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Chapter 317: Caught Alive

"I believe you." Zhu Yu thought for a moment and nodded. "If I were to do something bad outside, I would be more than happy to use someone else's name and let that person take the blame for me."

I've never seen anything like this before. The weather is already so warm, but they insist on hanging animal skins and furs on their bodies and keep talking about how they were in the Jie Kingdom.

I've never seen such a stupid thief who likes to announce his identity while doing bad things.

Yan Shu's eyes were slightly red. She held Zhu Yu's hand and nodded vigorously: "You are so kind!"

If you just nod and tell me you believe me, I'll worry that you're just placating me and don't really believe what I'm saying.

But you truly believe me, and you wouldn't deliberately deceive or fool me!
After hearing your reasonable and well-founded explanation, I feel much better right now.

We Jie people have clearly done nothing wrong. We are just a bit unrestrained and want to live a comfortable life in our hometown. But for some reason, outsiders always see us as savages and demons who eat raw meat and drink blood!
No matter what bad things happen, we Jie people always end up taking the blame. No one listens to our explanations, no one believes us…

Yan Shu became more and more aggrieved as she spoke, tears welling up in her eyes, but she stubbornly tried to hold them back.

Zhu Yu gently patted her shoulder. It was indeed inconvenient to comfort them since they were both dressed as men.

"You said those people weren't Jie people, did you discover some flaw?" Zhu Yu asked.

“Yes!” Yan Shu answered with particular certainty, “Although those people are quite tall and strong, and they are indeed wearing leather armor of our Jie people, their riding posture is wrong!”
We Jie people grow up on horseback from childhood. Even when we walk unsteadily, we can hold onto the horse's mane with both hands and run in circles without falling off.

So for us, saddles and stirrups are just cumbersome things; we don't need them at all, and sitting on them actually feels awkward.

Zhu Yu nodded. Yan Shu wasn't lying about this. During the past few days of travel, Yan Shu had been sitting in the saddle and using the stirrups while riding. Although it didn't affect her riding skills, it was clear that she was quite awkward.

"The way those people ride horses and their habits are different from our Jie people." Yan Shu was quite angry. When she spread out her hands to explain to Zhu Yu, there were still marks on her palms from where she had pricked herself with her fingernails. "And their hands!"
I mustered up my courage and went to check on the bodies of those people. I found that they all had calluses around the base of their right hand, and large patches of thick skin on the front of their four fingers, the kind that comes from frequent friction.

But their index and index fingers had neither dents nor calluses—that's not the kind of hands we Jie men would have!

Once Yan Shu said that, Zhu Yu understood.

The tiger's mouth, palms, and four fingers are covered with calluses and thick skin, typical marks of someone who has practiced martial arts for many years using knives, swords, and clubs.

Although the Jie people can also use knives, their greatest skill is archery, which is a basic skill they use daily even when they are not fighting.

People who frequently draw a bow and shoot arrows will naturally have an indelible mark on their fingers from the bowstring.

"What are we going to do now!" Yan Shu said with some frustration. "We finally managed to encounter these bandits disguised as Jie people, but they all gritted their teeth and died!"
"How am I supposed to find a way to prove they aren't Jie people at all? How can I clear my people's names of this inexplicable accusation?" "Shh—" Seeing Yan Shu getting agitated, Zhu Yu quickly raised a finger to remind her not to raise her voice. "Don't worry, there will definitely be a way."

They've already used this method twice. Lu Qing and the others certainly won't give them the chance to repeat it a third time, to die silently in front of us.

"But what if we never see them again?" Yan Shu worried.

"No." Zhu Yu was very certain. "We've encountered them twice along the way. The first time we were outnumbered, but this time we're clearly outnumbered and outmatched."

I reckon these people deliberately dispersed to create such a stir in different places, causing panic among the people along the border and making them think that the Jie and Shuo kingdoms were trying to join forces to cause trouble.

Therefore, there must be more than just these two groups of people; the closer they get to Lan, the more numerous and larger they become.

We're not afraid of their numbers. The more people there are, the less coordinated they become, and their reaction speeds will vary. It's impossible for everyone to bite the medicine pouch and poison themselves in an instant. If they hesitate even for a moment, we can seize the opportunity.

So don't be discouraged. We'll find another chance to capture one alive, and that's what we'll do then—"

She brought her mouth close to Yan Shu's ear and whispered a few words.

Yan Shu's initial annoyance and frustration subsided slightly, and she nodded: "Alright! As long as we can catch them alive, I'll do as you say!"

After a series of interrogations, using both kindness and threats, it was discovered that those petty thieves and rural ruffians truly knew nothing about those "Jie Kingdom bandits" and were just freeloaders following along for a living.

Lu Zhang was at a loss, and Lu Qing also felt that continuing like this was a waste of time, so he sent those people to the nearby government office to be detained and dealt with by himself.

The group continued their journey and finally arrived at the border area between the three kingdoms of Jin, Shuo, and Lan. With the edict and token that Lu Zhang had received from Emperor Jin when he left the capital, they successfully passed through the pass and entered Lan.

After entering Lan, they continued to travel incognito and disguise themselves. After only two encounters, they met a third wave of "Jie bandits".

Having learned from their previous experience, Lu Qing and his team were well-prepared this time. Yan Daoxin had prepared some silver needles in advance and handed them to Lu Qing long ago. After meeting the enemy, they waited quietly for an opportunity to launch a surprise attack.

Lu Qing's hand was fast and accurate. Zhu Yu didn't even see how the silver needle flew from his fingertips before it pierced the cheek of the "Jie Kingdom bandit" opposite him in the blink of an eye.

The silver needle was so fine that it was hard to see clearly without careful observation.

Before the first person hit by the silver needles could even react, his companions were hit one after another.

Those whose faces were pierced by the silver needles thrown by Lu Qing instantly lost all sensation in their entire faces, their jaws loosened and they could not clench their teeth. Then, the numbness quickly spread from their cheeks to their entire bodies, making them instantly limp like a puddle of mud.