Qi Ning originally thought that this young man might be the young men who had disappeared from the previous village, but the young man said: "The young man used to live by the Huaihe River, and he and a group of brothers... lived by selling some private salt...!"
Qi Ning was startled, thinking that this guy used to be a salt dealer.
"When the Qinhuai War broke out, refugees were everywhere, and it was difficult to do business." A follower said, "We have been taking salt from the people of the Eastern Qi Dynasty, and then... Later, the private salt merchant told us that there was a good deal that was sure to make a lot of money. Compensate and ask us if we can do it.”
"What deal?"
"He said he found a job for us. We can earn five taels of silver a month. We don't have to worry about food and accommodation. We can save sixty taels of silver in a year." The follower said: "But the construction period is five years. After five years, there will be another If we pay another hundred taels of silver, it will be 400 taels of silver in five years. Even in the capital, we can buy a house. We can't continue to work as private salts. With such a good thing, we... we naturally accept it happily, So a group of about ten of us got on a boat under the arrangement of the private salt merchant. When we got on, there were already sixty or seventy people there, and then... and then we arrived at the island."
Qi Ning became even more alert and asked, "Are you saying that many people on this island were recruited by Dong Qi's private salt merchants?"
"The sixty or seventy people in my boat must have been hired by private salt merchants." The gangster said: "After we arrived on the island, we were separated. Then the people on the island warned us that there would be no such thing on this island. Many questions, not many words, just do what you are told. No one can think of leaving before the five-year construction period is up." There was a trace of fear between his eyebrows: "Whoever wants to escape without authorization will be severely punished. For two months, two people couldn't stand the life on the island and wanted to escape, but were caught. Then... Then in front of us, the two people's hands and feet were chopped off, and they waited until the blood dried up before they died. , now everyone knows how powerful it is, and then... they no longer dare to think nonsense."
Qi Ning was shocked in his heart, not because the punishment methods on this island were so cruel, but because this island actually had something to do with the Dong Qi people.
He originally thought that the minions were robbed villagers, but now it seems that they were deceived into the island. If the island was controlled by the Jiang family, and the minions on the island were provided by the Dong Qi people, then it would In other words, the Donghai Jiang family was secretly connected with the Dongqi people.
If this is indeed the case, the situation would be very serious.
During that time, Qi Ning was deep in thought and bravely whispered: "Master, what should be said... all the villains have said what should be said. I beg you... please give me the antidote...!"
Qi Ning snorted coldly, retracted the cold blade, pointed at the corpse lying on the ground, and said calmly: "Take off his outer clothes."
The minions were startled, not knowing Qi Ning's intention. Qin Ning's face darkened. The minions didn't dare to disobey, so they could only go over and quickly take off their companion's clothes. Then they looked back at Qining, only to find that Qining was already like a ghost. Standing behind him.
"As long as you obey, I guarantee that you can live a long life." Qining whispered: "Pick up this corpse and throw it into the canyon. Aren't you very good at doing such a thing?"
The man felt a chill in his heart, but he still carried his companion's body on his back and walked straight to the edge of the canyon. When he reached the edge of the cliff, he pushed his companion's body into the canyon. The canyon was extremely deep and the body fell down. , without any sound.
When he came back, he found that Qi Ning had put on the clothes of his companion. He was a little surprised. Looking at Qi Ning's face, he found that it was a face of about forty years old. He was secretly surprised. He just heard Qi Ning's voice. He was only in his early twenties, but he didn't expect to be so old. Naturally, he didn't know that in this moment, Qining not only changed his clothes, but also put on a mask. The mask given by Zhong Ya was extremely practical and extremely easy to use. He won the heart of Qin Ning.
"You lead the way, and I'll go in with you to take a look." Qining smiled slightly: "If everything goes well, I will naturally give you the antidote within four hours. If you feel that you don't want to live, there is nothing I can do. "
The man said in surprise: "You...you want to go in?" He said anxiously: "Uncle, I advise you to leave early. This island is full of their people. Once discovered, you won't be able to run away even if you want to. .”
"You are just worried that I will be caught by them and you will be implicated." Qining sneered: "So you'd better pray that I can get out smoothly without being discovered by them."
I was helpless, thinking that this man was really brave, and I didn't know where he came from. Seeing Qi Ning pouting at me, I could only go over and lift the stretcher in front. Qi Ning lifted it from behind and said in a deep voice: " Let’s go!”
The two of them carried the stretcher and walked along the path. The others were anxious, but Qining was unusually calm.
Qining walked forward while observing the movements around him. After walking for a short while, he turned to another path overgrown with weeds. There was a stone wall on the side. After walking less than twenty steps, he reached a large Beside the rock, the guy stopped and looked back at Qi Ning. Seeing Qi Ning's knife-like eyes staring at him coldly, he did not dare to hesitate anymore and picked up a stone from the ground and pointed it at The rock struck three times.
After three sounds, a crunching sound was heard, and the rock actually moved, moving to the side like a sliding door, and soon a dark hole was revealed.
Qi Ning saw it in his eyes, but he was also quite surprised in his heart. He knew that this must be a trap technique.
The art of mechanism is definitely an extremely delicate and complex technology. It is not an easy task to form a passage and set up a mechanism within the mountain. Not only does it require sufficient financial and manpower support, but it also requires rare but rare resources. Superb technology.
To be able to build such a huge fortification on Haifeng Island, the amount of manpower and material resources invested is of course an extremely huge number, and the evil intentions hidden in it are even more horrifying.
The Donghai Navy is stationed in the East China Sea all year round, and often sends warships to patrol the sea, but it knows nothing about the activities on the island. Qining really doesn’t know whether it’s the incompetence of the Donghai Navy or the real ability of the master behind the island. Too big.
The two men carried the stretcher and entered the cave entrance. The corridor inside was actually quite wide, with fuel lamps lit every few feet.
The oil lamp was in a trance, and the shadows it reflected were also erratic. There was quite a bit of chill in the corridor. After walking in for a while, three forked roads appeared. The guy didn't even look at the other two corridors, and turned left and followed this corridor. After walking forward for a moment, Qi Ning saw other passages appearing from time to time on the left and right, and was even more surprised. The passages in the mountain looked like spider webs, criss-crossing. If someone was not familiar with the path, it would be easy for them to get there. There's a disorientation in this.
After walking forward for a while, he suddenly heard the sound of hurried footsteps, and several figures came towards him. Through the dim light, Qining found that the people who came were all wearing shorts and shorts, but their faces were covered with black cloth scarves. Lowering his head, the few people came closer, and the man in front of him had already said to the minions in front: "Hurry up, hurry up, the ghost bell is ringing, hurry up and gather in the Ghost King Hall." Without any further words, a few people hurried over.
The man was stunned. Qining was about to ask, but several more people came out from the corridor not far ahead. They were all wearing masks and walking in a hurry. At this moment, a "ding-ding-ding" bell rang. But it came from above. Qining looked up and discovered that there was a delicate bell hanging not far in front. At this time, the bell was shaking gently, but the sound it made was very clear.
Those people passed by in a hurry again without looking at Qining, looking very hurried.
The guy in front speeded up, walked forward for a while, turned into a corridor, and then turned into a narrow stone house. Qining saw two stone beds in the house, which were very simple and covered with quilts. There was an oil lamp burning in the corner, and there was a smell of mold in the room. Then he put down the stretcher, then turned around and said with a bitter face: "Uncle, we... we are going to the Ghost King Hall. If we are delayed, then … That’s no joke.”
"Ghost King Hall?" Qining frowned and said, "What happened just now?"
"The villain doesn't know, but... But when the ghost bell rings, something big has happened." The minions lowered their voices: "I'm afraid someone will die again!"
"dead?"
But the guy took two face coverings from the box in the corner and handed one to Qining: "Master, put it on first. Let's go there quickly. There are many people there. We just count the heads. You pretend to be Huanggang... That's it... It’s the guy who died, no one will recognize him.”
Qining said "Oh", took the mask, covered his mouth and nose, and asked in a low voice: "Does everyone have to mask themselves?"
"The villain said before that there are seven or eight teams here, each performing its own duties. On weekdays, no one can inquire about each other, nor can they talk together." The minion explained: "When gathering, everyone is covered, too. Don’t let people from other teams see your face. Since the Ghost King has given this order, let’s just listen to him.”
"Who is the Ghost King?"
The minion said: "He is the owner of this island, but I rarely see him on weekdays, and unless there is a major event, he does not appear often." Some people said strangely: "At this time, I don't know what happened. "Not daring to delay, he quickly left the stone room. When he looked back, he saw Qi Ning thoughtfully. He said hello, and Qi Ning followed.
When passing by the corridor, there would be stone rooms on both sides from time to time. Qining knew that this should be where the group of people stayed. There were six or seven stone rooms on the left and right of the corridor that he passed. There were two people in one room, that is, they lived there. More than ten people came.
The smell here is turbid, and although there are oil lamps hanging above every section of the road, it still looks dim and unclear. Even if you are five or six steps away, the face of the person you see will be a little blurry.
This group of people on this island are like rats living underground, never seeing the light of day. Qining thought to himself, it's no wonder that some people wanted to escape. Such a living environment is really unbearable.