Chen Rui asked, "How did you two end up here?"
"It really is Master!" Lucio's voice brimmed with wild joy. After being captured by these beastmen, he had thought death was certain. Who would have imagined that, at the end of the road, they would find a way out—and encounter their powerful master?
Ina answered Chen Rui's question. "Yesterday, I led a caravan carrying a batch of wine and goods to the Thunderstorm Tribe for trade. I never expected the beastmen to suddenly turn hostile. They seized all the goods and captured us, locking us up here."
Chen Rui remembered Ina mentioning that her father had been a merchant who died of a serious illness. Forced by circumstances, she had become a mercenary, hoping one day to inherit his aspirations and take up his old trade again. Later, after Ina had accompanied Chen Rui to rescue Samuel and Joanna on Storm Island, she had left in desolation. He had never expected that she truly had become a merchant—and in the high-risk business of Nightmare Plain, no less.
"Have you seen a half-elf girl named Blanche?" As Chen Rui spoke, he surveyed the area around the cages. The cages were frame-like structures formed from stone pillars, and he could not seem to detect anything like a magic array.
Ina and Lucio exchanged a glance and shook their heads. Someone in a nearby cage spoke up. "I know that half-elf!"
Chen Rui looked over and saw that it was a fat man with a bloated face and oversized ears.
"I can tell you, but you have to get me out first. Once we reach a safe place, I'll naturally tell you!"
Anyone with even a little sense could see that this "beastman" was a human in disguise. This was the spark of