The White Deer Tribe's settlement could be described best with one word: pitiful. If five tents built around a small fire could even be called a settlement, that is.
The children, wearing dirty rags that could hardly be called clothes, stood behind the adults' legs, tired, afraid and starving. The adults were worse. With hands and feet as thin as bamboo sticks, the adults looked even more starved. They seemed to be putting up a brave front in front of the children but the shaking of their bodies wasn't very well hidden.
The tents they called shelter looked old and dilapidated, with so many patches that it looked like it was made entirely out of scraps of cloth that were sewn together. Forget keeping the cold out, those tents didn't even seem capable of keeping out the rain.
The tribe consisted entirely of women, children and the elderly. There was not a single adult male in sight. It was easy to understand why. The males had sacrificed themselves so the others could escape.
'Weak and poor'. Those were the words Zuzhou Nuo had chosen to describe herself and her people and truly, there were no words that fit better while describing the White Deer Tribe that had nothing.
They had committed no other crimes than simply existing, yet, they were relentlessly chased and hunted. Their beautiful white hides, like a curse, had condemned them to the vicious greed of the humans. Unable to fight back, they could do nothing but run. They could do nothing other than leave everything behind and run.
So, they ran, from one spot to the other, running deeper and deeper into the Forest of Endless Trees. They simply wanted to survive, to live in peace. Yet, they were not allowed that. No matter how much they ran, the hunters always found them. Every time, they had to sacrifice their own people and run.
They had to run so they could experience the luxury of being able to breathe for a single day more.
They could not farm, for the fear of being found out. They couldn't bring any of their precious items with them because it would weigh them down and leave them unable to run faster. Given these conditions, it was natural for them to be poor and starving.
Standing amongst the members of the White Deer Tribe, Yun Lei couldn't help but feel like he was some sort of an alien in a world that would forever be beyond his cognitive abilities. His life hadn't been easy but compared to the people before his eyes, he had lived with the grandest of luxuries.
He could understand the pains they had been through but he had never experienced what it was like to not have food to eat when hungry, what it was like to not have shelter above his head while it was raining, what it was like to constantly fear for his life.
Yun Lei had been in that forest for merely 2 days and he was already tired beyond belief. It was hard for him to even imagine how it was like for these people who had to live like that their entire lives.
When he looked at the members of the tribe who all had white hair and long elf-like ears, the defeated expressions on the faces of the adults, the hopeful glint in the eyes of the children, he couldn't help but feel sorry for them. How could he feel anything but sorry?
The eyes full of innocence seemed to be a feature of the White Deer Tribe as much as their white hides. If someone had told Yun Lei that the people in front of him couldn't even harm a fly, he would have completely believed them.
Even though they had faced the cruelty of people far stronger than them, the unfairness of the world, they had not lost their innocence. The older ones were a bit jaded but the younger ones still had hope. Hope for a brighter tomorrow, a warm future.
Yun Lei had felt no regrets while killing those hunters but he never thought he would actually feel glad about ending the lives of others. Yet, looking at those pitiful people in front of him, glad was exactly what he was feeling.
"Young Sir, please." The frail-looking tribe leader welcomed him and took him to the best tent they had. Of course, best was entirely subjective as the thing looked like it was barely holding itself up.
Yun Lei, Zuzhou Nuo and the tribe leader entered the tent as the rest of the tribe watched with a worried look on their face.
"What's going to happen to us, mommy?" A young girl asked her mother in a feeble voice.
"Everything will be fine." The mother replied in a gentle tone yet, her eyes betrayed how worried and anxious she was feeling. And it wasn't just her. Every member of the White Deer Tribe felt as though they were awaiting judgement from King Yama.
The tent looked just as terrible from the inside as it did from the outside. There was nothing there besides a thin piece of fabric that was laid down on the ground. That fabric functioned as something to sit down on during the day and something to sleep on at the night.
Yun Lei chose to remain standing as he started speaking in a soft voice. The tent didn't seem like it would do anything to keep his voice in and he didn't want the children outside to hear anything he was about to say.
"I found three hunters in the camp. They're all dead but I heard from them that there are more hunter groups nearby. We need to remove the traces of the hunter camp and the tribe needs to find another spot to move to."
Zuzhou Nuo let out a tired sigh. They had moved to that clearing just two weeks ago and they were practically starving. Moving again would be difficult on all of them.
"Is there anything we could do to help, young sir?" The tribe leader spoke in a respectful tone, her head was still bowed.
"Yes, actually." Yun Lei's growling stomach interrupted him as he spoke but he didn't pay any attention to it and continued. "I would like some help from your tribe to bury the corpses as well as carry back the hunters' belongings.
"By the way, you wouldn't happen to know what these pills are, would you?" He showed the mother and daughter one of the black pills that seemed to be in every hunter's pouch.
"Those are food pills." Zuzhou Nuo explained. "They aren't very filling but people can live off of them."
Yun Lei handed all of the pouches he had gathered from the hunters to the young girl after he heard her speak. "I have no use for the pills. Give them to your people. Leave the rest of the stuff in there. I'll take it back later."
He then turned towards the tribe leader. "I would like to conclude our business with the hunters as soon as possible."
A small team of five people was quickly assembled by the tribe leader. They seemed to be the healthiest members of the tribe so they could probably do some work. The tribe members who didn't know why they were gathered there were filled with apprehension and fear.
Two of them even thought that the tribe was giving them up as a tribute to the scary young man before them so he would leave the rest of them alone.
"Please follow me." Yun Lei said as he took the lead. The Deers followed behind meekly with bowed heads. Zuzhou Nuo was walking beside him. Although he hadn't wanted to bring her with him, he couldn't argue the fact that her presence would help the other Deers relax.
The White Deer Tribe had excellent night vision so they had no difficulty following the slow walking human. Of course, Yun Lei was only walking slowly because he didn't want to make his injuries obvious.
As they got closer to the hunter camp, several Deers let out a gasp of shock. Even the already dried blood on Yun Lei's body had scared them. The stench coming from in front of them was a lot stronger. Zuzhou Nuo seemed to be the only one who was somewhat relaxed. She was already starting to get used to the smell of blood after being near Yun Lei for nearly a day.
Both Zuzhou Nuo and the tribe leader had told the Deers about the hunters. They were mentally prepared to see the corpses but being mentally prepared wasn't always enough to confront the situation in reality, however.
The thought that these hunters were lurking around their settlement, waiting for the chance to kill them was terrifying. After seeing the corpses strewn about, they had realised just how close to death they had come. The person who had saved them didn't even seem phased by the scene as he was gathering some fallen branches from around the clearing.
Yun lei had already had the displeasure of having to dig with his hands, he didn't want to experience it again. He was planning to make some makeshift trowels from the branches and give them to the Deers. Him, pulling out a bloodstained knife from his cloth pouch, was quite the scary sight to the Deer.
Of course, Yun Lei didn't even point the knife in their general direction but they could still tell that the thing had ended lives before. It was natural for them to be scared. They breathed a sigh of relief as they saw Yun Lei use the knife to carve something out of the branches.
His movements were completely smooth, as though he was simply cutting through butter. The knife wasn't sharp enough for such a feat so he had used a bit of profound energy to give the knife more of a bite. It was a bit of a waste but it saved him some time. Right in front of the astonished Deers, Yun Lei fashioned 7 trowels.
"Let's get to work." Yun Lei said before grabbing one of them and immediately started digging. The Deers didn't need to be told twice.
With all of them working together, it didn't take very long at all to dig three graves. Although Zuzhou Nuo seemed like she would throw up every time her eyes fell upon one of the corpses, she clenched her fists and got right back to work once more. If these people didn't die, my people would have. She thought over and over in an attempt to calm her heart.
The Deers dragged the two corpses that were outside while Yun Lei carried out the corpse of the hunter that smelled like alcohol. He didn't want to make the Deers do any more dirty work than they needed to so he pulled out the arrows from the hunters' body himself before covering up the graves.
The tents were quickly dismantled and the fire was completely put out. After doing some more work, Yun Lei could confidently say that the clearing looked completely natural. It didn't look like there was a hunter camp there not too long ago.
By the time they were finished, it was already quite late in the night. So late, in fact, that dawn seemed right around the corner.
Everything belonging to the hunters had been packed up neatly with nothing left behind. The Deers carried the load as Yun Lei walked in the front, leading the group back.
Along the way, Yun Lei kept his eye out for anything edible. For some reason, there didn't seem to be a lot of animals in that part of the jungle so he found a lot of fruits and wild vegetables. He even found some ingredients for pills which would no doubt come in handy.
The group walked ahead in silence. The Deers were still coming to terms with everything they had just witnessed while Yun Lei was deep in thought about what his next move would be.