Suddenly, a hand appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the man's wrist, and twisted it forcefully.

"Ah!" the man cried out in pain.

Yue Ziqi stood up, holding the man in one hand, his eyes flashing with malice. He had originally wanted to pretend a little longer and listen to the ultimate purpose of these people, but this man dared to say such frivolous words to the young master, which made him too angry to continue pretending.

Zhou Chen and Su Jin had no choice but to raise their heads from the table one after another.

In fact, Zhou Chen had already noticed the problem when Li Qingqing appeared.

Li Qingqing said that her husband's family lived in poverty, and her outer clothes were tattered, but the part of her socks and trousers that were exposed were white and new.

Moreover, Li Qingqing's face was covered in mud, but she didn't look weathered by the sun and wind. Her eyebrows were also finely trimmed, and her fingers were slender and white. She didn't look like a child from a poor family at all.

Therefore, Zhou Chen suspected that this person was suspicious. However, since Li Qingqing mentioned the matter of conscription, Zhou Chen decided to let it go and see what Li Qingqing was up to in order to find out about the conscription.

It must be said that he has grown very quickly and has learned to observe keenly and think carefully.

The villagers were shocked. They slammed the gate shut and surrounded Su Jin and the other two. One of them angrily asked Li Qingqing, "What's going on?"

Li Qingqing anxiously explained, "I... I don't know either. They clearly drank alcohol and passed out, how could they wake up so quickly? I used the strongest sleeping potion."

Zhou Chen stood up, glaring at the crowd. "Speak, what is your purpose?"

The villagers shouted, "We outnumber you and we urge you to surrender!"

They seem completely obstinate!

"Enough with the nonsense," Su Jin said calmly.

Upon hearing this, Yue Ziqi and Zhou Chen simultaneously attacked the villagers, while Su Jin picked up her chopsticks and continued eating. She hadn't had a proper meal in days of traveling.

Zhou Chen had been studying the Phantom Heart Technique for some time and had made some progress. Taking on a few villagers was no problem for him. He and Yue Ziqi quickly knocked the villagers to the ground.

There were ropes on the ground, and the two men quickly tied up all the villagers.

"Speak! What is your purpose?" Zhou Chen asked again, looking down at him.

The villagers stubbornly refused to answer, looking quite spirited.

Su Jin put down her chopsticks, a hint of impatience on her brow, and said indifferently, "If they don't explain the situation within ten counts, just kill them."

Upon hearing this, Yue Ziqi pulled a dagger from beside his leg, pressed it against one of the men's necks, and began counting: "Ten, nine, eight..."

Everyone panicked immediately.

"I...I'll tell you." The person whose neck was being pressed against was the most frightened, and blurted out the reason like beans, "The government is conscripting soldiers, and no young man from any family can stay, so we thought we would trick passing out-of-towners into coming here to help us join the army!"

"Won't the government investigate? How could they possibly allow you to act recklessly? Besides, conscription is such an urgent matter, how could they wait for you to slowly deceive people!" Zhou Chen questioned.

The man continued to explain, “That’s because there’s a mine on the mountain behind our village. The people in our village have been mining there all year round. If we all leave, who will mine? If we don’t mine, what will the government eat and drink? They’re in cahoots with us, so they allow us to use other people to fill the quota.”

"hateful!"

Zhou Chen was furious. First, he was angry at the government officials for their reckless actions, acting as if they wanted to send everyone in the world to the battlefield without any regard for people's livelihoods. Second, he was angry at the villagers for their complete lack of moral judgment.

In chaotic times, everyone abandons their humanity; as long as they can survive, that's enough.

"Heroes, we were wrong! We were blind to your greatness! Please spare us! We had no choice. The order from above was clearly sending us to our deaths. We were just trying to survive!"

"Yes, yes, it's no wonder we're like this."

The villagers started begging for mercy, one after another.

Zhou Chen was in a dilemma. Although the villagers' behavior was also despicable, in the end, it was the fault of the person who issued this decree.

So how should we deal with these villagers?

Zhou Chen was conflicted, unable to come up with a solution that satisfied both sides.

If the villagers are released, they will go and harm other people.

If we don't release them, are we supposed to kill so many people?

If he didn't kill them, Zhou Chen wouldn't be able to stay and keep an eye on them.

Even if Zhou Chen manages to stay, how will he deal with the government?

This matter is actually quite complicated!

Zhou Chen looked down at Su Jin and asked her for help.

Su Jinxia drank the last mouthful of hot soup in her bowl, feeling extremely satisfied, and found the villagers much more agreeable.

She stood up and looked at everyone calmly, "I'll spare your lives for the sake of this meal."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and was about to express their gratitude when they heard a twist, "But..."

Everyone held their breath.

Su Jinxia laughed and said, "I want to stay here for one night, and I can't let anyone know I've been here!"

"No problem!" Li's mother was the first to agree. She was now so eager to treat this ancestor as a sacred figure and make sure he didn't cause any trouble.

Otherwise, Li's mother and Li Qingqing would definitely be held accountable by the villagers.

The others nodded in agreement, hoping that this great deity would get some rest and leave as soon as possible tomorrow.

"Untie me." Su Jin waved her hand.

Yue Ziqi untied one person's rope, and then let them untie themselves.

A short while later, the villagers told Li Qingqing's family to take good care of Su Jin, and then they all ran off in a flash.

At this moment, in the eyes of the villagers, Su Jinxia was nothing more than a demon who would order people to be killed if he was unhappy.

Li's parents eagerly invited Su Jin and the other two to the guest room, while Li Qingqing followed behind angrily. She had messed things up and was sure to be scolded.

But the other party's demeanor and methods were chilling, so she could only swallow her bitterness alone.

As darkness fell, Li's parents, having received instructions from Su Jin, withdrew.

Zhou Chen peered anxiously through the window, "Sister, are they really not going to go to the authorities?"

Su Jin yawned. "No, the villagers of Lijia Village have already come up with good ways to survive. They don't want their plans to be ruined, so they won't cause trouble. Right now, they just want us to get a good night's sleep and leave as soon as possible tomorrow morning."

Zhou Chen felt very uncomfortable upon hearing this. "So we're really just going to ignore this?"

Su Jinxia chuckled softly, "Aren't we exposed to plenty of bad things and bad people along the way? Are we supposed to intervene in every single one of them? Can we possibly manage that?"

"The court's inhumanity has led to this situation. What we need to do is overthrow the court and establish a new country, instead of emphasizing good and evil to every citizen. They will only think you are naively ridiculous."

Zhou Chen slowly exhaled. That's true! It was his narrow-mindedness that made him easily blinded by trivial matters.

"Come sit down." Su Jin looked down at Zhou Chen, who seemed dejected again.

Zhou Chen obediently sat down.

Su Jinxia took out a map from her pocket. "Take a good look at it. Where do you think all the able-bodied men have gone?"

Zhou Chen frowned and became serious. "The able-bodied men are naturally sent to fight, but the imperial court's war is only here."

Zhou Chen pointed to the battle line between the Ji Army and the imperial court, but in an instant he realized the problem.