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Chapter 378 Exhaustion
"Where did you kidnap these people from?" Zhu Yu asked.

The old steward shuddered: "I have never gone out to kidnap anyone on my own. As you gentlemen have seen, at my age, let alone whether I have the desire or not, even if I did, I would not have the ability!"

The people were all kidnapped and brought here by our brothers from outside. I can only guess from their clothes and the tone of their voices when they were begging for mercy. Most of them are Lan people, and some are Jin people and Shuo people.

"Are there any Jie people?" Surprisingly, it was Lu Zhang who asked this question.

"No, no, really no," the old steward hurriedly replied. "The Jie people live far away from here, and they are known for their fierceness and fighting prowess. Who would dare to provoke them for no reason!"

"Not provoke them? Haven't you been wearing Jie leather armor and pretending to be Jie bandits outside, running around causing trouble for a long time?!" Yan Shu rebuked.

"Grandpa, spare me! Grandpa, spare me!" The old steward cried out in terror when he saw Yan Shu's hand twitch as he held the whip. "That was all the Lord's doing! How could we dare to have any of our own ideas! We're just paid by the Lord to support us. We do whatever he tells us to do! We have no choice in the matter!"

Being called "Grandpa" by such a lewd and old man made Yan Shu feel so disgusted that she almost vomited. She spat out a mouthful of saliva, snorted coldly, and turned her face away.

"What kind of soup did your lord give those people? Why does it have such strange effects?" Zhu Yu asked.

"This old man really doesn't know... The fortress lord has never let us see how those things are prepared. He always gives me the already boiled hot soup in a medicine gourd, and then I have people deliver it to each household."

The way that stuff looked after drinking it was really strange, so none of us dared to touch it. We really had no idea what it was.

"Then what kind of flowers are you helping to take care of? You don't even know?"

"Gentlemen, I really don't know!" The old steward almost shook his head off. "That thing is hidden in the cellar, where it can't see any light, and it can't be watered, only blood."

The lord wasn't particularly meticulous about other things, but he was extremely strict about the matter of the flower.

We had a brother who wasn't very careful and accidentally damaged a flower seedling. When the lord found out, he stabbed him to death and used his blood to water the flowers...

Almost all of us witnessed this, and after that, who would dare to disregard those words? Each and every one of those trees was a matter of life and death for us.

Think about how these people went to such lengths to search the courtyard after one of the flowers in the wooden box was discovered to be missing; the old steward wasn't exaggerating.

Just now, Yan Shu was furious when she heard how those people were impersonating the Jie people and ruining the reputation of the Jie Kingdom. She felt extremely angry. Now that she had calmed down a bit, she found it somewhat unbelievable.

"You, the lord of this fortress, are suspicious in everything you do. Aren't you afraid at all? Why are you here helping him do evil and harming people?!" She looked at the old steward in disbelief and asked.

The old steward grinned bitterly: "Grandpa is joking... We were just bandits and rascals, so what if we're afraid?"

When I was first kicked out of the bandit stronghold, I was desperate and had no way out. The other brothers were either persuaded by me or came because they were envious of our good life. They killed the original leader and had no way out either.

If they don't work for the lord of the Immortal Fortress, they'll have to go back to their old ways, robbing and plundering everywhere. If they manage to rob someone, they'll drink and eat meat; if they don't, they'll starve. They might get arrested by the authorities at any time, and then they won't even be able to keep their heads.

We were also a little uneasy, but at least we were here. As long as we obediently did what the lord of the fortress did and didn't cause any trouble, he was quite generous to us...

At least this can be considered a safe place to stay..."

What he said wasn't entirely untrue.

As the saying goes, one wrong step leads to another. These bandits had already gone astray, jumping from one pirate ship to another. They had no chance to abandon ship and go ashore. They could only run down this dark path, loyally serving this treacherous fortress lord, daring not to disobey in the slightest. This was probably the only choice for these desperate men.

"Since the Lord of the Fortress is so good to you... how can we believe what you're saying to us now?" Lu Qing listened for a while, a meaningful smile on his face, which seemed to carry a certain threat and made people feel uneasy.

The old steward thought he had shown enough honesty, but the other party's sudden remark made him feel flustered again.

"Grandpa, I dare not say that I am a loyal person..." he said to Lu Qing with a bitter smile, "This old man just cherishes his life. Although the lord of the fortress has indeed treated me well, but... but every wrong has its perpetrator and every debt its debtor. In this fortress, we are just errand runners and errand boys."

Yes, what we did wasn't anything serious. If you gentlemen are unhappy, feel free to beat us up to vent your anger, whatever you want!

I'm begging you grandfathers, please spare my life, I don't want to die..."

Lu Qing looked at him without saying a word.

The old steward's eyes darted around: "Gentlemen, I have no choice. I don't want to watch those people die in vain, and I don't want to have any lives on my hands."

To be honest, when I was a bandit, I only robbed people and never killed anyone. I never had any blood on my hands, and I never took anyone's life!
If I don't do as the lord of the fortress says, I'll be the one who dies. I really have no other choice.

So, gentlemen, please heed my old man's advice: you absolutely must not wake those people up!

Whether they are drinking hot soup while doing chores or falling asleep after being offered incense at night, you must not try to wake them. If you do, they will either go mad or die.

Those people were so pitiful after being kidnapped. We were paid to do it, so we had no choice. If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to just watch them die like that.

While Yan Daoxin was making a ruckus downstairs, he also came down, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he stood aside and watched coldly, listening intently. Only now did he become interested. He reached out and unceremoniously pushed Lu Zhang, who was blocking his way, aside and asked, "You mean, those people were drugged from beginning to end, like they were suffering from dissociative identity disorder?"

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