Chapter 150: The Piggy King

"Huh?"

Hearing Qin Fei's words, the expression on the pigman guard's face shifted from initial arrogance to utter astonishment. Finally, a look of intense excitement appeared in its eyes.

"Two monkeys... and an elephant... Are you truly the Great Pig Caesar?"

Clearly, not only in the city of Porkopolis, but the Pig King had likely already spread the Prophecy Notes throughout the entire Pigman Kingdom.

Upon hearing Qin Fei state Caesar's identity, the guard immediately turned around and sprinted into the capital city.

It seemed he had gone to report to the higher-ups within the royal capital.

The administrative efficiency of the royal capital appeared to be much slower than that of Porkopolis.

Qin Fei and Xie Nainai waited at the city gates for a full twenty minutes before a pigman dressed in a white suit, accompanied by a squad of pigman soldiers, finally arrived at the gates.

Upon reaching the gates, the soldiers automatically formed two neat rows. The pigman in the white suit then walked forward from between them.

The white-suited pig approached Caesar the Pig, pulled a drawing from inside its coat, and compared it with him for a moment. Afterward, it lowered its head, removed the white top hat from its head, and bowed to Caesar with a formal aristocratic greeting.

Although Caesar was dressed merely in a grass skirt, the white-suited pig showed not the slightest trace of disdain.

Instead, it spoke with an attitude of utmost reverence, "Great Pig Caesar, I am the King's steward, here to bring you the greetings of His Majesty the Pig King!"

Following a brief self-introduction, the pig steward invited Caesar into the capital, while Qin Fei and Xie Nainai consciously followed behind him.

Inside the royal capital, the population of pigmen far exceeded that of Porkopolis.

However, what puzzled Qin Fei was that despite the massive number of pigmen in the capital, the city was nowhere near as prosperous as Porkopolis.

There were no lively peddling cries echoing through the capital's markets like the ones in Porkopolis.

Instead, in the corners of the streets, Qin Fei vaguely caught sight of several pigmen dressed in tattered rags that barely covered their bodies.

Some of them were bare-chested, others wore grass skirts similar to Caesar's, and almost all of them wore listless, drained expressions...

Some pigmen had even laid straw mats directly on the ground and lay upon them, looking as though they were on the verge of dying from illness.

Qin Fei felt a sense of puzzlement.

Logically speaking, as the capital of the Pigman Kingdom, the pigmen living here ought to lead lives far better than those in other cities.

Yet, these pigmen all appeared entirely devoid of energy.

This was extremely strange.

Could it be that the capital's desolation was connected to that Pig King?

Qin Fei had certain grounds for his suspicions regarding the Pig King.

In the game Don't Starve, the entire Pigman Kingdom was ruled by Queen Malfalfa. There was no such entity as a "Pig King" in the game.

Yet, in this world of Don't Starve through which Qin Fei had transmigrated, a "Pig King" had materialized out of thin air.

Combined with the starkly contrasting scenes between the royal capital and Porkopolis, Qin Fei naturally grew suspicious of the Pig King's true identity.

The Pig King's palace was located precisely at the very center of the royal capital.

As soon as Qin Fei and Xie Nainai stepped into the palace, they saw the Pig King pacing back and forth between the palace exit and the throne.

It appeared deeply agitated.

Perhaps due to excessive gluttony, the Pig King possessed a supremely corpulent physique.

Most pigmen were already quite fat, but this fellow's size was easily twice that of an ordinary pigman...

Upon seeing this creature, Qin Fei was reminded of the pigman statue inside the rainforest temple... This obese Pig King bore a nearly identical resemblance to that statue in both facial features and body shape!

Qin Fei maintained a calm expression, though countless doubts were already swirling within his mind.

Why would this Pig King place a statue of itself near the exit of the rainforest temple?

And where on earth had Queen Malfalfa, who should have been residing in the palace, gone at a time like this?

The pacing Pig King caught sight of Caesar and the others entering the palace, and a glimmer of joy flashed in its eyes.

It quickly hurried forward.

"Caesar, my champion! Welcome to my palace!"

The Pig King appeared overwhelmingly enthusiastic; it grabbed Caesar's trotter and led it toward the right side of the palace.

Qin Fei was not particularly surprised by the Pig King's fervent attitude.

After all, according to the records in the Pigman Kingdom's Prophecy Notes, Caesar was the savior of the entire Pigman Kingdom, so it was only natural for the Pig King to treat it with such reverence.

This was a slightly smaller hall.

In the center of the hall stood an oval-shaped dining table.

Clearly, this was where the Pig King dined.

When Qin Fei and Xie Nainai arrived at the capital, dusk had already fallen, which was well past dinnertime. It seemed the Pig King intended to treat them to a lavish feast.

Inside the dining room, aside from the pigman attendants standing on either side, a female pigman wearing a crown was actually seated at one end of the dining table!

Qin Fei immediately formed a hypothesis in his mind: this must be Queen Malfalfa from the Don't Starve game!

Judging by their apparent age, the Pig King and Queen Malfalfa seemed to be spouses...

Yet, what struck Qin Fei as eerie was that when the Pig King caught sight of Queen Malfalfa, a flicker of astonishment unexpectedly crossed its eyes.

It appeared profoundly surprised by Queen Malfalfa's presence in the dining room...

Moreover, the look of shock in the Pig King's eyes vanished in a mere fraction of a second.

Had Qin Fei not kept his attention fixed on the Pig King the entire time, he would never have noticed this subtle detail.

Not only that, but after everyone took their seats, the Pig King did not introduce its wife to those present, choosing instead to sit down directly opposite Queen Malfalfa in silence.

Once the Pig King and the Queen were seated, both pigmen remained utterly mute.

When the Pig King had first laid eyes on Caesar, it was overflowing with enthusiasm.

Yet upon entering this dining room and encountering the Queen, the Pig King completely dropped its previous demeanor and grew sullenly silent.

Pigmen held food in high regard.

Once the meal commenced and everyone began to eat, the King grew even more taciturn.

Caesar was naturally a pig of few words, especially when confronted with food.

Since the King chose not to speak, Caesar naturally remained quiet as well, pouring its entire focus into the food before it.

As for Qin Fei and Xie Nainai, they were not the protagonists of this banquet; they had merely tagged along with Caesar for a free meal, so they certainly wouldn't initiate any conversation.

Everyone present finished this evening dinner under such a peculiar atmosphere.

After the meal, the Pig King instructed the steward to guide Qin Fei and the others to their lodgings within the palace. As for the King itself, it hurried away from the dining room with brisk strides.

Watching the Pig King's retreating figure, Qin Fei's doubts only deepened.

This Pig King definitely had something to hide!

As the royal steward was assigning rooms to everyone, Qin Fei suddenly stepped in front of it and asked, "Where is Princess Wilba?"

Wilba was Malfalfa's daughter and also the princess of the Pigman Kingdom. In the game, players could encounter her in a room on the left side of the palace.

However, the royal steward did not answer Qin Fei's question. Instead, it replied with a puzzled expression, "Princess Wilba? Pardon me, but as far as I am aware, His Majesty the King has no offspring..."