Chapter 113: The Three Great Tribes

Click. As the young boy twisted open the beast’s tooth pendant, all eyes widened in unison. Amidst the calm breeze and tranquil atmosphere, everyone held their breath. The sharp, grating sound of the beast tooth being unscrewed echoed piercingly, causing each heartbeat to quicken in response.

A small, dull object fell to the ground with a soft clatter.

“What? Not a diamond!” Jared muttered, disappointment shadowing his face.

But Stanley saw clearly. He rushed forward, picked up the tiny, grayish object no larger than half a fingernail, held it before his eyes, and exclaimed, “My heavens, it’s agate—a top-grade treasure!”

“Really? Let me see!” Jared, upon hearing Stanley’s words, immediately lunged forward, trying to snatch the agate from his hand.

“Don’t be like that, you black bastard. You already have a diamond!” Stanley quickly tucked the agate into his chest.

“You bastard, are you asking for a fight?” Jared slid his pistol into his waistband, rolled up his sleeves, revealing dark, bulging muscles.

“Kid, looks like you want to hand over that diamond to me too!” Stanley threw an AK rifle aside, meeting Jared’s gaze without backing down.

“Stop it, you two idiots!” Chen Cao’s face darkened as he shouted. He clearly recognized that Stanley was right—it was agate, and a first-rate specimen at that. Though it wasn’t as valuable as the diamond they had taken from the dwarf, it was still worth over eight thousand dollars on the black market.

“Boss, you’ve got to settle this!” Stanley strode up to Chen Cao, indignantly about to speak when a sharp blade pressed against his neck. He swallowed hard, feeling wronged. “Boss, what are you doing...?”

Chen Cao’s cold eyes fixed on him. “If you keep this nonsense up, I’ll slit your throat first.”

Seeing Chen Cao was serious, Jared quickly sympathized with Stanley. “Boss, we were wrong. Let him go, or I’ll trade you the diamond for his life!” Jared said, pulling out the diamond.

Stanley cast a grateful glance at Jared, but soon his hope faded as Jared put the diamond away, saying, “Honestly, I think if you kill him, there’ll be one less person to split the gems.”

“Jared, you bastard! I swear I’ll kill you!” Stanley hissed, keeping his voice low.

“That’s enough!” Chen Cao released Stanley, his face pale but resigned to dealing with these two buffoons.

Immediately, the two fell silent, lips sealed. They all knew Chen Cao’s strength; no one present could match him. They were certain that if the quarrel continued, Chen Cao wouldn’t hesitate to sever a throat.

Chen Cao took the agate from Stanley’s hand and approached the boy, his gaze as cold as ice. The boy trembled uncontrollably, his legs shaking.

Chen Cao stood before him, still holding a bronze-glinting dagger. “Where did this diamond come from?”

The boy stammered hurriedly in the Mainz dialect, “The gods sent it down... bestowed upon us!”

Chen Cao’s expression darkened. “The gods? When did they send it?”

The boy continued trembling, counting on his fingers with hesitation, “Fifteen days ago... no, fourteen days ago at night.”

“Fourteen days ago—that’s when he left Sanfu to crack the code. What’s going on? Why isn’t the date from Husum or earlier?” Chen Cao’s mind swirled with confusion.

He maintained a stern facade, staring at the boy, waiting for more.

The boy’s name was Uki. In the depths of the jungle, there were three tribes: the Moses, Mosu, and Mosang tribes. Uki belonged to the Mosu tribe. That day, the chief suddenly ordered the shaman to gather everyone for prayer, saying the heavens would send a gift. Everyone was to assemble at the Sky Altar. Uki was among the crowd. The ritual began in the afternoon and continued until night. When hunger pressed upon them, a distant rumble suddenly echoed. Then Uki saw a flickering red light.

As Uki puzzled over this, the shaman prayed earnestly, urging everyone to pray sincerely, promising that only then could they receive the heavenly gift. Out of curiosity, Uki looked up just as a muffled explosion sounded nearby. A fiery meteor streaked toward the red light, followed by a thunderous blast. Then, a sound like rain fell, and brilliant, star-like stones rained down from the night sky, scattering over everyone’s heads.

While Uki spoke, munching on dried meat, Chen Cao listened intently. He passed the meat back to Uki. The clues were clear—the heavenly gift and red light were not divine at all but a plane. The meteor must have been a missile striking the aircraft, which carried various precious gems.

Stanley showed little interest in these conspiracies and asked, “Are those gems?”

Uki shook his head. “I don’t know. The shaman said they were gifts from heaven to our tribe, meant to grant us the strength of warriors and to destroy and unify the other two tribes. So everyone picked up a piece of these red, blue, white, and gray stones and placed them in their beast tooth necklaces.”

Hearing Uki’s casual mention of the stones’ colors, Stanley almost burst with laughter. “Boss, just as you guessed, these gems are all on those savages!”

Jared’s eyes twinkled with correction: “They’re natives!”

“Whatever!” Stanley chuckled to himself.

Chen Cao remained unsmiling and pressed on. “Uki, tell me, why did you come here? Given your abilities, you should easily evade us in the jungle. Why surrender yourself?”

Uki touched his forehead, looking aggrieved. “I’m sorry. My teacher told me to find you—or rather, to find someone who can save him—and also to find my mother...”

Chen Cao frowned. “Your teacher? And your mother? What’s going on?”

Tears welled in Uki’s eyes. “It’s all because of that damned thing. Since it fell in our tribe and our people picked it up, the other two tribes suddenly went mad and attacked us. My mother was captured by the Moses tribe and enslaved. I want to save her!” Uki looked at Chen Cao, tears brimming. “Though I don’t know what my teacher looks like, he taught me about the outside world and languages from a young age, hoping I could find someone to rescue him. But no one can—he’s in a deep cave, heavily guarded.”

Chen Cao contemplated this, then deflected: “Let’s not talk about your teacher. Why do you think we can save your mother?”

Stanley interjected scornfully, “There has to be something in it for us.”

Uki, who had been sitting cross-legged, sprang to his feet, shaking his small fists and tilting his neck defiantly. “There is, there is! I know you all want these stones. Our tribe has many, especially at the high priest’s altar. If you go there, you’ll find them. I know the way and can take you!”

To Uki, those glittering stones were worth far less than his mother.

Stanley’s eyes lit up, joyfully glancing at Chen Cao.

Chen Cao pulled out a cigarette, lit it gently, and flicked the smoke away. “Why should I believe you? Remember, you already tricked us once yesterday.”

Uki’s eyelids drooped. He sat back down, fiddling with his fingers. “It’s all Sangra’s fault. He told me to lure you into a trap. The condition was that he would lead his guards to rescue my mother from the Moses tribe. But when you drew weapons and shot the dwarf warriors, he disappeared.”

“Sangra?” Chen Cao frowned. “Who is he?”

“He’s a warrior of our tribe,” Uki said with admiration. “Only the bravest fighters can become warriors, receiving blessings from the chief and the great shaman, becoming invincible.”

“Looks like Sangra’s no good either. And there’s no such thing as invincibility in this world,” Chen Cao sneered. He knew the rulers of this ancient wild world used superstition to control their people’s minds. This uncivilized jungle tribe was no different.

Uki’s voice grew forlorn. “I thought since you defeated the dwarf warriors and Sangra, you must be stronger. So I’ve followed you. When you got excited about the gems from the dwarfs, I figured you’d be interested. That’s why...”

Chen Cao glanced at Jared, who sheepishly lowered his head.

After a moment’s thought, Chen Cao looked into Stanley and Jared’s eager eyes, then back at Uki, as if making a decision. “Deal. Uki, know this—if you lie to us, you know what happens.” He brandished the dagger.

“Understood, understood!” Uki nodded rapidly, like a sparrow pecking at grain. To him, losing some stones was nothing. He doubted anyone in his tribe cared about those gems anyway. He already had dozens, hidden in a secret place. They were taken from the dwarf warriors’ bone necklaces during a retreat after a fierce battle with Chen Cao, poisoned by Sangra.

Now, faced with people who valued these stones greatly, he held a strong bargaining chip.