Chapter 913: Internal Strife

As for what severe consequences this might cause, Wang An didn't care.

Mainly because, in Wang An's view, whether it was a brawl or a full-scale fight, one must always adhere to the most important principle: "Strike first to gain the advantage; strike late and suffer the consequences."

Moreover, the opponent was already pulling out a gun; if he didn't act now, wouldn't he be a complete idiot?

Things like "the big picture," "having a sense of scale," or "considering the impact," and so on and so forth—all of that could go straight to hell.

What the fuck did any of that have to do with him? Only his own little life was the most important thing.

Sun Nian and the two company commanders instinctively looked toward Wang An upon hearing the gunshot.

And clearly, all three of them were more or less displeased.

However, the moment they saw that Mauser C96, their displeasure vanished instantly.

As for how the three of them reacted, Wang An didn't even spare them a glance. Immediately after firing, he lunged forward and delivered a kick straight to the kid who was currently clutching his wrist and howling.

It must be said, Wang An's heavy-handed kick sent the kid flying two or three meters away.

He couldn't help it; Wang An was genuinely afraid the kid might use his good hand to pick up the gun and take a shot at him.

Picking up the Mauser, Wang An didn't waste a second. He quickly ran to the side of the kid he had kicked down and began indiscriminately raining heavy kicks down on the boy's upper body.

It wasn't that Wang An didn't want to kick the kid's lower body; it was mainly because the kid had something tied to his leg, and one kick to it would leave Wang An in pain for a long time.

Everything from the moment Sun Nian and the other three suddenly moved to the moment Wang An was kicking the kid for his life happened in an incredibly short span of time, even if it felt slow when described in words.

Thus, just as Wang An was getting into the rhythm of his kicking, the "hat brothers" finally reacted and rushed over to take custody of the four men.

Soon, under the not-so-friendly questioning of the hat brothers, one of them quickly spilled. He told them that the four of them were also loan sharks.

The reason they had come here was that they had just finished collecting a debt and wanted to report the situation to their big brother while returning the money.

In short, they claimed they were being wrongly accused.

After confirming that their big brother and the four expert marksmen were all inside the courtyard, Sun Nian had two of the hat brothers keep the four of them under guard.

Only then did Wang An have the chance to check what on earth was tied to the leg of the kid he had maimed with a shot.

When Wang An rolled up the pant leg to look, he was genuinely surprised.

Tied to the leg was a knife—a proper, ancient blade with some years to it.

The knife was exquisitely crafted, and the scabbard was equally fine, inlaid with agate, turquoise, and other stones; it was clearly a product of the grasslands.

In ten or twenty years, this knife would likely be worth a considerable amount of money.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Wang An simply stuffed the knife into his crossbody bag, muttering to himself

"This knife is pretty good. It'll be useful for skinning rabbits later."

Given Sun Nian's influence, and since it was just a single knife, no one said anything.

Following the original plan, the group of hat brothers surrounded the courtyard.

Then, the company commander surnamed Zhou began shouting toward the interior of the yard.

"People inside, listen up! We are from the County Public Security Bureau. You are surrounded. We demand that you immediately drop your weapons, exit the courtyard, and submit to our investigation. Do not offer pointless resistance and cause unnecessary casualties. We are acting in the spirit of—"

It had to be said, Wang An was far too familiar with this script; he had heard it countless times in his previous life.

What puzzled Wang An was when exactly this script started. It seemed like the "well-police" in every region spoke exactly like this.

But he had to admit that when an ordinary person—or more accurately, someone who hadn't done anything wrong—heard this script, it didn't feel like much.

But for someone who had committed a crime, it created a sense of psychological pressure.

After Captain Zhou shouted twice, a voice from inside the courtyard yelled back

"What did we do wrong? We haven't killed anyone or set any fires! On what grounds are you trying to arrest us?"

Perhaps in the eyes of these loan sharks, as long as they held the promissory notes, only murder and arson were crimes. Things like beating people, kidnapping, or stealing were simply a matter of course.

In any case, any extreme measure taken while collecting a debt was, in their minds, perfectly reasonable.

Captain Zhou shouted back very sternly

"We didn't say you committed a crime. Right now, we simply require your active cooperation in an investigation. Once the facts are clear, your innocence and justice will be restored. Please do not mislead yourselves."

Surprisingly, from start to finish, Captain Zhou never mentioned what the people in the courtyard had done wrong; he only emphasized that they should come out for investigation.

After Zhou finished speaking, there was silence from inside. The loan sharks did not come out voluntarily.

Clearly, these loan sharks were very conflicted about whether to emerge or not.

Consequently, Captain Zhou continued shouting through the megaphone.

At this moment, inside the house where Wang An and the others could not see, the loan sharks were arguing. To be precise, they were having an internal rift.

The leader of this group was a middle-aged man around forty. From the people arrested earlier and the four who had just been caught, it was known that his name was Wei Cheng, and he had given himself the nickname "Pi Xiu."

To his sides, on the left were two thugs with faces full of coarse flesh; on the right were two others—one with a face full of large scars, and the other who looked refined and scholarly, not looking like a bad person at all.

Clearly, these four were the expert marksmen and the bodyguards for their leader, Wei Cheng.

Opposite the five of them were a dozen or so people usually responsible for lending and collecting debts.

The ones arguing now were these dozen people and the four marksmen.

The dozen people wanted to surrender voluntarily, while the four marksmen wanted to resist to the end.

As for the leader, Wei Cheng, he held a gold-crafted tobacco pipe and remained silent, puffing away with a "ba-da ba-da" sound.

Finally, since no one could convince the other, one of the dozen men couldn't help but shout

"If you won't go out, isn't it because you've got blood on your hands? What's the plan? You want the brothers to die along with you?"

The moment these words were shouted, it was like lighting the fuse of a powder keg, and the entire atmosphere instantly became tense.

(End of Chapter)