Chapter 184
Bill glanced around at the crowd, gulped nervously, and spoke with great care. "People."
"People."
"The goods we’re transporting this time are people."
The moment the words left his mouth, everyone in the communal bunk was startled, their eyes went wide with shock.
"What? It’s actually people?"
"Why do they need us to transport people? Do they want our protection? Aren’t we a merchant guild? Wouldn’t an escort agency be more suited for that?"
"Yeah, what kind of people need our caravan to escort them?"
The burly men all showed expressions of bewilderment, people were not goods, after all.
"What the hell do you know? Those aren’t ordinary people, they’re slaves, a massive clan like the Nova Imperial Clan requires a massive amount of slaves!" Bill scolded them again, disdain plain in his eyes.
"Ah, so they’re slaves. I can’t believe our guild actually does this kind of shady business."
"Does our Beastburden City even have that many slaves? When I passed by earlier today, I saw so many crates!"
"Where did our guild find so many slaves?"
The men revealed expressions of sudden realization.
"Who do you take me for? How would I know that kind of classified information?" Bill cursed again, but a flash of envy crossed his face.
"Still, those slaves are quite lucky, to enter the Nova Imperial Clan as servants, that’s an enormous fortune."
"That’s true. If a servant in that kind of clan receives even a small reward, it would be more than we could earn in a lifetime."
"Sigh, to think people like us don’t even have it as good as a slave."
"Alright, stop sighing, just being alive isn’t bad. You all know how dangerous the world is right now."
Adam lay on his hard wooden bed, frowning slightly.
Most dynasties in this world prohibited human trafficking, but that only applied to good commoners with proper identities, even someone of the lowest commoner status, like his current disguise, was protected by law.
However, untouchables could be bought and sold freely, untouchables were generally criminals, descendants of criminals, or those working as servants, prostitutes, runners, and similar professions.
They held the absolute lowest social standing, being bought and sold was common for them.
But what Adam could not understand was this, what use did the Nova Imperial Clan have for untouchable slaves? Given their status, they could easily recruit far more educated and capable servants.
He could not figure it out, meanwhile, Bill and the others moved on and started chatting about women.
Adam lost interest, it was highly likely these men were just spouting nonsense and bragging anyway.
The next day, the sky was still dark.
Adam and the others were woken and set to loading goods onto carriages, they were all waist-high wooden crates, very heavy, with their centers of gravity off, as if they contained irregularly shaped objects.
On the side of each crate was a small hole, someone curiously tried to peek inside but was greeted by a harsh whipping from the guards.
After that, no one dared look again.
Adam, however, wore a solemn expression, because his divine soul had sensed it clearly. Inside these crates were people, living, breathing people curled up tightly into balls.
What Bill said last night was true, the Basil Merchant Guild really was transporting slaves to the Nova Imperial Clan.
Adam looked at the crates stacked on the carriages, one hundred and eighty slaves.
His confusion only deepened, what did a dignified Imperial Clan need so many slaves for? And why pack them in crates disguised as ordinary goods? Buying slaves was not illegal.
Unless the Imperial Clan wanted them for some unspeakable purpose.
The breathing frequency of these slaves was extremely low, they were unconsciousness. Although breathing holes had been left, what about food and water? Unless they remained unconsciousness all the way to the Heavenly Void Mystic Realm.
But for ordinary people, that was impossible, even cultivators needed the Turtle Breath technique, and these slaves could not possibly know it.
Turtle Breath Pill, Adam’s eyes narrowed as he recalled a specific medicinal pill that could achieve exactly this effect, putting a person into a coma and allowing them to go without food or drink for a long time.
Although not particularly difficult to produce, it was still a medicinal pill.
One hundred and eighty Turtle Breath Pills was no small expense, probably exceeding the cost of the slaves themselves.
Adam continued moving crates, finding the whole matter extremely suspicious.
After the caravan secured all its goods, they slowly set off.
Aside from their group of about twenty porters, there was the caravan leader, guards, and others, totaling around ten people.
The guards all possessed cultivation, it was not high, but enough to deal with petty mountain bandits.
Standing next to the caravan leader was a man with a goatee whose cultivation had just stepped into the Mortal Supreme realm.
For a merchant caravan, this was a ceiling-level figure, the caravan leader treated him with the utmost respect.
Adam faintly overheard that the goatee man was someone from the Nova Clan itself.
To actually dispatch a Mortal Supreme to guard these slaves, Adam grew even more curious about their purpose, but he took no action, getting into the Heavenly Void Mystic Realm came first.
The caravan marched forward mightily, reaching the entrance would take about ten days.
It seemed long, but was actually quite fast.
During the journey, Adam saw the goatee man take out an formation disk and activate it, he immediately felt his footsteps grow lighter and significantly less tiring.
The caravan’s speed increased substantially, and because they no longer needed to rest, the distance covered in a single day equaled what an ordinary caravan would cover in two.
formations truly do change the world, Adam sighed softly in his heart.
Five days passed peacefully on the road, nothing happened.
But on the night of the sixth day, a crate suddenly rolled off a carriage, and a person tumbled out of it.
"I am not a slave! I am..." The person only managed to yell half a sentence before the goatee man snapped his neck in a single swift move.
Then, wrapping the corpse in spiritual energy, he stuffed it right back into the crate.
A/N:
Extra Chapters
100 power stones - 1 Extra Chapters
200 power stones - 2 Extra Chapters
Capsule - 1 Extra Chapters
Massage Chair - 3 Extra Chapters
Luxury Car - 5 Extra Chapters
Magic Castle - 15 Extra Chapters