Chapter 1796
by 林方方Chapter 1796 Birdcage
“Cough cough cough cough cough…”
A weak coughing sound came from Xia Simeng’s throat. Her pale lips curved into a difficult smile. “It’s nothing… I’m the captain of the [Phoenix] team… Phoenix… how could I die so easily?”
“Even with the strongest phoenix bloodline, you can’t withstand their daily torture!” A young girl with reddened eyes carefully examined Xia Simeng’s wounds, growing more alarmed the more she looked.
“Oh, it’s nothing. After I rest for an hour… I’ll be up and about again.”
“These beasts… I’ll fight them to the death!” Another burly girl suddenly stood up and was about to charge at the birdcage door!
Just then, a hand pressed on her shoulder.
“Lingling, calm down.” Vice-captain Cao Sha’s eyes were bloodshot, but he still spoke calmly, “This door cannot be opened by anyone below the Divine Realm… If you make too much noise now, not only will you die, but those ordinary people will suffer because of you.”
Lingling clenched her fists, her chest heaving violently, but eventually she leaned against the birdcage and sat on the ground, looking dejected.
“Cao Sha is right. At first, you blended in with the ordinary people and weren’t discovered by them. Now in their eyes, I’m the only Night Watcher… If you all are exposed too, their torture will target our entire team.
The phoenix bloodline in your bodies is thinner than mine; you won’t survive their torture… No matter what you see or hear, you absolutely cannot expose yourselves.”
Xia Simeng’s tone was unprecedentedly serious.
The members of the [Phoenix] team remained silent.
After a long while, Xia Simeng’s injuries recovered somewhat. The phoenix bloodline gave her terrifying blood production and regeneration abilities. Although not as abnormal as An Qingyu’s blood rebirth, she could still repair non-fatal injuries.
She forced herself to sit up from the pool of blood and looked at Cao Sha beside her:
“How are the others doing?”
Cao Sha opened his mouth, then said, “Over six hundred people died today… more than yesterday and the day before combined. Most of the dead were elderly. Some died from panic and external stimuli causing their underlying conditions to worsen, some starved to death.
Although this birdcage is near a stream, barely allowing them to drink water, they can’t survive three days without food… If this continues, more and more people will starve to death.”
Xia Simeng frowned deeply and spoke angrily: “These Greek gods lock them up here, couldn’t they at least give them something to eat?”
“Their purpose is only to use us as leverage and cannon fodder in the final battle… They don’t care about the lives of cannon fodder. They only need some of us to be alive when the final battle comes.
At this rate, young adults might be able to hold on for two more days, but the elderly and children definitely won’t make it.”
Xia Simeng’s gaze swept across the birdcage, looking at those pitiful figures curled up in hunger, her lips pressed together.
The yellowish daylight gradually dimmed, and darkness enveloped the birdcage.
Under the faint starlight, moans occasionally came from the crowd, but most people huddled in various corners of the birdcage, fighting the mountain cold with what little body heat they had left, making no sound, like numb corpses.
In a corner of the birdcage, a young girl was holding the cold corpse of an infant in her arms. Her body trembled constantly as she made suppressed sobbing sounds.
She dared not cry too loudly, partly worried about disturbing others, and partly afraid that loud crying would attract those vicious guards. In the past few days, she had witnessed many people who shouted loudly being torn to pieces alive by them.
As she cried, her vision began to darken, and she instinctively fell backward while holding her brother’s corpse.
At that moment, a hand steadily supported her body.
The girl came to her senses and was about to see clearly what was happening when another hand covered her eyes.
“Who is it?” the girl asked somewhat nervously, but she was too weak to break free.
“Don’t be afraid, open your mouth.”
A gentle male voice came from beside her.
The girl was stunned and was about to say something when she felt something dripping onto her lips. She instinctively licked it, and a salty taste with an iron rust flavor slid down her throat.
After several drops, the girl suddenly felt she wasn’t hungry anymore. Her cold body gradually regained warmth, and her exhausted body regained a bit of strength.
A moment later, the hand covering her eyes released, and a man made a “shh” gesture to her. Because it was too dark, she couldn’t see his face clearly.
The girl looked at all this in confusion. Then, the man took advantage of the night, slowly walked through the sleeping crowd, and came to a seven or eight-year-old boy. He similarly covered the boy’s eyes and whispered something.
Vaguely, the girl saw him raise his blood-colored palm to the boy’s lips, and drops of fresh blood flowed from the hideous wound on his palm into the boy’s mouth.
The man’s figure moved continuously through the crowd, feeding his fresh blood to younger children. Every few minutes, as the wound on his palm was about to heal, he would take out a small knife and cut the wound again, ensuring blood continued to flow.
An hour later, his face was extremely pale… After feeding the two hundredth child, he walked with staggering steps back to the edge of the birdcage door, carefully sat down holding the railing, afraid of disturbing those nearby.
“Cao Sha.”
A voice suddenly sounded beside the man.
Cao Sha, who had just sat down, pupils slightly contracted, turned his head sharply to look. He saw Xia Simeng leaning against the birdcage, looking at him weakly, her expression extremely complex.
“Captain…” Cao Sha opened his mouth but couldn’t say a word.
Xia Simeng stared at him and slowly said, “When… did you start feeding them?”
“…Today is the first day.” Cao Sha looked toward the dark birdcage and spoke bitterly, “Captain, if this continues, these children won’t last until the end… The phoenix bloodline contains endless energy. Just a few drops can help them relieve hunger for a day… so I thought…”
“Fool!” Xia Simeng grabbed his neck with one hand, anger appearing on her pale face. “Just because you have some phoenix bloodline, you think you’re a real phoenix?! Don’t forget, this bloodline was artificially introduced into your bodies! Do you think you produce phoenix blood quickly? Do you think bloodletting has no consequences?!
The phoenix blood you’re letting out now is your own life!!”
Xia Simeng had already lowered her voice to the extreme. Under her bloodshot eyes’ angry gaze, Cao Sha just lowered his head and remained silent.