“I said, I’m not here to negotiate with you. I’m here to inform you.”
The small leader stood up abruptly. “Don’t be so ungrate…”
Before he could finish, Jin Feng smashed the cup in his hand onto the leader’s face.
Crack!
The clay cup shattered into pieces, cutting a gash on the leader’s right cheek, with blood flowing out immediately.
His hair, cheeks, and upper clothes were all soaked.
The entrance to the smelting workshop fell deathly silent.
Except for Jin Feng, everyone’s mind went blank.
“It’s over!” The village head felt as if he had plunged into an icy cellar.
He never imagined Jin Feng would strike the bandits first.
“You’re courting death!” The small leader’s eyes turned bloodshot.
For bandits, a facial wound was minor, but Jin Feng’s action was harder to accept than a knife slash.
The leader reached back for the long blade leaning against the table, but before he touched the hilt, an arrow whistled through the air, knocking the blade a zhang away.
“Bolt Brother!” The other bandits, seeing this, raised their blades to advance.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
A volley of arrows flew in, embedding at the bandits’ feet.
One even stuck at the small leader’s feet!
All the bandits scanned around in terror, trying to figure out where the arrows came from.
To their dismay, they couldn’t find anything.
This unseen danger frightened them even more.
“This is just a warning. If you don’t wise up, I guarantee the next arrow will hit your heads!” Jin Feng said calmly, picking up another cup.
“Touch a hair on my head again, and I’ll kill your whole family!” the small leader roared ferociously.
As soon as he spoke, Jin Feng grabbed his head and slammed it onto the table with a bang.
The leader was immediately dazed, his head bleeding.
Jin Feng casually yanked a tuft of hair from his head. “This must be dozens of hairs. Go on, kill one of mine and show me?”
The leader, dizzy and disoriented, finally steadied himself, glaring at Jin Feng with trembling lips. “You… you…”
“You what? Still thinking of killing my family?” Jin Feng scoffed coldly. “Point at me again, and I’ll chop off your finger!”
The small leader instinctively retracted his finger.
From Jin Feng’s eyes, he saw killing intent and didn’t dare bet his finger on Jin Feng’s nerve.
“Go back and tell your big boss, and the master behind him, if they want the spinning wheels, come negotiate with sincerity. If they try to take them by force, I’ll burn them all before giving them up!” Jin Feng waved impatiently. “Alright, get lost!”
The small leader gritted his teeth, picked up his blade from the ground, and led the bandits away.
They no longer had their arrogant swagger, looking more like fleeing drowned rats.
“Bolt Brother, are we just leaving like this?” a bandit asked unwillingly once out of the village. “Going back this way, the other brothers will laugh at us.”
“Laugh at your mother!” The small leader slapped the subordinate. “If anyone speaks of today, I’ll wipe them out!”
In all his years as a bandit, villagers in Xihewan never dared raise their voice to him.
Yet this time, he got his head cracked open!
To the small leader, this was utter humiliation.
He wanted to tear Jin Feng apart.
But before coming, the big boss had repeatedly warned him to just intimidate Jin Feng in Xihewan, not to actually harm him.
The small leader didn’t understand the order.
To him, if Iron Can Mountain wanted something, they should just grab it. Why bother with threats?
But no one defied the big boss on Iron Can Mountain. The last one who did was skinned alive.
No matter how furious or confused, the small leader could only endure.
“Brother Feng, you were too impulsive!” At the smelting workshop entrance, the village head jumped in anxiety. “Xiaofeng, pack up quickly. Take Xiaorou, Dongdong, Xiao’e, and go through the old forest in the back hills. Cross four ridges north to the official road, then head to the prefectural city to hide!”
“Old village head, it’s fine,” Jin Feng said. “The bandits won’t touch me. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have left just now.”
“They came with few people this time and didn’t dare act, but what if they bring more next time?”
“Village head, don’t worry. I have a plan,” Jin Feng said, pushing him out of the workshop courtyard. “Go on with your business. I have things to do.”
“Ah!” The old village head slapped his thigh and hurried away.
He was probably going to discuss with Guanjiawan’s village head.
Once the village head left, Zhang Liang and the old soldiers emerged from their hiding spots.
Jin Feng had trained the old soldiers to modern special forces standards, with stealth as a key skill.
The textile factory, smelting workshop, and Jin Feng’s courtyard were built with many hiding places for sentries and concealment.
They proved useful this time.
Unexpectedly, Qing Mulang also appeared with her female soldiers, each holding a crossbow.
“Well done,” Jin Feng said with a smile. “The bandits were still looking around as they left, probably trying to spot your positions.”
Even the bandits couldn’t find them. Before the old soldiers emerged, Jin Feng hadn’t spotted them either.
“We’ve trained so long, and on our own turf. If they found us, I’d be out of a job,” Zhang Liang said with a laugh, though his eyes showed concern.
In Zhang Liang’s view, dealing with bandits meant either eliminating them decisively or tolerating them temporarily, not provoking them.
So he too thought Jin Feng had been impulsive.
Only Qing Mulang felt no worry, just regret.
“Sir, why didn’t you kill those bandits earlier?”
Since Jin Feng said she’d kill bandits for practice, Qing Mulang had been excited these days. If not for Zhang Liang stopping her, she might have acted.
“This village has few men, but gathering twenty or thirty fighters shouldn’t be hard. Yet with only six or seven bandits strutting in the village,” Jin Feng said softly. “Mulang, do you know why?”
“Why else? They’re afraid of the main bandit force retaliating,” Qing Mulang said. “But sir, don’t you have a plan? We don’t need to worry, right?”
“Yes, killing these six is easy, and wiping out Iron Can Mountain isn’t hard,” Jin Feng shook his head. “But that’s not what I want.”
“What do you want, sir?” Qing Mulang asked.
“The bandits’ imprint on everyone’s hearts is too deep. That’s not good,” Jin Feng said, as if answering her or murmuring to himself. “I want the arrows to fly a bit longer…”
