The two of them looked toward the source of the sound at the same time.
The two burly men blocked the girl's escape route from the left and right. One of them was holding a hemp rope, while the other cracked his knuckles.
The girl sprawled on the ground, shuffling backwards, until one of her shoes came off.
The boy who was gathering herbs charged forward quite fiercely, grabbing a thick wooden stick and shouting, "Let go of that girl! Come at me!"
Before the stick could even fall, the burly man on the left grabbed the end of it, twisted it behind his back, and the boy stumbled. He was then kicked in the stomach and fell face-first to the ground.
The burly man on the right followed up with another kick, stomping on the boy's back until he was unable to move.
Hey, I'm in luck today, buy one get one free!
The one holding the rope chuckled.
"Stop talking nonsense, tie him up and drag him away."
Lin En put away the Kamera, jumped off the rock, bent his knees to cushion the landing, patted the dirt off his hands, and shouted in the boy's tone.
"Let them go! Come at me!"
The two burly men turned around at the same time, their expressions changing from fierce to confused. The one on the left looked Lin En up and down, then glanced at the one on the right.
"Hey, what day is it today? Why are there so many celebrations?"
"Who cares, tie them all up."
Lin En bent down, picked up a stick from the ground, gripped it with both hands, and assumed an offensive stance.
He learned this posture when he practiced with Ronava's spear. Although the wooden stick and the spear are quite different, the basic techniques of picking, deflecting, and sweeping are similar.
The burly man on the left rushed over first and slapped Lin En across the face with a palm the size of a fan.
Lin En sidestepped, sweeping the wooden stick horizontally across the man's knee. The force wasn't great, but the placement was tricky. The big man's legs buckled, and he stumbled forward a step.
Lin En then raised his left hand, and the Stone Stele lifted off the ground, hitting the big man in the waist and sending him flying, crashing into the grass three zhang away.
The man on the right had just switched the rope to his left hand, preparing to launch a sneak attack from the side, when Lin En turned around and stabbed him in the chest with a stick. The stick, wrapped in Anemo, gave him a push, and the man lost his footing, sliding several steps backward before his back slammed against the rock wall. His head lolled to the side, and he was knocked unconscious.
"Hmm! It's about the same."
Lin En threw the stick on the ground and dusted off his hands.
He went over and pulled the boy up from the ground.
The boy clutched his stomach, his face contorted in pain, but his eyes shone brightly as he stared at Lin En.
"Wow, how did you do that? That stone just popped out of the ground in a flash!"
"Never mind that for now."
Lin En helped the girl up as well; her legs were still shaking and she was unsteady on her feet.
"You two should go back right away. It's not safe up in the mountains right now. Several people have gone missing recently. Don't linger around here."
And what about you?
The boy asked.
"I have other things to do."
Lin En squatted down, pulled off the belts of the two burly men on the ground, tied their hands behind their backs, and then tied their feet with their own ropes. He dragged them to a shallow ditch by the roadside, pulled out two handfuls of grass and covered their faces with them. After doing this, he spoke to the two men.
"Hurry up, take the main road, don't take the side roads."
After saying that, he quickly ran off in another direction. There must be more than one criminal team like this; we need to deal with them as soon as possible.
The boy picked up the stick Lin En had dropped on the ground, weighed it in his hand, and gestured with it a couple of times. His eyes lit up as if they were starlight.
The girl tugged at his sleeve, and he snapped out of his daze. He called out "Thank you, big brother" in the direction Lin En had left, and then the girl pulled him down the mountain.
Lin En followed the path along the edge of the highlands for about fifteen minutes until a gentle slope appeared ahead. There was a makeshift thatched hut on the slope, and a person was sitting under the hut, munching on a chicken leg with his legs crossed. Three other people were standing next to him, looking at the scenery with their hands behind their backs.
Lin En crouched behind the bushes and counted the heads.
There was a man who seemed to be in charge under the shed, along with three thugs and the two he had previously taken down, making a total of six people in the area.
He assessed his condition; those two attacks hadn't used much strength, and his health bar was basically full. But there were many of them, and if he shouted and scared away his comrades in the distance, it would be troublesome.
He was figuring out how to quietly deal with these people when he suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck, followed by a hand reaching out from behind and placing it on his shoulder.
Lin En was so startled he almost jumped up. When he turned around, he saw Ronava squatting next to him.
Why are you here?
He lowered his voice.
"I've explored the courtyards of both team leaders."
Ronava squatted down beside him, her gaze sweeping over the thatched hut in front of them.
" Liu Mazi went out and headed up the mountain this morning, while Zhao Siyan was still drinking at home. I followed Liu Mazi up the mountain. He walked around here for a bit, met up with the foreman in the thatched hut, and then headed north."
Where is Liu Mazi?
"I left him lying at the bottom of the slope."
Ronava's tone was very calm.
"Dead."
Lin En's lips twitched.
"Alright, one death won't affect the plan."
"You deal with the three under the shed, I'll handle the one further away."
Ronava used a hair tie to pull back her silver hair, making it easier to fight.
"Hurry up, don't let them shout."
Lin En nodded and drew his dark red longsword.
Ronava counted to three, two, one, and the two of them sprang out from behind the bushes at the same time.
Lin En's Anemo spread out beneath his feet, slicing across to the three thugs. He swept his longsword horizontally, the wind from the sword flipping the one on the far left over. He then kicked the one in the middle in the knee, and with his right hand, he smashed the hilt of his sword into the back of the one on the right's head.
In less than three breaths, all three were lying down.
On Ronava the steward could even put down his chicken leg, a spear tip struck his wrist, tearing a gash in his hand, and a spear was pressed against his throat.
"Try shouting it out."
The person in charge had his mouth covered, his eyes wide open, and he was shaking his head like a rattle drum.
"OK."
Ronava pressed the tip of her gun down.
"I'll ask you a few questions; if you answer incorrectly, you die."
The foreman's mouth was pressed against his throat with the tip of a gun, his face turned pale, and the chicken leg slipped from his hand and rolled on the ground of the thatched shed, covered in a layer of dirt.
He dared not shout, he even had to hold his breath, afraid of making any noise, Ronava kill him.
"I'll talk, I'll talk, please don't kill me."
How many people did you arrest?
Ronava pressed the tip of her spear forward a little more, and a thin line of blood appeared on the steward's neck.
"Ten... twelve, recently caught, haven't been sent away yet. The foreman said to transport them all to the Chasm once we have twenty."
How many groups of people did you send up the mountain today?
"Three groups. This is my group, and the other two groups are on the east and west slopes, two people per group. Liu Mazi came to give instructions this morning, saying that the higher-ups are pressing us hard, and we must catch at least five people today."
Lin En, who was standing nearby, wrote down what he said and chimed in with a comment.
Where do you usually keep the people you arrest?
"In the cave at the northernmost part of Chenyu Vale, there's a small room separated by an iron fence. The foreman said the people are waiting inside until they're all gathered before being sent to the Chasm."
Is Zhou Xiaohe inside?
Lin En asked, "This concerns his Mora; we need to pay close attention."
The person in charge paused for a moment, his eyes darted around, and then he quickly nodded.
"The one surnamed Zhou? That girl who gathers herbs? Yes, yes, she was just sent down yesterday. She caused quite a scene and almost bit off half my ear."
Lin En breathed a sigh of relief; at least the person was still alive.