Chapter 3910: The Overeager Prisoners

The bright orange surface looked almost radiant beneath the glowing moss. Tiny traces of soil still clung near its tip while the green leaves remained crisp and healthy. It looked like it had been harvested recently.

It was fresh... completely fresh, and the prisoners stared at it as though looking upon a heavenly treasure.

Several pairs of eyes gradually reddened and one man unconsciously reached toward it before hurriedly pulling his hand back. Another quietly swallowed while the sound echoed clearly in the silence.

Gulp!

Then another swallow followed.

Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!

Soon nearly every prisoner found themselves swallowing repeatedly. Their mouths had already begun filling with saliva and thin strands of drool slowly escaped from several mouths before dripping onto the stone beneath them.

The smell of fresh vegetables hardly carried any remarkable fragrance.

Under ordinary circumstances most people would barely notice it. But today, the prisoners felt as though they were smelling the greatest feast ever prepared.

Their starved minds eagerly imagined sweetness, the crunchy texture, and juices flowing across the tongue. Every forgotten memory of eating fresh food returned all at once.

One elderly prisoner quietly closed his eyes as tears slowly escaped.

"I..." His lips trembled. "I almost forgot... What fresh food smelled like..."

Another prisoner stared so intensely at the carrot that his entire body began shaking. If Lin Mu had placed it upon the ground without first demonstrating overwhelming strength these prisoners would have immediately descended into another massacre.

They would have ripped each other apart simply for the chance to hold it. Perhaps even for the chance to smell it up close. Right now the carrot’s value now surpassed gold, it surpassed spirit stones and even surpassed immortal treasures.

At this moment... Many of them would have willingly exchanged years of their remaining lives for a single bite. The prisoner kneeling before Lin Mu suddenly became more energetic than he had appeared since the battle began.

His eyes practically glowed.

"I’ll speak!" He hurriedly raised both hands. "I’ll tell you everything!"

His voice rose with excitement.

"I’ll tell you everything I know!" He leaned even closer. "If I don’t know something, I’ll tell you who does!"

He pointed wildly toward the others. "He knows about the lower tunnels!"

"That old woman knows about the underground river!"

"The one missing his arm knows where the food crates sometimes appear!"

Another prisoner immediately shouted over him. "I know more! I’ve been here longer!"

"No, ask me!" a third prisoner cried out while desperately crawling forward. "I know about the rituals! I know about the bone fields! I know where prisoners disappear!"

Within moments, the entire summit erupted into frantic voices and every surviving prisoner suddenly fought for the same prize... A single ordinary carrot.

The moment the prisoners began shouting over one another, Lin Mu immediately realized he had created a different problem. A moment ago they had all been paralyzed by fear, but now they had become desperate.

Every one of them wanted the carrot and every one of them wanted to be the first to answer. Some even tried pushing the others aside despite their broken bones and battered bodies.

"I know more!"

"No, ask me first!"

"I’ve been here longer!"

"I know secrets the others don’t!"

"The lower caverns!"

"The underground rivers!"

"The rare food drops!"

"The rituals!"

Their voices merged into an unintelligible mess and the entire summit echoed with frantic shouting.

Lin Mu silently watched them for several moments before shaking his head. "So that’s how it is."

He had underestimated just how valuable ordinary food had become inside the Mad Demon Depths. He had originally intended to use the carrot as a simple reward. Instead, it had nearly caused another fight.

Fortunately... The solution proved simple.

Lin Mu casually raised his hand and the bright orange carrot disappeared. The prisoners immediately froze. One moment it had been right before their eyes and in the next it was gone.

Several people instinctively reached toward the empty air.

One prisoner even rubbed his eyes before looking around wildly.

"My..."

"My carrot..." The words escaped him before he quickly realized what he had said.

Lin Mu calmly looked at the crowd.

"If you cannot behave..." His voice remained perfectly steady. "Nobody gets it."

His words worked as there was absolute silence. The effect proved astonishing as the prisoners immediately stopped arguing. One after another they lowered their heads and several even folded their hands obediently upon their knees.

The transformation happened so quickly that even Lin Mu found it somewhat eerie.

Only a few breaths earlier they had been screaming over each other. Now the entire summit remained so quiet that the distant sound of water dripping somewhere within the caverns became audible.

Lin Mu quietly observed them. ’Interesting.’

Their discipline under temptation actually exceeded many organized armies... At least at this particular moment. Lin Mu reckoned even trained troops would likely require their officers to restore order.

These prisoners required only the disappearance of a single carrot.

’Hunger truly reshaped people.’ Lin Mu thought back to the memoirs of the Lost Immortal and how many times he had suffered the same.

A moment later he suppressed those thoughts and focused on the task at hand. Satisfied that the prisoners would remain calm, Lin Mu looked toward the first prisoner once again.

"You." The emaciated man immediately straightened his back. "Begin."

The prisoner eagerly nodded. "Yes, my lord."

He carefully organized his thoughts before speaking.

"You asked about this place... The Mad Demon Depths."

"I don’t know everything..." He quickly glanced at Lin Mu. "...but I’ll tell you everything I’ve learned since coming here."

Lin Mu gave a small nod and the man finally began.

"According to the older prisoners, this place wasn’t originally a prison. It became one much later."

"Long before that..." He lowered his voice. "...a real demon was sealed here."

The surrounding prisoners quietly nodded and several even showed fearful expressions merely hearing those words.

"The elders say the demon never truly died. They say its body disappeared long ago. But its spirit remained trapped beneath these caves."

"It still hungers... it still watches. And it feeds upon everyone imprisoned here."

The man unconsciously glanced toward the crystal skull standing upon the effigy.

"That is why we offer tribute. The deity protects us as long as we continue feeding it."

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