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Chapter 628 Not necessarily

"Those bandits?" Zhu Yu suddenly laughed after hearing Fu Lu's words. "I don't think so."

Fu Lu was a little confused by what she said. He looked at Zhu Yu with a puzzled expression, and then at Lu Qing beside him.

Not to mention him, even Rune, who is usually more clever than him, looked completely confused at this moment.

"Second Master... do you think that even fire won't be able to force them out of the small wooden building?" he asked cautiously.

Zhu Yu pulled them along, indicating that they should walk further up the hillside and go a little further before discussing it.

Although her physical strength has improved by leaps and bounds compared to the past, she hasn't been eating well lately, especially these last two days. She's often hungry and has been drugged twice with sleeping powder. It would be a lie to say that it has no effect at all.

She had only walked a few steps up the mountain when she felt a lack of strength, a completely different feeling from the momentum she had when she came down.

Fortunately, Lu Qing was there. He pushed her waist from behind, helping Zhu Yu with some strength. The four of them returned to the top of the hill, found a sheltered spot, sat down, and caught their breath.

"What are your thoughts?" Lu Qing asked Zhu Yu.

"Second Master, are you afraid they won't come out, or are you afraid that if they do come out, we won't be able to handle them?" Fu Wen asked hurriedly.

Zhu Yu shook his head: "Whether fire attack is feasible or not, let's put that aside for now."

I think there's no need for the word '们' (men).

“There’s no ‘they’ in there…” Fu Lu scratched his head. “Then you mean… huh? You mean there’s only one thief in there?!”

“That’s right, it’s indeed a bold guess of mine.” Zhu Yu nodded without hesitation.

The runes and talismans exchanged bewildered glances. Their mistress was always known for her courage and wisdom, but this time, her guess... sounded somewhat unreliable.

Since Lu Qing hadn't even expressed his opinion on this matter yet, the two brothers naturally couldn't say anything either. They could only look at Lu Qing expectantly, hoping to see his judgment.

"Oh? How do you know?" Lu Qing was also interested in Zhu Yu's speculation and asked.

"I also came to this conclusion after observing various signs from these two occasions." Zhu Yu explained his reasoning to them, "When I woke up yesterday, I noticed an interesting phenomenon."

Of the four of us, I was thrown the furthest away, and apart from being wet from the rain, my clothes were clean and undamaged.

But I soon discovered that the closest thing to me was the rune, then you, and the furthest thing was the talisman. And both your clothes and the talisman's clothes had some dust and grass scraps on them.

At the time, I only vaguely felt that this seemed to mean something, but I didn't think about it deeply.

When I woke up this time, I was the first to wake up. I searched all the way here and found that it was really the same as last time. I was the one who was thrown the farthest away, and the distance between the three of you was exactly the same as last time.

So I couldn't help but make a bold guess: maybe the other side didn't have that many people, but only one. Because there was only one person, their physical strength was limited, and they couldn't carry all four of us out of the small wooden building at once.

Even if they threw them out one by one, the other side, due to limited physical strength, would throw the smallest of the four people to the farthest place.

This person must have tried their best to throw us as far away as possible, so the place where each of us was abandoned was the farthest place he could carry, lift, or drag.

"And you two, being the tallest and strongest of the four of us, were dragged along by him because he simply couldn't carry you. He only gave up when he couldn't drag you any further, which is why you're covered in dirt and bits of grass."

As she spoke, she pointed at Lu Qing and the talisman.

Lu Qing looked down at herself and found that her clothes were fine, but her shoes were covered in mud and grass stems on the back of her heels.

Fu Lu also hurriedly checked himself carefully and found that his situation was not only as Zhu Yu had predicted, but even more serious than Lu Qing's. His pants and shoes were clean, but the back of his clothes was full of stains, which clearly showed that he had been dragged along by his ankles.

Zhu Yu couldn't help but laugh when he saw the stains on Fu Lu's body: "It seems that this person's physical strength is really not that great. He can't even drag you by supporting your upper body!"

Pulling your relatively lighter legs and dragging your upper body would obviously be much easier, and I would do the same if I were in your shoes.

So, I'd estimate that this person's physical strength is about the same as mine.

"Huh?! So weak?!" Fu Lu was somewhat surprised. After blurting it out, he realized that what he said was a bit inappropriate, and quickly and awkwardly corrected himself, "No... Second Master... I didn't mean you were weak. What I meant was... you are, after all... right..."

Zhu Yu waved his hand at him, indicating that he didn't need to be so nervous and try to cover it up: "So we might be facing someone who isn't very strong physically, but is very good at using sleeping incense and smoke."

As for your suggestion of burning down the small wooden house, I think that's equally unacceptable.

If the pattern for pasting the window is accidentally burned in this fire, what do you plan to use to question that person?

Furthermore, I suspect that person was hiding somewhere beneath the small building, in a cellar, tunnel, or secret room. The small wooden building above was set on fire and collapsed, preventing the person from escaping. If they were burned or suffocated inside, our plan would fall apart.

"Second Master, why do you think that person is in a cellar or something?" Fu Wen asked curiously.

“It’s very simple, because smoke is light and rises.” Zhu Yu raised his palm and made a gentle lifting motion. “If that person is hiding on the first or second floor, they must make sure they take the antidote beforehand.”

The problem is that the antidote takes time to take effect, but it's uncertain when we'll sneak in, or if others have tried to sneak in before. Both times we were caught in the trap almost as soon as we entered.

Based on this calculation, it's impossible for the other party to foresee everything in advance and take precautions early on.

Unless he is downwind, this would be too difficult to cure.

"The person who even takes away our bread...would they really be so willing to do this?"