Chapter Nineteen: Life and Death Contract (Seeking Collection and Recommendation)

There were 64 captives in total, and only one woman among them. That woman, who had managed to thrive in the Bandit Village as the Third Leader, was certainly no simple character.

Zhao Fu pondered for a moment and said, "Wang Ergou, come here. Tell me who usually committed the most atrocities, or point out those who were in leadership positions."

Wang Ergou's face turned deathly pale as he trembled his way over to Zhao Fu's side. The people of Dire Wolf Village glared at him with fury, having realized he was the traitor.

However, despite their anger, they dared not speak out. The power of life and death now rested in Wang Ergou's hands; whoever he identified as a leader or a major perpetrator would surely die. Wang Ergou, for his part, dared not meet their gazes.

To Zhao Fu's surprise, Wang Ergou suddenly flopped to his knees and begged, "My Lord! The First Leader who led the atrocities is dead, and the Second Leader was poisoned. Please, I beg you to spare the rest of them. I'll kowtow to you."

After speaking, Wang Ergou knocked his head heavily against the ground several times before looking up at Zhao Fu with pleading eyes.

Zhao Fu fell into deep thought. His primary concern was the loyalty of these bandits. He had intended to execute the ringleaders and have the others strictly disciplined by Bai Qi, but since Wang Ergou was begging for their lives, Zhao Fu turned to scan the crowd from Dire Wolf Village.

Finally, Zhao Fu spoke slowly, "Are you willing to offer your loyalty?"

Upon hearing this, the people of Dire Wolf Village were pleasantly surprised. They immediately knelt on one knee and shouted in unison, "We swear to serve you to the death, My Lord!"

However, one person did not kneel and stood there looking hesitant—it was the Third Leader.

Seeing this, Zhao Fu had no intention of letting such a leader go. Although she was quite beautiful, he had no interest in that, so he waved his hand dismissively and said lightly, "Kill her. Bai Qi, the rest of these people are yours. See that you discipline them well!"

With that, Zhao Fu prepared to lead his men back to Great Qin Village.

Several soldiers obeyed and stepped forward, ready to seize the Third Leader and behead her.

Seeing this, the Third Leader's face turned white, and she hurriedly cried out, "I am willing to submit to you, but you must promise not to touch my body!"

"Huh? Who is interested in your body?"

Zhao Fu stopped in his tracks, looking astonished. He didn't want to explain himself, though; a woman who could rise to the position of Third Leader clearly had extraordinary means, so it was better to kill her. He waved his hand again, ordering her execution.

"Wait! I can give you my first time, but you must promise never to touch me again!" The Third Leader bit her red lip, steeled her resolve, took a step back, and shouted.

"Your first time?"

Zhao Fu was speechless. She really took him for a lecher. He waved his hand again, telling his men to kill her quickly.

A dozen soldiers gripped their Ironwood blades, obeyed the order, and surrounded the Third Leader, preparing to hack her to death.

The people of Dire Wolf Village, seeing this, hurriedly urged her, "Third Leader, you should just submit to My Lord. This Lord has an extraordinary bearing; he will surely achieve great things in the future!"

Hearing this, the Third Leader clenched her hands and gritted her teeth. Finally, she called out once more, "Fine! I agree, but you must promise me that you can only have me once a week. I can sign a Life and Death Contract with you."

"A Life and Death Contract?"

Zhao Fu had already been speechless from their words, but hearing about a "Life and Death Contract" left him puzzled, as he did not know what it was.

The Third Leader then took out a piece of paper, bit her thumb, pressed it against the paper, and had a soldier pass it to Zhao Fu.

Zhao Fu took it and read it.

[Life and Death Contract] Summary: Links the lives of two people together. If the master dies, the other party dies as well. If the other party dies, the master suffers no harm. The master holds dominion over the other's life and death.

"Notification! Do you accept the Life and Death Contract from Liu Mei?"

So this was a thing. He could keep a few of these in the future to prevent betrayal, Zhao Fu thought. He wasn't worried about what the Third Leader might do, so he chose "Accept."

The paper then turned into specks of light, splitting into two halves—one entering Zhao Fu's body and the other entering Liu Mei's.

Now that these people had surrendered, Zhao Fu checked their potential. Most were F-grade, with a few C-grade. To his surprise, Liu Mei's potential was actually S-grade, so he couldn't help but look at her a few more times. Seeing this, Bai Qi became even more certain of his own thoughts.

"Alright! Everyone, return to the village," Zhao Fu ordered.

The people of Dire Wolf Village breathed a sigh of relief now that their Third Leader was spared. Bai Qi watched the scene, his cold, stern face seemingly understanding something.

Back at Great Qin Village, the people of Dire Wolf Village were shocked to learn that it was a legendary-grade village, and they felt somewhat convinced of their defeat under Zhao Fu.

Li Si was relieved to see Zhao Fu and Bai Qi return safely.

At this moment, Zhao Fu said, "Li Si, go and make arrangements for these people!"

Li Si looked at the people from Dire Wolf Village and nodded. Suddenly, Bai Qi stepped forward and whispered something into Li Si's ear. Li Si's face lit up with joy. Zhao Fu found this a bit strange but didn't pay it much mind. He took a few soldiers to the south side of Great Qin Village and placed the white City Heart on the ground.

"Notification! Do you wish to use the City Heart?"

Zhao Fu chose yes. Just like when he built Great Qin Village, waves of light spread outward, and several basic structures slowly emerged.

Entering the Village Chief Hall, Zhao Fu checked the attributes.

Village Name: Dire Wolf Village (Ordinary) Level: Primary (0/5000) Village Area: 1 square kilometer Village Territory: 5 square kilometers Residents: 0/300 Soldiers: 0/100 Public Sentiment: 0 Special Attributes: Territory crop yield +2%, territory crop growth time -2%. Available Subsidiary Villages: 0

These were the attributes of an ordinary village; they were fundamentally worlds apart from Great Qin Village and could not be compared. At this moment, the Dire Wolf Village showed 0 public sentiment and 0 residents, because Zhao Fu had moved all the original people of Dire Wolf Village under the name of Great Qin Village. Otherwise, the public sentiment of the Dire Wolf villagers would have been negative, and the bandits would have respawned.

Dire Wolf Village currently lacked a tailor, a blacksmith, and an apothecary; they had likely all defected. However, each of the three houses contained a Class Transfer Stele, allowing for a class transfer into these three professions, with a limit of one person each.

Arriving at the barracks, he found only a single Class Transfer Stele.

[Bandit]: F-grade troop type. Description: One of the scourges that appear when public sentiment drops into the negative. Troop effect: Each person who transfers into this class gains the skill [Bandit Sword Technique].

Zhao Fu had initially intended to destroy the Bandit Class Transfer Stele, as the starting class was [Militiaman], but upon second thought, he realized this profession might prove useful, so he chose to keep it.

He found an elder in Great Qin Village with some management experience and appointed him as the new village chief of Dire Wolf Village. At the same time, he left behind a few soldiers to temporarily oversee the village, waiting for the population to refresh tomorrow so it could slowly return to a normal state.

After handling these matters, Zhao Fu returned to Great Qin Village, intending to discuss the situation regarding Li Family Village with Bai Qi and Li Si. However, after only a brief conversation, Li Si said meaningfully, "Your Highness! It is getting late. You have had a tiring day, so please rest early."

Hearing this, Zhao Fu felt a bit strange, but seeing that it was indeed late, he returned to his room. Yet, the moment he opened the door, Zhao Fu froze, for a mature and alluring woman was already lying naked on his bed.

Zhao Fu immediately turned around, shut the door, and shouted, "Li Si! Get out here!"