Chapter 16: Unexpected Harvest (Part 1)

  "Spare me... spare me, please... you... the thing you wanted, I've already found it for you... please, just let me go..."

  He had just entered the bamboo forest and walked a few steps when Li Han, who had good hearing, suddenly heard a low, sobbing female voice coming from the direction of the wooden house in the bamboo forest. Thinking he had found what he was looking for, he became even more cautious, tiptoeing step by step towards the wooden house.

  "Hmph, I suppose even the 'wise and powerful' Master Gui wouldn't have expected this, his most trusted subordinate secretly having an affair with his favorite concubine, Ninth Lady. Tsk tsk, your charm is truly remarkable, no wonder that little brat Su Ze was tortured half to death before he finally spilled out such a huge surprise for me..."

  In the room, a familiar voice of Li Han rang out. He pricked up his ears and listened carefully, it was unmistakable, the same man with the nickname 'Knife Scar' he had heard outside the wall earlier.

  "Waaaah~~~~"

  A low sobbing sound, apparently the woman being threatened by him had nothing to say.

  "Let me take a look, tsk tsk... I knew that guy Kuai Sheng embezzled the Zhao family's earnings. I've received wind of this before, and it seems that the Zhao family, with their centuries-old reputation, not to mention the unknown Zhao family cotton mill and silver store in the coastal provinces, have sold all their land in Jiangxia County to others in private deals. Hmph, a prestigious family like the Zhaos only got less than 100,000 taels of silver? Do they think I'm an idiot? Let me take a look... Hehe, our Kuai Sheng is really careful, with bank drafts from HSBC, Dao Sheng and Citibank, and remittance notes from Shanxi merchants. Ah, I've become rich! A total of 1,940,000 taels! Hmph, what a black heart Kuai Sheng has!"

  A burst of deliberately suppressed maniacal laughter came from inside the house, with a voice that was indescribably crazy and excited!

  "However, tsk, tsk, little vixen. Our Master Gui is so fond of you that he even told you the location of the hidden treasure. Tsk, tsk, you're really sly to the bone... Su Zei's kid has a good face, but he's just a silver-tongued devil... How about it, Ninth Lady? Let me, Scarface, tell you what a real man is like..."

  After that, there was a burst of wanton and lustful laughter in the house!

  The woman's voice suddenly rose to a sharp pitch, "You... what are you going to do? No... don't come any closer..." Her voice was already filled with despair and pleading.

  Then came a burst of noise and laughter, mixed with the sound of clothes being torn apart.

  "Little vixen, still pretending to be innocent with Master Scar? You're in for a treat! Think about it... our Master Gui has added over ten new concubines recently, and I've taken care of Su Ze for some time now... how's this, today Master Scar will let you have some fun, enjoy the feeling of being played with... haha..."

  "Waaaah~~~~"

  The woman's voice seemed to be muffled, but Li Han outside the house could tell from the commotion inside that she was still struggling!

  Taking advantage of the opportunity, Li Han had already reached the front door of the small hut. However, his hand only lightly pushed the wooden door, and he knew that it had been barricaded from the inside! Since the wooden hut had no windows, and fearing to arouse the attention of the guards in the surrounding courtyard, he carefully observed the surroundings again, and after discovering that there were no footsteps nearby, he suddenly summoned his strength and kicked the wooden door with a loud crash!

  "Who!"

  Inside the house, only a small oil lamp was lit, and with the help of the light, Li Han vaguely saw a burly man sneering and tearing off a woman's clothes! Hearing the door panel being kicked open, the man instinctively jumped in fright and was about to grab a locked red wooden box placed aside and escape!

  "I want to run!"

  Li Han sneered, how could it be as he wished. Afraid of the gunshot attracting attention, he didn't use a gun either, and quickly pulled out a serrated dagger from his thigh, Li Han suddenly made a horizontal sweep kick that hit the man called Knife Scar who was about to force his way out the door!

  "Boom!"

  "Hiss~~"

  With a loud crash and a pained hiss, his kick landed squarely on the scar above Knife Scar's right leg as he frantically tried to escape, causing him to stumble and fall heavily to the ground, clutching his knee in agony. It was clear that Li Han's kick had been incredibly powerful!

  "Looking for death..."

  That scar-faced man was also a ruthless and cunning person. Earlier, he had been startled by him and thought that he had been discovered by Gui Sheng's cruel and ruthless men. Li Han's kick not only made him fall to the ground but also woke him up. As soon as he lifted his head, he found that the person who had sneaked into the small hut was not one of Gui Sheng's guards, but a sturdy man wearing clothes he had never seen before. At this moment, fearing that the sound of fighting would attract the patrolling guards, his heart was filled with hatred and anger, and he cursed loudly as he drew out the pistol from his waist and decided to take care of him. Then, before the guards arrived at the righteous village, he wanted to escape from this dangerous place!

  "Whoosh!"

  Li Han had long been paying attention to him, how could he give him the opportunity to make a move. The scar on his waist had just pulled out the gun and hadn't even had time to release the safety catch when the serrated dagger in his hand was thrown at him like a flying dart, straight at the right hand holding the gun!

  "Ah!"

  A sharp pain pierced through his hand as the serrated blade of the dagger directly penetrated his palm, severely injuring his hand. The right hand holding the gun was stimulated by this sudden attack and instantly lost its strength, causing the gun to fall to the ground with a loud "clap" in the quiet courtyard!

  "Who is it?"

  Far away, outside the courtyard came several shouts, and several people inside were in a hurry. If these people were caught, they would not have a good ending! Judging from the footsteps outside the yard, there were at least a dozen or so people. Although Li Han was wearing a bulletproof vest, he didn't dare guarantee that he could escape alive from this group of people!

  "Put out the oil lamp quickly!"

  He suddenly pulled out the dagger stuck in his palm and threw it away, then fell to the ground, clutching his injured right hand. His face twisted in pain, with beads of sweat the size of beans constantly dripping from his face. He let out a loud roar at the young woman who was curled up in a corner of the hut, crying softly amidst the straw heap. The woman was startled by him, but seemingly terrified of him, her hands trembling as she extinguished the dim, broken oil lamp.

  At this moment, Li Han on the other side also successfully put the wooden door back! Although it would fall again with just a slight push, but at this critical moment, who could care about that?!

  "Don't move..."

  The room fell into darkness, and Li Han turned around to see that the scar-faced man was gritting his teeth, ignoring the wound on his hand. Instead, he was feeling around in the dark with his hands, trying to find the box gun that had fallen earlier. Li Han quickly took a few steps forward and grabbed his serrated dagger and the box gun first!

  The muzzle was pressed against the scarred forehead, Li Han coldly released the safety catch and pulled him to one side!

  "You're a smart person, be quiet for once, or else everyone will lose their lives!"

  "Hush... brave warrior, forgive me for being obtuse. Did my scar somehow offend you?"

  A faintly discernible cold steel suddenly appeared above his forehead, making the scar-faced man's complexion even more unsightly. He cursed inwardly and then softly tried to curry favor with him!

  Outside this wooden house, footsteps were getting closer and closer, and the people inside could already clearly hear some conversations.

  "Be quiet!"

  Li Han tightened the gun in his hand and gave a low warning. After feeling the muzzle of the gun on his forehead, the scar-faced man squatting beside him suddenly became quiet and didn't dare say anything else!

  "Hmmph!"

  He let out a cold snort, and through the night vision goggles, Li Han saw his eyes constantly moving, his gaze repeatedly casting towards the red wooden box that had fallen not far away, which was locked. Combined with the information he had heard while hiding outside the window earlier, he suddenly understood what was inside the box! A faint cold smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, and it was clear that he had already understood what this guy was after.

  "Let's take a look around nearby, it's strange, I could've sworn I just heard the sound of something heavy falling!"

  Not mentioning the awkwardness between several people in the house, the patrol of the righteous village had obviously arrived outside the bamboo forest. No, to be precise, Li Han had already heard footsteps entering the bamboo forest!

  "I say, Tiger, aren't we being a bit too cautious? There are plenty of stray cats and yellow-skinned kids around this estate. It's not uncommon for them to sneak in at night and steal things occasionally. Is it really necessary to be so careful?"

  However, the obvious bait in the team doesn't think there's anything!

  "It's just... it's just..."

  "That's right, what can sneak in here? The walls of this courtyard are all arranged with guards by Master Gui!"

  The murmurs of discontent continued, it was clear that this chaotic search for something or someone wasn't welcomed by everyone!

  "...As soon as the words came out, everyone in the team was unhappy. The leader hesitated for a moment, "Brothers also know that our people in the southwest have clashed with an unknown team, and Master Kuai has sent two teams to support them, but they were all dispersed. It won't be long before they arrive at our righteous village, so it's inevitable that the opponent's spies will infiltrate, everyone should still be vigilant!"

  "Got it..."

  A sparse murmur of response from the team.

  As the footsteps in the small bamboo forest got closer and closer, the people inside the wooden house held their breath, not daring to make a single sound!

  "Uncle Tiger, there's a small wooden shed here for storing miscellaneous items!"

  When he heard someone shouting outside the house, Li Han secretly thought it was bad and shifted his attention from the scar-faced man to the gate, preparing to shoot anyone who came in!

  "Uh, the key is usually kept by Housekeeper Zhou. You two go check if the door lock is fine! If it is, we won't go in and take a look, let's head back~~~"

  "Yes, Lord Tiger!"

  Several people in the house thought they were going to be discovered. In the night vision mirror, Li Han clearly saw the despair on the face of the young woman who was hiding in a corner of the house, covering her mouth and not daring to move. However, his face didn't look good either, and the muzzle of the gun in his hand moved away from the scarred head and aimed at the wooden door, ready to fight desperately!

  "Meow~~~"

  "Wow~~~~"

  However, just at this critical moment, a sharp cat cry like a tail being stepped on suddenly came from outside the house, mixed with the exclamations of several night watchmen!

  "Go away, Old Tiger, it turns out you're just a cat that's only good for the Spring Festival... Go away, go away, you little beast..."

  "It's a stray cat again, I'll tell Zhou Guanjia tomorrow to send someone to the county town to buy some medicine back. These days, there have been people reflecting that at night when they go out to pay respects, they can hear movement sounds coming from somewhere, and it sounds like a cat's voice. Alright, alright, you two check the door, if nothing's wrong, we'll go elsewhere... Finish early, Guiye has ordered, today I don't know where a thief came from, killing him will be rewarded..."

  "Alright, Grandpa Tiger. Nothing's wrong with this door!"

  It's clear that after being startled by the cat once, they thought the noise just now was caused by the cat making trouble and didn't pay attention to the door, directly brushing it off!

  "Since nothing's wrong, let's go!"

  Outside was another burst of echoes and noise, footsteps fading away, soon disappearing from hearing!

  "Ah!"

  Three gasping sounds suddenly echoed in the wooden house of varying heights!

  Li Han also let out a sigh of relief, saying that although he was wearing bulletproof clothing, the areas that could be protected were still limited. If a fight really broke out and he got injured in the hands or feet during the chaos, how would he escape from the siege of hundreds of bandits in the village?

  Don't be kidding, he's a qualified special forces soldier but not Superman! Besides, his own dreams haven't been fulfilled yet, so he won't lose his life here!

  "Boom!"

  Li Han didn't notice that the scar-faced man beside him, whose face had turned pale due to excessive blood loss, was gradually becoming ferocious in his gaze! He seemed to have hesitated for a moment, but quickly made up his mind. His eyes swept black as he recalled the location of the red wooden box he had thrown away earlier. With a fierce determination, he gritted his teeth and charged towards Li Han, who still hadn't turned around!

  "Boom!"

  When he felt a commotion by his ear, Li Han knew something was wrong! However, due to the relaxation in his mind earlier, as a result, for a moment, he actually forgot that there was another person beside him, and ended up being knocked down hard by that scar-faced man, heavily falling onto the ground!

  "How detestable..."

  Li Han cursed under his breath, and although the other party didn't know he was wearing night vision goggles, they grasped that he didn't dare fire a shot to attract the guards. It's no wonder he was a ruthless bandit who had been living on the edge of life and death for years. If it wasn't for him launching a sneak attack earlier, things wouldn't have turned out so badly.

  Through the night vision goggles, he saw that the other party had already reached the red wooden box and was about to break in. Li Han couldn't let him have his way, quickly pulling out a dagger, using the night vision goggles to aim at his left rear back, shooting it over. The serrated dagger was about 41 centimeters long, plus his strength was great, once he hit him, it would surely pierce his heart!

  However, it was as if this person's life was not destined to be cut short. Just as Knife Scar arrived at the door, he failed to notice a depression near the entrance and tripped, barely dodging that fatal blow.

  "Hiss..."

  A stifled groan escaped his lips, but the dagger, although it hadn't killed him, had directly cut into his left arm as he clutched the red wooden box. With a thud, the box fell to the ground once again. The scar was also a personal item, and although he wanted to feel around in the dark to pick it up, he didn't dare confirm whether the other person still had more knives on them. If he got hurt again in the legs or feet, he would truly lose his life here!

  Gritting his teeth tightly, the scar on his heart was burning with hatred. Today, this vendetta has been settled! He also swore that if he let him escape with his life, even if he chased him to the ends of the earth, he would not let him off easily!

  After all, he still thinks that life is more important than money, although the amount of money there could make him live a carefree life for ten lifetimes, but in the end, he chose to leave with his life, taking advantage of the darkness to escape!