Chapter 137: Bandits

Chuanwen and his wife were at a loss and both looked to Gao Ning. Gao Ning wore a relaxed expression and said calmly, "Taking the overland route is no big deal. It's just a bit longer, the distance is greater, and there are more dangers along the way. I've got everything covered. You two just rest well, and once you've regained your strength, we'll set off."

The boatman sneered, "You brat are blowing hot air. Do you even have any idea what it means to travel overland past Shanhai Pass? At the fastest, it takes half a year; at the slowest, over a year. Along the way, there are treacherous mountains, treacherous waters, ruthless villains, and crafty commoners aplenty. Anything can happen on the road. With just the three of you brats, you won't make it a hundred or eighty miles before being plundered by bandits."

Before Gao Ning could speak, Chuanwen flew into a rage, glaring as he said, "How are you talking, old man? You're the one who got plundered by bandits! I'm a grown man; can't I even protect my own wife? Not to mention we have brother Gao Ning with us. He is a martial artist, a professional escort guard who travels far and wide. What kind of people hasn't he seen? It's just a slightly longer journey, what's such a big deal about it!"

Hearing that Gao Ning was an escort guard, several refugees nearby immediately had their interests piqued.

"Master of the house, did you hear that? That young man is an escort guard. Why don't we tag along with them? We're all fellow villagers heading beyond the Shanhai Pass; I reckon he'd have to help out a bit. Besides, the journey is perilous, and there's safety in numbers!"

"What nonsense are you spouting? Hurry up and walk with me! Just because he walks with a sword, does that make him an escort guard? You reckless woman, you believe whatever the wind blows. For all I know, he could be an undercover scout for bandits. Whatever other people say, you just swallow it whole. Hurry up!"

A couple muttered back and forth, and the husband dragged his wife away. Hearing their conversation, the other villagers nearby who had harbored similar thoughts quickly extinguished them, looking at Gao Ning with strange expressions. It was clear that suspicion had grown in their hearts.

Gao Ning remained expressionless, not taking it to heart at all, but Chuanwen was so furious he almost jumped up and pointed right at their noses to curse. Gao Ning quickly stepped forward and held him down.

"Alright, alright. They were just exchanging idle chatter, is it worth getting this angry over? Their mouths are on their faces; let them say whatever they want. What if you actually curse some sense into them and they cling to us like sticky glutinous rice dumplings? You won't be able to shake them off, and that's when it will really give you a headache!"

Xian'er also chimed in to comfort Chuanwen, causing him to mutter a couple more times before finally falling silent.

With a map in his mind, walking was the easiest thing in the world for Gao Ning. The stronghold was full of gold and silver jewelry, and exchanging some for loose change would be a breeze. The only troublesome part was: how could he produce and use it in a reasonable manner?

The best method, actually, was to have Red Alert soldiers disguise themselves as a trading caravan and escort the three of them all the way to Guandong.

However, Gao Ning only had personnel here, no cargo, so pretending to be a trading caravan wouldn't look convincing.

Gao Ning's eyes flickered.

Otherwise, why not simply play the role of bandits?

Gao Ning glanced at Gao Er, who was already on standby in the system interface.

Twins might just make a pretty good excuse.

After resting for a while and seeing that the two of them had gradually recovered their physical strength, Gao Ning called out for them to hit the road.

Chuanwen's descent had been rather sudden; his dry rations and spare clothes had all been left behind on the boat. Xian'er had brought some things along, but most of them were trivial items—neither money nor food. Therefore, the rations for all three of them depended entirely on Gao Ning.

Along the way, the people following the road toward Guandong were dense and packed. Every few meters, one could see groups of twos and threes trudging along laboriously.

The three young people in Gao Ning's group had better physical stamina. They walked for over an hour before finally finding a shallow beach to sit down and rest.

Gao Ning took out the dry rations, and the three of them replenished their energy.

Xian'er looked somewhat worried: "Master, there are three of us now, but we only have one person's worth of rations. I'm afraid this won't last long. I've heard that along the main road leading to Shanhai Pass, there are graves everywhere on both sides. More than just one or two lives have been lost on this road. Can we really hold out until we see our parents?"

Chuanwen gnawed on a cured sausage and patted his chest in assurance: "Don't you worry. You're my wife, I will definitely take care of you first. We'll think of a way as we walk. I don't believe Heaven will starve a blind sparrow. When the cart reaches the mountain, there will be a way through; when the boat reaches the pier, it will naturally go straight. There will definitely be a way. Besides, don't we still have Old Second?"

Mentioning Gao Ning, both of them turned their gazes toward him, only to find him holding a pancake without eating, staring blankly in a daze.

"Old Second, what are you thinking about? So spaced out?"

Gao Ning snapped back to reality: "I was just thinking, along this road we've already heard many people say it's unsafe and bandits are frequently encountered. We've been walking for so long, how come there hasn't been the slightest sign of them yet?"

Xian'er said, "Maybe they were just trying to scare us!"

Gao Ning shook his head: "No, the first half of the road was fine, the sides were quiet. But walking into the latter half, every few days or even every few hours you see grave mounds. Especially that stretch earlier—they were almost touching one another, as dense as a temple fair, and many of the graves were fresh. So I suspect this area is often unsafe; it's very likely infested with bandits right here!"

Chuanwen widened his eyes: "No way! We've been sitting here for quite a while, and quite a few people have passed by one after another, and we didn't see any panic..."

Before his voice even faded, the sound of dense horse hooves suddenly came from up ahead.

A dozen bandits riding large horses and carrying rifles suddenly rushed out from the road, instantly scattering the crowd of people heading to Guandong.

The bandits in the lead raised their rifles and fired two shots into the air.

The crisp gunshots terrified the common people into trembling, their legs instantly turning to jelly. Young maidens and wives screamed uncontrollably, running about in wild panic.

Once they started running, their targets became exposed. The bandits charged forward with hearty laughs, reaching out to grab a young maiden, throwing her across a horse's back, and turning around to grab another. Then they pulled on their horse reins, turned around, and left.

As the bandits charged through, the crowd was massacred and fled in all directions. Over a dozen young maidens and wives were plundered, leaving only their family members sitting on the ground, weeping and wailing.

Chuanwen and his wife lay on the slope watching clearly, trembling all over with fear.

Yet a trace of a smile curved the corner of Gao Ning's mouth.

Just at that moment, a series of crisp gunshots rang out, and one bandit after another fell from their horses.

The horses lost control, running forward a few paces before gradually coming to a stop.

Then, about a hundred men were seen rushing out of the woods in a chaotic swarm. They all wore identical black shirts and white undershirts, with wide black cloth belts tied around their waists, holding equally sized daggers in their right hands. With ferocious expressions, they scattered out and instantly surrounded the gang of bandits.

The common people had been plundered by the bandits for a moment, and many of those struck by illness had already fled out of sight. The remaining ones were those whose daughters had been snatched, sitting on the ground howling in grief, while others, refusing to give up, chased relentlessly after them.

However, when these hundred-plus fierce men rushed out and showed no mercy in their attack on the bandits, those who didn't understand what was going on were completely stunned.