Chapter Forty: Lin Qi’s Wet Nurse

Enzo's mind was a jumble of chaotic thoughts as he followed Lin Qi to the main fortress, all the while calculating the terrifying strength displayed by the Lin Qi family. Drawing on the professional knowledge he had learned at the Imperial Army Academy, Enzo accurately assessed the power possessed by the Lin Qi family. Even without the involvement of powerful mages or high-ranking knights, the defensive measures alone would allow this ancestral home to withstand an assault by an ordinary legion of over ten thousand men.

But that was considering only these fortifications, these lifeless things. If you added experts as unfathomable as Hammer and Butcher, together with the formidable servants they'd encountered along the way—the ones exuding a savage aura, or the burly maids carrying hundred-pound milk pails without breaking a sweat—not to mention the near-mountaintop position of the estate, then this house could easily withstand a siege of tens of thousands.

And if there were other interesting items hidden within this ancestral residence—standard-issue military armor, crossbows, longbows, or other contraband—who could say how many men would be needed to conquer it?

But could it really be that there were no forbidden military goods here? Considering all that he and Lin Qi had done in Briley, and how Lin Qi had secretly sold standard-issue arms to the Cripple over the years, how could the Lin family’s ancestral home possibly lack such illicit items?

“What an indomitable family!” Enzo glanced curiously at his surroundings. There wasn’t a single large tree within the entire estate. Clearly, this was by design; without trees, there was nowhere for assassins or thieves to conceal themselves. And if an enemy tried to use fire as a weapon, the damage would be contained.

This was no peaceful family estate; it was a veritable dragon’s den, a military fortress designed for large-scale warfare.

“What a formidable family, and yet I’ve never heard of such a powerful household existing in the Empire?” Enzo subconsciously touched his nose. The great nobles and wealthy clans of the Empire were well-known, their reputations spread across the entire western continent. Judging by the Lin family’s ancestral home alone, their foundation was no less than that of the grandest houses—perhaps even superior in terms of martial strength—yet Enzo had never once heard their name mentioned.

How many wondrous existences were hidden across this vast continent? Enzo couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

Suddenly, from a spacious stone building beside the main fortress came a heartrending bellow. A moment later, a burly, jet-black bull, its coat gleaming like satin, burst out of the stone house, panic-stricken.

The bull had barely run ten meters before a mountain of a woman stormed out after it, bellowing in rage, “You damned calf, where do you think you’re going? Young Master Lin Qi is coming home, and his favorite is my blood sausage! You’d better behave and turn into a delicious sausage!”

She was as tall as Hammer, but her waist was even thicker. Her face was covered in fleshy folds, and with every step, her entire body jiggled like waves. Brandishing a chef’s knife over a meter long, the middle-aged matron laughed heartily as she gave chase.

To Enzo’s stunned eyes, the woman caught up to the rampaging bull in just two or three strides. Her sturdy left arm looped effortlessly around the bull’s neck; with a twist and a sickening crack, she broke the bull’s neck with her bare hands. The sharp blade stabbed precisely into the beast’s throat, sending a gushing arc of blood spraying.

Several servants rushed over with an enormous wooden basin, catching every drop of the blood without spilling any. The bull convulsed weakly as its life ebbed. Laughing, the matron tossed the two-thousand-pound beast onto the ground as though it weighed nothing.

Hammer and Butcher’s faces twitched simultaneously.

The matron turned her head and caught sight of Lin Qi. Her fierce, fleshy face suddenly softened, radiating an almost angelic gentleness and kindness. Tears welled up in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks as she barreled toward Lin Qi like a gale, seizing him in a crushing embrace and pressing his head firmly into her ample bosom.

“Oh, my little master Lin Qi is home! Oh, three years without seeing you and Aunt Lily nearly died of longing! My heavens, young master, how much have you suffered out there? How did you get so thin?” Lin Qi was held so tightly by Aunt Lily that despite his brute strength and the tenfold increase in power granted by the Tiger Elixir, he was as helpless as a chick in her arms, unable to resist in the slightest.

This was the strength capable of snapping a two-thousand-pound bull’s neck barehanded! Sobbing and wailing, Aunt Lily clung to Lin Qi, and Enzo felt a chill run down his spine, unconsciously taking several steps back.

Very good—Enzo had once again come face to face with the true might of the Lin family!

Such a cook would be rare even in the household of a ducal family.

Finally, just as Lin Qi was about to suffocate, his limbs twitching, Hammer could stand it no longer. He pried open Aunt Lily’s powerful arms, rescuing the purple-faced Lin Qi at last. Hammer patted her shoulder and rumbled, “Dear Lily, that’s enough. The young master you nursed from birth to seven years old is back! But now you must go prepare the blood sausage—he loves it best!”

Aunt Lily released Lin Qi and gazed at him with infinite tenderness, kneading his not-at-all-thin cheeks with her powerful hands. Sniffling, she nodded repeatedly, “Yes, yes, young master, go see the old master first! In a short while, the fragrant blood sausage will be ready! Oh, you must stay home a few more days and eat plenty to recover!”

Finally able to breathe, Lin Qi hugged Aunt Lily warmly and praised her cooking. Wiping away tears of excitement, Aunt Lily reluctantly made her way to the slain bull, easily hoisting its massive body and carrying it into the enormous kitchen.

Looking at Aunt Lily’s towering, muscular frame, then at Lin Qi’s own large, sturdy build, Enzo suddenly understood why Lin Qi was so robust. After all, he’d grown up on Aunt Lily’s milk—a most admirable nursemaid indeed!

If such a nursemaid donned heavy plate armor and swung her giant cleaver on the battlefield, she could probably sweep aside a battalion of a thousand with ease. At least, no formation of cadets from the Army Academy could withstand a charge from such a human behemoth.

Terrifying!

Wiping the cold sweat from his brow, Enzo was now consumed by curiosity: just what kind of man was Lin Qi’s father?