"Everything was normal for a while now. I had been here for half a month by then, these two came a few days after me. At first, we had no problem living in this place. It was dangerous around the river, but that was that." He said.
He then pointed up the cliff and asked, "Can you see that? Around 30-meter marks."
Alex looked at where he pointed and saw marks of something. He couldn't make it out exactly due to it being so high up and the moon wasn't at an angle to hit the walls of the cliff yet.
"What is that?" Alex asked.
"That, my friend, is the remnant of the trees that used to grow there," he said. "Before the boss came here, there used to be trees around those marks. Numerous fruits hung there, and those who were punished would stay around here, hitting the tree in hope of making it fall."
"We were still punished, but life wasn't terrible. But then, he arrived, the boss."
"Around a week and a half ago, he came to that spot in the corner and surprisingly, climbed all the way up to the 30-meter mark on the cliff. And then, he destroyed everything," the man said. The other two were just listening.
Alex was a little surprised at where the story was going. 'Did a glutton enter the forbidden fields?' he wondered.
"There already wasn't enough fruit for all of us, and yet the man took most of them all himself. People started to criticize him at first, but quickly stopped and instead cheered him. That was because he moved along the side of the cliffs and started dropping all the fruits to the ground."
"Before a day had even passed, he managed to drop hall the cliff's worth of fruits to the ground. Everyone was happy seeing this, but soon, they started to get worried. The man had gone to the other side of the cliff as well."
"People realized too late that he was getting rid of all the food for us. In the end, aside from the boss, nobody could get the food. It was then that the boss named himself the boss and put on a new rule," the man said.
"What rule?" Alex was curious.
"He said that if we could get him Yang Jades, he would give us 2 fruits. Now, yang jades were rare, but not impossible to find. However, the many disciples here scoured the entire grassland and in less than a week, there was none to find."
"Some stupid idiots even tried to go to the other side of the river to get yang jades. Some succeeded, most died there. In the end, most of us got stuck here trying to find food for ourselves," said the old man.
Questions started running across Alex's head. So, he decided to ask.
"What is this boss's name?" he asked.
"No idea, he only refers to himself as the boss," the man said.
"Then, what does he want with the yang jades?" Alex asked.
"Again, No idea. He takes the jade and leaves. He never tells us what they are for," he said.
"Where does this boss of yours live then?" Alex asked.
"He is not our boss. We just refer to him as one. Also, he lives in a cave on the cliff on the left side," the man said as he pointed far away.
Alex realized these people didn't know anything about this boss. So he decided to change the question.
"What did you do to get here?" Alex asked.
"Me? I got into a fight with someone else and beat them. Both of us got sent here, but the other person didn't have to stay as long and left a week ago," the man said.
Alex looked at the other two and expected them to answer too.
"I stole ingredients for a pill from the inner sect disciple I was aiding," said one man.
"I destroyed the house of someone who was trying to court the girl I liked," the last person said.
Suddenly, hearing their reasons for being sent here, Alex's perception of them changed. At first, he thought they were vile criminal scum that deserved to be hungry and punished, and now, they were just broken people who did stupid things on impulse.
One stole, another got into a fight, and the last one destroyed a house. What was stolen, could be given back. One could make up after a fight. Houses could be rebuilt. But sending people like these to suffer for so much time was not something he saw the sect doing.
"Unless…" he thought. It originally wasn't meant to be a tough punishment. "Master did say one would be really bored here. Hunger was just something that came later," he thought.
'These people were sent here to be banished from society for a few weeks and contemplate on their mistake. And yet, their very survival has become hard. I should tell master about this when I get out.'
'Also, I will have to find this boss and see what need he has for these yang jades. Given that he collected them, he must have a lot,' Alex started to get excited at the notion of dozens of yang jades.
"How much longer do you have to stay here?" Alex asked
"A few more days," they all answered.
"All right," Alex said. He picked up a couple of rocks and shoot them at the trees up above. Soon, the pears started dropping and he handed out one to each of them in thanks for the information.
The three were nearly brought to tears seeing food after so long. It turned out, they hadn't eaten in over a day and were really desperate for it. They were even planning to go to the boss and try to beat him up for the food.
Alex asked them why they didn't already. If the boss had so much food, they should have tried to at least steal it, if they couldn't beat him. Their response was simple.
The boss was way too strong.