Demon King: Hero, don’t run away!

Chapter 665: Chapter 665: Can You Give Me a Sip of Hot Tea?

After breaking through Benliang City, Ajiket made a preliminary estimation of the casualties in his forces—out of over three hundred thousand people, only about a hundred and fifty to sixty thousand managed to escape.

The Central Forces fleeing eastward had a total of sixty to seventy thousand people left, which could still be considered fortunate amidst the unfortunate.

However, the situation for the Central Forces fleeing westward was not optimistic.

The troops he led could still find a way out on the plains by combating the human troops, but the smaller units split into tiny groups likely faced grim prospects.

The aid from the West Fifth Army had been backbreaking, and excluding his own troops, they had only managed to collect a little over ten thousand people.

Finding almost another twenty thousand people in the remaining days was somewhat difficult.

However, just handing over the plains to the enemy was truly unbearable.

During the spring and summer seasons, even if they couldn’t completely resist the human assault and lost the plains, they could still provide Wansheng Country with a buffer, preventing the Luo Ze Empire from further intruding inland from the plains.

Without this buffer, it was hard to predict the challenges they would face next year.

“The settled timing is good.

During this period, I will search for other troops as much as possible, merge with them, and attempt to seize Benliang City again.

Should we fail, we could give up the attempt to seize it and turn instead to building defenses in the Long Boots Region and the cities we have already overtaken, preparing for the human spring and summer offensive.”

Having made up his mind, Ajiket’s gaze landed on the human male tied with ropes.

“Can you report to me what’s the deal with this human male next to you?”

Wanluo glanced at the human male beside him, but before Wanluo could speak, the middle-aged man slowly parted his dry lips, issuing a hoarse voice,

“The highest commander here, I have some information I’d like to discuss with you; could I have a cup of hot tea and sit somewhere warm to talk?”

As the man spoke, Wanluo unhappily yanked the rope, causing him discomfort.

The middle-aged man stumbled a few steps towards the Demon Bear.

The Demon Bear turned around, baring its teeth at the man, as if warning him that it could devour him if he did not comply.

The middle-aged man instinctively averted his gaze, his face plainly showing fear.

“You have no right to negotiate. Also, I have asked you so many times before, and yet you said nothing. Now that you see the Grand General, don’t think you can play any tricks.”

“No. No. No…”

The middle-aged man furrowed his brows and repeated several times before continuing,

“This is genuinely important information—if you don’t believe it, your beastmen might not make it far.”

“You dare!”

Upon hearing the ominous words, Wanluo pursed his lips, his brow furrowed more deeply, becoming unhappier. Right as he was about to pull the rope tighter to teach the human male a lesson, Ajiket stopped him,

“No need to coerce him like this, let’s hear what he has to say.”

After saying this, Ajiket organized manpower to settle the far-arrived East Second Army aid troops and instructed his subordinates to prepare a warm room and tea. He then called a few trusted individuals to interrogate the human male.

Unexpectedly, Yang Yu was also called in.

The hastily erected tent was not large, extremely austere.

Yang Yu scanned the surroundings, and apart from him, there were about a dozen people, the lowest ranked among them being a True Teeth General.

Many officers, as they passed by Yang Yu, would unconsciously sniff the air to reconfirm the scent on him, finding it odd, but eventually said nothing.

With his ropes untied, the middle-aged man slowly walked to the stool prepared for him by the troops. After warming his hands with the hot tea handed to him by a soldier, his expression relaxed slightly.

Ajiket did not immediately ask what the middle-aged male knew; instead, he turned to Wanluo and said,

“Wanluo, how did you capture this man? I want to hear the details of the incident.”

Without needing to hide anything, Wanluo spoke,

“We were ordered to come to this area for a rescue mission and noticed a human troop acting suspiciously, so we quietly followed them.

At first, we heard that they had received orders to go for support. Later, they abruptly decided to change their minds and send people to search for something.

I and my troops attacked them.

Those humans really kept their mouths sealed, not wanting to divulge any useful information.

Fortunately, we beastmen have sharp noses.

We found a line of footprints in the snow, about to be covered, which seemed to have been left by some large beastmen, but we could only smell humans.

I dispatched my team to follow this scent.

After that, we captured this sneaky person.

I questioned him many times, but he refused to reveal his purpose.

So I had no choice but to bring him here.”

“Hmm,” Ajiket mused thoughtfully, looking towards the man who calmly drained his cup of tea, “Sir, is what he said true?”

Slowly setting down the tea cup, the man nodded,

“That’s more or less correct… I am quite old, yet didn’t expect to be treated like that.

You really show no mercy towards humans.”

Looking at the marks on his wrists, the man’s expression was complex.

“You are human, don’t forget we are still at war. Until your motivations are confirmed, you can’t be trusted.”

Wanluo spoke assertively, and other officers present concurred.

“To think it has come to this…” the man sighed deeply, his eyebrows knitting tighter. After a while, like he had suddenly come to resolution, he relaxed his brow, “It’s inevitable… it can’t get any more normal than this…”

After a brief silence, the man looked towards Ajiket, raising his voice slightly,

“Regardless of whether or not you believe what I’m about to say, I will state my purpose… I’m just a human with no authority.

After years of war, humans and subhumans have grown increasingly vile in each other’s eyes.

Especially among the masses who have never encountered one another…

Ah—perhaps, I shouldn’t start from here.

But this is to help you understand my motive…

Never mind, I’ll just say what I am doing…

I’m dismantling the Magic Communication Interference Devices on the plains.

The human troops plan to divide you into small groups, completely cutting off your communication, then defeat you one by one.

They have set up Magic Communication Interference Devices but can communicate with each other through a special device.

The devices must be destroyed for you to have a chance of survival; otherwise, you’ll be sitting ducks.

I know the locations of those devices and am trying my best to disable them.

If possible, I implore you to spare me, and I will work to disable the remaining devices.”