Just as Tie Zhuzi was making marks while walking, he suddenly felt people surrounding him from behind.
Based on his instincts, he knew that these people were the soldiers. He often met these people and there wasn’t usually any conflict between them.
Tie Zhuzi didn’t have any plans; he just quietly walked forward, but at this moment, he felt something was wrong.
Because these people were clearly coming for him, his heart raced, and without thinking, he started to run forward.
As soon as Tie Zhuzi ran, the people behind began pursuing him.
The orders from above were to capture him alive. They prepared a large iron cage specifically to lock Tie Zhuzi up once he was caught.
Now that they were already exposed, they all chased him at maximum speed without hiding.
Tie Zhuzi didn’t know how he offended these people, but since the other side wanted to capture him, he had to run.
Seeing Tie Zhuzi’s high alertness, the soldiers behind him were strongly motivated to capture him. Content originally comes from novᴇlfire.net
They wanted to see what differences existed between this ’wild man’ and humans.
After all, Tie Zhuzi’s stamina was limited, and his long-term malnutrition left his body somewhat compromised.
After running for about twenty minutes, the distance between them grew increasingly short.
"Stop running, we won’t hurt you," a soldier shouted from behind.
They hadn’t heard Tie Zhuzi speak before, but assumed he could understand.
Tie Zhuzi wasn’t naïve enough to believe whatever was said; he focused only on running forward, even if he was already exhausted.
He had not yet found Xiang Yu; he was unwilling to give up.
The distance between them was only about ten meters; those soldiers trained every day and had a significant advantage in stamina.
If Xiaoxuan were here, they definitely wouldn’t be able to catch him. But here, it was Tie Zhuzi running.
At that moment, one of them took out a gun and shot at Tie Zhuzi’s back.
Just then, Tie Zhuzi jumped sideways, dodging the gun from behind.
The gun wasn’t shooting bullets but a kind of injection, a tranquilizer.
Missing one shot, they fired two more shots consecutively. One hit Tie Zhuzi’s leg.
Tie Zhuzi didn’t feel any pain, and ran a short distance ahead, before his whole body started to tingle, losing strength.
A strong drowsiness hit him, giving him the urge to fall asleep immediately.
"I cannot be caught here." Tie Zhuzi gritted his teeth, regaining some clarity and continued to run forward.
But at this point, he gradually lost feeling in his feet, which caused him to stumble and fall.
Soon after, someone caught up from behind and shot him twice more.
Tie Zhuzi’s entire body began to go numb, his mind gradually drifting away, finally falling into a deep sleep.
Many of those chasing him had seen Tie Zhuzi before; seeing him lying here today made them somewhat uneasy.
But it was the superior’s orders; they had no choice. Observing Tie Zhuzi at close range, they discovered that aside from his large stature and dark complexion, there wasn’t anything unusual about him.
However, they had already labeled Tie Zhuzi as a ’wild man’, so no one questioned whether he was a normal person.
A group of people put Tie Zhuzi in a cage and carried him away, planning to report to their superiors after Tie Zhuzi woke up.
These soldiers stationed in the deep forest were actually quite lonely; finding a wild man finally presented an opportunity to pass the time when he woke up.
Tie Zhuzi didn’t know how long he slept in a haze; he only felt his body ache before he reluctantly sat up.
Upon seeing himself in a large iron cage, a surge of anger rose in his heart, prompting him to stand and kick the cage.
It was very dark around him, with nothing visible. The sound of him kicking the iron cage was loud, alerting the soldiers to come and look.
When the soldiers saw Tie Zhuzi waking up, they loudly shouted: "Everyone come and see, he’s awake, he’s awake."
The soldier’s shout stirred many, and they quickly got up to watch, just in time to see Tie Zhuzi’s angry face.
"Let me out," Tie Zhuzi suddenly shouted.
Tie Zhuzi speaking startled them; they never imagined a ’wild man’ might understand language.
"Wow, the wild man can actually speak, really strange," one person said.
"He must be very smart; no wonder the superiors want to capture him for research."
The surrounding soldiers speculated.
"Let me out quickly, who’s a wild man; I’m human just like you," Tie Zhuzi said angrily, gritting his teeth.
His face was dark, his teeth very white, much like a foreigner.
"What, you say you’re human, who would believe that?" soldiers laughingly responded.
"Believe it or not, I’m human, let me out immediately," Tie Zhuzi said, frowning.
Hearing Tie Zhuzi speak so decisively, they were skeptical, then looked at each other without speaking.
"What are you waiting for, let me out quickly," Tie Zhuzi exclaimed, his voice booming like a bell.
Only then did everyone reassess Tie Zhuzi. Although he appeared robust, his clothing was fabric, products of human civilization which wild men couldn’t make.
Looking at Tie Zhuzi again, though dark-skinned, he had no hair; if washed clean, it was clear he was a living person.
The soldiers exchanged glances but said nothing, each retreating to their tents.
"I told you to release me," Tie Zhuzi shouted.
But now, no one paid attention to him, leaving him there yelling alone.
Since Tie Zhuzi wasn’t a wild man, there had to be other reasons he was captured, which were beyond their knowledge.
Tie Zhuzi argued through the night, but no one came to talk to him. Exhausted, he eventually lay down and fell asleep.
The next morning, someone brought food to Tie Zhuzi, but didn’t speak to him and left after dropping off the items.
This matter quickly spread within the army; everyone knew the wild man in the mountains wasn’t really a wild man, but someone tall and often not bathing, mistaken for one.
The news spread rapidly, even reaching local residents who quickly disseminated it.
At the time, Xiaoxuan was eating alone on a large rock, when two people passed by discussing the matter.
"Turns out he isn’t a wild man."
"Yeah, I heard he masqueraded as a wild man and got caught."
"Serves him right, scaring people like that."
The two spoke as they walked away, without intent, but those listening understood; Xiaoxuan immediately thought of Tie Zhuzi, undoubtedly mistaken for a wild man...