Chapter 680: Chapter 666: Prayer Flower City, narrow alley.
One of the gathering places for slaves, just a few months ago, they were still wearing decent clothes, but now, they are emaciated, like a group of rats, living at the bottom of the city.
Among them, there are no professionals, nor any beautiful women, all are just ordinary people.
The professionals were all slaughtered by the Beastmen shortly after the siege, those hideous creatures seemed to not trust the surrenderers.
Ironically, there was even a batch among them who defected.
At the critical moment of the Beastmen’s attack and Flower City’s defense, a group of humans who saw no hope abandoned their humanity, turning into a pack of selfish beasts. They actively contacted Kes, and after receiving some promise, launched a self-destructive internal conflict.
The warriors who fought on the frontline for Flower City avoided the Poisoned Spears thrown by the Flying Dragon Team, repelled the Beastman infantry’s siege, and even managed to kill many Giant Hunters, yet what they never expected was that their close comrades would turn on them.
The city’s internal strife was an unforeseen scene for everyone, and just when humans were unable to spare themselves, the Beastmen exploited this excellent opportunity to smash through the city gates and seize this city of hope.
The damned died, and those stubborn resisting forces were brutally massacred by the Beastmen. Even Sun Jin, the former leader of Flower City, who had the potential to reach a legendary or even stronger realm, was beheaded and hung on the flagpole. The Beastmen retaliated against this human hero with such a nearly mad act.
As for Sun Jin’s subordinates, those so-called geniuses fell one by one with the hunt, leaving only legends to be passed around among the people.
And what about those defectors?
As surrenderers, they were undoubtedly the ones who should not die because it was due to their betrayal at the critical moment that allowed the Beastmen to successfully breach the city. These people, with faces of guilt toward their companions and trepidation for a new life, awaited the Beastmen’s division of spoils.
These people thought that this was merely enduring humiliation to fulfill a greater goal; rather than let monsters dominate humanity, it would be better for them to be in key positions and use the opportunity to help the city’s survivors.
But unfortunately, they thought too much.
Just when these people anticipated the Beastmen would fulfill their promises, what awaited them was the edge of a killing blade. No Beastman came out to explain anything, letting these traitors wail and beg for mercy, yet the Beastmen swiftly ended these people’s sinful lives.
The ones who should die died, and those who shouldn’t have also died.
Kes has its own way of ruling.
Seeing Flower City as its stronghold, it would not leave a trace of a hidden danger. It knows that a single spark can start a prairie fire. Even if the strength of professionals might offer some convenience to the Beastmen, from a long-term perspective, it is still more of a disadvantage than an advantage.
As for the women, they became tools for the Beastmen’s carnal desires. They were imprisoned in another place, and many of them were already pregnant. For a woman, nothing is more blissful than becoming a mother, but now the women of Flower City face daily torment from the soul.
Offspring of Beastmen.
Once born, they are ugly Half-Beastmen.
Half-Beastmen are as tall as humans, but due to their developed muscles, they weigh slightly more than humans. Their sloping foreheads, protruding jaws, prominent teeth, and rough skin clearly announce their lineage to everyone.
These monsters inherit a tendency for chaos from the Beastman parent, but like their human parent, they tend neither towards goodness nor evil. Yet, those Half-Beastmen who grow up among the Beastmen and are willing to live with them are usually evil.
This implies that even if a Half-Beastman possesses a hint of humanity’s glow, under the Beastmen’s upbringing, they will become true creatures of darkness.
A group of ugly, ruthless monsters!
It is imaginable, the agony those women feel when bearing such children; some pregnant women cannot withstand this psychological pressure and even choose suicide to end their lives!
From the beginning, what Kes wanted to build was a fortress for Beastmen, not a city for humans to live in.
According to its plans, in about a year, the human population here will decrease sharply to around one hundred thousand, and in two more years, humans will completely become a thing of the past.
Currently, the meaning of human existence is nothing but construction and reproduction.
As the city’s infrastructure slowly completes, the laborers will gradually die off, and the women’s role will be to produce a batch of Half-Beastmen. Kes will not plant hidden dangers for its tribe, as Half-Beastmen, after all, possess traces of human blood that Kes fears might taint with humanity’s cowardice.
This is exactly why, once the women give birth, they too will be secretly executed, and the number of Half-Beastmen will rise to a count between thirty thousand to fifty thousand.
Decades ago, Kes started with tens of thousands of tribesmen in the barren lands. It took ten years to emerge from that wasteland, and now the situation is undoubtedly much stronger.
The number of Beastmen who invaded Flower City has reached one hundred and ten thousand. Along with this batch of newborns, it won’t take ten years for the tribe to firmly establish its foothold here.
[Plan for Human Extinction]
For the tribe, Kes is undoubtedly a true hero, dedicating his entire life to his companions, yet for other life forms, he is an outright Devil!
To Kes, humans are nothing more than tools, set to be thoroughly discarded and destroyed once their value is fully exhausted!
The merciless extermination, like a giant hand strangling the neck of [humankind], gradually tightening, heralding the arrival of the day of death!
Most despairingly, humans seem to have foreseen this future, but colliding their frail bodies against the Beastmen? That’s obviously courting death.
Pigsty Camp.
This is what the Beastmen call the humans, mockingly referring to them as pathetic pig-like monsters. Thousands of humans are crowded in the alleyways, conducting their eating, drinking, and excreting, suffering physical torment from the harsh environment and scarce food. After being forced to work each day, they are caged like beasts until the next morning when they are exiled once again.
Every day, someone dies.
From the torments of hunger and disease, in just one week, over a hundred lives have disappeared just like that.
The sun sets in the west, the narrow alley slowly plunging into darkness, surrounded by the stench and rapid sobbing. Everyone knows that by tomorrow, there will be new corpses around them, perhaps longtime friends or perhaps a partner from the bed next to them.
A man in his early forties kneels on the ground, his dinner placed in front of him. He seems to be worshiping something, piously offering his food.
At this moment.
A young man lying on the ground weakly turns his head and, with a bitter smile, says, "Still praying? What’s the use? Everyone here is on the verge of death!"
The middle-aged man glanced at him, a tear glistening at the corner of his eye, and murmured, "You have to believe, there are Divine Spirits in this world..."
"Divine Spirits? If they really existed, your wife wouldn’t have been taken by Beastmen, and your child wouldn’t have died from a mere cold!" the young man says irritably.
The man visibly pauses, silently picking up the food from the ground, the last glimmer on his face finally swallowed by darkness, he merely shakes his head, muttering to himself, "There are Gods, they just haven’t heard yet, those monsters will pay the price they deserve... definitely... they surely will..."
The middle-aged man has already gone mad.
In fact, his mind was somewhat confused when his wife was taken away, and the death of his son was the last straw that broke him.
The middle-aged man did not eat the food; he placed it aside. He hadn’t eaten for two days, seemingly trying to appease the arrival of the Divine Spirit this way.
But from the young man’s perspective, this was nothing more than an excuse for suicide.
The sounds of intermittent sobbing filled the air, this negative emotion undoubtedly like cancer, eroding everyone’s physical and mental health. The young man blankly stared at the ceiling, a hint of sorrow appearing on his face.
He is a brave person.
If he could, he certainly wouldn’t choose to live like this, but now he must face the choice before him, to struggle! Ironically, there’s not a bit of possibility for success; the other choice is to wait, to wait and see if a miracle appears, to kill these hateful invaders.
"God?"
The young man’s eyes are somewhat vacant, muttering to himself, "If there really is a God, then please come and save us, we... really can’t hold on any longer..."