Chapter Twelve: The Road Encounter with Robbers

  That day, Xiao Ying and Liu Xing went hunting to the mountain valley entrance. Because there was no extra labor force to develop other things, Xiao Ying and other villagers wore the same coarse cloth clothes. The silver gun was also withdrawn into his body, looking like an ordinary tourist.

  "This mountain was opened by me, this road was built by me. If you want to pass through this road, leave your toll!"

  A classic phrase that has been passed down for a thousand years suddenly emerged, and four burly men riding tall horses and holding low-quality steel knives darted out from the side of the road. Their faces were ferocious, and it was clear what they were up to - it was as if "I am a bandit" was written on their faces.

  "Hmph!" Xiao Ying couldn't help but laugh out loud, after playing "Yu Wang" for so long, he finally encountered something interesting. However, the situation seemed a bit ominous. Although he didn't know how powerful the bandits were, Xiao Ying was only level 7 after all. Looking at them riding horses and wielding knives, they had pretty good equipment. It wasn't certain that he could be their match. He quickly called out to Liuxing, who was out hunting.

  "What are you laughing at? Hand over all your money quickly, otherwise I'll let the red knife go in and the white knife come out!" One of the leaders shouted loudly, scolding with a hint of majesty.

  "A loud roar shook the mountains and fields, a majestic tiger's cry that was only slightly smaller than those yellow horses. Suddenly, a pure white shooting star darted out, its presence awe-inspiring without being angry, and with the blood-stained mouth of the Blood Disk, it had some intimidating power, stunning the bandits into a daze."

  "Shoot the man before shooting the horse, capture the thief before capturing the king." A silver-white gun suddenly appeared out of thin air, bringing with it a sharp silver light that drew a bright white line. Amidst the cries of pain, in an instant, the person who had just spoken was knocked off his horse. Although Xiao Ying's level was lower than theirs, his martial arts skills should be higher than those of the bandits. Moreover, he took advantage of the moment when the bandits were stunned by the meteor to make his move, and with a sudden burst of strength, he won the fight. In this situation, it's better to strike first, Xiao Ying didn't have the confidence to toy with them in the palm of his hand.

  At the time of Xiao Ying's action, Liuxing also tacitly jumped up and knocked a bandit off his horse.

  "Roar~~" Seeing the remaining two bandits charging on horseback, Xiao Ying took a deep breath and used the skill "Furious Howl" that he had never used before. It was even more powerful than Liu Xing's tiger roar earlier, instantly stunning the two horses, causing them to pause for a moment, and the two bandits spat out blood and fell backwards.

  Whoa, didn't expect this skill to be so useful, won't just get killed in an instant like that, this skill is a bit too overpowered.

  "Shooting star!" Seeing the shooting star finish off the strong thief who had been knocked off his horse, and then wanting to take care of the two other thieves who had also fallen off their horses, he hastily stopped him. If they killed them all, how would Xiao Ying know where they came from or how they got such good equipment? Even if they were newly refreshed NPCs, they would still have complete memories and backgrounds, just like Du Cheng and Du Wei, as well as the new villagers in Xieying Village. Each of them had their own origins, otherwise those villagers would be directly refreshed into our village without needing players to recruit or take them in.

  "Where are you from? How dare you rob here?" Xiao Ying asked, holding a long gun against one of their chests. In her heart, she was also muttering to herself: "How can't I kill them instantly? With such a powerful aura, I couldn't even kill two small thieves instantly. It seems that the main effect is still intimidation and motivation. Of course, it's also possible that my skills are not good enough and my abilities haven't been practiced well!"

  "Spare my life!" The bandit who was pressed against the chest by Xiao Ying didn't dare to move, and immediately opened his mouth to beg for mercy, continuing: "We are from the same village, a few years ago our village had a large-scale plague... (the following is another melodramatic story, omitted!), afterwards we wandered around and were discovered by the great king of Tie Mu Mountain, so we followed them up the mountain and became bandits, we also did it out of desperation for life!"

  "Oh! Look at your true nature, not so bad after all! I am the village chief of a nearby village called Evil Shadow Village! Are you two willing to join our village?" Originally wanted to ask where the stronghold was, but thinking about it, Evil Shadow Village currently doesn't have much armed force. Looking at their horse-riding and knife-wielding appearance, they should be able to withstand a few blows. However, they surrendered so quickly, Xiao Ying still wanted to interrogate them, but it's too unchallenging. Generally, officials, bandits, mountain thieves, and pirates are all quite capable, usually around level 10 or above. Ordinary NPCs, common folk, are usually at level 1.

  "Will do! Will do! We are also forced to live, and we have no choice but to become bandits in the mountains!" As soon as Xiao Ying put away her spear, they both nodded repeatedly, afraid that Xiao Ying would change her mind. It's really dizzying, they had prepared a whole bunch of grand reasoning but didn't get a chance to use it!

  "Ding! Thief Er Gouzi wants to join Evil Shadow Village, will you accept?"

  "Ding! Thief Dog Egg wants to join Evil Shadow Village, will you accept?"

  Dizzy, not even a regular name, it seems to be a really low-ranking extra role. Hurriedly accepted and took a look, they were around level 9 and 10, with combat power of about 15 points, loyalty was all 60, forced to join, didn't expect much!

  "Let's head back to the village!" Xiao Ying said lightly, walking over to search the bodies of the other two bandits. It seems that beating up human NPCs is still more profitable, as she found 3 taels of silver and several skill books: "Round Formation", "Arrow Formation", and "Blade Axe Soldier Token". Xiao Ying has finally learned two formations and can train ordinary soldiers now. Of course, the poor-quality steel knives and warhorses also belong to Xiao Ying now. In 《Yu Wang》, as long as you can carry it (excluding divine artifacts), everything on a corpse is yours, and there's no need to worry about it disappearing into white or yellow light. The corpses will remain for a period of time before the system refreshes them, usually around 12 hours in a day.

  "If you think you can outrun my bow and arrow, try to escape!" Before mounting his horse, Xiao Ying took out the Flowing Cloud Scarlet Bow from his ring, which was entirely scarlet in color, and brandished it threateningly. He then put it away, finally having a warhorse to ride. The map was so vast, and walking all the way wasn't feasible after all. His warhorse had been waiting for a long time, and riding it was no problem for Xiao Ying, who had once ridden the White Tiger Flowing Star.

  "No, no! We are truly devoted!" Er Gouzi nodded repeatedly, his sincerity was overwhelming, he almost swore to the heavens. Xiao Ying suddenly pulled out a long spear and bow and arrow, then just as suddenly made them disappear, leaving them stunned and even more respectful. Amusingly, he checked their attributes again, damn, unexpectedly their loyalty hadn't increased but decreased, now only 58 remained, it seemed that at the first opportunity they might immediately flee. Threatening and intimidating subordinates would also lower their loyalty!

  NPCs don't have inventory, that's the player's privilege, so NPCs' items are all physical objects carried on them, except for special items like divine artifacts.