Chapter 21: The Hungry Race (Part 2)

  Of course, there were exceptions. Liu Yu soon saw several small mouse people in a room with big bellies, but their limbs were as thin as Liu Yu's fingers. Facing the cold wind that occasionally blew into the house from outside, the little guys could only huddle together and wrap themselves in a large animal hide to keep warm.

  The winters on the Cordillera highlands are quite cold, and these four-sided thatched houses face the harsh winter as if they didn't exist.

  Liu Yu involuntarily stopped in his tracks as he passed by the thatched hut, and upon closer inspection, he saw that these little mouse people all had their eyes slightly closed, their lips trembling almost imperceptibly, this was one of the few signs of life they showed.

  "Ascites." At this moment, Liu Yu's heart was racing wildly. In his previous life in Africa, every time there was a famine, many children would come down with this disease, which was caused by extreme hunger, lack of clean drinking water and other factors.

  In the past, Liu Yu had never finished watching scenes of African famine on TV. Hell! It was simply hell! At that time, his mental endurance was not strong enough and he couldn't bear to watch it. He didn't expect to see such a situation with his own eyes after rebirth.

  "Sir, are you okay?" The other several mouse people holding grain beside Liu Yu couldn't help but remind him when they saw him stopping at the thatched cottage door and staring blankly inside.

  "Hmm! I'm fine, where is your warehouse? Let's hurry up and move!" Liu Yu unconsciously urged himself to speed up, perhaps he could save a few more mouse people.

  "Ptolemy is a representative of the kingdom who has come especially to relieve the mice here." At this point, Liu Yu understood Ptolemy's purpose in coming.

  ..........

  Although there was not a lot of food, with over a thousand people working together, they quickly moved all the transported grain into the mouse people's warehouse. The mouse people in the village even left some grain outside and started building a fire to cook, it was at this time that Liu Yu saw a hint of joy in the eyes of these frail mouse people.

  Others, like Meng and Liu Yu, also took a stroll around the village of the mouse people. Although they had heard that the mouse people and other subordinate ethnic groups often faced famine, no one had ever seen it with their own eyes before, and today's personal experience brought them too much shock.

  Many of these vassal tribes are in the Fire Fortress, several camps serving as their servants. Although they are treated differently from day to day, some still have feelings for them and no one wants to see them in such a miserable state.

  This made the young Bimon feel uncomfortable in their hearts, and several of the more fragile female Bimon had already begun to sob quietly.

  .........

  "Can we still help them?" Liu Yu asked with a frown, sitting on the floor of a thatched hut at night, without looking at Ptolemy beside him.

  "Haha, isn't the grain we brought enough?" Ptolemy replied with a wry smile. This time they had brought a full one million bushels of grain, which was more than half of the remaining grain in the camp.

  "Is that so? You think I'm a fool! Since this Dalu tribe leader is the leader of the Mouse Tribe, which is one of the larger regions under our Mongol Empire's rule, with nearly a million mice in this region, this little bit of grain is nothing!"

  "Hmm, you're not stupid, smarter than Moluo and Buganing. That's right, the grain I brought this time is still to be distributed to over a thousand villages around us, nearly a million mouse people. It's not just that it's not enough, even if they only eat one meal a day, many of our tribesmen will not make it through this winter." A hint of bitterness appeared on Ptolemy's plump face.

  "That still sends some grain to the imperial capital, doesn't it seem like the Earthfire Fortress is short of food?! And within the clan there should be some stored grain, can't they at least send out more relief grain to help them get through this difficult time? Otherwise too many mouse people will starve to death!"

  Thinking of this, nearly half of the grain they transported was taken into the earth fortress. Liu Yu suddenly asked in extreme anger, at this time he couldn't understand why King Kero and the elder would not care about the lives of the mouse people.

  "The grain transported to the imperial capital is for the southern wolf people's region to spend the winter. The vassal tribes on their territory also face famine, and not only do they seek relief from Your Majesty like the centaurs in the north, but the famine there is even more severe. Your Majesty cannot afford to send half of the stored grain in the imperial capital over there. What's left is all reserved as military rations according to the army's minimum needs, and it can't be reduced any further."

  "Now, apart from us, the entire Beastman Kingdom is starving, this is the current state of the kingdom." Ptolemy stood up and gazed at the bright moon in the night sky with a helpless expression.

  "How could this be." Liu Yu clenched his fists, his voice filled with endless anger, as if he wanted to fight someone to the death. The poverty of the mouse people was one thing, but he had not expected the entire kingdom to be in such a state. Liu Yu felt a lump in his throat and urgently needed to vent.

  "Have you been by His Majesty's side for so long without understanding?"

  "Fano De, it's Fano De again." Liu Yu suddenly jumped up and punched the wall of the thatched hut heavily.

  The thatched hut collapsed with a loud crash. Liu Yu and Tolmai's two figures still stood upright in their original positions after the thatched hut collapsed, this kind of collapse naturally couldn't harm the eighth-stage Dou Huang Tolmai, as for Liu Yu, he had his protection so nothing would happen to him either.

  "What's going on? Lord Duwei, are you alright?" Liu Yu and his thatched cottage were very close to the residence of the Dalu tribe chief. The commotion here quickly alarmed the Dalu tribe chief, who rushed over with a few mouse people. This old mouse person almost fell down because he was in such a hurry.

  "It's all right, young people are just too impulsive." Tolomei hastily stepped forward to support the old man.

  "Thank you, Governor Tollemache. And who is this?" Liu Yuda asked with interest, his tone implying that he thought Liu Yu was either the son of Tollemache or a close relative, otherwise the esteemed Governor Tollemache wouldn't have brought such a young man by his side at all times.

  "Haha, old friend, I don't have such good fortune. This is the Emperor's eldest grandson, Prince Alexander." Tolemy waved his hand and hastily explained.

  "Ah! It's actually Your Highness the Prince! I, your humble subject, have seen you!" The chief of the Daru tribe was clearly startled and immediately prepared to perform a grand kowtow.

  "Elder of the Lao tribe, please don't do this, I really can't bear it." Originally helpless in dealing with the mouse people's predicament, Liu Yu was unwilling to face this elder, and now he naturally couldn't accept such a grand gift.

  "Old friend, get up! You still have things to do." Daltorlemi said, pointing to the village ahead, and as Liu Yue looked in the direction he pointed, he saw a few fires burning continuously, getting closer and closer to the village entrance.

  "Oh, it's people from another village who have arrived. Your Highness, General, please wait a moment, I'll arrange for them to clean up another room for you right away. I'll go distribute the food first, please excuse me." Dall said with a bow.

  "You go, Chief, your people need you, we're fine." Liu Yu said with a slight bow of his head.

  "Thank you for your understanding, Your Excellency." Dall then bowed again and left with several mouse people.

  "Let's go take a look." With a light sigh, Tolomei and Liu Yu also headed towards the village entrance. On the way, many mouse people were already moving grain that had been moved into the warehouse in the afternoon back out to be sent to the village entrance.

  "Hmm!" Tolemey, who was walking, suddenly stopped and looked to his left.

  "What?" Liu Yu followed Ptolemy's gaze and found that a short, mouse-like woman was carrying something towards the back of the village.

  "Go take a look!" Liu Yu took off in a hurry but Tolomeo caught up with him from behind and grabbed his arm.

  "You won't want to see it, let's go!"

  "What can't be seen!" Liu Yu, who was already emotionally unstable, rushed out with a burst of energy, determined to get to the bottom of things.

  ...........

  In the snowy village of mouse people, a mouse woman who came here in the biting cold wind was shivering with cold. She gently placed something on the snow and began to dig with her hands, while talking to that thing as she dug.

  Liu Yu, who had been following all along, saw everything clearly. The thing turned out to be a child, a small mouse-like creature still in its swaddling clothes.

  "Halt!" A loud shout from Liu Yu suddenly stunned the rat people who were about to bury the child.

  "What are you going to do!" The mouse woman picked up the little mouse and backed away repeatedly.

  "If you can't raise this child anymore, give him to me. I am the prince of the kingdom and I will provide him with enough food. I will raise him until he grows up and then let him return." Although emotional, Liu Yu didn't blame the mouse tribe woman. He understood that no one wanted to bury their own child as long as there was a glimmer of hope. On this side, the mouse tribe woman's expression was extremely tense when she saw Liu Yu, but his words changed her attitude.

  "You are the prince! You are the prince! Alright, alright, I'm too hungry and have no milk to feed him, please raise him for me." The woman seemed to see endless hope now that she recognized the other as Huang Jin Bimeng, which was a symbol of power in the Beastman Kingdom. She immediately walked closer and placed the infant into Liu Yu's arms.

  "Hmm! I will." Liu Yu carefully took over the small mouse wrapped in coarse cloth, secretly sighing in relief that he had come along.

  Then he gently stretched out his hand to stroke the not-so-tender skin of the little mouse person, but when his hand reached the baby's nose, his expression suddenly became extremely stiff, and a chill instantly enveloped his entire body.

  Until then, he discovered that the baby in his arms had stopped breathing. Liu Yu seemed to dare not believe it and touched again, but got the same answer. Suddenly, Liu Yu gritted his teeth and felt a surge of anger rising to his head. He knew that as a fourth-level Da Fa Shi, his spiritual perception could not be wrong about such a small thing.

  "Your Highness the Prince, what's wrong?" The woman saw Liu Yu touch the child and then stand still on the spot, sensing something was amiss, she hastily asked.

  "Hmm, don't worry, your child is now my lifelong attendant, I will raise him and he will follow me in the Earth Fire Fortress for the rest of his life, you can be at ease!" Liu Yu forced out a hint of majesty and said with strong restraint.