Hearing this answer, Liu Buli immediately burst into laughter.
It had to be said that smart people indeed had their advantages. Just like now, this person was more understanding than he had imagined. Without needing further prompting, he directly addressed the question that Liu Buli cared about the most.
What a good subordinate the Ghost King had indeed gained!
Unable to help but sigh inwardly, Liu Buli's smile grew even brighter. He gestured with his chin towards the ghost, urging him, "Tell me in detail, elaborate. For example, what do you mean by him leaving the Ghost City for extended periods? What did he do? What happened after he returned? Tell me everything you can think of. After all, you haven't given me any particularly satisfactory answers yet, so this is your chance. I hope you don't waste it."
The ghost naturally understood this logic.
He nodded vigorously and began to explain to Liu Buli in detail.
It had to be said that this ghost had served the Ghost King for a very long time. The information he provided was even more specific than what You Siqi, the author, had revealed.
According to him, a long time ago, the Ghost King did not stay in the Ghost City for such extended periods. Even if he disliked the outside weather, he would occasionally venture out for food, selecting the prey he deemed best and satisfying his hunger.
This way of life continued unchanged until a century ago. Just as all the ghosts believed the Ghost King would continue this routine, he suddenly proposed a bold idea: to conquer the entire human world, domesticate humans as food, ensuring they could be consumed at will and preventing the emergence of powerful humans who could annihilate the entire ghost race.
Regarding the Ghost King's proposal, everyone found it somewhat strange. In their eyes, even if humans became incomprehensibly powerful, they would never be able to destroy the ghost race.
However, this was the Ghost King's command, and the command itself seemed to pose no harm to them. Thus, they passively accepted it and began a century of preparation.
In the beginning, everyone was enthusiastic. But not long after, they discovered that although the idea originated from the Ghost King, he himself seemed to show no interest in its execution.
Instead, he sought out various races and began engaging in procreation. However, the ghost race's physique was inherently different from other races, and almost all the individuals the Ghost King approached died shortly after being favored by him.
Very few remained, and most of them were from the ghost race itself.
Over time, the Ghost King seemed to find this activity meaningless. He abandoned his pursuits with other races and returned to the Ghost City. After venturing out for food twice more, he never left his chambers again.
"I remember that in the past, if His Majesty was in a good mood, he would not only drink with us but also share the food he hunted with us," the ghost said, frowning as he recalled. "Even if he didn't go out, it wouldn't be more than a year. For him to stay indoors for over a decade like this is absolutely unprecedented."
"Then it's highly likely he's ill," Liu Buli said. "We just don't know if it's a psychological or physiological illness. In any case, it's quite severe, so severe that he cannot appear in public, and severe enough that he needs to seek out us, the Wuming."
As he spoke, Liu Buli paused and continued, "What's this about him seeking to procreate? Has he always had this tendency? Is it to leave behind offspring? Does your ghost race also emphasize lineage?"
"There's no such emphasis. Because we have very long lifespans, living a lifetime alone is quite fulfilling. There's no point in having offspring. Moreover, we don't have the concept of lineage. Offspring are more likely to be accidents. The mother raises the child, and when the child can survive on its own, it no longer stays with the mother. We've never had the troublesome matters of human family inheritance. Sometimes, we might meet and not even recognize them as family. The ghost race has always lived this way and never felt anything was wrong," the ghost explained to Liu Buli.
After speaking, he seemed to realize the strangeness of it all. He frowned and shook his head, "Yes, if it's always been like this, why would His Majesty call the young master back..."
"That's why I said, there must be some conspiracy you don't know about," Liu Buli rolled his eyes. "Otherwise, it's that your king has suddenly awakened a familial affection that the ghost race has never possessed in millennia. I don't believe such a thing, and do you?"
The ghost immediately shook his head.
Liu Buli smiled.
He had obtained enough information this time and was quite satisfied. Knowing that he couldn't extract any more answers, he thought for a moment and changed the subject, "By the way, tell me about these monsters you keep. I've never seen anything like them in the human world. Are they a specialty of your Ghost City?"
"That's right, they are things found only in the Ghost City," the ghost nodded vigorously. "The Ghost Realm is actually vast, even larger than the human world. However, the area where ghosts are active is very small. Even if we know about other places, we've never been there. These monsters are creatures from those areas, but they are closer to the Ghost City, so I captured them as my pets. I haven't seen the monsters from deeper regions, but they are said to be very powerful, beyond even the Ghost King's ability to handle."