Demon King: Hero, don’t run away!

Yang Yu hadn’t expected that before he finished speaking, he’d be hitting a closed door.

”May I ask why His Majesty the King refused us so outright?”

The Slime King replied, ”Since long ago, our Slime Kingdom has kept out of affairs on the surface; we don’t wish to get involved in their conflicts.”

”You guys don’t have some kind of vow, do you?” Yang Yu asked tentatively.

”There’s no vow, it’s just a simple desire not to get involved in those disputes,” the Slime King replied firmly. ”This is the cornerstone of our Slime Kingdom’s continuation.

When we Slime are born, we are quite weak, and it takes a long time to slowly accumulate to a certain height to contend with other demons.

We Slimes move very slowly, our attack abilities aren’t strong, and we can only defend passively.

The young are extremely fragile, the mothers move slowly and can only defensively retreat, which means our young are constantly taken by other fast-moving demons, eventually leading to extinction.

The Ancient Slime either select places where other creatures find it hard to live as their stronghold, evolving into various unique forms of Slime to occupy different ecological niches; or they reproduce massively, consuming everything edible while simultaneously filling the bellies of other demons, thus avoiding extinction.

We, this branch of Slimes, are undoubtedly the luckiest.

Originally, our ancestors survived through a strategy of infinite reproduction.

However, the wars above were just too many, with many seeking to enhance their strength targeting our ancestors capable of mass reproduction.

No matter how high their reproductive efficiency was, even if it was asexual reproduction, they couldn’t withstand the swarming crowds.

A group of Slimes accidentally fell into the cave where we currently reside.

In this cave, they found unprecedented safety and used it as a stronghold, only venturing out for food.

Even so, the risk of being killed while foraging is extremely high.

If they could stockpile some food during peaceful times, they could avoid frequent outings for food, as our ancestors did.

By a stroke of luck, a Slime awakened intelligence, and it saw the seeds brought into the cave taking root and sprouting under the illumination of the Fluorite, growing into a green plant, inspiring the idea of cultivating food inside the cave.

That marked the beginning of our history.

In such a barren cave, the strategy of infinite reproduction would have led to self-destruction, so our reproductive efficiency began to decline, and we evolved sexual reproduction to resist disease.

We gradually adapted to cave life.

Like humans, we entered an agricultural civilization, transitioned from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age, and then to the Iron Age, reaching the present day step by step.

We must protect our hard-won civilization; since we can be self-sufficient, there’s no need to take risks outside.

There’s no need to repeat the mistakes of outside civilizations.

When all life outside perishes, we Slimes will certainly continue to survive; even if this star explodes, we Slimes can rely on future-developed technology to build spaceships, fly off this planet, and take root and sprout on other planets, spreading the flame of civilization.”

After listening to the King’s words, Yang Yu couldn’t help but imagine slimes maneuvering spaceships to break free from this world.

Slimes, without the constraint of human body size or skeleton, can move through various mechanical gaps. If they mastered spaceships, repairs would certainly be easy, and they wouldn’t worry about oxygen shortage; as long as they supplied food, they could adapt to various ecosystems.

Hmm...

Slimes might indeed be a race more suited for space than humans.

Hmm?

Halfway through imagining, Yang Yu suddenly felt something amiss; how had he heard the term spaceship from the mouth of a Slime? Did Slimes actually understand such advanced knowledge?

No, the Slime King had also mentioned they entered an agricultural civilization, experienced eras like the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age...

Yang Yu found it more and more peculiar; most people in this world presumed the world was created by a goddess, no one even mentioning the Stone Age or agricultural civilization, as if the world had always been as it is. The Slime King’s mention of these terms indicated that, in their understanding, humanity did not emerge in one move.

Also, Yang Yu remembered the Slime Academy City he visited not long ago; though a mere glimpse and not understanding the Slime language, he could discern from their size and attire that it seemed they’ve divided education into levels, possibly like primary, middle, and university?

If he returned to the Academy City and had He Meng translate the Slime’s knowledge, what discoveries might he uncover?

”Your Majesty, it seems you’re quite knowledgeable about humans. However, according to you, you all should have limited contact with humans; why is your understanding of human knowledge so clear?”

Confronted by Yang Yu’s inquiry, the Slime King didn’t hold back,

”Since gaining wisdom, we Slimes occasionally dream of strange scenes, which are your human history.

Our scholars still don’t understand what this means, but they believe it should be some kind of enlightenment.

A Slime once said that human destiny would intertwine with ours.

Thus, scholars researching human history and learning human language emerged.

Meeting you in this manner is believed to be the result of such enlightenment.”

The Slime King’s words answered several of Yang Yu’s questions, yet brought forth new issues.

Yang Yu immediately considered if there were issues with the sparkling Fluorites along the way.

Combined with what he touched in the Luo Ze Empire, a bold hypothesis formed in Yang Yu’s mind.

The reason Slimes could establish such a kingdom was entirely thanks to the knowledge left by ancient humans through Fluorite.

This made sense of everything.

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Yang Yu slowly addressed the Slime King:

”Hearing His Majesty speak, I suddenly find myself interested in the human knowledge you’ve researched. Could I observe the human knowledge you’ve gathered? Perhaps I could correct any errors.”

With his hand on his chin, the Slime King deliberated for a moment before speaking:

”You’re merely curious about exactly how much human knowledge we possess, aren’t you?

I can offer you this as compensation, but afterward, you must immediately leave the Slime Kingdom and assure that you won’t casually disclose our affairs.

If you break that promise, even though you’re my daughter’s life-saving benefactor, I can’t ensure what might happen.”

Faced with the Slime King’s assertive stance, Yang Yu didn’t back down, nor did he agree to the trade terms.

Having gone through such trouble to arrive here, failing to enlist these reinforcements would have significant repercussions on subsequent operations, something Yang Yu was unwilling to accept.

With his thirst for the truth seemingly just a step away, Yang Yu couldn’t pass up this rare opportunity.