The deafening roar of thunder still echoed in the village chief's ears, making his heart leap into his throat. He was incredibly grateful that he had chosen to cooperate; otherwise, they would have suffered the same fate as this mountain gate, being blown to pieces.
A man was so frightened that his legs were trembling, and his hand holding the knife was shaking. "They, they are too terrifying. How could they have such heaven-shattering methods?"
The others were no better off; they were all terrified. Even those who didn't usually believe in ghosts and gods couldn't help but wonder if there really were gods, otherwise how could they possess such divine abilities?
After the mountain gate was blown open, they quickly stormed inside.
There weren't many people left in the thieves' den, and the group quickly stormed in.
The reason they dared to raid the bandits' den at this time was because they had already figured out how many bandits there were. Several groups of them had gone out to rob earlier that day, and then for some unknown reason, two more groups were sent out.
According to their calculations, there weren't many people left in the thieves' den, making it a good opportunity for them to make their move. However, they didn't expect to encounter another group of people on the way.
They dared to break into the bandits' den not because they were brave, but because they had been ambushed and robbed by these bandits before. Not only did they steal their things, but they also killed many of their people, thus creating a grudge.
They were robbed of everything, with no food or water, no warm clothes, and knew they wouldn't live much longer. So they were looking for an opportunity to take revenge on the bandits, even if it meant dying together with them.
They were all determined to fight the bandits to the death, and their ruthlessness impressed the three village chiefs.
Although they were prepared to die, their fighting style was not without strategy; rather, they were well-coordinated and had countermeasures in place. Among them were a few skilled fighters.
The village chief of Lotus Village said without reservation, "If they were to fight against our people under the same conditions, our people would undoubtedly lose."
The village chief of Anping Village also figured out something: "Among these people, there are several who are skilled in martial arts. They must have been escorts or guards before."
The bandits in the mountain valley were quickly wiped out. As soon as they heard that it was safe, the women and old women in the team rushed up to grab the things.
The elderly and children continued to wait in the back.
Old Man Chen wanted to steal a few donkeys, but there were only ten donkeys in the thieves' den, and another group had already stolen six of them, so his group only managed to steal four.
If they couldn't steal the donkey, so be it. They could at least steal some food to take back. But tragically, these bandits who robbed every day were also poor. There wasn't much food in their warehouse, and they didn't even have as much water as their own family.
An old woman cursed, "These scoundrels must eat whatever they steal. No wonder they have so much energy to rob people every day. They'll get struck by lightning sooner or later for doing so many bad things!"
The Zhou family didn't have time to curse now; they were busy grabbing the items. Although they would have to hand them over in the end, they could get back whatever she wanted!
The village chief's wife exclaimed, "Chen family girl, look, isn't that your tent?"
When Zhou looked up, she saw that it was indeed her family's tent, which was now being snatched up by the old women of another group.
Without saying a word, the eldest son's wife rushed forward and tried to snatch it.
The village chief's wife, Aunt Wang, and Aunt Ma also rushed forward to grab it.
The second son's wife and the fifth son's wife were scrambling for cloth in the crowd when they saw another group of people even managing to grab animal pelts, and their eyes turned red with envy.
They didn't have much food or water, but they had plenty of miscellaneous items, such as the earthenware pots, handcarts, and wooden buckets they were missing.
They are all desperately poor now, and they will grab anything they see. The people in their team are especially frantic when it comes to containers that can hold water, like hungry wolves pouncing on their prey.
After looting all the supplies, they continued to dismantle doors and dig deep for anything they could carry. Their actions were even more thuggish than those of bandits.
Before leaving, they burned everything they could in the bandit's den and blew up the mountain gate again. This time, they didn't blow it open, but rather blew down the huge rocks on top to block the gate.
Seeing that the mountain gate was completely blocked, everyone felt relieved and left.
After thoroughly raiding the thieves' den, everyone was overjoyed, having finally avenged half of their grudge.
As for the bandits who went out to rob, they decided not to confront them head-on for the time being, and instead focused on developing their strength stealthily.
The bandits never imagined that someone would have the audacity to steal from their home while they were running rampant outside.
All the supplies that had been seized were handed over. The three village chiefs did not linger with everyone, but continued on their way. The supplies would be distributed according to their contributions during the rest period after the inventory was completed.
The other group didn't linger either and continued on their way, but along the way, they distributed the supplies they had seized to several people who had made significant contributions.
The two groups walked the same road, but didn't talk to each other. They went their separate ways, and even though they had cooperated once before, they were still wary of each other.
They only knew each other's basic information: the Anping Village Alliance, comprised of people from three villages; and the Black Wolf Gang, a mixed group of people from escort agencies, thugs, and villages.
The destination was Youzhou Prefecture.
The Black Wolf Gang members felt that the Anping Village Alliance was strange in every way, especially the magical lightning, which they were very wary of.
People were whispering among themselves.
"I heard that they only have people from three villages, yet so many of them are still alive. They must have some tricks up their sleeves."
“Look at them, their lips are all moist, and look at us, our throats are practically on fire, our lips are so dry they’re cracked and bleeding. They don’t look like they’re thirsty.”
"Perhaps it's because there's no shortage of water, perhaps it's..."
"The drought is terrible right now, everyone is short of water. They might be surviving by drinking human blood. Let's be careful."
“I had heard about this group before; they found a water source and stayed there for several days.”
"With so much water available now, where can we find a source that can supply so many people with drinking water? What's the point of drought?"
"Yes, if that water source really had a lot of water, people from all around would have rushed over to rob it long ago. What chance would they have?"
People in Anping Village were also discussing the Black Wolf Gang.
"Just by hearing that name, you can tell he's no good. He's probably involved in organized crime. Let's stay away from them. These kinds of people are often unpredictable and might stab you in the back at any moment."
"Do you think they might be a group of bandits and refugees? None of them look like good people."
"Yes, those old women and the little brats look really fierce."
"They might eat people, so we have to be careful. There are plenty of man-eating beasts in this world."
Several more old women joined the group from the back.
"My daughter, my daughter, save your mother! I'm dying! I'm dying!"
Sigh! Well, what can I say? This world is too small. After going around in circles and breaking into a den of thieves, they ran into the former Peach Blossom Village Alliance members again.
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