Chapter 10
Babaru knelt on the ground, sweating profusely, and his arms were shaking so much that they didn't seem like his own.
Behind him, a pile of corpses with big heads and small bellies were lying on the ground in a twisted state. The flowing blood soaked his palms that were pressed to the ground, but he did not dare to move to a cleaner place .
When the young man in front of him said that, he thought... He naively thought that this was a gentleman with a chivalrous heart, the kind of legendary creature who would show mercy to the enemy and even help the enemy solve his problems because of his difficulties and pleas. However, the deaths of his companions one after another pulled him back from fantasy to the cruel reality.
Among those who died, some pleaded that they had elderly parents and young children to take care of, some said that this was the first time they had done something bad, some claimed that they were coerced into doing so, some tried to resist or escape, and some begged desperately, saying that they would do anything if only they were let go, but their lies would be immediately exposed and their surrender would be rejected. All their resistances were as useless as a breeze, and after wasting their only chance to survive, they all died.
Babaru was the only one who survived. The reason he was alive was that at the last moment, he closed his eyes and shouted, "Don't kill me... I... We have another batch of goods hidden somewhere else... And, and all the goods are poisoned, and only we know how to detoxify... I, I also know where the previous goods were sold..."
"Oh?" Rong Yuan stopped, lowered his eyes and looked at him, smiling, "Are you threatening me?"
“No, no, no… I dare not…” Babaru’s sweat soaked the ground where he was kneeling. “I mean… I mean… I still have… some value to be used… Although it’s only a little bit, but please consider that I am still useful… Don’t, don’t kill me…”
Babaru stammered, his hands on the ground, his forehead deeply soaked in blood, like a surrendering beast, he completely exposed his vulnerable neck to the enemy, begging for a chance of life.
Tick, tick, tick.
The footsteps of the god of death sounded softly, and Babalu closed his mouth, not daring to speak again. Then he heard a voice: "That makes sense. Then, I can spare your life, but first... prove your usefulness."
Later, Babaru thought back and felt that Rong Yuan might have intended to leave one last person behind. But if he could go back in time and do it all over again, he would not dare to gamble his life on this guess.
So his attitude was extremely obedient, and he was very proactive in showing himself. After Rong Yuan nodded in agreement, Babalu immediately directed the remaining insects to rescue all the people hanging on the cave ceiling by spider silk, and then prepared an antidote for spider venom and injected it into them one by one. He also asked several giant black ants to take out their stored food and drinking water. After Rong Yuan said that it was not needed, he placed the food on a platform so that those who recovered from anesthesia could eat freely to replenish their energy.
When Mia was halfway through, she woke up from her sleep. The insect corpses were all over the ground and they could not be seen in their original form. Rong Yuan sat on a clean stone in the mine and watched Babaru busying around. Mia did not see what happened before, but she saw that she had regained her freedom. She thought Babaru was a good man who had turned from evil to good, so she smiled at him kindly. Although she was also very hungry, she still helped to inject the antidote to the anesthetized people.
"No, no, miss, please go and rest." Babaru was startled and quickly waved his hand to refuse. He also secretly glanced at Rong Yuan, afraid that he would think he was going to do something to the girl.
"It's okay." Mia smiled and said, "It will take you a long time to do it alone. It will be faster if we do it together."
Babaru refused again and again, but Mia still couldn't dispel his willingness to help. Seeing that Rong Yuan had no intention of stopping him, he agreed timidly and taught the girl the method and dosage of injecting the medicine. The two of them worked together and soon detoxified all the remaining people. However, it would take some time for those people to move freely, so Mia took three portions of food, gave one to Rong Yuan and Babaru, and then sat beside them and ate them with big mouthfuls.
Babaru took it and thanked him. Seeing that Rong Yuan had no intention of touching the food, he put down the black and hard jerky.
"Don't you want to eat?" Mia asked curiously.
Babaru laughed dryly and lied, "I'm not hungry yet." He quietly wiped his fingers on the corner of his clothes. Although he had wiped them with a rough cloth before, he felt that his hands were still full of a strong smell of blood.
"Oh." Mia had no doubt. She glanced at Rong Yuan and thought that the reason why he refused to eat must be that he thought the food was too bad, so she said, "You can try it too... Although it is not as good as the Stegosaurus meat, it tastes really good... It is much ..."
After walking together for several days, Mia was finally rescued by Rong Yuan. Although they hardly spoke, Mia felt a lot closer to him, and her previous fear and vigilance almost disappeared.
"I'm not hungry either, you can eat these too." Rong Yuan said. He still remembered Mia's exaggerated appetite when they met last time. Then he turned to Babalu and asked, "I see that you can all control insects. Is this a natural ability of your clan?"
There are all kinds of races in the galaxy. Some races are born with special abilities or special strength, such as being very strong, eating special minerals, being able to survive in extreme environments, etc. For example, the orthodox Landians with the blood of the Landian royal family are very smart and are called intelligent species. In the Milky Way, races that can be called "intelligent species" are basically the rulers of a star field as long as their reproductive ability is not too poor.
"Ah, yes." Babaru replied quickly.
"How come I have never heard of such a special ability?" Mia, who was listening while eating, interrupted and asked.
"Because we are not Landians, we are the Zerg from the Butterfly Wing Nebula." Babaru said with a flattering smile, "We are all completely carbon-based creatures. You have seen the racial characteristics." He patted his big belly and said, "Because of this insect-like big belly, our tribe can't run fast or jump high. Our strength is weaker than that of ordinary carbon-based creatures. We only have the ability to communicate with insects, which is nothing."
"But your abilities are considered quite powerful on a special primitive planet like Prison Star!" Mia said thoughtfully.
Babaru nodded and bowed: "Not really, not really, just trying to make a living."
"Use innocent people to exchange for your food?"
Mia's sudden and sharp question left Babaru speechless and he was unable to speak for a long time.
The anesthetized people recovered one by one. When they were hanging on the top of the cave, as long as they were not asleep, they naturally saw everything that had just happened. They were grateful for Rong Yuan's rescue, but they were also very afraid of his strength. The people of Yuxing believed that there was no such thing as a free lunch in the world. If there was, it must be wrapped in poison. Therefore, they hesitated, tested, and waited, waiting for Rong Yuan to say something so that they could decide what to do next.
Of course, not everyone was grateful, but when they were brought here, they wandered around in the dark underground, their consciousness alternated between sleep and wakefulness, and they were dizzy and dazed by hunger, so naturally they could not remember the route they came from. Although they are now out of trouble, if they leave rashly without a guide, they will most likely get lost in the depths of the mine or be eaten by predators in the dark.
Rong Yuan might know the correct route, but the most reliable one was naturally Babaru who used insects to catch them. Therefore, although these people were hung there and tortured, and were almost sold as slaves, no one rushed to cause trouble for the only surviving insect race.
...No, maybe there is.
Suddenly, a gray-haired man ran out of the crowd and rushed towards Rong Yuan and others. Babaru thought he was here to take revenge on him, so he subconsciously shrank behind Rong Yuan. The others watched coldly and did not try to stop him.
The man's anesthetic effect had not yet completely worn off, and he was running stumblingly. Before he reached Rong Yuan, he stumbled and fell at his feet.
Rong Yuan looked down at him without moving. Mia beside him had already taken a defensive posture.
The man struggled for a while, but did not get up. Instead, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed heavily. Then he looked up at Rong Yuan and begged, "Sir, please...save my daughter..."
Rong Yuan asked in surprise, "Do you know me?" If the Yuxing people didn't have some understanding of his character, they would not have made such an unreasonable request.
The man hesitated for a moment before saying, "My name...my name is Dule. I used to be the chief guard of Grand Duke Baisha. I had the honor of meeting you once before."
"Grand Duke Baisha?" Rong Yuan thought for a moment and asked, "Who is that?"
"Uh..." Dule stuttered for a while before saying, "Grand Duke Baisha followed Prince Saidesi and once... once assassinated Princess Sailinda..."
"Oh..." Rong Yuan understood, but didn't say anything more. He asked, "What happened to your daughter?"
This means that he is willing to intervene. Dule couldn't help showing his joy, but he glared at Babaru with hatred and said, "My baby, Zephia was taken away by them. I don't know where she was taken to."
Seeing Rong Yuan looking at him, Babalu hurriedly said: "The slave trade is under the control of the leader. We subordinates cannot interfere, but we still know some information." He turned to Dule and asked: "What does your daughter look like, and when was she taken away?"
"She had long light blond hair, emerald green eyes, and was just as tall as my shoulders. She was very beautiful... By the way, she was wearing a star-shaped necklace that I made for her out of stone... About ten days ago, she was taken away by your people." Durer suppressed his emotions and described it in detail.
Babaru's expression became a little strange when he heard half of it.
He looked at Dule, then at Rong Yuan, and said, "I know who it is. The girl has not been sold yet." He paused, and then said, "I told you before that we have another batch of goods hidden somewhere else..."
"Where is she?" Before Babaru could finish his words, Dürer shouted, "Where is Zephia?" He was almost crying with joy when he heard that the girl had not been sold to some dirty place.
Rong Yuan held his chin and thought for a while, then asked, "Is it in this direction..." He pointed diagonally underground, "The cave about 300 meters away?"
Babaru was so surprised that he asked, "How do you know?"
Rong Yuan did not answer, but said: "Take him with you and bring them all back."
Babaru hesitated to speak, and replied respectfully: "...Yes."
Watching Dule excitedly and worriedly following Babaru away, Mia asked Rong Yuan: "Is there something wrong? The expression on your face just now."
"What's that expression?"
The young man supported his cheek with one hand and asked her with his side face. The flickering fluorescent light was imprinted in his eyes, and there was a feeling of dazzling light.
Mia's heart skipped a beat. She quickly turned her head away and said in a stiff voice as if to cover up: "Anyway, it's that kind of expression... It doesn't look like a good thing..."
"Heh." Rong Yuan chuckled and whispered, "What a pity..."
