Chapter 91: Young Master Zerev, You Should Leave

Chapter 91: Chapter 91: Young Master Zerev, You Should Leave

Seeing the gravity of Zerev’s words, Ophelia took him on another careful search.

Even by noon, they still hadn’t seen anyone selling sugar. Zerev wasn’t surprised by this result; after all, they had already searched through so many trading markets. If it were that easy to find, he would have returned to the Holy Capital long ago.

"Let’s go back," he said.

"Are you done searching? Some people didn’t show up today. You can come back and take another look tomorrow," Ophelia suggested.

"Mm, alright." Seeing the hopeful light in the little female’s eyes, he couldn’t bear to extinguish it.

It was getting late, and Ophelia’s stomach was already rumbling with hunger. As the three of them walked together, preparing to leave the trading market, two familiar figures suddenly walked toward them.

Before Ophelia could speak, the honest and simple-looking male opposite them spoke up first. "Ophelia, Tyler! We finally found you guys."

"Sel, Lam, long time no see," Ophelia smiled and greeted the two.

"Are you guys leaving?" Lam’s eyes darted around. "Ophelia, do you still have any—"

"I’ve established a new tribe. Do you want to come and see it with me?" Ophelia cut him off before he could finish. "In the future, if you need me for anything, you can come directly to the tribe."

She winked at Lam as she spoke, and the ever-astute male immediately understood her meaning.

"Sure," he agreed.

"Ophelia, to think you actually established a tribe by yourself! That’s too amazing!" Sail praised her straightforwardly, his face full of admiration.

Ophelia waved her hand. "It’s nothing, really."

Thus, the Fu Clan welcomed their first guests: Sail and Lam.

To show her hospitality, Ophelia specially cooked a rich table of food, including two new dishes: spicy diced chicken and tomato beef brisket.

"Oh my, eating so well today," Samo mocked, curling his lips.

Except for his first few days here, when the little female had cooked a variety of dishes for him, she had only been making the same few meals back and forth recently, and he was absolutely sick of them. Later on, she had even passed the cooking duties to that Hai Rui who made the communal meals, while she only provided the ingredients. Whenever Samo expressed a desire to eat new dishes, he would be brushed off with the excuse of lacking new ingredients.

He was incredibly angry, but there was nothing he could do. After all, this little female’s culinary skills were rare. He had built stone houses for so many families and had never eaten such delicious food. If he could eat such meals every day, he would even be willing to permanently live with the Fu Clan.

Holding his chopsticks awkwardly, Sail picked up a piece of braised pork and put it in his mouth. "This meat is way too delicious! And it tastes sweet. Ophelia, did you make this with fruit?"

Lam also carefully picked up a piece of meat. After tasting it, he denied Sel’s guess. "It’s not fruit. Sugar must have been added."

"Sugar? You know about sugar?" Zerev’s gaze instantly sharpened.

Seeing the other male’s unusual reaction, Lam finally realized he had misspoken. He hurriedly waved his hands. "No, I didn’t say anything. You heard wrong."

Zerev was not in a rush to demand an answer. However, after the meal, he didn’t leave as usual; instead, he stood watching the significantly grown piglets in the pigpen, acting as if no one else were around.

Seeing him like this, Ophelia sighed helplessly. She pretended to rummage through her bamboo basket and pulled out a small beast skin bag. Then, she poured two bowls of clean water and sprinkled a little brown sugar from the bag into them.

"Come drink some water to wash down the grease," she offered.

Lam looked at the red powder in the bowl, a complex look flashing across his eyes. After hesitating again and again, he asked probingly, "Ophelia, where did you get this sugar from?"

"I made it myself."

Seeing that Ophelia didn’t seem to be faking it, Lam finally breathed a sigh of relief. "No wonder I thought the color was wrong."

"The color is wrong? You really have seen sugar? The white sugar from the Holy Capital?" Ophelia pressed.

Seeing her determination to get to the bottom of it, Lam said helplessly, "I do know about sugar. I saw it before with a male. But half a bag of sugar cost a Green Crystal Stone. It was too expensive; I couldn’t afford to trade for it."

Half a bag of sugar, which was about half a pound, could be exchanged for one Green Crystal Stone! A single Green Crystal Stone was worth 400,000 points! Ophelia’s eyes lit up, realizing this was a highly profitable business.

Seeing her like this, Lam shook his head with a bitter smile. "Don’t even think about it. Sugar is a controlled good in the Holy Capital. If you’re caught trading it privately, you’ll be sentenced to hang."

"Tell me, who was trading the sugar?" Like a swift leopard, Zerev suddenly lunged and grabbed Lam by the neck. His tone was icy, and his gaze as cold as frost.

"What’s going on? Hurry up and let Lam go!" Ophelia shouted.

"Ophelia, what’s wrong with your friend? Hurry and tell him to let Lam go!" The sudden change in the situation left Sail bewildered, and he yelled anxiously.

Ophelia hadn’t expected Zerev to make a move either. She nervously grabbed his arm. "Zerev, don’t be hasty. Wait for me to ask him clearly. Lam has only seen the sugar; he didn’t participate in stealing it. He isn’t the person you’re looking for."

The warm touch on his arm gradually quelled the rising anger in Zerev’s chest, and he slowly released his grip.

Lam clutched his throat and coughed incessantly. "Ophelia, it seems I shouldn’t have come today."

"Lam, I’m sorry, it’s just a misunderstanding. Zerev is from the Holy Capital. He came here specifically to catch those smuggling sugar," Ophelia apologized guiltily.

Seeing Ophelia adopt such a low posture to apologize on his behalf made Zerev feel somewhat uncomfortable. But it was impossible for him to apologize. Instead, he placed a Green Crystal Stone from his beast skin bag onto the stone table with a cold face and stated,

"This has nothing to do with her. Consider this your compensation.

"However, I need to know—who is the person with the sugar that you spoke of? Where did you see him?

"Take me to him!"

Hearing that Zerev was one of the Holy City people, Lam didn’t dare to harbor any complaints. "I don’t want your Crystal Stone. And I cannot tell you who that person is!"

Zerev’s anger surged once again; no one had ever dared to refuse him. If they weren’t in the Fu Clan right now, and if he wasn’t in front of Ophelia, he had plenty of methods to make Lam confess the person behind the scenes.

"Lam, Zerev only wants to catch the person stealing sugar. He doesn’t mean any harm," Ophelia tried to mediate.

Lam still refused. "Ophelia, stop asking. I really can’t say. Those people are very dangerous; if I tell you, I’ll lose my life."

Ophelia’s face darkened, and the way she looked at Zerev changed. From Lam’s words, the sugar thieves weren’t just a single person but a whole syndicate, and their influence was significant enough to kill without hesitation. She had wanted to help, out of their acquaintance and because of Zerev’s status among the Holy City people. But she never expected Zerev to blindside her and drag her friends into such a dangerous mess.

Zerev started, "Ophelia, I didn’t want to hide it from you.

"I just..."

Ophelia let go of his arm, her expression calm. "Mr. Zerev, it’s getting late. You should leave."