As he spoke, the village chief paused for a moment and said with a wry smile: "From the current perspective, my ancestors may have wanted to wash away the negative effects of ghoul bloodline through intermarriage with the outside world, so that the clansmen can gradually become normal humans.

Thus drawing closer to the holy and great holy mountain.

Common-sense reasoning suggests that there's nothing wrong with this plan, but..."

Leon asked, "Is there a slight deviation in the plan?" ”

"That's right."

The village chief nodded and said, "At the beginning, the bloodthirsty impulses of the clansmen were indeed suppressed, and the appearance of newborns was completely the same as that of normal humans, and there would no longer be racial characteristics such as red eyes, sharp nails, and a large number of green tendons.

Even if you don't eat flesh and blood, it's no problem to eat only vegetarian food.

However, as time went on, the bloodthirsty impulse engraved in the blood of a generation at the peak of our village's population returned—the village was already so populated that it was no longer enough to feed on the edge of the forest by hunting or raising livestock.

So we can only take some special approaches..."

The village chief paused, seemed to notice the expressions on the players' faces, and hurriedly explained, "Rest assured, our ancestors have never attacked the Brave, and we have never maliciously harmed any of the Brave teams.

We're just releasing trials when we occasionally ask the brave team to go to the dungeon and bring some monster corpses back,

Or, uh, when the brave man dies, in the name of the special funeral rites of the Holy Mountain, he is buried in the village cemetery - actually, you know..."

The village chief rubbed his palms helplessly and embarrassedly, and the villagers of the guardian village used the funeral ritual to share the corpses of the dead brave, and it was really embarrassing to tell it.

But he can't help it, if he doesn't say this, the other party won't trust him.

Moreover, his generation, and even the previous generation, had never seen a living brave man, and this kind of thing only existed in the word of mouth of the elders from generation to generation, and was regarded as a secret of the village.

It's just because the village is about to decay naturally now that I have to inform Li Ang and the others.

"According to my and my father's and grandfather's estimates, the root cause of Progeria is the irreversible decline of the blood veins caused by the long-term lack of blood and food, and the additional cause may be the destruction of the gate of the Holy Mountain."

The village chief said helplessly: "I think you have all seen that there are chickens, ducks, cows, sheep and other livestock in our village.

However, even if the newborn in the village is allowed to eat the flesh and blood of livestock from an early age, it will not cure or even alleviate the disease of Progeria - which is why I say that Progeria is a miracle that cannot be cured by conventional means.

Sometimes I wonder if our village has been abandoned by the Holy Mountain because of intermarriage with the outside world and the loss of pure bloodline..."

“...”

Li Ang quietly listened to the village chief's story, rubbing his dragon's head beard and falling into thought.

David thought for a moment and asked, "Hmm... Have you ever tried to hunt monsters in the dungeon?

Maybe it's because the flesh and blood of livestock doesn't contain extraordinary energy, so it won't have any effect after eating. ”

"This..."

The village chief smiled bitterly: "We want to too, but you should see that the disease of Progeria has made our village lack of garrisons, and the extraordinary power in the bloodline has long been lost.

Even if you ignore the ancestral teachings and plan to take the initiative to hunt the monsters in the dungeon,

We don't have that strength anymore. ”

"Equivalent to an endless loop?"

Ambori said casually: "No strength—no monster flesh and blood—worsening Progeria—declining strength."

If we don't come, will your village be at the point where an eight-year-old child looks like an eighty-year-old in a few years? ”

The village chief smiled bitterly and said with a bleak expression, "It's almost over." According to the general results of statistics, the disease of Progeria in the village is getting earlier and more serious.

The premature death of young people makes it impossible for us to accumulate knowledge and skills, and it is difficult to even preserve them.

It takes five years to train a craftsman who can use and repair external props.

It takes at least ten years to train a craftsman who can disassemble, imitate, manufacture, and study external props.

finally trained a craftsman pilot, and within a year or two, he became old.

Sometimes even the next generation of apprentices dies before they have time to train.

In a few years, no one may even be able to read or understand the literature in the library. ”

"I've seen this kind of bloodline decline before."

Hohenheim said slowly: "If a vampire with a low blood level lives in a low free energy area for a long time and does not receive blood food supplements, his skin will gradually turn pale and wrinkled, his hair will fall out, his mind will be slow and dull, and he will gradually lose his mind, and finally degenerate into a monster with a humanoid albino bat.

Werewolves are the same,

If you don't get the moonlight to replenish it, you will become a pure unintelligent beast.

Not... I would like to ask, has your village recorded the changes in the level of free energy around you in history? ”

"What?" The village chief was stunned for a moment, but did not understand.

Hohenheim patiently explained: "It's whether the intensity of the energy around us has changed over the decades, or whether it has been like this for thousands of years." ”

"This..."

The village chief hesitated for a moment and said, "I don't know very well, when the shadow demonic beast attacked fifty years ago, it destroyed many buildings in the village, killed many people, and lost some information.

As a result, I have limited information to understand.

After all, that's already my last generation. ”

"Okay."

Hohenheim nodded regretfully, if the other party had kept a record, then he might be able to figure out why this area at the foot of the mountain was a low-magic realm.

This is also normal, just like the ancient human civilization in history did not record the oxygen concentration in the world at that time.

In order to accurately detect the concentration of free energy in the air, it is necessary to use professional knowledge and equipment, and to be able to understand the nature of free energy.

Hohenheim thought for a moment and asked again, "So, have you ever thought about leaving?"

If you leave the forest, or even leave the island, and go to the outside world, maybe you can stop this bloodline decline, right? ”

"Leave?"

The expression on the village chief's face was a little strange, he hesitated for a moment, and then said slowly: "Well, although leaving the scope of the Holy Mountain will be considered a great rebellion, regarded as a disgrace, expelled from the village, and removed from the genealogy,

But in order to continue the race, there will always be people who try - some of our ancestors try to leave the Holy Mountain Island, or secretly leave by themselves, or follow the brave team to the outside world,

However, after they walked out of the forest, no one ever returned—and the later Brave Team never brought back information about our people. ”

"Then you're stuck here waiting to die."

Amberi smacked his lips, "Is this a blessing from the Holy Mountain to you, or a curse from the Holy Mountain to you?" ”

The village chief's lips moved, as if he wanted to refute Amberi's slander of the Holy Mountain, but the words came to his lips and swallowed them back—I think he would often be confused and even question this in private.

Li Ang slowly opened his eyes and nodded, "I already have the general information." ”

The village chief had a worried expression on his face, "Then you... Is there a way? ”

"I'll have to experiment with it first."

Li Ang waved his hand, and instead of punching the ticket, he asked the village chief to gather villagers of all ages, genders, and physical conditions in the village to gather in the village square.

The more sample evidence, the better.

When it was a matter of racial survival, the village chief and the village guards soon gathered hundreds of villagers and stood in the village square.

Leon didn't know where to get a wooden table, on which was covered with a red cloth,

He sat down behind the table and asked the villagers to line up and come forward one by one to receive his diagnosis.

After more than ten minutes, Li Ang finished the preliminary examination of the physical condition of the villagers, and did not dismiss the villagers, but went to a secluded corner with the village chief and other companions to discuss.

"I see."

Li Ang opened his mouth and said, "The prevalent disease of Progeria in your village is indeed the irreversible decline of the blood veins caused by the long-term lack of blood food in the past.

This source of blood food is, to be precise, the same kind of appearance as yours, humans. ”

The village chief was stunned for a moment, "Ahhhh

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, the food chain, it's normal to kill and kill, eat and eat. I'm not a witcher. ”

Li Ang waved his hand calmly and said casually: "This proves that you didn't deceive us just now, and you really haven't eaten people for a long time."

Even the race to which he belongs has forgotten why he wants to eat people. ”

"Uh..."

The village chief was puzzled, "What do you mean?" ”

"Rabbits, horses, cows, sheep,

Lions, tigers, cats, dogs..."

Li Ang said indifferently: "Herbivores eat grass, and carnivores eat meat."

Regardless of whether animals eat plants or meat, the essential purpose of eating is to absorb enough energy and substances from the outside world to meet their own survival needs.

Vampires suck blood, ghouls eat corpses, and it's the same reason - to survive.

However, seeing the essence through the phenomenon,

Why can't vampires live without sucking blood?

Why do ghouls become degraded and weak if they don't devour corpses?

Can any of the children tell me? ”

"Different schools of occultism have different explanations for why vampires suck blood,"

Hohenheim didn't care about Leonna's seemingly provocative words, thought about it, and said cautiously: "Some schools believe that vampires suck blood in order to absorb the spiritual power in the bodies of ordinary people.

Some schools believe that it is to immerse themselves in sinful karma in order to nourish their own blood energy;

Some schools of thought believe that it is influenced by the ancestors of the blood clan - eating human blood from time to time will produce a soul-based withdrawal reaction.

Our bell tower...

Through a series of scientifically rigorous experiments with the Bloodline, the last explanation is preferred..."

As if noticing the strange eyes of the other teammates, Hohenheim said calmly: "Actually, the country where I am (Britain in the real world) also has blood clans.

Although they are not as powerful and fashionable as depicted in literary and artistic works, they also have a few groups of considerable size.

In the past, because of the decline of aura, they had a very miserable life, and they were protected by our bell tower as a rare animal to prevent the extinction of the native blood clan of Great Britain.

It can be slightly better in recent years.

As for the Bloods outside of Britain proper, I don't know much about it. ”

As a long-standing organization like the Special Affairs Bureau, the Bell Tower Mage Association has developed well recently by tapping into the wealth of the past.

A variety of new experimental projects emerge one after another.

For example, the plan to breed red dragons in captivity next to a nuclear reactor by placing dragon eggs;

The Royal Navy's rebuilding plan to unleash epic magic on the battleships of the DPRK and give them independent minds and the ability to transform into humans;

Compared with these grand projects that determine the level of national fortunes, the exploration of the genome engineering of the blood clan is really nothing - although London is also a major birthplace of the blood clan in the past,

But under the supervision and cleaning of the bell tower and the Puritanism, it was very weak,

At present, the blood families around the world still live more in continental Europe and the United States.

The others didn't know what Hohenheim was thinking, and turned to look at Leon.

I saw him snap his fingers and say with a smile: "That's right, vampires eat human blood in order to absorb blood and soul energy.

And the ghouls who are not as fashionable as the blood clan,

The reason for devouring flesh is much simpler - to replenish special substances that they cannot produce on their own.

For example, the microflora. ”

"Flora?"

The village chief and the other players were stunned for a moment, "What do you mean?" ”

"I don't know if you've ever had a hamster."

Leon gestured and said, "Hamsters are shaggy rodent pets, small ones, and cute thieves.

But they are actually ruthless manure machines.

What's even more terrifying is that they not only poop, but also eat their own.

Hamsters eat feces more than 20 times a day, and guinea pigs can eat feces more than 200 times.

When they are holding something and nibbling, it is completely impossible to tell whether they are nibbling on feed or their own.

The reason for this is that these rodents do not have enzymes in their bodies that can directly digest cellulose, and they cannot penetrate the tough cell walls to absorb nutrients from plant stems and leaves.

This makes them very inefficient at eating forage to obtain nutrients, so they will repeatedly swallow feces and produce and sell themselves. ”

Everyone was stunned when they heard this,

Although Leon wears a dragon head mask,

But for some reason, his tone always gave everyone a sense of déjà vu that when he was talking about, pee and fart, he was particularly frowning and happy.

"This regular self-production and self-sale behavior, in addition to obtaining nutrients, is also to save its own flora."

"Rabbits, for example, are so large that they can't evolve a large rumen like a cow to preserve enough microbes to help them digest the plant fibre they consume," Leon said.

So they evolved a very lengthy cecum to preserve microorganisms in the cecum to help with digestion -

Of course, compared to the size of rabbits, the cecum is still not long enough, not enough to complete digestion in the time that the food stays, and the cecal stool pulled out is soft and dense, which contains a lot of cecal microorganisms.

Rabbits swallow their own soft stools, both to re-digest the undigested fiber, and to recycle the cecal microbes, otherwise they will suffer from coccidiosis and other diseases due to insufficient microorganisms..."

"Wait a minute,"

The village chief couldn't help but interrupt, "It makes sense, but what does rabbit eating have to do with our ghoul race?" ”

"It's a big deal."

Li Ang smiled and said faintly: "Ghouls cannibalism is not simply greedy for human bodies, but for the little things in human bodies. ”