Divine Decree

After bidding Emma farewell, Alex moved stealthily and soon returned to the cave where they had been staying.

Just as expected, the beastmen had discovered the cave. In their fury, they destroyed everything inside—the bedframe, the cooking utensils, even the beast that had yet to be butchered. They hacked it into chunks of flesh and tossed them into the stream beside the cave.

Alex hid in the bushes nearby, staring blankly at the beastmen as they chattered away in a language he could not understand. At that moment, he realized how foolish it had been to come scouting alone. He could not even understand what the beastmen were saying, so how was he supposed to gather information?

But now that he was here, Alex could not possibly return empty-handed. That would be far too embarrassing.

After hiding in the bushes for quite some time, Alex suddenly shuddered. A violent gust abruptly swept down from overhead, crushing the dense jungle around him half a meter lower.

Startled, Alex immediately sprawled flat on the ground. Raising his head slightly, he saw a group of dark shapes descending from the sky. At first, he thought they were pterodactyls, but when they landed closer, he realized they were much smaller.

Only after the dark shapes had fully landed did Alex realize that they were most likely the legendary Pterodactyl-men! Their enormous pterodactyl heads looked rather strange. Their hands were like a pterodactyl’s sharp claws, and the webbing connected to their arms clearly formed a pair of wings. Yet their lower bodies were human, with two powerful legs that left dents in the ground when they landed.

At the sight of the Pterodactyl-men, the previously frenzied beastmen all calmed down. An Ape-man with the build of a giant ape stepped forward and chattered away, saying who knew what. The Pterodactyl-men who had just landed took flight again and vanished into the blue sky in an instant.

Watching the direction in which the Pterodactyl-men disappeared, Alex guessed that they had gone toward the swamp. It seemed the beastmen and the Swamp People were about to go to war. He wondered what kind of mess this war between savages would become.

While Alex was lost in thought, the Ape-man who had stepped forward seemed to say a few more words. The surrounding beastmen scattered, apparently to deliver the message.

"Looks like this Ape-man is their leader." Alex watched in surprise as the Ape-man sat calmly on a rock beside the cave, his furry head slightly raised as he stared forward at a fifteen-degree angle. For some reason, the sight was oddly amusing.

After hesitating for a moment, Alex scanned the area around the Ape-man and discovered that there was not a single beastman within ten meters. What delighted him even more was that there were no beastmen at all in the fifty meters between his hiding place and the cave.

"Isn’t this the perfect chance to capture someone? How considerate of them!"

Without any hesitation, Alex sprang from the bushes and charged forward at full speed. In the blink of an eye, he reached the Ape-man. Before the Ape-man could react, Alex struck his thick neck with the edge of his hand.

To Alex’s surprise, the Ape-man did not pass out immediately. Instead, he let out a furious roar and grabbed at Alex with one hand, his furry face filled with rage and his eyes flashing with savage light.

"Damn, what a thick neck!" Alex muttered. One hand clamped tightly around the Ape-man’s neck like an iron hoop, while the other hammered relentlessly at his chest.

The chest was a human’s vital point. A heavy blow could cause cardiac arrest and make someone faint; in serious cases, it could cause shock or even death. Though the Ape-man was a savage, he was still human enough that his body structure could not differ too much from a human’s.

After several punches, the Ape-man seemed completely unaffected. His arms had already wrapped around Alex’s head, as if he intended to throw him over his shoulder.

Alex was not about to let him have his way. He suddenly jumped, braced his knees against the Ape-man’s lower back, and shifted his center of gravity backward, throwing the Ape-man over instead. The Ape-man’s massive body crashed into the ground, seeming to make the earth tremble.

Whatever vital spot that blow had struck, the Ape-man’s violent struggles abruptly stopped. He seemed to have passed out.

The moment Alex saw the Ape-man lose consciousness, he was delighted. He turned to survey his surroundings and saw several figures running toward them. Knowing that the noise of their struggle had alerted the beastmen, he sprang to his feet, hoisted the Ape-man up, and fled at high speed.

Even carrying an Ape-man, Alex remained extremely fast. After only a few leaps, he disappeared into the bushes.

The beastmen who arrived searched the area in surprise, but found no sign of the Ape-man. They merely twisted their heads and left, as though nothing had happened, completely unaware that the Ape-man had already been abducted.

Alex did not know that. Afraid the beastmen might pursue him, he hid with the Ape-man in the crown of a towering tree.

After waiting more than ten minutes without seeing any beastmen chase after him, Alex was somewhat surprised. He turned to look at the Ape-man on his back. "Could I have guessed wrong? Does this guy have no status at all?"

After struggling with the decision for a while, Alex still took the Ape-man away.

When Alex returned, the worry on Emma’s face immediately vanished. She hurried up to him with delight. "Did you find out anything?"

Alex gestured at the Ape-man on his back and said uncertainly, "You should ask him. I think he has a fairly high position among the beastmen."

Only then did Emma notice the Ape-man on Alex’s back. She covered her mouth and cried out in alarm. As she helped Alex lay the Ape-man down, she anxiously asked, "Alex, are you all right? Why did you bring an Ape-man back? They won’t chase after us, will they?"

Alex waited until Emma stopped before shaking his head calmly. "Don’t worry. Everything’s fine!" He patted Emma on the shoulder to reassure her, then continued, "You should sense his mind and see if you can find out anything."

The tension on Emma’s face did not disappear just because of Alex’s words. Full of worry, she began probing the Ape-man’s mind, but her eyes remained fixed on Alex, the concern in them undisguised.

After a long while, Emma finally stopped. She gently wiped away the fine beads of sweat on her forehead, and the way she looked at Alex became somewhat strange.

Alex grew uneasy under Emma’s gaze and hurriedly asked, "What is it?"

"They aren’t here to go to war with the Swamp People." Emma pointed at the still-unconscious Ape-man and slowly said, "They’re here to capture us."

"Capture us?" Alex could not help crying out, his face full of shock. "We’ve never had any grudge against them. Why would they suddenly want to capture us?"

"It is the will of the gods."

"The will of the gods?" Hearing Emma’s answer, Alex became even more confused.

Emma pointed toward the swamp, her expression becoming stranger still. "A Divine Decree issued from the temple."

P.S.: All right, Scorpion owes another chapter now. That makes five or six chapters altogether, right? Scorpion will try to start making them up tomorrow…

Special thanks to fellow reader Zhong Shidao for the golden egg! Scorpion thanks you here!!!