Chapter 1078: The Mantis Stalks the Cicada
The two of them tied the hands of the three unconscious rat subjects behind their backs, removed their jaws, and threw them to the side.
They put on their gray sackcloth and took their place, observing their surroundings.
From the top of the water tower, they could see everything around them. They could clearly see dozens of chaotic scenes, which together formed a panoramic view of the rat subjects sweeping through Black-corner City.
On the east side, the fully armed rat people, who had already broken through a few armories and granaries, were driven by extreme killing intent. They were currently attacking the military n.o.bles" mansions.
On the south side, the fire was getting bigger and bigger, painting half of the sky red.
Gunpowder smoke was accompanied by strong winds, and like demons baring their fangs and brandishing their claws, they enveloped more than half of the city.
Whether it was the former rulers of the city or the present rebels, they all fell into the black maze, muddled and drifting with the current.
In the west, a dark crowd formed into groups of fleeing groups. They were escaping Black-corner City through the underground secret tunnel.
However, the capacity of the escape tunnel was limited, especially at the entrance and exit. For the sake of concealment, it was dug very narrow. The scene was so chaotic right then that the rat people would inevitably push and jostle each other. The vast majority of the rat people were still stuck on the streets, causing a few streets to be crowded.
If the Blood Hoof Army were to charge back to Black-corner City at this time, only a few dozen clan warriors equipped with totem armor would be enough. Armed with heavy weapons such as battle axes and maces, three to five charges would be sufficient to crush the poor rat people. They would all be trampled into minced meat.
In the north, a troop of rat people armed to the teeth was gathering on the open ground near the casting area. Then, they disappeared among the broken walls in an orderly manner.
Unlike most of the rat rebels who were blindly charging around like headless flies, the formation of these troops was clearly more orderly, and they had a more a.n.a.lytical temperament.
Meng Chao estimated that they were the most laborious and rebellious workers among the rat slaves.
By the standards of cannon fodder, they could be considered a strong army.
They were cannon fodder that the mastermind really wanted to get out of Black-corner City.
Therefore, a "VIP pa.s.sage" was prepared for them.
As for the chaotic and boisterous rat tide on the street, they were just meat shields attracting fire and expendable among the cannon fodder.
In short, the entire Black-corner City was still like a volcano boiling with magma. It was impossible for it to calm down in a short period of time.
At that moment, Ice Storm poked Meng Chao gently and pointed at the battlefield closest to the water tower. "Look over there. There seems to be something strange."
Since the serial explosions had completely changed Black-corner City"s appearance, it was initially difficult for Meng Chao to combine the burning ruins with Black-corner City"s topographic map. he had memorized it during the Game of the Brave for half a month.
However, with the aid of the water towers, statues, lookout posts, the main roads, and other landmarks, he finally updated Black-corner City"s topographic map and important facilities in the depths of his brain. He found that Ice Storm had pointed at the mansion of a barbarian elephant n.o.ble.
The barbarian elephant people were the largest tribe in the Blood Hoof Clan.
The barbarian elephant n.o.ble"s mansion was naturally a huge military fortress.
Every rock that was used to build the military fortress was square, more than an arm long, and weighed nearly half a ton.
Amid the continuous methane explosions, the copper walls surrounding the fortress had collapsed and turned into gentle slopes.
However, atop the gentle slopes, the barbarian elephant warriors who stayed in the mansions a.s.sumed the stance of one man against ten thousand men. Even if they were old, weak, and disabled, when their eyes were wide open and they held huge axes in theirs hands, the rebel army would not be able to overcome them with numbers.
Logically speaking, the rebel army had no need to care about the barbarian elephant warriors" military fortress.
After all, there were not many barbarian elephant warriors left there. Besides, they were still confused and at a loss because of the methane explosions.
They had the responsibility of guarding the house and courtyard, so they could not rush out rashly and get involved in the furor caused by the rebel army.
The rat militia could and should avoid the mansions of the barbarian elephant n.o.bles as well as other dangerous areas. They could run and guard each other at the same time.
However, there they were, a rat militia with more than a thousand soldiers. Their eyes were red, and they were making strange noises. They had seemingly gone mad as they swarmed the gentle slope. They rushed toward the war hammers and blades of the barbarian elephant warriors, who were also red-eyed.
In the raging wind caused by the flames, Meng Chao vaguely heard someone shouting at the top of their lungs, "Charge! Kill them! The Rat G.o.d will protect us and kill these barbarian elephant warriors!
"The barbarian elephant people have the biggest appet.i.te. There must be endless mandrake fruits in their granary. We can only have food on the way if we take down their granary. Otherwise, we will starve to death even if we escape Black-corner City!"
Those words seemed very reasonable at first glance.
It inspired the rat people"s volunteer army.
Twenty to thirty rat people who were still considered healthy somehow found a huge mandrake tree trunk and carried it on their shoulders. Like a battering ram, they crashed into the barbarian elephant warriors who were guarding the gentle slope.
The barbarian elephant warriors roared and hacked their battle axes into the battering ram, splitting the mandrake tree trunk in half.
The rat militia that had been formed in a hurry did not work well together, and they immediately fell to the ground.
A barbarian elephant warrior"s battle axe flew up and down like two ferocious hurricanes. In an instant, the lives of countless rat soldiers were taken.
However, the rat soldiers who had survived were so excited that their brains were on fire. They did not care about their own death at all. They only cared about whether or not they could bite off a piece of b.l.o.o.d.y flesh from the barbarian elephant warrior before they died.
Even Meng Chao, the Ghost a.s.sa.s.sin who had just returned from an apocalyptic world, could not bear to look at the extremely tragic situation.
The point was, this battle could have been avoided. It should not have happened.
"The barbarian elephant people have a huge appet.i.te. Their granary must contain an astronomical amount of food. Therefore, we have to break into this mansion and occupy the granary. Otherwise, even if we can escape Black-corner City, everyone will starve to death." Those words sounded very reasonable on the surface.
However, upon careful consideration, they simply could not withstand scrutiny.
That was because the mandrake fruits and flesh of totem beasts, which the Blood Hoof warriors had plundered from the entire Blood Hoof territory, were prepared for military operations that would last for several years.
Compared with the clan warriors who had a huge appet.i.te, the rat people"s appet.i.te was even smaller than that of a sparrow.
The food stored in Black-corner City definitely far exceeded the amount of food that the rat people"s rebel army needed to consume.
The problem was not that they could not find enough food.
It was whether they could transport all of this food out.
Therefore, there was no need to gnaw on the barbarian elephant fortress. It was such a hard bone, yet they were sacrificing hundreds of thousands of precious lives in vain. In the end, they might not even be able to chew and swallow this hard bone.
With the time and cost involved, would it not be good to look for other clans and granaries in the gladiator arena?
"There is indeed a problem. This is not a decision that any intelligent commander makes."
Meng Chao narrowed his eyes. His gaze was like a sharp razor, scanning the crowd of rat soldiers back and forth. He was trying to find the guy who had shouted for everyone to rush forward and die.
But, so what if he found the guy?
He was most likely just a chess piece that had been bewitched, brainwashed, and used.
"The key is the motive. Why would someone want these rat soldiers to attack the mansions of the barbarian elephant n.o.bles at all costs?" Meng Chao muttered to himself.
As his mind raced, he immediately reacted.
He turned his gaze and shot into the bowels of the barbarian elephant"s mansion like a sharp arrow.
According to the intelligence he had gathered in the Game of the Brave, the mansion should belong to a barbarian elephant n.o.ble known as Broken Rock.
Broken Rock Clan"s history could be traced back to three thousand years ago.
It was one of the meritorious families that had rebuilt the Blood Hoof Clan after the great extermination order.
The Broken Rock Clan rose to prominence because they discovered an ancient temple that was more than three thousand years old underground in Black-corner City.
When he thought of that, Meng Chao ma.s.saged his temples gently and rubbed the bridge of his nose to stimulate different areas of his eyes.
By injecting spirit energy into his optic nerves and the cone cells, he extended the limits of his vision and read the abundant information contained in the visible and invisible light.
Three minutes later, he locked onto the temple that was hidden in flames and smoke.
He also discovered the hooded figures that appeared and disappeared around the temple.
He had to admit that these guys were also experts in stealth, infiltration, and hibernation.
Their gray cloaks that were covered in dust almost blended in with the surrounding environment.
If Meng Chao had not predicted their presence in advance and searched around the temple carefully, it would have been impossible to detect them.
Right then, the hooded elites were around the temple. They unwrapped the bulging bags on their backs and a.s.sembled the tools inside, preparing to break the temple"s defense system by force.
The guards of Broken Rock Clan were naturally deployed around the temple.
However, the temple guards were all scared by the surging tide of rat people. They rushed to the outer defense line of the clan fortress to suppress the rat militia"s frontal attack.
They did not expect an even more mysterious "treasure-hunting squad" to sneak in from behind.
"As I expected."
Meng Chao"s eyes were cold. "The guy who instigated the rat people to revolt doesn"t care about the rat people"s lives at all.
"From the moment the methane explosion took place, he was prepared to sacrifice thousands, no, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of rat people. He wants to disrupt the order in Black-corner City and attract the Blood Hoof warriors" fury and firepower.
"Right now, thousands of rats have been defeated by the battle axes of the barbarian elephant warriors. Even if they can trade hundreds of precious lives for a barbarian elephant warrior"s serious injury, they will only suffer heavy losses against the barbarian elephant warriors.
"The only people who are truly taking advantage of the situation are the ones who have robbed the temple without anyone knowing."