Ready to Cut People Down!

At the Deyang Town docks, in the hall of a two-courtyard compound, the short, stout middle-aged man who had made the deal with Bai Yang and the others stood with his head bowed, reporting what had happened like a grandson speaking to his grandfather.

Seated at the head of the hall was a lean, black-clad middle-aged man. As he listened, he sipped his tea unhurriedly.

He was the Che family's steward in charge of dockside business in Deyang Town. After hearing the fat man's report, he said without even looking up, "Those useless fools were butchered by a bunch of mountain folk, and the ones who survived are useless now too, right?"

"Yes, my lord steward."

The short, stout middle-aged man answered.

"If they were bandits, then their heads ought to be chopped off. The authorities will certainly chop their heads off too. What do you think?"

The middle-aged steward raised his head and looked at the fat man expressionlessly.

"Yes. The bandits preyed on the mountain folk and committed every kind of evil. They deserve to die."

The fat man was covered in cold sweat and could only stammer out what he thought his superior wanted to hear.

Once they were no longer useful, they became cripples who could only be discarded. They didn't even have a chance to live...!

"And then those mountain folk, wearing sturdy armor, managed to kill bandits nearly ten times their number without a scratch?"

The middle-aged steward narrowed his eyes and asked the short, stout man in a sinister voice.

"My lord steward, there were no mountain folk wearing armor. There have never been mountain folk like that, and no one has ever seen them!"

The fat man spoke with sweat running down his forehead. As he spoke, his gaze turned savage and icy.

"Good. You catch on quickly. Remember, that kind of armor can only be worn by the Che family's guards. No damned mountain folk ever wore armor. I don't need to spell it out for you, do I?"

"Your subordinate understands. Those armors and Armor Warblades will soon be worn by the Che family's guards!"

The fat man gritted his teeth as he spoke.

The steward nodded. His tone softened, though his brows furrowed slightly.

"You mentioned just now that there was also a strangely dressed young man?"

"Yes. I saw him with my own eyes among those 'dead men,' but he didn't say a single word from beginning to end."

"I understand. That man never existed either, got it? Go take care of it. I'll wait for your news."

The middle-aged steward tossed the fat man a token and waved him away.

Clutching the token, the fat man left. Not long afterward, several fast boats departed from the Deyang Town docks, carrying more than a hundred black-clad men armed with swords. They raced after Bai Yang and the others.

Anything seen at these docks had to belong to the Che family!

Bai Yang and the villagers had made a quick stop at the Deyang Town docks, then headed back again...

Ignorance was bliss. Bai Yang finally understood what those words meant.

Seeing the villagers' matter-of-fact expressions, he laughed. He laughed like a madman, until tears and snot streamed down his face...

What the hell kind of fucked-up world was this? Were simple mountain folk meant to be slaughtered like pigs?

You bastards couldn't even bully honest people without going this far. Did you know Heaven would strike you down for it?

A volcano seemed to be brewing inside Bai Yang, ready to erupt out of control at any moment.

But he had to endure the torment in his heart and calm himself down.

He was so frustrated by those mountain folk's stupidity that he could have cried. Yet his heart was filled with grief. Did fools deserve to be toyed with until they didn't know which way was up?

Staring ahead with a dark expression, Bai Yang felt his grief turn into a towering rage. If he didn't do something, he felt Heaven itself would strike him down!

He didn't consider himself a good person, but he could never do something as vicious as the Che family, something that would nearly wipe out their own descendants!

"Young Master, are you all right?"

Little Cat asked cautiously from beside Bai Yang.

Everyone could tell something was wrong with Bai Yang, but no one knew why...

"I'm fine."

He let out a deep breath and looked at Little Cat. "Little Cat, if I wanted to do something that would get a lot of people killed, including some innocent people, would you blame me?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you're my young master!"

Little Cat looked at Bai Yang with absolute sincerity.

Bai Yang smiled, laughing until tears streamed down his face. What a simple, silly girl. How could she be so adorable?

Ignoring the villagers gawking around them, he lowered his head and kissed Little Cat on the lips...

Hiss...

He sucked in a sharp breath. Overcome with emotion, he'd meant to pull Little Cat into his arms, but he'd forgotten she was wearing Titanium Alloy Armor. It had jabbed him...

The villagers around them stared wide-eyed, watching the show. Their faces said, What the hell? You can kiss mouth to mouth like that?

Little Cat's face was a little red, but she didn't avoid Bai Yang's gaze. She looked up at him with dewy eyes, her heart beating a little faster...

After the raft entered the river channel through Mihe Forest, Bai Yang sat on it, lost in thought.

"I can't let those heartless bastards keep taking advantage of these ignorant mountain folk. But that would affect the interests of a lot of people. To make things fair, we need to be strong enough to enforce fairness. Bringing together all the mountain folk in Mihe Forest is essential. Equip them, and with their knowledge of Mihe Forest, no matter how many people come from outside, they'll be brought to their knees. The only troublesome part is those so-called Martial Artists. They'll be hard to deal with, but no matter how hard, we have to do it!... Forget it, I'll take care of those things later..."

Honest people were easy to bully. Who could blame them when they couldn't even count? They let the other side decide the terms of the deal, then raised a pack of bandits to rob them. Were those bastards' hearts really made of black stone?

Some heartless bastards had to pay a price, didn't they?

Thinking about it gave him a headache. One thing led to another; if he wanted to secure some benefits for the mountain folk in Mihe Forest, he would disrupt the way things had always been done here. One careless move could bring disaster. He could run away, but where would the mountain folk go?

He looked up at Zhao Shi and asked:

"How many mountain folk live in Mihe Forest?"

"A great many, Young Master. All the people you saw on the river just now were mountain folk from the villages throughout Mihe Forest, and they were only a tiny fraction of us."

Zhao Shi answered without a moment's thought.

Damn, at this rate, were there at least hundreds of thousands of mountain folk living in the vast Mihe Forest?

So many people's interests were at stake. His heart grew heavier.

"Can you contact those villages?"

"Yes."

Bai Yang understood and nodded. Then he asked a question that had been bothering him:

"Zhao Shi, tell me, isn't there a single person in Mihe Forest who knows how to count?"

The mountain folk had probably been cheated for countless years. This was likely the reason why.

"Young Master, our mountain folk have lived in Mihe Forest for generations. We only leave when we need to exchange for essential goods, and we have nowhere to learn. So none of us know how to count."

Zhao Shi sounded a little lost.

The spread of knowledge was appallingly low. Not one of them could count. Who else would they cheat?

Grumbling inwardly, Bai Yang saw that they were approaching a place where waterways crisscrossed. He stood and glanced back toward Deyang Town, then said in a low voice:

"Zhao Shi, tell everyone to get ready. Be prepared to cut people down at any moment!"

The villagers were confused. They looked at Bai Yang, not understanding what he meant. Why would they cut anyone down when there weren't even any bandits around?

"Just do as I say," Bai Yang gritted out.

After seeing those bastards who ate people without even spitting out the bones, he finally understood. If the bandits in Mihe Forest had nothing to do with that Che family from Deyang Town, he'd livestream himself eating shit! They'd killed the family's men. Of course the Che family would retaliate, and they'd probably set their eyes on the armor they were wearing, too!

They had damaged someone else's interests, and they were walking around with things they had no right to possess. Even a fool could see that nothing good would come of it!

It wasn't that Bai Yang hadn't thought things through. He simply hadn't understood the situation here at first.

"Everyone, listen to my arrangements..."

(I struggled a lot with this chapter... Please support me with recommendation votes and follows.)