Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
After half an hour, the two guys came back to retrieve the basket. Seeing that the items in the basket were left untouched, they said nothing and went back with the basket.
After ensuring that there was no one nearby, Lu Mingshu started to fumble around. Even though the cell was simple and crude, there was an invisible boundary put up so that, even with her mystic force, the roof made out of mud and the walls with holes were unbreakable. The iron gate was probably the only way out.
As she was examining the cell, a voice cut her off, “Hey greenhorn, do you not care about the fact that others need to sleep?”
It was a sore voice, and she could tell that the other party was quite old and extremely irritated.
Lu Mingshu stared at the wall blankly. They don’t prohibit communication here? Oh right, I could hear the guards just now too.
“Erm, this uncle,” she tried to probe, “can you hear me?”
“You nearly split my ears! What do you think?” The man sneered. “Save your energy. You can’t get out.”
After so long, she finally got a source for news, so why would Lu Mingshu let it go? “Uncle, where are we?” she asked.
“Is it important? Just know that you can’t get out,” the other party taunted. “Little girl, just stay here obediently so that you won’t suffer, okay?”
“Suffer?” Lu Mingshu wasn’t willing to let go of the information she just caught. “What do you mean?”
“Hmph!” The other party grumbled and said nothing.
“Uncle?” Lu Mingshu banged on the wall.
But there was no response.
“Hello? Uncle!” she called for him again.
“Can you stop howling?!” the other party yelled at her. “How are you going to have enough energy to endure if you aren’t going to seize this moment to rest?”
Have the energy to endure? Lu Mingshu blinked her eyes. Does this mean that the person kidnapped us to torture us? That’s why we were given such sumptuous food?
“Endure? Endure what? Uncle, uncle!”
“This fucking kid…!” the other party flared up. “Are you an idiot? Shut the fuck up!”
But how could Lu Mingshu give up? “Uncle, please tell me. If you do, I’ll stop bothering you. But if you don’t, I’ll continue disturbing you until you answer me.”
“You…!” the other party screamed. “I should have never paid any attention to you!” However, it was too late.
“So, where are we? Who’s the kidnapper? And what does he want?” she rambled on.
“‘Where are we?’ How would I know?” the other party snapped. “All I know is that it’s not a good place.”
“Uncle!” Lu Mingshu howled.
“Okay, okay, I’ll tell you!” the man interrupted before she could start howling again. “We address the master here as the Drug Lord. As for us, we are the drug men that he keeps.”
“Drug men…” That doesn’t sound like a nice name.
“Mhmm. Every so often, he will get one of us to test his drugs, just like lab rats…. Haha.”
The other party seemed to be laughing at her for not knowing anything, or perhaps he just felt happy that he had someone else here who could resonate with his pain.
“Test drugs? What type? What does it do to your body? Do people die from it?”
“Why are you such an annoying kid, huh?” The man huffed, followed by a burst of laughter. “‘Do people die from it?’ Look at your cell, why is it empty?”
What he means is that the previous inhabitant of this cell died?
“As for how he does the testing, you will know soon enough. Just a piece of advice for you: a bad life is better than a good death.”
After this, the other party said nothing more. Even when Lu Mingshu started howling again, there was no response from him.
Since she already got the basic information, Lu Mingshu decided to leave him alone and go to the Heavenly Wheel.
Even though the cell confined them, it didn’t restrict their mystic force, so she could still go to the Heavenly Wheel. Hmm. Another piece of evidence that the Drug Lord is not powerful, Lu Mingshu analyzed. The Heavenly Wheel was connected to her soul, so if one wanted to restrict it, he would have to be a Void Realm at the least.
“Xiao Sang, can I exchange for any strong drug-resisting medication?”
“Yes,” Xiao Sang responded immediately as usual. As she answered, the exchange section in the Heavenly Wheel opened up. “There are two types: one is a solid soul-casting capsule, the other one is a normal drug resistance dose.”
As she finished, two items in the exchange section lit up.
The solid soul-casting capsule was in level one, grade A. It could strengthen one’s mind and body, neutralize common poisons, and could last for about ten days. The normal drug resistance dose was level one, grade B. It worked like an antibiotic, but it only lasted for a day.
Lu Mingshu shook her head upon looking at the items. What’s there for me to even choose? The solid soul-casting pellet was grade A, so it cost five hundred points, and she only had two hundred currently. The normal drug resistance dose cost fifty points, but if what the uncle said was true, drug testing would not be just a one-day thing, so how would that be enough?
“Xiao Sang, is there anything long-lasting but cheap?”
Xiao Sang didn’t respond immediately, as if she was looking it up for her. “Sorry, no.”
Lu Mingshu sighed. Should I get just one for now? She had to meet the Drug Lord at least once in order to know where Xie Lianzhen was. Maybe just one or two times and then I’ll find out the situation?
“If you need to come in contact with poison, I have a suggestion,” Xiao Sang cut off her thoughts.
“What?”
The wooden wheel turned, and the exchange section flipped to another page. “This method is called the ‘Transformation of Bones.’ It’s a technique for poison. One needs to change their constitution with poison. If you’re going to come in contact with poison, then why not take the chance to cultivate this?”
Lu Mingshu looked at it closely. The summary on it was: “Transformation of Bones, level one, grade B. One uses their body as a medium for poison to enter. It’s extremely painful to cultivate this technique, but the poison absorbed will create a formidable power.”
It was a level one, grade B item, and it wasn’t any superior technique, but if one knew how to make use of it, even a pile of rubbish could turn into treasure. For example, the meditation formulae that she exchanged for a long time ago were put to good use.
What was more important was that it only cost fifty points. Having a taste of how hard it was to earn points, Lu Mingshu exchanged for this cheap technique without the slightest hesitation.
“Thank you, Xiao Sang.”
“As your guide, it’s what I should do,” Xiao Sang answered in monotone.
Lu Mingshu smiled thinly and took out a bronze pipe. She knocked on it and it cracked, revealing Little Boo.
“Eh? Master?” Little Boo’s eyes lit up. “Where is this?” It turned around.
“My place,” Lu Mingshu said and took out a map. “Little Boo, you’ve followed Senior Qiu around for such a long time, how many places in Beiming have you been to?”
“A lot!” Little Boo answered proudly.
Lu Mingshu nodded, satisfied. Her guess was right; Qiu Yu would have travelled all around Beiming before deciding to enter seclusion in Jasper Sun Mountain. As a Void Realm Grandmaster, there were many places that he could go to freely when others couldn’t.
Lu Mingshu bit her lips and drew a circle on the map. “Have you been to these places?” she asked Little Boo.