Chapter 118: Who Rushes at the Very Front

The group from Li Family Fort, upon hearing Chen Hongyu's words, had as their first reaction a complete refusal to believe it.

Last time they encountered Lu Guohao and his group at Zhou Family Fort, they had indeed seen that Lu Guohao's group had quite a lot of prey.

But in the eyes of everyone from Li Family Fort, that was purely because Lu Guohao and his group had had a stroke of blind luck, like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse.

They were certain that it was impossible for Lu Guohao and his group to have such good luck every time.

But what about now?

"Brother Chen, did you misjudge? That really isn't Lu Guohao and his bunch, is it?"

"Exactly, how could they possibly have Horned Horse mounts, and several of them at that! You have to know, one of these Horned Horses is worth several thousand credits!"

"Could it be someone else?"

"If their numbers aren't as many as ours, hehehe..." Someone laughed sinisterly, and the meaning behind that smile was something everyone tacitly understood.

Once these words were out, the hearts of the others began to stir restlessly as well.

If the other side had few people, they could just snatch it all away; after all, in the apocalypse, how could there be any reason to refuse benefits delivered to one's doorstep?

Of course, they could "show mercy," and as long as that group was sensible, they would spare their lives.

"How could I have seen wrong?" Chen Hongyu's breathing became rapid. "It is them, but..."

He paused, narrowed his eyes, and said with a face full of confusion, "It's strange, why are those few people from Qin Lianjun in there too? Looking at them, their relationship seems quite good?"

The twenty or thirty people behind him were even more baffled when they heard him say this.

What kind of act was this? First Lu Guohao, then Qin Lianjun, what exactly was going on?

"Hiss..." Just as everyone was puzzled, Chen Hongyu suddenly sucked in a cold breath again, his voice filled with shock and faintly tinged with a trace of fear. "How could they have guns in their hands!"

"What!"

In an instant, the atmosphere around them solidified.

The people who had just been eager to try, thinking about having a big go at it, now looked at one another, and their bodies retreated a step in unison.

No wonder that group had mounts; it turned out they were equipped with firearms.

But this didn't make sense either! Didn't Brother Chen say they were people from Lu Family Stockade?

Even counting Qin Lianjun, where did they get guns?

Many people's gazes fell squarely on Li Laosan.

"Third Brother, what exactly is the situation? Is it really like what Brother Chen said?"

"Yeah, Third Brother, if it really is that group from Lu Family Stockade, where did they get horses, and where did they get guns? Even if they had the money to afford them, without a residency permit for Zhou Family Fort, they couldn't buy them at all!"

At this moment, they only felt as if ten thousand ants were crawling all over their bodies, itching uncomfortably, and their hearts were in a tangled mess.

Li Laosan did not answer immediately; after about two minutes, he slowly lowered the Telescope and said in a deep voice, "Old Chen is right, that group is Lu Guohao, Qin Lianjun, and the others."

"Then... then do they really have mounts? Are they really holding guns?" A man nearby asked impatiently, and dozens of eyes instantly looked at Li Laosan like searchlights, burning with intensity.

"Mm." Li Laosan nodded with a gloomy expression. "Not only do they have them, but the quantity is not small."

"!!!"

The atmosphere quieted down again, so quiet that it felt like one could hear a pin drop on the ground.

"I saw them leading six Horned Horses, and each Horned Horse is dragging a piece of prey," Chen Hongyu said slowly. "And, I also saw three of them holding guns—two Rifles and one Submachine Gun."

The crowd's hearts heated up at first, but immediately after, it was like having a basin of cold water poured over their heads, and they instantly sobered up.

Two Rifles? And a Submachine Gun? Although they were armed with Long Bows, their range couldn't compare to a Rifle at all.

If they rushed in rashly, that was a Submachine Gun! At a distance of one or two hundred meters, one burst of bullets and a person would instantly be turned into a hornet's nest!

Six Horned Horses, each dragging prey, sounded truly tempting, but once they thought about the fact that the other side had guns, many people began to lose their nerve.

Someone subconsciously shrank their neck and quietly retreated a few steps.

But there were also those who were unwilling to give up just like that.

A tall man with a crooked mouth, holding a hundred-pound Long Bow, shouted loudly, "Damn it, so what if they have guns? What's so great about that? It's only three guns; we have so many people here, if we all rush up together, are we really afraid we can't beat them?"

"That's right!" Someone quickly echoed.

"Lu Guohao's group, who knows what means they used to get three guns, but marksmanship isn't that easy to practice! Many of us here know how to use bows and arrows; if we really fight, it's not certain we'd be afraid of them!"

"Third Brother, don't hesitate, just rush over when they aren't paying attention, snatch the guns and horses, and if they dare to resist, kill them all! Then snatch all the women in Lu Family Stockade!"

"Exactly, exactly, hahahaha!" A burst of wild laughter erupted on the scene.

In their view, this idea of theirs was simply brilliant. What legal regulations, what moral constraints—in this apocalypse, whoever has the harder fist can possess everything!

"They've seen us," Li Laosan suddenly blurted out.

"Huh?" The crooked-mouthed man's mouth hung wide open. "Third Brother, what did you just say? Th-they've seen us?"

"That's right." Chen Hongyu looked forward through the Telescope and said, "Someone among them is looking toward our side with a Telescope, and those few holding guns are also keeping an eye on the movement on our side. I'm afraid as soon as we chase after them, they will immediately notice. By then, they might even open fire on us first."

"They wouldn't dare!" someone shouted.

However, no one around responded, and that person's momentum immediately weakened, muttering, "It wouldn't go that far, would it? Can't we just pretend to go over and say hello?"

"Do you think they'd be stupid enough not to see through that?" Chen Hongyu glanced at him. "If it were you, carrying so many treasures, and you saw a large group of people rushing toward you, would you not be on guard?"

"But, but..." That person was still unwilling and wanted to argue a few more points.

At this moment, a voice interrupted him.

"Enough, let's just leave it at that," Li Laosan said slowly.

"!"

Everyone present looked at each other, and even those who had previously felt it was risky and wanted to back out had expressions of disbelief on their faces.

"Third Brother, we're just giving up like this?" The crooked-mouthed man was full of unwillingness. "This time is different from last time; those guys who were in the way before aren't here, and we're all our own people here. So what if they have guns? If we all rush over together, we can definitely take them down."

"Then who is rushing at the very front? You?" Li Laosan stared at him coldly.

The crooked-mouthed man immediately shivered, his face forcing out a smile that was uglier than crying.

What kind of joke was that? Rushing at the very front—wasn't that clearly going to one's death... He was still young and didn't want to lose his life just like that.

"Is it you? You? Or all of you?"

Li Laosan's gaze swept over the crowd; wherever it landed, no one dared to meet his eyes, either lowering their heads to stare at their own shoes or turning their heads to look toward the Wasteland.

"That's better," Li Laosan said irritably.

He didn't know if others would be targeted by the concentrated firepower of that group from the Lu Family Stockade, but as the leader of his team, he would certainly be a primary target.

Even if he didn't die from taking a bullet, it would be enough to suffer for; if things went poorly, he might even sustain a hidden injury, leaving him stuck at the Body Tempering Third Layer for the rest of his life.

He was on the verge of breaking through to the Refining Flesh Realm and could not afford to take that risk.

"Cough, cough, Third Brother, calm down, calm down."

Chen Hongyu hurriedly tried to smooth things over, smiling, "Actually, everyone didn't mean anything else; it's just that seeing Lu Guohao and the others leave like this, they feel a bit unwilling in their hearts."

"Yeah, yeah, Third Brother."

"It feels too easy on them to just let them go like this."

"And who knows where they got these things from? I think there must be some big secret in all of this."

"Don't worry." The corners of Li Laosan's mouth lifted slightly, revealing a smug smile. "Can they dodge the first day but not the fifteenth? When we go back, I'll tell Big Brother and Second Brother about this. By then, everything that bunch of Lu Guohao's has will have to be handed over obediently."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone's eyes lit up.

That's right, how could they have forgotten Third Brother's two older brothers?

One of them is an Intermediate-level Refining Flesh Realm Martial Artist, and the other is a late-stage Refining Flesh Realm Martial Artist; especially Li Meng, who can easily draw a five-hundred-pound Long Bow.

A single arrow could kill an Intermediate Fierce Beast, the Iron-Backed Black Bull! With that kind of strength, so what if the other side has a Rifle? Could it even hurt Li Meng?

"Third Brother is truly far-sighted; we would only act impulsively." The man with the crooked mouth didn't miss the opportunity to flatter him.

"Yeah, yeah, if it were us, we definitely would have just charged over directly. Even if we wiped them out in the end, we would have had to pay a heavy price."

"Exactly, Third Brother doing this is also for the sake of our safety."

"Third Brother, you are really good to us."

Listening to these sycophantic words, the smile on Li Laosan's face grew even brighter.

Did he not know that these people were deliberately trying to curry favor with him?

Of course he knew. But who doesn't love hearing nice things? Besides, he felt that these words weren't entirely false.

One or two kilometers away, Lu Guohao and his party were also standing by in full battle array.

They knew clearly in their hearts that by bringing their mounts out, they would sooner or later run into people from the Li Family Fort.

They couldn't just keep these hard-won mounts in the Zhai and never use them just because they were afraid of trouble, right?

Therefore, they had long been mentally prepared for this scene today.

While leading the Horned Horses back, the group kept a close watch on the movements in the distance.

If Li Laosan's group really dared to chase after them, they would just have to fight to the death and decide the outcome.

Lu Yu had also received the news and was using a Telescope to observe the group in the distance.

"They don't seem to have any intention of coming over," Sun Gang said.

Hearing this, Lu Guohao and the others breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"Don't worry, they have many people and many issues, but we don't have few people either, and we have guns in our hands; furthermore, we still have Lu Yu here," Qin Lianjun analyzed calmly.

"That's right, even that group of fierce horse bandits outside the Zhou Family Fort were no match for Lu Yu; could that bunch of rabble from the Li Family Fort be even more formidable than horse bandits?"

"Lao Liu, you think too highly of Li Laosan's group."

Everyone couldn't help but laugh.

"They really don't seem to plan on coming over; they've already turned and headed in another direction," Zhao Shan said in surprise. Could it be that they were afraid?

"Consider them sensible."

The group finally breathed a complete sigh of relief, and smiles appeared on their faces.

After being busy all morning, they had made four round trips alone; the abundance of the prey was self-evident.

They were indeed exhausted and planned to go back to have lunch, rest for a while, and then go practice martial arts.

With so much prey, they wouldn't need to go out hunting for the next few days and could focus on their martial arts practice.

"Something is wrong." Just then, Lu Yu's voice rang out, carrying a trace of panic.

"What is it, Lu Yu?" Lu Guohao, who was beside him, felt his heart tighten suddenly, and the smiles that had been on the faces of Qin Lianjun, Zhao Shan, and the others vanished without a trace in an instant.

"I don't see Liu Shu and the others among their crowd," Lu Yu said, a chill rising up his back.

Sun Gang, who was holding the Telescope, froze.

No wonder he had felt that something wasn't quite right; just now, because he was worried about the other side charging over, he had been staring at Li Laosan, who was in the lead.

Now that Lu Yu had pointed it out, he finally realized it.

That's right, where were Tianhong, Tianyao, and the others? And two or three other people, it seems... it seems he really didn't see them?