Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1713: Chapter 63: African Players, Ordinary Players, and Pay-to-Win Players

This General Batulu of the Kingdom of the Giant Rock really has tried very hard.

Look at him, five of his six arms have been crippled, the one remaining arm doesn’t even have a weapon, and even his lower parts have been badly smashed. In this kind of barely-mobile state, he still struggles to resist, shouting as he hurls himself toward Longgang in grief and fury.

He really has already tried his best.

Then Lady Kaia, without another word, directly breaks his other leg as well.

“I like warriors who aren’t afraid of death.” Lady Kaia walks up to General Batulu, now like a heap of rotten mud, and presses the barrel of the seized gun-cannon straight against his forehead. “They’re easier to kill.”

Only, the courage of this empire’s general seems to have run dry. He suddenly shudders hard. “No… don’t kill me! I—I’m willing to be your slave…”

Everyone looks at each other… Longgang clearly hadn’t expected this Ape General to submit so easily, and can’t help asking in surprise, “You really plan to submit?”

General Batulu still has fear on his face. He nods, and speaks in a low voice, “Shepherd… you are a Shepherd!”

This Ape General seems to have an almost instinctive fear of the Shepherd’s status—most likely, what he submits to isn’t the group’s strength of arms, but that so‑called identity of Shepherd.

Master Karen frowns, just about to say something, but Longgang suddenly says, “Batulu, since you’re willing to swear fealty, then from now on you’ll obey the orders of everyone here, understood?”

“I understand.” General Batulu, though weak, still struggles to climb up, then kneels down before everyone. “Respected Shepherd, Batulu here submits to you.”

“All right, we need some food now.” Longgang says calmly. “Also, I need you to explain the Kingdom of the Giant Rock to me… and the Forest Kingdom. No matter how much you know, you have to tell me all of it.”

General Batulu nods, then suddenly lets out a sharp, piercing howl… A short while later, more than a dozen Six-Armed Ape Monkeys, weapons in hand, come running at speed.

Several Undersea City Warriors frown slightly, about to prepare to counterattack, but Longgang waves a hand, indicating there’s no need to tense up.

These Ape Warriors, when they arrive, don’t attack. They just lift General Batulu up.

“Please follow me, my master.”

“Should be fine.” Longgang says mildly.

They can only follow for the moment… Soon, under General Batulu’s lead, they arrive at a place that looks like some kind of dining hall.

The Undersea City Warriors in particular feel a kind of closeness to this place—it looks very much like the mess hall of the barracks they were stationed in.

But Batulu declares that this is simply where he usually eats—shortly, one Six-Armed Ape after another walks in holding trays piled high with food, almost filling up exactly six tables!

“Eat.” Longgang looks at the group.

They’d actually been starving for quite some time. Getting his approval, they instantly dig in… Longgang, meanwhile, is invited by Batulu to sit down in a particularly large chair.

This Ape General ignores his own injuries and waits on him somewhat humbly… Only, the wounds on his knees have already stopped bleeding, and granulation tissue is sprouting at the wound—his ability to recover is astonishing.

“How was the Kingdom of the Giant Rock born?” Longgang suddenly asks.

Lady Kaia and Master Karen both instinctively put down their hands, quietly turning their attention to the conversation here.

“After the Shepherd left.” General Batulu’s face is cautious. “Our ancestors, and the ancestors of that bunch of monkeys in the Forest Kingdom, escaped out of the cages. According to what my great‑great‑great grandfather said, back then the ancestors kept running far, far away before they reached this place. After a very long time, the ancestors still didn’t see The Shepherd Lord again, then they started to expand the range of their activities. Later, the ancestors began to multiply, and finally founded the Kingdom of the Giant Rock. The Forest Kingdom was more or less the same.”

“Where did you escape from?” Longgang thinks for a moment and asks.

General Batulu answers quickly, “In the direction where the Sun rises, there is a kind of Tower that leads to the sky. That’s where the first ancestors escaped from.”

Longgang instinctively glances at Lady Kaia and Master Karen.

Master Karen thinks for a moment and says, “On the way we were captured and brought here, we did see a metal Tower, but it was quite far away.”

“You’ve never gone back to that Tower?” Longgang continues.

Batulu shakes his head. “The ancestors forbade us to approach that place… that’s where The Shepherd Lord once lived. Even though The Shepherd Lord is gone, that place still has The Shepherd Lord’s servant girls. The ancestors said they possess great Power. If we anger them, it will bring unprecedented disaster down on the Kingdom of the Giant Rock.”

“How did you know he’s a Shepherd?” Just then, Lady Kaia suddenly asks, “In theory, when the Shepherd disappeared, you hadn’t even been born. Since you’ve never seen one, how could you know?”

General Batulu shivers as he answers, “I can’t beat him. Only a Shepherd can defeat me.”

In an instant, several Undersea City Warriors all let out cold laughs… Which of them isn’t a powerful warrior?

But General Batulu just shakes his head. “Even if you can defeat me, you’re not Shepherds. I can tell the difference! The ancestors’ Souls whisper in my ear and guide me.”

This heartfelt answer leaves these keenly interested Undersea City Warriors with nothing to refute. They can only helplessly go back to eating.

“From here to the Tower, how long does it take?” Master Karen thinks for a moment and asks—he has a constant feeling that inside that Tower, they can find the whole truth.

“Very far.” General Batulu shakes his head. “We can’t make it on foot. There are lots of beasts along the way. I’ve seen a monster as huge as a mountain. It only needs to stamp once to crush dozens of us to death. Unless…”

“Unless what?” This time it’s Longgang. His eyes glare, instantly making General Batulu shudder all over again.

He has no choice but to say hesitantly, “Unless we use the steel monster the ancestors rode when they escaped back then. It can move underground. There is a very safe route that leads to the base of the Tower.”

“Then that’s easily handled.” Master Karen can’t help but smile.

General Batulu, however, says, “It’s not easy. The King is guarding the steel monster! The King absolutely won’t allow us to go near the steel monster!”

“Not even a Shepherd?” Master Karen looks over at Longgang as he says this.

“This…” General Batulu immediately falls into a kind of inner conflict. He wants to nod but can’t, wants to shake his head but can’t, and can only freeze there.

“From here to your King’s place, how long?” Longgang finally asks.

General Batulu can only answer helplessly, “Very soon. Half a day’s travel will do.”

“Then we’ll set out in a while.” Longgang nods. “You’re taking us to meet the King of the Kingdom of the Giant Rock. It’s decided.”

General Batulu can only nod, unwilling though he is… Afterwards, he becomes increasingly silent, not knowing what he’s thinking.

…

After the meal, Longgang’s group sets off at once.

What surprises them is that this time they’re not going on foot. General Batulu actually hauls a vehicle out of the warehouse that looks like a Flywheel‑type transport.

These apes clearly don’t have the Knowledge and technology to create such a tool—but over the long years, through trial and error, they’ve still figured out some methods to Control its use.

“This is my mount!” General Batulu climbs skillfully into this thing shaped like a Germanic Chariot, saying quite proudly, “I once drove it to defeat a huge Beast beyond the mountain!”

But Elder Brother Luo’s group simply ignored General Batulu’s bragging about this matter.

The few Underwater City Warriors kept touching this and that… they even discovered that inside this Germanic Chariot, there were actually some parts that felt familiar to them.

“What’s going on, this thing seems to have some similarities to our Undersea City’s Flywheel… I keep feeling that if you give me a little time, I could get this thing running. But what’s the energy source for this thing… and the text on this control interface is really weird, it feels kind of like our writing, yet I can’t recognize a single word?”

As he spoke, he curiously pressed a button inside the cockpit.

In an instant, General Batulu’s expression changed, he was about to speak up to stop him, but it was already too late… the Germanic Chariot suddenly shuddered, then the middle door of the vehicle opened, and a beam of light shot out in a flash.

Wherever the beam swept past, trees and ground vaporized on the spot… leaving only a charred black scar behind!

Everyone secretly clicked their tongues; the power of this giant cannon was already comparable to the heavy Magical Energy artillery of the Undersea City regular army!

“Please don’t randomly touch my mount!” General Batulu suddenly roared in anger.

Although Longgang had already ordered him to treat everyone with equal respect, this General Batulu obviously only truly submitted when facing Longgang—this so‑called whispering of the ancestors, no one else could hear it, and no one knew if it was real or fake.

“Are there many Germanic Chariots like this here?” Master Karen suddenly asked.

Lady Kaia narrowed her eyes at Master Karen at once… she could pretty much tell he wasn’t giving up.

The Destiny Organization didn’t have many people, and had even fewer pieces of equipment—but if they could get the weapons here?

“How could that be!” General Batulu shook his head. “This was bestowed on me by the King, in the entire empire, only I possess one!”

Master Karen shook his head in some disappointment, then stopped talking.

Soon, everyone boarded the Germanic Chariot and headed toward the territory where the King of the Kingdom of the Giant Rock resided.

…

…

“Warning, warning, please leave this train immediately, warning… warning!”

Girl Liuge stared blankly at the male figure projected in front of her… she didn’t even bother remembering the name of this projection.

“I said, get this train moving right now!”

“Warning, warning… please leave this train immediately, otherwise, in accordance with protective regulations, I will initiate expulsion mode,” the projection repeated.

Hmph!

The girl’s patience had clearly been worn down to nothing; she let out a cold snort, walked straight through the projection, and then violently tore open the cockpit door.

This kind of violent behavior obviously exceeded what the train would tolerate—in an instant, bulkheads dropped down one after another inside the carriage, and at the same time, gun barrels flipped out from the ceiling panels.

The girl ignored all that; while the train’s smart projection was still nagging away, she drove her hand straight into the control board and yanked out several bundles of cables at once.

The male projection twisted for a moment, and then never appeared again… naturally, the cannons in the carriage, which hadn’t fully activated yet, also shut down.

The girl frowned, sat down in the cockpit, and muttered, “Louis said this thing can be operated manually… how was it again? If I’d known, I wouldn’t have spaced out back when he was telling that story.”

The girl started randomly pulling out the cockpit wiring, then haphazardly reconnecting it—eventually, it seemed like something went wrong with a crucial line.

An extreme sense of danger suddenly surged up in her chest; without a word, the girl smashed open the train’s deck and leapt out at high speed, and at the same time, the train exploded!

The massive shockwave even blew her body clear away… Liuge scrambled up from the ground, her brain buzzing, her expression ugly.

She gritted her teeth and dashed straight into the train tunnel without looking back; with a kick of both legs, her body shot forward like a bullet—turns out her own legs were still the most reliable!

But just then, inside the tunnel, there suddenly appeared swarms and swarms of mechanical beetles the size of human heads—these beetles opened their mouths and fired beams of light, packing quite a punch.

The girl stared black‑faced at the mechanical beetles furiously attacking her, grinding her teeth. “Does this crap ever end…”

Looked like even if she went with the most reliable option of traveling on foot, the journey wasn’t going to be peaceful.

…

…

The seat’s deck suddenly opened, and portions of food started being delivered one after another—it didn’t look like any delicacy, just some kind of liquid.

According to Cang Xing, this was freshly created nutritional paste, and you could even choose the flavor… besides this, it was possible to brew a few drinks. As for other food, due to spoilage, it couldn’t be eaten for the time being.

Lei Yaz obviously wasn’t going to insist on those.

Being able to half‑lie in a comfy chair while traveling, with food provided, in a place this unfamiliar—there really wasn’t much more he could ask for, right?

“May I offer you massage services?” Cang Xing asked with a smile… perfectly in line with its identity as a service attendant.

At the same time, a massage menu unfolded right in front of Lei Yaz.

He glanced at it subconsciously.

Shoulder massage, leg massage, waist massage… prostate massage.

Lei Yaz couldn’t help blinking… prostate massage, how were they supposed to massage there?

Lei Yaz subconsciously turned his head to look at Elder Brother Luo in the seat behind him… Elder Brother Luo was currently amusing himself fiddling with a screen on his seat.

As for Big Sis… somehow Big Sis had produced something like a screwdriver from somewhere and started dismantling the screen on the armrest.

“Oh? The services on this train are pretty thorough… I wonder what kind of structure it uses, this is really interesting.”

H‑how… how terrifying.

Lei Yaz shivered, hurriedly sat up straight… and just then, a faint fragrance wafted over, making him freeze; it was Helen leaning onto his shoulder.

Too exhausted, she’d fallen asleep.

Lei Yaz didn’t dare move at all now… as for a massage, he’d better pass.

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PS: As usual.