Fat Cow laid out the current situation in full. After explaining, he also told the Pillagers about the meat farm.
"The meat farm connects to the warehouse you're in. If we had any hostility toward you, we wouldn't have waited until today to act."
"Time is urgent now, I hope you can believe me!"
After Fat Cow finished speaking, the Pillager captain gave no reaction for a long while.
Just as Fat Cow was about to explain again, a Pillager rushed in and reported something to the captain.
"Salikusaru, kurisaru misa, lisaru liku… (We checked the place he came up from. No ambush. That area connects to a narrow passage…)"
Hearing the report, the Pillager captain studied Fat Cow while thinking.
Actually, the Pillagers weren't pretending not to understand Fat Cow earlier.
The situation came suddenly. The captain had been observing Fat Cow, thinking things through. At the same time, when Fat Cow was found, he had immediately sent people to check the tunnel Fat Cow had dug up from.
With an outside attack happening, and Fat Cow showing up right at that moment, the captain at first truly thought it was a trap.
But just as Fat Cow said, the meat farm had always been beneath the Pillager's base, yet they never realized it.
If Fat Cow's side really wanted to do something, they wouldn't have waited until today, nor would they bother acting out such a play.
It was after sorting this out that the captain decided to speak with Fat Cow.
Even after hearing Fat Cow's explanation, the captain still couldn't fully believe him.
Only when the scout returned with news about Fat Cow's tunnel did the captain feel a little more assured.
Since the Pillager King wasn't here, the captain didn't dare easily give the order to prepare for battle. Even worse, the Iron Golems had already gone underground. Their troop camp was also underground, highly likely already exposed.
Faced with such a deadlock, even if the Pillagers chose to fight, the odds of victory were extremely slim.
So for them, the only choices left were defense or retreat.
After a moment of thought, the captain pulled a rope from his bag and tossed it in front of Fat Cow.
Before the captain could speak, Fat Cow had already understood his intention.
He quickly picked up the rope, wrapped it several times around himself with practiced ease, then handed the other end back to the captain.
The captain took the rope and also tied up Fat Cow's hands.
"You walk in front later."
The captain stayed cautious. Although the meat farm wasn't trapped, no one could guarantee there weren't ambushers at the other end of the passage.
With a hostage right here, the captain of course had to make use of him.
Hearing the captain's words, Fat Cow hurriedly nodded.
"Good good good."
"You hold a sword to my neck! If I do anything off, you just act!"
———
[In the underground Passage from the Rainforest Area to the Forest Area]
The passage was narrow and long, but very bright.
Three minecarts sped along the track, the whole passage filled only with the sound of wheels grinding against rails.
That rumbling echoed like the restless pounding in the Pillager King's heart.
Just as he was about to ask Xu Yuan about his plan, Xu Yuan spoke first.
"What do you think, if I really sent troops this time, how much chance of victory would we have?"
Hearing this, the Pillager King thought carefully before replying.
"Chances should be above seventy percent…"
But from his tone it was clear he had little confidence in what he said.
Even if Xu Yuan's side had plenty of troops, nothing on a battlefield was certain.
And worse, the Iron Golems were already hidden in the dark, likely already occupying the troop camp. That made things even more troublesome.
Xu Yuan neither argued nor agreed, but asked again.
"Then if we sent troops and won this battle, how much would we lose?"
The Pillager King thought again, then replied.
"If it goes smoothly, two to three tenths?…"
Even then, Xu Yuan gave no reaction, his face expressionless as he pressed further.
"If this battle weren't happening in the Trial Grounds, would you still choose to fight?"
Hearing this, the Pillager King felt as if an invisible hand had clutched his heart tight, leaving him almost unable to breathe.
Because he knew very clearly, if this battle weren't in the Trial Grounds, the losses wouldn't just be losing trial qualifications, it would be real sacrifices.
In that case, unless forced, the Pillager King would never lightly choose war.
"I…" The Pillager King opened his mouth, just about to argue back, but Xu Yuan cut him off without mercy.
"In this world, no matter which native races wage war, in the end there are never true victors."
Xu Yuan's voice sank low, heavy with weight, forcing thought.
"And yet, laughably, we always subconsciously believe that war is the only way to solve everything."
"If every dilemma in the Trial Grounds must still be solved by war, then what difference is there between the Trial Grounds and the Main World?"
In truth, Xu Yuan hadn't wanted to say this much. But during his time with these native beings, he gradually discovered problems.
In fact, natives like Mustard, the Pillager King, and the Blue Demon, beings who had evolved self-awareness and could dominate regions, their strength alone was not to be underestimated.
Beyond that, they possessed the cunning and intellect of true leaders.
During Xu Yuan's dealings with Mustard, the Pillager King, and the Blue Demon, the power they displayed in strength, skills, and strategy was already far beyond standard.
No exaggeration, they showed all-around ability so strong that even Xu Yuan himself often felt inferior.
And to know, they had only awakened self-awareness not long ago.
If measured by real-world time, they weren't even one year old yet.
Compared to players, their life experience was clearly nothing.
Yet in such a short span, they had grown at astonishing speed. Not only surpassing the vast majority of players in strength, but also possessing extraordinary wisdom.
This proved fully that each of them was a rare, extraordinary existence, born with exceptional gifts and rising rapidly through sheer effort.
When facing problems, they already had enough ability to handle them properly.
But in past incidents, their ways of handling things had been disappointing.
The issue wasn't their lack of ability, but their mindset.
As Xu Yuan said, whenever they met problems, they instinctively assumed war was the only solution.
That subconscious choice immediately locked the whole situation onto a war path.
Once fixed, they no longer considered whether other ways might avoid war.
All their following plans were then built atop war.
But wars between natives, there would never be winners.
Every war, win or lose, came with blood and tears.
Every clash meant sacrifice for all sides.
Every battle meant lives slipping away.
Even though these natives had been through countless battles, watching life vanish again and again.
Still, when problems arose, they reflexively leaned on war as the answer, as if nothing else could be imagined.
Xu Yuan's way of thinking was utterly different.
He wasn't born brilliant. He wasn't like the Pillager King, Blue Demon, or Mustard with dazzling talent.
Xu Yuan's growth had been slow, full of detours, from ignorance to deep understanding, step by step, over long years.
The reason he could always produce surprising solutions wasn't superior intelligence, it was his different perspective.
Others defaulted to war. Xu Yuan deliberately avoided it.
Because he never chose the war path, all his plans worked around avoiding war.
That was why, again and again, he could achieve what he wanted without spilling blood.
It was this difference in thinking that let Xu Yuan stand out, others felt he was clever, nothing could stump him.
But to Xu Yuan, many of the solutions he found were surely things the Pillager King, Blue Demon, or Mustard could have thought of too.
The pity was, their thinking was rigid, trapped like cages.
And that was why Xu Yuan brought this up now.
He always believed, "better to teach fishing than to give fish."
If he just told them the answers without breaking their mindset, then next time, they'd still turn to war.
They'd still lack the ability to think independently of other paths.
Xu Yuan could maybe guide once or twice, but not endlessly repeat a hundred, a thousand times.
Right now, he didn't have time to slowly guide them.
So his sub-leaders had to learn to solve crises themselves.
If the Pillager King learned to think from another angle, Xu Yuan wouldn't even need to accompany him this time, he could have solved it all himself.
And Xu Yuan could use that time to plan further ahead.
So Xu Yuan's goal wasn't simply solving problems, but shaping someone who could solve them on their own.
Hearing Xu Yuan's words, the Pillager King froze, shock and doubt flickering in his eyes.
Xu Yuan's words struck him like lightning in the night, shaking him deeply.
It was true, just as Xu Yuan said, whenever faced with crises, he always reflexively chose war.
Even though in his heart he hated war, longed to end conflict, he couldn't escape the habit.
He still instinctively chose battle to end all battles.
But that was upside down, a cycle with no end. The more he wanted to end war, the deeper he was pulled into it.
After thinking a while, the Pillager King felt he grasped something, yet the key still slipped away.
He looked at Xu Yuan, eyes uncertain, and asked, "Do you mean, the reason you don't send troops is because there truly is another solution that avoids war?"
Xu Yuan nodded slightly in agreement, his voice calm and steady.
"From the moment I stepped into the Trial Grounds, in every plan, every scenario I considered, 'war' was never an option."
Saying this, he looked straight at the Pillager King, his gaze honest and deep, stirring respect.
"War has always been the last resort."
"Never the first."
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