Published: February 13, 2025
CHAPTER TEXT:
Even after ten days, the battlefield still held a strong stench of blood, though it had changed and begun to rot over time.
"Have the bodies been cleaned up?" Miya asked her subordinate beside her.
Due to the significant losses sustained by the main battle teams during this fight, as well as the others, the task of collecting the corpses was ultimately left to the logistics department.
For the logistics department, every member was also an evolver. Although they weren't at the same level as the combat troops, there were still six-star evolvers among them, so handling the corpses was manageable.
"Basically finished. The remaining ones are needed by the research lab," the subordinate replied, before continuing, "According to our agreement with the beastmen, some of these bodies will be buried, some will have sky burials, some will be sea burials, and some will be cremated. It's not difficult, but it's a bit troublesome; some locations are quite far away, which could take a month for a round trip."
The subordinate complained a bit; although the Titan Secret Realm was considered pacified, there were still many areas with residual beastmen. They posed no threat to the overall situation or the Cloud Summit’s established troops, but if a weak or small group of Earthlings were discovered, it could still be dangerous.
"It has to be done. Sister Lei has transferred a team to ensure our safety, right? And with flying life forms around, there’s no room for complaints," Miya said after a few words to her subordinate.
"This is one of the main conditions for the beastmen's surrender. Since we are the victors, we must present ourselves as such. The living have no rights left, and those who died fought for their own race. As opponents, they deserve our respect."
"They are the strongest opponents we've encountered since the establishment of Cloud Summit."
The people around fell silent and then quickened their pace.
Ten days ago, the Golden Holy Light unleashed two attacks: one wiped out the elite force of 150,000 beastmen, and the other severely injured King Hillrori, resulting in the death of 5,000 of his guards.
The beastmen's supreme leader was gravely injured; if he hadn't been so powerful, he would likely have perished under that attack.
Before King Hillrori succumbed, he ordered his people to carry him to the Cloud Summit team that was pursuing them, specifically requesting to see Xia Lei. After a brief conversation lasting a few minutes, the beastmen announced their surrender, with over 7 million warriors and billions of civilians behind them having been trapped by Cloud Summit.
As the defeated party, they had no ability to negotiate terms. King Hillrori understood that if his demands were even slightly excessive, they would not be accepted. So he merely requested a proper burial for the slain beastmen, which was extremely important in their culture. Additionally, he requested that these beastmen could become slaves of Cloud Summit, working for them without pay, and that their lives did not need to be guaranteed. He just hoped that Cloud Summit could leave some seeds for these beastmen in the future, preventing their race from going extinct.
Xia Lei considered this for a moment before agreeing.
King Hillrori knew that this was the only way for them to agree. It was the tragedy of the defeated.
Continuing to fight would surely lead to the complete extermination of the beastmen by Cloud Summit, resulting in their true extinction.
Now, by surrendering like this, although they would become worse than pigs and dogs as slaves, at least they could continue to live. King Hillrori foresaw that many beastmen would die due to high-intensity labor, sporadic resistance, and other reasons, leading to their eventual extinction.
But… during this long period, what if the beastmen could learn the other side's technology and rise again?!
This was the last flicker of hope; it should be preserved.
After the terms were agreed upon, the beastmen warriors dismounted their mounts, threw down their weapons, and knelt in humiliation to surrender.