Chapter 408 198: Give a Chance

"That's right! The Ancestors would never allow you to do this!"

"We can't join the Undead!"

...

When Li Ziyu was present just a moment ago, the Snake-men hadn't dared to speak freely, but now they were all raising a clamor. They were deeply unsatisfied with Zaliki's actions, which amounted to sacrificing them all. 'How could this be acceptable? You're the Clan Leader, your word is law, but you can't just do this!'

A Clan Leader is supposed to lead the Tribe to a better life, to let the clansmen live in peace and stability, not lead them to their deaths.

If Zaliki insisted on acting willfully under these circumstances, they would leave, or even kill him and choose a new Clan Leader.

One by one, the Snake-men gathered around, surrounding Zaliki, assailing him with a torrent of verbal condemnations.

Zaliki's snake-like pupils narrowed into a single line as he hissed, "Silence! I am still your Clan Leader!"

'The Master of the Undead said he was very busy and didn't have much time. What good could possibly come from my people carrying on like this? We need to reach a decision quickly. Whether we join the Undead or not, we have to come to a conclusion. This bickering will only provoke the wrath of the Undead.'

Zaliki's authority as Clan Leader still held sway. The Snake-men fell silent once more, looking at Zaliki with unfriendly eyes, waiting for him to give an explanation.

"Do you think I want this? Do we have any better options?"

"My people, our Tribe is gone. We are refugees now. We will very likely die in the Wasteland. Don't you understand?"

"Fine, if you don't want to join the Undead Race, then we'll have to leave this place, change direction, or even turn back the way we came. Are you willing to do that?"

Zaliki scanned the surrounding Snake-men and asked angrily.

The Snake-men fell silent. Some among them were just following the crowd, while the rest simply didn't want to join the Undead. But if they didn't join the Undead, they had nowhere else to go. Their reluctance was merely a side effect of the legends they had heard for so long.

"But we still don't have to join the Undead Race..." a Snake-man muttered under his breath.

"You all heard what the Master of the Undead said just now. He isn't forcing us to join; he's letting us discuss it. If you don't want to join, that's fine, but you have to give me a solution," Zaliki said calmly, not angered by his kinsman's words.

Ever since their Tribe was wiped out and they became refugees, they had already lost many of their people along the way. If things continued like this, sooner or later, their branch of the Snake-man Race would completely vanish from the Wasteland, and their entire Tribe would cease to exist.

The Snake-men looked at each other, and finally, someone quietly suggested, "If the Undead are willing to take us in, then other Tribes should be willing too. Why don't we go find another Tribe?"

The other Snake-men thought it made sense and nodded in agreement. "That's right, that's right! Let's go find another Tribe."

Zaliki sighed and asked his people, "Which Tribe should we go find? Do you know of any Tribe that takes in refugees? Will they treat us well?"

These words reminded the Snake-men of the rumors about refugees in the Wasteland. It wasn't that no Tribes took in refugees; it was just that after being taken in, the refugees' fate was never good. There was no fundamental change to their situation.

Most Tribes in the Wasteland consisted of a single Race. Very few were formed from alliances of several Races, as customs and habits varied greatly between them. Refugees who were taken in were treated as no different from Slaves. Even if a Tribe member killed a refugee who had submitted to them, no one would care. If a refugee were to resist, the lightest punishment was exile from the Tribe; the heaviest was death.

Most of the Tribes that took in refugees were the warmongering type. Once the refugees submitted, the Tribe would immediately seize their resources, only permitting them to live within their territory. Since these Tribes were belligerent and frequently waged war, their real reason for accepting refugees was to use them as cannon fodder in battle.