There were quite a few pirates in the village, and they had interrogated them before. Very few of them had ever attacked small families with any real strength.
Attacking such families usually cost the lives of quite a few brothers. They would only do it for enormous profits.
At least most of the people in these two squads were cannon fodder. They had never fought a truly hard battle.
They were fine at waving flags and shouting, and they could manage a battle fought with the wind at their backs. But they had never actually dealt with the Liu family of Liuwei.
Besides, they had never heard of anyone on Qunwa Island having any connections with the Liu family.
The people of Qunwa Island made small profits, with little to share with these families. For more than a decade, they had relied on caution and prudence to make their way forward.
Things like infiltrating ahead of time, gathering information, arranging people to stand watch and lie in ambush, and organizing reinforcements had long since become a complete standardized procedure.
It was precisely because everything had become so formulaic that everyone had grown accustomed to it and gradually let down their guard. They thought that as long as they followed the routine, everything would go smoothly.
Once someone formidable suddenly barged into their plans, they had no choice but to flee empty-handed.
That was exactly what had happened on the night Ming Shu and the others first encountered the pirates.
Their robberies would certainly cause bloodshed, but bloodshed was not their main goal. They were different from the people on Evil Dragon Island, who killed for the sake of killing.
If the villagers escaped, they could not be bothered to pursue and kill them. Only when people resisted would they casually