Chapter 948: A Warrior’s Standard

“If it were me who had the right to freely choose a batch of new recruits and form a special unit, I would only choose half of the members in the training camp.”

Meng Chao said, “Moreover, I wouldn’t completely choose those who had the strongest bodies, the strongest strength, and the best results in the Path of Glory trial.

“I’ll pick the people who are at a disadvantage at the beginning of the Path of Glory trial, but they grit their teeth and persevere until they catch up.

“Also, although they made serious mistakes and even suffered serious injuries, they still endured the pain and completed the trial.

“In a battlefield where danger lurks everywhere and changes rapidly, it’s always difficult to avoid being heavily injured and falling into a disadvantage.

“When the storm strikes, even pigs can fly in the sky. It doesn’t mean anything if they are able to destroy everything in a favorable situation.

“Only when they are in adversity or even desperate situations can they remain unwavering and never give up. They can fight back with unparalleled calmness and astonishing courage. This is the best soldier.”

In fact, this was also the standard for selecting soldiers in the Black Skull Training Camp in Meng Chao’s memories from his previous life.

In his previous life, he had been a reaper for many years and had not received much professional combat training.

In the trial to join the Black Skull Training Camp, his results could not be considered to be among the best.

However, because he was worried about the safety of his little sister, Bai Jiacao, he yearned for a strong strength to protect his family. Therefore, he sprained his joint in the first trial. Even though his ankle was swollen like a rubber ball, he still limped through the trial.

Even though his results were not average.

His willpower, however, was appreciated by the instructor.

Many recruits, who joined the training camp at the same time, were in a similar situation as him.

None of them were strong and muscular men.

However, the recruits who could grit their teeth and go through the Black Skull Training Camp’s cruel torture were usually these unimpressive-looking recruits.

After leaving the training camp, they had all become outstanding Ghost Assassins.

Ice Storm, who was used to the strong being respected and “muscles equating to strength,” was obviously stunned by Meng Chao’s selection criteria.

After being stunned for a while, she asked, “Where’s the other half?”

“There’s still half of the soldiers. I’ll directly go into the dungeon to select them.”

Meng Chao said, “I’ll select those who have stayed in the dungeon for more than five days. Although they didn’t manage to climb out of the dungeon, they still look pretty good and their injuries aren’t too serious. The most important thing is that their bodies can’t be too strong.”

“Their bodies can’t be too strong?”

Ice Storm was greatly surprised. “Why is that?”

“I have calculated that in the dungeon, there will be three to five rounds of food distributed every day, but most of the food will be taken away by the strongest rat population. If they can’t even get a single fried mandrake fruit in the first few rounds, they will fall into a vicious cycle. The hungrier they are, the weaker they are. The weaker they are, the less food they can get. They will become hungrier and hungrier. In addition to the extremely harsh environment in the dungeon, they will often die of starvation after three to five days.”

Meng Chao said, “Every rat citizen who can survive five days in the dungeon has successfully snatched at least one fried mandrake fruit. They all have the potential to become warriors and have a strong desire to survive.

“As for those rat citizens who are not very strong, the reason why they can compete over the food and win several rounds is obviously that they have special strength and skills other than their muscles.

“It must be known that, with sufficient food and secret medicines, with my unique training methods and the unparalleled physical fitness of the Turan people, the growth of their muscles and brute force was not a difficult thing.

“However, the special strength and techniques other than their muscles could not be achieved quickly.

“Therefore, compared to the guys with strong limbs and simple minds, I prefer those who were not physically strong and even had flaws, but still racked their brains and survived with great difficulty

“This…”

Ice Storm admitted that what Meng Chao said made sense.

However, no one had ever selected new recruits with such standards.

Did the selected servants really have combat strength and could they compete with powerful opponents?

Ice Storm was a little hesitant.

“There is one more thing.”

Meng Chao saw her hesitation and continued, “If you choose the strongest soldiers, they won’t be grateful to you from the bottom of their hearts, because you choose them according to tradition, Lady Ice Storm. Any gladiator and warrior of the clan would choose their materials the same way. Even if they aren’t selected by you, they’ll become the servants of another powerful warrior.

“Under such circumstances, their gratitude and loyalty will not belong to you completely. Instead, they will belong to the Blood Skull Arena, the big figures behind the arena, and even themselves.

“But what if you break the rules and choose those who have no chance to be selected under the old rules and can only die in the dungeon?

“These people have never thought that they have a chance to live. As long as you give them a glimmer of hope, they will be able to return you one or even countless miracles.

“Moreover, these people are very clear that other than you, there is no other gladiator or clan warrior who will choose them.

“You are their only hope. Other than being grateful and loyal to you from the bottom of their hearts, what other choice do they have?

“Considering this, don’t you still think that the method I proposed is a good idea?”

Ice Storm thought quickly. Deep in her eyes, the brilliant icicles that were condensed grew longer and sharper.

She stared at Meng Chao and observed the black-haired, black-eyed rat carefully again and again.

“What you said makes sense. Perhaps, it makes too much sense.

“Danger lurks everywhere and changes in an instant. I racked my brain—these are all the words you just said. Many of them sound very fresh at first. Other than you, I have never heard anyone say this before. However, after careful consideration, I felt that they were very accurate, refined, and elegant. It was as if they were the words of a noble that had been passed down for thousands of years,” Ice Storm said meaningfully.

“Reaper, are you really a rat?”

“I don’t know.”

Meng Chao was not flustered at all. He asked calmly, “Is this very important?”

Indeed.

For Casanova, who came from the Blood Hoof Clan and was the son of the chief, it might be very important for him to sneak into his own gladiator arena with an unknown background and a mysterious power.

However, Ice Storm was only a gladiator.

Even though she was called the “ace,” it did not change the fact that she had no foundation in Black-corner City, no sense of loyalty or belonging. She was just a foreigner who could not help herself.

It did not matter who Meng Chao was.

Even if he took off his mask and hood now and revealed his blond hair, as well as blue eyes, that had been blessed by the Holy Light, it was not important to Ice Storm.

Thinking of this, Ice Storm smiled.

“Can you still walk?” she asked Meng Chao.

“If you can walk, we’ll go and pick new recruits right now.”

…

When Spider was dragged out of the dungeon, he was still confused and did not know what was going on.

After staying in the dark dungeon for a long time, he could not get used to the intense sunlight for a while. He kept crying, covering the world around him.

He could only vaguely understand from the other rat subjects’ ecstatic screams that they were saved.

At least, they were temporarily saved.

However, this middle-aged man, whose face was full of wrinkles, had been silent since the moment he was captured by the elders of the clan. He could not even squeeze out half of his superfluous expression. Unlike the other rat subjects, he did not cry with joy and dance with joy.

He slowly rubbed his eyes, but his face was still sad.

He kept thinking to himself, “If only I hadn’t run out to find food that day.”.

He knew that the elders had entered the village.

He should have stayed in the cave with his wife and children for ten days and ten nights.

Why did he risk going to the burning village to get the mandrake fruit that everyone had hidden under the eyes of the elders?

It was all right now.

He had been captured by the old men and brought to Black-corner City.

The wife and the little ones were still in the cave.

The wife was still pregnant and was about to give him another damn little one.

So many days had passed. He did not know if they were still alive.

Had they been discovered by the old men or taken away by the totem beasts?

Even if they were lucky, they had not been discovered or taken away.

The mandrake tree had bloomed.

If they could not find the mandrake fruit and did not know how to hunt, they could only starve to death, right?

“I should have taught the two brats how to hunt long ago. This way, even if they escaped to the deep mountains and forests, they would still have a chance to survive,” Spider thought in frustration.

However, the harsh life had long told this wrinkled middle-aged man that frustration was useless.

He squeezed out his tears.

He narrowed his eyes and observed his surroundings.

He could observe the route to escape from the Blood Skull Arena, Black-corner City, and back to the cave behind the small Mountain Village to save his wife and two little brats.

No, perhaps it wasn’t two little brats.

It was three or even four damn little brats.

Then, Spider saw Meng Chao.

“It’s him?”

This middle-aged rat couldn’t help but be slightly startled.

After being locked in the same cell with Meng Chao for ten days, Spider, with the keen intuition of a hunter, sensed the extremely dangerous aura seeping out from the depths of Meng Chao’s wound.

This black-haired rat, who was immersed in sewage, did not move at all and could not die no matter what but was as lazy as a python. So, he knew that this rat was definitely not as simple as he appeared.

However, the middle-aged hunter’s unique caution forced him not to place his overly exuberant curiosity on Meng Chao.

Other than thinking about how to escape and save his wives and children, he did not have the mood to think about anything else.

Therefore, he did not approach Meng Chao to avoid becoming a thorn in the eyes of the other red-eyed rat residents.

He was also not like those burly men who were arrogant and brave, stupid enough to provoke this mysterious black-haired and black-eyed person.

At most, he would bet on Meng Chao’s life.

Of course, he would bet that Meng Chao was still alive.

However, he did not bet much each time. At most, he would bet on a piece of fried mandrake fruit the size of a fingernail.

He knew that he would win for sure.

However, he could not guarantee that the loser would not go back on his word.

Just like that, Spider and Meng Chao stayed in the same room for a full ten days.

He had thought that Meng Chao would never notice him, who did not look impressive and disappeared into the crowd.

However, Meng Chao’s meaningful gaze and smile made him realize that his escape was definitely related to this mysterious man with black hair and black eyes.