Chapter 778.2: Laxi's Entrance

The Moon Clan had, after all, been a privileged people under the previous dynasty. Not every member of the clan had been a noble, but their overall standard of living had still been much higher than that of the Snake, Rat, and other clans, and their literacy rate was also considerably higher. Naturally, there was no shortage of educated and attractive young men and women among them.

After the Emperor issued an order reducing every Moon Clan member throughout the Empire to slavery, those nobles had certainly taken advantage of the chaos. Quite a few had gathered up many pretty canaries and kept them confined in their homes as playthings. There was no washing those deeds away even if they wanted to. All anyone had to do was stop a random person in the city and ask.

Laxi looked down at them and sneered. "I wasn't fucking talking about moonfolk. You aren't allowed to own slaves from any clan. Starting today, Mammoth State is going to believe in equality!"

Having said that, he ignored the bewildered expressions on the faces of the kneeling nobles and added casually, "And I told you not to kneel."

Turning to the side, he waved casually. "Drag them outside. Ten lashes each before they leave."

"Yes, sir!"

The personal guards standing nearby received the order, savage light flashing in their eyes. They strode forward and grabbed the nobles slumped on the floor like chicks, dragging them out into the courtyard.

They had wanted to do it for a long time. If their orders weren’t there to restrain them, there was no way they would ever have allowed those imperial lackeys to walk into the residence on their own two feet.

One after another, they took up the whips and put their full strength into every stroke. The nobles' screams mingled with the cracking of whips throughout the spacious courtyard, while blood splattered across the ground.

Watching the nobles being flogged, the veterans of the Resistance Army vaguely felt that something about this wasn't quite right. But under the weight of Laxi's authority, none of them said anything in the end.

Laxi claimed he wanted equality, but equality imposed by force seemed somewhat different from the equality they had imagined. They couldn't help feeling there might have been a better way.

Something closer to what the New Alliance had done in Port Gallon, using gentler methods to push Mammoth City toward reform.

However, thinking about it now was pointless. The Resistance Army no longer numbered a mere 2,000 or so as it had before. Its ranks were visibly approaching a full division.

Laxi's prestige within the army continued to rise. Nearly every young man regarded him as a spiritual leader and role model. Even if they wanted to replace him, they no longer had the opportunity...

...

Splaaash!

Governor Bamut was jolted awake from unconsciousness by a basin of cold water. When he lifted his dripping head, he discovered that General Daxina and the other officers were nowhere to be seen. In their place stood a bandit-like officer and several youths whose eyes resembled those of wolves.

Their murderous gazes instantly brought cold sweat to his forehead and shocked him fully awake.

His muddled memories slowly flowed back into his mind.

He vaguely remembered that when the flood came, he had clung tightly to a crooked tree. He had kicked unconscious the personal guard who was grabbing his leg, tied his sleeve around a branch, and then remained soaking in the muddy, turbid water until he eventually passed out. Later, a wooden raft had drifted over. Several men wearing white bandages around their arms grabbed him and hauled him aboard. After that, he remembered nothing.

There was no need to ask where he was. From the surroundings, this was obviously the jail in Mammoth City. Clearly, he had been captured.

"Ahem. I'll pay a ransom!" With no time to reflect on how he had lost, Bamut coughed and spoke rapidly. "Under the sacred contract, you are required to guarantee me three meals a day and protect my personal safety from harm. Naturally, I will cooperate with you to the best of my ability..."

The youngsters smiled when they heard him. Their amused expressions made it obvious they didn't take his words seriously at all.

A trace of anger flashed through Bamut's eyes. His clenched fists tightened, yet he didn't dare act. Instead, he glared fiercely at the officer, trying to intimidate him with noble authority.

Unexpectedly, he received a slap across the face. The blow left him stunned, his eyes widening even further. "You! You dare hit me?!"

"Talk!" The officer suddenly roared, cutting him off halfway through his sentence.

Startled by the shout, Bamut's tone instinctively softened. All his aristocratic bearing vanished in an instant, and he shrank back like a frightened rat. "Talk? What do you want me to talk about?"

However, the officer didn't ask him anything. He merely stared at him for a moment, then gave a cold laugh and slowly said, "Still fucking refusing to talk, huh? Beat him!"

Bamut’s eyes widened in shock. "???"

Before he could even understand what was happening, he heard a sharp whistle through the air.

Crack!

A whip struck him directly across the face.

It had probably been soaked in salt water. The pain ripped a scream from his throat, and though he had only just regained consciousness, he nearly blacked out again from the agony. He tried to raise his arms to protect his head, only to discover that both hands had been tied behind the chair. He struggled frantically but couldn't move at all.

Having spent his entire life as a lord, he had only ever used whips on other people. Never once had he been the one being whipped.

The barrage of lashes hurt so badly that tears and snot streamed down his face as he repeatedly begged for mercy, looking utterly pathetic.

Unfortunately for him, the soldiers didn't care what title he held. They simply kept laying into him with whatever they had in their hands.

"I... I'll talk..."

Hearing that faint voice, the officer raised a hand. Only then did the young man holding the whip stop, stepping aside while glaring viciously at Bamut.

Governor Bamut hung his head, barely clinging to life. After panting for quite a while, he finally squeezed out a weak sentence. “Wait a moment! Do you people know who I am?!”

The others exchanged glances, mocking expressions appearing on their faces.

At a time like that, the man was still dreaming.

The officer was amused by the absurd question as well. He walked over, grabbed Bamut by the chin, tilted his head to the ceiling, and shot him a kindly smile.

But to Bamut, there was nothing kind about that smile. It looked more like the grin of an evil spirit, frightening him so badly that he swallowed the words already at his lips and no longer dared make a sound.

“Who are you? Heh. Forget the fact that you’re just a duke. Even if Wutuo Xilande himself came here, I could make him crawl like a dog, unable to live and unable to die.”

At those outrageously treasonous words, Bamut’s eyes widened, the whites shot through with blood vessels. Yet there was little anger in them, only profound fear. At that moment, he finally understood the situation in front of him and realized what kind of predicament he was in.

Those moonfolk had no intention of demanding a ransom. They didn’t care about one at all. They simply wanted to repay the suffering they had endured upon the body of a noble like him.

His only regret now was that he hadn’t been ruthless enough earlier. Because of that, these Moon Clan people had managed to escape all the way to the Tassen River and blow up the embankment. Now not only had he suffered, but so had all the estates along the river.

Mammoth State had already been poor to begin with. Now it was so destitute that it didn’t even have food!

The officer didn’t waste any more words. Seeing that Bamut was awake, he snapped, “I’m going to ask you questions. All you need to say is yes.”

“Yes...” Not daring to resist in the slightest, Bamut replied weakly.

The officer continued, “You were the one who blew up the Tassen River embankment, weren’t you?”

The word was already about to leave Bamut’s mouth when cold sweat suddenly broke out across his body and snapped him back to his senses. “N-no... Sir, how could it possibly have been me?!”

The officer raised a hand and cut him off, merely staring at him coldly. “What did I just tell you?”

That look made Bamut feel as though he had fallen into an icy cavern. For a moment, he forgot to breathe.

“Looks like you still haven’t learned your lesson. I’ll come back and ask you again later.” The officer chuckled, rose from his chair, and waved toward several sharp-eyed young soldiers standing nearby, leaving them with a single crisp instruction. “Don’t kill him.”

A vicious gleam flashed in the soldiers’ eyes as they answered forcefully,

“Yes, sir!”

...

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