Downstairs it was pitch black. Song Tantan regretted inviting Bai Zhiyan down with her. Now she couldn't even use a flashlight. Looking at the bodyguards lying all over the ground, she felt that Ye Moxun was just teasing her. With so many outsiders around, how could she possibly find any money?

Since she was just killing time and the other person wasn't really trying to help her find money, Song Tantan decided to give up and took out a tinderbox to light a kerosene lamp, as it was too unsafe to wander around in the dark.

Bai Zhiyan tugged at her sleeve and pointed to the back of the counter. Last time, her maid found the mechanism there and released them. They could look there again and should find something.

No need to take it so seriously. They're not here to search for treasure, they're just here to have fun. She must have been out of her mind to believe someone just now. She was still taking it seriously until she saw the bodyguards downstairs. Only now does she realize how terribly naive she was.

"Get up, everyone. Stop pretending to be asleep. Ye and I... were just strolling around with the shopkeeper. We didn't mean to do anything. Don't be nervous." Song Tantan still used a fake voice, not speaking in her original tone.

I've been wearing this disguise all day and haven't removed it yet. I was planning to remove it tomorrow after the bodyguards leave, which will make it easier for me to show myself up and down the stairs tonight.

The bodyguards were all awake. Since Song Tantan had said so, they stopped pretending to be asleep. The twelve of them got up from their makeshift beds, still wary. What did the shopkeeper want? Who would sneak downstairs in the middle of the night just to wander around and trick a child?

Just as the head镖师 was about to ask a question, Song Tantan spoke up first, "Listen, there seems to be noise outside. People are coming, and not just one, but many people."

Ye Moxun knew that she had exceptional hearing, so he believed her. "Everyone, please be quiet and see who it is."

After giving instructions to everyone present, he asked the system telepathically, "Why aren't you reacting at all? How many people are outside? What do they want?"

System: "...Host, I only warn you of danger. I wouldn't warn you if there wasn't danger. Have you forgotten that I only have one skill?"

"So many years have passed, and you haven't improved at all. I've grown from a sickly child into a healthy young man, while you're still stuck at the same level."

"Who said that once I become stronger, your abilities will also become stronger, and that once I become completely strong, you can break free from me and no longer be bound to me?" Ye Moxun had long since developed zero tolerance for the system.

Of course, even if he didn't want to, he had to endure it, because he couldn't unbind the system.

Moreover, even if he didn't want to admit it, he had to admit that the broken system was occasionally useful and had genuinely helped him a few times. The most memorable instance was seven years ago when a mudslide occurred. Thanks to the system's prompts, he was able to escape the disaster and even save a group of people in Songlin Village.

For example, the system might now offer some benefits, prompting: "A group of refugees has arrived outside, numbering over a hundred. Among them, a group of over thirty people are from the same family. They were robbed half an hour ago and have been fleeing all the way here. The other refugees are hot on their heels. Host, do you think you should go out and rescue them? They are all pitiful people..."

"Shut up." The system is getting more and more useless. It only alerted us when the refugees were already at the inn's door. Even Tantan is more reliable than it. It still makes excuses about no danger. The refugees are already charging at us and it's still not dangerous?

System: *sniff*

Ye Moxun whispered in Song Tantan’s ear, telling her everything the system had prompted, and then asked with his eyes whether she should open the door and let people in.

"Let's see how things go." Song Tantan wasn't sure either. Logically, it was best not to open the door. Although refugees were pitiful, people can become terrifying when pushed to the brink and are capable of anything. She had seen too many of them in recent years and couldn't muster any more sympathy.

Let's play it by ear.

"What happened?" Bai Zhiyan listened for a long time but didn't hear any sound. However, judging from Song Tantan and Ye Moxun's expressions, they didn't seem to be faking it, so there must have been something unusual.

"A group of refugees is coming soon, everyone be careful," Ye Moxun warned in a gruff voice.

Don't be fooled by the refugees' lifeless and apathetic demeanor; when they get angry, they can be more ferocious than wild beasts, and ordinary people can't beat a group of refugees.

The bodyguards instinctively gripped their knives tighter. The boxes containing the goods were all placed in the guest hall. No one had entered the shop in the past few days, and there had been no special concealment. But now they dared not be careless or relaxed, and quickly moved the boxes to a hidden corner to hide them.

Soon after, someone knocked on the door, accompanied by the cries of a woman and a child. A man outside shouted, "Innkeeper, please open the door! We need a room! Please, innkeeper, have mercy and open the door for us!"

The man kept repeating the same few sentences, begging to let the door open.

Ye Moxun remained unmoved, sitting steadily at the table in the guest hall. The bodyguards were on edge; they had traveled all over the country and seen all sorts of situations and people, so they were not naive enough to think that these refugees were pitiful and to be so kind as to want to help them.

If we let people in, everyone in the inn might die; they'll be killed by the refugees, and their food and money will be stolen.

Only Bai Zhiyan hesitated, her expression filled with reluctance. Listening to the cries of the women and children outside, she was torn by a fierce internal struggle. If she couldn't save the others, she should at least save the women and children.

Song Tantan felt a pang of sympathy upon hearing the child's cries, but she managed to hold back.

Soon, the sounds of fighting came from outside. The women and children cried even louder, accompanied by the screams of some women and the heart-wrenching cries of children.

“We can’t just stand by and do nothing. Can’t you hear the children crying?” Bai Zhiyan’s eyes were red, and she gripped the sword hilt tightly with her left hand until her knuckles turned white.

"Have you thought this through? If you open the door, more than a hundred people will flood in. Are you sure you can hold them off? If the refugees start looting as soon as they come in, will you stop them or kill them?" Ye Moxun still had that rough, hoarse voice, and his words were just as unpleasant.

Bai Zhiyan paused for a moment. She just wanted to save people. Why is the world so difficult? Even saving someone can lead to a crime. If only refugees could be more rational.

Having never experienced hardship, how could a noblewoman like her possibly understand the plight of refugees—starving, cold, and forced to watch helplessly as their loved ones leave them one by one, even facing death? What dignity or self-respect could they possibly have?

Refugees are willing to give anything to survive.

At this moment, Song Zhuiyan came downstairs. Now that she was pregnant, she couldn't bear to hear any child being injured or dying in front of her. Hearing the child cry, she felt a tightness in her chest and couldn't catch her breath. Perhaps that was what was called an overflowing maternal love.

"Save them! Some people are using knives to kill women and children. Those people are truly pitiful."

Even then, Song Tantan didn't forget to speak in a high-pitched voice, "Auntie, you should go back upstairs quickly. We can handle things here. Dogs, be smart and protect her."

The head镖师's eyes flashed. He had just heard the proprietress call the young woman "auntie." It was too suspicious for a woman in her thirties to call a young woman in her early twenties "auntie."

However, there was no time for the head镖师 to think too much, because the inn's door was about to be broken down by the refugees. When the refugees outside saw that the innkeeper wouldn't open the door, they started to ram it open.

"Damn it! I was hoping to help you guys out, but you've gone and done nothing!" Song Tantan angrily brandished her broadsword and stomped toward the gate.