After a night of meditation, Yang Ling felt his magical powers increasing by leaps and bounds, filling his entire body with strength. Through the wisps of white fog, he could clearly see the Tras yellow-tailed birds circling on the treetops in the distance; after a gentle breeze blew by, the whispers of the two girls picking wild vegetables on the opposite mountain slope were also distinctly audible.

  "Giana, I heard you're getting engaged to Agu Su in two days?" A girl wearing a blue denim shorts asked her companion after cutting a handful of green wheat.

  "Yes, the day after tomorrow I'm going to get engaged with Agu Su." Gianna, who was pale but had a hint of red on her face, lifted her head and smiled sweetly, rubbing her sore waist, and said excitedly: "As long as we work for another two months, Agu Su can pay off the debt he borrowed to treat his mother's illness, and after prepaying half a year's salary to the housekeeper, we can redeem our old house that was pawned away. Then we can get married officially!"

  Looking at Gianna's sweet smile, the girl in a coarse linen short skirt envied her and said gloomily: "Alas, Gianna, I really envy your Agu Su, who can work in Yang Daren's mansion and get a lot of money every month. Unlike my good-for-nothing, who is idle all day!"

  Giana brushed the disheveled hair behind her head, saying: "All of this is thanks to Mr. Yang's great kindness, otherwise, Agu Su would have long been in trouble in the forest. My mother said that Mr. Yang is our family's benefactor, on the day of the engagement, we must invite him over for a few cups of celebratory wine!"

  "Ah, Lord Yang is indeed a good person. With such great abilities and looking so handsome, any girl who can marry him will be very happy!" As soon as they mentioned Yang Ling, the short-skirted girl's spirit lifted.

  "Right? Which girl in town doesn't envy Alice? She gets to be with Lord Yang all day, how blissful!"

  "Giana, if you had a chance, would you choose Agu or Yang?"

  "Get out! You're always daydreaming!"

  .....

  After putting the sickle into the basket, two girls in love chased and played on the hillside, finally even betting to see who could kiss Yang Ling's face, listening to Yang Ling shaking his head.

  Am I a good person?

  After hearing the conversation between the two girls, Yang Ling shook his head. When he was young, others would hand in 5 cents found on the road to their teacher, but he thought of buying an ice pop worth 5 cents; when he was in college, the counselor said that classmates should help each other, but he always thought about how to sell more IP phone cards to his classmates, and never thought of himself as a good person.

  After defeating the great swordsman Batis, he humiliated the Anka family in public because he knew that after the battle with the Elf tribe, Imia would never let him go, so he simply accompanied him to the end. Unexpectedly, it made people vent their anger thoroughly. Later, taking advantage of the opportunity to get rid of Imia was just to avoid being entangled by the other party, but it happened to be a great relief.

  Yang Ling asked himself that he was not a good person, and would absolutely not be restrained by a mere reputation. The so-called "winning people over with virtue" was simply nonsense in his eyes. In the world, there were only eternal interests, no eternal friends.

  Yang Ling suddenly thought of his secretly detained strategist, Gu De. According to the intelligence from thief Fenrist, many of the Ank family's plots originated from this low-key guy. Although he didn't care about reputation, some things that couldn't be seen were more convenient to handle by people hiding in the dark. Apparently, Gu De was a good candidate for this.

  The castle of Vizima is very large, with many underground chambers in addition to the buildings on the surface. Among them, just the private dungeons used for holding prisoners are as big as two standard football fields. Geralt's friend Dandelion was imprisoned deep within these dungeons.

  To strictly prevent prisoners from escaping and being kidnapped, Yang Ling sent the most elite barbarians to guard the prison. These barbarians only accepted orders from their own commanders and did not take commands from anyone else, including the captain of the guards, Kassy.

  Under Yang Ling's orders, the captain of the barbarian troops, Garuk, personally led the way, passing by a series of dimly lit oil lamps and treading on icy black stone slabs to arrive at a dark dungeon.

  Here, the sky is not visible for days, the air is murky, and even a mosquito flying by can be heard clearly, it's eerily quiet. Normally, after being locked up for ten days or half a month, people wouldn't just collapse from the torture, but also from facing the dull yellow light and cold black walls every day, they'd probably be on the verge of a mental breakdown.

  "Get up, get up, don't pretend to be dead!" Seeing Gud in black clothes motionless in a corner, the barbarian leader Garuk shook the iron bars as thick as an arm on the prison door.

  After hearing the sudden creaking of the door, Gu De looked up with a puzzled expression, his face pale and his eyes dull. He seemed to be weak all over, as if he had suffered a lot during this period.

  "Water, I want water, water..." Rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming, Gud rushed over frantically. His lips were parched and dry, apparently it had been many days since he'd had any food or drink. After all, savages are savages, don't expect them to be kind to a prisoner.

  Jian Ru Ke looked at himself, Yang Ling nodded. The latter understood and took off his own canteen, passing it through the iron railing. Since having many blacksmiths and ironworks, Yang Ling had ordered the dwarf Rumi to replace the equipment of the guards. Although they couldn't temporarily equip everyone with standard plate armor and weapons, at least each person now had a simple marching canteen.

  Gulu, gulu...

  After pouring all the icy sweet spring water from the kettle, Gud took a deep breath and looked at Yang Ling behind the barbarian Garuk with a puzzled expression. His eyes occasionally turned quickly, seeming to have regained some spirit.

  "Garuk, guard the gate of the dungeon, no one is allowed to enter without my order!" Yang Ling drove out the barbarian Garuk, some things are better known by fewer people.

  Silence, deathly silence!

  After the barbarian Garluk left, Gu De silently stared at Yang Ling with an unclear intention, and Yang Ling also remained silent, quietly staring at Gu De who was pretending to be calm. Although he tried his best to suppress it, Yang Ling still saw a hint of unease in his eyes.

  "Are you Yang Ling?" After a half-day stalemate, Gu De finally couldn't hold back and asked, already knowing the answer.

  "That's right, I'm the one who killed Emiya and annihilated the Ankou family, Yang Ling, the despicable summoner you've tried to kill multiple times." Seeing that the other party spoke first, Yang Ling smiled coldly.

  "Huh, joke, wipe out the Ank family?" Gu De wiped off a remaining water droplet on his chin and said coldly: "Yimia's father took away most of the elite warriors and mages, you killed his only son, there's absolutely no good outcome!"

  Ku Do quickly calmed down, his thoughts clear and his words sharp. Yang Ling secretly admired him, knowing he hadn't misjudged the man. The reason he was still alive today was all thanks to Imia's impulsiveness. If that young Imia could be flexible and listen to Ku Do's advice, enduring until his father returned with a large group of elite warriors and mages, Yang Ling would probably have had to flee in advance.

  "My fate is still unknown, but what about yours?" Yang Ling's words were like a sharp needle, hitting Gu De's weak point.

  Indeed, upon hearing Yang Ling's words, Gu De's face turned ashen and his spirit was wounded. He had not expected that Yang Ling would turn the tables and defeat the terrifying nine-headed snake monster; nor had he expected him to act swiftly, leading the people in a surprise attack that breached the Visen Castle, which the Anka family had occupied for nearly a hundred years, leaving Gu De no time to escape.

  Everyone, I'm finishing work early today and have written an extra chapter. Tomorrow, there will be three updates, each around 3,000 words long: one in the morning, one at noon or in the afternoon, and another at night. Welcome to support me, and feel free to throw some votes my way, ^_^, thank you!