Supreme Magus novel Chapter 281

Lith signaled to those behind him to stop, scanning the place with Life Vision.

’What the f*ck? I can feel the lingering presence of healing magic emanating from them. I can even smell traces of soap coming from their bodies. Someone has been taking good care of them, but why?’ Lith thought.

’Maybe I can answer that.’ Solus felt there was something terribly wrong there.

’All these people have only two things in common. Each one of them is older than twenty years and has at least an orange core.’

’What?’ Lith was bewildered by her words. So many people and no one with a red core was something impossible to achieve by chance. Not coupled with their age. Twenty years was the threshold of a mana core natural evolution for non Awakened one.

"Is there something wrong?" Yerna asked.

"Everything is clear. The grille is just a grille. Why no one is trying to escape?" The more Lith looked at them, the more the cellar reminded him of pigpen instead of a prison.

Yerna walked past him, placing her hand on the keyhole turning it into an icicle before crashing it with her fist. She only needed to smell the breath of one of the prisoners to answer his question.

"Ophaz. They keep them dosed." Ophaz was the name of a plant from which it was possible to extract the drug her team had been following for weeks. At low dosage, it induced a feeling of euphoria while at higher dosage it caused the user to be in a catatonic state.

They would still be able to move and talk if interrogated, but their mind was clouded by the drug. They had no memory of themselves or will to fight.

"It’s the latest form of slavery. Once you give someone the first dose, it turns them into meat dolls."

"Do you want me to cleanse them?"

"Gods, no. This is a blessing in disguise." The Captain shook her head.

"Best case scenario, they would freak out. This way they are meeker than sheep. It will only take one of us to get them to safety. Can you..?"

Lith sighed, opening a Warp Steps back to the control room. The prisoners moved sluggishly, mindlessly obeying the Captain’s orders.

"What do you make of this, Captain?"

"Aside from a few exceptions, they are too bad looking or old to have any value as slaves, even for a fighting arena. Judging from the state of this place, they have been here for a while.

"Only the cost of the drug necessary to keep them meek for so long makes the whole operation unprofitable. They have been nurtured for some reason I’m unable to comprehend." She then ordered the units outside to lock the perimeter.

While Lith and the Captain were moving the prisoners, a couple of members of the unit performed a quick search of the cellar. They discovered a few small crates containing packets of drugs ready to be sold and several big crates.

The latter contained luxury furniture ready to be shipped.

"What the heck?" Hren was flabbergasted.

"One of these things is worth more than I earn in a year!"

"Seems we arrived just in time." Khran had a brooding face.

"Those people were the last batch of whatever they are doing. The ringleader has packed their stuff and is ready to leave."

Sweeping the first and the second floor took them less than a couple of minutes. With Red telling them where and how many their targets were, it was like shooting fishes in a barrel. At each floor, Red would always detect the same inactive array.

"Wait, something is wrong here." They were moving in a single column and Lith was right behind the Captain, making it easy for him to stop the unit’s advance. _{freewebnøvel.com}