Chapter 164: Another High-level Mission

“Xiao Tang, you should go inside too.” Wang Fu said to Tang Chen carefully. “These mountain bandits are vicious. You’re our guest; it wouldn’t be good if you got hurt.”

Tang Chen shook his head and stood up straight. He said seriously, “Uncle Wang. I’m not afraid of this. I’ll fight these bandits with you. Xiaocai, get inside with your mom quickly.” As he spoke, he pulled Xiaocai behind him. Before the boy could say anything, his mother immediately dragged him into the house.

In today’s world, mountain bandits were rare creatures. For someone like Tang Chen, who had only seen bandits in wartime dramas, witnessing their ferocity firsthand felt almost lucky.

Luckily, Wang Xiaocai’s father had no idea what Tang Chen was thinking. If he knew, he would’ve been utterly shocked. While everyone else trembled with fear at the sight of bandits, this guy actually thought seeing them was fortunate!

Ding-dang-dang!

A chorus of bells rang out. Flames flickered to life as over a dozen horses charged down the hillside nearby. Riders rushed down—around twenty shirtless men wielding cleavers. These were definitely the bandits.

“Everyone, stick together! With our numbers, we don’t need to fear them!” Judging by their calm reaction, this wasn’t the villagers’ first encounter with bandits. Men, women, and children quickly rallied, holding pitchforks and shovels aloft to scare the invaders off.

The bandit leader was a massive, muscular brute—a fat man who clearly cared little about the villagers’ makeshift weapons. In moments, his twenty horsemen encircled them all.

“You worthless trash! Pay the tribute! Now!” The leader yelled. By ‘tribute,’ he meant the ‘Protection Money’ demanded by outlaws.

As village head, Wang Fu stepped forward to address him. “Chief Liu! Just last month you took sacks of grain from every household. Why are you demanding more tribute now?”

“Son of a bitch! Since I asked, you better hand it over!” The bandit leader barked back in a thick Henan accent. “Who says you pay once and call it quits? You eat breakfast and skip dinner? Huh?”

“Big Brother’s right! Surrender the tribute!”

“Yeah! Pay up or we’ll slaughter your village!”

Wang Fu responded angrily, “Big Fatty Liu! Don’t throw my kindness back in my face! You grew up in this village! While your parents lived, they were friends and neighbors to us all! Must you really go this far?”

“Shut yer trap!” Chief Liu spat and drew a handgun from his coat, pointing it at Wang Fu. “Ancient history! Now here’s my question: pay tribute or die? If you refuse, I’ll blow a hole in yer skull!”

The villagers froze. Some instinctively backed away in terror. Nobody expected Chief Liu would pull a gun! Against a handgun, their farm tools felt like useless sticks!

“Shoot then! Kill me! We’ve been bullied by your kind long enough! I’m not scared to die! Go on, shoot!” Wang Fu faced death head-on, his courage fired. Just take my life if you dare!

“Fine! I’ll put you down first!” Enraged, Chief Liu’s finger slowly tightened on the trigger. Gritting his teeth, he prepared to fire.

“Wait!” At that critical moment, Tang Chen spoke up. With a relaxed smile, he stepped out from the villagers and approached Chief Liu. “Chief Liu, you just want money, right? That’s fine. This Young Master has more money than anything else. Spare them, and name your price. I’ll grant it.”

Wang Fu snapped out of his shock. “Young Tang! This village matter isn’t your concern! Get back! Don’t get dragged down because of us!”

Tang Chen simply smiled back casually. “It’s fine, Uncle Wang. Anything money can fix isn’t a problem. Consider it… disaster relief funds.”

Chief Liu burst into laughter. Lowering the gun, he roared greedily, “Kid! Smart! You’ve got more sense than these fools! Since you want to pay? Give 100,000 yuan! Then scram!”

Tang Chen grinned. “Only 100,000? Pocket change! This Young Master gets it done.” He pulled out a paper note from his coat and ambled toward the bandit leader’s horse.

Completely unguarded, Chief Liu watched him approach. But as Tang Chen threw the note high into the air—distracting the leader—Tang Chen suddenly kicked fiercely at the horse’s fetlock.

Neighhh! The horse buckled forward and collapsed onto its right front leg, throwing its rider off-balance.

“Kiddo! You’re dead!” Enraged by the sudden attack, Chief Liu stumbled wildly, trying to shoot Tang Chen. Yet Tang Chen leaped forward instantly—a sharp kick knocked the handgun flying! A hard punch slammed the leader’s face. Tang Chen then gripped his neck and slammed him flat! Backflipping nimbly onto the ground, Tang Chen stomped hard on Chief Liu’s chest.

Thud!

“Aaaaaah!” Chief Liu howled as blood spurted from his mouth, leaving him ghastly pale.

“Hey, idiot! Who exactly did you call ‘this old man’ earlier?” Tang Chen smirked playfully, grinding his foot deeper into the leader’s torso. Chief Liu could only shriek in pain.

“Chief! Release him!” The ambush was too fast for the others. Only when Chief Liu hit the dirt did they leap off their horses, knives raised. “Get away now!”

“Come then! Cut me!” Tang Chen snapped coldly, his aura overpowering and freezing the bandits in place. “Take one step forward and this Young Master shatters one of your chief’s legs!”

“You useless scum! Ignore him! Rush him! Chop him do—” Chief Liu’s defiant screams cut short as Tang Chen stomped, snapping the man’s left leg with a sickening crack. White bone glinted horribly through the wound.

“Who let you speak, you trash? Shut it or I finish you.” Tang Chen moved his foot, stomping down firmly on the chief’s fleshy face instead. Even Tang Chen’s smile looked terrifying—pure cruelty in disguise.

“I’m done with this!” One bandit tossed his knife aside and ran for the hills.

That broke the spirit of the others. Weapons clattered to the ground as the remaining bandits scattered into the darkness.

“Seems your men weren’t very loyal after all, Big Chief Liu.” Tang Chen chuckled darkly. Releasing the foot, he grabbed the chief’s hair and slammed him into the ground again, crushing organs until Liu felt like vomiting blood.

Tang Chen turned to Wang Fu. “Uncle Wang, gather their weapons—knives, everything—with the villagers. Tomorrow when I leave, I’ll hand them over to the town’s Police Station.”

Wang Fu was still stunned by the violence. He gulped, too terrified by Tang Chen’s harmless-looking face to speak. He was scarier than the bandits themselves.

Damn. They weren’t this brutal.

“As for you, idiot…” Tang Chen gazed down at the half-dead man he called Big Creditor Liu. Crouching quietly, he mused aloud. “What should this Young Master do with a rat like you?”

“Hahaha… cough cough!” Liu suddenly convulsed with mad laughter, before wheezing, “Kill me! Then Big Brother will hunt you down! Not just you—he’ll slaughter every last person in this village!”

Crack!

Tang Chen’s furious fist broke Liu’s eye into a dark bruise. Standing, he asked Wang Fu. “Uncle Wang, besides this loser’s group, are there others bandits around?”

Wang Fu sighed grimly. “Only them? No. His Big Brother is the true terror! Bald King! He commands a hundred bandits! His men only target us villagers.”

Tang Chen clenched his fists, furious. “Haven’t you reported them?”

Wang Fu shook his head bitterly. “It’s hopeless. We… we’ve lost all hope.”

Alert! Advanced Mission Triggered! The System condemns the brutal acts of Bald King’s bandits! Orders Host: eliminate all 100+ bandits tonight! Mission Reward: One Invincible Cloak! Penalty: Host becomes wild savage & loses all memory!