Chapter 205: Sky Alpha Cult
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Number Eight turned around and dragged a person down from his horse before placing him in front of Su Ying. “When I was patrolling just now, 1 heard some strange movements outside the defensive wall. When I went out to take a look, 1 saw someone lying there. When I saw who it was, 1 didn’t plan to interfere, but he said that he had to see you, Mistress.”
Su Ying looked at the man on the ground, covered in blood and beaten until almost beyond recognition. She frowned. “Wu Feng?”
The moment Su Ying spoke, the man on the ground stirred. He struggled to open his swollen eyelids and looked at Su Ying strenuously.
This confirmed Su Ying’s guess.
Wu Feng struggled to move his body and used all his might to raise his head. “Su… Su Ying… help. They… they are here. Sky Alpha Cult… is coming…”
“Sky Alpha Cult!”
Tiger Might and the others had already walked out of the house and happened to hear Wu Feng’s words.
Su Ying felt that something was wrong and immediately brought Wu Feng into the house.
The cheerful atmosphere in the hall dissipated in an instant. Aunt Zhao and the others brought the children to the other rooms in advance lest they became frightened.
When Tiger Might and the others heard the words “Sky Alpha Cult,” they instantly became sober completely.
Wu Feng’s eyes had already become dull. Su Ying knew that he was already near the end of his life. She turned around and returned to her room to take out a cardiotonic micro syringe which she then injected into him.
Wu Feng’s pupils became slightly focused.
“Sky… Sky Alpha Cult members ca… came. They want… wanted two thousand sacks of grain… Azure Dragon Base didn’t… have… So they killed… kill everyone…” Before Wu Feng could finish his sentence, his head tilted and he stopped breathing. His bloodshot eyes gradually dilated.
The atmosphere in the room became heavy all of a sudden.
Just as Number Eight was about to take Wu Feng’s body out to dispose of it, he was stopped by Su Ying.
Su Ying squatted down. Wu Feng’s cotton-padded robe was already badly tattered, but if one looked closely, one could see that the marks on his clothes were not man-made. She tore off the clothes on his back and saw that a large piece of flesh had been torn off. His entire back was a bloody mess.
“He was bitten to death by a wild beast,” Su Ying concluded.
“It’s a beast raised by the Sky Alpha Cult!” Tiger Might clenched his fists.
Su Ying stood up, indicating that Number Eight could take the corpse out.
“Tell me. Who are these Sky whatchamacallit people?”
Everyone sat down on the chairs with grave expressions.
Qiao Yang slammed the table and said, “Big Brother, what are you afraid of? It’s not like we don’t have people. We’ll fight them to the end. Why do we have to pay so much grain to them every year? Do our money fall from the sky?”
Tiger Might glared at him in response. “Have you forgotten who was the idiot who almost had his legs broken last year?”
Qiao Yang shut up instantly.
During this period of time, they had been striving to make the Tiger Base better. With the addition of Su Ying and Xiao Jin, they had forgotten about the Sky Alpha Cult. In the past, those people had also come in December. This year, they didn’t come, so they thought that things would pass. They didn’t expect them to still come eventually.
Meng Zi took a sip of tea and suppressed the bloodshot expression in his eyes. “As far as we know, the people of Sky Alpha Cult have always been the rulers of the northern wilderness.
“Be it the Azure Dragon Base or the Tiger Base, the length of time of their existence in the northern wilderness is in no way comparable to the Sky Alpha Cult’s. The Sky Alpha Cult has always been the leader of all the various base camps in the northern wilderness. Normally, the Sky Alpha Cult won’t do anything to us, but they will ask us to hand over a certain amount of food and a hundred children under the age of five every year.”
Su Ying frowned slightly. She could understand handing over food, but what was the point of handing over children?
“What do they want children for?”
Meng Zi shook his head. “No one knows what they want to do to the kids. We only know that if we don’t hand over the specified number of children by the time the deadline is up, they will send people to massacre the places that don’t fulfill the requirements.”
Tiger Might’s face tensed up. “There aren’t many people in our Tiger Base, to begin with. How can we get so many children for them? Moreover, every child has parents who dote on them. Who would be willing to hand over their children? We had no choice but to go out and buy orphans. However, when it was time to hand over the children last year, one of the children escaped, and we were one kid short. The Sky Alpha Cult became furious instantly and killed dozens of our people by hanging!”
Su Ying had fought with Wu Feng before. Even though he wasn’t considered a top-tier martial arts expert, he and his commanders’ combined battle prowess wasn’t bad either. Yet, he was still nearly torn apart by a ferocious beast. One could imagine how vicious the Sky Alpha Cult members were.
“Wu Feng said that they suddenly asked for 2,000 sacks of grain this year. Tiger Might, how much do you have in your warehouse? Is it enough for them?” Long Ba had personally witnessed the power of the Sky Alpha Cult. He was afraid of death. If they did not have enough grains and fighting broke out, he would have to hide in advance.
Tiger Might’s expression clouded over. “We have enough grain, but if we give them away, what will we eat for the next two to three months?”
“If you can survive in the past, you will definitely be able to survive this year.” As long as they could get through this, they could talk about the rest later.
Su Ying and Xiao Jin looked at each other. This was the first time the two of them had seen such a grim expression on these people’s faces at the same time. “You guys have never resisted before?”
“Who says we haven’t…” Tiger Might did not want to think about what happened that year. It could be said that the people of the Tiger Base were almost wiped out at that time. If those bastards from the Venom Cult had betrayed them, it would have been a complete disaster.
It took them a few years to recover some of their vitality.
Tiger Might let out a deep breath. “Since they have already arrived at the Azure Dragon Base, they will come to the Tiger Base in a few days. If it really doesn’t work, we will give them the grain first.”
“There is grain in the warehouse, but what about the children? You didn’t buy them in advance. Now that it’s almost the end of the year, the human brokers won’t come out to do business anymore. Where are you going to get them a hundred children?”
Su Ying’s words rendered Tiger Might speechless.
“How much do you guys know about Sky Alpha Cult?”
Qiao Yang gritted his teeth and said, “We only know that they live in the mountains. We have also sneaked in to investigate, but their security is very strict. It’s impossible for our people to sneak in. There are wild beasts everywhere. No matter how we disguise ourselves, those beasts will be able to sniff out something is amiss the moment they catch a whiff of our presence.”
“Tell me in detail how many people they bring every time they come to collect grain.”
“They don’t bring many people. They bring mostly wild beasts. Those wild beasts were extremely ferocious. They are like murder weapons. Ordinary wild beasts couldn’t be compared to them at all.”
Su Ying nodded and stood up. “I understand.”
“Madam Su, we know that you and Master Xiao are skilled in martial arts, but these Sky Alpha Cult members are definitely not ordinary people. Our manpower is limited, and it is difficult to gain the upper hand when fighting with them. Madam Su, it is better not to take risks rashly. This does not involve just you alone.” Long Ba also stood up with difficulty. He did not want to be enemies with the Sky Alpha Cult..