Chapter 178: Chapter 177: Searching the Lord’s House

These Humans were transporting Supplies.

There were some Rare Materials in the handcarts, which Zhao Chi immediately picked up and put into his System Space.

The people didn’t react. After Zhao Chi took a step away, they resumed their work.

In some of the Craftsman’s shops, these same types of Humans were at work.

Their movements were stiff, their production methods just as mechanical.

However, the quality of the items they produced was consistent.

It was as if they had become machines.

"Go and rest. Tell the others to rest as well. You don’t need to work anymore. Soon, you will all be free."

Hearing this, the people actually glanced at Zhao Chi.

There seemed to be a flicker of emotion in their eyes.

But perhaps Zhao Chi was just imagining it.

Regardless, they all obediently left.

The exploration of the outer Buildings was complete.

In the very center, outside the Lord’s House, stood three stone houses.

Stone walls, thick wooden doors.

He pushed the door open and went inside. The interior was completely different.

There were still no lights, but the room was spacious.

It was fully furnished.

Zhao Chi surmised that these stone houses must be where the Heroes lived.

The first stone house contained numerous books.

*Principles of Spiritual Power Regeneration*, *Temperature Control Science*, *Flame Environment Research*, *Theoretical Possibility of Fire Overcoming Water*.

Besides the books, there were also some crystals formed by intense heat.

They lined an entire wall.

’This must be Li Yan’s room.’

But even though he was a Hero, he didn’t have many personal belongings.

’That made sense.’

Gu Qing and Tang Ruan were also Heroes, and Zhao Chi valued them greatly.

But they didn’t have any personal belongings either.

Except for Gu Qing, who stored a few of the Genes Zhao Chi had given her inside her Body.

Zhao Chi put the books into his System Space. There was nothing else worth taking.

The second stone house reeked of blood.

’No doubt about it, this is definitely Zhou Qian’s room.’

The room was a complete mess.

It was a world apart from Li Yan’s room.

There were dried bloodstains everywhere.

On the walls, the floor, even the bedsheets.

The stains looked like they’d been smeared on purpose, and many of them were fresh.

By the head of the bed lay a human corpse.

He could barely make out that it had been a Human woman.

The body was completely mangled.

Zhao Chi found it hard to believe the room was in such a state.

’But Zhou Qian was a Blood Race Hero. Perhaps this sort of environment was normal for him?’

In the corner was a blood-stained Spiritual Stone. Zhao Chi picked it up with a hint of disgust.

He took it outside, wiped the blood off, and put it in his System Space.

The third house was relatively clean.

But it had a strange, fishy smell.

’This should be Zuo Yuan’s room, so why does it smell so... fishy?’

Normally, searching a woman’s room would be a pleasant task.

But Zhao Chi was not in the Mood.

He held his breath and searched quickly.

The wardrobe was full of women’s lingerie.

Zuo Yuan’s bed was huge, even larger than a standard king-size bed.

There was a pile of dirty clothes at the head of the bed.

And some strange ropes.

Under the bed was an old Wooden Bow and a number of Wooden Arrows.

’Probably Zuo Yuan’s old Weapon.’

’This room has nothing worth searching for.’

’Even a single book would have been nice.’

Zhao Chi left quickly.

As soon as he stepped outside, he saw Tang Ruan running toward him. "My Lord, come and see this."

Her brow was furrowed, as if she had discovered something extraordinary.

"What is it, Tang Ruan?"

"There are some women in the Lord’s House..."

"Women? What’s so strange about that?"

"You should... just go and see for yourself."

Zhao Chi walked toward the Lord’s House.

Zhao Ji’s Lord’s House had been renovated.

It was built entirely of stone.

The door was iron, providing a high level of security.

But the door had already been pried open, presumably by Tang Ruan and her soldiers.

Curious, Zhao Chi went inside.

As soon as he entered, he smelled that rank odor again.

But it was fainter this time.

He entered the bedroom and found an enormous bed.

The bed took up half the room.

On the bed were more than a dozen women.

Without exception, none of them wore any clothes.

They were all chained in extremely humiliating positions.

Iron chains were fastened to their necks and limbs.

They were completely immobile.

Their expressions were just as vacant, but there were no bite marks on their necks, and their bodies had a normal Human Color.

’Logically, if their souls have been enthralled, there would be no need to chain them up.’

But Zhao Chi noticed their expressions were pained.

Their Bodies were still twitching, as if struggling.

Tang Ruan frowned as she looked at them.

Zhao Chi sighed. "Unchain them. They’ll be free soon enough."

"Yes, My Lord."

Tang Ruan called the Female Soldiers forward to break the chains.

Once freed, the women lay limply on the bed, motionless.

Zhao Chi looked away and began to search the room carefully.

Only then did Zhao Chi realize how luxuriously the room was decorated.

The decor was a combination of gold and red.

It gave off an air of opulence.

But Zhao Chi didn’t care about that. He only cared whether there was any good loot in the room.

He was, however, greatly disappointed.

The three large cabinets in the room were filled to the brim with various small toys, torture instruments, and all kinds of lingerie.

’Besides this stuff, was there nothing else?’

’Not one fucking useful item?’

Just then, Tang Ruan quickly said, "My Lord, I’ve already put away a small box. It has quite a few good things inside."

Zhao Chi breathed a sigh of relief.

"See? I knew a noble’s Lord’s House couldn’t be completely devoid of treasure."

Tang Ruan took an iron box out of her System Space.

She opened it, and sure enough, it was full of items.

There weren’t as many as he had hoped, but it was better than nothing.

After all, nobles also needed to constantly increase their strength.

When they got their hands on Rare items, they would typically use them immediately to improve their strength.

They rarely saved them.

So, the fact that there weren’t many items was acceptable to Zhao Chi.

’No time to identify them now. I’ll look when we get back.’

Zhao Chi put the box away and searched the house carefully once more, confirming there was nothing else.

The Lord’s House had other rooms, but they didn’t contain anything useful either.

At this point, the search was more or less complete.

The next step was to transport all the Supplies back.

Zhao Ji’s territory had many large Wooden Carriages, a design Zhao Chi hadn’t crafted yet. It was the perfect opportunity to take both the carriages and the Supplies.

The Female Soldiers hurried to load everything.

But now, many of the Humans were also helping to carry things.

Their faces were blank, but they carried all sorts of materials to load onto the carriages.

Zhao Chi found this strange. "You don’t have to do that. Go and rest."

But this time, the people didn’t obey his command.

They all turned a deaf ear, continuing to load the carriages without stopping.

’Well, fine.’

’Time is tight, anyway. With them helping, it will go faster.’

Half an hour passed.

Twenty large Wooden Carriages were loaded.

Unfortunately, there were no horses, so they had to be pulled by manpower.

Each large carriage required ten people: six pulling from the front and four pushing from behind.

Fortunately, his women had great Power; six of them would have been enough.

But Zhao Chi still assigned ten women to each carriage. This way, the work was easier for everyone, and they could move faster.

The other women carried large bundles, also filled with Supplies.

He did another quick check.

Most of the Supplies were indeed loaded. Finally, they removed all the Spiritual Stones from the Spiritual Towers.

Instantly, all the Spiritual Lamps in the territory went out.

The Female Soldiers lit a few torches to provide temporary light.

Zhao Chi gave the order: "Full speed ahead! Return to the territory!"

"Yes!"

The Female Soldiers were invigorated.

Just the twenty cartloads of Supplies alone made this a massive haul.

However, Zhao Chi left behind the basic resources, including food.

He didn’t know if the food was contaminated and didn’t dare risk eating it.

Besides, Zhao Chi wasn’t short on food right now, so it didn’t matter.

As they walked, Gu Qing looked back. "My Lord, they’re following us."

"They?"

Zhao Chi looked back.

He saw that all the pale Humans had come out of the territory.

There were several hundred of them.

They were all expressionless, dressed in tattered Cloth Clothing.

But each of them was carrying Supplies.

Some were carrying timber, others were holding large chunks of Iron Ore, and still others were carrying the food Zhao Chi had left behind.

’Looks like they want to follow me.’

Zhao Chi wasn’t sure what they were thinking.

But honestly, Zhao Chi didn’t want them.

The biggest problem, first and foremost, was that Zhao Chi was afraid their presence would expose him.

If others found out that he had killed Zhao Ji, it would be a disaster.

Another thing was that their mental state was a huge problem.

Taking them along would be a definite burden.

What’s more, half of them were men, which would be an inconvenience in his own territory.

’Should I just put them out of their misery?’

Zhao Chi hesitated.

Gu Qing could read Zhao Chi’s mind.

She whispered, "My Lord, they’re all carrying Supplies. We can take them with us for now. Once they’ve brought the Supplies back to our territory, we can... deal with them."

Zhao Chi let out a sigh.

He nodded.

A little over half an hour later, the group crossed the Wall of Fog and returned to Zhao Chi’s territory.

He checked the system time.

There were 15 minutes left until the "Boundary Lock" ended.

The Humans followed them in, their faces blank.

They slowly put down the Supplies, then turned and headed back.

’Huh?’

’They’re going back?’

Zhao Chi watched them in surprise.

More and more of them streamed into Zhao Chi’s territory.

But without exception, each one gently set down their load of Supplies and then walked back toward Zhao Ji’s territory.

’Could it be that they thought I needed help moving everything, so they automatically came to assist?’

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