The people under the tree didn't notice that two living men were standing right above them.
They kept moving forward until they disappeared into the thick grass. Only then did Er Gouzi breathe a sigh of relief.
"Brother Zhuzi, could they have figured out our position from the gunshots we fired earlier?" Er Gouzi asked in a low voice.
"Possible," Liu Tiezhu nodded, then added, "But I think these people are retreating."
Retreating?
Hearing this, Er Gouzi got excited again.
He had seen it clearly—these people were only carrying rifles, meaning they hadn't taken their companions' belongings.
"Gouzi, don't get too excited yet."
"Even though these people are pulling back, we don't know if the ones on the other side have left too."
"If we want to scavenge, we'll have to take another risk," Liu Tiezhu said.
This time, Er Gouzi's mind worked fast. Pointing in the opposite direction, he said, "Brother Zhuzi, you mean we need to go over there?"
"Right. We have to make sure both sides are gone before we can clean up the battlefield."
"Stay here. Don't come down until you hear my birdcall signal."
After instructing Er Gouzi, Liu Tiezhu quietly climbed down the pine tree, grabbed his compound crossbow, and cautiously crept toward the other side.
Half an hour later, he reached the edge of the battlefield.
Peering through the weeds, he saw over thirty bodies lying scattered across the ground.
Some were still bleeding, others still twitching.
But no one cared about them anymore.
Their fate was to be devoured by beasts or ants.
Liu Tiezhu didn't rush out.
After observing for a while and confirming no one was nearby, he crouched low and continued moving toward the other side.
After walking about twenty meters, he reached an open field with no cover.
Under the faint moonlight, he saw a dozen shadows retreating rapidly.
They weren't heading toward the mountains but toward the village.
"Could it be bandits fighting the militia?" Liu Tiezhu muttered, a puzzled look on his face.
"Whoever they are, it's none of my business."
"My goal is to scavenge. Whoever dies doesn't matter to me."
Snapping back to reality, Liu Tiezhu imitated a birdcall to signal Er Gouzi.
Hearing the signal, Er Gouzi arrived quickly.
The two of them were bold, immediately going through the dead bodies.
The bodies on the left were from the Golden Blade Bandits, while those on the right were from Tiangang Stockade's土匪.
Aside from the Golden Blade Bandits, there were also a few men in Zhang Family Army uniforms.
Now Liu Tiezhu understood why those people had retreated toward the village.
"Damn it, so the bandits and the土匪 ran into each other?" Er Gouzi said.
Liu Tiezhu chuckled. "Isn't it obvious?"
When the snipe and the clam grapple, the fisherman profits.
The bandits and the Zhang Family Army had fought tooth and nail against the土匪, and in the end, neither gained anything—but they did.
Half an hour later, the two had stripped everything valuable from the bodies.
Besides the cash they found, Liu Tiezhu also unexpectedly discovered thirteen rounds of 54-type pistol ammunition.
Delighted, Liu Tiezhu continued searching nearby, hoping to find a pistol.
But after nearly an hour of searching, he found nothing and had to give up.
Three hours later, the two rode back to the stone cave.
Uncle and the others were all still awake.
Seeing Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi return safely, they finally relaxed.
Uncle approached and asked, "What happened outside the mountain? The gunfire lasted so long—was the militia suppressing bandits?"
Er Gouzi pulled out the cash they had collected and said, "It wasn't the militia. The bandits and the土匪 had a firefight."
Bandits and土匪 fighting each other?
Hearing this, Uncle and the others looked incredulous.
"That's right, they were fighting each other."
Er Gouzi nodded and recounted everything he had seen outside the mountain.
"This world is really falling apart," Uncle sighed, his face full of worry.
"This kind of thing will become the norm. All the bandits and土匪 in the mountains are coming out."
"They want to survive outside the mountains and grab resources. Fights are inevitable."
"For us, that might not be a bad thing," Liu Tiezhu said.
Er Gouzi chimed in, "Brother Zhuzi is right."
"Those people are all beasts. It doesn't matter how many die."
"I hope they fight every day. That way, we'll never go hungry."
"Shut up. Those bandits' bullets don't have eyes. Don't keep thinking about robbing them."
Uncle scowled and cut Er Gouzi off, clearly disapproving of his attitude.
"Alright, it's late. Everyone should rest," Liu Tiezhu said, stepping in to smooth things over.
The next day at noon, Liu Tiezhu woke up.
Uncle and the others were already busy. Yang Haitian, after this period of recovery, had healed significantly.
Aside from his shattered finger bones, his other injuries were mostly fine.
Er Gouzi also woke up around the same time, rubbing his bleary eyes and yawning.
"There's still hot food in the kitchen. Go eat something."
Sister-in-law called out to them before leading the horse away to help Uncle and Big Brother haul dirt.
After lunch, Liu Tiezhu took Er Gouzi, and they rode off with supplies to continue setting traps.
For now, the stone cave was safe, but if things continued like this, the fighting would soon reach here.
He had to prepare in advance to ensure his family's safety.
They arrived at a shrub forest. Liu Tiezhu turned to Er Gouzi and said, "Gouzi, take out the grenade I brought back last time."
"Brother Zhuzi, what are you going to do? Blow this place up?"
Er Gouzi asked, puzzled, but his hands moved quickly.
"I'm going to use the grenade to set a trap here," Liu Tiezhu said.
Er Gouzi replied, "Brother Zhuzi, I may not be well-educated, but don't try to fool me."
"Once you pull the pin on that thing, it explodes immediately. How can you set a trap with it?"
Liu Tiezhu said, "You don't know anything. Hand me the iron nails."
As he spoke, he crouched down, cleared the weeds from the ground, and dug a small pit.
Er Gouzi handed him the iron nails.
Liu Tiezhu took them and placed them all into the pit.
He then looked toward the shrubs on the right, estimating the distance.
Two minutes later, he pulled out a transparent ox tendon rope, tied one end to a shrub, and brought the other end back to the pit.
Er Gouzi, still confused, was about to ask, but Liu Tiezhu waved him off.
Liu Tiezhu measured the depth of the pit with his fingers, then used his short knife to dig it ten centimeters deeper.
After that, he took the grenade and placed it in the pit. "Gouzi, cover this ox tendon rope with leaves from the ground."
Er Gouzi finally understood how Liu Tiezhu planned to set the trap.
He quickly gathered leaves and covered the rope.
Once Er Gouzi had covered the rope, Liu Tiezhu filled the pit back with dirt and tamped it down, leaving only the grenade's pin exposed.
Then he tied the ox tendon rope to the grenade pin and covered it with leaves.
A deadly grenade trap was complete.
If any bandit or土匪 tripped over the rope, the pin would be pulled instantly.
When it exploded, the iron nails buried next to the grenade would fly in all directions.
At such close range, the bandits or土匪 would have no way to escape the shrapnel's kill zone.