"Are you sure?"
Meng Chao frowned slightly. "I have to say, you're really disappointing. Mister Big Buck, I thought that high-grade orcs were all made of steel and could last at least ten to twenty minutes!
"Speaking of which, are you really not going to last for another three to five minutes?"
"No! No! No! "
Big Buck let out a shrill scream. "Hurry up and ask me questions! I'll tell you everything, I'll tell you everything, ah! "
The last scream came from the burning flames on his left leg, where his skin and flesh were split open.
Meng Chao used a secret medicine rich in flammable oil to cauterize his wound and temporarily seal the broken blood vessels, hanging the Ox Head Warrior on the line between life and death.
"What's the name of that village?"
This was his first question.
This question completely stunned Big Buck, who was in so much pain that he wanted to die.
He had already made up his mind to sell all his secrets.
Including the most shameful inside story of the Bloodhoof Family.
But he did not expect that the black-haired and black-eyed monster would ask such a strange question. "Wh … What village?"
"It's the village that fished me out of the tributary of the Tulan River and saved my life," Meng Chao explained patiently.
"It's also the village that was later destroyed by your recruitment team."
Big Buck was silent for a while.
An expression of confusion and surprise gradually appeared on the pale face of the bull.
It was as if he could not believe that Meng Chao did not hesitate to offend the entire Bloodhoof Family and spent so much effort to capture him here, just for such an insignificant matter.
But under the stimulation of the secret medicine, the pain from the cauterized wound still persisted.
And with every breath he took, it became more and more unbearable.
To get rid of the endless nightmarish torture as soon as possible, he could only tell the truth. "Cailuo Village. That village is called Cailuo Village."
"Cailuo Village …"
Meng Chao sank into his memories and mumbled, "That's right. I remember that all the families in that village lived along the river. The villagers loved to bring colorful river snails from the river. Once they ate the snail meat, they skewered the shell together and turned it into semi-transparent wind chimes. Then, they hung them on their beds or door frames.
"When I was struggling at the edge of the Dark Abyss, and my soul was about to be extinguished at any moment, I heard the tinkling of the wind chimes, as well as the children's melodious laughter that was just like the wind chimes. The children in the village loved to play around the wind chimes. They would puff up their cheeks and blow hard, making the wind chimes spin faster and faster. All the colorful conch shells would fly up.
"It was the villagers' meticulous care and the children's laughter that pulled me back from the brink of death. Otherwise, I would have become a skeleton at the bottom of the Tulan River, eaten by fish and shrimps.
"They are a group of very kind villagers.
"It's a very beautiful and peaceful little village.
"You really shouldn't have destroyed that place, Mister Big Buck.
"When you were burning, looting, destroying, and enslaving people in Cailuo Village, I had just struggled back from the brink of death. I was still half-dead, and I couldn't even lift a finger. I couldn't stop your barbaric acts, and I could only remember your appearances, especially yours. I remember telling you that you have two horns, one big and one small, on your head —"
Meng Chao coldly said five words to Big Buck.
It was only then that Big Buck remembered that when they destroyed Cailuo Village and dragged the black-haired, black-eyed monster back to Black Corner City, the monster had opened its swollen eyes slightly and said the same words to him.
At that time, Big Buck thought that the monster was just moaning in pain.
But if he knew Earth's language, he would have known that Meng Chao had said to him.
"You will regret it."
Big Buck became even more confused and terrified.
He really wanted to shout at the top of his lungs, "Are you crazy? It's just a group of rat people, a group of lowly and weak rat people! Is it worth it to provoke the most powerful Bloodhoof Family within a radius of hundreds of miles, or even the entire Bloodhoof Clan, for a group of lowly people? "
But Meng Chao's eyes were as deep as an ice cave, absorbing, freezing, and shattering all of his shouts.
"Where are the villagers?"
Meng Chao continued to ask, "Many of the villagers who saved my life were captured by you. Where did they go?"
"In Black Corner City."
Big Buck hurriedly said, "A small number of them stayed in the Blood Skull Arena as slave soldiers. Most of them were sent to various places in Black Corner City to be slave workers."
Meng Chao nodded thoughtfully, "What about the children? Did you kill all the children?"
"No, no, we didn't kill the children!"
Big Buck seemed to have sensed the apocalyptic aura from Meng Chao, which was even more terrifying than death. He was scared out of his wits and said quickly, "We didn't kill the children. We brought them back to Black Corner City. Trust me, we didn't kill the children. You should have seen it. You should have seen a lot of children running with the recruitment team!"
Meng Chao thought about it carefully. When he was hanging in the fishing net and unconscious, he seemed to have seen quite a number of rat people's children stagger along with the recruitment team while they were threatened by the ox-tail whips and Bramble Spears.
"Why?"
Meng Chao asked, "When you carried out the recruitment mission in many remote villages, you would only take the young and strong, kill all the old, weak, women, and children, or leave them to fend for themselves in the ruins.
"Why did you take all the children in Cailuo Village? What's the use of children? They can't fight. Won't they waste a lot of precious food?"
"They're useful. The children of the rat people are also very useful."
Big Buck explained with a stutter. "The remote villages are too far away from Black Corner City. If you recruited all the people, you would waste a lot of food on the way. It's not worth it.
"But Cailuo Village is not far away from Black Corner City. Besides, if you walk along the Tulan River, the path is flat. There's no need to cross mountains. Sometimes, you can even take a raft. The cost of transporting a slave soldier or slave worker isn't high, so you can capture more people.
"If you capture the adults, they can be slave soldiers or slave workers. If you capture the children, they can be scavengers!"
"Scavengers?"
Meng Chao asked. "What's that?"
"The slave workers who clean the septic tanks and sewage pipes in Black Corner City," Big Buck said.
Big Buck said, "As you know, the high-grade Beastmen eat a lot and poop a lot. Recently, the population of Blackhorn City increased by more than ten times. Unfortunately, our sewers were built by our ancestors thousands of years ago. Many places have not been repaired for years, and they have collapsed and blocked up.
"If we don't often send people to the deepest parts of the sewers to clear them, all the trash and filth will erupt at any moment!"
Meng Chao came to a realization.
"Since the children of the rat people are petite and have soft bones, it's easy for them to crawl around in the rugged and narrow pipes. That's why you sent the children to the deepest parts of the sewers to carry out such dirty work?"
Meng Chao said, "Wait, it's not just dirty. Don't there be a lot of methane in the depths of the sewers, and it might suffocate people to death at any moment?"
"…"
Big Buck was silent for a long time before he said in an aggrieved tone, "So, we can only send the rat people to be scavengers. They're just rat people!"
Meng Chao sighed.
"Fine. You captured the adults and children to carry out all sorts of dirty, dangerous, and despairing tasks in Black Corner City. What about the rest of the people? The old, the sick, and the disabled? Did you kill all of them?"
"No. We really didn't kill a lot of people that day. They're just rat people. There's no meaning in killing them!"
Big Buck shouted. "We only burned down their houses!"
"That's another thing that I don't understand. Why?"
Meng Chao said. "If your goal was just to 'recruit' enough slaves and cannon fodder, as well as to collect all the Mandala Fruits, then you've already achieved your goal.
"Why did he have to set the whole village on fire before he left and burn it all down?
"Also, based on what I know, you didn't just do this in Colored Luo Village. You did it in almost all the rat people's villages.
"This doesn't seem to be explained by the brutality of the commander. It seems to be some sort of unified order."
"That's right. That's right. Actually, I didn't want to burn down Colored Luo Village!"
Big Buck nodded hurriedly. "Please believe me. I only wanted to capture those adults. No, I wanted to recruit them. I wanted to bring them away from their mediocre lives. I wanted them to step onto a path of glory worthy of our ancestors!
"Yes. It was Lord Casafa's order. He wanted us to destroy all the villages on the path of recruitment. Even if I didn't throw out the first torch, others would have done the same!"
"Reason." Meng Chao said.
"To recruit even more ratfolk!" Big Barker said hurriedly.
"Explain." Meng Chao said.
"The manpower of the recruitment team is limited. It's impossible to bring all the rat people in the village to Black Corner City. They can only bring the adults with the strongest fighting power and labor. As for the old, weak, women, and children, if we pick and choose, they might come in handy. So, we have to burn their houses."
Big Buck explained in detail. "The recruitment team has already collected all the Mandala Fruits and burned their houses. They have no food and no place to live. If they want to live, they can only migrate towards a place with food and houses.
"Within a radius of several hundred miles, where has the most food and houses? Of course, it's Black Corner City!
"So, using this method, we don't even need to use the bulltail whip or the Bramble Spear to force them to run to Black Corner City!"
Meng Chao thought about it.
"That's not possible, right?"
He said. "These old, weak, women, and children who lack food and clothing. Can they cross the mountains and travel a long distance to Black Corner City?"
"Of course they can't all arrive. It's already pretty good if two or three out of ten arrive."
Big Buck said, "However, that is exactly what we need. After all, the prosperous era in the past ten years has been too long, and too many rats have been bred. There are so many that it is impossible for the army of the human clans to bring so many people. So, of course, we have to select the most qualified ones to be cannon fodder and slaves!"
Fourth update!
Roar roar roar roar. Old Bull really doesn't have a single drop left. Everyone, give me some tickets. Let Old Bull recover some strength!
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