Ashes did not choose to resist. He clearly understood that he had no chance. Judging from the reaction speed of the three men in black before, they were obviously all strictly trained warriors. Even if they did not have the powerful and strange weapon in their hands, they would definitely not be their opponent.

But what surprised him was that the man in black did not kill himself directly like those two people, but instead tied his hands behind his back with a hemp rope and took himself into the central market...

The bloody smell that the two people had smelled before was indeed coming from the central market... The whole market was filled with indigenous corpses, and many men in black wearing masks were transporting these corpses together, and the pile of corpses was filled with firewood and large pieces of black stone.

Blackstone is a fossil fuel, and some places also call them "coal". The heat that this thing can release when burned is far more than the same weight of firewood. Blackstone grinding into powder is one of the main fuels of the steam engine, but these people actually use blackstone to burn corpses, which is really a bit too luxurious.

Among the mountain-stacked corpses, Ash saw a familiar face. It was a girl named Emily. She was sixteen years old like Ash, but she had a charming face like a young woman, and had a body that was more mature than girls of the same age... In the morning season, she usually stayed in the central market. She rarely went to the ruins to hunt or search for supplies, but instead provided some "special services" to men in exchange for food that they depend on.

In a dark season two years ago, she accidentally broke into a dilapidated house while being chased by wild animals, and that house happened to be the hiding place that Ashes chose at that time.

Ashes, who were worried about food, killed the wild cat half a person tall, and obtained half of her food from Emily.

Fortunately, Ellimi's "business" was good in the past tomorrow season, so the food she saved was enough for her two children to spend the three-month dark season.

Emily asked Ash more than once whether she needed her "service" and said that she would not charge any fees, but without exception, she was rejected by Ash.

"Actions that don't help with survival and require a lot of physical energy are extremely stupid, especially in the dark season." This is the longest sentence Ash has ever said to Elimmy.

But now, the girl's head was tilted to the side at an extremely abnormal angle - her entire cervical spine was broken, and black blood slowly overflowed from the corners of her mouth and nostrils, her eyes widened, and her fearful expression solidified on her stiff and pale face.

Ashes glanced at him and quickly looked away. Now he had no time or mood to mourn Elimee.

Not all the indigenous people were massacred. In the open space in the middle of the market, there were many indigenous people tied up. More than a dozen men in black who were holding those strange weapons stood outside and guarded the prisoners... Ashes noticed that almost all the indigenous people who were not killed were children, the youngest was only four or five years old, and the oldest was never more than fourteen years old.

Moreover, in addition, there is a number on their arms drawn with charcoal.

The man in black shouldn't have killed these children here. Ashes thought, otherwise, they would not have to go through a lot of effort to number each person - Ashes would not have seen such a number on the piles of corpses.

Two men in black kept taking the ashes to a leather tent that was temporarily tied up. There was a cold iron bed inside the tent. The two of them pressed the ashes on the bed without saying a word, then stripped away all his clothes, and even their close-fitting underwear did not leave behind.

Ashes did not resist. Since the opponent did not kill him, it may prove that he still has certain value to them. Although he did not know the intention of the other party to do this, until now, none of these men in black have done any real harm to themselves.

In the impression of Ashes, if the indigenous people in the quarantine area catch a prisoner, even if they do not kill him immediately, they will often cut off the prisoner's ears, remove the prisoner's joints, and cut off two or three fingers... First, it is to make the prisoner completely lose the ability to resist, and second, it is also to meet their tyrannical psychological needs.

He was thinking about the plan to escape, but before the plan was ready to be implemented, any action of trying to resist was meaningless. This would not only attract the vigilance of the man in black, but also may also cause unnecessary flesh and blood to himself.

A tall woman walked in from outside the tent. She had dark gray curly hair that reached her shoulders, a mask sewn from cooked cowhide on her face, and a pair of silk gloves as thin as cicada wings on her hands. On her body, the ashes smelled a strong smell of spice. It was obvious that this woman should be a nobleman.

"Don't move around, I don't want to handcuff you to the iron bed with a belt and iron chain." The woman's cold voice came from behind the mask, and then she walked forward and stretched out her hands to the ashes.

From neck to chest, from chest to abdomen, she touched Ash all over her body, and even the private parts between her armpits and legs were not spared. She even turned Ash over her body, used a special metal tool to spread Ash's anus, and put a slender finger in and fumbled it.

Although this process made Ashes feel extremely uncomfortable, it was not the first time he saw this process. He had entered the Great Library of the Imperial Kings that had turned into ruins more than once, and found many books that were not destroyed on the day of arrival. He had seen the same thing from one of the books introducing the Imperial Army.

That is a necessary procedure for the medical officers of the army to examine new recruits. Only those who are intact and have no hidden diseases can become members of the new recruits in the Imperial Army.

Do these people want to recruit themselves into the army? Ashes were full of doubts. Is the empire's military source so short that it was necessary to recruit people in the quarantine area? But if it was to supplement the military source, why were the middle-aged men aged 18 to 30 killed by them? Logically speaking, men of that age were the best-quality military source, and the oldest of the children who were left behind probably would have to wait several years before they were sent to the battlefield.

The empire never recruited the elderly, weak, sick and disabled as soldiers, nor sent underage child soldiers to the battlefield. This is what Ashes saw in that book. This is the rule set by Rhine I, the founding emperor of the empire. In the eyes of the emperor who established his country with martial arts, such a force that was just like a shortcoming in a bucket. In many cases, the defeat of a front often starts with these "shortcomings".

The woman thoroughly checked the body of Ashes before throwing him a set of clothes made of linen, then took out a charcoal pen and wrote a number of "26" on the Ashes' arm.

"Put on your clothes... By the way, I forgot to ask, how old are you this year?" The woman turned her head suddenly and stared at the Ashes' eyes.

"How old are you..." When talking about age, Ash suddenly remembered the children with numbers on their arms and Emily who were thrown on the pile of corpses... The reason why Emily was killed was definitely not because she was a girl. Among those living children, the proportion of girls was almost one-third.

Age must be due to age. Anyone who is over a certain age will be killed by these men in black. Only children who meet their standards will be left behind. Thinking of this, among the piles of corpses, the child's corpse was indeed not seen.

Alimi is the same age as him, but she was also brutally killed. If her real age is reported, Ash is not sure that she can walk out of the tent alive. After he hesitating for a moment, he answered: "14 years old."

"Really?" The woman looked up and down with some suspicious eyes, and one hand had already reached into her pocket.

"I didn't lie. When that happened, I clearly remembered that I was only four years old." The thing that Ash said naturally refers to the "day of arrival" that destroyed the entire imperial capital "Reinhardt" ten years ago.

Because he has not had enough food all year round, Ash looks thinner than his normal-developed peers. Therefore, even if he claims his age to two years old, it is difficult to find any flaws from his appearance alone.
Chapter completed!