Chapter 150: After all, I am not some kind of monster.

At that moment, Old Wu and Gu Bei chose not to take action immediately. Instead, the two of them stood aside and stared thoughtfully at the young masters tied to the pillars.

Shortly after, Old Wu and Gu Bei began to whisper to each other, naturally concerning Fang Xu’s prior decision.

"Sirs! Sirs! As long as you let me go, I guarantee I will reward you both!" The young master closest to Old Wu and Gu Bei pleaded anxiously.

"Oh? How do you plan to reward us?" Old Wu burst into laughter upon hearing this.

"This... this..." Clearly, the young master had not expected Old Wu to ask so bluntly, leaving him utterly at a loss for words.

"Since you don't even know how to offer a reward, perhaps we shouldn't save you after all?" Old Wu asked, glancing at Gu Bei beside him. Gu Bei then put on a deliberate show of recording something in the notebook he was holding.

Seeing Gu Bei's action, the young master instantly panicked.

After all, the only ones capable of getting them out of here now were probably Fang Xu and his group.

Watching Gu Bei seemingly jotting things down and then smacking his lips as he looked at him, how could the young master not feel tense?

"I! I know! I'll exchange a hundred taels of fine silver for my life!" The young master blurted out in a rush, leaving Old Wu and Gu Bei momentarily stunned.

Seeing the two of them staring at him like that, the young master began to feel a bit guilty.

"Don't listen to him, sirs! I'll offer one hundred and fifty taels! I beg you to let me go!" A young master not far away, having overheard the commotion, quickly shouted out.

Hearing the offer of one hundred and fifty taels, both Old Wu and Gu Bei walked over to the shouting young master.

That young master felt somewhat relieved. While one hundred and fifty taels was indeed not a small sum to ordinary people, to the various young masters present, it really wasn't all that much.

After all, one had to know that the southern prefectures were the wealthiest regions of all—which was precisely why so many bandits loved to operate in the south!

Old Wu and Gu Bei approached the young master who had offered the one hundred and fifty taels of fine silver. After Old Wu asked him a few questions, he shot a glance back at Gu Bei.

Gu Bei finally stopped the brush in his hand and nodded smilingly at Old Wu.

"Young master, since you are willing to offer one hundred and fifty taels, we won't refuse. However, we'll need you to sign and press your thumbprint on this. What do you think?" Old Wu asked politely.

After all, whoever was paying money was the boss now, and how could this young master dare to harbor any other thoughts?!

He nodded hurriedly, as he truly did not wish to stay here a single moment longer; who knew what might happen next?

Every single one of these young masters came from wealthy families and had never suffered such hardship in their lives.

Weren't they all crying and wailing just a moment ago? But now that freedom was within reach, who would waste time with idle chatter?!

Meanwhile, not far away, Fang Xu looked on with satisfaction as Old Wu and Gu Bei busied themselves.

With the first young master setting the precedent at one hundred and fifty taels, all the subsequent offers were at least one hundred taels, leaving Old Wu and Gu Bei grinning from ear to ear.

Just imagine, combined together, the ransom for all these young masters would probably reach tens of thousands of taels?!

When had Old Wu and Gu Bei ever laid eyes on so much silver? Yet, Fang Xu wasn't particularly interested in these meager gains.

By no means should one think Fang Xu had become arrogant or anything of the sort!

Those tens of thousands of taels of fine silver were indeed a veritable mountain of gold, but in Fang Xu's eyes, compared to the treasure he intended to track down next,

these sums were truly nothing more than pocket change. After all, Fang Xu refused to believe that these fierce bandits had only recently arrived here to commit crimes.

When choosing an inn earlier, Fang Xu had deliberately picked an old, established place precisely to ensure he wouldn't be scammed.

Yet to his surprise, he had been scammed nonetheless.

Even so, this made Fang Xu realize that this band of ruthless bandits must have been entrenched here for quite a few years!

That being the case, could the total amount of ransom they had accumulated possibly be small?!

Some might wonder: would the young masters and misses who had been kidnapped by these bandits ever return to this place? Naturally, they would never choose to come back.

So if that were the case, how did the bandits manage to collect massive amounts of ransom?!

Never underestimate the existence of a clan; the sheer number of people in a wealthy family was terrifyingly large, and it was precisely this that allowed these bandits to rake in unimaginable fortunes.

Right now, Fang Xu's objective was to find the place where these ruthless bandits concentrated their wealth. Why was Fang Xu so certain that these bandits chose to stockpile their money?

That was also an inevitable choice, because if such a vast amount of silver flooded into the market, it would inevitably cause economic turmoil.

One had to understand that if a massive amount of silver suddenly appeared all at once, it would disrupt the prices across the entire market and even lead to unnecessary troubles.

The forces behind these bandits presumably did not wish to see such a thing happen either. Therefore, stockpiling the wealth was the best method, and indeed the only method.

The corners of Fang Xu's mouth curled up slightly. Since he had decided to engage in a dog-eat-dog scheme, why not play for even higher stakes?!

In Fang Xu's view, he wasn't some kind of demon, was he? Or was he?

Meanwhile, Old Wu and Gu Bei tallied up the ransoms owed by the various young masters present, and the total reached a staggering ten thousand three hundred taels of fine silver. Neither Old Wu nor Gu Bei had ever seen such a colossal sum of silver in all their lives.

Yet, upon hearing Fang Xu's further words, both Old Wu and Gu Bei could not help but swallow hard, their breathing even growing slightly rapid.

There was simply no helping it; one had to realize that over ten thousand taels of silver was enough to rival the total assets of an entire minor family—let alone the even greater fortune they were about to unearth soon!

Old Wu and Gu Bei couldn't help but urge Fang Xu to hurry. However, Fang Xu did not rush off to search immediately. Instead, he instructed Old Wu to select a few men to stay behind and guard the safety of these young masters. After all, since these young masters had now signed and pressed their fingerprints, they were essentially guests of Fang Xu and his group.

And since they were guests, they deserved the finest treatment.

How could Old Wu fail to grasp Fang Xu's intentions? Now that matters on the young men's side were settled, it was time to handle the young women's side as well.

Gu Bei grew immensely excited, drawing a suppressed chuckle from both Fang Xu and Old Wu. Just how much of a miser was this Gu Bei anyway?!