Ch 84: Growing Wings

It was Yu Huadian.

Lin Che never expected this to be a Bright Mirror Department prison cell. How could Yu Huadian, such a small eunuch, end up here?

“Baron Jing’an, Your Honor, you still remember your servant.”

Yu Huadian’s eyes were filled with tears, as if he had seized a last chance, he knelt down with a thud.

“Please, Baron Jing’an, your servant cannot get out. Please have mercy and help your servant. Before I entered the palace, my mother fell seriously ill. All these years, whatever allowance I had, I sent it back home.”

“Now, now…your servant still has some private savings. I want to ask Baron Jing’an to send it to my mother. I, your servant, have no descendants. I am already unfilial. And now she has to see her child die before her…”

Yu Huadian could not hold back any longer at this point, and began to sob uncontrollably.

His pale face was full of despair.

“What did you do?”

Lin Che asked, frowning. He had a good impression of this little eunuch.

Earlier, he had killed Gong Chengyin in the hunting grounds, and Yu Huadian had risked his life to warn him.

“Your servant, your servant made a mistake, your servant…”

Yu Huadian sobbed, unable to speak clearly.

Chen Shisan beside him explained: “He was imprisoned, and it has something to do with Champion Marquis.”

“Ah? It has something to do with me?”

“Yes! In the hunting grounds, this little eunuch dared to inform on you, a foolhardy thing. There were so many experts present, did he think that speaking softly meant no one would hear?”

Chen Shisan shook his head lightly and snorted: “He was discovered on the spot by the Chief Eunuch. After catching him, the Chief Eunuch also found out that he had secretly practiced martial arts, which is a great taboo. If it weren’t for the Empress’s decree that no one in the palace could privately execute criminals, but must hand them over to our Bright Mirror Department, he would have died a hundred times over.”

Sigh.

This Yu Huadian, the Yu Huatian in those movies is a powerful figure.

How come you are just one character off from Yu Huatian, and you almost died?

“Since it’s related to me. Then my retainer, count him as one.” Lin Che said.

Chen Shisan reminded him: “He is a eunuch. He is destined to be much weaker. Even if he practices martial arts, he is not as good as a martial artist of the same cultivation realm. Are you sure you want him?”

“Yes. Him!” Lin Che answered affirmatively.

Chen Shisan did not say much, he signaled two Bright Mirror Guards to open the gate and directly pulled Yu Huadian out.

Throughout the whole process, Yu Huadian was still dazed.

He didn’t understand what was happening. From the conversation, it seemed like he was being released, but how could that be? He had committed a serious crime.

Two Bright Mirror Guards unlocked his shackles and said casually:

“Don’t be stunned. You’re lucky. The Champion Marquis has recruited you as a retainer, you don’t have to go to jail, and you don’t have to die.”

Yu Huadian still didn’t understand why Lin Che had this power, but this was the Bright Mirror Department’s prison cell, and if his shackles were unlocked, he would truly be free.

Lin Che smiled and patted Yu Huadian’s shoulder:

“Are you willing to become my retainer and follow me?”

Yu Huadian knelt down with a thud:

“Yes. Your servant is willing to serve you until death!!!”

“Get up.”

Lin Che personally helped Yu Huadian up.

Although Yu Huadian was a small eunuch, he was the retainer Lin Che was looking for. It just so happened that there was a 《Universe Treasure Manual》, also known as the 《Sunflower Manual》, in the Daqian Imperial Library.

It was perfect for Yu Huadian to cultivate and test its effects.

Then, Lin Che chose more people in the prison cells, and there were nearly two hundred who met the requirements.

They all had one thing in common: the crimes they committed were more or less understandable, and those who were truly unforgivable had already been imprisoned in the Imperial Prison.

These two hundred people were gathered together.

In a training grounds of the Bright Mirror Department. Looking at their appearance, they were all filled with doubt, and even more so with hopelessness for the future.

When they were first imprisoned, they had struggled and broken down, and finally had to compromise.

Because they knew there was no hope of leaving this prison cell alive.

“Everyone…prisoners.”

Lin Che organized his words, feeling that this was the most appropriate term.

This sentence caught everyone’s attention, and they all looked over blankly.

“Let me introduce myself first, my name is Lin Che—appointed Champion Marquis by Your Majesty. Your Majesty has specially permitted me to recruit retainers from the prison, and you are the ones I have chosen.”

“I’ll just say one thing. If you’re willing to work for me and serve me, then you will be my subordinates. I, Lin Che, will definitely not mistreat you.”

“If you are unwilling, you can go back and continue to rot in prison—it’s that simple.”

Lin Che finished speaking loudly and looked at them quietly.

The group of prisoners also stared blankly at him, and no one spoke for a while.

No way?

Are the two hundred people I carefully selected all fools?

Just as Lin Che was about to speak again, a female prisoner suddenly spoke:

“Following you, can we live?”

The speaker was Liu Miao, the beast tamer, who looked up, revealing the hideous scars on her face.

“Whether you can live depends on your ability—but I dare say it’s definitely more hopeful than staying in prison.”

“Will you provide food? The kind that fills you up!” Suddenly, another prisoner spoke.

“Three meals a day, all you can eat.”

Lin Che thought for a moment, then added: “I need retainers, and I’ll give you weapons and teach you to cultivate. You only need to listen to me; whoever I say to kill, you have to do it.”

“I’ll work for you!” Immediately, someone answered loudly.

Both survival and full meals were far better than imprisonment.

“You have received special permission from Your Majesty; it seems that you are a good patron. Then I will serve you.”

“Count me in.”

“From now on, I, Kun Tai, will be your retainer, Your Honor!”

Lin Che listened as the prisoners spoke one after another, and nodded in satisfaction. He glanced around and noticed that Yao Wenkuie remained silent, seemingly uninterested.

However, since this former rebel leader had not returned to prison, it proved that he also wanted to live. After the team was formed, this employee must be thoroughly exploited.

He would not be spared until all his military skills were revealed.

Yao Wenkuie seemed to sense Lin Che’s gaze, and he numbly looked up and met Lin Che’s gaze, then frowned inexplicably.

Why did the Champion Marquis’s gaze seem strange? He hadn’t done anything special.

Soon.

The procedures were completed, and Lin Che had the prisoners change back into their original clothes, and they followed him back in a large group.

Champion Marquis Manor was large enough to house two hundred people.

Of course, Lin Che was not afraid that these people would run away; they were not beheaded, only because Lin Che pardoned them.

Once they left Lin Che, their crimes would be compounded.

If they really had the ability to escape the Bright Mirror Department’s pursuit, they would have escaped long ago, and would not have been caught.

“Three thousand retainers, now only two hundred, what about the rest?”

On the way back, Lin Che began to ponder.

Yu Huadian, who had already understood what had happened along the way, plucked up his courage and said:

“Master, are you worried about recruiting retainers? Your servant has an immature idea, I don’t know if it will work, it needs your judgment, Master.”

Look! Look at this!!

Lin Che glanced at the other prisoners, none of them dared to say more than half a sentence. Yu Huadian was a talent; he spoke well.

Learn from him!

“Oh? What method?”