He began to explain in detail to Zuo Lin'an, “Staying in the settlement to work, like planting, harvesting, or cleaning up around here, is very safe.”
“You can also head out to find other settlements and recruit people from them. As long as you bring people back, you get a reward. Like Tang Jiu, who brought you guys back!”
“When you went to see Boss Zhao just now, he already got his reward. He's probably celebrating somewhere right now.”
Zuo Lin'an smiled slightly, thinking of Tang Jiu, who had been knocked unconscious by Xu Youyou.
“Is that so?”
“Could you do us a favor and let the others know we're looking to trade one backpack and two sets of clothes?”
“As for other things, we'd like to wait until we get a better feel for this place.”
This was no big deal, and the other party readily agreed.
“No problem!”
Watching the two men walk away, Zuo Lin'an quietly closed the door.
Now, they just had to sit back and wait for the prey to come to them.
It would be best if a few came, enough to tide him over until nightfall.
Once night fell, the two of them could go out to hunt under the cover of darkness, preferably avoiding Zhao Cheng.
It was a bit of a shame, though.
They didn't have a map of Zhao Cheng's settlement.
But that was fine. Wasn't Tang Jiu still in the house?
Just looking at him, it was obvious he had lived here for quite a while.
So, he definitely knew where everyone else lived. They could have him draw a map and mark who lived where, how many people were in each house, and what kind of people they were.
Having detailed information would make it much easier for them to filter their targets.
Of course, they would have to start with the loners who didn't interact with others.
If those people didn't show up for a few days, no one would notice.
This would help them buy time—at least a day or so.
Zuo Lin'an pulled out his clock and took a look.
There were still about twenty minutes until the hour. No rush.
Those two men from earlier had probably already spread the word. Someone would surely come by soon.
Sure enough, in less than five minutes, there was a knock at the door.
Zuo Lin'an stood up to open it. Only one person stood outside.
The man was holding a sack in his hand, which looked to contain thirty catties of rice.
“Here to trade for clothes?”
“Yes.”
“Wait a moment.”
Zuo Lin'an went to grab a set of clothes and handed it over. It was still crumpled and wrinkled.
The man didn't mind, as long as it was new.
Taking the clothes, he set down the rice, turned, and walked away, meeting up with someone standing not far off before leaving together.
Zuo Lin'an had noticed the other person there long ago.
In truth, even if there hadn't been anyone keeping watch, he wouldn't have made a move. This was their very first trading partner, and he had never intended to do anything to him.
He needed to show the others that trading with them was safe.
That way, if Zhao Cheng noticed people disappearing later on, he wouldn't suspect the two newcomers.
Another five minutes passed, and someone else came to the door.
This time, there were two of them.
They had come empty-handed.
Seeing Zuo Lin'an open the door, the two of them immediately wore malicious grins.
“Oh, the newcomers are quite young and good-looking!”
“Want us to introduce a couple of girls to you?”
“Of course, there will be a small finder's fee!”
Zuo Lin'an smiled at this.
“And where might these ladies you want to introduce be, brothers?”
The two men were a bit surprised to hear this.
They had only come to see if they could squeeze some benefits out of them, but they hadn't expected this kid to actually want women.
“That's easy. If you want, I can go find them for you right now.”
If it worked out, the introduction fee would definitely be substantial.
Women were incredibly rare in Sin Hunter City. There were fewer than ten in their entire settlement, and every single one was treated like absolute treasure.
Whether they were beautiful or ugly, it took a hefty price just to spend a night with one!
Zuo Lin'an used the brief conversation to confirm that there was no one else around. Moreover, the two men were dressed shabbily and didn't look like they belonged to any organized group.
They were probably just street thugs looking to make a quick buck.
Zuo Lin'an immediately became very welcoming. “No rush. Come in and have a seat first, brothers. Since you're already here, we can't let you leave empty-handed.”
“We'll still need your help introducing those ladies later...”
The two men were completely swayed by his smooth talk and actually ended up following him inside.
Of course, once they stepped inside, they never walked out again.
Zuo Lin'an glanced at the two men lying on the floor, then checked the time.
It was almost on the hour.
He casually dragged one of them down to the basement.
Over the next few hours, the two of them essentially sized up their visitors and acted accordingly.
For those who were generous, loud-mouthed, or came in groups of two or three, they conducted normal trades.
But for those who were clearly alone and had no friends, they knocked them out and locked them up for later use.
Around afternoon, they stopped trading altogether.
By then, they had already captured several people, which was enough to last them until nightfall. If they kept going, the sudden drop in the settlement's population might be noticed.
In the basement.
Zuo Lin'an had just finished an execution.
He casually walked over to a spot where there was still room to stand.
Zuo Lin'an turned his gaze to the few people huddled in the corner. They had already been thoroughly beaten by Xu Youyou and were temporarily unable to move properly.
They could only keep begging Zuo Lin'an not to kill them.
Ignoring their pleas, Zuo Lin'an focused solely on questioning them about the settlement.
“Speak clearly. If anyone dares to lie to me, don't blame me for turning you into what they became.”
“Oh, by the way, I have others locked up elsewhere too.”
Hearing this, none of them dared to lie. They spilled everything they knew, and in the end, they even drew an incredibly detailed map for them.
It marked Zhao Cheng's residence, the places he frequently visited, and the homes of everyone else in the settlement.
On top of that, they clearly detailed when people were usually home, when they went out, and their social relationships.
Once they had obtained such an excellent map, these people naturally lost their value.
Over the subsequent hours, they were killed off one by one.
When night fell, the two of them went out together with the map.
Almost every excursion yielded results!
They could make about two round trips an hour, bringing back two to three prey each time.
The captured prey were all locked up in the basement.
Whenever it was on the hour, Zuo Lin'an would execute one, always choosing the most heavily injured.
If there were too many severely injured people, he would let Xu Youyou finish them off first.
Not a single one was wasted.
As for those in relatively good physical condition, they were kept locked up for now, to be killed when needed.
Especially during the day tomorrow.
After all, they couldn't go out to kidnap people during the day.
In this manner, the two of them kept busy for almost the entire night, only stopping their hunt when the morning sky began to lighten.
At this moment, Zuo Lin'an was sitting at the entrance of the basement, counting the people they had captured.
Rate on N.U.
