Su Muqing placed her hands behind her back and retrieved an axe from her spatial storage. She then stepped forward and brought it down forcefully, slicing the lock and chain on the iron bars in half.
The floor of the iron cage was covered in dry hay, emitting a foul odor. The women inside were filthy, and some bore sores. Yellow pus mixed with blood continuously flowed from them.
The environment was truly deplorable. She had intended to ask them to come out first, but seeing their naked bodies, her words caught in her throat. In the end, Su Muqing turned and ran back towards the main hall.
Leng Ren, who was in the process of dismembering Song Biao, felt his heart skip a beat upon seeing someone suddenly run back. "It's over, it's over. Miss Su must have seen his cruel demeanor. Her impression of him will surely be poor from now on."
Lost in his thoughts, his control over the knife slipped, and it dug in a few inches deeper.
"Ah~" Due to Leng Ren's carelessness, Song Biao let out another piercing scream. Leng Ren saw this bandit leader daring to scream in front of Su Muqing, further reducing his impression points. He swiftly covered Song Biao's mouth and rewarded him with another stab.
Su Muqing ignored the screams and went straight to the head of the assembly hall, dragging out the alluring woman who had been nestled in Song Biao's arms from behind the chair.
Observing her delicate skin and excellent complexion, it was clear she had never suffered hardship. Su Muqing forcefully pulled the woman's hair backward. "Where is your room? Take me there."
The woman, terrified by Su Muqing's imposing presence, urinated in her pants. With tear-streaked, blackened panda eyes, she pleaded, "I, I'll take you, please don't kill me."
The woman led Su Muqing to her stone chamber. Despite being a woman from the same bandit den, she had her own private bedroom, suggesting she was someone of status here.
Su Muqing instructed the woman to gather all her clothes and then brought her to the iron cage. To her surprise, the women inside, upon seeing the woman carrying clothes, trembled in fear and tried to retreat.
Seeing their reaction, the woman's face filled with guilt. With a pitiable expression, she averted her gaze, afraid to look at the others.
Su Muqing distributed the clothes to the women in the iron cage, telling them to dress before coming out. She then grabbed the woman again and threw her to Lao San.
Lao San looked at the ghostly woman thrown by Su Muqing with disdain. He didn't reach out to catch her, but instead, as she approached, he dodged aside.
Just as the woman was about to collide with a stone pillar, he casually grabbed a nearby tablecloth, flung it to bind her, and then forcefully pulled her back!
He then dodged again. Due to inertia, the woman was pulled back forcefully and swung to the other side. Lao San again pulled her back with great force.
After being tossed and pulled back and forth like this for a long time, Su Muqing finally called for Lao San to stop his torment. The woman's skin was now scraped and bleeding. She cried out in pain.
Once the women in the prison had dressed, Su Muqing led them to a more spacious room. She then stopped Lao San, who was getting playful, asked him to fetch more water, and gave the women some medicine. She instructed them to clean themselves and apply some medicine to each other.
After completing all this, Su Muqing proceeded to the west. There was a row of storerooms, only one of which was not locked from the outside. It only had a circular lock plate in the center.
Su Muqing scanned it with her detector, confirming that the storeroom contained mostly valuable items. She then scanned the lock plate.
It was a mandarin duck lock, with interlocked cores. Only by simultaneously turning both sides for an extended period could the lock be opened.
In reality, the lock's structure was quite simple, designed to deceive. The locksmith had incorporated numerous keyholes and small mechanisms onto the lock plate. Once people were drawn in by these deceptive features, they would firmly believe the lock was too difficult to open.
Su Muqing placed her hands on it, staring at the mandarin duck lock plate through the detector, and continuously turned the small protrusions on both sides. After about a minute, there was a "click" sound.
The stone door slowly sprang open to both sides. The arrangement inside the storeroom was indeed typical of bandits. Gold, silver, jewelry, ancient artifacts, paintings, and jade were all piled casually on the ground, with chests haphazardly stacked here and there.
The area near the storeroom entrance was also piled high with items. It seemed they had just looted them the day they attacked the Houxi Village, leaving these treasures haphazardly near the entrance, too rushed to move them further inside.
Observing the dust accumulated on the chests near the back and the cobwebs hanging in the corners, it was evident they hadn't been moved in a long time. Su Muqing couldn't comprehend the bandits' thinking.
After painstakingly risking their lives to steal these items, they then left them to gather dust in the warehouse. What was their objective?
Never mind, they wouldn't need these things anymore, and they didn't deserve to possess them in the first place. Su Muqing waved her hand, and the once glittering stone chamber instantly returned to darkness.
After emptying the most valuable storeroom, Su Muqing browsed the adjacent ones. There were furs, fabrics, various weapons, and even medicinal herbs.
These people were truly indiscriminate, not even sparing medicinal herbs. Since they had prepared them, there was no need to waste them. With a gentle wave of her sleeve, she left not a speck of dust behind.
After collecting from several storerooms, Su Muqing returned to the group of women. The women, seeing her approach, were still somewhat fearful and quickly stood up, huddling together and retreating.
She placed the food she was carrying on the stone table and smiled kindly at them, saying, "Don't be afraid. We are here to teach those bandits a lesson and won't harm you. Come and eat something."
The women, seeing Su Muqing's sincerity and her beautiful appearance, didn't seem like bad people. Moreover, given her considerable skills, if she had wanted to do anything to them, they would have been powerless to resist.
Furthermore, this young lady had just found them clothes, fetched them water, and applied medicine. If she were truly a bad person, why would she go to such trouble?
Once they understood, their expressions naturally relaxed. Some of the desperately hungry women even reached out and picked up the food on the stone table. They took a small bite, and upon tasting it, their faces lit up with surprise and they began to devour it.
Some ate while offering to their sisters who were still hesitant to reach out, their mouths full as they mumbled, "So tasty, really so tasty..."
Seeing them all eating, Su Muqing got up and brought them some water to drink. She then sat aside, waiting for them to finish.