Chapter 401 - 174: Interrogation Results
The interrogation process was not prolonged.
When the native returned to the plank, covering his eyes and in a daze, the other natives turned their heads to look at him, with concerned expressions.
They all wanted to know what kind of torture this person endured, what pain he suffered, and how he managed to return alive.
But Sunday was staring at them, and the terrible pressure prevented anyone from daring to speak.
"Next."
Gesturing to the unsteady native to return to his position, Sunday pointed out the second person.
This native glanced nervously at his recently returned companion, thinking that since he came back alive, he should be fine too.
Yet fear was still evident on his face, but he couldn’t defy Sunday, the "tyrant," and had to obediently follow Saturday to the cave.
...
For the natives, waiting for each companion to return felt like an eternity.
Inside the interrogation room, Saturday repeated the questions.
The light remained blinding, and the person on the chair was equally uneasy and anxious.
...
The notes in Chen Zhou’s notebook increased line by line.
He organized the natives’ answers, removing exaggerations and fabrications related to their "God" and the omnipotent "Priest" and Leader, and finally came up with a comprehensive answer—
The interrogation focused mainly on three aspects.
First, the reason the natives landed on the island and why they chose the southwestern end of the peak rather than their usual northeastern corner.
Second, the relationship between the Native Tribe and the Spaniards, why the tribe was still able to spare people to visit the island despite losing over twenty warriors in the last sacrificial event.
Third, why the Spaniards linger in this vicinity, why they get involved with the natives, and details about their manpower, ships, and weaponry.
...
Faced with these three issues, the natives could mostly answer the first item completely but answered the second vaguely.
Regarding the third, they generally knew nothing or resorted to fabrications.
However, among these natives, there was an "old acquaintance"—a warrior painted with white stripes, the "leader" who retreated after touching the ship.
He was once a close confidant of the Tribe Leader due to his tall stature and bravery in battle, having received several commendations from the Leader.
As one of the most notable warriors in the tribe, he had several encounters with the Spaniards and even entered their camp established on the Archipelago, and his verbal expression skills were relatively superior.
He provided the most detailed and credible answers to the third aspect.
Without his "intelligence," Chen Zhou might only have been able to extract value from that brown-haired fellow.
However, comparatively, the Spaniards certainly lack the honest simplicity of these natives, even if every word from the brown-haired fellow was true, Chen Zhou might still put a question mark after his "testimony."
...
In fact, the cause of these events was simple.
Exactly as Chen Zhou suspected, these natives came to search for the previously missing over twenty warriors and the Priest.
The most important among them was the old Priest.
As the mouthpiece communicating with the God, the new Priest would traditionally be trained independently by the old Priest, teaching him how to communicate with the God, conduct proper sacrificial ceremonies, and use dance and song to please the divine.
Normally, the old Priest’s age should have led to cultivating a successor.
But he happened upon the tribe’s period of rapid development, and full of vigor due to good health and joyful events, decided to postpone, intending to choose a successor from many members once the tribe united the Archipelago.
No one expected that during this delay, he would end up being killed by Chen Zhou himself.
Without the old Priest, and no new Priest available, the tribe fell into turmoil over the following months.
They barely managed to select a Priest temporarily from the captives of other tribes for the position, but due to differing ritual content from before, dissatisfaction arose among the tribe’s original members.
The Leader bore the external pressure of expansion and the internal strain from absorbing too many new members, and after understandably stabilizing the tribe, the first act was to send this group to "Sacrificial Island" to search for the missing old Priest.
Even if unable to find the person, locating the body and the feathered crown from the old Priest would at least be an explanation to the tribe’s members.
To ensure the success of this endeavor, he sought help from the Spaniards, and the brown-haired fellow was the assistance they dispatched.
The result was evident; facing Chen Zhou, not only did these 14 Indigenous Warriors permanently remain on the island, even the Spaniards failed to escape.
...
As for why the natives unusually chose to land from the southwestern corner of the peak, it was influenced by ocean currents.
Ocean currents in the vast sea change every few months.
From December to March, during the time natives frequently held their sacrificial ceremonies, the currents brushed past the northern corner of the peak, facilitating powerless canoe landings or survival during storms.
By July, the currents surrounding the northeastern corner of the island began to flow outward, increasing in turbulence, and the natives’ canoes, despite struggling, found it difficult to compete against nature’s might when trying to land from the northeastern corner.
Their ships were indeed too small and lacked sails, so solely relying on human effort offered limited propulsion.
...
Regarding why, after landing, the natives didn’t head straight towards the northeastern corner but chose to have some stay put to live while others ventured into the nearby woodland, the explanation is even simpler—
The natives initially planned to walk along the coast towards the northeastern corner after landing, searching for their missing tribe members and the old Priest.