Speaking, the village chief paused, and said with a wry smile, "Looking at it from today's perspective, my ancestors probably wanted to wash away the negative effects of the ghoul bloodline through intermarriage with outsiders, gradually turning the clansmen into normal human beings,

thereby getting closer to the sacred and great Sacred Mountain.

Logically speaking, there was nothing wrong with this plan, but..."

Li Ang asked, "There was a slight deviation in the plan?"

"That's right."

The village chief nodded and said, "At first, the bloodthirsty impulses of the clansmen were indeed suppressed. The newborns' appearances were completely the same as normal humans, and there would no longer be racial characteristics such as red eyes, sharp nails, and large amounts of bulging veins.

Even if they didn't eat meat and only ate vegetarian food, there would be no problem at all.

However, as time went by, in a generation when the population of our village reached its peak, the bloodthirsty impulse engraved in our bloodline returned. At that time, the village population was already too large, and hunting on the edge of the forest or raising livestock was no longer enough to meet the demand for meat.

So, we had to take some special methods..."

The village chief paused, seeming to notice the expressions on the players' faces, and hurriedly explained, "Please rest assured, everyone, our ancestors have never attacked warriors, nor have we ever maliciously harmed any warrior teams.

We only occasionally ask warrior teams to bring back some monster corpses from the dungeon when issuing trials,

or, uh, when a warrior dies, we bury them in the village cemetery in the name of the Sacred Mountain's special funeral rites—in reality, you understand..."

The village chief rubbed his palms helplessly and awkwardly. It was truly embarrassing to tell the story of the guardian village's villagers sharing the corpses of dead warriors under the pretext of funeral rites.

But he had no choice. They wouldn't trust him if he didn't say so.

Moreover, he and even his previous generation had never seen a living warrior. This kind of thing only existed in the oral traditions of generations of elders and was regarded as a village secret.

It was only because the village was about to die out naturally that he had no choice but to tell Li Ang and the others.

"According to my, my father's, and my grandfather's estimations, the fundamental reason for the progeria is the irreversible decline of the bloodline caused by a long-term lack of blood food, with the destruction of the Sacred Mountain gate as an additional reason."

The village chief said helplessly, "I believe you have all seen that we raise livestock such as chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep in our village.

However, even if we let the village's newborns eat livestock blood and meat from a young age, it will not cure or even alleviate the progeria. That's why I said that progeria belongs to the category of miracles that cannot be cured by conventional means.

Sometimes I also think, is it because our village has lost its pure bloodline due to intermarriage with the outside world, and has been abandoned by the Sacred Mountain..."

"..."

Li Ang listened quietly to the village chief's story, stroking the dragon head beard, and fell into thought.

David thought for a while and asked, "Um... have you ever tried hunting the monsters in the dungeon?

Maybe it's because the blood and meat of livestock doesn't contain extraordinary energy, so it's ineffective after eating it."

"This..."

The village chief said with a wry smile, "We want to, but as you can see, brave warriors, the progeria has made our village lack defenses, and the extraordinary power in our bloodline has long been lost.

Even if we disregard the ancestral precepts and plan to actively hunt the monsters in the dungeon,

we don't have that strength anymore."

"Equivalent to a death spiral?"

An Boury casually said, "No strength—can't get monster blood and meat—progeria worsens—strength declines.

If we hadn't come, would your village have reached the point where eight-year-olds look like eighty-year-olds in a few years?"

The village chief smiled wryly, his expression bleak, "It's almost there. According to the approximate results of the statistics, the progeria in the village is getting earlier and earlier, and more and more serious.

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

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

and it takes at least ten years to train a craftsman who can understand how to disassemble, imitate, manufacture, and research external props.

After finally training a craftsman and pilot, he becomes old and frail in a year or two,

sometimes even before he can train the next generation of apprentices, he passes away.

In a few more years, maybe no one will be able to understand or comprehend the literature in the library."

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

Hohenheim said slowly, "If a vampire with a low bloodline level lives in a low free-energy area for a long time and doesn't get blood food supplements, their skin will gradually turn pale and covered with wrinkles, their body hair will fall out, their thinking will be slow and dull, they will gradually lose their minds, and eventually degenerate into a humanoid albino bat monster.

The same is true for werewolves.

If they don't get moonlight supplements, they will become purely mindless beasts.

Um... I want to ask, does your village have records of changes in the level of surrounding free energy in history?"

"What?" The village chief was stunned and didn't understand.

Hohenheim explained patiently, "It's the concentration of surrounding energy. Has it changed in the last few decades, or has it been like this since thousands of years ago?"

"This..."

The village chief hesitated and said, "I'm not very clear. When that Shadow Demon Beast attacked fifty years ago, it destroyed many of the village's buildings and killed many people, and some information was lost,

which led to my limited knowledge.

After all, that was already my great-grandparent's generation."

"Alright."

Hohenheim nodded regretfully. If the other party had preserved records, then he might be able to figure out why this area at the foot of the mountain is a low-magic zone.

This is normal. Just like ancient human civilizations in history wouldn't record the oxygen concentration in the world at that time,

to accurately detect the concentration of free energy in the air, you need to use professional knowledge and equipment, and be able to recognize the essence of free energy.

Hohenheim thought for a while and asked again, "Then, have you ever thought about leaving?

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

"Leave?"

The expression on the village chief's face was a bit strange. After hesitating for a moment, he said slowly, "Uh, although leaving the Sacred Mountain range is considered a rebellious act, regarded as a disgrace, expelled from the village, and removed from the family tree,

But in order to continue the race, some people will always try. Some of our ancestors tried to leave the Sacred Mountain Island, either secretly on their own or following warrior teams to the outside world,

However, after they walked out of the forest, no one ever came back. Later warrior teams never brought back any information about our clansmen."

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

An Boury clicked his tongue, "Is this the Sacred Mountain's blessing to you, or is it the Sacred Mountain's curse on you?"

The village chief's lips moved, as if he wanted to refute An Boury's slander against the Sacred Mountain, but he swallowed the words back. It seemed that he would often be confused and even question this point in private.

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

The village chief's face showed a worried expression, "Then, do you... have a solution?"

"I have to experiment first."

Li Ang waved his hand, not giving a guarantee, but asked the village chief to gather the villagers of all ages, genders, and physical conditions in the village square.

The more sample evidence, the better.

Regarding the survival of the race, the village chief and village guards quickly gathered hundreds of villagers and stood together in the village square.

Li Ang didn't know where he got a wooden table from, covered with a red cloth.

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

More than ten minutes later, Li Ang had initially checked the villagers' physical conditions. He didn't dismiss the villagers, but went to a secluded corner with the village chief and other companions to discuss.

"I know."

Li Ang said, "The progeria currently prevalent in your village is indeed an irreversible bloodline decline caused by a long-term lack of blood food.

This source of blood food, to be precise, is humans who have the same appearance as you."

The village chief was stunned, "Ah, this..."

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. The food chain is just killing and eating each other, it's normal. I'm not a witcher."

Li Ang waved his hand calmly and said casually, "On the contrary, this proves that you weren't lying to us just now. You really haven't eaten people for a long time.

You've even forgotten why your race eats people."

"Uh..."

The village chief asked suspiciously, "What do you mean?"

"Rabbits, horses, cattle, sheep,

lions, tigers, cats, dogs..."

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

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

Vampires suck blood and ghouls eat corpses, it's the same reason—for survival.

But, seeing the essence through the phenomenon,

why can't vampires survive without sucking blood?

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

Can any children tell me?"

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

Hohenheim didn't care about Li Ang's seemingly provocative words. After thinking about it, he said cautiously, "Some schools believe that vampires suck blood to absorb the spiritual power from ordinary people's bodies,

Some schools believe that it is to indulge in sin and karma to nourish their own blood energy;

Some schools believe that it is influenced by the ancestors of the blood clan—periodic consumption of human blood will produce a soul-based withdrawal reaction.

As for our Clock Tower...

Through cooperation with the blood clan and a series of scientific and rigorous experiments, we are more inclined to the last explanation..."

Seeming to notice the strange gazes of his other teammates, Hohenheim said calmly, "Actually, the country I'm in (the United Kingdom in the real world) also has blood clans,

Although they are not as powerful and fashionable as described in literary works, there are also several groups with considerable scale.

In the past, because of the decline of spiritual energy, they lived miserably. We protected them as rare animals in the Clock Tower to prevent the extinction of the native British blood clan.

It's been slightly better in recent years.

As for the situation of blood clans outside of Britain, I don't know much."

As a long-standing organization like the Special Affairs Bureau, the Clock Tower Mage Association has been developing very well recently by excavating past wealth.

All kinds of new experimental projects are emerging one after another,

For example, the artificial red dragon breeding factory project that places dragon eggs next to nuclear reactors;

The Royal Navy reconstruction plan to release epic-level magic on battleships, giving them independent minds and the ability to transform into humans;

Compared with these magnificent projects that determine the fate of the country, the gene engineering exploration of the blood clan is not really anything—London was also a major source of blood clans in the past,

But under the supervision and cleaning of the Clock Tower and the Church, it is very weak.

Currently, blood clans around the world live more in continental Europe and America.

Others didn't know what Hohenheim was thinking and turned to look at Li Ang.

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

As for ghouls, who are not as fashionable as blood clans,

The reason for devouring flesh and blood is much simpler and more rustic—to replenish special substances that they cannot produce themselves.

For example, bacteria."

"Bacteria?"

The village chief and other players were stunned, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know if you've ever raised hamsters."

Li Ang gestured and said, "Hamsters are furry, small, and very cute rodents.

But they are actually ruthless poop-making machines.

Even more terrifying is that they not only poop, but also eat their own poop.

Hamsters eat poop up to twenty times a day, and guinea pigs can eat it up to two hundred times.

When they are holding something and gnawing on it, they can't tell whether they are gnawing on feed or their own poop.

The reason is that these rodents don't have enzymes in their bodies that can directly digest cellulose, and can't extract nutrients from plant stems and leaves through the tough cell walls.

This makes the efficiency of them obtaining nutrients from forage very low, so they repeatedly swallow poop and self-produce and self-sell."

Everyone listened in a daze,

Although Li Ang was wearing a dragon head mask,

For some reason, his tone always gave people the feeling that he was particularly elated and gleeful when talking about poop and pee.

"This regular self-production and self-sale behavior, in addition to obtaining nutrition, is also to save their own bacteria."

Li Ang said, "Taking rabbits as an example, their size determines that they cannot evolve a large rumen like cows to store enough microorganisms to help them digest the plant fiber they ingest.

So they have evolved a very long cecum, which stores microorganisms in the cecum to help digestion—

Of course, relative to the size of the rabbit, the cecum is still not long enough, not enough time for the food to stay in it to complete digestion. The cecal feces that are pulled out are soft and dense, and contain a lot of cecal microorganisms.

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

"Wait a minute,"

The village chief couldn't help but interrupt, "Very reasonable, but what does a rabbit eating poop have to do with our ghoul clan?"

"It has a lot to do with it."

Li Ang smiled slyly and said faintly, "Ghouls eat people, not simply because they covet people's bodies, but because they covet the little things in human bodies.

Chapter 144 Gut Flora