisely closed his mouth. The face of that man did not show pity.
The brawny man had dragged the comatose man to the center of the square. He put his head on top of the wooden stake and grabbed the axe with his hand.
Yan Mo’s heart began to beat faster.
The brawny man raised the axe. With no hesitation, the axe came down and severed the man’s head.
Blood spilled out everywhere.
The men and women working around the square only watched, no one really cared about this scene.
Yan Mo being a doctor was used to seeing blood, but seeing this scene almost made him scream. He did not say anything after, he even stopped breathing.
After the brawny man cut the man’s head, he put the body on the floor and began to dismember him, taking out any unwanted organs.
Finally when the comatose man was cut into slices of meat, it was packed away into 3 seperate wooden tubs and taken away by men and women. But the intestines and other organs that could not be eaten were taken into the barn and thrown to the carnivorous animals.
Yan Mo held back the urge to vomit. The back of his neck and his head hurt to the point of being unbearable.
The brawny man saw Yan Mo’s eyes and it made him unhappy. When he walked by he intentionally kicked his injured leg.
“AH!” Yan Mo screamed in pain. There were flies and mosquitos flying around his body.
The brawny man no longer bothered with him and left the shed. The sounds of men working outside could be heard.
Gradually, Yan Mo could no longer deal with what was going on outside and passed out again.
Yan Mo, in his feverish state, had a very long and realistic dream. When he woke up, he couldn’t determine if it was a dream or something that happened in the past.
But he definitely knew that it was not something that had happened in his past, but a memory from the body he currently inhabited.
He began to receive this body’s logic, the memory of the teenager merged with his old memories, making him feel as though he lived in two worlds.
Merging memories is not a comfortable thing, perhaps he should be grateful that the boy was young, only 14 years. If he were to possess the body of an old man, having over a hundred years of memories would cause his brain to collapse. Even if it did not collapse, it would affect his original maturity and personality.
The new memories were useful, it gave him a general understanding of his environment. What was most important was being able to understand the language of the people. As long as you can understand it, being able to speak was only a matter of time.
Unfortunately, the teenager did not know much.
According to his memories, the teen’s name is Hei Jiao. But this “Jiao” did not mean cunning, actually it’s from the name of an auspicious animal that brings harvest. It is said that as long as you utter this name, the animal would show up and a good harvest would come.
Hei Jiao was born in a tribe called Yanshan. Looking at the name, the tribe most likely produced salt. (Yanshan literally means Salt Mountain.)
Because the tribe had a salt cave, life was not bad compared to other tribes. The people in the tribe would not go hungry. But because of this salt cave, many other tribes had their eyes on them. The Yanshan tribe beat many of their enemies,but five days ago they were finally beat by the powerful Zhi Tribe. In the end, they could only escape with the few remaining people.
(彘族 means Zhi Tribe. But 彘 means pig/swine so it literally translates to pig people.)
Hei Jiao, while escaping with his tribesmen to search for a new home, was bitten by a wild beast. He fell unconscious due to infection and fever and was eventually abandoned by his tribesmen including his parents and older brother.
Abandoning people was not a big issue here, his tribesmen were already considered righteous for not salting him and using him as food.
For the local poor tribes, the customs revolved around being audacious. Many tribes around Hei Jiao all had cannibalistic habits. When there was a lack in food, some of the larger tribes would even attack smaller weaker tribes. Most of the captured people would turn into preserved meat, only very few would be left over as slaves.
Outside of the tribes, there was also a city where the large major tribes lived together. The city was divided into the upper, middle, and lower levels. However, Hei Jiao had only ever heard of it. He had never seen the city, in fact he never even left his own tribe.
After going through the memories, Yan Mo silently stared at the shabby roof for a long time.
A big hand suddenly waved away the circling flies, took a fist of his hair and yanked his head up.
Yan Mo’s face changed immediately from his silent expression to one of caution, even though the top of his head hurt from having his hair pulled.
“You haven’t died yet?” The ferocious man looked surprised.
He looked at the teen’s right leg, the wound looked even worse. The maggots already covered up half the leg, mixed with blood and water, the bare/exposed skin was bitten and swollen by mosquitos. There was the smell of urine and rot coming from the youth’s body. Here, no one knew how to treat wounds so no one helped him clean it up.
Yes, I have good luck.
Yan Mo was also surprised. He roughly calculated, it had only been about two days since he gained the injury. The injury was really bad. If he was a normal person, if another infection happened, with the absence of medicine and medical care, he would 100% be dead. Even if he could somehow be saved, he’d have to cut off the injured leg.
But when he woke from his fever, he noticed his wound. The pus oozing from the surface was very serious. But besides the pus, the flesh and blood inside was still fresh, it was not rotten. The blood flowing from the leg was also normal. Although the broken bones were a bit dark, it was not too serious. As long as it was handled correctly with medicine, there was hope for recovery. However because the wound was still fresh, he also felt the pain and could not ignore it. Even if you passed out, you could not escape it.
But he couldn’t say those words to the ferocious man. Instead, he could only express his sincere thanks.
“Thank you for saving…” But before he finished speaking, the man already grabbed him by his hair and pulled him out of the shed.
The pain made Yan Mo immediately shrivel up. He could not resist nor did he dare to.
“No…. no don’t…. Kill me….. Please I beg you!”
It came out incoherent. Although he could already understand the tribe’s language, it takes practice in order to be able to speak it fluently.
The man stopped and threw him to the ground. With one foot on Yan Mo’s chest and one hand on his own thigh, he bent down and said,
“I saw you yesterday and you did not look okay, Fei Quan even said to slaughter you this afternoon. I had even planned to dig out your heart in front of Fei Quan to avoid waste. Did not think that you would survive.”
“I….. I can….do lots of….things, please…… don’t kill me, I…… “
“What can you do?” The man stretched his foot and adjusted his balls- his only straw belt and bag were taken away by people.
“Your right leg is already crippled, if you still want to live you’ll have to cut it off. A one legged slave? I’d rather have a 40 year old wife. With or without light it is still the same, she can still do things.” (1)
Yan Mo was full of hatred, but he continued to plead.
“No need…. To cut it. I know….. Herbs, I will….. Treat myself, I will…. Get better, I beg you…”
“You know herbs?” The man did not believe him.
“It’s true! I know!”
“What tribe are you from?”
“Yanshan tribe.” Yan Mo licked his lips. His throat was already very dry and cracked, this was worse than being hungry. Fortunately, he did not eat anything. Otherwise not only would he be sleeping in his own urine but his own feces as well.
“I know the Yanshan priest, and I also know his disciples. You are neither.” The man sneered.
“I really do know!” Yan Mo forced himself to hug the man’s thigh. He pleaded “Give me…. Seven days, then I can… let the wound…. Get better! If I cannot, whatever you want….. I’ll do it!”
“You want me to keep you for seven days? Don’t you know winter is almost here? If you lie, I’d have to waste seven days worth of food on you! Not only that, I also have to take you out to find herbs.” The man was obviously not willing.
“I will…. Repay you! I swear! When I’m better…. I can do lots of things…”
The man grabbed his hair again.
The kid’s face was dirty, but on his face there was no trace of death. Maybe he really could bring back life?
The man hesitated. He was only allowed one slave. If he made the boy his slave, he could not get another until he promotes to a 3rd rank warrior. But if there one day comes a tribe that sells even more beautiful men and women, he’d suffer a big loss. Although this kid doesn’t want money, he would have to take care of the kid for his wound to heal. Moreover, with such severe injuries he wouldn’t be able to work for awhile.
But what if no one would come to sell slaves? The tribe does not look like it’s at war. Without war, you could only buy slaves. He has also wanted his own slave for a long time. This kid’s appearance also suited his appetite, just needed a bit more meat…
Yan Mo was also desperately looking for a way to survive. While the man was thinking, he looked around the barn and plaza a couple times.
On the floor and under the walls grew a weed like plant, but he didn’t recognize it! The ones he could recognize he wasn’t sure if he could properly judge the plants.
Here….
On the first day of arriving here, Yan Mo was skeptical because it could be seen there weren’t a lot of animals. But flies and mosquitos matched his perception on them, so even if he still had doubts, he tried hard to believe.
But he still hasn’t found a herb he recognizes. This is too strange. Herbs herbs, as long as they grow from the ground, will definitely have some medicinal properties. He studied herbs for many years and although he can’t remember ALL the herbs, but the commonly used and special ones, he can recognize 80% of them.
Is this really not Earth?
Wait a second! What is that?
Behind the hut, half hidden by a pipa was the shadow of a plant.
He finally found one that matched his own memory! The more Yan Mo looked at the herb, the more he began to recognize it.
The man looked at Yan Mo, getting ready to tell him his decision.
But Yan Mo first said, “Look over there! That’s a Setose Thistle!”
“What?” The man’s gaze followed the direction of Yan Mo’s finger.
“Setose Thistle, it’s a kind of anti-inflammatory herb that stops bleeding and relieves fevers. Can you take me over to look at it? If it is, then I can use it right now.”
This sentence sounded incoherent by Yan Mo, but looking at the man’s face he understood.
When Yan Mo pointed out a herb that stops bleeding, many of the men and women around the plaza looked in the direction of his finger.
The man lifted Yan Mo up, and walked to the back of the shed.
“You are talking about this?” The man threw Yan Mo to the ground again. The pain from his broken bone flared up and made Yan Mo gasp in pain. Clenching his teeth, he tried not to pass out again.
Holding up his upper body, he dragged his legs closer to the herb.
The edges of the leaves were formed like teeth, the serrated edges of the leaves were almost like the tip of a needle. There was fine white silky hair and the stems and leaves alternated.
He was not wrong, this is a Setose Thistle.
Behind the shed was not just this one strand, but scattered around there were more.
Yan Mo reached out and felt the leaf of the thistle, then let out a breathe. He was really worried that this area was really just a desert. Even the people live on the sand. Fortunately, it can grow thistle. It means that this soil was never properly cared for so it only has sand.
“Knife, fire, pot, clean water. I want to deal with….. My wound.” Yan Mo stared at his right palm fixedly.
——Identifying herbs
Scum -1 point
Total Scum points: 99,999,999 (2)
In the center of his palm, a book emitted a light and after 5 seconds a fancy title glowed. There was the sound of the book closing and on the front a single line of cursive showed: Exile Transformation Guide.
The man did not really believe his words. Their tribe also had priests, but they never once told them that these kinds of weeds were useful. Contrary, because this weed has teeth and the leaves are sharp, they classified it as thorns. In order not to harm the young animals, they had the slaves remove this weed.
But looking at the excitement of the younger teen, it did not look like a lie.
Let him try the weed, if it is really useful, it would be good for the tribe. If it’s useless, it would be his own bad luck.
“I’ll give you this opportunity, but you only have this one chance. If you dare lie to me, I will keep you alive, carve out a piece of flesh every day, until you breathe your last breath.” The man said slowly.
Yan Mo quickly looked away from his right palm. He was sure this man was not simply threatening him but would actually do what he promised.
He unconsciously clenched his right hand, the youth raised his head and with a grateful and pleased smile he said, “I swear. What I said is all true. Sir, could you please gift me a drink of water first?”
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He’s basically saying that with or without light, a 40 year old wife would still be able to fuck and do other things. While Yan Mo, who is crippled cannot.
(2) This is a game reference. I’m not entirely sure about it but according to a friend, you can imagine it like HP bars. I’ll look more into it and change it if I need to in the future.
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