Chapter 6: The Bathing Experience of the Mao Mao

Although Jier said he would hand them over, he was only saying it; in reality, Jier already had a plan.

But he did not tell his plan to anyone else.

"Will I die? Sir Knight, even if I die, I don't want to stay in this dog cage anymore. I beg you, take me away. Being exposed to this scorching sun every day, I really will die! And I'll die after being tortured for a long time," Lenglian Bert pleaded bitterly.

"Heh, so even someone like you is afraid of death?" Jier mocked, but he summoned a passing Villager and told them he wanted to take this captive Soldier away, asking the Villager to relay the message to the Old Priest since he could not leave for the moment.

"Knight Jier, I'll go right away. Actually, many people in the village want to move this Soldier to a different place. It's best if you take him away. For the first two days, this guy kept cursing at passersby, but afterwards, he kept apologizing and begging everyone for mercy. Since everyone has to pass by the open space in front of the Church every day to pray, everyone, including myself, couldn't stand being annoyed by him like this," the Villager scratched his head, looking at the dog cage suspended in mid-air nearby with a look of disgust.

"Although everyone felt it was satisfying at first, the desire for revenge faded later on. He has been exposed to the sun for so long these days; if it weren't for people applying Ointment to him every day when they feed him, his condition would probably be even worse, right?"

After saying this, the person walked toward the Church.

"You heard that? I'll take you with me tomorrow, and you can keep your fellow Soldiers company. But remember your own choice: staying in the village, you definitely won't die, but if you come with me, the future is really hard to say."

Jier deliberately made things sound terrifying, but he still underestimated the horror of being scorched by the sun every day; this surrendering Deputy Captain would rather choose to be beaten to death than continue to accept this long and painful torture.

The skin on his body was dried out by the sun, then cracked, oozing pus and tissue fluid from beneath the skin. By nightfall, the Villagers would apply Ointment to him, and by the next day, the Ointment would be baked dry, hanging on his body as stiff as a suit of armor.

His skin was no longer in direct contact with the sunlight, but the wounds were itchy and painful in the hot and stuffy environment. When he reached out to scratch, he would break the dry Ointment on the surface, causing the newly healed skin to be scorched by the sun again, and then the process would repeat.

The repeated torture left him mentally exhausted; his initial cursing at the people around him turned into apologies and fawning. Compared to the physical torture, his personal dignity and persistence were all discarded.

"Thank you, Sir Knight, thank you for your kindness!" Inside the dog cage, the Soldier kept expressing his gratitude.

This made the other surrendering Soldiers in the carriage curl their lips, with expressions of contempt.

They whispered: "Lenglian Bert is ruined. He used to be quite a proud guy, but now he's turned into this."

"Don't talk about him, I don't think we're much better. If our past selves really saw what we look like now, we would definitely be despised, right?" a Soldier said.

"Hmph, these are just means to survive, what's there to despise? Does a person really have to lose their life for things not worth dying for? I surrendered because I want to go home, even if I die in my hometown. I don't want to die in some remote place where no one knows me, with my bones dug up and carried away by wild beasts. Even if I'm cursed by my fellow countrymen, it's better than dying outside," another Soldier stated his attitude.

Although the words were unpleasant, they made some of the surrendering Soldiers nod along.

They had been away from home for too long; even if they were to die, they wanted to die at home. Of course, it would be even better to return home alive.

The Villager who went to ask at the Church returned quickly. He said that since it was Jier's intention, the surrendering Soldier could be taken away, but before leaving, the Soldier's left and right little fingers needed to be cut off. Without the little fingers, a person's grip strength would drop significantly; daily life and production would be fine, but they wouldn't be able to hold a sword well, so that even if this person wanted to come back for revenge in the future—if he didn't die—

he wouldn't be able to take revenge himself.

As for other methods, Lanse-Qingting Cunzi and the Old Priest himself were not afraid.

"I won't take revenge. I'm sorry to the village, I'm sorry to the villagers! I have deeply realized how abominable and inappropriate my previous behavior was. If possible in the future, I want to repay the village for reforming me and causing such a profound change in my cognition."

Lenglian Bert in the cage continued to speak.

And Jier just listened to the other party's words simply, without truly believing them.

When a person is trapped in a predicament, or bears great pressure and responsibility, anything they say cannot be trusted. Because they will say things that even they themselves think others will believe.

But when they escape and get out of trouble, will they still remember these words? They might not even think they were forced, considering themselves already reformed.

In his previous life, Jier had seen and heard many similar things on the internet, and deeply realized the complexity of humans and the terrifying nature of human nature.

"Say less, you're giving the listeners goosebumps. There's nothing for you to do here anymore. I can take the person down myself, no need for others to help. Later, you find someone to take the dog cage away."

After speaking, Jier jumped casually to the top of the wooden pillar, then pulled with his hand, snapping the Rope that secured the dog cage.

He pulled the Rope holding the cage and the person with one hand, while holding the wooden pillar with the other, coordinating his feet to move down step by step. This posture was very awkward, but no matter how awkward or difficult to exert force, with Jier's pure physical fitness, it was nothing.

In a few simple moves, Jier climbed down from the wooden pillar, then opened the dog cage that was emitting a strange smell, letting Lenglian Bert come out himself.

Unexpectedly, because this guy had been curled up in the narrow cage for too long, he could only barely crawl at this moment and couldn't even stand up.

"Truly unsightly," Jier sighed: "In order to survive, humans can really turn themselves into all sorts of shapes."

Lenglian Bert had a fawning smile on his face, like a pug, kowtowing to Jier repeatedly. Jier couldn't stand seeing him like this, so he told Lenglian Bert to go to the carriage of the surrendering Soldiers himself.

"Aren't you going to tie him up with a Rope, Sir Knight?" the Villager nearby asked curiously.

Jier waved his hand: "Does he dare to run away?"

"I guess probably not," the Villager hesitated and said.

"Isn't that it?" Jier spread his hands, signaling the other party to leave on their own. He pointed to the carriage packed with surrendering Soldiers and said to them: "Watch him well. If any of you are missing, I will randomly execute two of the others. So if you don't want to be killed by me for no reason, watch the others around you."

After speaking, he walked to the last carriage of the convoy. At this time, the Mao Mao, who had rested for the whole day, also crawled out of various boxes, stretching their bodies.

Although the Mao Mao were relatively clean and often licked each other to clean their companions, they hadn't felt it before, but now that Jier and the others had taken a comfortable bath, coming close to the Mao Mao, they could clearly smell a beastly odor on them.

This smell was quite obvious.

Jier called the Mao Mao down and told them about the bath: "It's very comfortable. After washing, your body feels light and refreshed, and your body will become healthy. And since you helped in the process of rescuing the villagers, Lanse-Qingting Cunzi's gratitude should include you."

"Bath, gratitude, free?" Yongqi Maomao asked tentatively, hugging its hands. It didn't think that it and its subordinates really had a smell on them, but since Jier and the others had it, then they Mao Mao had to have it too.

"Oh, it's free. You really can survive in human society now, maybe even better than the average person. After all, many people don't have a proper judgment and sensitivity to money," Jier remarked.

"Free, Mao Mao, participate. Jier, lead the way."

Yongqi Maomao planned to let two Mao Mao stay behind to guard, while the others went to wash. Actually, the Long-haired Lynx Beastmen were considered relatively clean among the exotic races in the mountains and forests. Their tribes were all built in Shandong with water sources and shelter. Every ten sunrises and sunsets, Damao would take the little Mao Mao to the water source to clean their bodies.

Although these Mao Mao Warriors who were out did not have those conditions, they still tried their best to keep their bodies clean.

Because the reason was simple: as long as they kept their bodies clean, being away from the tribe made them less likely to get sick, naturally avoiding the predicament of having no tribal Witch Doctor to treat them after falling ill.

"Wait, wait a moment. I haven't asked the villagers yet if you exotic races can also go into the water to clean your bodies. It's better to ask about this in advance," Jier waved his hand, letting the Mao Mao wait, while he himself ran to the Church nearby.

At the convoy, some of the Warriors who helped the villagers prepare for the celebration activities had returned, so there were people watching the surrendering Soldiers on the carriages, and Jier didn't need to keep an eye on them all the time.

Soon Jier returned. The Old Priest had just held a Blessing Ritual, but his spirit was still good and he didn't look too tired. After hearing Jier's explanation, he pondered for a while and chose a compromise method.

The Mao Mao Warriors were, after all, an exotic race, and the Agricultural God Church was, after all, a god's church of human civilization. It wasn't that there hadn't been cases of exotic races being absorbed into the human god's Faith system before, but the Old Priest had spent his whole life opening up territory for human society and had many conflicts with various exotic races, especially the Dwarf.

So he was not very willing to let an exotic race like the Long-haired Lynx Beastmen directly accept the Blessing Ritual of the Agricultural God Church, and the villagers would not be very willing to let their precious water source be touched by an exotic race.

But considering the size of the Mao Mao—even the tall ones were only about one meter, and their weight was light, no more than twenty kilograms. So the Wooden Basin used by the Warriors before could be considered a suitable bathtub for the Mao Mao.

Just give them ten basins of water and let them clean themselves in private.

When Jier explained the situation to the Mao Mao, they all agreed.

After all, they were not willing to take a bath under the gaze of humans, as it lacked a sense of security.

Hiding on the side to clean their bodies safely was a way they could accept. As for some other racial and Faith factors on the human side, the Mao Mao didn't care.

The Old Priest soon arranged for someone to bring ten basins of water, sending these basins, which were glowing with a faint blue light, to the Mao Mao.

The Mao Maos were also seeing this "Human strange water," which was different from ordinary water, for the first time, and some were afraid to touch it.

Jier laughed when he saw this, soaked his hand in a water basin, and even splashed some water onto Yongqi Maomao: "How is it? It's just ordinary water, but after the Old Priest's Blessing Ritual, it has a slight effect of relieving physical fatigue and healing the body. Try it, it's very effective."

After all, the name Yongqi Maomao gave itself contained the word for courage; while this didn't prove much, it at least meant it was braver than the average Mao Mao.

It heard some of the Human Warriors who had personally gotten into the water praising the comfort of the bath, and seeing Jier try the water himself, it was the first to approach the basin, cautiously and carefully dipping the tip of its tail into the basin.

"Mmm..." It shivered all over, and then the expression on its face relaxed.

If Jier could understand the expression on a cat's face.

"Meow—" Yongqi Maomao said something, and after hearing it, the other Mao Maos looked at each other and also stepped forward to try dipping their tails into the water basins.

Everyone was surprised for a moment, and then, becoming increasingly curious, they stepped into the water basins one by one.

First their entire tails, then their two legs, then half their bodies, and finally, the entire Mao Mao soaked into the wooden water basin, which was large enough to serve as a bathtub for them.

"Meow meow."

"Meow..."

They each made meow-sounds that Jier couldn't understand; seeing them all looking so comfortable, Jier shrugged and walked away.

"Soak slowly. Remember, after you finish washing, there are Dry Linen Towels I left nearby. Dry yourselves off and come over to join tonight's celebration!"

As soon as Jier walked away, the Mao Maos finally let go completely and began to play excitedly in their respective water basins.

Many had hidden injuries from battles in previous years, and now, by soaking in this unexpectedly comfortable clear water, they could clearly feel those hidden injuries itching, as if they were healing rapidly.

Some younger Mao Maos even gulped down quite a bit of this clear water, letting out satisfied sighs.

This kind of weather was also hot for the Mao Maos; it was fine before in the Forest, as they had always carefully hidden and moved in the shadows of the trees, so they weren't very hot.

But ever since leaving the mountain forest, in Changmai Cunzi and on the road here, they had all been panting incessantly in their respective Wooden Boxes from the heat.

It was just that they couldn't let the Human Jier, who counted as their employer, see them looking so lazy, as that would lower their standing in the employer's heart.

At this moment, soaking in the cool and refreshing water basins, the Mao Maos had completely shaken off the summer heat, comfortably cleaning themselves while discussing the magical effects of this clear water with each other.

Yongqi Maomao felt that some Human things were truly magical; their tribe didn't have such things. When it went back, it could tell the Witch Doctors and Wizards of its tribe to see if they could also tinker with a similar bathing and cleaning method.

For example, diluting some medicinal soups brewed by the Witch Doctors and adding them to large water basins, so that everyone wouldn't have to drink those strange-tasting medicinal soups, but could instead enjoy the effects of the medicinal soup simply by bathing and soaking?

Or perhaps have the tribe's Wizards, like the Human Priest of the gods, find a way to have some Great Spirits in the mountain forest use some magical power in the water basins, so that everyone could comfortably gain some effects while bathing.

Like breaking a Curse, or getting rid of strange gazes and marks?

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