Chapter 1074: A Step Too Late

"Are they rat militia?" Meng Chao asked Ice Storm with his mouth.

"It doesn't look like it. I've never seen such a skilled or fearless rat militia. At least, not in the Blood Skull Arena." Ice Storm shook her head with a solemn expression.

Meng Chao thought for a moment and suddenly jumped down from the broken wall. Before Ice Storm could stop him, he disappeared into the dust.

A moment later, he sneaked back, carrying two things.

Ice Storm looked at the items, which he placed behind the broken wall.

They were two bodies in hooded cloaks.

In order to break through the line of defense that consisted of gladiators and temple guards, the hooded elite rats had suffered many casualties, leaving corpses everywhere.

After taking over the granary and armory, the rat people were extremely excited.

In the process of swarming forward and s.n.a.t.c.hing the weapons and mandrake fruits, no one noticed that the two corpses had disappeared.

However, Ice Storm did not understand why Meng Chao would steal the corpses back?

"Sometimes, corpses can reveal more information to us than the living. After all, if we encounter a living person with a strong will, we might not be able to pry open his mouth even if we torture him."

Meng Chao knelt on one knee and examined the two corpses carefully.

He first touched the muscles and bones of the two corpses inch by inch, not sparing a single joint from their elbows to their knees.

He brushed away their thick hair to check the growth of lice and fleas as well.

Then, he closed his eyes and carefully rubbed the calluses on the soles of the corpses' feet and palms.

Finally, he opened his sparkling eyes, pried open the corpses' mouths, and carefully examined their oral health.

His attentive and even excited appearance reminded Ice Storm of her mother's friends, the witches who had secretly dug graves in order to study necromancy.

Creeped out, Ice Storm asked, "So, did these two corpses tell you anything valuable?"

"Of course."

Meng Chao folded the index and middle fingers of his right hand and pointed at different parts of the corpses. "First of all, from their appearance, these two corpses don't seem to belong to a clan. Instead, they have characteristics of ligers, and even hoofed, or reptilian beasts. This means that their bloodlines are very complex, and they are very typical rat people.

"However, the bones and joints found in these two corpses are much thicker and harder than those of the ordinary orcs.

"This is the result of consuming high-energy food all year round and carrying out targeted training, where spirit energy seeps into the bone marrow and strengthens the bones.

"Similarly, their muscle fibers are much tougher than those of the ordinary orcs. Based on the condition of their tendons and bones, I think that they can easily swing a giant sword that weighs hundreds of kilograms and perform dazzling slas.h.i.+ng movements. That is an extremely high standard even for Turan who are born with divine strength.

"Also, I noticed that the bones of the two corpses were covered in a lot of old fractures. The fractures were not too long or deep. They should not have been caused by fighting but by high-intensity training. However, the fractures were properly treated in time, hence they did not affect their combat ability.

"In the past month, whenever I was helping you choose your servants, I would check the bones and muscles of hundreds of rat subjects.

"Many rat subjects had suffered different degrees of injuries when they were harvesting mandrake fruits or hunting wild beasts in their hometown. Most of their injuries were much lighter than the ones suffered by these two corpses. Unfortunately, due to the lack of professional treatment, it led to all kinds of sequelae."

Hearing Meng Chao's words, Ice Storm began her observation too. She carefully searched the wrists, elbows, and shoulder blades of one of the corpses. She even used a sharp icicle to poke at the corpse's shoulder blades, but she could not penetrate it.

She nodded thoughtfully and said, "Indeed. The bones in this guy's arm are as hard as iron. They are not the standard that ordinary rat soldiers can reach.

"To be able to train such a strong soldier, there must be an experienced, well-equipped, and well-resourced team behind the scenes."

"That's what I want to say."

Meng Chao added, "Based on the calluses on the palms and soles of these two corpses, we can also see that they have received long-term, arduous, and professional training. Such training is definitely not something that a certain village of rat people can or should provide.

"However, the more important evidence is their teeth."

"Teeth?" Ice Storm asked

"That's right. After the flesh absorbs spirit energy, the body's metabolism will be accelerated. Many traces of the past will be erased in three to five months or even less. However, the traces left on the teeth cannot be fooled."

Meng Chao opened the mouths of the two corpses and motioned to Ice Storm. "Look, the upper and lower rows of the teeth of the two corpses are relatively neat, but both of them have quite serious cavities."

Ice Storm looked down and found that it was indeed as Meng Chao had said.

But she did not understand. "So what?"

"The neat rows of teeth mean that they often chew bones and bite tough meat. In the process, they ma.s.sage and squeeze the gums. As for dental caries, it means that they often enjoy sweet food and stimulating secret medicines."

"You should know that, in the prosperous era, no matter how poor the rat population was, there was always enough food.

"However, three meals a day, the rat population's food would mostly be the mandrake fruit. Moreover, in order to save fuel, accessories, and spices, they were eaten raw and cold. At most, they were baked.

"The mandrake fruit is soft and dense, while its nature is mild and not stimulating. No matter how much you eat, it is difficult to cause cavities.

"For the ordinary rat population, whether it is the fried mandrake fruit dipped in sour cream, or sweet things like honey stirring the mandrake fruit puree, they are not easy to eat.

"As for the meat of wild beasts, needless to say, they are all good things that have to be offered to the city for the warrior lords to enjoy.

"There are also secret medicines refined by the witch doctors. Although they have the effect of activating the tendons and bones, strengthening the bloodline, and making it easier for the clan warriors to activate the power of totems, because the refining process is not up to standard, the finished products are often full of strong stimulation and even corrosive effects. It is very easy to damage the tooth enamel of the users.

"Many careless clan warriors do not have the concept of protecting the oral hygiene at all. As time pa.s.ses, it is not surprising that they grow a mouth full of rotten teeth!

"Here's the problem. These two corpses look like standard rat subjects, but their oral conditions indicate that they used to eat a lot of high-energy food, totem beast flesh, and secret medicines like the clan warriors over the years. They ate better than many domestic rat soldiers and even low-level warriors in Black-corner City.

"Who exactly is supporting them behind the scenes?"

After her mother, who was a witch, died, Ice Storm had been able to escape the night watchers and the land of Holy Light all the way to Picturesque Orchid Lake. Moreover, she had hibernated almost perfectly in Black-corner City for two years. Naturally, Ice Storm was not stupid.

After Meng Chao's advice, her mind raced, and she immediately understood. "You're saying that the so-called 'Rat G.o.d's descent' is definitely man-made. And these elite rat people wearing hoods and cloaks are the tools that the mastermind meticulously created and sent to Black-corner City to stir up a rat tide?"

"That's right. If we want to successfully escape the Blood Hoof Clan's territory, we can't help but rely on the overwhelming power of the rat tide. Therefore, it's very important for us to discover the truth about the Rat G.o.d's descent."

Meng Chao pondered. "The enemy's goal is certainly not as simple as rescuing all the rat civilians in Black-corner City. Since the enemy can train such elite rat soldiers, there's no reason for them to rescue a motley crew and add a heavy burden to their logistical supplies.

"Unless..."

As Meng Chao spoke, he suddenly realized something. He raised his eyes and looked in the armory and granary's direction.

Upon discovering that the elite rat civilians in hoods and cloaks were ridiculously powerful, Meng Chao locked onto the surviving hooded rat warriors in his sights.

Even during the autopsy, he had asked Ice Storm to keep an eye on their every move.

As expected, when most of the scrawny slave laborers threw themselves at the mountain of mandrake fruits and gleaming swords, spears, and halberds...

A group of hooded warriors quietly gathered together and left the granary, as well as armory, in a hurry.

"Where are they going?"

Meng Chao's curiosity was piqued.

"Could it be that their target is not just the granary and armory?"

He muttered to himself, "That's right. Only the most ordinary mandrake fruits and crude weapons are stored in the granary and armory.

"These things can certainly make the rat slaves feel like they have found a treasure, but to the rat elites who have received professional training for a long time and eaten the flesh of totem beasts as food, they are nothing.

"The mastermind behind them has gone to great lengths to create such a big commotion. Their goal is definitely not as simple as getting a few mandrake fruits and ordinary weapons!"

Meng Chao and Ice Storm looked at each other.

The two silently retreated from the ruins and followed the hooded rat warriors from behind.

They saw the guys advancing in the Blood Skull Arena with ease.

Other than encountering the ruins that had collapsed due to the explosion and stopping to observe for a moment, they were not distracted by any side paths.

It seemed that they were quite familiar with the Blood Skull Arena's internal structure, and their goal was very clear.

Along the way, there were also many hooded rats who came out of nowhere and joined their team.

Behind these hooded rats were bulging beast skin parcels.

From the size of the parcels, they did not seem to contain weapons. Instead, they looked like large tools with complicated structures.

Very quickly, the mysterious elite rat citizen team arrived at their destination.

The familiar scene before Meng Chao and Ice Storm gave them a sense of disbelief in their hearts.

These guys were aiming for Blood Skull Temple, which they had just robbed!