Chapter 555 - 556: Medicine Man
Chapter 555: Chapter 556: Medicine Man
These people had no humanity. From their previous burning, killing, and looting to their current massacring of villages, they were the source of these sins. Since they had bumped into Gu Kaiyuan’s group, facing their demise was simply their fate.
Nanny Pang had many prescriptions on hand, all quite tricky and dangerous. Their effects couldn’t be accurately gauged on small animals, so she didn’t want to miss such an opportunity to test them on humans.
Now that only their own people were around, Gu Kaiyuan went in and called out Lin Hua and Lin Wei. Each dragging two captives, they headed to the pigpen in the back mountain. This was where the village chief used to raise pigs, but after they moved away, it had been abandoned.
The craftsmen in the village usually wouldn’t come out here. Gu Kaiyuan had taken the time to clean it up over the past two days, making it just right for these captives to stay in.
After putting shackles on them, Nanny Pang fed them each a bowl of mute poison. Only then did she look with satisfaction at her upcoming Medicine Men.
"Although they’re a bit short, their bodies are quite strong. I really don’t know what breed this is. Are they naturally this short, or is it because they’ve done too much evil?" Lin Hua mocked, knowing full well that they could understand him.
Ishishita Saburō and his men were powerless to struggle. Coupled with whatever they had just drunk, they opened their mouths but couldn’t make a single sound.
They tried hard to thrash around, but their strength failed them. They could only glare at the few people in front of them, their hateful gazes seemingly trying to strangle them.
Seeing their rebellious appearance, Bai Suihe picked two medicinal packets from her pouch. "Nanny, since Medicine Men are hard to find, I want to try these harmless ones first."
"That’s fine," Nanny Pang said. She knew what medicine it was with just one glance. "But they are already paralyzed like this. Let’s wait until the drug in their system wears off before conducting experiments. This way, they can better experience the effects, and we can observe them more clearly."
Bai Suihe thought about it and agreed. Since these people wouldn’t be handed over for the time being, they had plenty of time.
Gu Kaiyuan shook his head and led Lin Wei and the others straight back. There wouldn’t be any danger here at all, because just below them was a sheer cliff. At the bottom of the cliff were jagged reefs, and the waves were huge. It was absolutely impossible to climb up from here.
They had previously considered using this place as their final escape route but ultimately gave up because of the perilous cliff.
Now, leaving these people here with the deafening sound of the crashing waves below, no one would notice them no matter how loudly they screamed.
He had forgotten that Nanny Pang had good stuff on hand, directly eliminating any future trouble anyway.
Back in the village, the patrols had already returned. After confirming there were no stragglers who had slipped through the net, Gu Kaiyuan finally let everyone rest.
As for the captives kept alive today, Gu Kaiyuan didn’t want to waste them. Tomorrow, he would find an ox cart to drag them to the county town and claim the bounty from the county magistrate.
After all, one head was worth ten taels of Silver. Bringing back the bounty could provide an extra meal for everyone and improve their living conditions.
Hearing Mr. Gu’s decision, the men laughed. Suddenly, they felt that those pirates weren’t so terrifying after all, and they even somewhat looked forward to them coming back to deliver more heads.
Although this night passed ordinarily, everyone’s excited hearts couldn’t calm down for a long time!
As for any psychological burden?
It was completely impossible in this era. Everyone was usually trying their best just to survive. The law of the land was either you die, or I perish.
Especially in the Lingnan area, even ordinary people had long been familiar with this brutal law of survival.
The next morning.
When Gu Xingyang woke up, she found that the dust had already settled on everything.
"WAAH, WAAH!" she wailed loudly, though there wasn’t a single tear in the corners of her eyes. "Mother, didn’t we agree that you’d wake me up? You adults lied to a child again."
Bai Suihe held her comfortingly. "Your father and I called you yesterday, but you didn’t wake up."
Gu Kaiyuan looked up at the sky. His wife really hadn’t lied. She had stood outside the courtyard and called out in a low voice. It really wasn’t their fault that Gu Xingyang hadn’t heard it.
"Father, is what Mother said true?"
"Father swears, your mother really called you." Gu Kaiyuan looked incredibly sincere; he truly hadn’t lied either.
Gu Xingyang felt a bit wronged. How could she have slept so soundly?
She wondered if it was because she was too young. This tiny body simply couldn’t handle staying awake. Ah, she missed such a good show again! No, next time, no matter what, she had to keep her ears pricked up. Even if she was sleeping, she couldn’t miss out on the action.
"Then can Mother take me to see those people?" Didn’t they say a few captives were kept alive? She wanted to see what they looked like, or if they had evolved.
"What’s there to see?" Gu Kaiyuan was somewhat unwilling. They were short and ugly, plus they were tied up; who knew if they would reek of a foul stench.
"Father, I’m just curious. I promise I’ll only look and won’t do anything."
Bai Suihe thought, "Nonsense. Even if you wanted to do something, what could you do?"
"Then let’s take a look from afar." Gu Kaiyuan, who absolutely doted on his daughter, ultimately couldn’t withstand her expectant gaze. He reached out, picked her up, and walked toward the back mountain.
Nanny Pang hesitated to speak. Mr. Gu really was too much. How could he take the young miss to such a filthy place?
"Don’t worry, Nanny. That little one can’t sit still anyway. If Gu Kaiyuan is willing to spoil her, let them go broaden their horizons. In another two days, it will be even more gruesome."
"Mrs. Gu, the young miss is still small. What can she understand?" Nanny Pang said. "I’m just afraid those ugly people will frighten her."
"Don’t worry," Bai Suihe replied. "That little girl is very brave."
Nanny Pang clearly didn’t believe it. Regardless, she always felt that Mr. Gu and Mrs. Gu were very careless with the young miss, not even observing basic taboos. Some things were truly unsuitable for such a young child to see.
But she had already spoken her piece, and Mr. Gu and Mrs. Gu still insisted on having their way. It seemed she would have to prepare some soothing herbal remedies for the young miss later.
Bai Suihe also hurried to keep up, bringing along the medicinal powder she had specially selected. This time, she had to keep good records and incidentally see how the antidote she formulated worked.
Arriving at the pigpen, the few captives who were tied up lay there haphazardly, staring blankly at the sky. Those who didn’t know better would think they had died with their eyes wide open.
Hearing the noise, the eyes of these captives finally moved. When they saw Gu Kaiyuan holding a little child and staring at them from afar, they immediately tried to spring up. Unexpectedly, this time they actually managed to move.
Failing to control their strength, they all switched to extremely awkward postures and fell flat on the ground with a heavy THUD.
Seeing their pathetic state, Gu Xingyang giggled. "Father, is this last night’s harvest? Why are they so ugly? And they don’t seem very tall."
It seemed that the people of later generations must have evolved, or perhaps it was their clothing that made them look somewhat presentable.
But the people in front of her were truly hideous, each one incredibly wretched. Looking at those small eyes squinted into slits, Gu Xingyang decided she absolutely loathed that kind of gaze.
As soon as she voiced her complaint, Bai Suihe had already heard it in her mind. "Don’t worry. Mother dislikes them very much too. I’ll give them a chance to turn over a new leaf right now."