Chapter 256: Gunshots in the Dark Night

Xu Damao suddenly became alert and asked in a low voice, "Have any routed soldiers ever come to your village before?"

Zhao Yingzi shook her head: "We are very remote here; outsiders can rarely find us."

Xu Damao pressed further: "Are there any bandit Shanzhai nearby?"

"There is one; thirty li from here is the Erlong Mountain Fortress. I hear there are twenty or thirty members of the Bandit Gang," Zhao Yingzi replied.

Xu Damao's expression was grave: "I feel that patch of woods outside the village is not right. Listen carefully!"

Zhao Yingzi immediately leaned down and pressed her ear to the ground to listen, then her face changed: "You're right. There are several horses inside. I suspect there's a mole in the village, and some bandits are scouting the place. Let's not borrow the wine for now; we must hurry back to report the news."

Xu Damao said: "You go back to report the news, and I will sneak over to scout the situation."

"Be careful. If you get caught, just say you're going to visit relatives in Liujiatun!" Zhao Yingzi instructed.

"Got it!"

Under the cover of the night, Xu Damao crept toward the woods without a sound.

Over the past two years of traveling far and wide with Hu Yunbin, he had seen much of the world and gained a deeper understanding of the malice in human hearts.

The reason he chose to scout alone was that he harbored some concerns—after all, he couldn't be sure if the people in the woods were related to Zhao Laosi.

But seeing Zhao Yingzi agree so readily, this suspicion dissipated.

Just as he reached the edge of the woods, he heard the voices of five or six people talking in the depths.

Xu Damao held his breath and crept closer.

"Big Brother, aren't you being too cautious this time? They're just a few grave robbers; let's just kill them!" a haughty voice said.

Immediately following, a coarse voice spoke with a reprimand: "Jinshan, what do you know! Didn't Liu Mazi from the village say so? They have four or five guns in their hands!"

Another hoarse voice chimed in: "Big Brother, I say we didn't bring enough men this time; we should have brought more brothers..."

"You don't know a damn thing!" the leader interrupted him and said: "It's chaotic times now. If all the men from our Shanzhai come out, only the old, weak, sick, and disabled will be left. What if we get wiped out by those routed soldiers? Once they are fast asleep, we'll enter the village; are you afraid they'll run away?"

Xu Damao's heart tightened, and cold sweat instantly soaked his undershirt.

He dared not stay any longer; hunched over, he stepped on the snow and ran desperately toward the village without looking back.

When he returned to Zhao Si's house, the few people in the room had lost all their drunkenness and were sitting around discussing countermeasures.

Hu Yunbin grabbed him and asked in a low voice: "Damao, what's the situation in the woods?"

Xu Damao panted and replied: "Six people in total, six horses. It was Liu Mazi from the village who tipped them off. They plan to make a move on us in the middle of the night."

Hu Yunbin immediately looked around at everyone: "Everyone, speak up. What should we do?"

Zhao Si looked ashamed: "Brother Hu, I'm sorry. This Liu Mazi is one of the three who helped you dig the tunnel during the day. He was jealous of the gold you dug up. I really didn't expect..."

Hu Yunbin waved his hand to interrupt: "Brother, let's not talk about that now. Let's think of a way to deal with what's in front of us first."

Wang Laoqi gritted his teeth and said: "In my opinion, we must kill them. Otherwise, none of us will be able to escape."

Zhao Si was worried: "But they have twenty or thirty people at their Shanzhai. If we finish these six, I'm afraid that in the future..."

Wang Laoqi, who came from a bandit background, knew how great the temptation of this gold was to bandits; if they didn't kill them, his own group would be the ones killed. "We can't think about the future; we must solve them. We have seven Box Cannons in total and five adult men. If we hide in the dark, I don't believe we can't take them out!"

Seeing there was no room for negotiation, Zhao Si had to say: "They have horses; we must send two people to take care of the one watching the horses. One person won't be enough; it has to be two. Who is going?"

Cui Dazhi stepped forward: "I'll go!"

Zhao Yingzi immediately added: "I'll go with Xu Damao."

Xu Damao groaned inwardly, knowing he couldn't handle a bandit watching horses, but seeing a girl be so brave, he had to bite the bullet and agree.

The group then began to discuss the details of the ambush in detail.

Near midnight, the north wind whistled by, carrying snow foam.

Five black shadows crept into the village without a sound. Just as they stepped into the village entrance, they were spotted by Zhao Si, who was lying on the roof.

He threw two pieces of broken tile down below; the signal was sent, and everyone took their positions.

The bandits split into two groups, three in front and two behind, sneaking into the courtyard and heading straight for the main room.

The five men had just split into two groups and kicked open the doors—

In the east room, Hei San was hiding on the kang, and Wang Laoqi was hiding in the cabinet.

The two bandits had just burst in and couldn't see anything for a moment. Wang Laoqi and Hei San didn't give them a chance and immediately opened fire.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!..." After a burst of gunfire.

The two bandits fell to the ground in response, and the other one who hadn't entered the door turned and ran.

Just as he ran into the courtyard, he was shot dead by Zhao Si from the roof.

Two bandits broke into the west room; one was the Big Boss and the other was the Second Boss, Jinshan. Before the two could even fire, they were shot dead by a barrage of gunfire from Cui Dazhi, who was hiding in the corner, and Hu Yunbin, who was hiding on the roof beam.

In the woods, the one watching the horses was a tall bandit.

Hearing the intense gunfire in the village, he jumped up excitedly and shouted: "The gold is ours!"

Just as he was carried away by his excitement, a "bang" rang out, and a bullet hit his shoulder!

This bandit clearly had some tactical training; he didn't panic after being hit. He rolled and hid behind a tree, then pulled out his gun and returned fire in the direction of the shot.

That shot just now was fired by Zhao Yingzi. She was used to using a hunting rifle, but this was her first time using a Box Cannon, and she hadn't expected the recoil to be so strong—the muzzle jumped upward violently, and the shot that was originally aimed at the chest only hit the opponent's shoulder.

Zhao Yingzi and the tall bandit fell into a standoff, both firing blindly at each other, neither daring to show their heads easily.

Xu Damao had been hiding behind a tree not far away, holding his breath and looking for an opportunity.

He knew his marksmanship was terrible, and firing without absolute certainty would be suicide.

Just then, a crisp "click" sound came from Zhao Yingzi's gun. Her magazine was empty!

The tall bandit keenly captured this opportunity; he lunged out from behind the tree, wanting to take the chance to kill Zhao Yingzi.

The tall bandit circled behind Zhao Yingzi and raised his hand to fire.

Xu Damao's heart tightened; if he didn't act now, Zhao Yingzi would surely suffer! He didn't hesitate any longer, pulling the trigger continuously, and the bullets whistled toward the man's back.

Although his aim wasn't accurate, he had the advantage of plenty of ammunition.

In the chaos, one bullet struck the opponent squarely in the back.

The tall bandit's hand shook, his aim went off, and with a "Bang!", the bullet grazed Zhao Yingzi's shoulder, drawing out a spray of blood.

Xu Damao rushed out from behind a tree, firing at the man as he advanced.

Zhao Yingzi walked out of the woods with lingering fear, and seeing that the person on the ground was already dead while he was still firing, she reached out to pat Xu Damao's shoulder and said softly, "Stop shooting, the person is already out of breath."

Xu Damao then stopped, looked at Zhao Yingzi while panting, and said, "Am... am I actually quite useful?"

Zhao Yingzi nodded, "I have to admit, if it weren't for you today, my life would have ended here. I didn't expect you kid to be so steady at a critical moment."

By this time, the gunfire in the village had long since awakened the entire village.

Although the villagers dared not go out, everyone understood one thing in their hearts: bandits had come to the village.

When Xu Damao and Zhao Yingzi returned to Zhao Si's house, several people were discussing how to deal with Liu Mazi.

Hu Yunbin said to Zhao Si, "Brother Zhao, after this incident, you and your daughter can no longer stay in this village. The people from that stronghold will never let this go. It would be better to head to Si Jiu Cheng with us. If we are lucky on this journey, we can arrive safely; if we are unlucky... then that is fate."

Zhao Si pondered for a moment and sighed heavily, "Fine, I agree to go with you. There is nothing left in this broken home worth lingering over."

"Before we leave, we must get rid of this scourge, Liu Mazi!" Wang Laoqi said.

The group took advantage of the night to head straight for Liu Mazi's house.

After hearing the gunfire at home, Liu Mazi was restless and had actually thought of coming to Zhao Si's house to get a share of the spoils. Who would have thought that Liu Mazi would run into Zhao Si's group halfway there.

Wang Laoqi was the most ruthless; seeing Liu Mazi, he immediately raised his gun and fired, knocking Liu Mazi to the ground with a "Bang!".

To prevent future trouble, he stepped forward and fired two more shots into Liu Mazi's head.

The group dragged the corpse to an uninhabited, dilapidated courtyard, then returned to Zhao Si's house to pack their belongings in a hurry, and set off overnight on the journey to Si Jiu Cheng.