Chapter 2098: Headhunting

Qiao An adjusted his emotions and said in a tone as calm as possible:
"Col. Anderson ordered the shooting to kill all the smallpox patients who rushed back to fight the fire. Later, a cavalry company was sent to set the woods where the hospital was located. The patients in isolation in the hospital were not killed by the smallpox virus. But was killed in the fire."
Everyone looked in the direction of Qiao An's fingers, and there was indeed a piece of scorched earth in the forest in the distance, and a few unburned dead trees stood on the ruins. At the corner of the ruins stood a tower-like building like a steelmaking furnace, blackened by smoke, and it was the crematorium used to cremate the bones of smallpox patients.
After listening to Qiao An's account, and seeing the miserable scene before him, all the visitors from the old world shudder, and Hailar and Zion's sisters and brothers were also in a heavy heart.
At this time, Dolly the parrot standing on Hailar's shoulder suddenly fluttered and exclaimed in the air.
"It's on fire! It's on fire!"
Qiao An was startled slightly, then raised his head and asked the parrot: "Dolly, where is the fire?"
"East! East!" cried the parrot.
Everyone unanimously looked to the east, looking across a forest, and indeed, thirty or forty miles away, they saw thick smoke rising, and there were faintly dense gunfire.
"It seems to be..." Hailar frowned and suddenly changed his expression: "It's Grizzly Town!"
"That's right, that area is Grizzly Town!" Audrey said eagerly, "There will be no fire in the town for no reason. We'd better go over and see what's going on!"
Seeing the thick smoke rising in Grizzly Town, coupled with the gunshots from a distance, Qiao An had guessed what was going on there. However, he did not say anything in public. He focused on casting the spell and brought his companions to the Near Grizzly Town where the fire broke out.
The dizziness that accompanied the transmission had not subsided, and Qiao An heard noisy gunfire, crying, cursing, and shouting, and what was immediately displayed before his eyes was a shocking tragedy.
There are no less than a hundred Asa warriors riding on horses, bending their bows and shooting arrows, and throwing arrows smeared with "flaming glue" into the town.
The high-speed flying arrow rubs against the air to generate heat, ignites the "flaming glue" and turns into a rocket, dragging its shiny trail down like rain.
Most of the buildings in the town are made of wood. In this hot summer, dry wood is ignited by fire.
The alarm bell sounded in the town, and the panicked townspeople tried to put out the fire. However, there were only two wells in the town. The speed of pumping water to extinguish the fire was far slower than the damage caused by the rockets flying in the sky. In a blink of an eye, rows of wooden houses fell into flames. .
In the blazing house, there were still residents who had not had time to escape. Cry and cry came from the window. Many people were eventually burned to death in the fire, and the whole town had become a purgatory on earth.
Seeing that there is no hope of fighting the fire, the residents of the town rushed to flee in the smoky streets, holding the livestock.
As soon as they left the town, the refugees were intercepted by the Asaite warriors guarding outside, armed with crossbows or shotguns, and ruthlessly shot and killed the refugees who had no resistance.
The crowd screamed again and again, blood splashed, and dozens of townspeople who had managed to escape from the sea of ​​flames were slaughtered and corpses spread across the land.
The leader of Asa Hunter is a high-ranking ranger in a grass green cloak, and when he sees that there is no more standing target on the opposite side, he blew the horn.
The Asa hunting rider guarding the entrance of the town heard the sound of the horn, neatly put away the crossbow shotgun, pulled out the saber around his waist, urged his horse forward, leaned over the saddle to probe his hand, pulled the deceased’s hair, and swung skillfully. The knife cut off the scalp, and the corpse was discarded, only the scalp attached to the hair was collected.
"Dr. Vader...scalp after killing, is this the custom of the indigenous people of the New World?" Colofa asked with a frown.
Qiao An nodded and introduced as objectively as possible: "The Asa people have an ancient custom that has been passed down to this day. It is believed that after death, the soul will slowly escape from the top of the head and fly to the underworld, so they always kill the enemy. Will cut off the opponent's scalp as soon as possible, thinking that this will seal the enemy's soul in the scalp, and cannot go to the underworld to rest."
"Of course this is a savage and savage tradition. In fact, cutting off the scalp of the dead does not prevent the soul from leaving the body. The Asa people do this mainly out of venting their anger. In addition, the scalp of the enemy is also a kind of spoils in their eyes, like After hunting the beasts, the gentlemen of the old world displayed their heads or furs as decorations in the living room to show their bravery."
"In fact, not only the Asa people can scalp, some colonists have also learned this barbaric ritual after they came to the New World, killing the aborigines and then cutting off their scalps as trophies.
"From the perspective of the colonial history of the New World, whenever colonists and aboriginals clashed fiercely, headhunting with each other became more frequent."
"For example, in the Midgard colony, in the era of the previous governor, the colonial government once publicly offered a reward for collecting the scalp of the aboriginal people-each adult Asa male scalp can be exchanged for two gold coins."
With a sigh, Joan finally added: "After Governor Nichols took office, he persuaded the Parliament to abolish this decree. However, judging from the current situation, if ethnic conflicts continue to deteriorate, I am afraid that it will not be long before the colonial authorities Consider restarting the'Headhunting Act'."
After listening to his narration, coupled with the scenes they saw before them, the visitors from the old world had a deeper understanding of the historical origins and bloodiness of the colonists and the indigenous peoples of the New World, and their faces appeared against the flames. Excessively gloomy.
Maria seemed unbearable to witness the tragedy of massacre in front of her, and whispered in Audrey's ear.
Audrey nodded in sympathy, and turned to ask Qiao An: "Whether the victims are in River Valley or Grizzly Town, whether the victims are aboriginals or colonists, it is always wrong to kill innocent people indiscriminately, since we ran into You can't just let it go!"
"You are right, but..."
But the price of adhering to morality is to offend both parties in the conflict. If they do not have the absolute strength to suppress both parties in the conflict at the same time, then not only will justice not be done, but they will be attacked by both parties at the same time, getting angry and asking for trouble.
Qiao An didn't say what he thought in public, and even he thought these thoughts were selfish and vulgar, so how could he convince others?
Moreover, only in terms of the current situation, our side really has the strength to suppress both parties in the conflict. It's one thing to be incapable of being fair, and it's a bit unreasonable to have the ability to control but stand by.
Thinking about this, Qiao An didn't say any more, silently opened the storage bag and took out a staff carved from "luminous coral".