On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

"However, in the last ten years or so, the entire Southern Territory has been getting worse and worse. Apart from the influence of the northern humans, the real root cause is that the expansion of the Wild Swamp has been accelerating, which has led to our living space being constantly compressed."

"Wild Swamp...Expansion?"

This time, it wasn't hope Yun who answered Liao Ji; Hu Jiu, who was standing next to her, took over the conversation.

Clearly, this tiger-woman was much more outgoing than the fox-woman. She pulled Liao Ji directly to the edge of the large map of the Southern Territory that had been on the table earlier.

The map is divided into three distinct sections: the Orc Plains and the Tribal Forest, located in the northern part of the Southern Territory, occupy about one-third of the land.

Below them, in the southern part of the Southern Territory, which occupies the remaining two-thirds of the Southern Territory, lies a vast, dangerous area marked in brown on the map, devoid of any clan markings.

"The Wild Swamp is a remnant of the Wasteland Era, five hundred years ago. It was teeming with terrifying monsters from ancient times, which we called demons. Although many historical records are now lost, because my 'Tiger Claw' clan once served as guardians, resisting the invasion of demons from the Wilderness, I am quite certain that the Wild Swamp was not this large several hundred years ago, and the swamp was just a simple swamp. But it seems that from a certain point in time..."

"The swamps there have turned into filthy silt, which has begun to devour the land of the South and expand outward. The evil monsters inside are also growing stronger and stronger. Many Watcher clans have been wiped out as a result. In addition, the Empress amended the constitution, and the demi-human race, which had already lost the Relic Masters, was labeled as slaves. The largest Ancient Wolf clan even sided with the northern humans and persecuted the South together. All of these factors combined have led to the fact that there are no new descendants of Watchers to stop the evil, which has eventually led to the current state, with more than half of the South's land already fallen."

Hu Jiu snorted coldly upon arriving, his expression a mix of schadenfreude and something else entirely.

"The Ancient Wolf Clan is now reaping the bitter fruits of their actions. As the largest clan, they occupy the most fertile land and are therefore the most severely affected by the expansion of the swamp and the invasion of demons. In the last ten years or so, they have been so busy dealing with the demons that their control over the Tribal Forest is much weaker than before."

"so."

Hu Jiu's eyes lit up, her fiery gaze fixed on Liao Ji. She puffed out her chest and said eagerly:

"Lord Liao Ji, I think you're right. Now is the best time for us to consolidate our forces! As long as we can take advantage of the fact that the Ancient Wolf Clan is currently unable to act, and unite all the clans in the Tribal Forest, once our strength is truly consolidated, then we won't be afraid of anything, not even the Ancient Wolf Clan, or even the Northern Empress's Dragon Gate Army!"

Before Hu Jiu could finish his excited speech, Da Shan, the last person present who had been silent all along, couldn't help but speak up.

"Tiger Nine, you're oversimplifying things. Even if the Ancient Wolf Clan is distracted by the invasion of demons and has no time to attend to the Tribal Forest, I believe that the vast majority of clans will still not accept us, let alone unite with us."

“Small clans are struggling to survive, while large clans are only thinking about how to eke out a living. This is the current state of the Tribal Forest. If we rush into a union, it will only harm us. I believe that the right approach is to first strengthen ourselves and then gradually absorb and annex other clans.”

"Dashan, at this rate, we'll be waiting forever! By then it'll be too late! You're such a big guy, how can you be such a coward!"

"This is not cowardice. What's the use of forming an alliance that looks good on the outside but is actually a disorganized mess with everyone having their own agenda? It's just bluffing. When a real fight breaks out, it will probably crumble at the slightest touch, or even collapse on its own."

"you"

Just as Hu Jiu was about to continue arguing with Da Shan, hope Yun coughed and suppressed the two of them with a frown, telling them to shut up and not make such a fuss in front of Liao Ji.

The last three turned their attention to Liao Ji, since he was now their leader and the revolutionary army's next move was ultimately up to him.

"hope Yun, you should have some clans in the Tribal Forest that you still keep in touch with and are quite familiar with, right?"

"Well, the closest one is the 'Terror Lizard' clan, which is more than ten kilometers away from us. I have a relationship with the tribal chief there, and they helped our revolutionary army a lot back then."

"Alright, mark the location on the map for me later, and I'll go there myself to negotiate with them."

Upon hearing this, Hu Jiu immediately gave Da Shan a smug look, as if to say, "Just you wait! The leader will definitely still take the path of rapid alliance."

But soon.

"Furthermore, Da Shan is right. A quick alliance is just a shortcut and a self-deceiving tactic. Besides, the major clans have been suppressed by the Ancient Wolf Clan for so many years. We certainly can't make them overcome their fear of the Ancient Wolf Clan with just words. We need to show them something real. So, I'll handle the external negotiations. As for you..."

Liao Ji pointed at the table. The biggest problem he was facing now was cohesion. The revolutionary army of a few hundred people was fine now, but what if it grew to several thousand, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands?

Since he wanted to accelerate the unification of the Southern Territory, he had to use a strategy of overwhelming force. At this point, we have to mention the significance of a classic line: "Orcs will never be slaves... unless they are provided with food and lodging!"

Just as he was preparing to redistribute the training policies of the three high-ranking officers within the revolutionary army, a commotion suddenly came from outside the wooden shed.

"Hey! Who are you? I've never seen you before!"

"Stop! This is a place only the leaders are allowed to enter. You are not allowed to come any closer!"

"Stop her!"

Hearing the guards' shouts, Liao Ji quickly put down the meeting and came out. He saw that outside the wooden shed, three Revolutionary Army guards had surrounded a barefoot, burlap-skinned demi-human with sesame paste still on his eyes, who looked like he had just woken up. They were guarding him and preventing him from going any further.

Fortunately, this demi-human looked pitiful and posed no threat, otherwise they probably would have attacked him directly.

Liao Ji looked closely and realized it was none other than Jiu You.

As for Jiuyou, she was also very straightforward.

After seeing Lord Ash emerge

"Lord Grey Liao Ji".

I'm hungry.

Just then, a rich aroma of porridge wafted from not far away, attracting everyone's attention. Turning around, they saw Ah Xue, who had prepared breakfast for everyone.

The catgirl is now carrying a pot of porridge towards them, and beside her is another girl who has also gotten up and is drooling.

After taking a deep sniff of the porridge pot in the catgirl's hand, Irene was surprised to smell the familiar aroma.

"Ah Xue, is this porridge one of those old-fashioned kinds?"

"Well, everyone in the Revolutionary Army now is probably like I was back then, so I tried to imitate the nourishing porridge that Mr. Liao Ji made for me. I just don't know how it tastes."

"Don't worry, don't worry, I can tell it's absolutely authentic just by smelling it! You're amazing, Xue!"

Irene gave the catgirl a thumbs-up in admiration.

Chapter 107 I see you have extraordinary talent, come and practice your swordsmanship with me.

"That's all for now. From now on, Xiaoyou will be one of us."

Following his prepared explanation, Liao Ji introduced the Dragon Girl to the crowd in the wooden shed as an arena slave. Immediately, curious gazes all focused on "Xiao You".

Among them, the fox spirit hope Yun was the first to accept it; rather, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The appearance of this "Little You" is enough, regardless of whether her origins are true or false, as long as she is a demi-human, because this undoubtedly proves that Liao Ji had interacted with them in the past. This provides a reasonable explanation for why Liao Ji is helping and siding with them now, which is why the fox girl felt much more at ease.

only

hope Yun secretly examined the face of this "Xiao You" again. For some reason, she felt a sense of familiarity, but she couldn't quite put her finger on why.

Hu Jiu, on the other hand, was more direct. She ran to Long Niang's side as if they were old friends, staring at the two slightly raised horns on Xiao You's head with excited and curious eyes.

"Wow! Are those dragon horns? Are you a dragon-human?"

“Hu Jiu!” hope Yun frowned.

The term "dragon people" is taboo among sub-human races. All dragon people are classified as "lizard people," which is an unspoken rule in the Dragon Kingdom.

But Tiger Nine was clearly not happy about it.

"What are you doing, Sister Xiyun? The Dragonkin are the Dragonkin. Just because that Empress is a Dragonkin doesn't mean there can't be other Dragonkin. If we're going to rebel and overthrow the Dragon Kingdom, let's start with the way we address each other!"

"Xiao You, don't worry. If anyone dares to call you a member of the Lizard Clan in the future, I, Hu Jiu, will be the first to stand up for you!"

Tiger Girl stubbornly stood in front of Dragon Girl. Seeing this, Xi Yun could only sigh and let it go, since neither Liao Ji nor Xiao You said anything.

Da Shan remained relatively silent throughout, but a hint of fighting spirit flickered in his eyes. After all, this was a dragon-human, and Da Shan could sense that the other party was also a martial artist like himself. It would be great if they could have a friendly spar.

To be honest, the one who reacted the most strongly was actually...

"Hey, Xue, aren't you going to say something?" Irene secretly tugged at the catgirl next to her and whispered in her ear.

"What do you mean, Miss Irene?" Ah Xue asked, looking confused.

"Hey! Are you an idiot?! Now this old fogey has suddenly found a demi-human by his side, and you don't even feel a little bit threatened? It's obvious that this person is trying to take your place!"

"A sense of crisis? Fighting for positions? Ah Xue doesn't quite understand."

After shaking her head at Irene, the cat girl took the initiative to walk towards the dragon girl. The reason was simple: ever since Xiao You entered the room, her attention had been focused on Xue.

To be precise, it was brought over by Ah Xue, onto the pot of porridge for everyone.

"Sister Xiaoyou, haven't you had breakfast yet? You keep staring at me, are you hungry?"

"Hungry." The Dragon Girl nodded.

"Come sit down here. If you don't mind, try the porridge I made myself. Don't worry, it's not greasy at all, and it's very nourishing!"

As Xue spoke gently, she took Long Niang's hand, led her to sit down, and then began to cook porridge for Long Niang with a bowl and spoon.

In this scene, Yilin looked at Xue with a disappointed expression. As an "old hand" by Liao Ji's side, she should have joined forces to oppose the "newcomer" instead of turning against him!

When Irene turned to 86, another "veteran," to seek his approval, she was shocked to find herself feeling betrayed once again.

because

"86! Where did this wad of thread come from? And what are you doing right now?"

"Sister Xiaoyou is still barefoot and her clothes are tattered, so as a maid, I naturally have to prepare new clothes for the new member. This way, I can clearly distinguish myself from Miss Yilin." That's what No. 86 said.

"You, you all... Humph!"

Irene panicked. She had intended to lull Xue and the maid into a false sense of security so she could secretly cultivate a relationship with Xiaoyou, but now she had ended up in last place.

Ah Xue has taken all the food, and 86 has taken all the clothes, so it seems I can only start with the accommodations!

So tonight

Irene's thoughts began to drift.

After Xiao You's interlude, Liao Ji wasn't surprised at all to see how quickly the Dragon Girl integrated into the group. After all, despite Jiu You seemingly having the biggest and most intimidating title among "them," using "Empress" as her title, the actual Dragon Girl was actually the least pretentious of "them," provided that her sore spot wasn't touched.

Jiu You only has a few Achilles' heel, and even if you wanted to, it would be very difficult to touch them.

As Liao Ji thought this, he took a sip of the breakfast porridge that Ah Xue had brought to the high-level executives who were in the meeting.

Ok

sure!

Liao Ji smacked his lips and couldn't help but praise him.

This familiar texture and taste... isn't this the nourishing porridge I used to make for Ah Xue every day back in the Sealed City? I never expected the catgirl to be so talented in cooking; she could recreate the porridge just by drinking it.

Uh

wrong!

Wait!

It was only when Liao Jicai arrived here that he suddenly realized the seriousness of the problem.

Unfortunately, it was a bit too late.

because

Actually, Jiu You had a strong sense of familiarity when she smelled the porridge, and after being pulled over by A Xue and actually taking a sip...