"Inhale, exhale..."
The sound of breathing drifted quietly across the plains.
Unlike ten days ago, the nights these days are filled with a deathly silence.
Almost no Calamity Beast would chat idly there anymore.
The relentless work had stripped them of all their strength, and the fact that they might not have had any food for days left them with absolutely no energy to do anything more.
Even the snoring of some of the sleeping Calamity Beast was much quieter than before.
One after another, the Calamity Beast lay motionless, their eyes glazed over.
They don't know how long this situation will last, or how long they can hold on.
Or perhaps, the Black Rat in charge of monitoring them didn't actually want them to live, but simply intended to squeeze out their last bit of value before killing them?
No Calamity Beast knew.
Reason tells them that they shouldn't continue like this.
But there seems to be nothing else to tell reason what to do now.
Or perhaps, they knew it, but didn't feel they could do it, or were intimidated by the previous supervisory Black Rat.
In short, all the Calamity Beast can only follow the rules set by the Black Rat Lords step by step, like robots.
Somewhere in the herd of animals.
The Steel-Mane Bear and the Black Jade Lion lay together, only two or three meters apart.
"... By the way, was that news true or false? If this keeps up, I'm really going to starve to death!" Steel-Mane Bear said in a deep voice, frowning.
Several days ago, a Calamity Beast suddenly came to them and said it had heard some news--
The reason the Black Rat that were monitoring them were doing this was to filter out the strong Calamity Beast in the herd and kill them, to prevent those Calamity Beast from resurfacing and instigating the same escape attempt as last time.
They weren't very convinced to begin with.
But as time went by, seeing the number of Calamity Beast that could deliver ore dwindling each day, he began to waver.
Three days ago, they finally decided to disguise themselves as any other ordinary Calamity Beast and pretend they couldn't deliver the ore.
This step went without any problems.
The problem is that they have no food for three days, and they still have to keep mining to prevent being whipped for not mining enough.
Even they would find this situation difficult to endure!
The more critical issue is that we don't know how long this situation will continue!
There was no response; the Black Jade Lion remained silent.
Seeing this, the Steel-Mane Bear became somewhat agitated. Suppressing its emotions, it said:
"How about this, we continue not handing over the ore, and then during the day we'll try to lure a Calamity Beast out of the mine and kill it!"
This time, the Black Jade Lion finally responded:
"No, the mine is teeming with Calamity Beast Calamity Beast. It's very difficult to completely evade their eyes. Besides, the Black Rat have been paying even closer attention to the mine lately. If they spot you, things will be even worse!"
"What should we do then?" Steel-Mane Bear said in a deep voice, his voice filled with barely suppressed frustration.
Seemingly sensing the irritation in those words, the Black Jade Lion paused for a moment, then finally said:
"... Just bear with it a little longer!"
There was no response; the Steel-Mane Bear's mouth twitched.
It took a lot of effort for it to calm itself down.
Then, in an attempt to divert attention, he asked:
"Then what do we do next? Just keep waiting like this? What if we're wrong, and what if the reason the Ridged Beast died wasn't Feather Owl or that human, but rather because this world just has those inexplicable rules?"
"No, there shouldn't be such a rule!" said the Black Jade Lion.
"Okay, even if it's what you say, what if they can't do anything about this situation either? Maybe they're starving and mining every day just like us? And then we just keep waiting for who knows what the outcome will be? Even if it does, what if we don't notice and they go out on their own? Wouldn't that be even worse!" The Steel-Mane Bear said in an increasingly serious tone.
There was no response; the Black Jade Lion remained silent.
Although it felt its guess was more accurate, Steel-Mane Bear's words did indeed have their merits.
Continuing like this will indeed become increasingly dangerous, but for now...
It raised its eyes and looked at the numerous Calamity Beast lying in its field of vision, paused, and said:
"Let's wait five more days. If things remain the same within those five days, and the person we heard about, the one who killed the selected powerful Calamity Beast, doesn't appear, then we'll find a way to continue our operation!"
Steel-Mane Bear breathed a sigh of relief.
It is not afraid of waiting, but it fears endless waiting.
Moreover, what the Black Jade Lion said makes sense. The most important thing right now is to see if those Black Rat will kill the selected powerful Calamity Beast as they've heard!
It shifted its gaze, about to end the conversation, when suddenly it remembered something and looked at the Black Jade Lion, saying:
"When the time comes, you have to make sure we get a meal first. It doesn't have to be a full meal, but at least we need to eat something, otherwise we won't have the energy to work!"
"Yes!" Black Jade Lion nodded. "But we can't eat together then; we have to eat separately, a few days apart."
No explanation was needed; Steel-Mane Bear understood why.
If they died separately, it could be explained that some of the Calamity Beast couldn't resist their hunger and secretly attacked other Calamity Beast. But if so many died on the same day, it would be too easy to arouse suspicion.
It nodded, its voice rising slightly as it said:
"Just remember that..."
Time continues to flow.
The fields grew increasingly quiet.
This time it was truly quiet. Not a single Calamity Beast spoke, and even the snoring that once filled the night sky was now only heard occasionally.
The sound stopped immediately after it finished.
All the Calamity Beast lay helplessly on the ground.
Among the herd, a Rock-Backed Beast lay prone on the ground, its gaze slowly sweeping across the area ahead.
Hunger and exhaustion filled its body.
However, this did not prevent it from continuing to observe the herd.
Compared to a dozen days ago, the number of animal herds gathered in the wilderness has decreased by nearly 50%.
Of these, 20% were killed directly by the Black Rat at the very beginning; 35% either starved to death or were killed for failing to meet mining targets during this period; and the remaining 50% were killed after mining was completed in the first two nights...
The guess I heard was true!
The Black Rat was indeed using its previous actions to filter out the strongest Calamity Beast, and then killing them.
However, that guess didn't cover everything.
Although the strongest Calamity Beast selected has been killed, Black Rat's policy has not stopped!
They are still over-mining ore every day, and then starving!
However, what it cares about even more than that is...
The Rock-Backed Beast shifted its gaze and looked at the two sleeping Calamity Beast not far away.
"Damn it, aren't these two planning to do something?"
The Rock-Backed Beast thought with some irritation.
I had assumed that those who had contacted the Calamity Beast to eliminate them would act immediately after the situation ended.
As it turned out, nothing happened; everyone just went about their business as usual.
If it hadn't been keeping a close eye on them, it would have almost thought these two were actually native Calamity Beast of this world!
In addition, it must be mentioned that, perhaps since that incident, those two have become more cautious, discussing things in extremely low voices, making it difficult for it to hear what they are saying.
"No, we can't put our hopes on them anymore; we have to think of something ourselves!"
The Rock-Backed Beast withdrew its gaze, somewhat annoyed.
It had considered this before, but it simply couldn't find a way to get out with a high probability of success.
In addition, there are the policies implemented by the Black Rat during this period...
A deep sense of powerlessness welled up in the Rock-Backed Beast's heart.
It looked ahead, its brows furrowed tightly.
After a long while, its gaze paused, glancing at the Calamity Beast that had stood up a little distance away, before returning to its contemplation.
However, this reflection did not last long.
The Rock-Backed Beast's gaze shifted, finally settling on the figure that had walked towards them and finally lay down.
A calm voice came from the other person.
Let's cooperate.