Chapter 794: Chapter 437, Humanity Will Prevail_2
They’re bearable when the wind is in their sails; they can even be crueler than their orc masters. But let a little adversity blow their way, and you’ll see those piss-poor troops crumble in minutes.
It’s this very nature that doomed them to a life at the bottom of Green Skin society. They’re content with their lot, assuming all the responsibilities the orcs disdain—which essentially means everything but fighting.
Sometimes, when the orcs felt gloomy, they would snatch a few of those cowards to eat and lighten their mood.
These cowards weren’t particularly good as industrial workers or farmers either. Their cunning would show up in their work, as they loved to cut corners and cheat. But this problem was somewhat easy to solve: the orcs would personally wield whips to supervise, or appoint a favored coward to do so. The latter could be even harsher on their own kind than the orc masters.
Through these means, Green Skin society maintained at least a minimal level of productivity.
As for the upper limit, that remains unfathomable.
Waagh is an absurdity; what started as a meaningless Green Skin battle cry also signifies an adjective in their language, describing anything positive for the Green Skins; it can even serve as a noun, representing a grand war; and then there’s so-called waagh energy—a form of Spiritual Energy unique to the Green Skin race.
Put simply, if they believe something can succeed, then it will.
This is where Green Skin technology astounds, with piles of junk miraculously able to take to space and exchange fire with human behemoths—sheer lunacy.
These cowards possess that capability too, and while their tendency to slack off generally subtracts from productivity, the moment one of them manages to create something miraculous while shirking their duties, it’s a sudden spike in productivity.
Factor in their vast numbers and bodies that mature in just a few months… Temir II has now become a vast Green Skin factory.
And this factory’s primary output is the Green Skins themselves; it churns out some weapons and equipment on the side, with resources plundered from the other two Temir planets.
Compared to Temir II, where human activity is nearly undetectable, the situations on Temir IV and Temir No.5 are somewhat better.
Though they’re not great either.
Among them, Temir IV fares relatively better. The mining world’s numerous mines, caverns, and complex industrial facilities enable the humans there to hunker down. With limited Green Skin forces committed, they have to methodically siege each mine. After several months of occupation, they’ve yet to devour it all.
However, the issue with Temir IV is the planet’s own insufficient supplies. It used to rely on Temir II for food. Now that interstellar transport is cut off, when they deplete their stored supplies and even the synthetic starch production lines fail, the many mining outposts reliant on the mining industry will face annihilation.
The situation on Temir No.5 is worse, but not as utterly disastrous as on Temir II. After all, unlike Temir II, where most of the land is wide-open fertile plains—wonderful in peacetime for bountiful farming—it offers no defense during war and was quickly overwhelmed.
At least on Temir No.5, humans can still resist in some mountainous areas and inside mega-cities.
After carefully analyzing the situation on the three Temir planets, Du Shiliang developed a set of response plans.
In this world where large-scale human activity is no longer detectable, not everyone has been killed.
That would be impossible.
Humans are a tenacious species and won’t be wiped out so easily.
Even under these circumstances, if more than 90% of the planetary population—a terrifying number that speaks to the Green Skins’ killing efficiency—was butchered, the remaining less than ten percent would still mean two to three hundred million people, possibly more, live in various corners of the planet.
Zhu Zhengbao is one of them, now seventy years old.
He’s a distinguished veteran of the Native Defense Forces of Temir II, once conscripted by the Empire to lead millions of Defense Army soldiers to the front lines against the Green Skins.
Strategic, bold, and valiant, he led the Defense Army to impressive victories.
Later, with age, he returned home to a hero’s welcome and was honored as ‘Marshal.’
Disinterested in politics, he desired only a peaceful retirement. But when the Green Skins invaded en masse, he stood once more, rallying the Temirians to resist the invaders.
The disparity in strength between the two sides was too vast, and with the Green Skin ships dominating orbit at the onset of war, the human forces were easily defeated. The Temirians had been brutally slaughtered across the defenseless plains.
But despite this, the old Marshal never lost his steadfast will.
Giving the situation on Temir, a direct confrontation with the Green Skins was impossible. He decisively led his troops and protected the civilians, relocating elsewhere.
A planet this large can’t be thoroughly searched by the orcs in a short time.
Through tremendous efforts, they found places the orcs hadn’t yet trampled, and they survived through hardship. They established a base, cautiously striking out, eliminating any Green Skins that might discover them.