Two-Ghost Mountain.
The Lord's Temple.
Red Hair nervously escorted the goods, finally reaching the meeting point in a state of trembling anxiety.
From far away, he could see a dozen or so men in down jackets and dog-fur hats standing at the abandoned temple gates.
Down jackets were a rare sight these days. Ordinary families wore thin cotton-padded clothes.
The temple was a relic from before the great disaster. Now, only an empty shell remained.
"Please watch over me. Let me get back to the city safely."
Making his first delivery alone, Red Hair sat in the lead vehicle and pressed his palms together, praying toward the temple.
"Brother, we're here."
The driver brought the vehicle to a stop. Gripping his gun, Red Hair poked his head out. "Which gods are you with?"
"Three Golden Crows in the Sky, Five Yellow Fiends on Earth."
The other party gave a light cough before answering.
It was a password, and also an announcement of their affiliation.
Red Hair pulled on a thick padded coat, hunched his neck into his shoulders, tucked his hands into the opposite sleeves, and jumped out.
Old Ding's other men watched Red Hair intently. At the slightest suspicious movement from the other side, they would open fire.
After all, criminals robbing criminals was common outside the city.
Fortunately, the other party genuinely intended to trade. The man in charge offered Red Hair a cigarette.
"Thanks for making the trip, brother."
"Don't mention it. Just doing my job." Cautious, Red Hair didn't smoke the cigarette. He slipped it into his pocket without betraying anything. "Where's the goods?"
The other leader patted the case in his hands and cracked it open.
The pitch-black night instantly became as bright as day.
Golden light shot through the gap in the case.
Through the golden glow, a longbow could just be seen resting inside.
"Let's see your goods."
The leader from the Three Suns Society glanced at the trucks in the distance.
The handover went smoothly. The Three Suns Society's five Awakened weren't remotely worried about Red Hair trying anything.
The truck drivers jumped into the off-road vehicles, handing over the trucks along with their cargo.
The recipients lifted the windproof covers. The trucks were packed entirely with children, their bodies blue from the cold.
The Three Suns Society men nodded in satisfaction, without a trace of pity.
"Brother, come visit us in Ice Prefecture City sometime. I'll treat you to the full package!" With the Wasteland Artifact in hand, Red Hair waved excitedly.
"Sure."
The other man nodded perfunctorily and quickly climbed into a vehicle.
The two groups drove off in different directions.
"Boss, we got it."
Red Hair reported to Old Ding, brimming with pride.
He was already figuring that once he finished this job, all future deliveries would be entrusted to him.
He might even get into Young Master Hua's good graces.
"Good. Get back soon. I'll be waiting in the office." Old Ding answered in a low voice, sounding far from delighted.
This job was being done for Young Master Hua in the first place. There was no reward for success, but if anything went wrong, Old Ding would bear all the blame.
"Come on, boys, keep it moving. Don't turn on your high beams. Once we're back in town, I'll show you a good time." Red Hair excitedly encouraged the lackeys in the other vehicles over the radio.
"Thanks, Brother Hai!"
"Brother Hai's the best!"
His underlings showered him with flattery.
"Turns out going outside the city isn't dangerous after all. Who in their right mind would come out to rob people in the middle of a winter night?"
Crack...
Carried away with himself, Red Hair slammed headfirst into the windshield.
"Fuck! How the hell are you driving?" Furious, Red Hair slapped the driver twice.
Rather than dodge the blows, the driver pointed ahead, trembling all over.
On the pitch-black road, the headlights could illuminate only a few meters through the raging wind.
In their light, figures could faintly be seen moving up ahead.
"D-don't tell me we've run into robbers?" The driver swallowed.
"G-get your guns." Red Hair hurriedly grabbed a gun from the back seat and held it ready. "Turn on the high beams. Let me see which blind bastards these are."
Click.
The high beams came on, and Red Hair felt his scalp prickle.
Tiny grains of snow drifted through the air. A neat row of men in raincoats stood on the desolate road.
The road was barely wide enough for three vehicles abreast, and a dozen or so men stood across it in a line.
In the pitch-black night, they looked like demons from hell, standing rigidly in the freezing wind without making a sound.
"Brothers, who do you run with?" Trembling, Red Hair pulled a roll of cash from his pocket and tossed it onto the ground. "Have some tea on me."
The man leading them shifted his foot and kicked the cash aside.
He slowly raised his head.
Under the raincoat hood, the man had a cigarette between his lips. Red Hair could see only the lower half of his face.
"Fuck, there aren't many of them. We can take them."
Red Hair drew a deep breath and tightened his grip on his gun. The moment they moved, he could fire back.
"Get ready to force our way through!" Seeing that they still hadn't moved, Red Hair began issuing orders over the radio.
Red Hair's men jumped out of their vehicles, grabbed their weapons, and aimed at the other side.
"Brother, move aside and I'll give you fifty thousand." Unwilling to clash with people from outside the city, Red Hair made one last attempt.
The man in front pulled back his hood, and Red Hair's eyes went wide.
It was Bone, the young man who had caused trouble at A Lang's KTV.
The men beside Bone took off their hoods one by one. They were all Old Ninth's young followers.
"CNM, it's you!"
Red Hair roared.
Bone answered by raising an RPG.
It was an antique from before the great disaster, but it had been well maintained.
There was no telling whether it would explode on firing, but it clearly scared Red Hair.
"Brother Nine said to leave the goods. Everyone strips naked and runs back to the city."
Bone spat out his cigarette.
"Who the fuck are you trying to scare? Ten men, and you dare stop dozens of us? Got a death wish?" Red Hair jumped out, pointed at his own head, and put on a show of bravado. "If you've got the balls, shoot right here..."
Boom!
The rocket skimmed past Red Hair's head. Fortunately, the aim was slightly off.
The RPG's rocket struck the crowd behind him.
In an instant, men lay dead and wounded everywhere.
Red Hair stood dumbstruck, his legs trembling uncontrollably.
An inch closer, and his head would have been blown apart.
"F-fuck, these kids are really... really fucking crazy." Red Hair muttered to himself, even forgetting to return fire.
"Where's the gunfire?" Xiao Feng turned and shouted.
"Black Mud Mountain boys, show yourselves! Give our allies some support!"
Gunfire erupted from both sides of the road as dozens of burly men rose from the roadside snow.
They had buried themselves in snow to hide in temperatures well below freezing, proof of just how tough these bandits were.
Caught completely off guard, Red Hair's group scrambled desperately for cover.
Just as Red Hair tried to climb into his vehicle, Bone took a running leap onto the hood and smashed the windshield with an axe.
Ten young men carrying axes crowded into the vehicle, even hacking at Red Hair through the windows.
Xiao Feng immediately dragged the driver out. "You're not worth my axe. Stay on your knees!"
"CNM!" Bang! Bang!
Red Hair tried to retreat into the back seat, but all four doors had been pulled open, and Bone and the others piled inside.
In the cramped space, Red Hair managed only two shots before an axe struck his hand.
"CNM, you were the one who sent people after Piglet, weren't you?"
"Still want to act tough?"
In a little over ten seconds, Red Hair had suffered more than a dozen cuts. Blood splattered all over the interior.
"CNM, is this all you city boys can do? Get on your fucking knees! Drop your weapons!"
Xiao Fei's men charged onto the road.
In a single clash, more than half the men Red Hair had brought were killed or wounded.
To ambush them, Xiao Fei had sent around a hundred men. He hadn't held anything back.
The gunfire died down. Across the empty wilderness, only Red Hair's agonized pleas for mercy remained.
In the end, one of Xiao Fei's squad leaders pulled the bloodthirsty young men away.
"Don't fucking kill him. The boss said he's still useful."
"A few of you, staple him shut. Fuck, don't bother picking up the severed hand. Push his eyeball back in. Yeah, like that."
The squad leader directed his men while keeping Bone and the others from attacking again.
Barely alive, Red Hair was dragged out of the vehicle. The squad leader nudged him with his foot. "Where's the goods?"
"D-don't know." Red Hair still tried to keep his mouth shut.
The squad leader turned and called to Bone, "Hey, kid. Keep working on him."
"Don't..."
Bone and the others had already hacked every last shred of courage out of Red Hair. His voice rose. "In the car! Keep them away from me!"
Before you continue