Exiled!? Ha! I have An Infinite Space

Chapter 206: Chapter

The warehouse door creaked open just wide enough for us to slip inside.

I went in first, my hand on my weapon. Han Fuji followed right behind me. The six villagers spread out, each heading to a different corner of the big room.

The air was thick with dust. Large wooden boxes were stacked from the floor to the ceiling, and big barrels lined the walls. At first, everything looked exactly like Wei Meilan had told us.

We were here for the firearms and gunpowder that Tiger Alley had smuggled from the western country. If we could seize those weapons, we could stop Bao Li’s men for good.

"We found it..." one of the villagers whispered happily.

Han Fuji raised his hand to stop him. "Don’t celebrate yet."

The men fell silent. I walked over to the nearest box and put my hand on the cover. There were no locks.. just a simple wooden lid. I pulled it open.

It was completely empty.

There was nothing inside. No guns, no powder, nothing. My brows drew together. I dropped the lid and moved to the next box, while Han Fuji opened another, and then another.

Every single one was empty.

Behind us, the villagers realized something was wrong and rushed to the other boxes. They began opening everything as fast as they could, throwing lids aside and tipping over barrels.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The whole warehouse was completely empty.

A heavy silence filled the room. One of the men stared blankly into a big box. "...There’s nothing here."

"Not even one gun," another whispered.

I turned to look at Han Fuji. His face had gone dark as he looked around the room. It was too clean, too empty. It felt like someone had cleaned it out just for us.

"No," he breathed.

"What is it?" I asked, my heart starting to beat faster.

Han Fuji looked at me with cold eyes. "We’ve been tricked."

The words had barely left his mouth when a loud crash came from the outside.

*Bang!*

The heavy warehouse doors slammed shut. We heard the loud thud of heavy wooden beams sliding into place across the outside of the doors. They were locking us in. The impact was so strong it shook the dirt under my boots.

"What was that?" one of the villagers yelled, running to the door. He grabbed the handles and pulled with all his strength, but the door didn’t move. "They locked us in!"

Then, the sound of footsteps came from every direction outside. Dozens of them. I could hear heavy boots, the clink of armor, and weapons hitting against shields. They were surrounding the building.

"They’re outside," I said, gripping my weapon tighter.

A cold, mocking voice called out from behind the closed doors. "So... I was wondering who would finally show up."

Another voice laughed. "I expected real thieves. I didn’t expect rats from the village."

A big wave of laughter came from the crowd outside.

Beside me, Han Fuji slowly drew the blade hidden under his robes. The metal made a sharp hiss as it came out. "They knew," he said. His voice was too calm.

My knuckles turned white as I held my weapon. "How many?"

One of the villagers peeked through a crack in the wooden wall. His face turned completely white. "...Too many. At least..." He swallowed hard. "...forty."

My chest felt tight. Forty men against the eight of us. If we had to fight our way out, we had almost no chance of surviving.

Outside, the crowd of guards moved aside as a man walked toward the warehouse door.

A tall man slowly stepped forward. His expensive black robes brushed against the dusty ground, but he didn’t seem to care about the dirt. Unlike the rough guards around him, every movement he made was calm and slow.

His sharp eyes swept across the warehouse doors, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

"So... I finally get to meet the people who have been causing my brother so much trouble."

The moment I saw his face, I gripped my weapon tighter.

Beside me, Han Fuji’s face went dark. "...Bao Zhao."

The man smiled wider. "I’m honored you know my name." His voice was smooth, almost polite, but it made my skin crawl.

He slowly put his hands behind his back. "My younger brother insisted you were troublesome. I thought he was exaggerating. But now... I think he was being too modest."

Silence filled the warehouse. Outside, more guards quietly moved to block every single exit. There wasn’t a single opening left.

Bao Zhao kept talking calmly, as if he were chatting with old friends. "My brother is entertaining important guests today. He dislikes interruptions. So, he left the unpleasant work..." He smiled. "...to me."

Inside the warehouse, none of us said a word. Every one of us understood the truth now. This wasn’t an accident or bad luck. From the very beginning, they had expected us to come here.

Bao Zhao walked closer until he stood right outside the heavy wooden doors. "You know, I should thank you."

His words made the villagers frown.

"Without your little investigation," Bao Zhao continued, "we would never have discovered that Wei Meilan had betrayed us."

My eyes narrowed sharply. *Wei Meilan... they found her out?*

Bao Zhao seemed to read our minds, letting out a soft chuckle. "My brother always says, ’Trust people, but never trust them completely.’ So after she disappeared, we simply waited. And just as expected, someone came looking for the warehouse."

Han Fuji clicked his tongue. "So she was bait."

"No," Bao Zhao corrected him smoothly. "She *became* bait. There is a difference."

A heavy silence settled over us. My heart sank. That meant even Wei Meilan probably didn’t know she was leading us straight into a trap.

Bao Zhao raised his hand, and one of his guards hurried forward to whisper something in his ear. Bao Zhao nodded once, then looked back at the doors.

"There are eight of you," his tone remained perfectly calm. "My men number forty-eight."

The villagers’ faces turned completely pale. Forty-eight men. Nearly fifty armed guards against the eight of us.

Bao Zhao folded his hands again. "Normally, I would simply order my men to burn this warehouse down. But..." He smiled pleasantly. "My brother specifically requested something else. He wants two people alive: Su Long and Han Fuji. As for the others..." His smile completely disappeared. "They are expendable."

The six villagers shifted nervously, tightening their grips on their weapons. Fear was written all over their faces.

Suddenly, Han Fuji let out a low laugh.

I turned to look at him in shock. He was actually putting his sword back into its sheath. "...Interesting," he muttered.

I frowned at him. "What are you doing?"

Instead of answering me, he looked up and around the warehouse. His eyes swept across the empty boxes, the broken barrels, the heavy wooden beams, and finally, the ceiling.

A strange smile spread across his face. "...Looks like we’re not dead yet."

I followed his gaze upward, and the villagers did the same.

High above us, right beneath the roof beams, was something we had missed when we first rushed inside. There was a narrow opening in the roof. It was small, but it looked just large enough for a person to squeeze through.

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