Chapter 37: The Highwayman

In the mountains and forests, three men were waiting with growing impatience.

They had been waiting here all morning, and so far, not a single suitable target had appeared.

A merchant caravan had passed by earlier, looking quite lucrative, but they had hired escorts. Seeing the emblem on the fluttering signal flags, the men knew they weren't worth the trouble.

Later, a group of riders passed through, but they were all armed. Out of the six, only one looked scholarly; the other five looked even more dangerous than the previous escorts.

"Don't be impatient. Just wait a bit longer; it's still early before sunset. Logically, there should still be travelers passing at this hour. Maybe we'll find a fat sheep," a burly man said, soothing his brothers.

"Boss, I've been feeling uneasy all day, like something's not right. How about we call it a day and head back?" a slightly shorter man asked, sounding very conflicted.

The man sitting beside him heard this and immediately kicked him. "Qu Ba, you useless piece of trash! You feel uneasy because you're hungry from skipping lunch, and you feel 'not right' because you were scared off by those tough customers we saw earlier."

"Am I right, Boss?" the man asked, looking up at the first speaker with a flattering expression.

The man called Boss shot a glare at Qu Ba. "How many jobs have I taken you on, and yet you still haven't built up any courage? If anything, you're getting more cowardly. Don't bother coming next time; just stay back at the nest to do chores. Just don't go getting jealous of the silver and goodies I distribute to Laitou."

Hearing this, Qu Ba grew anxious and quickly said, "No, Boss, it's not that I'm afraid. It's just that you always say we must act with caution in this business and never be careless."

"Tch, does the Boss need your reminder? If he were truly careless, would we have waited until now? We would have struck when the first few groups passed by," Laitou said contemptuously.

He had never liked this kid. He didn't have much skill, yet every time they succeeded, he acted as if he deserved an equal share.

Laitou truly felt that having this subordinate made little difference; at most, he was just extra numbers—an extra laborer to help carry things afterward.

"Enough, all of you shut up. Your chatter is giving me a headache," the Boss barked in a low, irritated voice.

Although he had been in this trade for several years and was used to waiting all day only to return empty-handed, he still disliked the feeling.

But what else could he do? The world had been in chaos for several years, which was the only reason he dared to do such things.

He never kept many men under him because highway robbery carried risks. If you misjudged a tough customer, you might lose your life instead of getting the loot.

Therefore, whenever he lost a subordinate, he would find someone suitable to bring into the fold.

He always kept his crew to around three to five people.

More people would make operations more stable and provide more targets, but a larger group would attract the attention of the authorities, risking total annihilation.

Other bandits from different regions had tried to recruit him, but he had refused them all. Being the boss was much more comfortable—he had prestige and power, and whenever they succeeded, how much loot he distributed to his subordinates was entirely up to his whim.

To go be someone else's subordinate? Not only would he have to take orders, but he'd also have to risk his neck for work, and even after a successful job, he'd have to see if the boss was in a good mood to decide how much wealth he'd get. Why give up freedom for that?

He knew Laitou disliked Qu Ba, and whenever Laitou picked on him, he didn't bother intervening.

Others talked about unity and strength, but he didn't see it that way. He didn't think it was always a good thing if the subordinates were too close to one another.

If one day they grew envious of the boss taking the lion's share, they could team up and kill him.

Hmph, though he was a mere brute, he considered himself quite calculating. Otherwise, would he have survived this long?

At that moment, not far from the three bandits, one of the six men was also growing weary of waiting. He couldn't help but mutter, "That donkey cart can't be *that* slow, can it? Why hasn't it arrived by this hour?"

The others remained quite calm. Was their master hoping for a "hero saves the beauty" moment? Otherwise, in the past, they usually dealt with such things before the villains even had a chance to act.

The two groups hiding in the forest were both waiting.

The people on the donkey cart, however, had no idea they were being targeted. They had food for hunger, water for thirst, and could take a short nap against their companions when tired.

Tianshu, who was driving the cart, was biting into a toasted flatbread while steering.

He had originally been nervous about his driving skills, but this donkey was far too easy to manage. In fact, he barely had to do anything; as long as he didn't pull the reins too tight to make it stop, it would just keep moving forward.

As the donkey cart drew closer to the forest, both hidden groups grew alert.

"Boss, this one looks like a good target, right?" Laitou asked excitedly.

The Boss nodded, analyzing the situation in his mind. This target was worth a move. The driver was just a young boy, and based on his clothes, he didn't look like a professional driver, even though the donkey cart looked brand new.

Regardless of what the owner did, they would surely have some money on them.

Besides, it was already this late; if they missed this one, they might truly go home empty-handed today.

With that thought, he waved his hand. Following his previous instructions, two subordinates pulled black cloths over the lower halves of their faces, leaned forward, and split off to either side.

On the cart, Hong Xiaoduo, who had been resting with her eyes closed, suddenly heard a voice from ahead: "This mountain was cleared by me, these trees were planted by me! If you want to pass through, leave some money for the road!"

Immediately, the donkey cart came to a halt.

"Mother, we've run into robbers! What should we do?" Tianshu asked nervously. His hands on the reins were trembling, ready to follow his mother's command to either charge through or turn back.

*Damn, how can my luck be this bad?* She had been hearing about how the world was in chaos and things were unstable, but she never imagined it would be this extreme.

Although she was quite nervous herself, she was the eldest of the eight people on the cart; the other seven were children who all called her "Mother." Even if she was scared, she couldn't show it, and there was no point in hiding in the cart.

Her hand rested on the hilt of her sword. She wasn't sure if she would actually use it, but she was certain she could throw stones. If all else failed, she could just treat the robbers like wild game and hunt them down.

Besides, it wasn't as if she hadn't fought people before. That man named Fu Gang had already suffered at her hands.

Thinking this, Hong Xiaoduo's confidence immediately surged.

"Don't be afraid. Stay in the cart," she comforted the children as she stepped down.

She had considered using stones to attack the robbers from the cart and then having Tianshu drive through, but there were too many unpredictable variables.

For example, how many accomplices did the robbers have? Did they have horses? If they did, how could a donkey cart ever outrun them? If the donkey got spooked, the children on the cart would be in danger too!

Seeing her descend, Tianshu also jumped down from the cart's frame, looking nervously in both directions.

Hong Xiaoduo was also looking. There were people blocking both ends of the road, and both were holding blades. She couldn't tell if they were trained fighters.

*Just two of them?* Hong Xiaoduo scanned the surroundings again, only to see a masked man wielding a large saber emerging from the forest.

Among the three, this one looked the fiercest and was the last to appear. Was he their leader?

"Boss, it's a woman, and she's quite pretty. Should we kidnap her to be your lady of the stronghold?" Laitou shouted to the Boss, swallowing hard as he looked at Hong Xiaoduo.

"Boss, the boy driving the cart is quite handsome too; he could fetch a good price. It looks like there are more people on the cart," Qu Ba added excitedly. Although the young lady had a sword at her waist, he figured the Boss's skills would be more than enough to handle her.

The Boss noted that Hong Xiaoduo was indeed beautiful. Based on his experience, he judged that the sword at her waist was likely just for show or to intimidate; he didn't sense that she was a martial artist.

"You, go check the cart. If anyone resists, kill them," the Boss ordered, which served as both a command to his men and a warning to Hong Xiaoduo and those in the cart.

Laitou complied and headed toward the donkey cart with his blade drawn...