of medicinal pills, enjoying themselves completely without any sense of hardship.That's why they think that vending is pretty good. Although it might be a bit hectic, the earnings are higher. They bel...Chapter 327 Gathering Intelligence 1

"Right, I forgot to mention that from now on, I'll only give your young master water every day. With his body, how many days do you think he can survive without food Three days, seven days, or ten days" Free and Easy smiled as he spoke.

“…”

The others understood that Free and Easy was setting a deadline for them; if they didn't act quickly, their young master would starve to death. It was an extremely painful way to die, and this would make Lord Cao anxious, prompting him to use the shortest possible time to solve the problem. If there were no other solutions, he'd naturally gather ransom money to save his son.

However, at this moment, there was still another crucial issue!

"Where do we hand over the ransom"

"Right at Blackwind Fort!" Free and Easy said coolly.

"Blackwind Fort!"

Everyone felt surprised and puzzled. Who would accept a ransom there, and why was Free and Easy suggesting it

"You're from Blackwind Fort"

"Of course, who else would dare to kidnap you, the young master of the Cao family," Free and Easy said with a nod. It seemed as if he wanted them to believe that he was indeed affiliated with Blackwind Fort.

"Impossible, Little Divine Doctor, how could you be from Blackwind Fort You just saved us!" The elder's son said first in great agitation, clearly not believing it.

"That’s because I wanted to use you all to mislead people. Who would suspect that someone who rescued you is affiliated with Blackwind Fort But now, there's no need for such tricks; my objective has been achieved." Free and Easy said coolly, his emotions unreadable as if everything was just a tactic.

"No, it’s impossible!" The elder's son shook his head firmly.

"What is impossible about it You’re too naive. I’ll show you how evil people can be!" After Free and Easy said this, he punched the elder's son nearby, sending him flying. The elder's son spat blood and was severely injured before collapsing on the ground.

"Son! You...you..." The elder was in a state of agitation; he couldn't understand what had just happened and wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words.

The elder’s son quickly received treatment from Doctor Sun. What made Doctor Sun feel strange was that although the injury seemed serious, it was quite stable despite being near death.

No matter how you looked at it, he first needed to do what he could!

"Common folks are so easy to fool; well then, I don't need to teach you anything more. I'll leave the city now and want no one following me or else your young master will continue losing blood." Free and Easy clapped his hands, then mounted his horse to prepare for departure.

"Please wait a moment!!" The Cao family members stopped him. This wasn’t because they had other ideas but rather to clarify an important matter.

"You haven't told us where Blackwind Fort is"

Indeed, no one knew the location of Blackwind Fort, so how could they find it when they needed to deliver the ransom

About this issue, Free and Easy naturally didn’t know either; he wasn’t truly from Blackwind Fort. He was also curious about the fort’s location.

Was he originally not planning on getting a ransom The ransom demand was just a ploy, so he casually mentioned an unreachable place. Or did he have another intention

"You’ll find your way..." Free and Easy said as he spurred his horse to gallop away, and the others didn’t chase after him because they feared what he might do; besides, outside the city was a small plain where anyone following would be easily seen.

They couldn't figure out why Free and Easy wouldn’t directly reveal the location—was it for secrecy

No, that wasn’t the case, because Free and Easy genuinely didn’t know. And this was precisely his goal: capturing the Cao family young master was all part of it; remember, his purpose here had only one aim—to get more clues about his own background.

The Cao family wouldn't be much help regarding background clues, so he wasn't seeking their assistance with that. Instead, he wanted them to locate someone specific for him—those from Blackwind Fort who might include the elder’s daughter-in-law and other survivors of the small village.

Before this young master Cao arrived, Free and Easy had been contemplating how to find Blackwind Fort; now with the young master presenting himself, there was no way he would let such a chance slip by.

Who could be more familiar with the place than those who lived there The Cao family were practically local lords in Eastern Europe, so having them help locate Blackwind Fort was ideal.

Perhaps, the Cao family originally knew where Blackwind Fortress was located because it could remain undiscovered only if someone protected it; that person might have been the Cao family.

If not them, they probably knew who else protected it and thus could find Blackwind Fortress!

Now, Xiaoyao wanted to use the Cao family to lead him there. He could do other things while someone else looked into this matter. The small village was one clue, Eastern Sea City itself another, and he also needed to look into North溟City.

He headed toward North溟City all along the way, leaving the young master of the Cao family in an abandoned cellar along the way before changing his outfit and entering North溟City. At this time, the whole Eastern European Kingdom would be issuing a warrant for him, so he didn’t want to attract unwanted attention. Changing clothes was more convenient.

As for what might happen to the young master of the Cao family in that cellar, Xiaoyao hadn’t thought about it and simply bound him up after ensuring his escape was impossible.

Had he left food

No. He didn’t leave any food, just a few buckets of water. His intention truly was to starve the young master until someone rescued him or until he died.

The young master of the Cao family only knew fear now and realized how helpless he could be. He started reflecting on his life. It seemed like there wasn’t anything else worth doing besides this.

He was also praying, hoping Xiaoyao would tell someone about him after reaching his goal so that he might be rescued.

This was the only thing he could do now; he had thought of escaping but no matter what method he used, he failed. Xiaoyao had already made defenses against it, and with this young master’s lack of learning or ability, how could he break through them If he could, then he wouldn’t be a wastrel, nor would he find himself here.

However, whether his prayers worked wasn’t up to Xiaoyao but rather if his father could quickly "find" Blackwind Fortress!

While Xiaoyao was seeking clues in North溟City, the Cao family was issuing a warrant for him while secretly contacting Blackwind Fortress. In fact, Blackwind Fortress did indeed have ties with the Cao family or other major families of the Eastern European Kingdom. That’s why its location had never been discovered.

The relationship between Blackwind Fortress and these major families was very subtle. They used it to do some shady deeds. On the surface, they engaged in robbery for money, but that wasn’t entirely true.

If someone paid attention, they would notice profits going to certain major families after Blackwind Fortress did something.

For example, after a village was massacred by Blackwind Fortress, one family took over the village and discovered a mineral deposit there. But instead of making it public, they quietly mined it for gold...

The small village this time was also similar in nature: an underhanded move by families like the Cao’s.

People will do anything for profit sometimes...

"They’ve taken our young master and want me to pay ten thousand silver coins What are they trying to do" When the head of the Cao family received this news, he was both angry and confused.

The anger didn’t need explaining; anyone would be furious if their son was kidnapped. But his confusion came from how ridiculous it sounded since Blackwind Fortress had a cooperative relationship with them—they hadn’t met in person but always conducted business together. It made no sense for someone to kidnap their son.

This was incomprehensible, utterly so!

"Contact Black Fungus and have him explain!"

Black Fungus was the intermediary between Blackwind Fortress and these major families. The people of Blackwind Fortress were also smart; they never had direct contact with those families even though they relied on their protection to operate. There was no talk of owing each other favors.

The people of Blackwind Fortress knew that while cooperation was okay, if the relationship became too deep, these major families would likely devour them. Thus, they chose to keep a distance from the Cao family and others; this decision was undoubtedly correct.

Even so, despite maintaining their distance, Blackwind Fortress continued its cooperation with the Cao family without any disputes—it even went well. Therefore, the current situation made no sense to the head of the Cao family.

Why

The head of the Cao family had many reasons for this but he felt that it was most likely because someone wanted to deal with him and used Blackwind Fortress as a pawn. Given how Blackwind Fortress operated, they might abandon their cooperation if offered enough money.

Blackwind Fortress was like that; whoever offered better terms would get them on their side. And since the Cao family had reached this status, it naturally had many enemies—and those doing such things weren’t necessarily enemies but competitors.

The Cao family’s position in the Eastern European Kingdom gave rise to numerous rivals, and competition between rivals was inevitable no matter where or when; even small places were like that, dark and cruel.

Some said that struggles elsewhere could be much more brutal than palace intrigues, which are worse than familial disputes. Major families are harsher than minor ones, but in reality, they’re all similar—only the major families’ conflicts spread wider. In terms of darkness and cruelty, no one would be weaker.

If someone was weak, it was because of their own weakness rather than the environment!."Do you think I should take your last name then" asked Xiangyao. Typically, in such situations, the other person might say they want to take their partner's last name."Hmph! If you're going to take m...