Chapter 345: You Must Come With Us
"This... What is this?" The village chief had never seen such a thing.
Xiao Ye found his photo album and flipped to a few pictures he'd taken in his spare time. "Take a look. This is what it's like on the outside."
The photos showed skyscrapers and cars everywhere.
The other villagers were also curious and quickly gathered around.
Xiao Ye handed them his phone as well. "You can look through it yourselves. If you want, I can take you out of here."
"But if you're not willing, you won't be able to stop me anyway!"
Though the village had its share of strong young men, they only had brute strength. They didn't even know basic martial arts.
They could hunt on the mountain, but they only dared to go after small game. Their fighting prowess was nothing compared to Xiao Ye's.
The village chief never imagined the outside world had developed so much.
If there truly was no war, of course they would want to leave.
After all, life here was definitely not as good as life on the outside.
But the other villagers didn't think so. Some of them had long since grown accustomed to their lives here.
"Village Chief, we can't go out! Have you forgotten? That soldier back then said the war would last for at least a hundred years."
"There are only a few years left. What if we go out now and ruin everything at the last moment?"
"That's right. And over the years, haven't some people run off from the village? Have you seen a single one of them return? They must have all died out there."
Over the years, there were always some restless youngsters who wanted to go out and see the world.
Seeing that he couldn't stop them, the village chief decided to let them go out as scouts and send back word.
But to this day, not a single person had returned, let alone sent back any news. They had vanished without a trace.
The village chief looked at Xiao Ye. "No. To be on the safe side... you have to stay in the village."
Xiao Ye rose to his feet, his gaze sweeping over the crowd.
He could see the panic, fear, and also the hope on their faces.
"Village Chief, how about this?"
"If you don't believe me, I can take some of your people out to have a look."
"Find two strong, able-bodied men. Have them follow me, and I'll escort them down the mountain."
"They don't need to go far. Once they get down the mountain and see for themselves, they'll know whether I'm telling the truth."
The village chief was indeed tempted. He knew the village's current situation.
Furthermore, it was winter. Wild animals were short on food and would very likely come looking for people to eat.
Over thirty years ago, a tiger had wandered in and caused them devastating losses.
After a long silence, the village chief finally agreed. "Fine. I'll find two men to go down the mountain with you. But don't even think about pulling any tricks!"
With that, he picked the two youngest hunters in the village, the ones with the best skills.
"You two, follow him down the mountain. And keep a close watch on him!"
In the village chief's eyes, Xiao Ye was just for show. With his fair skin, he clearly wasn't a fighter.
'With two of our own men, there's no way we'll let this kid escape!'
Besides, both men had sons in the village. For their children's sake, they would never put themselves in unnecessary danger, let alone fail to return.
"Yes, Village Chief. Don't worry, we'll keep a close eye on him!"
Xiao Ye wasn't angry. After all, the villagers' way of thinking was a result of their isolation.
They hadn't done anything truly wicked; everything they did was simply to survive.
'Since that's the case, I should help them out.'
"Let's go. Follow me."
Nannan came over too. Seeing that Xiao Ye was about to leave, she asked reluctantly, "Wait! Are... are you coming back?"
The village chief shot her a glance. "Of course he's coming back!"
"Until we've figured things out, he is absolutely forbidden from leaving, let alone exposing the location of our village!"
Nannan was relieved to hear this.
She looked at Xiao Ye with deep affection. "Don't you worry, I'll wait for you to return. Until then, I won't let any other man touch me."
'Giving my first time to such a handsome, extraordinary man would be the best.'
Xiao Ye felt exasperated. 'This girl... she's only a teenager. It looks like getting this entire village to move out is an absolute must!'
'Otherwise, after her, there will be countless other Nannans who go through the same thing.'
Xiao Ye said nothing. The two men prepared water, dried rations, and even their homemade bows and arrows before they finally set off.
Even deep in the mountains, Xiao Ye remembered the way he had come very clearly.
By afternoon, he had finally led them to the end of the path.
"See this road? Follow it down, and you'll be out of the mountains soon. Then you'll see what the outside world is really like."
"I've already made arrangements. When you get to the bottom of the mountain, someone will be there to meet you."
"You marked the trail on your way here, so you won't get lost on the way back."
The two men exchanged a look, then moved to flank Xiao Ye, one in front and one behind.
"Kid, what do you think you're doing? You have to come down the mountain with us!"
Xiao Ye replied calmly, "I have my own business to attend to, and I've already been delayed."
'First, taking Nannan back delayed me for a day. Then I had to backtrack. A three-day journey has been dragged out to five or six days.'
"No, you have to come with us!"
With that, one of the men immediately reached out to grab Xiao Ye.
Without a word, Xiao Ye twisted the man's arm. "I don't want to hurt you. Just go down the mountain on your own."
Seeing this, the other man swung a fist at him.
Xiao Ye kicked him to the ground, but he controlled his strength. The man wasn't injured, though he would be sore for a few days at most.
"You're no match for me."
With that said, he released his grip, turned, and started heading back up the mountain on his own.
The two men exchanged a glance. They knew full well that Xiao Ye had gone easy on them.
"I can't believe we're really no match for him. What do we do now? If we let him get away..."
"The two of us can't stop him. Besides, he's heading deeper into the mountains, not down. Why don't we go down and take a look first?"
"I have a feeling he's not lying to us. Otherwise, what would he have to gain?"
Our village has nothing, just two hundred-odd lives.
"That's true... The first time I saw this kid, I knew he was something else. He doesn't carry himself like an ordinary person!"
He gritted his teeth. "Alright, let's do what you said. We'll go down the mountain first!"
With the path to guide them and being fast on their feet, it didn't take long for the two of them to reach the foot of the mountain.
They hadn't had a chance to see much before someone approached them. "We're the ones Mr. Xiao sent. Please come with us."
"No way! What are you planning to do!"
"We're not going to do anything. We're just going to show you what the outside world is like!"
With that, the speaker didn't stand on ceremony, directly having his men restrain the two and push them into a car.
It was the first time the men had ever been in a car, and they were terrified. But the car drove slowly, mainly so they could see the sights outside.
There were elderly people setting up stalls to sell wild vegetables at the foot of the mountain, and children giggling as they played on the road.
There were also all sorts of shops, crowds of people...
It seemed there really was no chaos at all!