You're Strong But Now You're Mine
Chapter 74 - 73 Common Sense

Chapter 74: Chapter 73 Common Sense

Human traffickers, those bastards that haven’t gone extinct even in modern times, are thriving here in Glorious Radiance.

In fact, eradication of human traffickers isn’t impossible, because Glorious Radiance has a technology far superior to that of the previous world: the Glorious Radiance Charter Identification System.

This reconnaissance technology, long applied in military operations, can accurately determine the relative location of a target based on the chip identification code on the back of a Glorious Radiant person’s neck. If this world has developed computer information technology, it’s only a matter of time before a live map like the one in "Harry Potter," which shows everyone’s precise location, emerges.

However, the Charter Department is directly under the royal family and does not act rashly unless it’s a major event. Therefore, this technique developed thousands of years ago is naturally impossible to fall into the hands of ordinary people—unless those ordinary people rebelled.

Nonetheless, whether in this life or the previous, it is rare for Le Yuxin to personally sense the presence of human traffickers. In the past life, he lived in a first-tier city and even dared to stay overnight in an internet café; in this life, he started as the captain of the Statistical Department in the Star Engraving County, and even the thugs on Eighteenth Street would tremble at the sight of him.

Therefore, even though Le Yuxin understood the youth’s words, he was stunned for a good while.

Was he caught by human traffickers?

Him, a young man in his twenties, an accomplished Dark Night Walker with Hidden Sword Technique, a master of Integration and Mastery Biting Battle Technique, an assassin from the Nameless Organization, and the primary official in charge of Star Engraving County in White Night, was captured by human traffickers?

Is it that I can’t wield a knife, or are you traffickers too slick?

Le Yuxin directly grabbed the chains in his hands and gave them a pull, but as soon as he moved, he realized there was something wrong with his body.

The youth sighed: "He’s given us Soft Bone Powder, making our limbs weak and our spirits scattered; you can’t break these chains."

Le Yuxin had heard of Soft Bone Powder before. It’s like the main ingredient in the Medical Bureau’s Boiling Sleep Soup, prepared well, it’s a non-toxic sleeping aid, but if prepared poorly, it becomes organ-damaging Soft Bone Powder. It’s said that the underworld particularly loves using this Soft Bone Powder to harm people, so Le Yuxin just treated it as urban legend.

Unexpectedly, just after leaving the Star Engraving County, he fell victim to it.

"That bowl of tea..."

"Obviously, they’re all in cahoots," the youth sighed. "When I saw so many people on the carriage, I thought nothing would happen. I drank, and then..."

This sentence opened Le Yuxin’s eyes; he glanced at the other four in the carriage and suddenly realized: "Those villagers were used to lower our guard!"

If travelers see no one on the carriage, they’d naturally be more vigilant. However, seeing a large group of villagers on the carriage easily gives the impression that ’this vehicle has been operating here for years,’ making travelers less suspicious!

The youth gritted his teeth: "Those villagers must have been hired locally, and the tea stall was set up temporarily. Once the carriage departs, that village can act as if they know nothing."

Carefully reflecting upon it, Le Yuxin realized this setup was meticulously orchestrated—the carriage parked outside the village, free tea soup, villagers inside the vehicle—he fell into the trap entirely understandably—

"Do not consume any food or drinks provided by vehicles, ships, stores, or related parties; it is common sense while traveling."

Damn! Yin Yinyin, how can you send voice messages in my mind even when you’re dead!

Nevertheless, Le Yuxin was full of confusion. He asked, "But why would human traffickers capture us?"

Of the four in the carriage, apart from the sobbing young boy, the other three are all young adults. According to Le Yuxin’s common knowledge, traffickers either capture women or children because they can easily be restrained; young adults, on the other hand, can escape if they want to and offer no added value other than labor—high risk and low reward—why capture them?

After a moment of silence, the youth said: "Probably to make us slaves."

"Slaves?" Le Yuxin was puzzled: "Didn’t Glorious Radiance abolish the servant system a century ago?"

Note, Le Yuxin referred to servants, not slaves; slavery was gone even before Glorious Radiance was founded, whereas the servant system has only recently faded. It’s closely related to productivity. When people don’t have enough to eat, selling oneself to noble families and merchants is natural; even if forbidden, many still live as servants.

A little over a century ago, the Industrial Revolution began, production technology exploded, and overseas high-yield production goods flooded into Glorious Radiance, reducing cases of people unable to survive. As runaway slaves became frequent, Glorious Radiance took the opportunity to abolish the servant system, further liberating productivity.

"Judging by your accent, you must be a local from Chenfeng District," the youth said: "In Chenfeng District, only prominent families have maids and servants; elsewhere, they’re quite rare, serving more as symbols of status... but it’s different in the northern Dongyang District."

"Dongyang District is thriving in maritime trade and has numerous plantation factories. Instead of hiring workers, they prefer buying slaves outright, having slaves work for them like machines uninterrupted in a factory... even children can’t attend Mongolian Studies and are forced to work in factories. They’re surely planning to sell us there!"

Le Yuxin found it somewhat unimaginable: "Doesn’t the Imperial Court intervene?"

"How can the Imperial Court intervene?" the youth retorted: "Dongyang District pays the highest taxes among the eight districts, with officials, families, and merchants intertwined—how can the Imperial Court intervene? Besides, this has only emerged gradually over the past decade; the Imperial Court can’t even manage Skyrim District, let alone have the capacity for Dongyang District."

Hearing this, the young boy beside them could not hold back and wailed: "I don’t want to be a slave... I want to go home; I was supposed to go home!"

The youth shook his head: "If we reach Dongyang, escape will be impossible. Besides, the county guards will help chase runaway slaves, and everything is so expensive there; common folks can barely survive working hard in factories for a day, yet as a slave, you might have a dormitory and medical officers taking care... If we want to escape, it must be before entering Dongyang."

The youth nodded his chin toward the large man beside Le Yuxin with a gag in his mouth: "This guy seemed to have trained the Integration Technique; what a pity, he couldn’t roar to break the restraints, otherwise we’d have had a chance..."

The Integration Technique is among the eighteen official combat techniques, being rather intriguing; its core principle is ’sound.’ Every attack a martial artist performs can sing particular syllables, strengthening the light explosion’s power and causing mental shock or even harm to the enemy; even relying solely on sound can produce light explosions.

Le Yuxin glanced at the nearby behemoth; if he’s truly an Integration Technique martial artist, indeed he could roar to explode the vehicle. But now everyone has consumed Soft Bone Powder, and even if he was able to roar like a lion before, now his power might be just akin to a meow.

"Brother, you shouldn’t be an ordinary person," the youth suddenly said in a low voice, his gaze focused on Le Yuxin’s head, "You’re our last hope."

Le Yuxin instinctively touched his head, realizing the headscarf was gone; others could see his white hair.

Moreover, the package was missing, indicating that Yin Yinyin’s equipment had been taken.

He indeed had the capability to wreck the vehicle.

Not to mention the ’Saint’s Relic’ bracelet on his wrist could transform into an Illusion Divine Weapon (replica) at any time; plus his Ice Blood Physique could weaken Soft Bone Powder’s effects by half; he wasn’t nearly as weak as others imagined.

However...

Facing the youth’s expectant gaze, Le Yuxin’s eyes gleamed, suddenly revealing a confident smile: "Don’t worry, you know Black-robe Building, right? I’m from there, and soon dozens of Black-robed Swordmen who can use Star Explosive Stream Slashes will come to rescue me."

...

...

Star Engraving County.

"You’ve come to claim a body? But you... don’t seem to be a relative."

"Yes, his family has already left Star Engraving County. I’m his junior schoolmate, so I can properly arrange for his remains."

The Agent from the Imprisonment Department scrutinized the youth whose bangs were almost covering his eyes, then checked his military academy student ID, finally nodding: "Sign your name on this form."

He signed his name on the form: Xia Lingguo.

Entering the temporarily used main hall to store corpses, Xia Lingguo encountered an elderly couple leaving with saddened faces, pushing a cart with a corpse on it.

Xia Lingguo recognized this deceased.

He’d died too... And he ran so fast...

Though Xia Lingguo was somewhat surprised, he did not linger.

Passing numerous grieving relatives, Xia Lingguo arrived at a corpse covered in a body bag—while others were merely covered with grass mats. The fact that this corpse was enveloped with a body bag signified something significant.

He unzipped the body bag, and the corpse’s horrible wounds came into view. His expression remained calm as he checked and examined the wounds, disregarding the dirt.

As if observing a piece of art, Xia Lingguo spent a good ten minutes before finishing and sitting cross-legged in meditation before the corpse.

"The fatal wound is the sword slash on the back."

"He couldn’t possibly show his back to the enemy."

"He encountered betrayal from a familiar person."

"In that place, the only familiar person he had was Chen Fu, but Chen Fu doesn’t use a sword."

"He had other accomplices."

"He didn’t betray White Night."

Xia Lingguo opened his eyes, as if witnessing last night’s scene:

"So, the one who attacked him was one of the survivors from White Night."