Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

"First, who exactly is your friend?"

“I can’t believe that someone only thought to ask such an important question now…” Mike couldn’t help but complain. “His name is ‘Chief.’ He’s a big guy, very muscular, at least 1.78 meters tall, wearing a jacket, and looks to be in his forties. He has the hairstyle you guys have, but his style of dress is pretty much the same as people from outside.”

“Oh, my God.” Silverfrost sighed and explained, “We certainly don’t have a chieftain here.”

"No way?" Xiaomei exclaimed in surprise, "But he..."

“‘Chief’ isn’t a name, it’s just… how should I put it?” Silverfrost scratched his head, finally coming up with a reasonable explanation. “For example, Flying Eagle, Silverfrost, that’s what a name is. Would anyone in your area be named ‘Mr. King’? Certainly not.”

“We met him in San Quintak,” Zhang Renfeng added. “Back then, he made money fighting in underground boxing matches at the docks. Everyone there, whether fighters or spectators, called him Chief. Later, when he joined the group, we continued to call him that, and he never objected, so we assumed…”

The fact that the chief's real name might not even be chief surprised the three of them somewhat.

"Thinking about it, this is normal. When you're out and about, everyone has a fake name." Mike quickly figured it out and even joked about his own name, "You guys keep calling me Old Mike, Old Mike, but actually my name isn't Mike."

“I know, Yilan,” Zhang Renfeng said with a smile. “But that’s the name we used when we first met, and I’m already used to it.”

“Yes, maybe the chief is the same. We’ve always called him the chief, and he’s accepted the name. When he’s with us, he’s the ‘chief’.”

Of course, this made the situation that Zhang Renfeng faced even more complicated.

"Can't we find the right person based on these descriptions alone?"

"Come on, there are 2000 people in the entire camp. Even if you exclude the women, there are still about half. And if you filter by age, there are several people in their early forties who have worked outside. I don't usually spend much time in the camp, and I don't even know these people..."

Silver Frost sounded somewhat downcast.

Although people may not say or do anything explicitly, their rejection will slowly seep out from the small details of daily life.

Eye contact, facial expressions, even unintentional little gestures—all made her uncomfortable. In such an uncomfortable atmosphere, effective social interaction was unlikely. The locals of the Tall Tree tribe were somewhat better, but she barely recognized any of the people who had migrated from other tribes. Sometimes she even confused their names with their faces.

They passed through the dense cluster of tents and arrived at the more secluded bark longhouse.

“Alright, although it may not be of much help to the current situation, I will still introduce it to you.” Silver Frost took a deep breath. “In the High Tree Tribe, there are only two types of people who can live in the bark longhouse: one is the brave ones who have passed the ‘Trial of the First Men’… This trial is so inhumanly cruel that you will see a lot of… very… I don’t know how to describe it.”

"The second type is those who have made contributions to the tribe, or some respected elders. This condition is relatively easier to meet."

“We are about to meet the second son of Sher, the younger brother of the Flying Eagle, remember? We just talked about him,”

"So from now on, we will dismount and walk; that's the rule here."

"Understood." Mike nodded, then dismounted and tied his horse to a nearby stake.

"Wouldn't it be a bit much to rush over here, especially at this time..." Zhang Renfeng seemed a little hesitant. This was actually related to the local customs of his hometown—people wouldn't dare ask for favors without some local specialties in hand.

“Although Eagle agreed to let you wander around freely, he didn’t say where you would stay,” Silverfrost said in a deep voice. “I think he didn’t forget, but deliberately didn’t mention it… ‘How to find a place to stay in a generally hostile environment’ is probably one of the tests he gave us. He wants to see if you can persuade at least one Native American family to vacate part of their home to take you in, without using force, through language.”

"So, your solution is to directly find the most prestigious person in the area and have him make the arrangements?"

"What? Isn't this the fastest way?" Silver Frost complained. "Besides, do you know what's inside those tents? There's absolutely no extra space for outsiders. Don't even think about it, it's hopeless! If you want to take them in, you can only come to this treehouse... I've already thought of the process."

She cleared her throat and instructed, "When we get there, the three of you should speak as little as possible and leave everything to me."

“It’s the middle of the night now. He’s been woken up from his bed and he must be groggy. I’ll quickly explain the situation to him and say, ‘If you allow it, I’ll let them stay at my place for now, and we’ll decide on the rest tomorrow morning.’ He’ll hear that he has a place ready-made and won’t have to think about it. He might just agree right away.”

"Snapped!"

Silver Frost snapped her fingers and said with a hint of pride, "Mission accomplished."

"You live in a treehouse too?" Mike asked in surprise. "I thought..."

“I did pass the [Trial of the First Men], after all,” Silverfrost said in a nonchalant tone. “Look, that building over there, that’s my house.”

Following the direction she pointed, there was indeed a treehouse, faintly visible in the night, quite close to the tall tree. This seemed to subtly highlight Silverfrost's own status—no matter how much the villagers ostracized her, she was still a direct descendant of the King of the Tall Trees, and having passed the trials of the early inhabitants, her foundation of status was quite solid.

Adopting three outsiders is not a problem at all.

"When we meet him later, is there any special etiquette we need to observe?" Xiaomei thoughtfully straightened Zhang Renfeng's collar and cuffs as she asked, "Should we bow? Or kneel down like when paying homage to a king?"

"No, no, there's no need for that. He's quite easygoing," Silver Frost said, half-jokingly. "Otherwise, I wouldn't dare wake him up in the middle of the night..."

----

Even so, it's still hard not to feel a little nervous when you actually stand in front of this door.

"call……"

Yinshuang took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and gently knocked on the wooden door.

"Boom boom boom——"

It wasn't very loud.

The wooden door opened quickly, and a face that was younger and more composed than expected appeared before everyone.

Upon seeing this face, Zhang Renfeng, Xiaomei, and Mike all showed expressions of utter shock!

……

“Um… Hello, do you remember me? When you were fifteen, you left Tall Tree, and I went out to travel. After that, we always missed each other.” Facing those calm eyes, Silver Frost wanted to start a small talk, so she brought up the past and said with a smile, “We haven’t seen each other for a long time. When we were kids, we trained together under the King of Tall Tree.”

"You, me, and Flying Eagle, let's go together..."

“I remember you, Silverfrost.”

Peregrine nodded and gave Zhang Renfeng a calm smile. "Long time no see."

"Hongzhong."

Chapter 653: I rarely use the word "unfamiliar" to describe the father-son relationship.

"Ah, you are..."

Zhang Renfeng's expression was full of surprise. He truly understood the saying "life is full of unexpected encounters" at this moment.

Coincidentally, these were the same three who had initially gone to the Gray Wolf Mountains. Time had passed, the Red Center Gang had been formed, and it had evolved into a company/association. For the sake of the greater good, Zhang Renfeng had to disperse his companions to various places to contribute their talents, and only Mike and Xiao Mei remained to accompany him to the High Trees.

The peregrine falcon's eyes remained calm and indifferent, unlike his brother, who was agitated by the turmoil of war. This immediately reminded Zhang Renfeng of their first meeting—they had just lowered the young gold prospector's body from the tree when he emerged slowly from the woods on a white horse.

In their first exchange, the Peregrine Falcon didn't use words; a few simple gestures, coupled with a compassionate expression, conveyed everything. Those calm eyes would occasionally appear in Zhang Renfeng's memory in the quiet of the night.

"Huh?" Yinshuang looked at her with suspicion and disbelief. "You...you know each other?"

"The injury on my face was healed in Mr. Peregrine's cabin," Xiaomei said, unable to hide her joy. "So you're Takagi's prince!"

There is actually a difference between a chieftain's gang and a kingdom, but to outsiders, this is just a streamlined little kingdom. The peregrine falcon didn't correct him, but simply nodded slightly and smiled, "It's been a long time, Miss Mesalia."

“Now that we know each other, things are much easier.” Silverfrost visibly breathed a sigh of relief, her expression relaxing as she pointed towards her treehouse. “Well, Peregrine, I…”

Peregrine nodded, making a move to close the door. "The three of you have come from afar and have to cross a war zone. The journey must have been very arduous. Don't stand here any longer. Go with Silverfrost. She will arrange rooms for you. Get a good rest for the night. We can talk about other things tomorrow morning."

……

"Excuse me, Yinshuang, wait a moment." Zhang Renfeng interrupted him apologetically. He was actually quite embarrassed to bother him so late, but he had to remove the thorn that had been nagging at his heart. "...One last question, please answer me one last time, okay?"

The light in the peregrine falcon's eyes shifted slightly before settling on him, signaling with its eyes that he could speak.

"Your father, King of the Tall Trees, Flash..."

"What kind of person is he exactly?"

"Why are you asking this?" Peregrine asked with a half-smile.

“We’re here to help. I have a feeling that no matter how this matter starts, in the end we’ll definitely have to communicate directly with him. He’s the ‘King’ of the High Trees.” Zhang Renfeng put away his smile of reunion after so long and said in a rather serious tone, “Since we’ll have to deal with him sooner or later… it’s always better to understand him sooner than later.”

The air felt a little quiet for a while.

By saying this, he was implicitly placing himself on the same ecological level as the King of the Trees. Only those of equal standing could "communicate directly with him." Of course, as the uncrowned king of New Austin, he certainly had the right, but this sudden statement felt somewhat direct and blunt.

If someone with a smaller capacity for tolerance heard this, they might have a jolt of unease: What do you mean by this? You come to see me in the middle of the night, and you immediately want to talk to our boss? Do you not take me seriously at all?

It wasn't that he was clueless about human relationships; it was just that the war was too urgent, and it seemed like a fight was about to break out at any moment. There simply wasn't time for rounds of probing and strategic maneuvering.

Fortunately, the peregrine falcon, like him, didn't treat them like outsiders. After a moment of contemplation, it spoke, "You might think I'm talking nonsense, but in fact..."

“My father and I weren’t very familiar with each other.”

"Huh?" Xiaomei was completely bewildered. Born into a normal family, she couldn't understand this kind of parent-child relationship that could only be described as unfamiliar.

“My father is a very strange person, or rather… sometimes, a very strange ‘being’,” Peregrine said in a deep voice. “Even now, when I face him, I still feel powerless. Between us, language is just punctuation; silence is the language we share.”

"How could this be?" Mike squinted in disbelief. "Could he be a wizard?"

"Sometimes... I envy my brother very much. He is a normal person with normal likes and dislikes. He only sees the light and warmth in our father."

The peregrine falcon slightly raised its head and once again cast its gaze toward the treehouse not far away.

There was a complexity in his eyes that was difficult to describe in words.

"But he couldn't see the enormous, indescribable shadow cast on the wall behind the firelight."

----

There are no steps in the tall tree; if you want to see Shan, you have to climb up yourself.

Fortunately, Flying Eagle was extremely familiar with this place. He didn't light a torch, but just spat twice into his palm, and then, with his agile movements, he rolled up onto it.

After climbing onto the platform, he saw that the door of the wooden house was half open, and Shan was standing at the door, staring at him with his calm yet somewhat eerie eyes.

"Father..." Flying Eagle leaped onto the platform, his arms outstretched, and exclaimed in surprise, "You saw it?"

“I feel it.” He turned around, his robes covering his legs, making him look like a footless ghost. “Come on, Flying Eagle.”

Flying Eagle was already used to his father's unpredictable movements, so he quickly followed and entered through the wooden door.

The cabin was far simpler than I had imagined; aside from the necessities of life and a ram's head cane leaning against the wall, there was little else to it.

This house blends seamlessly with the trees themselves. The walls are covered with faces of our ancestors, just like the bark on the trees outside. However, here they are more concentrated, almost covering the entire wall. Their features are so realistic that from a distance, it looks as if their faces have been peeled off and pasted directly onto the wall.

Flying Eagle couldn't help but marvel at how his father truly lived up to his title of King of the Trees, daring to sleep in such a house. If it were him, waking up in the middle of the night to find the walls covered in human faces would probably have scared him to death.

but……

The eagle's gaze fell slightly upon the bed, which was neat, clean, and showed no signs of having been touched.

Either his father had made the bed before he came up, or he hadn't slept tonight.

Furthermore, judging from the signs, he hadn't slept for a long time.

"Father, are those tree roots?" Flying Eagle pointed to the tangled clump of tree roots clinging to the wall, frowning. "How did they grow into the wall? Do you need me to help you remove them? If they keep growing like this..."

No, don't touch them.

Flash casually uttered a sentence, lit a candle, and in the flickering candlelight, his face became increasingly unpredictable.

"You have a question you want to ask me."

"let's start."

Chapter 654: Why do people wear clothes?

"Who exactly is he?" Eagle didn't hesitate, directly posing the question to his elderly father. "I've never seen anything like it before, two people who look so alike. This isn't just a coincidence; even their voices…"

"Just standing there and talking to him makes me feel uncomfortable all over. Do you understand what I mean?"

Shan stared at him for a while, then suddenly raised her hand and took off the mask she had been wearing.

Flying Eagle gasped.

Beneath the mask was a face that bore an almost 70% resemblance to Zhang Renfeng, with the remaining 30% being the marks of time etched upon his face: wrinkles, age spots, white hair, cloudy pupils... and so on. But Fei Ying had seen what Shan looked like when he was younger, and seeing Zhang Renfeng again immediately reminded him of him.

To use a more modern term, for a moment, he felt like he was about to experience the uncanny valley effect. He even wondered if his father, seemingly bored, had climbed down from the tree, dressed in a younger-looking outfit, and was deliberately testing him.

Of course, if you think about it rationally, the possibility is extremely slim, so slim that you might laugh if you think about it carefully.

But even if it's only a fraction of a percent, Flying Eagle still doesn't dare to gamble.

He agreed to let Zhang Renfeng and his group go to Gaoshu, and made things very easy for them to do in the Gaoshu area, without really having any other considerations. It's just that, apart from climbing the tree and seeing Shan in person, he still couldn't be 100% sure that the person below the tree wasn't him.

But now, one mystery has been solved, but more have emerged. Flying Eagle can't believe that this is just a coincidence.

Suddenly, Shan asked, "...Do you think he's a good person or a bad person?"

“What kind of question is this?” Flying Eagle said, his thick eyebrows furrowing in dissatisfaction. “Don’t even mention ‘knowing’ him, I don’t even know his name. Silver Frost should know; she seems to know him quite well. It hasn’t even been two hours since I met him. How could I possibly know if he’s a good person or not?”

Flash didn't speak, but stared at him silently. This otherworldly gaze made Flying Eagle a little scared.

Whenever his answer displeased Flash, he would look at him with that same gaze, remaining silent, giving himself time to correct his mistakes. But most of the time, Flying Eagle didn't know where he had gone wrong, so after a moment of silence, the wise father could only helplessly explain himself.

“My child, you always do too much and think too little. In this respect, you are the exact opposite of your brother.”

“At least I won’t go out of my way to bury white people’s bodies for free,” Eagle said in a low voice.

"Have you ever thought about why people wear clothes?"