Chapter 1743

The ground inside was entirely covered in dark brown, dried bloodstains.

Dried blood should normally be a dark red, but here it had turned dark brown—simply because too much time had passed and too much blood had been spilled.

Walking across it, the soles of one's shoes made sticky "squelch, squelch" sounds.

There were some living people in the prison, naked and covered in wounds.

Their bodies were beaten so badly they were grotesquely swollen—men and women alike, of every race, though humans were the most numerous.

There were roughly seventy-plus of them.

These people had already gone numb.

They showed no reaction at all to Zhao Chi, Gu Qing, and the others entering; even when Zhao Chi told them they were rescued, they remained silent.

As if they had long lost any concept of life and death.

Gu Qing 【My lord, should we grant them a quick end?】

Zhao Chi 【Hold on, let me think it over a bit more.】

Gu Qing 【Mm. If we're saving them, I'll heal them.】

Zhao Chi carefully browsed through their information.

Half of them were residents of Snow Plain City—looking at the situation, some seemed to be lords, some members of families, some ordinary villagers.

The remaining half were people of the Territory World.

They were likely all captives Meng Meng had seized from previous enemies.

Zhao Chi 【Forget it, save them. People from the Great World get sent back to the Great World; people from the Territory World get handed over to the Jade Squad. The rest of it, we won't bother with.】

Gu Qing 【Understood.】

This time was different from last time.

Last time, numb captives like these had also been found, but back then their internal organs were already damaged or missing, and they were on the verge of death—impossible to save—so granting them a quick end was actually the best option.

This time was different.

The captives were covered in wounds, their entire bodies even swollen, but at the very least they could still be healed.

Zhao Chi was no bleeding-heart do-gooder.

But he still felt that life was precious; since these people weren't enemies, it was better not to end their lives lightly.

Warm light shot forth.

Long-absent "sunlight" appeared throughout the prison, and the captives' bodies rapidly recovered.

As their bodies healed, these people seemed to show new reactions.

Some raised their heads; some had a faint glimmer return to their eyes.

But most of them still couldn't bring themselves to believe it.

Zhao Chi had no time to wait for them to slowly come around.

He'd give them time to adjust on their own.

He left some female soldiers to handle the aftermath.

Those who needed food got food, and clothing could be provided as well.

Zhao Chi arrived at the second prison.

The moment the door of this prison was opened, an extremely thick, foul stench rushed out.

Zhao Chi nearly got driven straight back out by the stench.

Gu Qing's current Intelligence was 18 points—her nose was practically keener than a dog's.

The instant he caught that smell, Zhao Chi truly couldn't catch his breath.

Fortunately, he was inside Gu Qing's body, and Gu Qing wasn't much affected.

The instant the door opened, the inside fell utterly silent.

Pair after pair of pitch-black eyes stared fixedly at the doorway through the cell bars.

Most of those gazes carried fear and panic, while some carried hatred.

Zhao Chi discovered that everyone he saw was actually a woman.

An entire prison packed full of female captives.

But none of them wore any clothes.

They all had wounds on their bodies, but overall the injuries weren't too severe.

Zhao Chi was observing them, and they were observing Gu Qing as well.

When they saw that what had come in was actually a woman, and that she'd brought a squad of female soldiers with her, the fear in their eyes gradually changed.

They stared intently at Gu Qing's face, then at the faces of those female soldiers.

Although some women harbored a natural hostility toward other beauties.

But in that instant, they seemed to have seen angels.

The entire prison instantly exploded.

All manner of screams and wails filled the entire space.

They knew Meng Meng had been defeated.

Otherwise, there was no way a woman of that caliber would have swaggered in here so brazenly.

Zhao Chi didn't stop them.

Instead, he made a full circuit of inspection throughout the prison.

The living conditions in this prison were extremely harsh.

At least fifteen hundred young women of various races were crammed into this prison.

Fifteen people stuffed into a single ten-person cell.

It really was very crowded.

And there was no ventilation in here at all — the environment was damp and cold.

So many people crammed into such a tiny space, having to eat, drink, and relieve themselves right in the cell — of course the smell was awful.

The women here had plenty of stains on their bodies, and dark reddish filth between their legs.

After all, there were certainly no conditions for washing in here.

There were even a few cells with dead bodies inside, the stench of rotting corpses already seeping out.

The smell was truly nauseating.

There was indeed quite a bit of vomit on the ground as well.

This made the already terrible environment even worse.

But even so, judging by their state, they were at least much better off than those in the first prison.

They knew how to scream, knew how to cry.

These could definitely be saved.

Zhao Chi had no use for them, but looking at their information, quite a few were mid- to low-level craftsmen, and some were soldiers.

These could be picked through by Su Qin.

The rest could all be handed over to Li Ruanyu for handling.

Same as before — Zhao Chi wasn't short on money now, no need to sell them. Letting his own woman handle it would definitely be better than selling.

Zhao Chi 【Gu Qing, heal them and then release them, get them out of here first — this really isn't a place for people to stay】

Gu Qing 【Sigh… yeah…】

Very quickly, these wretched women swarmed out in a frantic escape.

Crying as they ran.

Gu Qing arranged some people to take these women to bathe — Meng Meng's territory had a bathhouse, so they could just wash up right there.

With heartfelt emotions, they arrived at the third prison.

Damn.

This place was practically heaven.

The moment Gu Qing entered, over a dozen deliberately affected, coquettish female voices rang out.

"Welcome Brother Meng and all the heroes."

Gu Qing's brow furrowed — she had a natural aversion to this kind of affected, coquettish woman.

But when she saw the source of the voices, her brow smoothed out.

Because all around were female slaves.

The environment in this prison was much better than the second one.