Chapter 208
Although the dungeon's secret room was not as secure as the dog emperor's private vault, it was sealed on all sides by massive, solid stone blocks.
The entrance was located at the very back of the dungeon, unguarded and exuding a stale, musty odor.
No matter how you looked at it, it didn't seem like a place to hide treasure or secrets.
Although Ye Chutang found it strange, she still walked down the steps from the entrance.
The further down she went, the less light filtered through. It became pitch black, so dark she couldn't see her own fingers, and even her night vision goggles lost their effectiveness.
Figuring there was no one around, she took off the night vision goggles and lit a fire stick.
At the very bottom of the steps was an iron grated door with bars as thick as three fingers.
A large lock hung on the door.
Inside the iron door sat a chipped bowl.
The bottom of the bowl was very clean, but the upper rim was coated with a layer of pitch-black grime, clearly unwashed for a long time.
Ye Chutang could tell that the secret room held no treasure; rather, it was holding a person captive.
Not being a heavily curious person, she turned to leave.
Just as her foot stepped onto the first stair, a hoarse male voice came from behind her.
"Who is it?"
Immediately after, the sound of dragging iron chains rang out, rapidly approaching Ye Chutang.
Sensing danger, Ye Chutang's back tensed.
But she knew the person in the secret room couldn't hurt anyone, otherwise he wouldn't be locked up in this dark, sunless place.
As she expected, the foul-smelling man was bound by iron chains and stopped about half a meter from the door, unable to advance an inch further.
The man was unkempt, his hair disheveled and his face dirty. Iron chains pierced through his collarbones, and his rotting flesh gave off a foul stench.
Through his knotted hair, he looked at the slender figure holding the fire stick not far away, his deep eyes radiating a burning light.
"Who are you?"
This was the first time in the year he had been locked up that he saw someone other than the official guards.
Ye Chutang felt that anyone locked in this secret room was not simple. Not wanting to ask for trouble, she continued to leave.
The man grew anxious and hurriedly said, "I'm not a bad person. I have a lot of treasure and I'm very good at making money. As long as you save me, I can make you as wealthy as an entire nation. My martial arts are also very high; I can be your bodyguard."
Ye Chutang liked wealth, but she was not greedy.
As for a bodyguard, she didn't need one at all.
Therefore, the man's words failed to move her, and she kept walking away.
"I am the Sect Master of the Almighty Sect! As long as you save me, I'll let you reach the pinnacle of life!"
These words gave Ye Chutang a sense of familiarity.
She paused her steps and turned around.
The light from the fire stick was limited, so she could only vaguely make out the man's silhouette.
"Almighty Sect? Never heard of it."
Seeing Ye Chutang speak, the man's tense nerves relaxed slightly.
But upon hearing a female voice, his heart sank a bit.
"Then you must have heard of the Limitless Sect, right?"
Ye Chutang didn't understand the martial arts sects of the pugilistic world, so she shook her head.
"Never heard of it."
The man felt like the conversation was hitting a dead end, but he didn't want to let go of this hard-won chance to be rescued.
"Then, Miss, you must have at least heard of the 'Five Elements and Eight Trigrams' and 'Sun Tzu's Art of War', right?"
If she hadn't heard of those either, he was going to cry!
Of course Ye Chutang had heard of them.
However, she wasn't sure if these things existed in this alternate history dynasty.
She didn't answer the man directly, instead probing, "What is your name? You mentioned earlier that you are good at making money. How exactly do you make it?"
Seeing a glimmer of hope, the man quickly replied, "My name is Sun Chu, a descendant of Sun Wu. I know military formations and clever engineering. I can make exquisite little gadgets to sell, and I even know how to make glass and transparent scented soap..."
Hearing this, Ye Chutang knew she had encountered someone from her original world.
But she had no intention of exposing her own identity.
After quietly listening to Sun Chu finish pitching himself, she said, "You are indeed quite capable of making money. But how can I be sure that you will keep your promise after I save you? After all, your martial arts are excellent; killing me to silence me would be as easy as flipping your hand."
Sun Chu hurriedly raised his hand to swear an oath. "I, Sun Chu..."
He had barely opened his mouth when Ye Chutang interrupted him.
"If swearing oaths worked, God's lightning would have struck dead countless people by now."
There was nothing wrong with this logic, but it greatly surprised Sun Chu.
After all, people in feudal ancient times firmly believed in ghosts and gods.
He asked anxiously, "What must I do for you to believe me, Miss?"
Ye Chutang walked down the stairs and arrived in front of the iron door.
She extended the fire stick in her hand forward and saw a filthy, smelly, and scruffy miserable man.
Perhaps because he had been locked up for too long, he was so skinny that he was nothing but skin and bones.
Iron hooks pierced through his collarbones. The wounds were festering and bleeding, refusing to heal for a long time, and emitting the stench of rotting flesh.
If it weren't for his high martial arts, strong self-healing ability, and the fact that he was frequently given medicine, he would have died of infection long ago.
Ye Chutang took a poison pill from her spatial inventory and handed it to Sun Chu.
"Swallow this poison pill, and I will believe you. From now on, your life belongs to me."
After saying that, she tossed the pill forward.
Sun Chu caught the pill.
He hesitated between swallowing it and throwing it away.
Because he neither wanted to be trapped here to die, nor did he want to be someone's dog for the rest of his life.
Ye Chutang said, "Ten years. I only need you to follow my orders for ten years."
Sun Chu brushed aside the dirty hair in front of his eyes and stared intently at the woman before him.
"Why should I believe you?"
"Because you have no choice but to take a gamble. Besides, following me is better than being locked up here. If you have the ability, you can even cure the poison yourself."
Sun Chu felt this made sense and immediately swallowed the poison.
After the pill entered his stomach, he asked, "Who are you? How are you going to get me out?"
After confirming that Sun Chu had taken the poison, Ye Chutang glanced at the combination lock.
She only tried a few times before she successfully unlocked it.
Hearing the click of the lock opening, Sun Chu was so overjoyed that his face lit up.
Ye Chutang pushed open the iron door, which weighed hundreds of pounds. The moment she took a step inside, she was so nauseated by Sun Chu's stench that her stomach churned.
"Ugh!"
Sun Chu: "..."
He knew he smelled terrible, but was it really so bad that she had to gag like that?
Once Ye Chutang started gagging, she couldn't stop, nearly throwing up stomach bile.
After recovering, she held her breath, walked quickly over to Sun Chu, and handed him the fire stick.
"Hold this."
As Sun Chu took the fire stick, he hesitated over whether to hold Ye Chutang hostage to force her to save him and hand over the antidote.
Before he could make up his mind, Ye Chutang knocked him out with a knockout powder.
Ye Chutang unfastened Sun Chu's iron chains and removed the iron hooks from his collarbones.
His wounds were deep enough to show bone. He would need to rest for at least a month before he could move freely.
If he wanted his martial arts and injuries to fully recover, it would take about three months.
She used spiritual spring water to clean Sun Chu's wounds, then poured the best trauma medicine over them to stop the bleeding.
Worried that Sun Chu's martial arts were too high and he might wake up too early, Ye Chutang pierced his sleeping acupoint with an acupuncture needle.
After finishing her work, she went to the storehouse of the prefectural magistrate's estate and emptied it of all the Cao family's belongings.
There was also a lot of silver in the storehouse.
An account book sat on top of the silver, indicating that the silver was tax revenue collected from merchants.
Figuring that the tax revenue was meant for the emperor, Ye Chutang didn't hold back and took it all as well.
After emptying the storehouse, she went to the dungeon where the female members of the Cao family were imprisoned.
Thinking of their tragic fate, the women couldn't sleep at all and huddled together, weeping.
The sleepy official guards grew impatient with the noise and roared, "If you keep crying, we'll drag you all out and beat you with rods!"
Terrified, the women covered their mouths and wept silently.
After knocking the women out with a sleeping drug, Ye Chutang abducted Cao Liang's first wife.
She brought the woman to Sun Chu's secret room to interrogate her about where the Cao family's wealth was hidden.