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I pretended to be deaf and turned my head away from him.

"No name?" He asked himself and answered, "Then I'll give you one. Have you ever seen a trumpet vine? It's a flower that only grows in our Mo Kingdom. It's small and always grows on the highest cliffs. It's hard to find. It's very similar to you. From now on, I'll call you Lingxiao."

I hate that my nanny was too well-mannered. Even at a time like this, I still couldn't bring myself to spit on him, a gesture that would have been enough to vent my anger.

I could only express my anger verbally, but after opening my mouth for a long time, I couldn't hear a single word that matched his viciousness. In the end, I could only spit out a vicious "Pui!"

He actually laughed, looking incredibly happy. "Or I can call you Little Chili, that's really something."

I lost my voice again, struggling against the goosebumps rising on my skin. Suddenly, he leaned towards me, his brown eyes gleaming in the dim light.

"Little Chili, I like you, come with me."

My mind went blank for a moment, and before I could even think, my hands had already lashed out. The prison van was cramped, and he was locked up tightly, so even though he reacted incredibly quickly and tilted his head back, I still managed to hit him squarely.

I used all my strength in that punch, and the sound of my fist hitting a man's face made the metal carriage shake. The driver suddenly lifted the blanket and looked inside. I squinted in the sudden light and saw two thin streams of blood flowing heavily down below the nose of the stiff man in front of me.

2

The cavalry did not follow the same route as Sanza, which was winding and turning to avoid the border. The cavalry took a straight route and galloped non-stop for half a day before leaving the wilderness. By sunset, the outline of the Mexican border could be seen in the distance.

Thinking of the heroic deeds of the Ji family army in their all-night raid on the Mo Kingdom, and comparing that to my own pathetic state, I felt increasingly ashamed.

That evening, the main force arrived at the border of Mexico. This place faced a vast wilderness, and the so-called border was nothing more than some military camps built against the mountains, occupying advantageous terrain to guard against any possible attacks.

Red Eagle had already sent a message before the cavalry arrived, and when Shan got off the vehicle and saw this formation, he couldn't help but take a second look at him.

A thousand-mile chase, transported in a cage, chained up—what exactly did this man do?

Abul was also taken off the car. As he turned his head, our eyes met. I immediately and resolutely turned my head away, showing him the back of my head to show my contempt for him.

There's no need to give this kind of man any kind of friendly treatment; he's barbaric, despicable, vulgar, and frivolous.

I was glad I threw that punch in the prison van, because he hadn't said a word since I punched him in the nose. The driver was probably terrified by my actions and didn't dare report the situation in the van to the leader. So, although I suffered in the van all day, at least I had some peace and quiet.

That evening, the lieutenant led me to an empty room, closed the door, handed me a worn-out pen that he had somehow found, and tore off several pieces of sheepskin, slapping them hard in front of me. His intention was obvious.

Abule was placed under strict guard as soon as he got off the car. I don't know where he was taken. With that annoying man gone, I felt much better. My hands were free again, so I grabbed a pen and scribbled on the sheepskin. Seeing that it was just me and the lieutenant in the room, I had the idea of taking him hostage.

These people have killed so many people, I truly hate them. If I had the chance, I wouldn't mind killing again.

I was watching his every move closely, considering how to make my move, when suddenly I was jolted awake and remembered their leader's previous heroic actions, which made me back down.

Although this man's martial arts skills are inferior to mine, when someone is fearless, even applying for a license requires some consideration, let alone with so many cavalrymen armed with swords and knives outside. Even someone as ruthless as Abule was captured, let alone me.

Forget it, I shouldn't fight head-on. I'll find a chance to escape eventually, so what's the harm in a little longer?

Thinking of this, I became even less inclined to continue drawing. I looked up at him longingly, put my hands on my stomach, and said, "I'm so hungry, I can't even remember anything."

The lieutenant slammed his fist on the table in anger, shouting, "No food until the drawing is finished!"

I exclaimed, my eyes brimming with tears, "But I'm so hungry I can't remember anything. If I draw it wrong, and you go in and can't get out, don't blame me."

He suddenly became clever, frowning as he looked at me, his voice hard, "How do I know if you're lying to me? What if the map you drew for us is fake?"

I was taken aback for a moment, then I had to offer him some advice, "How about this, after I finish drawing it, you send someone with me to that canyon area, we'll walk together using the map, and if we can't get out, then just kill me with one blow, okay?"

His eyes lit up, then he regretted it, and said in a muffled voice, "We've already arrived here."

In my mind, I thought, "Are you stupid?" But I couldn't say it out loud, so I just said something else, "It's okay, we can still go back now."

He ignored me, looking very annoyed. I guessed he must be in a hurry to take Abule back to Dadu to report, and he didn't have time to drag me back and forth. He was just saying that. Seeing him so annoyed, I found it funny.

The lieutenant was annoyed for a moment, then suddenly turned and left. After that, someone else came in, cleared the things off the table, and led me out. We went through many twists and turns into the underground prison, pushed me into one of the cells, and locked me in with a large padlock.

I called out, "Hey! I'm still hungry!"

The person who brought me down didn't understand Chinese and didn't speak to me. After a while, someone brought me food down, placed it outside the iron bars, and left, as if they didn't want to stay down there for even a minute longer.

I know why they ran so fast. I wasn't the only one in this underground cell. Abule, who was tightly bound by iron chains, was locked in the iron bars opposite me. This man exuded an extremely terrifying aura without even saying a word, making the entire dungeon as cold as an ice cellar, as if no air could get in.

No wonder some people flee at the sight of him.

I ignored him and started eating. If I didn't eat, I wouldn't have the strength to escape. I was still thinking about finding Mo Li.

"Little Chili, they didn't do anything to you, did they?" Abler suddenly asked, staring straight at me.

I treated him as if he were invisible.

He wasn't annoyed at all, as if he had already forgotten about the time I made his nose bleed. He then said, "It's so stuffy here, chat with me for a bit."

I kept eating, without even looking up.

No woman would give a second glance to a man who has given her a nosebleed, especially one who has made inappropriate remarks to me. If this had happened a few years ago, this man would have been chopped into mincemeat by the Imperial Guards. Why should I lower myself to the level of a lump of mincemeat?

Seeing that I didn't answer, he suddenly asked me, "Do you want to leave here?"

I looked up at him, and when he saw that I had finally responded to his words, he smiled.

"I'll be leaving here soon. Be good, and I'll take you with me."

I lingered for a moment on the huge pile of iron chains on his body, silently.

He raised an eyebrow. "Don't believe me?"

I rolled my eyes, stopped eating, and groped my body with my chained hands, trying to find something sharp to unlock it.

It's better to rely on yourself than on others. If I can leave first, I definitely won't take this perverted madman with me.

He leaned lazily against the cell wall, watching my every move with a look of keen interest in his eyes, and asked, "What do you want to do?"

I searched my entire body but couldn't find a single sharp object. I'd been spending all my time with Sangza and the others these past few days, and I was anxious; seeing his gaze again only fueled my anger.

What are you looking at!

“Look at you.” He said matter-of-factly.

I was just about to find a brick to smash his face when my eyes were suddenly drawn to something on his body.

He wore a leather cord around his neck, from which hung a long, sharp silver animal tooth as decoration; the tooth was actually a lock-picking tool.

When he saw me staring at his neck, he lowered his head and glanced at it as well, then smiled, squinted at me, and said, "You like it?"

I wanted to shake my head, but then I nodded. "I want that tooth."

He grinned and said slowly, "Are you sure? Do you know what this is?"

I was both anxious and annoyed. "It's just a tooth! I'll give it back to you when I'm done. Why are you being so stingy, you big man?"

He laughed heartily this time, and after laughing, he said, "Okay, I'll give it to you, you don't need to pay me back."

3

Abule's hands were chained, and it took him a lot of effort to remove the beast tooth. He pulled at it for a while, but finally, impatient, he bit the leather rope with a brick and threw it at my feet with perfect aim.

I wasn't surprised when I recalled how he threw knives at people last night, but the teeth marks on the broken leather rope made me feel nauseous, and I didn't even want to reach for it.

But in the end, the desire to escape prevailed. I picked up the leather rope with two fingers, quickly untied the beast tooth, threw the rope far away, and then without hesitation hid in the corner, inserted the beast tooth into the lock that bound my feet, and focused on unlocking it.

The people of the Mo Kingdom were burly, and the things they made were also rough and crude. They were not as skillful as the craftsmen of the Central Plains. The lock on the iron chain was as heavy as a weight, and the keyhole was large. It shouldn't be too difficult to open. I listened carefully to the sound of the animal teeth being pried open, and my eyes narrowed as I focused on it.

"So that's what you use it for." Able chuckled, his voice unreadable. I didn't care what this man was thinking; it was none of my business.

"Don't bother, someone will be here soon."

My palms were sweaty, the animal teeth were smooth, and there was nowhere to grip. No matter how I tried, I couldn't open the lock. After struggling for a long time, I couldn't open it. When I heard him making such sarcastic remarks, I became angry and turned around and said, "Shut up! Don't bother me."

Abule had probably never been reprimanded in such a tone before. His eyes widened immediately, and the temperature in the dungeon seemed to drop even further. But I've weathered many storms over the years, and I completely disregarded his gaze. After saying those words, I immediately lowered my head and continued with my own tasks, not bothering to look at him again.

He stood there with a stern face for a long time, and finally, probably realizing he was getting bored, he simply lay down and lazily watched my every move. After a while, he suddenly spoke, but not to ask me anything; it was more like he was talking to himself.

"So, there are Han women like you."

I was sweating profusely while trying to unlock the door, and just as I was getting angry and embarrassed, I couldn't help but snort when I heard those words.

"Then what do you consider a Han Chinese woman to be?"

“Soft and useless things, unlike in our country, even noblewomen are skilled in riding and archery, their horsemanship is no less than that of men,” he replied.

"What's so great about being able to ride and shoot?" I retorted immediately, still in a bad mood, without even unlocking the door.

He wasn't angry anymore, and after a moment he said, "I don't like Han women. My brother married one a few years ago, but she was killed by my men before she even arrived."

He spoke of it casually, but I was horrified. This man himself disliked Han women, and even wanted to kill his brother's wife. He truly lived up to his reputation as a perverted monster.

"Actually, they acted on their own initiative. I only found out later. But what's done is done; it was just a woman." He said, glancing at me again, then suddenly grinned. "What? Are you scared?"

The hairs on my back stood on end, but I forced myself to remain calm, determined not to let him see me make a fool of myself.

"Who's afraid?"

His mouth gaped even wider, revealing two sharp, white canine teeth.

I felt the urge to throw a brick at him again, but then I heard him speak again, saying in a low voice, "If all Han women were like you, it would be a waste to kill them."

I froze, speechless.

The dungeon fell silent as night deepened. A small oil lamp had been burning on the dungeon wall, but the faint flame died out silently after a short while. Eventually, only a sliver of light shone through a small window above, barely illuminating the outlines of me and Abule.

The sound of footsteps patrolling back and forth outside the window never stopped, even when I was talking to him. The security was so tight that it seemed that not even a fly could escape from this place, let alone a grown man.

I was quite discouraged because I couldn't unlock the chains on my feet. I never expected that in my three years in Qingcheng, I not only failed to learn Master Wende's unparalleled martial arts, but I also only managed to learn half of my senior brother's petty thieving skills, which were never useful when it mattered.

Abul remained silent for a long time; the cell was so quiet it felt like I was the only one there. I sensed something was wrong and turned to look at him, only to see a blurry shadow on the floor of the opposite cell in the dim light—the man seemed to be asleep.

I still had a strange feeling. I continued to work hard with my hands, and my ears were uncontrollably searching for some kind of sound, but I couldn't find it after searching for a long time.

What happened? Why did all the patrol footsteps suddenly disappear?

While I was still in a state of surprise and uncertainty, I suddenly felt the beast tooth in my hand vibrate. I almost cheered and was about to get up when suddenly the door opened. Someone had come.

I was startled and panicked. In my haste, I hid the beast tooth in my clothes and sat down in the corner, afraid that someone would discover that I had unlocked the chains.

There were a dozen or so steps leading down to the dungeon. I saw several figures of varying heights projected onto the ground by the firelight, their shapes eerily long and slanted. The people who came down all walked very quietly, and I couldn't hear their footsteps at all.

These people could not possibly be ordinary soldiers.

I felt increasingly terrified, and tried to shrink myself into a corner, wishing I could turn into a brick and become invisible instantly.

They finally reached the bottom and stopped with a clear destination in front of Abule's cell. Someone spoke, a hoarse voice, calling out, "Your Highness."

Able sat up, his tone not very friendly.

"Open the door, and take the people in the cell across the street with you."

The man responded, then turned to face me. The light from the tinderbox was like a bolt of lightning, leaving me nowhere to hide.

I met their gaze in the firelight, and saw my own stiff face and expression reflected in their suddenly darkened eyes.