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墨書 Inktalez
Handing over the food is definitely not an option. In such cold weather, who knows what tomorrow will bring? With this year's conditions, even those who have farmed their whole lives cannot guarantee next year's harvest. The villagers exchanged fearful glances but ultimately remained silent.
"I'll give you five minutes to think it over. If you don't hand over the food, then just leave your lives behind. Let me tell you, I'm starving mad; I wouldn't hesitate to eat human flesh if it comes to that! Think carefully," said the One-Eyed Bandit, pointing at the corpse on the ground with a crazed smile that looked particularly terrifying on his grotesque face. "I've killed many people; I don't care about a few more lives. My brothers are just after money; as long as you hand over three thousand pounds of food, we’ll leave immediately. Otherwise... well, you can figure it out."
Three thousand pounds of food is a lot; divided among each household, it amounts to over two hundred pounds per family. This is neither an insignificant nor a trivial amount. It must be said that these bandits are quite clever; three thousand pounds is a breaking point. Most rural households have some food stored, so this demand isn’t enough to make the villagers willingly risk their lives against these desperate criminals. Moreover, with one villager already dead, this serves as a strong deterrent for the others. That’s why they can rob one village after another.
There were about thirty or forty bandits, all strong men. Zhou Miao pointed at one of them, and Li Yan followed his gaze to see a relatively young man standing off to the side. He hadn’t drawn attention because he had been standing quietly; upon closer inspection, it turned out he should be referred to as "she." She was about five feet five inches tall, with captivating almond-shaped eyes that revealed an alluring charm, but unfortunately, those eyes were too sinister, looking at people as if they were merely pieces of meat on a chopping board—only valuable or worthless.
Li Yan and Zhou Miao exchanged knowing glances; even though she was bundled up like a penguin from Antarctica, her exposed face showed little distinction between men and women.
"Village chief, what do you think?" The villagers were in a state of panic and could only look toward Zhang Zhong.
Zhang Zhong felt equally flustered; being a village chief in these times was not easy. Just a few days of good fortune had passed, and he hadn’t even had time to drink the bottle of wine from yesterday. Damn it, these bastards! Zhang Zhong didn’t want to confront them head-on; if it came to fighting, those people would not hesitate to kill. "I think we should just give it to them; these people kill without blinking an eye. Everyone has elderly and children at home—what will happen if something goes wrong? Let’s pool together and each family contribute over two hundred pounds of rice or flour."
"That won't work, village chief! My family's grain was damaged by heavy rain before the New Year; we have very little left. Several families weren’t flooded and have much more grain than us—why should we share?" Zhang Jianguo was the first to refuse. He hadn’t listened to Zhang Agou’s advice and waited until the corn was fully ripe before harvesting, resulting in significant losses.
"Exactly! Village chief, you need to consider the situation," Zhang Liang chimed in with a sly look in his eyes. "Who’s living well these days? Besides, we’re all from the countryside—unlike some people in the city who have plenty of money and don’t care about their few acres of land; they can buy whatever they want. They casually eat ice pops that cost thirty-some yuan while our rural kids can only dream about them." He glanced meaningfully at Li Yan and Zhou Miao.
Li Yan frowned involuntarily; his family’s children wouldn’t just settle for one ice pop—they could eat an entire truckload if they wanted! Much of what they had was stolen or taken by force. Even though he knew this was a trap set by Zhang Liang, Li Yan wanted to level that pitfall. He kept this thought in mind but maintained an outward calmness that made it hard for outsiders to see through him.
"Yes, yes! Village chief, my family has five members and only this little grain left—are we supposed to starve?" After Zhang Liang spoke up, many others present expressed their difficulties and inability to contribute such a large sum.
The One-Eyed Bandit watched as the villagers grew increasingly loud and became impatient as time passed. "Damn it! Are you looking for death? I’m giving you half an hour! If there’s no food in half an hour, don’t blame me for being ruthless!" As he spoke, he swung his knife down onto the corpse on the ground, severing its arm from its body instantly. Although it was just a corpse, the shock value was immense; the villagers immediately fell silent.
Zhang Zhong's back was drenched in sweat; confronting these desperate criminals head-on was definitely not an option. Terrified, he discussed with those present since new blood lacked the authority of elder Zhang Agou. The only elder Li Yan respected in this village was Zhang Agou—though he had his share of greediness, he genuinely worked for the village's benefit. Unfortunately, these people didn’t understand that they were losing not just an elder but also a strong pillar of support. Zhang Zhong's presence only served to further scatter the villagers' unity.
"What the hell, I know everyone's difficulties. But you all saw it, Dezi is gone just like that. Dezi was one of the strongest in our village, and look what happened—someone just flicked their finger and killed him. I'm not going to waste words; here's the deal: those who didn't suffer from the flood last year will get three hundred pounds, and those who did will get two hundred pounds. As the village chief, I'll take out three hundred pounds myself. No objections, right?"
"On what basis?" Zhang Hong glared at Zhang Liang and Zhang Jianguo, pointing at them and cursing, "You two shameless dogs, how can you be greedy and not collect food while blaming others? Is there any logic in this world? What’s wrong with Li Ming eating an ice pop? If you have the ability, go eat one too! Don’t just sit there feeling sour because you can’t do anything. I refuse to believe that a child eating an ice pop could lead to a rebellion against the Rule of Law! Besides, isn’t our food grown by our own hands?
Just because your food is food doesn’t mean ours is worthless! Village chief, I’m just a simple man, and this isn’t aimed at you alone, but tell me—why is it that the things we all worked hard for with our ten fingers are considered worthless? We harvested on time, and now we’re being treated like criminals?"
Immediately, the scene split into two factions. At first, they could still reason with each other, but soon they began hurling insults. Who doesn’t know how to dig up old grievances? Even old grudges from decades ago about someone intentionally poisoning another's chickens were brought up. As the situation escalated out of control again, Zhang Zhong noticed One-Eyed Bandit growing increasingly impatient, his knife already raised. Zhang Zhong shouted angrily, "Look at what kind of situation we're in!"
"Since you can't handle it yourselves, fine! My brothers will go to your homes and take what’s ours." One-Eyed Bandit was clearly enraged by the villagers' behavior. "You better behave yourselves! If anyone acts recklessly, I'll kill your entire family! Now, who wants to be first?" One-Eyed Bandit scanned the entire village before his gaze landed on Zhang Liang.
Zhang Liang, wearing a set of silk pajamas he somehow acquired, stood out among the villagers.
"I'll expose him!" As he saw the robbers approaching, Zhang Liang trembled in fear. "He—his family has the most food!!" He pointed at Li Yan and Zhou Miao, grinning smugly. "They came from the city and have plenty of good stuff at home. Plus, they have a fool in their family who eats only good things."
Li Yan instinctively glanced at Zhang Zhong's villagers; they either looked down or deliberately turned away, not wanting to get involved. As long as the fire didn’t burn them, it was better for someone else to die than themselves.
"Is that so?" One-Eyed Bandit chuckled sinisterly, stroking his chin as he looked at Li Yan and Zhou Miao, sneering: "Alright then, since you have so many good things at home, I’ll go take a look. You lead the way!"
Li Yan shot a cold glance at One-Eyed Bandit, one hand holding a wooden stick while weighing its heft with the other. "My grandfather passed away long ago; don’t insult him with your presence."
Beside him, Zhou Miao burst into laughter. "I say Yanzi, we should escape from this planet; this thick-skinned behavior is unbearable."
"Damn it! It seems that unless I teach you a lesson, you really won’t know how many eyes Lord Ma Wang has." One-Eyed Bandit waved his hand and charged forward with his machete raised.
The villagers knew that Li Yan and Zhou Miao were from the city and understood that these two were not to be trifled with. But after today, they feared they would have to avoid them altogether...
Li Yan did not expect his strength to have increased so much. After practicing those techniques for several days, he felt that his body and spirit had improved significantly. Now that he was actually fighting, he realized the brilliance of those techniques; even a simple wooden stick was more powerful than those machetes.
Zhou Miao was strong, swinging his stick and causing heads to burst open. Some were hit so hard that their brains were almost visible. As for Li Yan, he moved with agility and had a sensitivity that was beyond ordinary. He could always deliver the most lethal blows when others least expected it.
With the cooperation of Li Yan and Zhou Miao, dozens of people lay sprawled on the ground half an hour later. This included the One-Eyed Bandit, who, despite being covered in blood, stood firm and did not fall.
The remaining ten or so bandits were stunned and dared not make any further moves. The villagers were also in shock. Zhang Hong, being the toughest among them, finally reacted and struck down a bandit who tried to get up with his iron rake, ensuring that the man would no longer move.
Zhang Liang was terrified, his face pale as he knelt down to beg for mercy. "Brother Li Yan, I misspoke earlier. I knew you two were formidable and would definitely drive them away. You are the saviors of Zhangjia Village. I was just pretending; please believe me." At this moment, Zhang Liang was genuinely frightened. Ever since Li Yan and his brother arrived in the village, he had been plotting revenge against them. However, he never expected they could defeat a group of armed bandits with just two wooden sticks. Even more surprising was how easily they killed; seeing them covered in blood made him feel faint.
"Damn it, I... I can still... fight..." The One-Eyed Bandit finally collapsed.
The woman disdainfully glanced at the one-eyed man before turning around and getting into a vehicle without any hesitation, leaving with the remaining people. Li Yan felt that the one-eyed man was not worth it; he could have been with that woman all along, and judging by her demeanor and presence, she clearly did not see him as just an ordinary lover. Unfortunately, when faced with difficulties, such relationships might not even be worth a grain of rice.
Zhou Miao walked over and kicked the one-eyed man, who was still alive and groaning. Zhou Miao clicked his tongue and remarked, "Our family is gentle, lovely, virtuous, and loyal every day. I say, one-eyed man, your judgment of people is as shallow as your eyesight—half-baked! That woman isn’t even worthy to carry my family's shoes."
Li Yan wholeheartedly agreed with this statement; although his two family members were somewhat foolish, they truly deserved his affection.
"What happened? What's going on?!" Just as those people left, a large truck drove into the village. Dozens of soldiers in green uniforms got out of the vehicle, which greatly relieved the villagers present. Although trust in the government had diminished over time, soldiers still held a revered place in people's hearts; ordinary folks had a deep-rooted trust in them.
"Officer! Help! These two are murderers!" Zhang Liang cried out loudly as he crawled to the officer's feet, clutching his leg while sobbing hysterically. "Officer! These two are killers! They want to kill me too!"
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