Clan Council
The Black Rat Chief calmly watched them.
"If you get arrested, you'll only have two paths to take."
"One summoned several Calamity Beast and was then killed on the spot; the other was whipped to death."
"If it were you, which path would you choose?"
"Uh, if possible, of course we'd choose the first option!" one of the Black Rat replied.
"But what if you're not accomplices of those guys?" Black Rat Chief continued to ask.
"Uh, then that means..."
"Idiot, just point to a few at random!" Black Rat Moya interrupted from the side.
"... Yes, that's one way!" The Black Rat's eyes lit up instantly, then it paused, and said with some doubt, "But if we keep doing this, won't it all be over? They'll just be feeding on each other one by one!"
"You're overthinking it. Even you needed a reminder to figure it out, let alone them! As long as the last wave of identified Calamity Beast doesn't expose any more Calamity Beast, then it's over! So, if I'm not mistaken..."
Moya paused, then looked at Black Spine.
"The last wave of Calamity Beast must be saying that they weren't allies of the other Calamity Beast, or that they're gone and they really don't know anything about it, right?"
Upon hearing this, the other Black Rat also turned to look at Black Spine.
Ahead, the Black Rat Chief glanced indifferently at Black Spine.
Under the watchful eyes of the tribespeople, Black Spine nodded with a somewhat unpleasant expression.
"Is that really true!"
One of the Black Rat sighed.
However, some of the Black Rat seemed to have thought of something, and their brows furrowed.
"So, in other words, some, perhaps even quite a few, of the Calamity Beast killed today were actually unrelated to this incident, but were implicated?" a Black Rat asked indifferently.
"Hmm." Black Spine nodded, his face still pale.
"Well, that's how it is. Anyway, it only involved some unrelated Calamity Beast. Their lives aren't worth much, so it's fine if they're involved," the Black Rat continued.
"That's not the point!" Black Spine shook its head.
"Huh? What's that?" the Black Rat asked, puzzled.
Black Spine hesitated for a moment, just as he was about to speak, when he heard the clan leader's voice ring out in the hall once again.
"The key is those two guys who were recruited at the very beginning!"
"Uh... Blast-Armor Rhinoceros and Gray-Clawed Xingxing?" The Black Rat thought for a moment and looked at the chieftain.
"Hmm," the Black Rat Chief responded heavily.
"Uh, Chieftain, what does this mean?" After a moment's hesitation, the Black Rat continued to ask.
The Black Rat Chief slightly raised his eyes, looking at the various expressions on the faces of the Black Rat in the hall, and finally turned his gaze to the Black Rat who had asked him the question, saying:
"This means that the Calamity Beast that truly devised those plans is still hiding within the herd!"
After he finished speaking, the room fell silent.
The Black Rat that was asking the question widened its eyes slightly.
Several Black Rat nearby also showed a flash of realization, but their expressions immediately turned serious.
"Damn it, how is this possible?"
"How dare those guys lie to us? How could they?"
"Yes, that's right. I never expected there to be such reckless creatures among these livestock!"
"Us..."
One curse after another rang out from below.
Soon, a voice rose above the others:
"Let's go, let's go catch them now!"
After he finished speaking, a slight silence fell over the surroundings.
Soon, a response rang out:
"Yes, that's right, we need to give them to..."
"Um, we..."
"Alright!"
A cold shout interrupted their conversation.
The Black Rat looked towards Black Spine in the direction of the voice and said with dissatisfaction:
"Black Spine, what are you doing?"
"I mean..." Black Spine began, but before it could finish, it was interrupted by the Black Rat, who dared to contradict it.
"You bastard, do you think we wanted to catch those guys? It's all for you!"
"That's right, and if we don't get them out, are we just going to let them stay inside?"
"I didn't say we should leave them inside, and I still support catching them and killing them!" Black Spine said, suppressing his temper.
"Then what do you mean?" the Black Rat demanded.
"You want to kill it? How do you want to kill it?" Black Spine asked in a deep voice.
"Of course we need to catch them, first..."
"How do we capture him?" Black Spine interrupted.
"When..."
"Just so you know, all the Calamity Beast that were captured were killed today," Black Spine interrupted again.
Upon hearing this, the Black Rat opened its mouth, but for a moment it didn't know what to say.
Finally, he turned his head and said angrily:
"This is your own fault! If you hadn't killed them, things wouldn't be like this now!"
Black Spine's lips twitched, but he couldn't refute it.
"But we can't just ignore them and let them continue on their way, can we?" Black Rat Moya said from the side.
"..."
There was a moment of silence in the hall, then a Black Rat suggested:
"Even if they're still hiding among the beasts, they're thinking of escaping. If we just increase patrols in the valley, we'll definitely find them, right?"
How long do you plan to increase patrols?
Uh... whatever, it's fine!
"What if they don't come out for months? Then you should increase patrols for a few months?"
"How... how is this possible?!"
"Why not? Besides, they suffered heavy casualties this time, and I think they might not be active for six months!"
"..."
There was no response, and the Black Rat also thought it seemed quite possible.
"So what should we do?"
"... Or, should we kill all the Calamity Beast?"
"That's what the other Black Rat suggested."
There was no response; all the Black Rat stared at it as if it were a fool.
Ignore those guys and let them continue plotting their escape; the end result will simply be that they actually escape.
this...
Will it have any impact?
Yes, some of them do, and this makes them feel like they've been slapped in the face.
Knowing full well that a Calamity Beast was plotting its escape below, yet being completely powerless to stop it from succeeding, was an unbearable humiliation for them.
But that's all there is to it.
This is a big problem, but compared to killing all the Calamity Beast and causing the production of various ores to plummet to zero, it is far too small.
At least, none of them felt that cutting ore production to zero just to save face was a good thing.
But if that's the case, wouldn't we really be forced to watch those guys operate right under our noses?
All the Black Rat frowned, their expressions grim.
But if you ask them to come up with a solution, they really can't.
All we know for now is that there are escaped Calamity Beast hiding among the herd; that's all...
"Alright!"
A slightly tired voice rang out.
All the Black Rat turned their gaze to their chieftain, who was standing at the front.
The Black Rat Chief looked at them calmly and said:
"Tomorrow, select 20% of the mining Calamity Beast and kill them!"