No Beast Girls on the Western Front

Page 77

But the timing is very delicate. Miss Mary could arrive at any moment, and if Grace were to stop talking at a crucial point, wouldn't that be too agonizing?

Grace, on the other hand, seemed completely at ease, as if she had no idea how urgent the time was. She sat on the tree trunk and didn't rush to speak. Instead, she swung her legs like a little girl.

Did she choose this time on purpose?

Are you deliberately trying to pique my interest?

interesting.

However, now that I've seen through your scheme, you can forget about letting me fall into your trap again!

Even if you stop at the crucial point, or even don't say anything at all, so what? There's still plenty of time! I have all the time to listen to your story!

Trying to fight me, a human? You orcs are far from being good enough!

But just as Payne was secretly grinning, he heard Grace say, "Take a look at my back."

"...?"

Although Payne slowly typed a question mark, it didn't stop him from immediately agreeing.

Just kidding, opportunities are always reserved for those who have the chance!

Besides, this doesn't necessarily mean he's being invited to take advantage of her—Paine has a pretty good idea of ​​what might be on the beast girl's back.

Sure enough, as Grace turned her back to him and slowly pulled her clothes up, what came into view was not a fair and smooth back, but scars more gruesome than those in the trenches on the front lines:

The whip marks resembled countless long-dried riverbeds, intertwined in a grayish-white hue, etched onto the meager amount of normal skin.

They are not scattered and disorderly, but rather present a suffocating order—mostly arranged in parallel, but the force and trajectory carry the madness and randomness of the perpetrator.

Old marks are layered upon even older marks, like layers of frozen, peeling glaze on pottery.

Some of the wounds had jagged edges, clearly indicating that the whip tip had struck with great force, leaving traces of skin being torn and flesh being ripped open.

As she breathed, her back rose and fell slightly, and the scars seemed to wriggle, clinging to the white background like living things.

If it weren't for these scars, Grace's back would be as white and clean as snow.

But this is no longer just a woman's back; it is a wilderness that has been plowed, burned, and utterly destroyed, yet has been barely stitched together by tenacious vitality.

Like land riddled with holes by trenches.

Watching this scene unfold, Payne remained numb, a numbness that surprised even himself.

After all, that's just how the world is, and he's seen this kind of situation far too often.

"How are things? Is it getting better?"

Grace's words snapped Payne back from his reverie. He shook his head with a wry smile, "I didn't even see your back before, how would I know if it's getting better..."

“Ah…yes,” Grace said. “Would you like to touch it?”

Payne had lost all interest in taking advantage of the situation. "Maybe... we should just forget about it..."

"What's wrong? You're all talk and no action?" Grace's tone carried a hint of slyness.

"This doesn't really go to the level of 'color'..." Payne said helplessly. "Besides, you were already..."

“Then, consider it your help to check on the condition of my wounds, and I’ll judge for myself whether it’s improving,” Grace interrupted him.

Now Payne had no reason to refuse, so he swallowed hard and slowly placed his hand on Grace's deeply lined back.

Chapter 120 CXIX. Grace's Past

Contrary to the initial expectation of a texture covered in dents, the whip marks were slightly raised, as if to compensate for the damaged skin and flesh, or as if they had been deliberately thickened to withstand future whippings.

The feel of scars is different from that of skin; it's smoother than skin, but also more prone to wrinkling from rubbing.

Payne didn't know what this phenomenon was called; he only knew that it wasn't normal flesh.

If it were a human, such marks would stay with them for their entire life.

But something in the genes of beast girls is unknown, but after such scars are formed, normal flesh will grow back after a period of time.

Payne even had the misconception that scientists deliberately added this gene to the beast girls in order to cover up the bad things humans did to them.

"how is the situation?"

Sister Niu's words pulled Payne out of his reverie. His tone was somewhat somber: "The newest wound is still translucent, looking like jelly, and it doesn't feel like normal skin."

"Is that so... It seems it will take some time before I fully recover."

As she said this, Grace put down her clothes, turned around and looked at Payne, "You should know what I've been through, right?"

Payne shook his head with a wry smile. "I can probably guess. But you've only told me about your work experience before, without mentioning anything else... I think your situation is more complicated, so I won't make any assumptions."

"Oh...so you want to hear me talk about it?"

"Well, if you want."

Sister Niu didn't start speaking immediately. She remained silent for a while, seemingly gathering her emotions, before finally beginning:

"Because I frequently change workplaces, I have heard many orcs talk about their living conditions."

"Insults, beatings, withholding rations, restricting movement, and working extremely long and intense hours... almost every animal is telling the same story."

"I used to think that all humans were the same, but because I often changed workplaces, I was lucky enough to meet two good people."

"One was a real estate developer who took me to the city to move bricks, and the other was an officer who trained me."

Payne raised an eyebrow. "Training officers who are good to orcs? Those are truly rare breeds."

"I only found out about this later."

Grace shrugged and continued, "Whether it was the farmers who made me plow the fields, the village chief who made me build roads in the village, the contractors and bosses at the coal mine, or the animal trainers who initially took charge of me, none of them were good people."

"I am very strong, but there is a limit to that, and I also need to rest."

"But they seem to think that my strength has no limit, and that as long as they increase the intensity of the whipping, I can always exert even more force."

"At first, in order to please them and avoid suffering, I would desperately push myself to the limit."

"But I later discovered that doing so wouldn't get me more food or rest. The extra work I put in today would be taken for granted and become my minimum workload tomorrow."

“And if I slack off even a little, or explain to them that I really can’t do any more, they will whip me even harder, because they will think I’m slacking off.”

"It's as if they would suffer enormous losses today and even in the future if they agreed to my request not to increase their workload even once."

Although it's all in the past, Grace still sighed sadly when she talked about it.

After a moment of silence, Payne asked, "So how did you deal with it? Knowing your personality, I feel like you might actually do something like kicking those bastards..."

“Ha, I don’t have the guts.” Grace gave a wry smile. “I’ve heard stories like this:”

"A canine beast accidentally bit a woodcutter who was chopping wood on the mountain during a hunt. No matter how she explained that she was blinded by hunger due to a long period of starvation, she was eventually shot dead by her master..."

"If accidentally injuring a human is already this bad, then if it's done intentionally, it certainly won't end well."

"So what did you do in the end?" Payne asked.

Grace paused for a moment, then continued, "At that time, I felt that I was definitely not going to survive, so I thought, since it's already like this, why should I still work for them?"

"So one morning, I took the initiative to find my first master, a farmer, and said that I really couldn't increase the workload any further, or I would definitely die."

"Since I'm going to die anyway, I might as well stop working. At least I want to rest before I die."

"After saying these words, I felt an unprecedented sense of relief."

“The farmer whipped me as hard as he always had, but I just lay on the haystack and refused to move no matter how hard he hit me.”

"So he quickly realized I was serious."

"So he tried not to give me food, but I still ignored him—so what if I'm hungry? It's better than being beaten."

"Two days later, realizing that he couldn't work without the beasts, he finally compromised and agreed not to increase my workload anymore."

"This is the first time I've tasted victory."

"Later, whether I was pulled by the village chief to repair roads, or asked by the contractors and bosses of the coal mine to increase production, or asked by the first animal trainer to transport more ammunition, I would use this method whenever the workload became unbearable."

"Although the foreman and the first animal trainer really used all their strength when they fought the beasts, I always told myself to be more patient. After all, even if I compromised, it would only delay the time I would be beaten."

"When they are tired of beating me and have tried every means to make me submit, they will have no choice but to consider my demands."

"Although my method eventually worked, they probably felt that my uncooperative attitude was dangerous, so they quickly sold me to others after that."

"Anyway, I'm strong, so I don't have to worry about not finding buyers."

Hearing this, Payne smiled subconsciously. "What you're doing reminds me of someone."

"Hmm? Has any beast ever done the same thing as me before?...No, a human?"

"Yeah, the figure in the history books, named Gandhi. People call his behavior 'nonviolent non-cooperation'." Payne casually bullied the beast girl for being uneducated.

Although nonviolent non-cooperation is too weak and cannot make humans truly value the beast girls, the current situation does not allow the beast girls to use violence, and it is already quite remarkable that she has come this far.

“Really…” Grace nodded slowly. “Then you’ll have to tell me more about your human history in the future.”

"Ah... okay."

Realizing he had dug himself a hole, Payne didn't really care—anyway, the beast girl was uneducated, so he could just keep making things up.

"And what about the other two people who were good to you? I remember one was a real estate developer, and the other was a training officer?" he continued.

Chapter 121 CXX. Grace's Future

When we got to this point in the conversation, the atmosphere finally eased a bit and became slightly more relaxed.

Grace continued, "Well, I hardly ever spoke to that real estate developer except when he bought me, so I don't really know what kind of person he is."

"The humans on the construction site don't like orcs, so we don't talk to each other except for necessary work-related communication."

"However, I overheard their conversation, and they said that the real estate developer was indeed a good person and paid a pretty high salary."

"He was quite good to us orcs. The workload wasn't too heavy, the food was good, and no one whipped us."

"To be honest, I recovered from my injury during that time, so I'm very grateful to him. I would make a point of doing extra work every day. Even though there was no bonus, I still held myself to that standard, haha."

"As for the training officer I had after I joined the army, well... he reminded me a bit of you."

"He must also be a veteran, so he didn't just keep messing with us, but gave us targeted training, which is why you see that I can complete a lot of tasks smoothly."

"Unfortunately, he looks fierce, so we don't dare to approach him and we've never chatted with him..."