Inside the bamboo grove, the remaining third team was still fantasizing about killing a few more bandits to claim more rewards. They checked the time and immediately began moving slowly toward the center of the grove as planned. But just after taking a dozen steps, they heard the sound of hooves behind them.
"Damn it, we've fallen into the bandits' trap." Even a fool would know what those hoofbeats meant by now.
The bandits were fast, arriving before them in the blink of an eye. Bang, bang, bang... In an instant, gunfire echoed through the entire bamboo grove. Looking around, the grove was filled with dazzling sparks and bullets whizzing past.
Liu Tiezhu didn't linger. He turned and ran toward Liu Jingshun's house. Now that Liu Jingshun's place had no guard squad left, it was the perfect time to force Zhang Jingyang and his brother to hand over their valuables. Liu Tiezhu sprinted all the way, returning to Liu Jingshun's house thirty minutes later. He didn't dare charge straight in but climbed over the back wall instead.
The house was brightly lit, but there was no one inside. Liu Tiezhu stayed alert, pressing himself against the wall as he crept to the main hall. After a careful look, he saw no one there either. "Damn it, did Zhang Jingyang and his brother hide?" Liu Tiezhu cursed under his breath, not expecting the brothers to be so cautious as to leave first.
Once inside, Liu Tiezhu searched the house. After a thorough sweep, he found no valuables, but he did uncover several hundred jin of dried meat. Without hesitation, he went back to his own yard, brought over his horse, and hauled all the meat away. This time, he didn't go straight home. Instead, he led the horse south, pulling the meat until he reached a thicket of thorny trees, where he stopped. He tied the horse up inside, then quietly slipped back, carrying his rifle and compound crossbow.
As soon as he returned to the village, he saw a dozen bandits on horseback charging toward Liu Jingshun's house. Meanwhile, five bandits were riding toward his own home. "That bastard Liu Gang really wants me dead." Liu Tiezhu's eyes turned cold as he raised his compound crossbow and crept around from behind his house. Since these bandits wanted his life, he wouldn't hold back.
Liu Tiezhu reached his backyard and quickly vaulted over the wall. Carefully avoiding the traps near the wall, he pressed himself against the house and listened for any movement. Just then, hoofbeats sounded outside the wall. The five bandits dismounted and violently kicked open the gate to Liu Tiezhu's yard. Seeing this, Liu Tiezhu smirked coldly. The yard was full of traps, so it was perfect that they came through the front gate.
The bandits were cautious and didn't rush in. They shone their flashlights around, scanning the area. After confirming no one was there, they still didn't let their guard down, pulling the rifles off their shoulders and chambering rounds. They were careful, but they underestimated the danger in the yard. Exchanging glances, they formed a combat formation, holding each other's shoulders as they moved forward step by step.
From the corner of the wall, Liu Tiezhu slowly aimed his compound crossbow at the foot of the bandit in the middle. He didn't fire immediately but waited for them to enter the trap's range. The trap was less than a meter to their left. If they took a few more steps, he'd shoot through the middle bandit's right leg, and the force would knock all five to the left. In the span of a breath, the five bandits reached the edge of the trap.
Liu Tiezhu took a deep breath to steady his heartbeat, then decisively pulled the trigger. The bamboo arrow shot out with a whoosh, piercing the middle bandit's right leg. The bandit cried out in pain, his body tilting left. The other four followed, knocked off balance by the momentum. With a loud crash, the ground caved into a large pit. The five fell in, instantly impaled by the long steel spikes inside. Bang, bang, bang... In their panic, they instinctively pulled their triggers.
The bandits searching Liu Jingshun's house were startled. They stopped their search and rushed toward Liu Tiezhu's place. Liu Tiezhu hadn't expected the dying bandits to fire their guns. He dashed over, stripped the bandits of their belongings, then untied the horses in the yard and drove them away. After that, he turned and hid back inside the yard. No sooner had he done this than he heard a flurry of neighing.
A dozen bandits dismounted but didn't rush in. They shone their flashlights around the yard, surveying it. Seeing their comrades dead in the pit, none of them advanced. "That son of a bitch probably rode off. You five, head north and chase him. If you spot the bastard, fire a signal." The bandit leader, Ma Jinshan, gave the order. The five behind him immediately mounted up and galloped north. The remaining six followed Ma Jinshan.
They shone their flashlights on the ground, tracking footprints as they moved slowly. Ma Jinshan shouted a warning, "Keep your damn eyes peeled, all of you. There's no way this yard has just one trap." Seeing this, Liu Tiezhu sneered. The yard indeed had more than one trap. Besides the pits, he had buried wooden boards studded with iron nails in the soil. Especially near the house's entrance, the ground was practically covered with nails.
Ma Jinshan and his men cautiously approached the pit. Seeing the five men's gruesome, twisted expressions, they clenched their fists. "You bastard, just you wait. Once I get my hands on you, I'll skin you alive." Ma Jinshan roared in fury, then signaled the group to move on. The seven took a dozen steps and reached the house's door. Finding no more traps, they all breathed a sigh of relief and let their guard down. "Search the place, then burn it down," Ma Jinshan ordered with a wave of his hand. The six behind him rushed in.
They had only taken a few steps when they screamed. The nails buried in the soil pierced straight through their soles. The six howled in agony, quickly crouching down. They tossed their rifles aside and used their hands to pull the nail-studded boards off their feet. Liu Tiezhu wasn't about to miss such a golden opportunity. He fired a bamboo arrow from his compound crossbow, which struck Ma Jinshan square in the forehead. Ma Jinshan, still in shock, toppled over, dead. Even in death, his face was frozen in terror.
The remaining six panicked, forgetting to remove the boards from their feet. They scrambled to grab their rifles. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... Liu Tiezhu emptied his compound crossbow's arrows. Five of them fell flat, their blood staining the soil. The last bandit, ignoring the pain in his feet, crawled and rolled toward the exit. Liu Tiezhu shot another arrow into the back of his head, sending him to join his ancestors. After killing them all, Liu Tiezhu quickly stripped them of their belongings. Then he led the horses out of the yard and left.
He had only taken a dozen steps when his expression darkened again.