Chapter 479: The Cunning Bandits

He Yuzhu returned to the base and immediately gathered Liu Erhei and a group of young workers, saying sternly: "Li Sigou has confessed; this woman Xie Zhuqing is extremely vengeful. Her people were captured, so she certainly won't let it go. Tonight, split into two shifts and be sure to guard the motorcade well."

Liu Erhei quickly promised: "Captain, don't you worry! It was our carelessness before; there won't be any slip-ups tonight. The brothers will split into two shifts to keep watch, and we will notify you immediately if there is any movement."

He Yuzhu nodded.

In fact, his arrangement had a bit of a disciplinary intent—these people had spent a few years in the factory and had forgotten all their soldier habits, so he was intentionally putting them through their paces this time.

After arranging the night watch, he went to soak in the hot spring.

Reshui Town lived up to its name, and the temperature of the hot spring was just right.

He Yuzhu had a comfortable bath, and the fatigue from days of traveling was swept away.

When he returned to the base, he found that no one was slacking off tonight; everyone's eyes were wide open. Only then did he sleep with peace of mind.

The next morning, He Yuzhu got up early. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Man Yatou and her sister Liu Sanman sitting on the stone steps at the entrance of the town government office, shivering with baskets on their backs.

"So early? It's still cold out; come inside to warm up," He Yuzhu hurriedly greeted them.

The two girls' lips were pale from the cold, but Man Yatou said: "Brother, we are used to it; we aren't afraid of the cold."

He Yuzhu let them into the room and made two bowls of brown sugar water to hand to them.

Once the hot sugar water hit their stomachs, the two little girls' eyes lit up.

Looking at their thin clothes, He Yuzhu felt very uneasy.

This family was too poor; even if he left them money, they probably wouldn't bear to spend it.

It would be better to leave them some practical things directly.

He moved quite a bit of table salt, brown sugar, rice, and some common medicines off the truck, and finally added some sturdy fabric.

Seeing these rare items that were hard to buy even at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, Man Yatou was stunned for a moment and hurriedly tried to decline.

"Keep them. Brother has a high income and doesn't lack these. Your lives are not easy, and these are all things you can use."

He had always been like this: if others treated him with a bit of kindness, he would repay them tenfold; if others harbored malice, he would also repay them tenfold.

"Hurry and take these home to hide them; don't let anyone see," he instructed again.

The two little girls carried the items on their backs and hurried home.

The time was just seven o'clock, and the motorcade set off on time.

Liu Sanman did not appear; the one who came was Man Yatou.

He Yuzhu arranged for her to sit with Kajia.

The little girl was a bit reserved, perhaps because she saw that Kajia was dressed very well, while her own clothes not only had patches but were also stained with mud.

Kajia did not mind; she took the initiative to show goodwill and even handed her a piece of candy.

He Yuzhu saw the estrangement between the two, so he led them in singing "Liu Yang River."

Once the singing started, the atmosphere in the car quickly became light.

It hadn't rained for the past two days, and the road surface was basically dry.

The vehicle drove steadily, and there was no situation where the wheels got stuck in the mud.

But He Yuzhu felt uneasy; he had detained two of her people, so how could she not retaliate?

Therefore, along the way, he constantly used the Scanning system to check the surrounding environment.

When the motorcade drove into a valley, He Yuzhu discovered something unusual: a group of men and women in rags were walking toward them from the opposite direction.

The women seemed to be holding children in their arms.

He immediately braked and then shouted: "Stop the car, prepare for battle!"

He quickly took out the Sniper Rifle from under his feet.

This sudden movement startled both Kajia and Man Yatou.

Man Yatou looked ahead and whispered: "Brother, those people look like refugees..."

"No, Man Yatou, those are bandits," He Yuzhu said in a low voice, "Quick, you two hide yourselves first."

Man Yatou wanted to argue, but He Yuzhu had already pulled the trigger.

"Bang—!"

The sound of the gunshot exploded suddenly in the valley.

The middle-aged man in rags walking at the very front had his head explode in response.

He Yuzhu was not a person who killed indiscriminately—that man had long since entered his system's 200-meter Scanning range.

He saw it clearly: tucked under that tattered padded jacket was a Mauser C96.

Neither soldiers nor Police would disguise themselves as refugees like this.

There was no other possibility besides bandits.

Man Yatou was scared to tears.

She had sharp eyes and clearly watched a living person get shot to death by this brother just like that.

Too ruthless—she thought, shivering all over—would he kill her too?

"Bang!"

At the second gunshot, another young man fell.

Man Yatou was completely dumbfounded and burst into loud sobs.

She didn't want to follow this brother anymore; he was simply a bad person who killed without blinking!

Kajia had, after all, received military training.

She pulled Man Yatou out of the carriage and quickly hid her under the car.

Although she didn't know exactly who those people on the other side were, she knew one thing: Teacher He was definitely not a reckless person; if he fired, he must have his reasons.

Two people had fallen on the other side in succession, and they finally couldn't keep up the act.

They had originally intended to use the refugee disguise to get within fifty meters before suddenly opening fire, catching the motorcade off guard.

Who would have expected the opponent to open fire first from one hundred and eighty meters away.

Xie Zhuqing shrieked, "Brothers, don't panic! They only have one person who can fight! Use the Machine Gun to take him out for me!"

Those "refugees" immediately changed their expressions, one after another pulling long and short firearms from their waists, bamboo baskets, and the undersides of wheelbarrows.

Just at the moment the opponent's ZB vz. 26 Light Machine Gun was about to spit tongues of fire—

"Bang!" He Yuzhu's gun rang out.

The machine gunner was killed.

The assistant gunner had just crawled over and had only just gripped the gun handle—

"Bang!"

Another shot, and he never got up again.

In a short moment, over fifty people were actually suppressed to the point that few dared to fire.

It was not entirely because of cowardice—most of them were using Mauser C96s with insufficient range.

And those holding Submachine Guns and Machine Guns were almost killed by He Yuzhu's precise sniping the moment they appeared.

Because He Yuzhu opened fire in advance, it created time for Liu Erhei to jump off the vehicle.

Although the workers' movements were slightly slower, fortunately, their position was toward the back.

Some jumped off the vehicle to hide, while others simply hid behind the machine tools in the carriage—they felt these iron lumps were more reliable than any cover.

He Yuzhu killed with every shot, completely stunning the opposite side.

Hiding behind the earthen mound, Xie Zhuqing felt chills running through her heart.

As long as someone poked their head out, they would undoubtedly die. Only now did she truly understand what An Daiyuan meant by "that kid is wickedly powerful."

She snatched a Rifle from one of her subordinates, wanting to kill He Yuzhu, but found she couldn't aim at all; the opponent seemed to have eyes, never staying in one place for long.

This time she brought over sixty people, and in one encounter, she lost a dozen or so. This battle could not be fought.

Under the vehicle, Man Yatou's body was still trembling.

She caught a glimpse of Kajia having already drawn a Pistol, calmly returning fire outward.

Seeing this scene, she suddenly wasn't as afraid anymore.

Only now did she slowly realize: it was she who had wronged Brother He Yuzhu.

Those people were bandits in disguise, and the "children" in their arms were also fake.

If not for Brother firing first, they might have already become targets.

She was too stupid, had not seen the world, and had randomly suspected others... she must apologize to Brother later.

He Yuzhu's gunfire did not cease, each report signifying the end of a life.

Xie Zhuqing finally hardened her heart and shrilly blew a whistle: "Retreat! Retreat quickly!"

The bandits scrambled backward, rolling and crawling.

How could He Yuzhu let them go?

He quickly leaped out from behind the earthen slope and pursued the fleeing figures, firing.

Seeing this, Liu Erhei also led his men to charge up.

Xie Zhuqing ran extremely fast, and under the cover of more than twenty female bandits, she soon retreated to the rear of the group.

There were over thirty horses tethered there; she flipped onto the nearest one and galloped toward the mountain road to the south.

Those who ran slowly or had no horses to ride fell one after another during the pursuit.

Liu Erhei led his men to catch up and finished off quite a few remaining enemies.

About an hour later, the battlefield was cleared.

Upon counting, the bandits left behind a total of thirty-one corpses, while He Yuzhu's side only had four people with minor injuries.

Everyone buried the corpses on the spot.

After the dust settled, Man Yatou lowered her head and slowly shuffled to He Yuzhu's side, her voice tearful: "I'm sorry, Brother... I wronged you just now."

He Yuzhu turned around, walked in front of her, and raised his hand to ruffle her hair: "I don't blame you. You are already very smart; you are just still young, and you will be fine once you see more of the world later."

Man Yatou nodded vigorously, and tears fell again.