Chapter 18 Brainwashing
"Then why didn't you tell your master? Why didn't you fight back and escape to those two human settlements?"
Karen smiled. In truth, he knew the answer very well.
"In those two places, it's pretty much the same as where we were. The strong rule everything. Even if we weaklings escaped there, we'd still be slaves."
"Your thinking is all wrong. No one is born a slave. Now there's no distinction between good people and sinners, everyone is equal. As long as you're willing to work hard and use your abilities, you can eat well and stay warm. You can also become one of the elite."
"The master is right."
"Call me leader."
"Yes, Leader."
Karen sighed. These people would form his initial team, and they needed a thorough brainwashing. He had to completely eradicate their deeply ingrained slave mentality so they could become brave and fearless warriors.
It was a long and arduous task.
"Leader, shouldn't we attack those two settlements over there? There are still many slaves there. Can't we take them and use them ourselves?"
This person was very smart and saw at a glance that Karen wanted to expand his power.
"Do you think we can take those places with just a dozen of us and twenty-odd burdens?
Let's go back first. After you've all been trained as warriors, we'll plot against those two settlements."
"Yes, Leader."
"What's your name?"
"Reporting to the leader, my name is Yin Li, and I am a sinner."
"First, don't call yourself 'little one'; you should call yourself 'subordinate'. Second, you are not a sinner. You are a warrior under Karen Munster."
It took them more than a day to return to the shelter.
Some of the weaker women fell behind on the road, but Karen didn't abandon them. Instead, he had the others carry them back to the shelter on their backs.
And on the way, Karen kept reminding them that a team must be united and cannot abandon any partner.
Back at the shelter, Karen again had everyone choose rooms to live in and asked them about their previous occupations to assign them tasks according to their skills.
However, Karen was only asking symbolically. Currently, the shelter didn't need anything other than cooks and doctors. What he needed most were warriors.
Next was the usual training, but after three days of training, Karen had to make some decisions.
This batch of slaves was very different from the people they had brought to the shelter before.
Those people, Karen had no choice but to train them all as warriors.
And after a full six months of good food and good sleep, those people had become qualified warriors.
But these people had been starving for years and had diseases and chronic illnesses, making it difficult to maintain the training.
There was no way around it. Karen could only have all the men train and become warriors no matter what.
The women, on the other hand, had their training reduced by half, mainly to strengthen their bodies. The rest of the time, they did things like helping with cooking and laundry.
Karen also had some of the smarter ones learn to do clerical work for future use.
After a month of training, although these people were still far from reaching the level of those dozen elites, they were able to skillfully operate various weapons and knew some battle formations. The next step was to take them out for actual combat.
These days, Wan Lei and Fang Xiaoyu hadn't been idle either. They and Yang Lazi were known as the three major instructors. Karen jokingly said that they would be the three great generals in the future.
And besides these four core people, the most influential people in the shelter were Zhuo Jiu and Yin Li.
Two batches of people who arrived at different times would naturally form small groups, but now there were still few people, and everyone got along well. Zhuo Jiu and the others were also willing to help Yin Li and the others train, and the relationship between them was still harmonious.
Karen originally planned to attack the other two human settlements in two separate operations, after all, they were few in number and the situation on the other side was unknown.
But after easily taking the first settlement, Karen's confidence soared, and he had a clear understanding of his own combat power.
So it turns out I'm this strong.
There was no way around it, the enemy was just too weak. This settlement was no different from the first one, also controlled by a dozen men over a group of slaves, only with a few more people. But when faced with more than thirty fully armed warriors, they were quickly and easily defeated.
In the end, a few clever people immediately chose to surrender. Karen saw that they were still strong, so he didn't kill them, but instead had them atone for their sins.
These people didn't know what sins they had committed, but when they heard that they could live, they immediately nodded in agreement.
What surprised Karen slightly was that they actually knew about the situation in the other settlement.
There were even fewer people there, only a dozen, but there were no slaves. Everyone was equal, and they lived a hard life in that small village.
According to Karen's idea, they should just surround and beat these people until they submitted and then recruit them.
But Yang Lazi dissuaded him, believing that these people were inherently kind and did not enslave the weak, so a more gentle approach would be better.
In the end, they chose a compromise solution: surround them first, show their strength, and then talk to the other side.
The two places weren't far apart, only half a day's journey. Karen directly led his people to the other settlement, which was just a small village with four or five houses. And you could tell that these houses had been damaged before, and were covered in nailed wooden planks.
When the people here saw dozens of fully armed people arriving, they immediately picked up their spears and clubs and looked at Karen and his people with hostility.
Karen had everyone put down their weapons, and under the protection of Wan Lei and Fang Xiaoyu, walked towards the group of people.
On this day, the two sides had a friendly meeting.
(Karen used emotion and reason to tell them that they could either follow us and everyone would be equal, or they could all die.)
And they reached a perfect consensus.
(Dozens of people pointed crossbows at their heads.)
The people in the village said that after joining Karen's forces, they would be loyal and dedicated to the team.
(Mainly because they couldn't win.)
Karen also said that everyone would be a family from now on, and they would definitely be united and friendly, and create a better tomorrow together.
(Follow me in the future, and you'll have food to eat. If you don't listen, I'll beat you up.)
The talks between the two sides were friendly and enthusiastic, and they reached a consensus. The village leader immediately ordered the people to pack their things and join Karen's righteous forces, contributing their own strength to world peace.
Perfect.
Withdraw the troops.
Looking at the forty or fifty more people behind him, the corners of Karen's mouth couldn't help but rise, revealing a kind (greedy and ferocious) smile.