Chapter 446: Striving to Achieve the KPI (Twenty-Six) ​​[Seeking Monthly Tickets]

The slave boy tried his best to keep up with Lin Feng.

Ten guards had been waiting ahead for a long time.

"Mount up and let's go."

Lin Feng nimbly flipped himself onto the horse.

The young slave was also assigned an older horse. He mounted it with agility and decisiveness, like a seasoned rider. As soon as he settled in, he noticed Lin Feng's gaze: "Is something wrong with me?"

Lin Feng asked, "Are you skilled in riding and archery?"

The slave boy's answer was flawless. He smiled and said, "What Shiwu tribesman is not good at archery and horsemanship? Once they reach the age where they can walk and jump, they can play on horseback." Before his family fell into decline, he was the youngest son who was well loved, so naturally he was skilled in archery and horsemanship.

Lin Feng neither confirmed nor denied it.

He simply said indifferently, "Keep up."

Night patrols were her habit; whether there was fighting or not, she felt uneasy if she didn't go out for a stroll. It also served as a means of surveillance, killing two birds with one stone. Since they had already captured the valley during the day, their lord led his army to hasten their advance and occupy the place before nightfall. For Lin Feng, this place was completely unfamiliar, but the slave boy was very familiar with it.

After all, he'd been working here for a month or so.

With Lin Feng's tacit approval, the slave boy trailed behind her by only half a step, remaining silent the whole way. It was he who took the initiative to start a conversation: "Are there not enough people for night watch?" If there is any danger, the entire group might be wiped out before the message can even get out.

Lin Feng said, "That's not the point."

The slave boy was curious but didn't ask.

Lin Feng volunteered, "To find someone."

They would thoroughly search any place they came across that might be hiding, and their behavior seemed very strange to the young slave boy.

Who are you looking for?

Lin Feng said, "Someone about your age."

The slave boy said earnestly, "What are the characteristics of this valley? Perhaps I have seen it before and can be of help."

Lin Feng shook his head: "I don't know."

This answer puzzled the young slave.

Lin Feng's profile seemed to be covered in frost, so he wisely refrained from asking further questions, knowing that curiosity would kill the cat.

The night patrol yielded nothing.

Half an hour later, Lin Feng led his men back to camp.

The slave boy was handed over to the guards for safekeeping. Lin Feng rode his horse for a while, enjoying the night breeze, then turned and galloped towards Gu Chi's tent. The candlelight inside the tent was still burning. Lin Feng ordered someone to announce his arrival, then lifted the tent flap and entered: "Sir."

"Lingde is here. Did you come back with anything?"

Gu Chi was idly studying chess scores—in a way, these literary scholars mostly shared similar hobbies; Gu Chi, like his teacher, liked to study chess scores whenever he was troubled—Lin Feng sat down opposite him. He said, "Nothing to show for it..."

"Given your murderous intent, how could you have come up empty-handed?"

"Although there was no gain, this person..."

Gu Chi said, "Does it match what your teacher said?"

It's all Chu Yao's fault for betraying his apprentice. His "a glimmer of hope after despair" approach to scholarship is unreliable, and the dream didn't provide any clear guidance. He says it's better to kill a thousand innocent people than let one guilty person go free… but given his conditions, how could he possibly find hundreds of thousands of inhabitants in the Ten Crows and kill them all? If he really had that ability, the Ten Crows would have been razed to the ground long ago. Gu Chi looked at Lin Feng; the little girl was about to become a demon.

Lin Feng said, "It does match perfectly."

A match means it's okay to kill.

Gu Chi disagreed: "Let's keep it for now and observe it slowly. If it's fake, it'll save us from another bloodshed; if it's real, how precious is the Ten Crows Queen's treasured gold nugget? I've learned before that while the Ten Crows are ostensibly left to fend for themselves, they're always being watched by their own people. It's called training, but it's just a way to gain a prestigious reputation..."

To put it bluntly, it's just about getting a gilded plating.

Lin Feng immediately understood what Gu Chi meant.

How could the most noble prince of Shiwu be reduced to a slave?

According to the salt merchant, the boy was indeed destitute when he bought him. After being bought, he encountered bandits and refugees; the salt merchant was imprisoned for as long as the enslaved boy remained incarcerated. This hardly resembles a privileged political career being used for a second-generation official's gilded career.

It seemed more like a desperate measure to save his life after something went wrong along the way, or perhaps—he had more plans.

These mysteries can only be revealed one by one.

Gu Chi: "Anyway, we can kill him at any time."

That's when you can hook out the big fish hiding behind the scenes, that's when you make a big profit.

Lin Feng was naturally moved.

"The student understands."

Even if you have to kill someone, you have to extract value from them before you kill them.

“But… he made some suspicious moves today, asking about the lord’s identity…” Lin Feng voiced his concern, “What if he tried to harm the lord like he did in the teacher’s dream…”

Who cares what interests are behind it...

Kill them and that will solve everything.

Gu Chi frowned: "Keep a close eye on it. I will report this to the lord and see how he decides to proceed."

These worries are all based on the assumption that the slave boy is the target; if he isn't, then they're just worrying unnecessarily. Lin Feng nodded and said, "Then I'll trouble you, sir. It's late, I'll take my leave." Lin Feng still harbored some concerns.

I ran into Xu Quan, who was on night shift.

Although there's no longer any need to continue the disguise, Xu Quan seems to enjoy his current state, using his good looks to amuse people everywhere, with honest folks, especially Xianyu Jian, suffering the most. With the extra favors from his lord, he's become quite happy with his cross-dressing.

But he is a real man after all. When he consciously restrains himself, he is fine, but when he is alone in private, Xu Quan's behavior becomes unrestrained and it is simply an eyesore.

"Hey, what's wrong, Lingde? You look so worried."

Lin Feng did not hide anything.

Several high-ranking officials knew about her important mission.

Xu Quan stroked his chin, quickly coming up with a clever idea, and puffed out his chest: "That's easy, should we ask the prince to take charge?"

Lin Feng: "???"

Xu Quan touched his face, feeling narcissistic.

"Even heroes have found it hard to resist the charms of a beautiful woman."

Lin Feng: "..."

_(:з」∠)_

I don't know what my constitution is.

Pregnancy brings a whole host of unpleasant and frustrating things, one after another, making it hard to cope...

I've been kept too busy to write anything... Can't we argue about this tomorrow?

Sigh, I want to be single...

Being single is liberating; I own a house, a car, and have kids.

This chapter isn't long enough, so I'll add some more words.

(End of this chapter)