The Lord Demon King is Unfathomable!

Chapter 1486 - 428: Siege and Famine

The wheels rolled over the parched land, kicking up clouds of desolate dust.

Under the personal escort of Brennan "Iron Bull," one of the twelve heads of the Green Forest Army, the grand "pilgrimage" army advanced towards Sparrow Wood Territory.

As soon as the crowd entered Sparrow Wood Territory, the air was filled with a decaying scent that seemed visible to the naked eye.

The refugees' faces were marked with terror, clearly not expecting Sparrow Wood Territory near Twilight City to be worse than their hometowns.

Yet the soldiers with green turbans seemed indifferent; for one, they had just drunk and feasted, and for another, the scenery was not the most desolate they'd seen.

Surveying the surroundings, Hog's mouth curved into a sarcastic smile.

"Someone told me they are the Rebel Army, so why does it look like locusts have ravaged the places they pass through."

With divine protection, he naturally wasn't afraid of this rebel leader.

Brennan knew the mercenary was mocking him but didn't care nor take his words to heart, calmly replying.

"No war comes without casualties; once we win, we'll naturally distribute the Lord's land and grain to them as compensation, so they won't have to die."

Hog: "Haha."

Brennan frowned.

"What are you laughing at?"

Hog's lips twitched.

"Nothing, I just vaguely remember hearing similar words somewhere. Like... once the Netherworld God is slain, humans won't have to die anymore."

Wasn't that what Dragon God Gutaf said?

Or perhaps Saint Sis himself.

He didn't remember.

Sitting in the wagon, Taufu sneezed, scratched his nose with his paw, then instinctively looked at the Demon King who was meditating beside him.

"Are you cursing me?"

Luo Yan smiled faintly.

"I'm not as bored as you."

After speaking, he turned to Sarah beside him and gently asked.

"Are you alright?"

He had noticed since earlier that Sarah's spirits weren't very high.

Sarah paused slightly, then came back to her senses, softly answering.

"I'm fine, Lord Demon King, thank you for your concern."

Luo Yan: "Your expression tells me you're lost in thought. Of course, if it's something you find inconvenient to discuss, I'll leave it be."

"...I was just reminded of things before I met you," Sarah said embarrassed, smiling softly. "The feeling of hunger is terribly bad, like not even having the strength to die."

She had tasted the bitterness of hunger.

To survive, she had even sampled the worms of Thunder County.

Though she was indifferent to human suffering, the matter of hunger made it hard for her not to empathize with those enduring hardship.

Luo Yan remained silent for a moment, then softly said.

"That's unsurprising."

Elsewhere, sitting in the covered wagon, Carian pulled back the cloth curtain, and the view tightened her heart.

Along the roadside lay bodies curled up, seemingly fighting hunger even in their final moments.

The fields scattered near the windmill were long abandoned, with yellowing grass like jagged white bones emitting desperate wails in the wind.

This should be the season for spring plowing, yet even wild grass couldn't survive.

The distant village was silent, only a few gaunt wild dogs roamed the ruins, watching the intruding convoy with wary eyes.

This was a literal "land of death," and no one could now explain who caused it.

Perhaps the local Lord, perhaps Chaos, perhaps the people themselves.

"Stop," Carian said softly.

The convoy slowed to a halt.

She noticed signs of life under a half-collapsed thatched hut not far away and stepped off the wagon.

Brennan, carrying a Battle Axe and accompanied by two soldiers, silently followed.

In the shadow of the thatched hut, a man and a woman huddled together, tightly holding a small child in their arms.

Their faces were bloodless, lips cracked, eyes staring vacantly at the ground, seemingly unresponsive to the outside world.

Carian felt a pang of sorrow.

Even without Mr. Colin's orders, she couldn't help but want to aid these starving people.

She turned to Brennan and softly said.

"They need help; please have your soldiers bring some bread."

Brennan, having agreed to her condition earlier, nodded without saying much, gesturing to the two soldiers with green turbans behind him.

"Do as she says."

The task fell to two young soldiers.

They promptly dismounted a sack from the pack horse, grabbed a few pieces of fragrant bread, and moved quickly forward.

However, an unexpected scene unfolded.

When the dying family saw two soldiers with green turbans approaching, instead of joy at being rescued, they exuded extreme fear.

The woman seemed to come back to life, screaming sharply as she clamped the child tightly to her, as if to smother him with her emaciated chest.

The man shielded his wife and child with his frail body, staring in horror at the soldiers with green turbans as if they were wild beasts charging from the jungle.

Yet the child, clueless of anything, gazed longingly at the food in their hands, swallowing the scant saliva left.