You're Strong But Now You're Mine
Chapter 75 - 74: So many people like white hair?

Chapter 75: Chapter 74: So many people like white hair?

After Leyi said those words, the carriage fell silent. The young boy looked puzzled, while the young man’s face showed a slight hesitation. However, the big man, who had been gagged, glanced at Leyi.

Leyi decided to observe quietly and sat inside with his eyes closed to rest. The young man no longer chatted with Leyi, whose background was unknown, but instead continuously comforted and encouraged the crying boy beside him, trying to calm him down.

The carriage kept rocking forward, and suddenly a hole appeared at the front of the carriage. Wisps of pink smoke spurted into the carriage through the hole, carrying a slight almond scent. Leyi furrowed his brows tightly, and the young man’s face also turned unsightly: "Hold your breath, that’s the mist made from Soft Bone Powder."

The mist made from Soft Bone Powder would be almost meaningless elsewhere, as people would run away once they sensed something was off, and the airflow would easily disperse it. The magical thing in martial arts dramas, where a wisp of smoke can make a sleeping person become infatuated and their organs burn, doesn’t exist. It’s often said that discussing toxicity without discussing dosage is rogue behavior. A small dose of Soft Bone Powder can even be used as a sleep aid, having little effect if not directly ingested.

However, the carriage was completely sealed, and the air didn’t circulate at all. Leyi could even smell the saliva from the big man’s mouth gag, let alone the pink smoke almost filling the carriage?

Leyi was still thinking about how the traffickers would control them next. After all, they had suffered, and it was impossible for them to eat what the traffickers gave them again. Unexpectedly, the other party was so rough—daring you not to eat or drink, daring you not to breathe!

After inhaling a few breaths of smoke, Leyi immediately felt weak and drowsy, unable to sleep despite closing his eyes, feeling as uncomfortable as having a fever...

Leyi touched his forehead and felt that his body temperature seemed very high, thinking that this might be another effect of Soft Bone Powder: causing the victim’s endocrine system to be disrupted by internal organ damage, leading to fever and further loss of resistance.

Leyi could somehow be immune to the nausea and agitation caused by the fever, but it seemed others couldn’t, as they one after another fell asleep in the carriage.

The carriage had no windows, only a palm-sized small skylight. After an unknown period, it seemed to get dark, and twice more pink smoke was sprayed midway. Most of the time, the people inside could hardly stay awake, with the carriage always closed.

Until around midnight, the carriage door opened a crack, and a bucket was shoved inside. Only Leyi was awake inside, and he coughed and spoke hoarsely: "Do you know who I am, you really have guts."

Someone outside snorted: "I don’t know who you are, and I don’t need to know—just a white-haired person who won’t live a few years, do you really think anyone would care about you?"

Leyi laughed heartily: "Looks like you’re not brainless, but you should also notice that everything in my package is as unseen as I am, right? I may be rotten, but my mission is not—do you think a person like me would wander outside casually? If my contact finds I’m not there, they’ll track me down following the route. Once they find you, you wouldn’t have enough lives even if you had many."

"Be sensible and return my belongings and let me go. After all, the mission is important, and I couldn’t be bothered with you. If you dare waste my time, when the Black-Clad Building comes for you, even if you lick my toes, I couldn’t save you."

Leyi spoke with such confidence as if he had everything under control. His words appropriately matched his character: a spy assassin from a mysterious organization. He not only shouldn’t fear but should even make the traffickers fear him—the traffickers were just after money, but under his command were the white-haired assassins, who were deadly.

"Hope you can still keep that hard mouth in a few days."

However, the other party seemed unfearful of his threats and left after saying this, closing the carriage door.

The carriage continued moving forward, but Leyi heard not only the sound of horses nearby but also the sound of other wheels—it seemed the traffickers had regrouped. They likely acted in multiple teams simultaneously, quickly withdrawing in the same direction once enough people were captured.

Leyi hadn’t encountered a group of small-time thieves but a criminal slave-catching organization.

From what the person said earlier, Leyi also understood their next plan—hunger! Just like galling an eagle, they would starve them into dizziness, weakness, and madness! This not only could strip them of combat power but could break their hard bones, achieving two things at once.

They seemed to have considerable experience in this, after all, in Huiyao, everyone admired martial arts, and just about anyone might have learned the Combat Technique. Most who learned it were tough to tame, ferocious as wild animals, and might desperately fight the slave-catching team even when weak and exhausted.

The slave-catching team naturally had the power to suppress these shackled slave reserves, but their aim was to make money, not kill. Instead of dealing with the aftermath of injury, it’s better not to give the victim a chance to vent their anger from the start. As long as they don’t appear before the victims, the victims, even if they wanted to fight, wouldn’t know which direction to strike.

When hunger torments the victims into losing their minds after a few days, the slave-catching team can slowly tame them. Humans are animals too, Leyi had no doubt about the taming capabilities of this slave-catching team—if what the young man said was true, tens of thousands had already been tamed into slaves in Dongyang.

But now the question is, why did they take the risk of capturing Leyi?

At first, when Leyi got trapped, they possibly thought of it as a spur-of-the-moment thing to also abduct Leyi. But they should quickly have realized Leyi’s white hair and equipment, coupled with Leyi’s arrogant attitude. Shouldn’t they feel like they hit a tough obstacle?

Most importantly, they also knew Leyi wouldn’t live for many years. If analyzed from a productivity standpoint, a white-haired person like Leyi was actually the least cost-effective slave.

Everything needs to be cost-effective, is the value of a short-lived white-haired slave really worth the slave-catching team risking offending a mysterious organization?

Leyi initially did not do anything because he had a vague feeling of danger outside the carriage, probably that if he broke through the carriage, bullets from all directions would come to greet him.

Death didn’t matter, but this time Leyi wanted to die at the hands of someone powerful and influential, the best being tall, handsome, extremely wealthy, with multiple high-level Combat Techniques and a few beautiful fiancées... And in this deserted wilderness, even if he escaped, he’d still have to walk. It’d be better to wait for them to get him closer to a city before taking them all at once.

Just as Leyi was indulging in fantasies of becoming the winner of life after death, he suddenly felt a stirring and opened his system panel.

"Challenge (refreshable): Waste 10,000 hours of others’ time, Difficulty ☆☆.

Current progress: 2/10,000"

Leyi blinked.

What happened?

Why suddenly someone wastes time for him?

...

...

Outside the carriage, a group dressed like an ordinary convoy of transport merchants was hurrying along overnight. The procession had dozens of people, with knights escorting five sealed carriages as if carrying important cargo inside.

A man rode to the front of the convoy and reported in a low voice to the scar-faced leader: "Boss, should we just let him go?"

"What are you afraid of? When we get to Dongyang, no matter if it’s the Black-Clad Building or White-Clad Building, whether it’s a dragon, it will coil for me, whether it’s a tiger, it will lie down for me!" the scar-faced leader said fiercely: "Haven’t we captured noble young ladies and rich young masters before? It doesn’t matter, it’s all the same!"

The man hesitated: "But it’s not the same, those delicate ones can be sold at a good price in Dongyang, but this white-haired one won’t live long, it’s not worth it!"

"It’s worth it."

"Ah?"

"You wouldn’t know how high the price Boss Bao, Boss Li, and Chief Hui have set for white-haired ones," the scar-faced leader said in a low voice. "Other goods are easy to catch, but white-haired ones are indeed rare. A white-haired one as neat and pretty as this, dressed up as a young girl wouldn’t be a problem, and once delivered to Dongyang, believe it or not, there will be plenty willing to spend a fortune on him?"

The man clicked his tongue: "So many people like white-haired ones?"

"More than you can imagine," the scar-faced leader said: "As for only living for a few years, that’s not an issue. After all, he’ll only be pretty for a few years, and in those years, he can change hands several times... Just this one white-haired is worth as much as all the other ’new tea’ combined!"

"Even if there’s a little risk, it’s absolutely worth it... Daozi, Fat Dog, take two teams and scour to see if there’s anyone tailing us."

"Big Foot, ride ahead to look for Old Six Wu, and ask if he knows what kind of organization the Black-Clad Building is, and what kind of Martial Arts the Starburst Slash is?"

"Everyone stay alert, no one sleep tonight, there could be someone coming to snatch the goods at any time, we won’t set camp tonight, and will hurry back overnight!"

"Always watch for any Black-Clad Swordsmen around!"

"Yes!"