Meng Chao had not guessed wrong.
Brute Hammer was playing the old game of wielding both favor and force.
He wanted to win over this squad, which he had coveted for a long time, not work Meng Chao and the others to death.
So, after the Ratfolk Servant Soldiers gritted their teeth and ran dozens of laps, displaying sufficient obedience, Brute Hammer, unable to find any fault with them, let them stop. After putting on a show of lecturing them, he gave them a slap and then rubbed it three times, telling them that an exceptionally lavish feast had been arranged for tonight. He was a man who clearly distinguished rewards from punishments and would never mistreat warriors. So long as they were willing to risk their lives and serve their master well, they would surely become true warriors in the Era of Glory, enjoying benefits that other ratfolk could neither enjoy in their entire lives nor even imagine.
Tonight's dinner truly was exceptionally lavish.
Besides Fried Mandala Fruit drenched in sour cream, every Ratfolk Servant Soldier received a huge chunk of dripping Totem Beast Flesh, half a Golden Fruit wafting with an exotic fragrance, and even a jug of strong liquor bubbling with a "glug glug."
After all, having endured for so long in the Blood Skull Arena, these servants counted as elite fighters among countless ratfolk. With battle imminent, their masters still had to toss them a few sweet dates.
Yet the delicacies that would ordinarily make their mouths water now tasted like wax to the Ratfolk Servant Soldiers, unable to stir even a trace of morale.
The revelation that "the Great Horned Rat God did not exist, and the so-called envoy was actually a spy sent by the Golden Clan" dealt a far greater blow to the