Rescuing the Six Sisters

Watching everyone rummaging around the council hall, flipping tables and moving chairs, Li Zhan fell into deep thought: Aside from the bandit chieftain and the bandit commander, who else could possibly know about this hidden door?

After pondering for a moment, his eyes suddenly lit up: The six trapped sisters had to eat every day, so there must have been someone responsible for delivering food to them.

With this in mind, Li Zhan took twelve soldiers from the Yanhuang settlement and headed outside the council hall. Just as they saw a bandit carrying a bundle sneaking out of a wooden house, Zhao Ming and Zhang Feng immediately led their men forward to capture him and bring him before Li Zhan.

Li Zhan asked the bandit:
"Of the six sisters imprisoned here, who is responsible for bringing them their meals every day?"

Terrified, the bandit stammered hastily:
"It's Old Sun the cook! Spare my life, lord!"

Li Zhan said:
"If you want to stay alive, it's simple. Guide us to find this Old Sun."

The bandit nodded repeatedly and, guarded by Zhao Ming and Zhang Feng, led the way.

Arriving in front of a small wooden house whose roof had already been caught in the fire, the bandit turned to Li Zhan and said:
"Lord, Old Sun lives in this house."

Li Zhan had the soldiers open the door of the small wooden house. Inside were two large wok stoves, bowls, dishes, and cooking utensils. Hiding in the corner was a middle-aged, chubby cook trembling all over, who was so frightened the moment the door was kicked open that he almost jumped out of his skin.

Soldiers stood at the doorway and told him to come out, but the cook shook his head like a rattle-drum. The captured bandit grew anxious and shouted, "Hey! You're told to come out, so get out here! What are you dawdling for? Watch out or I'll beat you!"

After shouting at Old Sun, the bandit turned back to Li Zhan with a fawning smile:
"This Old Sun was captured by us from a village. Seeing that he had cooking skills, we kept him behind to cook for us. Old Sun is extremely timid and easily frightened. Whenever we forbid him to leave the house, he stays inside obediently."

Li Zhan glanced at the raging fire on the roof and shook his head inwardly: This Old Sun really was terrified out of his wits—even with his house on fire, he didn't dare to come out.

The bandit's words proved effective; Old Sun cast shifty glances at the crowd and crept toward the door.

Li Zhan told him not to be afraid and asked if he knew about the hidden door in the council hall leading to the dungeon. Old Sun nodded repeatedly to indicate that he did.

Li Zhan then took Old Sun and returned to the council hall.

At Li Zhan's instruction, Old Sun walked with practiced ease to a pillar on the left rear side. He hugged the pillar with both arms and turned it with force. Suddenly, a trapdoor appeared in the back wall and began to rotate, spinning a full ninety degrees before finally stopping.

The trapdoor was a full twenty centimeters thick, which explained why no hollow sound could be heard when it was knocked upon.

Having fulfilled his task, Old Sun stood obediently to one side. Li Zhan looked at the captured bandit, who nodded repeatedly at Li Zhan with a ingratiating smile.

Logically speaking, this wasn't the only bandit who had seen their group arrive at the stronghold; if anyone was going to report to the bandit chieftain, they would have done so long ago, and one more wouldn't make a difference. Still, Li Zhan always felt this particular bandit was somewhat different from the others, with his eyes darting around as if he were exceptionally craftily minded. Li Zhan decided to keep him under guard for now and release him only after his group was completely out of danger, just in case he tried any tricks.

By this time, the roof of the council hall was also being consumed by the fire, and wisps of thick smoke were seeping down from the ceiling into the hall. Li Zhan led his soldiers and guarded the bandit as they stepped through the hidden door, leaving players and government troops on guard around the council hall.

The dungeon was illuminated by everlasting lamps. After descending a few steps, they saw a wooden cell paved with withered grass. Cuddled together on the straw were six young women wearing wooden cangues, their faces haggard.

Hearing footsteps descending the stairs, the six women huddled closer together, watching the strangers before them with nervous expressions. Li Zhan told them not to be afraid and mentioned Murong Yan. Upon hearing that their sixth sister was still alive, the six women instantly lit up with joy, falling to their knees one after another to plead with Li Zhan to set them free.

Li Zhan examined the iron chain and padlock on the wooden door. Such items could only be crafted in joint workshops within major commandery-level cities like Xuchang and Runan; it was anyone's guess where the bandits had acquired them. He had Zhao Ming and two other swordsmen equipped with high-grade iron swords step forward to hack at it. After the three of them struck fiercely more than a dozen times, the iron chain was finally severed. Because they were striking metal, the durability of all three iron swords plummeted rapidly, with the lowest one dropping to just 2 points remaining.

Li Zhan pulled open the cell door, and the six sisters hurried out to thank him for saving their lives. Li Zhan told the six sisters to return the courtesy and carefully inspected the attributes of the cangues, discovering that their durability was actually displayed as question marks. He figured this must be a system setting where uncompleted quests prevented the cangues from being destroyed; only after routing this faction of bandits would the durability attributes of the cangues truly be revealed.

Leading the six sisters out of the dungeon, they found that the thick smoke inside the council hall had become severe, causing the six sisters to cough incessantly. Players and government troops stood guard outside, and Old Sun the cook was still standing in his original spot, motionless.

Li Zhan looked at Old Sun with amusement, telling him that he was now free and urging him to run away quickly. However, Old Sun shrank his neck and simply shook his head, refusing to run for fear that he would run into bandits on the road and meet his certain death. Instead, Old Sun hoped Li Zhan would take him along; since Li Zhan had government soldiers under his command, Old Sun felt following Li Zhan would be much safer.

Remembering that Old Sun possessed cooking skills—which happened to be what the settlement's canteen needed—Li Zhan instructed the soldiers to bring Old Sun along, and the group exited the council hall.

Just as they reached the outside, Cure-All came running over from the main gate of the stronghold with his subordinate players. Upon seeing Li Zhan, he said anxiously:
"Town mayor, Wang Hu has returned with the bandits, and the government troops at the foot of the mountain have been heavily defeated by them."

Li Zhan was astonished. The government troops held the advantage in both numbers and weaponry; how could they possibly have been defeated by bandits? However, there was no time to ponder this any longer. Since even over three thousand government troops were no match for Wang Hu, his own fifty-odd people stood no chance of resisting. He immediately ordered everyone to make an emergency retreat via the back mountain trail.

The group hurried down the back mountain trail toward the riverbank. By this time, Wang Hu had already returned to the stronghold with his bandits. Learning that Li Zhan had rescued the six sisters, Wang Hu flew into a towering rage, bellowing furiously as he rushed out of the back mountain to hunt down Li Zhan and his party.

Looking fierce and menacing, Wang Hu led nearly two hundred bandits down the back mountain in search of Li Zhan's group, only to find no one in sight by the riverbank. Assuming that Li Zhan would be eager to reunite with the main government army for safety, Wang Hu waved his hand and led the bandits into the forest, stepping up the pursuit in the direction of the main government forces.

In the opposite direction, Li Zhan and his subordinates lay hidden in the bushes on the far side of the small river, watching Wang Hu and his bandits run off into the distance until they disappeared entirely. Only then did everyone heave a sigh of relief. Zhao Ming lowered the sword he had been holding against the bandit's neck, the six sisters breathed heavily in deep gasps, and the missionary wiped his gleaming forehead repeatedly with his sleeve.