Silence. No reply.
One after another, the Calamity Beast stared blankly at the Feixu man above.
After a moment's hesitation, the first beast called out, the Coiling Mountain Beast, asked,
"But, Lord Feixu, it's already quite difficult for us to complete our mining tasks every day. If we want to observe other Calamity Beast, or even find those Calamity Beast hiding among Calamity Beast that want to rebel, it will probably be even more difficult."
"Don't worry, we've already thought of that." Black Rat Feixu nodded, unsurprised.
"Afterwards, you will take over the positions previously held by our people in the mines, and be responsible for supervising the other Calamity Beast."
"This will give you ample time to observe the other Calamity Beast."
"And we won't suffer a significant shortage of ore every day just because you few Calamity Beast are missing."
"At the same time, this also reflects our trust in you!"
"After all, I've been observing you for many days; you absolutely cannot be those rebellious Calamity Beast!"
"... So, tomorrow we'll be replacing the Black Rat Lords who were previously sent down to supervise, and going to supervise the other Calamity Beast?" Coiling Mountain Beast asked hesitantly.
"Hmm, that's right? How about it? Do you feel honored? This is the first time in countless years that our Black Rat Clan has used Calamity Beast from another race!" Black Rat's Feixu whiskers grinned.
"Uh, hehe, it's quite an honor..." Coiling Mountain Beast laughed, but it didn't seem entirely natural.
The surrounding Calamity Beast remained silent.
Being valued by Feixu seems like a good thing, but the problem is, should I step down and replace those Black Rat supervisors from the other day?
That sounds good.
But at this moment, they have no doubt that if they dare to take this position today, they might be the ones to be carried out tomorrow!
Those hiding among them, yearning to revolt.
They can kill even the other Calamity Beast nearby without mercy, let alone these Calamity Beast that will serve the Black Rat in the future!
Upon realizing this, many of the Calamity Beast understood.
The Black Rat Lord before them clearly wanted to ensure stable daily production at the mine while avoiding the sacrifice of his own people.
That's why they were brought out.
The intention was to distract those guys while ensuring mineral production.
In other words, they were pushed out to take the blame!
Thinking of this, the Calamity Beast standing below fell even more silent.
Seemingly sensing what they were thinking, the Black Rat with the Feixu looked at them with a cold gaze.
"What? You disagree?"
"... No, we agree, don't you think?" an urgent voice rang out from the side.
Upon hearing this, one after another, the Calamity Beast hesitated, but finally nodded in agreement.
"Yes, that's right!"
Black Rat Feixu slightly, seemingly unconcerned by the harshness in his words.
They only need to serve to restrict those guys from killing the Calamity Beast indiscriminately and to distract them.
It didn't care whether the other party would die.
But...
Feixu glanced sideways at the Coiling Mountain Beast, who had just spoken.
As expected, these kinds of Calamity Beast that can read the room are ultimately a minority!
"That is..."
The sound came from inside.
Black Rat with Feixu looked at the open mouth of the Coiling Mountain Beast, whose expression was somewhat hesitant, and asked with a rare improvement in his expression,
"What's wrong? Is there a problem with Panshan?"
" Feixu, if we rely on ourselves, even if we find traces of those guys, it will be difficult to track them down. They were able to kill a team of twenty or so Calamity Beast before, let alone us individual Calamity Beast!" Coiling Mountain Beast said with a troubled expression.
Upon hearing this, the Black Rat with its Feixu whiskers nodded slightly.
"Don't worry, we've thought of that too!"
As it spoke, it raised its hand and beckoned to the Black Rat Black Rat beside it, which quickly came over carrying a box.
One after another, the Calamity Beast gazed into the distance.
The Black Rat walked to the side, stopped, and then tilted the box in its hand downwards.
One after another, dark red whips fell out of the box.
The Black Rat with the Feixu opened its mouth and said:
"Take these blood whips. Although they can't kill beasts, even a single whip can inflict a wound that most Calamity Beast can't withstand!"
"With these blood whips, as long as you're a little careful and avoid being surrounded by those guys, your safety shouldn't be a problem!"
After a brief pause, the Coiling Mountain Beast stepped forward first, reaching out its claws to grab a blood whip.
Upon acquiring the Blood Whip, the Coiling Mountain Beast paused slightly before standing up.
The surrounding Calamity Beast followed suit, picking up one blood whip after another.
Soon, only two or three Blood Whips remained.
Black Rat Feixu looked at the Calamity Beast, whose expressions relaxed considerably after receiving the Blood Whip, and grinned.
"How about that? Feeling much more at ease now...?"
The next day.
With each announcement, the Calamity Beast residing in the open space came to recognize the dozen or so Calamity Beast ahead.
Similarly, we learned why they were left behind yesterday.
Subsequently, some of the Calamity Beast envied them for not having to mine and being able to supervise them, suggesting they must have a very easy life; Calamity Beast, realizing what those guys might have to face, showed no envy whatsoever.
In short, under these circumstances, the Calamity Beast once again headed towards the mine entrance.
The dozen or so Calamity Beast that were called out were the last ones to go down.
"... Feixu, will this really work?" a Black Rat cautiously approached and asked.
"Don't worry, as long as they can distract those guys, there won't be any problem. This way, at least we can ensure that the daily ore output won't decrease significantly just because they're clustered together. Besides..."
After a slight pause, the Black Rat with the Feixu looked towards the mine entrance.
"We're not just sending them down to supervise; we're also making them remember which Calamity Beast are mining in their respective areas!"
"What... is this for?" the Black Rat asked, somewhat puzzled.
"That way, if we do this a few more times, we'll know what kind of Calamity Beast are in the area where the incident occurs, and what those Calamity Beast are. Every time an incident happens, it'll be in that area! Who... would appear in the area where the incident happens every time?" Black Rat Feixu said coldly.
Upon hearing this, the Black Rat that had been asking the question seemed to understand and nodded.
Night fell quickly.
Unsurprisingly, the Calamity Beast that were called out yesterday and were put under supervision today have all died.
Six have died, which is half the number of the Calamity Beast that were named yesterday.
Furthermore, one of them had marks on its body from being whipped with a blood whip.
However, it wasn't the only one with whip marks on its body; another Calamity Beast that died inside the mine also had them.
Black Rat Feixu glanced at it.
Were they hit during the attack and then abandoned?
It casually shifted its gaze away, looking towards the herd of beasts.
After confirming that there were no blood whip marks on the Calamity Beast, Feixu nodded slightly, allowing the few from last night to stay, while ordering a few more to replenish the supply, and then sending the rest of the Calamity Beast back.
Time flows on.
Almost every day, several Calamity Beast die.
The Black Rat in charge of each mine, aside from routinely questioning the surviving ones and assigning them to the overseers' Calamity Beast to mine, did not interfere in anything Calamity Beast.
Until this day.
As usual, Black Rat Feixu ordered a few Calamity Beast to fill the void left by the deaths.
Unlike usual, two more were ordered this time.