Chapter 150
Chapter 150
Inside the military camp set up atop the dunes, wooden posts had been driven in between the tents.
At the top of each post hung a Migu Flower that glowed at night.
Migu Flowers grew on the Confusion Tree. Once picked, they could survive for seven days, and every night they would shine brilliantly.
Most of the wealthy and merchant families in Great Xia kept a Migu Flower, using the blossom as a lamp.
The cold, whitish light cast down from the tops of the posts only made the thin, elongated humanoid sprawled on the ground look even more corpse-pale.
Qiu Zhang was used to whipping livestock, and his lash was both accurate and vicious.
With one crack of the whip, another bloody welt appeared across the back of the shackled figure who had fallen by the roadside.
Qin Ying did not stop him. She stared at the face beneath the person’s veil, faintly shocked.
It had only been for an instant, but her eyesight was excellent. When that person had lunged out, she had seen his appearance clearly.
He was about five foot seven, with limbs that were strangely long and thin.
The oddest part was his waist. It was absurdly narrow.
Those so-called A4 waists from later generations had nothing on this. This person’s waist was only a little thicker than the rim of a cup.
Someone with hands as large as Han Lie’s could probably wrap one hand around it.
His chest was caved in as well. Viewed from the side, he was a true paper-thin man.
Perhaps because his face was relatively human, paired with that deathly pale skin, he easily triggered the uncanny valley effect.
At the very least, Aman and the other Sand People seeing him for the first time all retreated warily, closing ranks protectively around Qin Ying.
After whipping the person on the ground, Company Military Marquis Qiu Zhang stood up from the carriage shaft and roared toward one side, “How did you let these things get out again?”
An old soldier with a graying beard hurried over with an apologetic smile. Cupping his hands, he said, “Sorry, Military Marquis Qiu.”
“We had these Gutless People tending the vegetable plots. I wasn’t paying attention, and one of them slipped out.”
As he spoke, he stepped forward to grab the skinny-waisted person known as a Gutless Person.
Like leading a dog, he dragged him away by force.
The Gutless Person’s hands scrabbled uselessly at the sand, gouging two marks into the ground before he was hauled off.
Qiu Zhang paid no mind to this minor interruption.
Qin Ying, however, was inwardly shaken to the core.
Gutless People were recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas: Classic of the Overseas North.
The original text read: The Gutless Kingdom lies east of Deep-Eyes; its people are tall and have no intestines.
Leaving aside what sort of technology could grow vegetables in a desert, this race actually existed in the World in the Box?
And they were being used as slaves.
Qin Ying’s current persona was that of an ignorant little Sand People bumpkin, so she adhered to the principle of asking when she did not understand and raised the question with her “new friend.”
“Are those people? They look so strange! Their waists are so thin.”
Qiu Zhang laughed. “Those are Northern Sea Gutless People. Hmm… they might not really count as people.”
“They’re different from us. They don’t have intestines in their bellies, only a single tube.”
“It runs from their throat to their asshole. Ahem, I mean, to the place where they crap.”
“They’re very easy to keep alive.”
“Whatever they eat comes right back out exactly the same, so they save on grain.”
“Huh?” Qin Ying’s shock this time truly was not an act.
Aman beside her wore almost the exact same expression.
“It comes out exactly the same?”
Seeing their reactions, Qiu Zhang seemed to have found a bit of amusement.
He added, “Give them a bowl of sawdust porridge, and they can eat it, pass it, then eat it again.”
“They can keep doing that for seven days, until it spoils.”
The moment he finished this bizarre statement, Aman and Qin Ying both raised their hands to hold up their jaws.
Qin Ying had always been good at letting her imagination run wild. Her mind had already conjured up something along the lines of a human centipede.
Aman’s imagination was a little weaker. He twisted up his face and gestured with his hands. “Eat, then poop, then eat the poop again?”
He moved his hands back and forth twice, failed to figure out the principle behind it, and only succeeded in making himself sick for a good while.
His reaction clearly delighted Qiu Zhang, who laughed even louder. “That’s why I say these Gutless People don’t count as people.”
“If they weren’t so hard to breed and could only be used in the army, these things would definitely be the cheapest slaves around.”
Qin Ying thought, Wasn’t that the truth?
If you kept a slave, you still had to give them a bowl of thin porridge every day. A Gutless Person could eat one bowl of porridge for seven days.
She brainstormed for a while, but she really could not figure out how the Gutless People obtained the basic energy needed to survive, or how they were even able to move around.
At this brain-burning moment, she asked again, “What does reclaiming vegetable fields mean?”
Qiu Zhang was just about to answer when the wagon arrived in front of a large tent that looked much brighter and cleaner than the last.
He pulled on the reins and stopped the wagon.
He only said, “If you want to know, I can take you to have a look tomorrow when I’m free.”
The moment the words left his mouth, he regretted them a little.
But Qin Ying had already seized the opening and agreed at once. “Sure! Tomorrow!”
She was truly becoming more and more interested in how this world operated.
Since she had said that, Qiu Zhang could hardly go back on his word, so he gave a vague grunt of acknowledgment.
After they paid, the new tent was indeed much better.
It was of a relatively high standard. In front of the tent, there was even a small tent for the Sand People to sleep in at night.
The large tent was sealed tightly against the wind and carried a faint smell of tanned leather.
Three Migu Flowers hung from the top, making the interior very bright.
Inside was a broad wooden couch, folding stools for people to sit on, and a weapons rack.
At a glance, it was clearly the tent of a mid-ranking officer.
Qiu Zhang bustled about briefly, then pointed toward the fence.
A good number of grain sacks were piled there, along with several haunches of beast meat.
There were also several large wooden barrels of water and a few jars of wine.
Most importantly, a big bundle of fresh green leaves that looked like crown daisies had been placed on top.
The vegetables seemed to have just been picked and still looked fairly crisp.
As expected, a Military Marquis in charge of supplies could find good things if he was willing.
Qiu Zhang said, as if claiming credit, “It’s dry here. Eating some greens is good for you.”
“You can handle your own meals. I’m still busy.”
Before he left, Qin Ying asked him to let Han Lie know where she was.
Qiu Zhang readily agreed and turned to go.
Qin Ying divided up the food, giving most of the bundle of greens to Aman and the others.
Aman was terribly alarmed and tried to refuse, but Qin Ying stopped him with a look.
A bundle of fresh vegetables was neither here nor there to Qin Ying, but for Aman and the others, who had been born in the desert and trapped by the Thunderbird for so long, it was a genuinely good thing.
She had not become so greedy that she would take the entire bundle for herself.
After letting Aman and the others do as they pleased, Qin Ying returned to the tent.
There was a fire pit built from stones inside. Qin Ying thought about boiling some water so she could wipe the dust and sweat from her body.
Of course, she had not forgotten Han Lie either. She wanted to cook some porridge.
When she opened one of the grain sacks, hulled brown rice coated in white ash came into view.
Just as Qin Ying was looking around for a pot, someone stopped in front of the entrance.
After coughing lightly twice as a reminder, the person outside called out awkwardly, “Ah Ying.”
It was Han Lie, holding a large wooden box in his arms.