"We came here to see if there was any chance of clearing out the bugs in that oasis and taking our village back, and then we discovered your whereabouts."
The paladin named Mabel explained some of their previous actions under Mo Bei's questioning.
"How many of you are there in total? Including ordinary people." Mo Bei was really curious at this time about the living conditions of these people.
"There are less than 500 people left... Ordinary tribesmen account for more than half." Mabel took a deep breath and said.
Mo Bei and Milor looked at each other and already understood the general idea from the word "remaining".
"There are only some rags left in the oasis. How about building a stronghold somewhere else?" Mo Bei said.
"We don't have enough supplies to build villages elsewhere. There are still a lot of things there, and it will be easier to rebuild."
"Where are the others now? How many job transfers are there?" Mo Bei felt that they would not go out in full force and would have to leave some people to protect the ordinary people in the tribe.
"There are still three teams, nearly forty people. They are currently staying near a small oasis." Marble answered truthfully. He didn't feel much humiliation of being coerced. Instead, he had a faint sense of hope, but for what exactly? He couldn't think clearly about his hope for the moment.
Due to their limited individual strength, the sand bandits usually form a team of more than ten people to act together. This way they can also bring along some young career changers, and it feels like bringing a novice with them to gain experience and upgrade.
Mo Bei looked at the two young men in the team who were wearing leather armor and had slightly immature faces. They seemed to be a little younger than him. One of them had a blank expression on his face, waiting for his fate just like the other bandits. But the other boy was a little unruly and stared back at him stubbornly.
Mo Bei found it a bit funny. If he hadn't tried to avoid these rookies wearing leather armor when he attacked, he would have killed several of them instantly.
"Take us to have a look." Mo Bei was a bit bold as an expert, and he looked dismissive of the forty people who stayed behind. Seeing the direction, he was on his way, so he planned to go and see what happened.
"If you go from here, you'll probably be there tomorrow morning."
"Let's go, use your fastest speed!" Mo Bei unfolded his energetic halo, covering all the bandits, urging them on the road.
Along the way, Marble wanted to chat, but seeing that Mo Bei and the others were still a little wary of them and kept a safe distance from them, he had no choice but to give up.
He had roughly calculated the level of the vitality halo based on the increase in speed, and had raised the levels and strength of Mo Bei and the others to a terrifying level in his heart. At this time, he only felt awe in his heart.
The group of people saw the oasis at dawn, which was about 20% shorter than Mabel's estimate.
This oasis is indeed not big. It is a patch of shrubs and grassland about 200 meters wide at its widest, with only a few scattered palm trees. It was used as pillars to support several crude awnings.
There were a large number of people scattered in small groups on the grass, sitting or lying on the ground. It looked like a desolate and desolate place.
The three teams were scattered outside the oasis. At this time, someone had noticed them and was standing up to look over here.
"Shall you take care of them? Or shall I take care of them?" Mo Bei asked.
"I...I'm going to try..." Mabel couldn't help but broke into a cold sweat again, and ran out of the crowd and quickly ran towards the oasis.
Mo Bei actually felt that violence was the only language these people could understand, so it was more convenient to use force to deter them. After a beating, they could talk properly.
But few people who can survive in this environment are ignorant.
After Marble explained what happened to the seven teams that went out and his guess about the strength of Mo Bei and others, the sand bandits who stayed behind also adopted a more polite attitude. They all turned into neutral NPCs and did not come up to talk to them. , just looked at Mo Bei and the others from a distance, with fear on their faces.
Mo Bei was quite satisfied with this, as it saved him from having to watch out for their little tricks.
The current situation of these people does not look optimistic. They all look listless and haggard. Although they haven't completely run out of food yet, their food looks a bit miserable.
Basically everything that can be eaten in this desert is regarded as food by them, and there is actually sandworm meat among them.
This sandworm meat is taken from the thorax and abdomen of the sandworm. The muscles used to drive the joints and limbs are the only parts of the sandworm that can be eaten. But in fact, it is quite toxic and cannot be tolerated by ordinary people. Those who have changed jobs from bandits can barely use it to satisfy their hunger.
No wonder they all look disheveled and eat such poisonous things all day long. Even the physique of job transferees cannot bear it.
These people have been in this state of displacement since they encountered a large insect wave more than a month ago. But what caused their living conditions to take a turn for the worse was the solar eclipse a few months ago.
The long night of nearly a month has almost shaken the foundation of survival of the city of Lugaoyin, which has a population of hundreds of thousands. It is simply a disaster for a group like them that has always lived a life of exile.
Mo Bei was even surprised that they could retain so much vitality. It was hard to imagine how they had managed to survive until now.
The scene here also gave him a refreshing feeling. These notorious bandits did not abandon their tribesmen in such difficult circumstances.
The three people walked quietly among the crowd, and what they saw were numb faces. Occasionally, someone looked up and looked at them expectantly. After receiving no response, they quickly dimmed again.
Under those awnings, there were some half-grown children and a few women with babies.
When Milor saw this scene, he immediately felt compassion and was about to take out the remaining food, but was stopped by Mo Bei's eyes.
Facing Milor's confused gaze, Mo Bei explained in a low voice:
"A little food won't solve the problem, and now is not the time."
"What's your plan?"
"Not yet. Looking at it again, I think they haven't reached the real desperate situation yet. Don't worry."
Milor nodded silently after hearing this.
At this time, the surroundings gradually became commotion, and many people looked in one direction with joy on their faces.
Mo Bei turned around and saw a four-man team approaching here quickly under the morning sun.
After seeing the person clearly, Mo Bei was surprised and immediately greeted him.
"Trick! Why are you here?"
Those four people were the Trick team they met on the dry highlands. When the four of them saw Mo Bei, they were even more surprised than him.
"You? What do you want to do here?"
Mo Bei frowned slightly. There was obvious hostility in Trick's tone, which made him a little confused.
"Trick, do you know each other?" When Mabel met Trick in Mobei, he was worried about any misunderstanding and immediately followed behind.
"Don't worry, we don't have any harm, we just came to take a look." Seeing that Trick should know all these people, Mo Bei guessed his worries and explained.
Hearing this, Trick nodded to Mo Bei. After hesitating for a moment, he walked into the crowd, took out scones and dried meat from the inventory, and distributed them to the children who had been looking forward to it for a long time. them. Then he gave the ingredients that needed to be cooked to a few women.
Then several of his teammates also started to take out various kinds of food from the inventory, which added up to a large cart. They were distributed among the teams present and then put away individually.
Seeing his move, Mo Bei understood how these people persisted until now.
But Lu Gaoyin's food purchase in the city was restricted, and it wasn't cheap. How did Trick get so much food at once? .
