243 The Desolate Men Are Intriguing (2/2)

The tone of her speech was a bit strange, for she rarely flicked the tip of her tongue. And the lapse between words remained even, which made her words sound straightforward and tough. But they could still understand these three words.

Ning Que looked back at her and asked sternly, ”The Desolate?”

The woman did not answer his question but looked warily at the two. She pulled the short bow tighter, uttering a tense sound as if the arrow would be shot anytime. Then she continued. ”Central Plains people?”

Mo Shanshan wasn't good at lying nor did she need to given the circumstance, so she blankly replied, ”I come from the Great River Kingdom.”

The woman shook her head and said, ”Never heard of it.”

Mo Shanshan pointed at Ning Que and said, ”He is a Tang. I think you should have heard of it.”

Ning Que thought to himself that this ain't good, for the Tang Empire exiled the Desolate Men to the Cold region in the Far North a millennium ago. Given the history of hate and hostility between the two sides, this Desolate woman was sure to freak out upon finding out that he was Tang!

His right hand holding the hilt slightly stiffened, ready to strike ahead of her attack.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing the word ”Tang”, the woman was only slightly startled and did not react too violently. Instead she seemed to have calmed down and said, ”I've heard of the Tangs.”

Ning Que frowned and asked, ”You have?”

”Yes.” The woman said in her peculiar tone, ”Everyone in the tribe knows that we moved away many years ago, for our ancestors did not defeat yours.”

Even more confused, Ning Que asked, ”So if you know I'm Tang, why aren't you mad?”

The woman withdrew her bow and arrow, saying blankly, ”We lost the fight and we accepted the failure. Why should I be mad?”

Ning Que scratched his head and said, ”It seems to... make sense.”

...

...

This was the first time that Ning Que and Mo Shanshan met the Desolate. Through their brief contact and conversation, the two discovered that the Desolate Men were totally unlike rumored monsters who could eat rocks and drink molten metal. In fact, they hunted, conversed, wore clothes and worked hard for a living every day just like any ordinary person.

That Desolate woman disregarded them and pulled the arrow out of the snow rabbit's body and carefully checked out the wear of the arrowhead. Then she grabbed some snow and rubbed the blood off the rabbit and threw it into a bag on her back.

Mo Shanshan looked at her in quietness, and suddenly asked, ”Why did you come to the south?”

This time Ning Que glanced at her.

He came to this wilderness occupied by Desolate Men for a clear goal, not for Divine Hall or the peace of Central Plains countries. He was to find the Tomes of Arcane. Of course, he did not want to deal with these fierce Desolate Men.

The Desolate woman glanced at her and said, ”Why can't we come?”

Mo Shanshan said, ”This place belongs to others.”

The woman said, ”Many years ago this was our hometown. After we left, it was occupied by these barbarians. Why can't we come back?”

Mo Shanshan looked at her and asked very seriously, ”But generations of grassland barbarians have lived here for so many years. Now you have occupied their land. How can they survive?”

Ning Que looked at her and thought.”Although you're a genius Calligraphy Addict, how could you ask such a stupid question?”

This Desolate woman looked at Mo Shanshan as if seeing an idiot and said, ”How could we survive if we didn't take it back?”

Ning Que burst out laughing.

Mo Shanshan blankly glanced at him as she took the reins of the maroon mare and followed the Desolate woman across the edge of the snow dome to walk down the gentle slope.

Ning Que paused briefly and hurried to keep up.

The Big Black Horse was stunned for a while to find that no one cared about him as everyone just left! It resentfully kicked snowflakes and tried to keep up with them as he carried the heavy luggage.

...

...

After several conversations, Ning Que felt that Desolate Men were really rather interesting and had a similar temperament compared to the Tangs. However, he still wasn't ready to make much contact with them. But he didn't expect it when Mo Shanshan seemed to think otherwise.

Mo Shanshan looked at the Desolate woman who walked in front with a bow on her back and whispered. ”We'll be fighting the Desolate Men next spring, so obviously we should find out the true situation of the Desolate tribe. The Divine Hall sent us here for intel, and this Desolate woman doesn't seem to suspect us. Isn't it the best chance for us?”

Ning Que shook his head and thought that he had nothing to do with the war between Divine Hall and the Desolate Men. However, since Mo Shanshan insisted on making this encounter part of her earthly trial, he could not oppose it.

Not long after they walked out of the snow dome and turned east, they saw a solitary tent painted with something resembling black mud on its surface, which seemed to be able to shelter from the wind and cold. But it was still a long way till they arrived at the settlement of the Desolate Men, so they wondered why the woman lived here.

The Desolate woman didn't invite them in, nor did she show much hostility toward them. She let them into the tent and threw a large chunk of dry meat to them, and then poured them two bowls of hot water.

There was not too much salt in the dry meat and it was tasteless to chew. But if it was mixed with saliva for a long enough, it would give off an original flavor of raw nature. After leaving City of Wei, Ning Que rarely had access to something so crude, so he kept chewing happily and simply could not spare any time to speak.

Mo Shanshan thanked the woman and tore two slices of meat into her mouth and chewed slowly. Judging from her expression, one couldn't tell whether it was tasty or not.

The Desolate woman kept her head down and worked attentively on a piece of animal skin and did not pay attention to them.

In the tent, there was no quarrel, simply silence.

Ning Que sensed a weird atmosphere and could not help looking up at Mo Shanshan. ”Didn't you mean to explore the enemy and the real situation of the Desolate Man tribe? Can you achieve this by staying quiet?”