Chapter 700: A Pair of Man and Woman in a High-End Tug-of-War

Jier approached the wooden chair, examined it for a moment, then kicked it over. Sure enough, from a concealed spot in the bottom board of the chair, he discovered a small metal box.

He whistled triumphantly, grateful for the training he'd received from video games in his past life.

The metal box was not large and looked quite sturdy, but it had a metal lock hanging on it; he would either have to find the key or destroy the lock to open it.

This would have been a troublesome matter for the other bandits in the same lair, but for Jier, who had already defeated the entire Bandit Group, it was no problem at all.

He first carried the small metal box out and placed it in a relatively open area, then drew his Long Sword and slashed down. With a clang, the lock and the fixture holding it underneath were both severed.

When he went to bend down and open the small box, Jier hesitated for a moment, stepped back a few paces, and then used a wooden wine cup from a wooden bed to smash hard against the upper half of the metal box.

Bang!

The upper half of the metal box, its lock broken, was knocked far away. Then, amidst the flickering firelight, several metallic glints were triggered, springing up and flying out.

With a ping-pong sound, two Flying Knives bounced off Jier's Shield as he stood not far away in front. The other Flying Knives struck the surrounding wooden beds.

"My lord, my lord, what happened?"

The three young men all heard the noise and ran over, but Jier waved his arm to block them back: "Stay away, all of you. Be careful, this thing still has lethal mechanisms."

The young men stared wide-eyed at the opened small metal box on the ground, discovering that the opened upper half of the box was not filled with the jewelry they had imagined, but rather a whole set of what they considered to be complex torsion mechanisms.

Jier threw another wooden wine cup he had grabbed at it. The cup struck the complex mechanism heavily, causing the thing to creak, but no more Flying Knives were ejected.

"This is the anti-theft trap that Bani bragged to me about before."

Behind the group, two women, simply dressed in a set of clothes, leaned on each other and walked over. The older one squinted at the metal box and said hesitantly.

Jier turned his head and gave this woman a deep, searching look: "Anti-theft? Isn't he himself a Bandit Leader? Hmph, how ridiculous."

This woman had long brown hair, but unfortunately, it seemed she had been living very poorly lately, so her originally smooth, long hair was now dry and dull. Furthermore, parts of it had been deliberately torn out, and there were even bloodied patches on her scalp where hair was missing.

She was quite tall and had a large frame; smaller men would likely not be her match in a brawl.

But her slim, healthy figure indicated that she did not make a living through fighting and force.

Jier particularly noticed the hands she was clutching her companion with; although they had been tortured and injured in many places, her fingernails had been deliberately kept long, and they still had half-worn-off nail polish decorations on them.

Those were not the hands of a laborer. In this era, such hands were rare; only managers, leaders, or those living in luxury had such palms.

Don't even mention the girls in the Red House in town; please, those girls had to do manual labor in the shop too.

"So, what exactly do you do? Mountain Wolf Bani has already been defeated by us and is currently being held prisoner in the open space outside the Shandong."

Only when Jier said this did a glimmer of spirit appear in the woman's eyes, and her expression changed: "Is that so? That is truly wonderful, that damned, heartless bastard. I want to watch him die today!"

With a light chuckle, Jier said: "You will, it won't be long."

Jier listened to the information she had just provided: Mountain Wolf Bani's true lair was not along the Shanglu, but a day's walk deeper into the heart of the mountains.

That was too far away.

If it were just him or the few people like Priest Bata'er, they could go over and pick and choose some things to bring out. But now that he had hundreds of subordinates to manage, he couldn't afford to delay for two whole days just to make a special trip.

This matter couldn't be handed over to the young men under his command either; the weapons in their hands hadn't even warmed up yet, and they had no combat skills at all. If a small number of them went into the mountains, he feared they would be eaten by the Monsters and wild beasts there. And if a large number went, he wouldn't feel at ease handing such a task to others.

So, he would interrogate Mountain Wolf Bani again in a moment; if the lair was truly that far inside, Jier didn't plan on going.

Jier walked up to the small metal box placed on the ground and discovered that the opened upper half was a complex metal spring torsion mechanism. Roughly speaking, anyone who failed to open the box using the normal method would only trigger the lethal mechanism in the upper half, being struck by over a dozen sharp Flying Knives fired at random.

He studied the thing carefully for a while and felt that as long as the internal torsion springs were reset and the Flying Knives reloaded, it should be usable again.

"Did Mountain Wolf Bani ever tell you where he got this thing?"

The woman who was snuggled up with her companion was silent for a while before saying: "I heard it was found in some looted cargo; one of his companions even died at the time. By the way, Sir Knight, my name is Feiniya-Duozeisiya. My friends all call me 'Zhirezhiwen', and I was the manager of the 'Zhirezhiwen' inn on the Shanglu."

Jier was stunned: "Oh, so you and Mountain Wolf Bani were partners before?"

Hearing Jier's words, those young men who had only been focused on looting were shocked. Subconsciously, they pointed their weapons at the two women sitting huddled on a wooden bed.

The woman being protected by Feiniya was slightly younger and was trembling, but the brown-haired Feiniya said directly: "My lord, accusations require evidence."

Jier scoffed at this: "In places where town law enforcement cannot reach, no evidence is needed."

"But morality, conscience, and the law—they are actually in our hearts, aren't they? I still say the same thing: accusations require evidence, and the words of a Bandit Leader can never serve as evidence. A shameless fellow—no one will believe anything he says. Because those who believe him are all fools."

Jier chuckled: "You and your people, I think you are all fools."

Feiniya gave a miserable smile: "Who's to say we aren't?"

The other woman was led by this topic and began to cry again. This made Jier feel a bit awkward; fortunately, no one could see his expression, but it left him not knowing how to deal with these two.

To say that people who ran inns on the Shanglu didn't collude with bandits—that was something even a normal person wouldn't believe.

But for them—specifically the two survivors here—to say they hadn't been harmed by the bandits was also unbelievable. After all, the sticky, suspicious smell on them and the bruises of varying severity all over their bodies were completely impossible to fake.

Here the problem arose: people who had previously colluded with bandits, but were now harmed by them—could they be considered innocent?

Jier thought for a moment, then voiced his doubts.

His three young subordinates looked conflicted. One had a relative who died in a previous bandit raid, so this person said that anyone who colluded with bandits had to die. But the other two didn't feel that way; after all, the staff of the Shanglu inns colluding with bandits had nothing to do with them, the Refugees. Even if it harmed the interests of the traveling merchants, that was the merchants' business, and it had nothing to do with them, the farmers.

Moreover, when the Refugees were passing through here in whole villages to head toward the Baishi Chengqiang Guanka, they had passed these Shanglu inns, and the people there had even given them some food when they begged.

How was that kindness to be calculated?

The three young men began to argue over this.

Jier found it amusing. He fiddled with the small metal box on the ground for a while, carefully opened a deeper compartment, then suddenly slammed it shut with a bang, saying nothing more.

Inside were valuable Gold and Silver Coins, packed full. No wonder it was quite heavy. It wasn't good to open it for others to see, for fear of trouble.

"Do you have no intention of defending yourselves?"

Jier searched the surroundings casually while collecting the various Flying Knives that had been ejected earlier.

Feiniya seemed to have been waiting for Jier to say this. She spoke directly, her words seemingly organized for a while: "My lord, I still say the same thing: accusations require evidence. There is currently no evidence to prove that I or my people had any shameless collusion with Mountain Wolf Bani. Yes, I knew that guy, and we were even lovers for a few years, but that relationship ended long ago."

"Ended?"

Jier was curious about their emotional story, so he asked.

"That guy didn't want to marry me, and even looked down on me for being close to the stewards of some large Caravans. Bah, I, I, *huff*. He himself is no good, and he even smeared my name at that time. Not to mention that a few days ago, he tricked all my people into coming over, saying they were going to find another place to develop, but my people were killed by them one by one! Ahhhhhhh!!!"

She became more and more agitated as she spoke, her voice hoarse as she spat out their miserable experience: "Weisi, the cook in the shop, was the first to die. Just because the soup he made was a bit bland, those guys poured a whole jar of salt into Weisi's stomach and specifically fed his corpse to the beasts in the Forest."

The young men stopped arguing, and Jier raised an eyebrow: "That, actually, is quite a unique way to die."

"The two young waiters in the shop were beaten to death by them just for saying a few words. Only then did I and my people realize that this place was not a refuge, but a den of monsters. Shanlang Bani, he just watched, coldly watching as I and my sisters were dragged away by the laughing young Bandits."

Jier gave a hum: "You can question him in a moment, ask him what exactly he was thinking."

"What he was thinking? I know him too well; he was bored, felt like starting over, and figured my people and his subordinates would all need to be recruited again, or even that he should find a different way to live. Yes, the experience of being a Bandit, that was that guy's life; he loved and was satisfied with this kind of tormenting of others too much."

Jier let out a breath: "Forget it, for now, let's all go up; I am becoming increasingly curious about what you are going to say to that Shanlang Bani."

"I am not afraid of him, please let me see him, I want to accuse, to accuse that guy of his actions."

"Go, go, let's all go."

Jier waved his hand, found a Rope to tighten the Jinzhuoxiaoxiangzi, and carried it out with the others.

Once again awkwardly crawling out of the Shandong, everything outside was as usual; the mad young man named Weier was writhing on the ground, babbling nonsense. The gagged Bandit Leader was groaning in pain, his eyes looking worriedly at his severed leg.

Truly clinging to life, it's a pity this guy only cares about his own life.

Jier and the three young people placed the things they were carrying on the open ground, then greeted the two young guards outside, and all gathered around Shanlang Bani.

Several people sized this guy up, making Shanlang Bani feel somewhat strange, even uneasy.

Sure enough, two women wearing ill-fitting clothes crawled out of the Shandong, and upon seeing one of the two, Shanlang Bani felt a great sense of foreboding.

"Bani, oh, Bani, your leg, this, this is truly wonderful!"

Although Feiniya was in a sorry state, she still covered her mouth with her hand and deliberately mocked him loudly, the joy in her words far too thick.

The two women walked over, supporting each other, gritting their teeth as they looked at the severed-leg captive on the ground who was constantly shifting his body, trying to move away in small increments to escape this place.

Jier rubbed his hands, excitedly dragged the captive who was trying to move away back, and then removed the object from the other's mouth.

"Feiniya? You %￥%, I should have been hard-hearted and slaughtered you before I took action just now!"

As soon as he could speak, this Bandit Leader displayed abundant aggression; he was truly worthy of being the leader of a brutal Bandit Group.

"Oh my, my life or death, can you, this arrogant guy, still keep it in mind? When I was being tortured by these subordinates of yours, you didn't have me in your mind at all! Weisi! Little Angke! Little Tani! Bawa! Malin! They were all deceived by your lies, abandoned by your indifference, and tortured to death by those shitty subordinates of yours!!!"

But the Bandit Leader was not someone to be trifled with either; he glared fiercely at the two rescued women standing before him, lifting his chin directly, as if he were the one standing higher: "Young Knight, don't listen to her babbling there; this woman, who is like a Poisonous Snake, who knows how many people have been killed by the words from that mouth."

"Tsk tsk tsk, what was the name of your shop again? 'Zhirezhiwen'? Or 'Duomingzhiwen'? Oh, Duomingzhiwen is the nickname your friends gave you, right? Hahaha, look, let me count how many lives your sweet little mouth has claimed!"

Struggling left and right, Shanlang Bani grinned and said loudly: "I remember when I met you many years ago, two young men from wealthy families died in a duel because of your instigation. Two poor wretches, I wonder if the objects of their daily dog-shit poetry on the day of their duel were 'fighting' intensely with me in the barn loft."

Feiniya's face turned ashen, her whole body trembling; she couldn't even stand steadily, and it was only because her sister beside her held her tightly that she didn't collapse to the ground.

"Let me think, when we were in Monta Valley City, you wanted to open a shop, but we had no money; who was it that lured one rich person after another to a remote and deserted place outside the city, only to have their throats slit by me one by one? Oh, when I was doing the deed, I wonder who it was that complained all day that those guys' purses were too flat?"

"A few years ago, you opened an inn, I led the group out, hum hum hum hum, ah hahaha, who was it that inquired about the news of every passing Caravan? And who was it that arranged Xuruoduoyao in the Caravan's food, making those guys crap their pants in pain one by one while fighting my people? Honestly, it would have been better if you had just used a deadly poison; the smell was unbearable when disposing of the corpses."

"Now, you want to take revenge on me in front of a Knight, oh, you said quite a few bad things about me downstairs just now, right? Haha, young Knight, you haven't been fooled by her too, have you? Haha, be careful, after all, to kill someone, you don't necessarily have to use a knife; her teeth and tongue are much sharper than the tools in a man's hands."

Presumably knowing that his death was inevitable today, Shanlang Bani threw caution to the wind, dredging up every bit of old dirt.

The few young Refugee people nearby were already stunned, but Jier felt that the history of these two partners' rise to success was quite interesting.

Seeing the young Knight whose name he still did not know turn his head, even though she was half-dead with anger at her old flame's words, Feiniya breathed hard several times, steadied her breath, and began to explain.

"Sir Knight, this person is a Bandit; first of all, his words cannot be used as any kind of evidence, is that correct?"

Jier nodded as a matter of course, gesturing for the other to continue.

"Of course, I must admit that when I was young, I did indeed do some wrong things out of necessity for survival. But the cause and process of the events were by no means as evil as this guy says."

Jier nodded, found a comfortable position, and half-leaned against the trunk of a large tree.

Please begin your performance.

"I must admit that when I was young in my hometown, I did have friends who dueled to win my love, but this is, after all, a normal thing, right? I did not instigate them as this jackal says; it was just young boys vying for jealousy over their respective family honor and face. If the object wasn't me, it would have been someone else."

Subsequently, Feiniya pointed fiercely at Shanlang Bani, who was lying on the ground resigned to his fate: "The 'fighting' this guy speaks of, the truth is nothing more than him using violence to force me; this guy impersonated my relative, tricked me into the barn, and forcibly possessed me."

Shanlang Bani curled his lips and said with a face full of smugness: "Then who was it that couldn't bear to leave me after that?"

Jier rolled his eyes under his Faceplate.

He noticed the surrounding Refugee youths, discovering that these simple, pitiful guys' emotions and inclinations were like grass blown by a strong wind; when the wind blew from the left, they leaned to the right. When the wind blew from the right, they leaned to the left.

At this moment, their expressions not only changed again and again, but their identities and stances were also jumping back and forth. Before, they were glaring at Feiniya with a look of heartbreak, but now they were pointing their swords and knives at Shanlang Bani, wishing they could chop this scum into meat paste.

Shaking his head, Jier signaled for Feiniya to continue.

This lady had also been staring at Shanlang Bani and the Knight, and at this moment, she continued her defense.