Before becoming a member of the Yaoqing, Feixiao had once been one of the many war slaves among the Borisins.
Hundreds of years ago, in a war slave concentration camp.
As soon as the sky began to lighten, Feixiao was woken by the preset alarm. The loudspeaker in the corner of the room blared a piercing voice: "Inferior slaves, it's time to get up. I'm giving you thirty minutes to wash up, get dressed, and eat. Thirty minutes from now, everyone must assemble at the mine immediately."
"Otherwise, bear the consequences yourselves!"
—"Oh right, since there are new war slaves in the concentration camp, I'll explain once more."
"Life in the concentration camp is harsh. Hot water is rationed—each person can only use thirty liters per day (bathhouse hot water not included). Once exceeded, you'll only get twenty-five-degree cold water. Even if you protest, we won't give you an extra drop of hot water, hahaha!"
"Next, hygiene supplies. The ones provided here are all disposable. Want your own personal hygiene supplies? Impossible! Once you arrive at the concentration camp, everything of yours no longer belongs to you!"
"Finally. Breakfast is just one piece of bread, one egg, and a cup of milk. These three things only ensure your nutrition—they have absolutely no flavor. This is to tell you that your future life will only be as bland as this breakfast! Hahahahaha—"
...
Feixiao finished all these tasks fifteen minutes early and obediently reported to the mine, but what puzzled her was that even with only fifteen minutes left, the mine was still empty. There was only a Borisin foreman wearing a hardhat, gnawing voraciously on a roasted leg of meat in his hand.
"(Chew chew chew) Inferior slave, what are you doing here?"
The Borisin foreman noticed Feixiao and asked while chewing on the leg.
Feixiao swallowed and said timidly: "Th-the broadcast said to assemble at the mine. I-I was just following orders."
The Borisin foreman glanced at the time and immediately flew into a rage: "Bullshit! The broadcast clearly said to assemble here fifteen minutes from now. Why'd you come so early? Oh—I get it. You must not have good intentions, huh?"
Feixiao shrank back, desperately explaining: "N-no, that's not what I meant..."
"Hmph! I've been a foreman for so many years—I've seen plenty of trash like you." The Borisin foreman sneered: "Trying to clock in early to get overtime pay, right?"
Feixiao: "Eh? No, that's not it..."
The Borisin foreman burst into laughter: "Dream on! Looks like you don't know your place, huh? Foxian?"
"Remember this: your current status is that of an inferior, lowly slave. One day as a slave, and you'll be a slave for life!"
"And overtime? Hmph, that's a right for workers only. Lowly breeds like you aren't qualified for overtime, hahaha!"
Feixiao: "S-sorry, I was wrong..."
The Borisin foreman took another bite of the roasted leg in his hand. Looking at Feixiao's petite and frail frame, a thoroughly wicked idea suddenly surfaced in his mind.
"...Hey, inferior slave, lift your head!" The Borisin foreman barked.
Feixiao cautiously raised her head, letting the other's gaze roam unchecked over her body. For a moment, she felt utterly humiliated.
The Borisin foreman eyed Feixiao's delicate body up and down, then let out a lecherous chuckle: "Inferior slave, since your head just filled with overstepping thoughts, I've decided to punish you properly. Get over here!"
Feixiao fearfully inched closer a bit.
The Borisin foreman: "For your punishment, you're gonna stuff a big, thick thing all the way in. Got it?"
Feixiao's little face froze, her mind instantly flashing to plots she'd once seen like "Female Knight Defeated by Borisin Hands." Her face immediately flushed red. "N-no, we can't..."
"Hmph? A mere slave—this isn't up to you!"
And so, the Borisin foreman shoved the half-eaten roasted leg from his hand straight into Feixiao's mouth, his voice dripping with evil:
"Hahaha, look at how scrawny you are—if you eat this much all at once, it'll make you feel so stuffed and miserable, right? But too bad, rules are rules. Break 'em, and you get punished. Got it? Eat!"
Feixiao: "Mmph mmph mmph—!"
Ten-odd minutes later, Feixiao slumped to the ground with lifeless eyes, feeling like her body no longer belonged to her—she couldn't even stand.
The other war slaves who arrived later saw this scene and immediately started buzzing with discussion.
"Quiet down, all of you!"
The Borisin foreman cleared his throat forcefully and said: "This is what happens to anyone who dares sneak in early for work! See that? You're nothing but slaves—don't get ideas you shouldn't!"
"I'll reiterate once more: each slave can work at most eight hours a day, with a full one-hour break in between. Anyone who violates the rules will be severely punished!"
"Everyone hear that?"
"We heard! (In unison)"
"Good, now start work... You, lowly slave, hold on! Where's your damn hardhat?! Heading to work without a hardhat—are you trying to die?! If something happens, is it on you or me? The tribe only paid a thousand credits for your insurance—if something goes down, it'll at most support you for thirty years!"
"Lost your hardhat? Lowly slaves are just lowly—stupid as hell... Fine, use mine for now!"
"What? You ask when you'll return it? My precious... no, can a hat worn by a lowly slave even be used anymore? Don't ruin it with your inferior stench!"
—"...Ugh, why?"
At that moment, Feixiao, nearly stuffed to death, struggled to stand from the ground. She looked at the foreman and asked: "Why... why not eat me? Aren't you Borisins the type who love eating your prey?"
Feixiao didn't understand why the Borisins treated slaves like them this way.
The Borisin foreman laughed, his smile thick with sarcasm.
"Eat you?" He mocked: "What the hell are you Foxians? Not even two taels of meat total—harder to gnaw than a duck neck. Don't you have any self-awareness?"
"I'll say it again: you're just slaves, not fit to be food. Eating you would just ruin the appetite. We have specially raised livestock—way better texture than you."
Feixiao bit her lip, her heart unsure whether to feel happy or sad in that moment.
So in the Borisins' eyes, that was all Foxians amounted to?
"But... why is our work schedule like this?" Feixiao asked again.
The Borisin burst into laughter. "Lowly slave, don't think we don't know—for you Xianzhou people, the most agonizing thing by consensus is going to work!"
"And according to your Xianzhou's public data, your average work hours are the eight-hour system. So we want you slaves to know that even here, it'll be as painful as going to work. Wahakaka—!"
Feixiao watched the foreman's departing back, her heart stirring slightly. For some reason, the Borisins—whom she'd always deeply loathed—suddenly seemed somewhat affable in her eyes...