Chapter 31: Arson
Hearing this, Dugu Lie's old face flushed, and he wanted to cover Duan Tianji's mouth with his backhand. Unfortunately, his action was quick, and Duan Tianji's mouth was even faster: "You are not Master, why do you insist on drinking old duck soup?"
Dugu Lie was embarrassed, but he still insisted, "You didn't taste it either."
Duan Tianji was so angry that he started to act like a child and said, "Anyway, I was implicated by you."
Chu Ci held his forehead and sighed. No wonder they were easily tricked. They were a pair of clowns! Would it be reliable to use them for a sneak attack? For the first time, Chu Ci hesitated.
Chu Ci hesitated, but Duan Tianji didn't want to give up. "You came in alone, you must be unprepared. You have some drugs, right? Give me some. We know where the water source is down there."
Even Dugu Lie advised, "Yes, yes, let's not talk about anything else. Tianji also went to the battlefield with General Duan."
General Duan? He'd been on the battlefield? Chu Ci didn't know much about that. The original book mostly focused on Chu Ling'er's good fortune and favor, with the few setbacks she experienced coming from Fan Jingrui and the Fifth Prince. Everything else was just a passing mention. The Duan family wasn't even mentioned in the original book.
As for helpers, the more the better. If they're offered for free, there's no reason not to use them. "So, how many people like you are captured here? I can provide them with high-quality, sufficient drugs. If it's safe, do you think they'd be willing to join us in fighting these Tatars?"
"Of course I am willing. Who wants to be a dog when they can be a human being?" Duan Tianji answered firmly.
But he had barely agreed when his master, Dugu Lie, immediately started to criticize him, saying, "Humph, some people are just servile. That old Zhang has long been obsessed with gold, silver, and treasures. And Shaobing, a Tartar woman gave him a son who he's not sure if he's biological or not. How could he even remember that he's a citizen of the Great Zhou? These are just the people around us. The others..."
Chu Ci was horrified when he heard this, and his tone became extremely dangerous. "Duan Tianji, are you also a traitor?"
"No. I just…" Just what? It was just that his soft-hearted nature had struck again. Duan Tianji suddenly recalled his grandfather's instructions when he'd sent him out for training. His face flushed, partly out of shame, but mostly out of guilt.
Dugu Lie sighed, and was about to take charge of the matter when Duan Tianji spoke again: "I will capture all the people in the underground arsenal. Master, you know I can do it."
After saying this, he bowed solemnly in the direction of Chu Ci and said, "I beg you to lend me a helping hand."
"Have you figured it out now?" Previously, it had always been others who couldn't follow his train of thought, and now Chu Ci had experienced the same feeling at home. Honestly, it wasn't pleasant.
However, the master's demeanor cannot be lost, "Stretch out your wrist."
Duan Tianji obeyed decisively. Chu Ci took a closer look in the moonlight and saw it was a water drop lock. She had studied it in her previous life and found it was a special lock used by government officials or the military to protect important supplies in barracks.
I didn't expect this world also had it. Both of them were lucky. Chu Ci clicked it twice and opened it.
However, what they couldn't understand was that the lock was indeed opened. But they watched helplessly as it was locked again. The two were extremely angry, but they only dared to ask weakly. "You...you...why is this?"
Chu Ci did not answer, but instead raised the question that had been bothering her since she came up the mountain: "Mr. Dugu, you said that the Tatars would assign women to those who surrendered. Are you sure they are Tatars?"
"I didn't know before, old man, but now they do." Dugu Lie didn't expect Chu Ci to ask this question. Although he was indignant that those girls had no country in their hearts, he would not escape this terrible reality.
"Then where are they? I have searched everywhere in the stronghold..." At this point, Chu Ci suddenly remembered that there were indeed no women imprisoned in the stronghold, but there were too many women and children in the entire stronghold.
Sure enough, Dugu Lie's answer confirmed her suspicions. "Those are simply tamed. Any who have even a shred of resistance are imprisoned underground."
At this point, Dugu Lie almost spat. "The Tatars are beasts."
"Then how many of them are there?" Although he was mentally prepared, Chu Ci couldn't help but feel a little defensive when he heard the description of the Tatars as beasts.
"I don't know. There are quite a few coming and going. But there are at least a hundred people." Dugu Lie didn't say that these were only the ones who survived, and there would be even more who didn't survive.
Even if Dugu Lie didn't say it, Chu Ci could guess it. "Anything else? Besides kidnapping people and forging weapons, what other crimes are hidden in Black Cloud Mountain?"
Master Dugu Lie and his disciple shook their heads. They were both unable to move around easily and really didn't know.
Although Chu Ci was furious, he also knew that they were not to blame. He tried to calm down, but he really couldn't calm down! "These are drugs. One is taken orally, and the other is inhaled. Before using, take the antidote first. There is also a kind that needs to be put into water, which will also have a smell. You can use it as needed. Half an hour, is half an hour enough?"
In his previous life, in order to prevent the secret of the space from being discovered, Chu Ci used the excuse of poor sleep quality to hire someone to develop a drug at a high price. The drug would not cause any harm to the human body, but it would definitely make people fall asleep instantly.
This time Chu Ci took out all the stock.
She also thought about it and realized that taking it slow and steady and ensuring everything was foolproof really wasn't suitable for her. So, she might as well get agitated!
Even if it scares the snake, at least people around know there is a snake!
So Sauron's worries came true. While Dugu Lie and Duan Tianji, master and apprentice, took over the underground arsenal, Chu Ci, wearing an invisible cloak, set fire to many houses in the village.
Alcohol and gasoline fueled the fire, and it became uncontrollable.
While everyone was busy putting out the fire, Soran got up and immediately rushed to the Zhulou where Chu Ci was. This made the people below very dissatisfied: "Chief, this fire must have been set by that woman. She tricked us all!"
"So, she can only serve us, the Tartars." Unlike his subordinates' resentment, Soran's eyes gleamed. His life principle was to tolerate anything that benefited the Tartars. "Otherwise, we must destroy it."
Chu Ci didn't know that he was chosen between the two. Taking advantage of the chaos in the village, Chu Ci arrived at the underground arsenal. Dugu Lie and Duan Tianji, the master and apprentice, were already holding two journals and preparing to report the news.
They happened to be caught by Chu Ci, who had already removed her invisibility cloak and changed into ordinary clothes. However, unlike the coarse linen clothes worn by the women in the mountain village and the arsenal, Chu Ci was dressed in fine cotton. She didn't cry out in surprise when she saw the factory workers being tied up, so the two of them immediately confirmed Chu Ci's identity.
"You...you are the master who helped us before?"
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