Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 235 - 228: Redemption

Chapter 235: Chapter 228: Redemption

"What do you plan to do with her after you buy her?" The man seemed to relax his guard, but still couldn’t help but ask.

"That’s not something you should worry about." Cheng Ziang replied calmly.

"Sorry, we didn’t know your intentions, so we might have been rude." The man apologized.

"It’s fine, where do you plan to take her?" Cheng Ziang asked.

"Oh," the man in charge said, "We plan to sell her to Basargold. She’s thin as a rail, can’t do any heavy work, and is too young to bear children, so I think the Beastmen over there would be interested in her."

Basargold is a long, thin island located to the east of the Continent, and is mainly inhabited by Beastmen. Although Basargold is only a few hundred kilometers away from Golden Port, it takes nearly a month to get there.

Because there’s no shallow sea route from Golden Port to Basargold, reaching the island requires travelling south down the coast to the West Ain Peninsula of the Ancient States and then taking an island chain from there to Basargold. Needless to say, the existence of Leviathan has seriously hindered the maritime affairs of people from Otherworld.

"You’re taking her south to Basargold?" Cheng Ziang couldn’t help but ask.

"We have no choice," the man in charge sighed and then said helplessly, "We’ve lost a lot in recent trades and can’t afford to buy better slaves, so we have to give this a try."

"Can I see her?" Cheng Ziang asked.

"Of course, this way, please!" The man in charge made a path, and Cheng Ziang walked up to Kali.

He took gloves out of his pocket and put them on, then frowned as he studied her. He extended his hand to grasp Kali’s chin and lifted her face.

It was indeed Kali. Although Cheng Ziang had only met her a few times, he remembered her appearance clearly. Seeing Kali’s lifeless and vacant eyes, Cheng Ziang subtly nodded, then released her and wiped his hand on his clothes.

"So what do you think, are you satisfied?" The man in charge approached obsequiously and asked.

"Can I know about her background?" Cheng Ziang asked as he removed his gloves.

"This girl was bought from Holy Heart City," the man glanced at Kali and moved closer to say, "Apparently she was once a noble, but due to some misconduct, she was stripped of her title and thrown into jail. We bought her a little over a month ago when the prison decided to get rid of a bunch of prisoners."

"A noble?" Cheng Ziang affirmed Kali’s identity even more after hearing this. If his guess was correct, Kali must have been implicated in the case of the abduction of the magical prodigy Audrey, who is Tangmo’s sister. Therefore, it was only natural for her to be suspected.

If Kali was indeed dragged into this because of them, then he certainly had the obligation to rescue Kali. After all, he wasn’t heartless. Besides, Luo wouldn’t stand by and watch, so Cheng Ziang might as well sort this out now, considering how Luo was already in a state of confusion.

Thinking this, Cheng Ziang turned around and asked, "How much are you asking for this girl?"

"This..." The man in charge hesitated for a moment, then stuck out two fingers, "Two hundred gold coins."

"Two hundred?" Cheng Ziang couldn’t help but sneer, "Is she some kind of pampered princess worth two hundred gold coins?"

Even though the base currency of Otherworld is gold, two hundred gold coins was indeed a considerable amount. Although Cheng Ziang knew that Luo would willingly pay even five hundred gold coins, he simply couldn’t stand these guys’ price gouging.

"But, she is a noble!" Seeing Cheng Ziang not budging, the man in charge tried to explain in a hurried manner.

"Is that what you call a noble?" Cheng Ziang pointed at Kali.

"That, that’s because she was locked up in a prison..." the man stuttered nervously, breaking out into a sweat.

"I came here with sincere intentions to buy, and yet you tried to deceive me?" Cheng Ziang laughed coldly.

"Then...then you name a price!" the man wiped his sweat and suggested.

"Hundred gold coins!" Cheng Ziang demanded.

"Hundred is not enough, we spent eighty gold coins just buying her." The man let slip the original price in his haste.

"Eighty gold coins to buy, selling to me for two hundred, you sure do know how to do business, don’t you?" Cheng Ziang derided, he was now in full control of the situation.

"No, no, bringing her, her here also cost a lot of money," the man nervously explained.

"A hundred and fifty gold coins, that’s my final offer!" Cheng Ziang asserted emotionlessly.

"One hundred and fifty..." The man looked back at his companion, who after some thought, nodded. The man then turned back, hesitated and said, "Alright, a hundred and fifty gold coins it is."

"I’m not carrying any cash right now, do you want to come with me to get it, or would you rather wait here?" Cheng Ziang turned his back on them and asked.

"We, we will come with you!" The two glanced at each other, afraid that he might change his mind midway.

"Let’s leave then!" Before setting off, Cheng Ziang gestured to the two people not far off, signalling them to go to the merchant’s bank to withdraw his money. The duo gave him an OK sign and left immediately.

The two men, with Kali in tow, followed behind Cheng Ziang. His imposing demeanor made them mistake him for a noble, so they didn’t dare to be slack with him.

The group arrived at the merchant’s bank where Luo’er and Hu Daoke had been waiting for quite a long time. According to Cheng Ziang’s request, Luo’er withdrew a hundred and fifty gold coins from the chain bank using the funds of the Advance Team, which he then put into a bag.

Seeing Cheng Ziang coming over with the people, Hu Daoke approached them with the bag of gold coins, shock visibly pulling at his facial muscles as he stammered, "Sir, here are your gold coins!"

"Hmm, good. You may go now." Hearing Hu Daoke address him as ’sir’, Cheng Ziang felt very pleased and said so with a smile on his face.

"Damn boy!" Cheng Ziang clearly heard Hu Daoke grinding his teeth as he turned to leave.

"Here are one hundred and fifty gold coins, count them!" Cheng Ziang threw the bag of gold coins over to the two men.

"Oh, alright!" The duo caught the bag and set Kali aside to count the coins. After confirming the count twice over, they both looked at each other and nodded.

Shortly after, the man who seemed to be the leader held the iron chain around Kali’s neck and presented the end of the chain respectfully to Cheng Ziang. He then said, "Honored sir, this is your merchandise. We hope our transaction has been satisfactory and fair to you."

"Take care, gentlemen!" Cheng Ziang bowed slightly, showing proper courtesy in response.

After sending off the two slavers, Cheng Ziang, holding the chain around Kali’s neck, led her into a deserted, narrow alley. Since the start of their meeting up until the transaction was completed, Kali had kept her head down, speechless while she was exchanged just as if she had become a soulless zombie.

"You’ve been silent all this time, are you mute?" Cheng Ziang asked, letting go of the chain.

Kali clearly had a reaction, and Cheng Ziang could see her throat move a bit. Thinking a moment, he took out his personal water bottle from around his waist and handed it to her.

"Here you go."

Kali lifted her head, her blank and vacant eyes looking at him in surprise. After a moment’s hesitation, she reached out with a trembling hand to take the water bottle. She then unscrewed the cap and began to drink. It appeared she was really thirsty.

"I remember you could speak, am I right?" Cheng Ziang, with a smirk that didn’t reach his eyes, asked her.

"You know me?" After a long silence, Kali finally asked the first question.

"I heard that you were locked up for some reason and were stripped of your noble title. Would you tell me why?" Instead of answering her question, Cheng Ziang continued to ask his own.

"This is because..." Kali seemed to stammer over this particular event.

"Was it because of the kidnapping case at the Magic Academy last year?" Cheng Ziang asked.

"How did you know?" Kali looked at him, confused.

"This is common knowledge to many people." Cheng Ziang simply shrugged.

"That was because..." Kali closed her mouth, involuntarily, at the thought of Luo’er.

"For a certain person, you get stripped of your title, locked up in a prison, and almost sold to the Beastman Island, was it worth it?" Cheng Ziang continued his questioning.

"It was worth it," Kali answered immediately. "All I have was given by him; even if he took everything away, I wouldn’t complain!"

Cheng Ziang’s smile warmed at her answer. He looked at something behind her and asked, "Do you believe that good begets good?"

Kali paused for a moment then said, "I believe that, although I’m not necessarily a good person..."

She drifted into silence again. As she spoke, Cheng Ziang’s smile grew even warmer. "Well then, congratulations. Luck is on your side now!"

"What?" Kali was puzzled, but then she sensed someone behind her. A pair of hands were undoing the heavy iron chain around her neck. As the chain clattered onto the ground, Kali turned her head to see the face she had been longing for day and night.

"Luo’er!" She exclaimed, tears quickly welling in her eyes.

"Sorry for making you wait, Kali," Luo’er said with deep affection.

"You..." Before Kali could finish her sentence, Luo’er hugged her tightly, ignoring the filth on her. Thinking about the humiliation she had suffered, she finally could not stop her tears from falling.

She lay in Luo’er’s arms, crying helplessly. Her tears washed the filth off her face, soaking Luo’er’s clothes.

"What a touching scene," said Cheng Ziang, moved.

"Little bastard, what did you say to me earlier?" Hu Daoke, with an unfriendly expression, joined him and asked.

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