pjbooks Chapter 38 Bandits
Chapter 38 Bandits
Carrying the heavy wild deer, Lin Dachun and Ma Guihua were tired, but their steps were light, their hearts filled with the joy of their harvest.
They hurried back along a relatively easy ridgeline, figuring out how to get the most money from the deer.
As the sun rose higher, the humidity in the mountains evaporated, making it somewhat muggy.
Just as they were passing through a relatively sparse birch forest, preparing to descend to the main ditch leading to the village, four people swayed and turned out from around the bend in the path ahead.
The four men were all dressed in slovenly clothes. The one in the lead was a scarred man with his chest open, revealing a tuft of black hair on his chest, and he had a fierce look in his eyes.
The next few, one was tall and thin, with shifty eyes;
He was short and stocky, with a face full of fat.
They were all carrying weapons—Scarface held a hardwood stick with one end sharpened, the tall, thin man carried a machete, and the short, stocky man was empty-handed, but his fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles cracked.
Lin Dachun's heart skipped a beat. He immediately recognized that this was not someone from Linchangtun. Judging from their appearance and demeanor, they seemed to be hooligans from the neighboring village of Majiapo who were idle and engaged in petty theft and extortion.
Judging from the weapons they still had, you could tell they had been spotted coming down from the mountain and were deliberately lying in wait to rob them.
These people were bandits.
Lin Dachun and Ma Guihua put the deer down, and Lin Dachun took a half step forward, shielding Ma Guihua and the prey behind him, while secretly tightening his grip on the hunting rifle strap on his shoulder.
When the scarred man saw them, especially the sturdy wild deer on Ma Guihua's shoulder, his eyes lit up, his greedy gaze undisguised.
He grinned and, with three henchmen, blocked the road.
"Hey! Not bad luck! From Linchangtun?" The scarred man's voice was gruff as he sized up Lin Dachun and Ma Guihua, his gaze finally settling on the deer. "This deer... did you hunt it?"
Ma Guihua was a little nervous and subconsciously shrank behind Lin Dachun.
Lin Dachun remained calm and nodded: "Yes. Are you brothers from Majiapo? May I pass?"
"Borrowing passage? No problem." The scarred man gave a forced smile, pointed at the deer with his wooden stick, and said, "We've got our eyes on this deer. You must be tired. Put it down, and we'll 'take' it back for you. As for the fee... forget it."
This is outright robbery!
The tall, thin man and the short, stocky man also stepped forward, forming a circle around them, their eyes filled with hostility.
Ma Guihua's face turned red with anger: "Why should we! This is money we earned through hard work!"
"On what grounds?" Scarface sneered. "On the grounds that this mountain belongs to the public, and so do the wild animals! When our Majiapo forest rangers see you hunting without permission, it's only right that we confiscate your stolen goods!"
He casually raised a big banner, clearly a common tactic.
Lin Dachun knew that reasoning with this kind of person was useless.
He assessed the situation: there were four people on the other side, all armed. Although he had a shotgun, it was slow to reload and would become useless after one shot. Ma Guihua was a woman, and she would be at a disadvantage if they really fought.
Besides, the deer is too heavy to escape.
His mind raced, but his face remained expressionless. He simply took the shotgun off his shoulder and held it with one hand, the muzzle pointing downwards—a silent warning in itself.
"Brother, mountains have their rules, and roads have their paths," Lin Dachun said, his voice low but carrying the calm and toughness unique to mountain hunters. "This deer was hunted down with our lives. Your Majiapo 'forest rangers' don't have jurisdiction over such a distant area. You think you can just take it for free today?"
Seeing that Lin Dachun was not only unafraid but also dared to brandish his gun and talk back, Scarface's face darkened: "Old man, you're asking for it, aren't you? Who are you trying to scare with a broken gun? There are four of us!" He waved his wooden stick, "If you know what's good for you, leave the deer and the gun behind and get lost! Otherwise, you'll be crawling home today!"
The atmosphere instantly became tense.
The tall, thin man and the short, stocky man also raised their weapons and slowly approached.
Bandits don't reason when they rob people.
Ma Guihua turned pale with fright and gripped the wooden sticks used to lift the deer tightly.
Lin Dachun's knuckles turned white as he gripped the shotgun, his eyes sharp as an eagle's, as he quickly scanned the positions of the four opponents and identified potential openings.
He can't fire first; that's a last resort, and once he fires, things will escalate completely.
Are we just going to have our hard-earned prey stolen away like this?
Do we really have to fight to the death here?
Sweat trickled down Lin Dachun's temples.
The mountain wind swept through the woods, carrying a chilling atmosphere.