"Hachi, sir."
"Our city-state really owes it all to you during this period."
The city canteen.
The scarred overseer looked at Chen Yu, an indescribable gratitude welling up in his eyes. He clasped his hands together, his gaze filled with emotion.
"Alas."
"Actually, our city-state was doing quite well not long ago. Who would have thought such a sudden change would occur. The city lord's mansion's treasury and the gambling house's liquid funds were all stolen."
"This has caused our city-state's conditions to worsen considerably during this time."
"Sir, please don't take offense."
Chen Yu remained silent.
He certainly knew what had happened to the city-state; it was he who had taken almost everything valuable.
He hadn't even spared the gambling house's chips.
But—
Chen Yu was actually quite puzzled. Even if he had taken a lot of resources.
A cunning rabbit has three burrows.
It was impossible for such a city-state to have piled all its resources in that dilapidated warehouse without leaving any backup for themselves.
The probability of this should be quite low, right?
Furthermore, even if he took all the resources, he didn't touch their food reserves. Chen Yu didn't believe that such a large city-state, without food reserves, could be as pathetic as they claimed.
Although Chen Yu's mind was active, he didn't say anything.
He couldn't speak.
In fact, the less said, the better.
The more you say, the more mistakes you make.
Chen Yu's current identity was fake. He didn't even know what the overseer he knocked unconscious was like, nor how he treated the other overseers in his daily speech.
If the overseers became suspicious, it might affect his plan.
Of course,
It wouldn't have a particularly large impact.
He could vaguely sense that the city guards and the slave overseers were not colleagues. The city guards didn't even obey the city lord's orders, seeming more like hired hands.
There seemed to be a conflict between the two sides at the moment.
Otherwise, the overseers wouldn't have poisoned the city guards' congee.
Even if Chen Yu were exposed now, their grievances had already been formed, and internal conflict was inevitable. At most, his intervention as a third party might temporarily suspend the internal conflict between these two sides. However, it also had the potential to escalate the conflict between them.
The poison had already been administered.
The conflict had reached a point of no return.
Both the city guards and the slave overseers might use thunderous methods to suppress each other before dealing with him, the third party.
"Sir, I know you're upset."
Seeing Chen Yu remain silent for a long time, the scarred overseer whispered again.
"Yesterday, the city lord spoke ill of you. We, on behalf of the city lord, apologize to you. The city lord didn't have any ill intentions. Our city-state suddenly lost millions of gold coins; anyone would find it hard to maintain their composure. Coincidentally, you also asked the city lord for your hiring fees yesterday, and your attitude was very firm, this..."
Huo.
As expected.
Upon hearing this, Chen Yu understood.
The city guards and the Black City city-state were indeed in an employer-employee relationship. The relationship between the two sides was not monolithic, and a rift had already formed last night.
If nothing unexpected happened, this overseer had already sensed the ill will from their employer towards them.
This was why he had specifically tested the poison.
It was to avoid any unexpected incidents.
The overseers poisoning the food was likely an attempt to eliminate potential threats.
"Sir, you haven't said a word for so long, this..." The scarred overseer showed a wry smile. "Shouldn't you say something too?"
"What should I say?"
Chen Yu, lowering his voice, murmured.
"We've actually prepared your hiring fees." At this moment, the scarred overseer signaled to the overseer beside him.
Immediately, he took out a bag from his bracelet.
"Here are 1200 purple gold coins." The scarred overseer pushed the bag over. Chen Yu took the bag and opened it. It contained purple gold coins, indeed.
He wasn't sure if there were exactly 1200, but the quantity looked substantial.
120,000 gold coins.
He hadn't expected the cost of hiring a group of city guards to be so high.
However, Chen Yu was bewildered again.
He couldn't understand what the overseers of the Black City city-state were trying to do.
If they wanted to annihilate the city guards, they should have acted directly, so why bother paying these 120,000 military expenses? If they didn't want to annihilate them, why poison the food?
This operation was hard to fathom.
What were they trying to achieve?
Chen Yu couldn't be bothered to think about it; earning 120,000 gold coins for free wasn't a bad thing. Throwing the bag into his embrace, Chen Yu subtly observed the expressions of these overseers again.
A sense of relief.
This...
Were they afraid of this sir?
That shouldn't be the case.
How strong could someone be if Chen Yu could knock them down with just two blows? These overseers, the weakest among them was at least Silver rank, so why would they be afraid of the city guard commander?
"Meow~"
A cat's meow reached Chen Yu's ears.
Chen Yu, sitting at the square table, raised his eyebrows slightly and saw Black Bean peeking its head out from the distant outhouse, waving its small paws at him.
"Sir, since you have this money..."
"Wait a moment, I need to step away." Chen Yu ignored the scarred overseer, got up from the table, and walked directly towards the corner where Black Bean was.
The internal situation of the city-state was too chaotic.
Chen Yu was beginning to feel lost. He wasn't sure whether to continue his disguise or not, so he didn't bother about being exposed and left right in front of the overseers.
At the same time, the pig-headed steward also returned with a group of slaves.
"Come here."
The scarred overseer raised his hand.
"Was the congee all delivered?"
"It was delivered," the pig-headed steward whispered. The overseer's face lit up with joy upon hearing this. "Good. Now, immediately take the slaves to the location the city lord mentioned. Do not move without our orders. Remember, no one is allowed to move!"
"Yes!"
The pig-headed steward yelled for the slaves to leave. The overseers also exchanged glances, put down their cups, drew their blades, and tiptoed towards the outhouse.
At this moment—
Chen Yu had put on his magic cloak and entered disguise mode.
"Why did you run back?"
"Boss, something's not right!" Black Bean said with a solemn expression. "I just went to find Suni and asked her to have the slaves hide. On the way, I saw a group of people, at least a thousand. They were all well-equipped, with stern and murderous expressions. Have we been exposed?"
"A thousand?"
"Ah..."
"Hiss!"
Chen Yu couldn't help but frown.
Based on his understanding, this city-state had only about 1800 city guards in total, and half of them were eating in the canteen. Just as Chen Yu was feeling suspicious, he saw several overseers holding weapons, with shifty eyes, tiptoeing towards the outhouse.
Chen Yu, wearing his magic cloak, gestured for them to be silent.
He also tiptoed and followed them.
"Wait, when he comes out, just..."
The scarred one's eyes revealed ferocity, and he made a throat-slitting gesture.
"Execute him on the spot!"