Chapter 919: Clinging to Ones Thigh

Amidst their laughter, Leaf understood everything.

The black-haired rat was not dead at all. He was only severely injured and extremely weak.

If he tried to s.n.a.t.c.h the mandrake fruit openly, he would definitely not be able to s.n.a.t.c.h even half of it. Sooner or later, he would starve to death.

Therefore, he could only pretend to be dead to deceive a new fool like himself!

There had to be new fools who would think that he was dead and infected with the plague.

If these new fools were lucky enough to s.n.a.t.c.h the mandrake fruit but were unable to protect themselves, they would definitely flee to the corner where the black-haired rat was and try to use the plague to stop the other red-eyed rat people from coveting it.

However, these fools did not know that the black-haired rat was not in a safe zone.

They were in a fatal trap!

The black-haired ratfolk used this method to s.n.a.t.c.h mandrake fruits one after another even when they were on the verge of death.

As for the other red-eyed rat people, they knew that the black-haired rat was not dead yet, so why did they not attack or s.n.a.t.c.h the mandrake fruits?

Naturally, it was because the Turan people were addicted to gambling and valued gambling more than anything else.

In a sense, gambling was a satisfying battle with an illusory fate.

The gambling games on the gambling table were the same as the battles on the battlefield. They had to rack their brains, use all their strength, and do everything they could.

Even if they fell into the deepest part of the black dungeon

The rat people still had to gamble.

They had to gamble on whether the black-haired rat was dead or not.

They had to gamble on whether a fool like Leaf would be fooled.

It was a bet on whether the dying black-haired rat would have enough strength to s.n.a.t.c.h the mandrake fruit after the fool fell for it.

For these red-eyed rat people who were on the verge of losing their lives at any moment

Every few days, it was very worthwhile and necessary to use a mandrake fruit to fight the fear and despair of being imprisoned.

Leaf, who understood everything, was completely in despair.

The cruelest thing in the world was to be deprived of all hope from the very beginning.

Instead, it seemed that he had grasped the last glimmer of hope, yet he could only watch as hope slipped through his fingers.

It was impossible.

It was impossible to live, become stronger, and exact revenge.

He had been starving for three days and three nights. During this period, he had only eaten a lump of food stuffed into his mouth by a broken-horned Minotaur warrior.

If he ate this fried mandrake fruit, he would be able to save up a bit of energy and fight until the next round of food delivery. Then, he would s.n.a.t.c.h two, three, and more mandrake fruits to increase his strength.

Then, he would have a chance to crawl out of the deepest part of the dungeon.

He would crawl toward hope.

However, without this fried mandrake fruit, the hunger that was getting stronger and stronger was destined to devour his last bit of strength. It made him like a lot of rat people who were curled up in a corner, not moving at all. Even the red glow in his eyes had dimmed.

The only ending was to starve to death here, rotten to death!

In a trance, Leaf seemed to hear his mother say aiya and accidentally knocked over a basket full of fried mandrake fruit sticks on the ground.

It did not matter.

The mandrake tree would bear fruit three to five times a year.

There was plenty of food.

He could not finish it no matter how hard he tried.

Ill go and fry another pot, Leafs mother comforted him with a smile.

But her figure gradually blurred.

The mandrake flowers bloomed.

The flowering mandrake tree no longer bore fruit

Not even one.

Even if Leaf could survive the glorious era, and endure enough blood and souls, to nourish the roots of the mandrake tree, so that the thousands of mandrake trees all over Picturesque Orchid Lake would bear fruit again, bearing many, many mandrake fruits.

He didnt have a mother anymore.

This was the first time Leaf had been deeply aware of this since the fire started in his hut.

He realized that his mother would never make fried mandrake fruit sticks for him again.

He did not have a mother anymore.

The youth finally broke down.

Large tears rolled down his cheeks.

Even without the hood, he still wailed desperately in front of everyone.

He cried and pounced on the black-haired rat.

He did not want to s.n.a.t.c.h the mandrake fruit from the other party.

He just wanted to catch his mothers fading figure.

Mom

Leaf hugged the black-haired rats thigh and shook it hysterically. He shouted, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom!

Leaf vented his pain.

He was ready to face any punishment.

Whether it was being kicked away by the black-haired rat, falling back into the hungry red-eyed rats hands.

Or being torn apart by the black-haired rat.

He would definitely do that, right?

No one had seen the black-haired rats eyes at a closer distance than Leaf.

Therefore, no one knew better than Leaf the terror of the black-haired rat.

He would definitely give himself a quick death.

Then, he would be able to see his mother very soon. Very soon

Leaf could feel the muscles of the black-haired rat people stiffening.

The youth smiled and simply closed his eyes to wait for death.

But after waiting for a long time, he did not feel any pain.

The black-haired rat did not kick him away or tear him apart. They just allowed him to hug their thighs with stiff muscles.

Leaf opened his eyes in confusion.

His eyes met the black-haired rats.

He saw shock, confusion, and a little embarra.s.sment in the black-haired rats eyes?

It was as if the black-haired rats face was filled with the expression of What the h.e.l.l? Whos your mother?.

After struggling for a long time, the black-haired rat finally made his move.

It was still not kicking or tearing Leaf apart.

Instead, they sighed and broke off a small piece of the fried mandrake fruit they had s.n.a.t.c.hed and returned it to the youth.

What What is he doing?

Leaf was stunned.

In the past three days, he had heard many stories about the glorious era from other captives.

He knew that in the glorious era, due to the extreme lack of food, not to mention the mandrake fruit, even the bark and core of the mandrake tree were extremely precious food. It was enough to cause bloodshed and even kill people.

The red-eyed rat peoples fight for the fried mandrake fruit had proved this point. In a short moment of intense fighting, many of the rat people were covered in injuries. They lay face down in the sewage and kept twitching.

Each fried mandrake fruit represented a hope of survival.

This black-haired rat person who was heavily injured and on the verge of death could only use this method to obtain a fried mandrake fruit for a few days.

He could clearly enjoy the spoils of war alone.

Why did he want to share his precious hope with him?

Leaf was puzzled.

He didnt dare to move at all.

The black-haired rat civilian misunderstood his meaning.

The black-haired rat civilian frowned slightly, but he didnt take back his good intentions. With a grunt, he broke off the second piece of fruit and handed it over.

Leaf didnt dare to accept it even more.

The black-haired rats life was so ugly, and his body was surrounded by an aura that was even more ferocious than that of a broken-horned Minotaur warrior. Even the little man inside Leafs body was scared out of his wits, as if reminding Leaf that this was an extremely dangerous monster the farther away from him the better.

Moreover, did he see the tears on his face?

The Turan people saw crying as the greatest shame and omen.

They even thought that the little bug that could swallow courage, create a plague, and bring disaster was hidden in their tears.

The Turan people could die, could be defeated, could be covered in wounds, and bleed profusely.

But they could not cry.

Whoever shed a single tear in public

They would be a lowly coward. The one who spread the plague would be a trash who betrayed the ancestral spirit and would never be blessed by the totem.

They would be looked down upon and bullied by others for the rest of their lives.

The other red-eyed rats heard Leafs cry.

They all sucked in a breath of cold air and retreated with all their might as if Leaf had become a monster covered in the plague.

Only the black-haired rat did not throw the youth away. Instead of looking at the youth with disdain and disgust in his eyes, there was even more Pity and guilt?

For the third time, the black-haired rat subject reached out his hand.

This time, he kept the two small pieces of fried mandrake fruit that he had just broken off for himself.

However, he returned more than half of it to Leaf.

Dont cry. Eat.

The black-haired rats lips did not move at all.

However, a very weak voice came from his chest. Only Leaf could hear it.

Leaf was completely dumbfounded.

He seemed to have heard from the red-eyed rat people that the black-haired rat was a mute?

So he could talk?

However, the voice that the black-haired rat uttered from his chest was indeed very strange.

In the past few days, Leaf had come into contact with dozens of different accents on the vast land south of Picturesque Orchid through the mouths of various captives.

However, he had never heard such a stiff Turan accent.

It was as if the originally multi-syllable, smooth and lively words were disa.s.sembled into individual syllables before jumping out one syllable after another.

Leaf could not tell which clan it was from.

But he could hear the kindness of the black-haired rat people.

He gathered his courage and looked into the eyes of the black-haired rat again.

A moment ago, the volcano-like fierce flames had long disappeared without a trace.

The eyes of the black-haired rat returned to the depths of the starless night.

But it was different from the frozen state when they played dead. Now, Leaf found a glimmer of dawn-like light in the depths of the starless night.

The fragrance of the fried mandrake fruit once again traveled through his nose and into his stomach.

His stomach immediately began to growl.

Leafs face turned red. He no longer hesitated. He stretched out his hands and took more than half of the fried mandrake fruit from the black-haired rat.

He looked back worriedly.

The black-haired rat saw through his thoughts and smiled slightly. He continued to use his chest to make a sound that only a teenager could hear.

Its alright. They wont come and s.n.a.t.c.h it.

The black-haired rat paused for a moment before adding, They wont dare.

For some reason

This strange person who was covered in wounds, on the verge of death, and extremely weak, gave Leaf a great sense of trust.

The youth could finally let out a long sigh of relief. He let down all his guard and carefully took a bite of the fried mandrake fruit.

It was delicious.

The young man chewed, and in a trance, an illusion appeared in front of his eyes again.

It was as if his mother had returned.