Chapter 87: Looting

Lv Dazhi was dead, and Meng Yifan picked up the County Magistrate Seal that represented the majesty of the dynasty.

This seal had already retracted its white radiance and become dull, yet holding it in his hand still felt very comfortable, as if he were touching the skin of a peerless beauty.

"Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Luolong County Magistrate Seal. The Game Panel has begun upgrading, 1%, 2%..."

The Game Panel's notification sound suddenly rang out. Meng Yifan's heart stirred, "The Game Panel has actually upgraded. I wonder what functions will be added after the upgrade?"

Since Meng Yifan transmigrated, his ability to survive and grow step by step had relied mainly on the Game Panel, which allowed him to defeat monsters to gain Experience Value and then add points to increase his combat power. Now that the Game Panel was suddenly upgrading, he was naturally very expectant.

"Is the Game Panel upgrading too slowly?" Meng Yifan waited anxiously. That progress bar moved at basically 1% per minute, which meant it would take 100 minutes for the upgrade to complete.

"Let it upgrade slowly for now; I still have many things that must be done immediately."

The battle was over, but a mountain of troublesome matters remained. In this fight, three hunters from Qinghe Village had died, four were lightly injured, and two were severely injured; even if they were saved, they would be crippled.

Meng Yifan said, "Carry the wounded back to the courtyard and let Liu treat them. Leave five able-bodied men to stand guard, and everyone else follow me to seal the treasury immediately. Especially the granary and the silver vault—they must be guarded well; no loss can be tolerated."

"If you encounter resistance, open fire immediately. At a time like this, you must not be soft-hearted. If you don't kill a batch of people ruthlessly, you won't be able to suppress the monsters and demons in the city."

There were over thirty thousand people living inside and outside Luolong County. Relying only on the few dozen people around Meng Yifan, it was impossible to manage them. To completely occupy Luolong County, he had to have silver and grain. With these two things, Meng Yifan would have the capital to recruit soldiers and horses and expand his team.

"Everyone, move quickly. That grain and silver are ours; they cannot be snatched away by others," Meng Yifan urged.

Meng Dayong and the others felt the same. They had all known hunger and poverty, and they understood the importance of grain and silver in these end times.

"Quick! Quick! Run forward!" Meng Dayong shouted. The elderly and frail hunters were left behind in the courtyard to stand guard, while the able-bodied men carried the Elm Cannons and Bird Guns and sprinted ahead.

"Father, you lead the able-bodied men and hurry over; I will go ahead first." Meng Yifan's speed far exceeded the others. He couldn't wait. After saying this, he carried an Elm Cannon, mobilized his True Qi, and unleashed his Lingbo Microsteps with full force. His speed quickly soared to 350 meters per second, and at this supersonic speed, he ran toward the granary and the silver vault.

Meng Yifan's speed was very fast. It took him less than half a minute to reach the Luolong County silver vault first, but after arriving there, he still found that the gates of the silver vault were wide open.

The yamen runners originally stationed here had long since rushed inside to move the silver. Clearly, they already knew that Lv Dazhi and Zhang Butou were dead and that Luolong County had fallen. These low-level yamen runners all wanted to take advantage of the chaos to make a fortune.

"Bastards! Everyone stop for me! Whoever dares to take a single tael of silver, I will twist his head off!" Meng Yifan roared.

Silver stirs the heart. This group of yamen runners had already been blinded by the silver. They ignored Meng Yifan's scolding and continued to stuff silver into their bosoms. Some yamen runners were even struggling to run out while clutching a massive chest in their arms.

Meng Yifan was enraged. He picked up an Elm Cannon and fired a shot into the silver vault.

"Boom!" The Elm Cannon emitted a dense spray of broken iron shards. There were many shelves, chests, and other sundries inside the silver vault that blocked many of the shards, but eight yamen runners were still knocked to the ground. Three unlucky ones were struck in the head by the iron shards and died instantly, while five others were hit in the body and collapsed in a pool of blood, wailing in pain.

"Hands on your heads, squat in the corner, quickly! Or else I'll blast you all into sieves!" Meng Yifan roared. He swapped for another Elm Cannon and aimed it at the remaining yamen runners again.

The roar of the Elm Cannon, the miserable cries of their companions, and the blood, severed limbs, and broken arms covering the ground finally brought this group of yamen runners to their senses.

The Luolong County silver vault was built very sturdily. To prevent theft, there was only one entrance and exit. Meng Yifan guarded the entrance, like catching a turtle in a jar; these yamen runners had nowhere to escape.

Among this group of yamen runners, some were returnees from the battlefield. They knew that although Meng Yifan didn't look old, he possessed great strength and was ruthless. Zhang Butou and Magistrate Lv had both been finished off by this young master. Even if they, these First Grade yamen runners, swarmed him together, they couldn't beat this fierce god.

"Young Master, I surrender, don't fire!" A yamen runner who had been scared out of his wits put down the heavy silver chest in his hands and, following Meng Yifan's demand, squatted in the corner with his hands on his head.

With someone taking the lead, the remaining yamen runners followed suit. Soon, all the yamen runners in the silver vault had surrendered. Meng Yifan was burning with anxiety. The Luolong County silver vault and granary were over three thousand meters apart. Since looting had occurred here at the silver vault, he estimated that looting had likely started at the granary as well.

The Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty had now been suffering from a great drought for three years, and many places had seen no harvest at all. In such a year of natural disaster, grain appeared especially precious.

"No, I must control the granary as soon as possible." Meng Yifan tied up all the yamen runners in the silver vault, then locked the large iron gate of the vault from the outside, warning the yamen runners inside to stay put and that someone would come to guard them shortly.

Immediately after, Meng Yifan once again unleashed his Lingbo Microsteps with full force and ran toward the granary.

Over three thousand meters—Meng Yifan's speed erupted to its limit, and he covered the distance in just ten seconds. Upon arriving there, he indeed found that the gates of the granary had also been opened.

The situation here was even more severe. It wasn't just yamen runners looting grain; even the refugees from the city's Labor Camp, having somehow gotten wind of the news, were coming in droves to snatch the grain.

"Damn it!" Meng Yifan was furious. If these people snatched all the grain, what would he rely on to recruit soldiers and horses?

Meng Yifan had intended to provide relief to the refugees, but that had to be done in an orderly manner under his regulations, not by letting them loot it all away.

Meng Yifan had great use for this grain; if it were all snatched away by the refugees, it would ruin his grand plan.

"All of you, stop!" Meng Yifan shouted, but the group of refugees didn't listen to him at all and continued to crazily loot the grain.

"It seems I can't hold the scene without killing." Meng Yifan gritted his teeth. He had run over in a great hurry this time and was only carrying three Elm Cannons. He had already fired one, leaving two. He directly hugged an Elm Cannon and fired a shot toward the entrance of the granary.

"Boom!" A dense spray of broken iron shards shot out in a fan shape. The entrance to the granary was an open area where a large number of refugees had gathered. Meng Yifan's shot caused a large swath of refugees to collapse into a pool of blood.

The refugees were stunned, but in the crowd, someone shouted, "Everyone, keep charging! He's just one person, he can't stop us! The grain is right before our eyes; if we don't grab it now, we won't have a chance later."

The refugees were terrified of starvation. For the sake of grain, they overcame their fear of death and continued to charge forward frantically. Some refugees even threw stones at Meng Yifan, which made his anger burn even hotter. At this very moment, he realized that this group of refugees had arrived too quickly.

Meng Yifan had run over to occupy the granary and silver vault the very first moment after finishing off Lv Dazhi. Logically speaking, it was understandable for the yamen runners guarding the granary and silver vault to get the news and loot the silver and grain.

But these refugees from the Labor Camp should have been building defensive works on the city walls. How could they have received news of the government's defeat at the very first moment, and then immediately come in droves to snatch the grain? Their reaction was too fast; there must be someone organizing this behind the scenes.

"Bastards, they really know how to pick their moment." Meng Yifan was furious. This mastermind hiding in the shadows, inciting the refugees to snatch the grain—this move was truly both ruthless and precise, striking Meng Yifan right in his weak spot.