Forget it, we can only take one step at a time now.
But Su Chen felt that Chen Nan was too pessimistic.
Although the situation of the Miyaya Tribe was precarious, it was no problem to hold on for another year or two.
But soon Su Chen no longer thought of Chen Nan as pessimistic.
Right after Su Chen left Chen Nan's room, he heard a noisy clamor coming from outside the tribe.
"What's going on, Miyia?" Su Chen walked over.
He saw many indigenous women riding beasts outside the tribe.
They wore leather skirts similar to Miyia, some riding on the backs of wild boars, some on wolves, and Su Chen even saw a woman riding a bear.
These indigenous women were plump and fit, their muscles more exaggerated than those of men.
A fierce aura emanated from them.
Miyia looked a bit displeased as she said, "They demand the year tribute."
"Year tribute?" Su Chen obviously didn't understand what the year tribute meant.
"It's a once-a-year... population exchange." Miyia's Huaxia language became more fluent from speaking frequently.
Su Chen's mouth twitched slightly. Could it really be such a coincidence?
He just arrived and they're exchanging people?
"No, the year tribute already took place half a year ago," said Miyia.
Su Chen understood that the women of the Desolate Tribe, feeling stronger than the Miyaya Tribe, were starting to disregard the rules.
Exchange people?
For the Desolate Tribe with a population in the thousands, losing ten people had no effect.
But for the Miyaya Tribe, losing ten people was a disaster.
And they only wanted the strongest men.
The men that ended up in the Desolate Tribe met with a very miserable fate.
But for the women exchanged from the Desolate Tribe, the Miyaya Tribe had to protect them earnestly.
Because they represented their hope of increasing the population.
What was more infuriating, in recent years, many of the women sent by the Desolate Tribe were infertile.
The Miyaya Tribe both loved and hated women.
What they hated was the Desolate Tribe women's overbearing conduct.
What they loved, men always need women, a truth that is unchanged.
Regardless of the place, regardless of the tribe.
Now, they directly broke the rules, demanding another year tribute only half a year later!
Actually, it wouldn't be impossible to carry out the year tribute.
The key is, at least send some healthy women, right?
What kind of women are these being sent?
Many were old women in their forties or fifties.
These women were basically those who had birthed numerous children for the Desolate Tribe and were no longer able to bear offspring.
But, facing those brawny women riding giant beasts, the Miyaya Tribe had to bow their heads.
Really, these few dozen women were nothing to fear.
The Miyaya Tribe could keep all of them here.
But behind them stood the Desolate Tribe.
That entity, with far more people than Miyaya Tribe, was formidable.
"Go select ten people to give to them!" Despite the anger, the Chieftain still had to compromise.
Soon, ten people were chosen.
Chen Nan was among them, unmistakably so.
His face was numb.
Actually, he had long guessed this day would come.
The Miyaya Tribe, all told, had only three to four hundred people.
Aside from the elderly, children, and women, there were only a little over a hundred people.
In seven years, with ten people exchanged each year.
That's seventy people.
The odds of being selected were quite high.
He was somewhat lucky.
Only in the seventh year was he chosen to be exchanged with the Desolate Tribe.
That was a Demon's den.
Those robust women, upon seeing these men, began to gleam with anticipation.
However, they couldn't touch these men just yet, they had to wait until after their Queen had made her selection.
Su Chen finally understood why Chen Nan said he was done for.
Men sent to the Desolate Tribe were used for procreation.
And he had already lost that function; being sent there now.
The most likely outcome was to be tortured to death by those women.
When the ten men were handed over to the female warriors of the Desolate Tribe, the warriors still didn't leave.
"Sorry, we didn't want ten men, we wanted twenty!" The leading female warrior said tauntingly, her face full of mockery.
"You!" The people of the Miyaya Tribe, upon seeing the poor-quality women sent by the Desolate Tribe, were already withholding a bellyful of fire.
They didn't expect the other side to be so greedy as to demand even more men.
"What's the matter? Do you want to fight?" The leading female warrior raised her Stone Axe, looking arrogantly.
The people of the Miyaya Tribe immediately softened.
The Chieftain gritted his teeth, seemingly wavering, thinking of bringing out another ten people to give to the Desolate Tribe to defuse the crisis.
Seeing this scene, Su Chen shook his head again; he finally understood the reason behind the decline of the Miyaya Tribe.
They compromised time and again under the oppression of the Desolate Tribe.
Naturally, the other side would push more and more.
Initially, he thought the Miyaya Tribe could hold on for another year or two; now it seemed questionable whether they could last another year.
"Of course, if you do not wish to hand over ten men, bring us her instead." While the Chieftain struggled to decide, the female warrior pointed at Miyia.
Miyia shook all over.
She of course knew the consequences of falling into the hands of the Desolate Tribe.
The best she could hope for was to be used as a tool for birthing children.
It might not even be her turn, after all, there were plenty of women in the Desolate Tribe.
Then the bigger possibility was to be killed outright.
"No way, that's absolutely not happening!" The Chieftain's face turned unsightly.
After all, Miyia was also his sister.
"Then give us another ten men." The female warrior said tauntingly.
The Chieftain wanted to select another ten people.
However, the people of the Miyaya Tribe wouldn't have it.
Clearly, ten men were more critical to the survival of the Miyaya Tribe than one woman.
Although women were also important to the Miyaya Tribe.
But because Miyia was the Chieftain's sister, she hadn't yet produced offspring for the tribe.
"Chieftain, you need to think this through, our numbers are already few, if we give more to the Desolate Tribe, next year we probably won't be able to put together ten people to give them."
"Yeah, you can't let everyone sacrifice just because Miyia is your sister!"
"..."
The people of the Miyaya Tribe spoke heatedly.