"You damned bastards, don't steal my things!"

"Let me go! Don't grab me!"

"Ah! You bastards, I'll fight you to the death!"

"Help! Don't kill me!"

"..."

The bandits, who were beaten until their bodies were covered in bruises, were suddenly startled by the bandits' continuous howls and screams, and forgot all about their pain.

Seeing the burly woman shouting "Don't grab me!" so excitedly, the bandit whose head had been beaten into a pig's head shuddered. With her appearance, who could possibly catch her?

The village chief was so engrossed in watching the play that he forgot to strike the gong in his hand.

The aunt, annoyed that the village chief was incompetent, snatched the gong and banged it loudly.

The guards were very clever; when the villagers stopped, they whipped them a few more times.

Later, the villagers who came to watch the spectacle also joined in the commotion and cooperated with the performance.

In an instant, howls, screams, and the clanging of gongs rose and fell, making the entire forest quite lively.

As Yun Mo stepped through the city gate, he stumbled and almost fell.

If the bandits hadn't been dealt with completely by the time he left, he would have thought the camp had been raided.

Lin Yinan estimated the time and figured that Yun Mo and the others should have already arrived at the City Lord's Mansion, so she dismissed everyone.

Yunye's eyes were full of admiration; no wonder his third brother had taken a liking to her.

"Miss Lin is very thoughtful."

"It was mainly the village aunties and uncles who helped out. I hope their trip goes smoothly," Lin Yinan said calmly, not daring to take credit.

By the time dawn broke, it had taken Lin Yiheng and Yun Mo four or five hours to get into the city.

Lin Yinan slung his bow and arrows over his shoulder, gave Lin Shuo some instructions, and then entered the city alone.

At the city gate, guards stood watch vigilantly.

Before she even got close, the guards spotted her. "Come out! Who's there?"

Lin Yinan stepped out from the shadows. "It's me!"

The guards recognized Lin Yinan and knew she was highly skilled. The two of them respectfully bowed to her, saying, "Miss Lin."

"What's the situation?" Lin Yinan was eager to know what was happening in the city.

"It's almost over, no one's coming out yet."

"I'll go in and take a look," Lin Yinan said, and strode into the city.

One of the guards tried to stop him, but another guard pulled him back and whispered, "We can't control Miss Lin's temper. It's alright, our master is inside, he's watching over her."

Upon re-entering Luochu City, I found the doors of the shops on both sides wide open, but the shops were completely empty. Occasionally, one or two corpses lay on the ground, presumably killed during the resistance.

Blood flowed like a river in front of the gambling den on one side of the street, indicating that the area had been cleaned up.

From time to time, prostitutes carrying bundles would flee in a panic, and they would be terrified to see Lin Yinan standing in the middle of the street, completely wrapped in black cloth.

A woman passing by kindly advised her, "Hurry up and run! The city is about to be destroyed!"

Watching the women walk away together, Lin Yinan turned to the slave market on the other side.

The area was as bustling as ever, with human traffickers stringing slaves together with ropes and whipping them as they walked away.

The slaves witnessed what happened that night, and since they had mostly been captured, they naturally refused to leave with the traffickers in order to save their lives.

When they saw Lin Yinan approaching, they all cried out.

Please! Save us!

"We were captured, please let us go!"

The human traffickers stepped forward and mercilessly whipped them, shouting, "What are you yelling about? If you know what's good for you, get out of here, or you'll regret it!"

The traffickers' eyes showed panic. They had to leave before the city lord's mansion stopped, or they might end up like the people from the gambling den.

Lin Yinan saw through their thoughts at a glance. The corners of her mouth under her mask turned up slightly. She stopped in the middle of the street and stared coldly at the busy human traffickers. A powerful killing intent slowly condensed in the air.

She spotted the two Pingcheng merchants in the middle of the group, but the boy was nowhere to be seen.

"Wan Niang, wake up! How are you?"

A man's urgent voice rang out from the line.

Lin Yinan was slightly taken aback; the voice sounded somewhat familiar.

Then, the image of that cute little baby that came to mind was the couple I met on the street.

She looked in the direction of the sound and saw a man carrying a woman on his back, but their baby was nowhere to be seen.

Seeing this, the trafficker lashed the two women with a whip, and the woman's hand immediately fell limp.

"Wan Niang, what's wrong? Don't scare me! Say something!"

The woman was so thin she was practically skin and bones, and her heavy body bent the man's back.

Upon seeing this, the trafficker stepped forward and reached out to probe the woman's nose, his voice devoid of any emotion.

"She's dead. Put her down."

The man's legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground, knocking down several slaves beside him.

The trafficker's whip fell mercilessly upon him.

"Get up! Stop pretending to be dead!"

The man remained unmoved, letting the whip fall on his body. His back was lashed and torn, but he seemed not to feel the pain. He quickly got up, reached out and pulled the woman into his arms, preventing the whip from hitting her, and whispered softly in her ear.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, I'm here!"

Lin Yinan felt a pang of sorrow in her heart. She lightly stepped forward and thrust her sword into the trafficker's chest, then quickly withdrew the knife.

The man was splattered with steaming blood, but he remained unmoved.

The crowd instantly erupted in commotion, and the slaves trembled with fear, crouching to one side.

Seeing this, the other human traffickers drew their knives and rushed forward, ready to fight to the death to find a way out.

Lin Yinan, his chest tight with anger, swung his knife swiftly and ruthlessly, and soon only the two brothers from Pingcheng remained among the human traffickers.

"Where is the boy?" she asked coldly.

The two brothers then recognized her as a customer who had come that afternoon, and one of them said in a trembling voice, "She was sent to the meat market."

Lin Yinan's hand holding the sword trembled slightly as she decisively slashed the Achilles tendons of both men.

Ignoring the two men, she cut the ropes binding the slaves.

The slaves were stunned; their sudden freedom left them bewildered.

Lin Yinan shouted, "Get out of here! Anyone who doesn't leave will be killed!"

Upon hearing this, the slaves were jolted awake and ran away as fast as they could.

When Lin Yinan came to her senses and looked at the man again, he had a knife stuck in his chest, and his hand slowly slid off the hilt, with blood dripping onto the woman's pale face.

The Pingcheng brothers, whose Achilles tendons had been severed, struggled to crawl out, supporting themselves with their hands on the ground.

Lin Yinan ignored the two and began picking up the weapons on the ground. She then took out several bags of gold and silver valuables from the traffickers' luggage and quietly threw them into her spatial storage when no one was around.

"Bang!" A loud explosion came from the direction of the city lord's mansion in the northwest corner. It was a bomb.

It seems things aren't going well on Yunmo's end.

Just as I was about to leave, I heard footsteps coming from a completely dark alley, slowly approaching me.

Lin Yinan stopped in her tracks, turned around and stared at the alley exit. The person coming was walking with heavy footsteps; it wasn't a bodyguard.

"Who? Who is it and where is it?" she shouted.