0118 Doll Troop Training (Part Two)

Choosing to trust Judy this time, Hou Rui did not take another step. However, as chance would have it, as several children carrying food passed by him, Hou Rui could not help but notice that in each child's large wooden bowl, besides a palm-sized corn cake, there was a large chunk of meat and a generous scoop of vegetables. While these meals were hardly sumptuous, they were far better than what Hou Rui had originally expected.

Since the child soldiers had begun their lunch, Hou Rui and Judy naturally returned to the school office. There, two orderlies had already retrieved the food specially prepared for officers at Sergeant Kun's barracks: a large platter of fruit, a liter of camel milk, a plate of roasted meat, and several corn cakes. Although these were far inferior to what Captain Mulu enjoyed, they were acceptable to Hou Rui.

Seeing the two orderlies waiting respectfully to leave, Hou Rui quickly said, "Xiao Yang, Stone, there is no need to be so formal. Sit down and eat with us!"

The two orderlies looked at Hou Rui in astonishment, then at each other, as if to verify that they hadn't misheard. Finally, they glanced at Judy, who was sitting to the side. Only after confirming it wasn't a hallucination did they tremble as they sat opposite Hou Rui. Even then, they perched on only the edge of their seats, looking as if they were ready to bolt at any moment.

Observing the two children, Hou Rui realized he couldn't change their deep-seated habits overnight. He stopped speaking and began cutting the roasted meat, dividing it into four equal portions before placing them in front of the four people present.

Slowly, Hou Rui, Judy, and the two orderlies began to eat. After fifteen minutes of eating in silence, the two orderlies, who had kept their backs rigid, finally relaxed and began to reach for the food more frequently, letting their guard down.

"Judy, why did you pull me back earlier and stop me from looking at the children's lunch?" Hou Rui, who had tossed a piece of corn cake into his mouth and was chewing hard, suddenly remembered the incident and asked casually.

"Sergeant, do you really want to know?" Unexpectedly, Judy's expression changed instantly. She put down her piece of meat and looked at Hou Rui with great seriousness.

"Of course!" Although he felt something was wrong, Hou Rui insisted on knowing the truth.

"Fine. I will tell you. The main reason I didn't let you go over was that I didn't want to ruin your appetite."

"What do you mean by that?" Hou Rui frowned, a strong sense of foreboding washing over him. He set down his corn cake and turned his body to face Judy directly.

"In Captain Mulu's territory—or rather, the entire controlled zone of the Alliance—the population has dwindled to almost nothing. No one is farming, and no one is herding. So, Sergeant, where do you think the Alliance gets so much meat?"

"But the meat in the stew served to the children?"

"It’s people!" Judy’s small mouth opened and closed, uttering the horrifying answer.

Hou Rui froze. He stared at Judy, waiting to see a mischievous smile, but her calm face showed no sign of joking. Disbelieving, he turned to his two orderlies. They were veteran child soldiers; they would surely know if this were true.

His hope was quickly shattered. He saw the two orderlies flash him wide, toothy grins. Xiao Yang, the delicate-looking girl, added proudly, "Eating your enemy allows you to absorb their soul, making you stronger and greater. That's why we veterans love eating government soldiers the most. For instance, I especially like the intestines; they are so smooth."

"No, the lungs are the best; they’re crunchy when you bite them," Stone chimed in with a differing opinion.

Hou Rui's worldview was completely shattered. He felt the hair on his arms stand on end. Xiao Yang and Stone, these children of barely ten years, were human devils. The brainwashing of the child soldiers had led them to believe that humans were no different from any other animal. Suddenly, a thought struck him. He looked at the roasted meat before him in terror, and an irresistible wave of nausea washed over him. He clapped a hand over his mouth.

Perhaps sensing his thoughts, Judy, who had been watching coldly, added a clarification: "Sergeant, you don't need to let your imagination run wild. The meat for Alliance officers is normal. But for the new recruits..."

"Enough! Don't say another word!" Hou Rui shouted, cutting her off. He stood up abruptly and walked to the window. As he looked out at the distant mountains, he breathed heavily, his heart in turmoil. He struggled with whether to stay—to remain in this literal hell to complete his mission—or to flee at all costs, escaping this cannibalistic place to return to a normal, peaceful world, even if it meant dying at the hands of the chip.

"Hah..." The intense internal conflict made his breathing ragged. Caught in this impossible dilemma, Hou Rui was completely lost. He did not want to die, but he could no longer bear to witness these cruel truths.

A few minutes later, Judy quietly walked up behind him. She gently rested a hand on his shoulder and leaned her head against his. Finally, she slowly opened her other hand in front of him, revealing a pink pill.

"Are you in pain? Are you angry? Take this. Soon you won't feel anything at all, only boundless happiness." Judy tempted him like a devil.

Hou Rui stared at the red pill. For a moment, he truly wanted to swallow it and forget everything—morality, right and wrong, life and death. But in the next instant, he changed his mind. As he turned to look into Judy's eyes, he clearly saw a trace of cruelty and madness.

"Slap!" Hou Rui suddenly swiped his hand, knocking the pill from hers. It flew off into the darkness, leaving Judy stunned.

"If you try to tempt me again, I will kill you," Hou Rui warned. He pushed her aside, turned, and lay down on the makeshift wooden bed. He then grabbed a bottle of strong spirits and drank deeply.

Facing an unsolvable trap, Hou Rui managed to drink himself into a stupor. In his sleep, he dreamed not only of Jin Shanshan but also of the Doraemon shirt he hadn't thought of in years, and the pirate boy with his intestines spilling out. At the end of the dream, he saw Little Camel smiling at him while gnawing on a human face, his mouth stained with fresh red blood.

"Huff!" Hou Rui bolted upright, drenched in sweat, startling Judy so much she nearly jumped.

Coming to his senses, Hou Rui wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He noticed Judy looking as if she had something to say. Irritated, he snapped, "Speak if you have something to say, otherwise stay away from me!"

"Sergeant, Sergeant Kun's men were just here. They invite you to attend the 'Warrior Selection' ceremony tonight," Judy said, hesitating for a moment before speaking.

"So soon? Is it already night?" Only then did Hou Rui recall his agreement with Sergeant Kun. Looking out the window, he realized it was already dark; he must have slept through the entire afternoon after drinking.

"Let's go! I want to see what this Warrior Selection is all about," Hou Rui said as he jumped off the bed. Internally, he added, *I want to see just how depraved these people can truly get.*

On their way to the ceremony, Hou Rui couldn't help but ask, "What exactly is this Warrior Selection ceremony? What is the process?"

"The Warrior Selection is simple. It's about picking some from the reserve child soldiers to join the ranks of the veterans, and moving some from the new recruits into the reserves," Judy explained, having experienced the process herself.

"And the specific method of selection?"

"You'll see for yourself in a moment, Sergeant." To Hou Rui's surprise, Judy—who usually seemed indifferent to everything, even life and death—trembled slightly. She refused to answer further, which only piqued his curiosity. He suspected it would be something cruel and terrifying.

Before long, they arrived at the small hill behind the school. Sergeant Kun’s men had already prepared everything. They had piled a massive mound of firewood at the summit and arranged dozens of wooden stumps around it as seats.

Seeing Hou Rui arrive, Sergeant Kun, who was holding a torch, flashed a sinister smile and tossed it onto the pile.

"Whoosh!" The flames shot into the air, and the wood began to crackle and burn.

As Hou Rui and Judy sat down, squads of child soldiers entered the clearing. Only the few veterans among them were permitted to sit around the bonfire; the majority of the reserves and new recruits participating in the selection stood on the periphery. The hierarchy was stark and absolute.