Chapter 1106

That final strike just now—the opponent had seemed to be going all out, yet unexpectedly still had strength in reserve.

The opponent seemed to be alone; no sounds of fighting came from elsewhere, and the fighting style was close to the broad, sweeping killing style of the imperial army. Could it be a retired imperial soldier?

No, although the opponent was masked, from the voice the opponent was very young, and a woman at that. Her strength was only mid sixth-rank, yet she had wounded him, who was at peak sixth-rank. Possessing such strength, the opponent absolutely wouldn't be some nobody, but who on earth was she?

At this moment, a deep wound that bared the bone had suddenly appeared on the one-eyed mercenary's shoulder, yet he seemed not to sense any pain, letting the fresh blood flow like that—extremely bizarre.

The next second, an even more bizarre thing happened. As the one-eyed mercenary's single eye gradually turned into a beast's pupil, the wound on his shoulder also healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Before long, the wound on his shoulder had become nothing more than a scar.

Shaking his head, he had the one-eyed mercenary send someone to report this matter to his immediate superior. His brain wasn't suited for pondering such troublesome matters.

The inn.

General Ji Xia, clutching her abdomen, endured the searing pain all the way back here. The moment she returned to the room, she sensed that the room held more than just her own presence.

"Who!"

Her sword was drawn with difficulty from its sheath, pointing toward the corner.

"I knew you'd go there, and now you're injured." A mildly complaining voice rang out. As the kerosene lamp lit up again, the source of the voice was precisely Lin Cheng, and beside him was Miss Qianhui, yawning. Seeing General Ji Xia's abdomen continuously bleeding as she clutched it, she hurriedly stepped forward, took out a potion and a healing talisman, fed her the potion, and crushed the healing talisman.

Under this double safeguard, the healing effect was even more astonishing—the wound not only stopped bleeding but healed remarkably.

"Here, half of this bottle of potion is for applying on the wound so it won't leave a scar, and the other half is to drink to replenish qi and blood. Amazing you suffered such heavy injuries and still ran so far?" Lin Cheng tossed out another bottle of potion. He had plenty of Life Spring Water and didn't care about one or two bottles.

"Thank you." General Ji Xia didn't stand on ceremony either. She pulled out the stopper, drank half of it down again, then used the rest to apply on the abdominal wound, completely unconcerned that Lin Cheng and Miss Qianhui were right beside her the whole time.

Seeing General Ji Xia recover as before, Lin Cheng began to ask questions.

"What did you see? Did you gather any intelligence?"

"I fought a battle with the guardian there. As you can see, I suffered heavy injuries, but the opponent didn't fare well either—almost had an arm chopped off by my sword…" General Ji Xia briefly described the process.

"What about the rest? Was your identity exposed?"

"I was masked, so my identity probably wasn't exposed. But the slaves there seemed to have undergone very cruel torture. Even though I opened the Lao Sect for them, they showed no sign of fleeing at all. Very strange."

General Ji Xia's doubt was dismissed by Lin Cheng.

"It's not strange, because they simply can't escape."

"Why?"

"Because this is Beast Pen City. The place where the slaves are is the hidden city sewers. Even if you help them escape, they're still within Beast Pen City, and you can't be sure which high-ranking official of Beast Pen City the slaves are colluding with. Once a wanted notice is issued, where do you think they'd flee? They'd still be caught."

"Fair point." General Ji Xia nodded.

What Lin Cheng said made sense.

Even if the slaves escaped from the sewers, in the unfamiliar Beast Pen City, where could they flee to?

"Right, General Ji Xia, are those slaves all high-status?"

"What… what do you mean?"

General Ji Xia didn't quite understand Lin Cheng's meaning.

"Remember the magical beast supervisor said those slaves were for the rich nobles to enjoy. If that's the case, the slaves' statuses should all be quite high."

"No. I saw elderly, children, men, women there, and a small number of half-beast-people… males made up the majority, females weren't that many. There were also some guarded places I didn't go into."

"That's very strange… If the slaves are for the nobles to enjoy, then what are the other male slaves used for? Could it be that nobles nowadays have taken a liking to that sort of thing too?"

Lin Cheng puzzled over it endlessly, but it didn't matter—he didn't plan to get involved in this matter.

"I don't know… but I can go investigate!"

Speaking of investigation, that was General Ji Xia's strong suit. When she first enlisted, she was a scout, then step by step rose to her current vice-general rank.

"Forget it. I have a bad premonition."

The moment the word "premonition" left his mouth, that damned system notification rang in Lin Cheng's mind.

"Ding… quest triggered!"

The Alchemy Experiment Hidden in Beast Pen City! Quest description: A strange sewer slave-trading venue with scarce customers seems to hide some unspeakable secret. The host must investigate it clearly. Quest requirement: Investigate the sewer slave-trading venue.

Lin Cheng was speechless—truly, whatever you fear most comes to pass. Did he really look that much like someone who likes to get involved in that kind of mess?

"Lin Cheng, what bad premonition do you have… Are you going to abandon those pitiful people? Watch helplessly as they're trafficked?" General Ji Xia narrowed her eyes and asked directly.

The fury gradually rising in her eyes—if Lin Cheng's answer held even the slightest thing that dissatisfied her, she would look down on the man before her.