Chapter 100: The Raid on Lu Family Stockade

The group parted ways at the alley entrance; Su Jie turned left and walked for a dozen meters before arriving in front of a residential building.

This building had only three or four floors and was not large, housing over a dozen families inside.

The soundproofing of the building's walls was mediocre; as soon as one approached, one could hear the noisy clamor coming from inside the rooms, with all sorts of sounds intermingling.

Su Jie frowned slightly and walked straight toward the staircase on the far right. This staircase did not even have handrails installed, appearing extremely plain and crude.

He walked slowly up the steps one by one, finally reaching the third floor, stopped in front of the second door counting from right to left, and reached out to knock lightly on the door.

"Coming, coming." A woman's voice immediately came from inside the room, followed by footsteps moving from far to near, and the door was opened, revealing a tall woman in her early twenties.

She wore a fawning smile on her face and said, "Husband, you're back. The food has been ready for a long time, just waiting for you to return to start eating."

"Mm." Su Jie responded casually, his gaze sweeping over the woman's exquisite face, yet his heart did not stir much, instead feeling a sense of boredom.

After all, for someone like him who owned property in Zhou Family Fort, there was never a lack of all sorts of beautiful women around him.

"Hasn't Su Chungui returned yet?" He said while stepping into the room, his eyes quickly scanning the interior.

"Not yet," Liao Qi responded cautiously, "I reckon he should be here any moment now."

"Mm, then we'll wait for him a while." Having said that, Su Jie walked into the room on his own, leaving Liao Qi standing there looking slightly awkward.

Just at this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps came from the corridor outside, and immediately after, a young man appeared at the doorway.

He was seen with both hands on his knees, panting heavily, looking completely exhausted.

"Su Chungui?" Liao Qi was stunned for a moment and asked with concern, "What happened? Why are you..."

Before she could finish her sentence, she was urgently interrupted by Su Chungui: "Where is my brother? Has he returned?"

"Yes, I just opened the door for him; he is in the room," Liao Qi answered hurriedly.

Upon hearing this, Su Chungui's face immediately showed a look of joy, and he rushed into the room like a gust of wind, followed by a "bang" as he slammed the door shut.

Su Jie, who was focused on reading a Boxing Manual, was startled by the sudden noise. After seeing that the person who arrived was Su Chungui, a faint smile appeared on his face, and he said, "Su Chungui, you're such a grown man, why are you still so rash and impetuous in your actions?"

"Brother, something big has happened!" Su Chungui lowered his voice and said with a serious expression.

"Something big happened? What big thing?" Su Jie showed a look of surprise on his face and asked suspiciously.

Su Chungui walked quickly to his front, sat down on a stool, and then lowered his voice to say, "Brother, that gang of horse bandits outside the city has all been killed by someone, not a single living soul was left!"

"What!" Su Jie could not help but exclaim.

He knew the strength of that group of horse bandits all too well; the leader was the same as him, both possessing the strength of Body Tempering Third Layer.

Added to that was the group of lackeys, totaling over thirty people. In the past, whenever they drove out to hunt, they were always terrified, fearing they would encounter this group of horse bandits.

Fortunately, this gang of horse bandits had always only targeted outsiders passing through.

"Su Chungui, how do you know about this?" Su Jie still had doubts in his heart and did not quite dare to believe this news.

A hint of smugness appeared on Su Chungui's face as he said, "How do I know? I witnessed it with my own eyes; that gang of over thirty horse bandits was completely wiped out by a master archer with superb Archery."

After listening, Su Jie was speechless for a moment, his eyes filled with disbelief.

One person actually wiped out an entire team of horse bandits? Was this true or false?

"Brother, I know you might not believe it, but this matter is absolutely true; I saw it with my own eyes!" Su Chungui said earnestly, and then recounted the detailed process of what he witnessed from beginning to end.

After listening, Su Jie could not help but gasp.

Although his younger brother was usually careless and acted a bit boisterous, he rarely lied, and judging from his description, it was clear and logical, not like something made up.

However, according to Su Chungui's account, the bow in that person's hand had a maximum range of only five hundred meters, which meant it was a bow with a draw weight of two hundred jin.

Inferring from this, that person was likely also a Martial Artist of Body Tempering Third Layer, with a small probability of being at the strength of Flesh Refining Chuji. With such strength, how could they possibly take down an entire team of horse bandits single-handedly?

"Brother," Su Chungui licked his lips and continued, "I also saw that after that person eliminated the horse bandits, they led away most of their horses, about twenty or so."

"Ah!" Su Jie's eyes instantly turned red, filled with jealousy.

One must know that a rideable Horned Horse Beast sells for three or four times the price of a regular Horned Horse on the market! Calculating based on twenty, that would be a fortune of over one hundred thousand!

When he partnered with others to go hunting, he would only earn four or five thousand a month, or seven or eight thousand when lucky, but once when his luck was extremely poor, he encountered several Intermediate Fierce Beasts and almost lost his life.

This one hundred thousand was almost equivalent to his income for two years.

Thinking of this, he could not help but heave a long sigh. Suddenly, as if thinking of something, he asked anxiously: "Then what happened later? Su Chungui, didn't you tell Captain Zhang about this? That group of people leading horses couldn't have been moving fast."

Even if there was a master archer in the other party's team, so what? In the face of the powerful firepower of twenty or thirty guns, what kind of waves could they stir up?

Su Chungui said with a bitter face: "Captain Zhang went to Anshan City, and now the Vice Captain is in charge. But that guy is usually very arrogant, with his eyes almost growing on the top of his head; I don't believe telling him would lead to any good results."

"Hey, you!" Su Jie could not help but slap his thigh, looking as if he was frustrated by his brother's lack of success.

Even if you can't stand that guy Wang Dezhi, it's still better than watching this group of people leave with the benefits, right?

Even if Wang Dezhi is arrogant, the information was provided by you; if he gave you one or two Horned Horses, that would be three or four thousand, which is just a matter of him saying a word.

At this time, the corners of Su Chungui's mouth rose slightly, revealing a mysterious smile.

"???" Seeing this, Su Jie's mouth hung open, as if saying, how can you still laugh at a time like this, you brat?

"Brother, what if I said I know the identity of that group of people?" Su Chungui said with a smug look.

"What!" Su Jie was greatly shocked, and then his voice trembled slightly with excitement, "Su Chungui, are you telling the truth? Don't joke with your big brother."

Su Chungui said with some dissatisfaction: "Brother, do you think I am that kind of unreliable person?"

"No, of course not," Su Jie urged hurriedly, "Oh, Su Chungui, it's already this time, stop keeping me in suspense, tell me quickly, who exactly are they? Where are they from?"

Su Chungui cautiously looked around, then lowered his voice and said: "They are from the Lu Family Stockade."

"Lu Family Stockade!" Su Jie could not help but cry out.

He was no stranger to this Zhai; it was located more than ten miles east of Zhou Family Fort, and if one drove an off-road vehicle there, it would only take a few minutes to arrive.

"Brother, keep it down!" Su Chungui was startled and hurriedly reminded him, "Be careful of being heard by others."

"We are in our own home, what are we afraid of?" Su Jie muttered, but still subconsciously lowered his voice, his gaze fixed on Su Chungui's eyes, and asked: "Su Chungui, how do you know?"

"Hehe, it was a coincidence, actually." Su Chungui said with a smile, "At that time, two groups of people were arguing under the city wall; I recognized one group, they were from Li Family Fort, and the other group was relatively smaller in number and all wore masks.

As it turned out, the people from Li Family Fort recognized their voices and stated the identity of this group on the spot.

Actually, I didn't pay much attention at the time, but later, when they appeared in my Telescope, I immediately realized that the ones leading away the twenty-plus Horned Horses were indeed the people from the Lu Family Stockade."

"Well done!" Su Jie couldn't help but give a thumbs up in praise.

"Hehe." Su Chungui proudly lifted his head and said, "So what if they've left now? The monk can run, but the temple can't. When the Captain returns, I'll tell him this news; by then, he'll have to reward me with at least two Horned Horses, right?"

"When that time comes, we can ride horses out to hunt and save quite a bit of money on gasoline. If we really don't need them, we could sell the horses and get at least four or five thousand yuan. At that point, wouldn't I be able to go to the Hailong Martial Arts Hall to practice martial arts?" After finishing, he looked at Su Jie with an expectant face.

"Don't be in such a hurry to tell others." Su Jie waved his hand; at this moment, a bold idea had already sprouted in his heart.

"Chungui, besides you, does anyone else know about this?"

"How could they!" Su Chungui widened his eyes and said, "Brother, do you take me for a fool? When people asked me at the time, I just brushed them off. Aside from you, big brother, I haven't told anyone about this!"

"Very good." Su Jie nodded with satisfaction, a glint of greed flashing in his eyes as he said, "Chungui, since you know the whereabouts of that group, why should we hand over such a huge benefit to others? Why don't we do it ourselves!"

In an instant, the atmosphere in the room suddenly went quiet, leaving only the sound of the two men's slightly heavy breathing.

Su Chungui swallowed nervously and stammered, "Brother, are you saying we should do it ourselves?"

"What else?" Su Jie's mouth curled up slightly, revealing a cunning smile. "If we tell others about this, we brothers would be lucky to get two Horned Horses as a reward."

"But if we do it ourselves, wouldn't all the benefits be ours? And I remember you said that when that group came in, they were carrying several pieces of prey; in my opinion, there must be plenty of good things in the Lu Family Stockade."

Su Chungui's breathing became increasingly rapid.

That's right, if he could keep these benefits all to himself, why let others profit?

But soon, the image of that expert archer appeared in his mind, instantly making him calm down.

"Brother, just relying on the two of us, I'm afraid it will be hard to succeed." He said with a face full of worry, "That person is simply too strong; his arrows never miss. If we enter his range, I'm afraid it's certain death, and, and..."

"And what?"

"And, he noticed me watching him." After Su Chungui finished speaking, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat on his back.

He had truly been terrified at the time; his body had almost uncontrollably crouched down, and his face had turned deathly pale.

"He saw you looking at him?" Su Jie frowned; this was indeed beyond his expectations.

"Yeah." Su Chungui couldn't help but want to back out, saying, "Brother, I think it's better to play it safe. Either wait for the Captain to return, or I'll go tell the Vice Captain directly tomorrow. Although we might not get many benefits in the end, at least we won't have to take such a big risk. What do you think?"

"Look at how spineless you are." Su Jie glanced at him irritably and said, "So what if you were seen? What's the big deal? Could he possibly predict when we'll go find him? Besides, no matter how good that kid's Arrow Technique is, can it be faster than a bullet?"

"Big brother, what do you mean?" Su Chungui scratched his head and asked with a puzzled look.

"With that kid there, it's indeed not very safe if just the two of us go. So I plan to find a few more people; they are just like your brother, all at the Body Tempering Third Layer, and each is equipped with a Submachine Gun or a Light Machine Gun."

"After dark, we'll sneak in under the cover of night and kill anyone we see. I don't believe that kid's archery can be faster than bullets," Su Jie said with a cold sneer.

Approaching quietly under the cover of night, a mere two or three-meter-high wall was, for Martial Artists like them at the Body Tempering Third Layer, as good as non-existent.

Upon hearing this, Su Chungui was overjoyed.

"Brother, are you saying we're going to act by surprise?"

"What surprise? It sounds nice to call it a surprise, but to put it bluntly, it's an ambush." Su Jie said irritably, "But don't go blabbing about it everywhere; it doesn't sound good if it gets out."

"Yes, yes, yes, a surprise." Su Chungui nodded busily, his head bobbing like a chick pecking at rice.