Chapter 165

Chapter 165: Argument

“The slave traders sold weapons to an enemy tribe which started a war against us . The surprise attack from the enemy tribe had caused many of us to be captured by the slave traders . Almost half of our tribe was eliminated . To survive, we had to keep on moving . But, no matter where we ran, the traders would always locate us . They even met my father as well, telling him that they were willing to arm him in exchange for the prisoners that we captured . Of course, my father was resolute and strongly rejected their offer . ”

“After that, our living conditions worsened . A few of our neighboring tribes attacked us after incitement by the slave traders . The conflict had unfortunately caused the lives of my father and brother . They killed all the tribe’s elderly and sold the younger ones to the slave traders . I happen to be one of them . ”

“So, all the female servants and Lakutua came from your tribe? Do they know who you are? How is that even possible? According to what I know, slave traders would usually sell slaves from different tribes to buyers . This is to prevent the slaves from working together and retaliate against their master . ”

“The master of the mansion bought six slaves from my tribe, including me . One of them fell ill and died not too long after working there . Another one was killed by a whip for attempting to escape the mansion . Now, there are only four of us left . Honestly, I never thought that I would be able to meet up with Nevasa and the rest of them here . They were among the first batch of black slaves that were captured by the slave traders . Most of them were women . Perhaps they thought that women wouldn’t pose a threat to them, and thus, the slave trader didn’t separate them . As for Rakutua and me, we were both captured at the same time, but sold to different buyers . Malcolm has always loved to watch a good fight . He’s been collecting gladiators from different people . After hearing about Rakutua’s great fighting skills, he instantly bought him up . That was about a month ago . ”

“I heard just now that you guys were planning to go up against Malcolm?

“There have been some conflicts between my Jackdaw and the black-market alliance that he’s in . This is no secret . The entire Nassau knows about it . He invited me to attend his banquet for the reason of making peace with me . ”

“And you won’t accept his proposal? Why?”

“I dislike having to place my fate in the hands of others . Malcolm and I don’t hold a grudge against each other . However, I have a problem with the black-market alliance that he’s set up . Once the alliance becomes stable, it’s not going to be good news to the people of Nassau that enjoy freedom . ”

Laeli could not understand Zhang Heng’s last sentence, but he knew that he was telling the truth . At least, no matter what his reason was, Zhang Heng was against Malcolm . After a short pause, Laeli continued,

“After my father and brother were killed in the war, we had to elect a new chief per the tribe’s law . It’s my responsibility to rescue my tribe members . I have to return them the freedom that they once had . That’s why I had to escape from the mansion no matter what . ”

“I admire your zeal, but unfortunately, I don’t think I can help you with that . ”

Being a decent human being in the future, Zhang Heng was disgusted by the prospect of slavery . It was one of the worst things that a human could ever do to another human being . He was fine with rescuing Laeli from the mansion, but setting free every slave from the place would be a matter that needed extensive planning . This was a critical moment in time for the Jackdaw and Carina . Zhang Heng had to focus solely on Malcolm and his black-market alliance . He was indisposed to help Laeli even if he wanted to .

“I’m not asking for your help . I simply want to work with you,” said Laeli as he shook his head .

“Work with me?”

“Yes . You want to know the problems between Malcolm and Redmond, right? I think I can help you with that . It’s heartbreaking to know that so many black men were sold here and turned into gladiators . We were forced to fight and kill each other for the sake of our master’s entertainment . Now, let’s talk about the servants, who are always close to their masters . There are times when they will be able to eavesdrop on their secrets . ”

“To the white people, we are merely goods and a means of labor . They see us as their property, and they do not care about what we think and feel . Without their permission, there’s no way that we can leave the mansion . Many a time, they would discuss many sensitive topics in front of us . From the first day that I was sold to the Terrance mansion, I’ve been planning my escape . Other than learning more than a few words, I actually collected lots of information as well . ”

“Around eight months ago, Malcolm and Redmond had a meeting with each other . Malcolm ordered me to fight another black man in front of him . However, I could see that they were not watching the fight . They even had an argument about whatever they were discussing .

Upon hearing that, Zhang Heng was becoming more and more interested in Laeli’s story .

“They were arguing about some merchant . Since it had nothing to do with my escape plan, I don’t quite remember his name . All I know is that he is one of the merchants from the black market . He is doing the same thing with Malcolm and Redmond, and is quite famous as well . There was this once when Redmond tried to talk about setting up the black-market alliance with him, but, the person rejected his idea without even thinking twice . ”

“He told Redmond that the black-market alliance would bring him a lot of trouble, adding that Redmond’s ambition is getting out of hand . After that, Redmond talked to Malcolm about it . Both of them agreed that it would be a problem if the person refused to work with them . Although he wasn’t the wealthiest merchant on the island, he had lots of experience and a good reputation . Redmond suggested that they should take their time to convince him . Not too long after that, the person was captured at a colony . Redmond suspected that Malcolm was behind it . However, Malcolm said that it had nothing to do with him . They both then broke into an argument about this .

Immediately, Zhang Heng thought of Carina’s father . It would seem that the person in the story referred to him . Zhang Heng did not expect that the capturing of Carina’s father in New Jersey had something to do with the black-market alliance . This incident wasn’t as simple as he thought it was .