Chapter 146: It Turns Out to Be a Woman?!

"Hmm? What is happening to me?" When Fang Xu slowly opened his eyes, he felt a wave of dizziness wash over his head.

Looking at the somewhat unfamiliar surroundings, Fang Xu was clearly stunned for a moment.

"Young master! Young master! Are you alright?!" Before Fang Xu could even react, an anxious inquiry reached his ears from nearby.

When Fang Xu looked in the direction of the voice, he saw Old Wu and Gu Bei tied to wooden pillars.

Glancing down at himself, Fang Xu realized that his own hands and feet were tightly bound.

After taking a moment to gather his thoughts, Fang Xu finally pieced together the sequence of events.

"Damn it! This is actually a shady inn?!" Looking at the current situation, Fang Xu quickly formed his own conclusion.

Never had he imagined that he would capsize in a drainage ditch like this!

Yet there was nothing to be done about it; after all, who could have expected that within the jurisdiction of Nanyang Commandery, such a flagrant and lawless establishment would exist.

Still, Fang Xu did not dwell on it excessively. Instead, he carefully analyzed the realities of his present predicament.

To his surprise, however, Qiu Chuji was nowhere to be seen, and the surrounding area was crowded with many unfamiliar men, leaving Fang Xu baffled.

"Old Gu, what on earth is going on here?!" Fang Xu asked Gu Bei, who was not far away. In response, Gu Bei recounted everything that had transpired.

Gu Bei had been the first among them to regain consciousness. Naturally, his initial reaction had been one of shock and panic.

His first instinct was that something had gone terribly wrong, and his second was deep concern for Fang Xu's safety.

Upon verifying that Fang Xu was merely still under the influence of some drug, Gu Bei had not remained idle. He had immediately noticed the other men scattered around the room.

Displaying his exceptional social skills—which were truly beyond reproach—Gu Bei had struck up a conversation with them.

Within just a few exchanges, he had managed to mingle effortlessly with the crowd.

Through these talks, Gu Bei had uncovered the true nature of their current situation.

Just as Fang Xu had suspected, this was indeed a textbook bandit inn.

The only twist was that this particular gang specialized in kidnapping wealthy young masters and subsequently demanding hefty ransoms.

Yet if that was the case, why had such an operation been allowed to persist unchecked?

Naturally, it was because these young masters were reluctant to cross the shadowy criminal masterminds behind the scenes. Even Gu Bei had been unable to find out the true identity of the mastermind.

The only reason they had targeted Fang Xu and his companions was because of their fine attire upon arrival, compounded by the fact that Old Wu and Gu Bei addressed Fang Xu as "Young Master," which had instantly triggered the greed of these scoundrels.

Hearing Gu Bei's explanation, Fang Xu could not help but think that the background of this criminal den was not to be underestimated.

However, what puzzled Fang Xu even more now was why everyone here was male. After all, if these were all young scions of wealthy families, wouldn't they typically be accompanied by at least a few maidservants?

Why hadn't he seen a single woman so far? Wasn't that deeply suspicious?

Gu Bei then offered another piece of explanation, revealing that the young masters were detained in this particular section, while the female captives were locked up in a completely separate area.

This revelation left Fang Xu dumbfounded. After all, Qiu Chuji was not present in this room!

"Damn it! Could Chuji actually be a woman in disguise?!" Fang Xu suddenly realized the truth, while Old Wu, Gu Bei, and the others looked at him with speechless expressions.

Originally, each of them had assumed Fang Xu already knew and was simply keeping up previsions without exposing it.

None of them had expected that Fang Xu genuinely had no clue, a realization that was both exasperating and amusing.

Now, Fang Xu could no longer remain calm. Since it was virtually certain that Qiu Chuji was a female, it meant they had to ensure she did not fall into any real danger.

Fang Xu's mind raced as he searched for a solution. Apart from a small ventilation window high up on the wall, there was no other exit in sight.

Everyone remained firmly bound to their pillars, showing that the masterminds of this establishment possessed no small degree of cunning.

Had they simply been tied together loosely, they would have broken free long ago.

Furthermore, the spacing between the pillars was precisely a few steps apart, effectively preventing any two captives from standing back-to-back to untie each other's ropes.

Puzzling over his surroundings, Fang Xu felt an odd sense of familiarity, as though he had seen this place somewhere before.

Yet for the life of him, he could not immediately recall where or when. Where on earth had he encountered this layout?

Just as Fang Xu was deep in thought, the heavy wooden door creaked open.

In the dim, flickering candlelight, Fang Xu confirmed that they were indeed imprisoned in a subterranean dungeon-like structure. But what kind of dungeon featured so many thick wooden pillars?

The person pushing the door open was none other than the inn's waiter. Seeing that Fang Xu and the others had regained consciousness, a mocking smile crept across his face.

The waiter then beckoned to the henchmen behind him; clearly, it was time to feed the hostages.

After all, the captors understood that if they hoped to collect ransoms, the hostages could not be treated too harshly. Aside from newcomers like Fang Xu, the other captives seemed thoroughly accustomed to this routine.

Narrowing his eyes, Fang Xu stared coldly at the waiter and let out a faint laugh. The waiter merely smiled back without uttering a word.

For reasons unknown, Fang Xu sensed something profoundly unusual about this ordinary-looking waiter.

In the next instant, his eyes widened involuntarily as a wave of intense familiarity washed over him.

A sudden possibility flashed through Fang Xu's mind. If that hypothesis proved correct, the situation was far more complicated than he had initially imagined.

It was so complex that Fang Xu almost hesitated to believe it could be true.

Yet as he studied the waiter standing before him, the thoughts solidifying in Fang Xu's mind became increasingly clear.

Ignoring whether Fang Xu was willing or not, the waiter ordered his subordinates to forcefully pry open Fang Xu's mouth, brutally shoving the food down his throat.

It was the first time Fang Xu had ever experienced such humiliating treatment, but he quickly noticed the emotionless expressions on the faces of the feeding guards, as well as their physiques.

Their bodies were taut with explosive muscle power. Ordinarily, men with such builds were dockworkers who hauled heavy cargo. Yet if they were truly dockworkers, their bodies ought to carry the faint, salty scent of the sea.

Instead, these men completely lacked any marine odor; the only scent lingering around them was a faint trace of sandalwood incense.

At this point, Fang Xu had already deduced the vast majority of the truth. All that remained was to find a final confirmation.

He could only sigh at his own "good fortune"; no sooner had he arrived in the vicinity of Nanyang Commandery than he had stumbled straight into a web of such magnitude. They certainly knew how to roll out the red carpet for him!

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