Chapter 21: Who Is the Robber?

"Bang!"

The sound of black powder was dull; Wu Lao Er had just reached for the shotgun given by the village head when he was startled, yet he still gritted his teeth and held it up.

Tang Shiba moved even faster, already hugging another shotgun and squeezing to the window, tilting his head to observe the situation outside.

Tang Shiba in the driver's seat gripped the steering wheel with one hand and the gear stick with the other, ready to seize any opportunity to charge out at any moment.

"Brothers inside, get out of the car!"

"We only want money; leave the goods and go back where you came from!"

The man who had just fired into the sky shouted while stepping forward a few paces.

One person beside him took the opportunity to run to the side, while the shadow behind the truck stood at the bend in the dirt road, blocking the truck front and back.

Whether forward or backward, the truck could not leave safely.

Wu Lao Er's face turned gloomy, and he gritted his teeth, saying:

"This is a gang of veterans; that old man just now was with them."

"They are forcing us up the mountain to kill us to silence us; do not get out of the car, do not believe what they say!"

Tang Shiba and Tang Shijiu exchanged a glance; the latter quickly thrust the shotgun out the car window, and the middle-aged man shouting hurriedly retreated several steps to the other side, daring not to advance further.

But he was not too panicked; in this day and age, how many truck drivers didn't carry weapons? But those daring to rob on the road wouldn't be without preparation either?

He immediately blew a long whistle, and the three people inside the car immediately realized that more people were coming.

In less than a few minutes, several people came down from the hill beside the small house, each carrying weapons in their hands.

Wu Lao Er's heart immediately sank to the bottom; looking at the scene, this wasn't a gang crime at all, but an entire village running a side business!

Usually they were well-behaved, but once they found an opportunity, they immediately switched professions locally; competing on numbers was definitely impossible.

The men outside kept shouting in dialect for them to get out, claiming they only wanted money not lives, but the others were clearly slowly approaching, full of threatening intent.

"Eighteen, should we ram through?"

Wu Lao Er looked at Tang Shiba, but the latter shook his head.

He had already seen that the uphill road ahead was a dead end; the road was too narrow to turn around, and hitting the house once meant losing mobility.

And they were stuck on the uphill slope; reversing quickly had a very high probability of rolling the truck, so they were already trapped in a dead end.

Wu Lao Er gritted his teeth and shouted loudly to the outside:

"One thousand yuan, that's all we have on us; we'll give it all to you, let us go!"

However, the leader was unmoved, and after signaling his accomplices with a glance, he shook his head and said:

"No, ten thousand yuan, and leave everything in the car too!"

"You are just drivers; the loss is the boss's, but your lives are your own; leave the goods and I'll let you go and show you the way!"

Although they were negotiating terms, both sides understood this was stalling for time; Wu Lao Er's grip tightened more and more, knowing surrender was definitely not an option.

The payment he received was worth tens of thousands; would the robbers let anyone go after seeing that?

Fight it out? Or risk reversing down?

The shadows moving around grew more numerous; cold sweat already formed on Wu Lao Er's neck, yet he felt someone kick his foot.

Tang Shijiu pointed at Wu Lao Er's head, then kicked hard with his foot, knocking over the wooden crate that had been in the car for several days.

Wu Lao Er looked into the crate, and his eyeballs almost popped out.

He looked at Tang Shijiu in disbelief, finding it even more incredible than seeing the robbers.

But there was no time to explain; he looked up at the ceiling again, then shouted loudly to the outside:

"Don't fire accidentally; we surrender!"

The middle-aged leader saw the earthen gun in Wu Lao Er's hand slowly extend out the car window, then drop down.

Just as his attention focused on the dropped earthen gun, he saw a round cover suddenly open on top of the truck cab.

That's right; as a military truck, the CCKW353 series had an observation window on top of the cab, and Wu Lao Er often stuck his head out to see the scenery.

But this time, what poked out first wasn't his head; Tang Shijiu inside the cab bent down, grabbed the item from the crate, then skillfully climbed out through the observation window and mounted the item on the roof.

A rectangular receiver, ring-shaped stacked heat sinks; Li Yunlong's little wife, a regular in war films.

This was the magical tool Tang Wen specially prepared for logistics security: the Type 92 7.7mm machine gun, commonly known as the "Wild Chicken Neck."

This was originally an anti-aircraft machine gun equipped on the "Hashirima," but now its tripod was removed and replaced with a shortened, easy-to-carry stubby stand, fitting perfectly on the roof.

To guard against the unexpected, a 30-round ammunition belt was inserted into the receiver in advance; Tang Shijiu racked the bolt and pulled the trigger immediately.

Before the middle-aged man could even see what it was, a string of bullets landed on the ground less than two meters in front of him.

The other robbers finally woke up as if from a dream, realizing what was on the roof.

It was a machine gun!

It was a damn machine gun!

Those with sharp eyes could even recognize it as the heavy machine gun from the movies!

Heaven help them; their dozen or so people each had only one earthen gun or shotgun, and only the boss held a Type 56 semi-auto to fill out the scene.

What decent person brings a machine gun when going out?

Moreover, without saying a word, they started firing immediately; although they had a numerical advantage, when the Type 92 heavy machine gun's sound like a woodpecker went "da-da," no matter how vicious the bandits were, they had to clutch their heads and scatter, wishing they had two extra legs under their feet.

The sound of the heavy machine gun was like a natural predator awakening humanity's deepest fear, making it impossible to generate even a shred of resistance.

Even though Tang Shijiu didn't intend to hit anyone, he just kept sweeping the fire back and forth; bullets randomly struck the ground or trees like a reaper of death.

The middle-aged man who had just tried to approach trembled, threw the Type 56 semi-auto on the ground, and with trembling legs jumped straight down the hillside.

One 30-round belt of 7.7mm pointed bullets was emptied in less than 10 seconds, but when Tang Shijiu prepared to reload, he found not a single bandit anywhere.

Scattered on the ground were a few discarded weapons; the bandits who had just been numerous and powerful were nowhere to be seen, vanished without a trace.

Oh, one remained.

The one circling behind the truck must have been scared silly; clutching his legs, he stood in place, forgetting to run, and when he saw Tang Shijiu turn the gun barrel toward him, he actually knelt down immediately, a long wet stain appearing in the middle of his pants.

Wu Lao Er tried to sit up, only to find his legs somewhat unresponsive, swinging uncontrollably.

He trembled as he wiped the sweat from his forehead, gaining a deeper understanding of Tang Wen.

He had originally thought Tang Wen merely got lucky and hooked up with a fence, never expecting he was actually running this kind of trade.

Machine guns! Even if they were relics from decades ago, they represented an entirely different level.

Compared to that, even the "big brothers" of Goose City were just playing small games; just ask, who else has heavy machine guns?

They had even cut observation ports into the truck in advance—this was clearly preparation made long ago!

Fortunately, he was cooperating with him; otherwise, if they provoked him, wouldn't they be left without a trace?

Wu Lao Er swallowed hard, feeling an unprecedented respect for Tang Nineteen:

"Ten, Nineteen brother, how about you put... that down first? Isn't showing off like this a bit too much?"

Tang Nineteen blinked:

"What if there are still bandits? How about I just keep it mounted on the roof?"

Wu Lao Er: "If we mount that thing out, then we are the bandits."

"..."

"..."