After chatting for a while, Sister-in-law and Yulan finished preparing the late-night snack.
By the time the men finished eating, the sky was gradually growing light.
Liu Tiezhu was too exhausted to stay awake and went back to his room to sleep.
Uncle and the others, not feeling sleepy, picked up their tools and continued digging the secret tunnel.
Liu Tiezhu slept until nearly dark, when he was jolted awake by a burst of gunfire.
Uncle and the others immediately stopped their work, their faces turning pale as the dense gunfire echoed.
The gunfire came from far away, its reverberations lingering in the mountains for a long time.
Judging by the echoes, it sounded like two groups were engaged in a fierce firefight, and there were quite a few people involved.
Liu Tiezhu stepped out of the stone cave, and Er Gouzi excitedly hurried over.
"Brother Tiezhu, how about we go check it out?"
After killing a few times, Er Gouzi no longer had any psychological burden.
Now, whenever he heard gunfire, he got excited, thinking about looting some spoils.
Liu Tiezhu felt the same way.
Based on the echoes, the gunfire seemed to be coming from the foot of the mountain.
If they sneaked out quietly, there shouldn't be much danger.
Before Liu Tiezhu could nod, Uncle scolded first, "Gouzi, you calm down."
"With such dense gunfire, there must be a lot of people."
"If you go out recklessly like that, are you trying to hand yourself over to them?"
Seeing Uncle lose his temper, Er Gouzi immediately backed down.
"Uncle, don't worry. From the sound of the bullets, it seems like two groups are fighting."
"Gouzi and I will take a quick look around. There won't be any danger," Liu Tiezhu said.
Hearing this, Uncle opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing.
"Gouzi, bring the compound bow and the rifle. We'll go and come back quickly."
Liu Tiezhu seized the moment and directly called Er Gouzi into action.
A few minutes later, the two picked out two sturdy horses and rode toward the outskirts of the mountain.
Two hours later, they tied the horses in a dense patch of weeds and switched to walking.
The gunfire echoes grew louder ahead, meaning they were getting closer.
Liu Tiezhu was on high alert, carefully scanning the surroundings with every step to avoid entering the range of any hidden sentries.
Moving in stops and starts, they walked for another hour.
Finally, they climbed a large pine tree and sat on a branch, using the thick pine needles to conceal themselves.
Less than a hundred meters ahead and to their left, sparks flew everywhere.
Apart from the gunfire, they could faintly hear curses and swearing.
They couldn't tell exactly how many people were on each side.
But from the intensity of the bullets, both sides had at least several dozen people.
"Damn it, these bastards are wasting bullets like they're free, aren't they?"
"Brother Tiezhu, who do you think these people are?"
After watching for a while, Er Gouzi couldn't help cursing.
From the stone cave to here, it had taken them over three hours, and the gunfire had been nonstop.
Unless it was a ridiculously wealthy faction, no one could sustain such consumption.
Liu Tiezhu said, "I don't know who they are, but I'm interested in what these two groups have in their pockets."
"What do you mean?" Er Gouzi paused, then said, "Brother Tiezhu, are you thinking of hitting them and grabbing some loot?"
Liu Tiezhu shot Er Gouzi a glare and said, "No shit. If we're not here for loot, why the hell did we travel all this way just to watch a show?"
Hearing this, Er Gouzi's mouth fell open.
"Bro, my dear big brother, didn't you always teach me not to do things that would get the whole village invited to a funeral feast?"
"What's going on now? You want to do it?"
Liu Tiezhu raised his hand and smacked Er Gouzi on the forehead.
"Get the hell out of here. Do I look like someone with a screw loose?"
Er Gouzi rubbed his numb head and said, "Then how do we get their loot?"
"Kid, watch and learn. You'll see soon enough that your brother isn't messing with you."
Liu Tiezhu replied, then ignored Er Gouzi and continued observing the gunfight ahead.
Soon, another hour passed.
The gunfire ahead grew sparser, until only a few scattered shots remained.
From the sound of it, both sides had taken heavy losses after hours of fighting.
Then, the left side gave the order to retreat.
Hearing this, Er Gouzi got excited.
"Brother Tiezhu, is it our turn now?"
"I bet neither side has many people left, that's why someone ordered a retreat."
"If you want to die, go ahead." Liu Tiezhu took a bite of dried meat and said calmly.
These words instantly froze Er Gouzi in place.
After a moment, Er Gouzi snapped out of it and asked, "Isn't this the time for us to go down and clean up the battlefield?"
Without wasting words, Liu Tiezhu raised his rifle and fired a shot toward the middle of the battlefield.
Bang, bang, bang...
As the gunshot rang out, both sides resumed fierce fighting.
"Damn it, these bastards are really cunning."
Er Gouzi cursed, cold sweat running down his back.
If he had gone down to clean up the battlefield just now, he would probably be riddled with bullets by now.
Liu Tiezhu put away his gun and said, "This is called 'all is fair in war.'"
"These two groups are sly as hell."
A few minutes later, the gunfire stopped, and the surroundings fell into a deathly silence again.
"What now? Should we keep firing?"
Er Gouzi, eager for more chaos, raised his gun and asked.
"Not yet. Let's fire one shot every ten minutes or so," Liu Tiezhu said.
Soon, over ten minutes passed, and Liu Tiezhu signaled Er Gouzi to fire.
With the gunshot, both sides resumed their firefight.
Over the next hour, Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi took turns firing.
Each time they fired, both sides exchanged a round of bullets.
As the exchanges increased, the gunfire grew sparser.
After Liu Tiezhu fired the last shot, only a few scattered gunshots remained from both sides.
At that point, Liu Tiezhu knew the chance to grab loot had come.
From the sound of the gunfire, both sides were almost out of ammunition.
After another ten minutes, Er Gouzi fired again.
This time, neither side reacted, not even a single shot.
Er Gouzi turned to Liu Tiezhu: "What's going on? Are they trying that 'all is fair in war' trick again?"
Liu Tiezhu waved his hand and said, "Probably not. They're either cooking up another scheme or quietly retreating."
"Let's wait a bit longer."
They waited in the pine tree for nearly another hour.
Er Gouzi couldn't take it anymore and raised his gun to test again.
But as soon as he lifted it, Liu Tiezhu quickly pushed it down.
"Brother Tiezhu, you..."
Liu Tiezhu urgently gestured for him to stay quiet, then pointed below the pine tree.
Er Gouzi looked down, and a chill shot up from his feet straight to his head.
Under the pine tree, a dozen dark figures stood back-to-back, rifles raised, scanning the surroundings.
They moved with extreme caution, their footsteps light and quiet.
If he had fired just now, he and Liu Tiezhu would have been sitting ducks for those guns.