All 26 men stared at each other, looking as if they wanted to speak but not daring to.
Elvis laughed mockingly. “I have never seen you all look so hesitant when fighting for your lives. Now that it’s time for you to speak, you are all acting like someone has got you by the throat? You have traveled over such long distances just to play dumb here?”
Elvis’ words incite all 26 men. All males were the same, no matter where they came from. They couldn’t resist a challenge. Otherwise, the northeastern slang “what are you looking at” would not have become an infamous fight-triggering phrase.
One of the 26 men looked up and was the first to speak. “Great Messenger, we have indeed taken in some new tribesmen. But these people weren’t the ones who went to attack the Snake King valley. They are innocent.”
Before Gu Mengmeng could respond, Lea whispered in her ear. “The one who spoke is Leonard, leader of the Zacharias tribe and a fourth-level beast. Beside him is Nick, a witch doctor and a second-level armadillo. They are located rather far from Saint Nazaire, and we have not interacted much with them. Nevertheless, they are situated closer to Peter’s territory, but have almost never had a female snatched from them. It can be seen that they are quite powerful.”
Gu Mengmeng nodded, implying that she understood.
She continued to hold a neutral expression, looking rather nonchalant. “Innocent… what kind of place is the Snake King valley? Being able to find a way into that area in the cold harsh winter just by the abilities of those few people? Is that believable?”
The hearts of the crowd gave a heavy thump.
In reality, it was really quite unbelievable.
Let’s not talk about seeking a way in—just stepping out of your cave during the winter was a tough challenge. Otherwise, why would it be called the season of death?
To locate that secret entrance in the midst of such weather was an impossible task.
So the only explanation was that they had already planned for this long ago. They had earlier searched out the route into the Snake King valley, before camping nearby for a few days to await the coming of winter, to ensure that all the snake beasts had gone into hibernation before entering.
And such an operation would not be possible without external support.
In other words, those few males were the the tribe’s suicide squad. If they succeeded, the powers of the tribe would be greatly increased. Meanwhile, there were tens of thousands snake beasts in the Snake King valley, who would know if just a few went missing?
If they failed, their lives would be lost on the spot while the rest of the tribe would act like they were now—distancing themselves from the intruders and proclaiming their innocence, so as to wash their hands of the incident.
In essence, it was a gamble.
The price of winning or losing was the rise of the entire tribe or the death of those members.
Gamblers existed everywhere, throughout all generations and dimensions.
And the gamblers in this case didn’t just comprise those in the suicide squad—it also included every one in the tribe.
Gu Mengmeng lived an open existence in the Beast World and it was very easy to locate her. Wasn’t Fei Rui the best example?
But none of them came to report the news to her, even though they knew that she was the Saintess of Snake King valley?
Now that matters have come to this stage, they just wanted to smooth things over with a simple claim of “innocence”? Did they really think Gu Mengmeng was such a fool?
The atmosphere instantly grew tense. Gu Mengmeng could clearly see the fear on the faces of the 26 men. It had nothing to do with whether she had leaked some of her Beast King pressure. It could only be said that they were suffering from… their own guilty conscience.
“All of you have traveled such a long way, I am sure you didn’t just bring along your mouths?” Oakley’s tone was moderating as he bore a professional smile. “Since the Great Messenger is willing to meet you, it shows that she is also willing to give you a chance to repent. So could all of you please be a bit more direct, and present your sincerity now.”