Gangzi was a petty thug, good at playing pranks. He often carried small powders or insects with him, and was a master at teasing people. Just now, he had put a little bit of croton powder on "Little Turtle's" pork belly pieces.

Upon seeing the man clutching his buttocks and rushing to the outhouse, and imagining him pulling up his pants only to have to take them off again, spending a long time in that stinky little room, he couldn't help but burst into laughter.

The "little bastard" also thought about the problem with the roasted meat, but everyone else had eaten it, and only he had a stomachache. No one would believe him if he told them, and he couldn't remember who had given him the meat. So he had no one to hold a grudge against and had to give up.

**

The ship set sail at dawn, parting ways with the other vessels.

They sailed upstream along the waterway, entering a narrower section of the river. Perhaps because Yunling was not accompanied by any adults, she realized that she had to grow up and stand on her own. Afraid of being seen in a disheveled state, she would encourage and remind herself from time to time to control the dizziness caused by the journey.

However, sailing also has its advantages. During the day, it's not too hot inside the cabin while sailing, and the three horses also have a place to escape the heat, though they haven't suffered much hardship.

"Grandma, eat some buns. I haven't seen you eat much these past few days. Your face looks so thin. If your aunt sees this, she'll skin me alive."

Yunling really had no appetite. She wanted to eat some liquid food, but the boat kept moving forward and showed no sign of docking, so she gave up on that idea.

You should eat it.

"Would you like some hot water?"

Yunling shook her head. The weather was still hot, and the boat was full of men, so they didn't set up a stove to boil water. Firstly, the boat wasn't used often, so it would be too much trouble to set up a stove. Secondly, starting a fire while sailing would easily attract the attention of river bandits.

“I’ll have them burn it right now.”

"No, what if we attract the attention of river bandits? They might blame us for this, and if we get into a fight, it will definitely affect our future cooperation. We can't do that."

Gangzi lowered his eyelids and did not reply.

Yunling took the steamed bun from his hand. "I'm a little hungry."

Gangzi's face immediately lit up with a smile, and he quickly took out another one, "One isn't enough to keep you full, have another one."

Yunling: ...

Yunling initially wanted to decline, but faced with Gangzi's harmless smile, she accepted the steamed bun. Although she had slept in the side room last night, the man's laughter, which sounded like a duck's quacking, still reached her ears as he lay in the corridor.

Today, she saw that the person she had argued with was pale and had a faint smell of feces and urine on him. She knew that she couldn't have escaped the influence of this person.

He had followed Chen Jie to do odd jobs since he was a child, and must have been a pitiful child without parents. Now that he was close to her, he naturally wanted to protect her. This was so similar to her life in the apocalypse, so she naturally couldn't get angry.

Yunling took a bite of the bun, and under Gangzi's watchful eye, took two more bites. She drank a glass of water and ate both buns, but the result was that she choked, felt uncomfortable, and couldn't sleep.

Yunling tossed and turned on the bed, feeling as if the steamed buns she had eaten at noon were stuck in her chest, unable to go up or down. In the post-apocalyptic world, these buns would have been a delicacy, but now they made her feel incredibly nauseous.

She sat up, rubbed her lower abdomen, and patted her back. But then she heard a series of clattering sounds, like hooks hitting boards. It seemed she had encountered bandits again, and quite a few of them.

Yunling opened the door, and Gangzi, who was sleeping, lost his balance and leaned back. She quickly caught him.

"Grandma?"

"There are river bandits."

Gangzi instantly snapped out of it, grabbed the guy next to him, and followed Yunling.

Stepping out of the passageway, they saw the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort) and his men fighting with the river bandits. Yunling and Gangzi rushed forward to help. Just as they were about to gain the upper hand, the river bandits began boarding the boat from both sides.

Yunling pulled herself away, wanting to find the leader of this group of river bandits, but saw flashing lights not far away. Upon closer inspection, she saw that small boats surrounded their boat. She had never seen such a large formation before.

"The镖头 (镖头 is a term used in Chinese martial arts)!"

Hearing the sound, Yunling turned around and saw that the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort) had been slashed with a knife and then kicked, and he crashed into the mast of the boat as if he had been thrown into the air.

"We're doomed now. So many bandits, and they're carrying torches. We're going to be engulfed in flames, and die a horrible death."

"Go to hell, if you want to die, die by yourself, don't drag us down with you."

As Gangzi cursed, he pulled the "little bastard" away from the bandits' knife.

Yunling picked up the long knife from the ground. With a burst of her supernatural power, she knocked down all the pirates on the boat, some dead and some wounded. She broke the long knife in half with a single palm strike, and several fragments flew around the boat, thwarting the pirates' plans to board.

Seeing this, the bandits dared not go any further, and Yunling and the others were able to enjoy temporary peace.

"You, help the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort) inside and bandage his wounds."

The head镖师 clutched his chest and shook his head repeatedly. He was on this mission, how could he ask his guests to risk their lives to protect him?

But "Little Turtle" didn't care about all that and just carried the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort) inside. They were doing things for money, but nothing was more important than their own lives. You can only make money when you're alive. If you die, the money is useless in the underworld. How unlucky!

"Little Turtle" even deliberately chose a location that would make it easy to jump off the ship and escape, so that he would still have a chance to survive if the ship were set on fire.

Yunling had no time to ponder this man's ulterior motives. She was focused on the small boat, hoping to find the leader of the bandits and thus achieve the proverbial goal of "capturing the king first."

But Yunling wasn't the only one with this thought. A moment later, a shout came from the water, "Where is the boatman? I just want to find the boatman."

Without hesitation, Yunling replied, "I am the captain."

"You?" The man snorted, full of indignation. "You, a mere brat who hasn't even grown his beard yet, dare to call yourself a boat captain? Aren't you just making a fool of yourself?"

"Oh, your hair has grown in."

As soon as she finished speaking, a grappling hook flew straight toward Yunling's face. Yunling reached out and grabbed the hook, truly feeling the immense force on the other side of the rope.

The two men kept each other in check, neither willing to yield, until finally the man relented, "You do have some skill, no wonder you dared to take my path without warning."

“You didn’t open this road, you didn’t plant this tree. If you want to pass through this road, you don’t need to leave any money to pay for the road.”

"Provoking me? You're truly courting death!"

Suddenly, Yunling felt a strong force pulling her forward. She quickly grabbed the grappling hook and used her supernatural power to suppress it. The two were locked in a stalemate when suddenly, with a "snap," the rope broke in the middle, and Yunling was thrown backward by inertia.