Zhang Guoyong and his men had no idea they were being watched.
After carefully moving three meters, they looked back at their footprints in the snow and let out a collective sigh of relief. As long as they crossed this distance, they would be safe.
"Just you wait. Once we're back at camp, I'll make you all pay," Zhang Guoyong said coldly, still unaware of the gravity of the situation, glaring at the men behind him.
"Zhang Guoyong, do you really think I'll let you go back alive?" Liu Hailiang sneered from the front.
From the moment they made their move against Zhang Guoyong, he had no intention of letting him survive. The others shared the same mindset. If Zhang Guoyong returned, they would be the ones in trouble. Only a fool would let that happen.
Zhang Guoyong's face twisted in shock. "What do you mean? You'd kill me to silence me?"
"Bingo. Your job's done. Time to die." Liu Hailiang laughed coldly, raising his rifle and aiming at Zhang Guoyong's head before pulling the trigger.
A gunshot rang out, and blood sprayed. Zhang Guoyong's body convulsed, his eyes wide open in death, refusing to close.
"Once we're back, we pin everything on that bastard. We'll say he ran off," Liu Hailiang announced loudly as he holstered his gun.
The others nodded in agreement. With so many men lost, someone had to take the fall to satisfy Zhang Mingtao. As the team leader and Zhang Mingtao's trusted man, Zhang Guoyong was the perfect scapegoat.
"That bastard's ruthless," Liu Tiezhu muttered under his breath, pulling the trigger on his compound crossbow.
A bamboo arrow shot out with a *whoosh*, burying itself deep into Liu Hailiang's back leg, sending a spray of blood. Liu Hailiang's face contorted in agony as he screamed and collapsed to the right. Instinctively, he reached out his hands to break his fall.
The moment his hands hit the ground, his pupils dilated, his eyes filled with terror.
"No—"
Before he could finish, white smoke billowed from the soil. It was the smoke from a grenade's fuse being pulled.
*Boom!!*
The earth erupted, dirt and sand flying in all directions, along with iron nails covering a ten-meter radius. The six men behind Liu Hailiang died instantly, their bodies riddled with nail holes, their cotton jackets soaked in blood. The remaining five were dazed, their ears ringing with screams.
Before they could recover, more bamboo arrows shot out from the bushes.
*Thwip, thwip...*
Liu Tiezhu killed four of them on the spot, and the last one took an arrow to the right leg, sparing his life for now.
At that point, Liu Tiezhu and his companion stopped hiding and stepped out of the bushes.
"You... you're Liu Tiezhu..." the man stammered, pointing at him.
Liu Tiezhu aimed his compound crossbow at the man's head. "Cut the crap. Who sent you? And how did you find this place?"
"Zhang Mingtao sent us. Liu Yusheng led the way here," the man said, spilling everything he knew without daring to hold back.
Liu Yusheng. That bastard again.
Er Gouzi's face twisted with murderous intent as he demanded, "Where is Liu Yusheng now?"
"He ran off when the first grenade went off," the man replied.
"Alright. Time for you to join them." Having gotten the answers he wanted, Liu Tiezhu killed the man without hesitation.
"Gouzi, stay here and search their stuff. I'm going after Liu Yusheng." With that, Liu Tiezhu moved forward cautiously, picking his way through the area.
The place was littered with traps. Liu Yusheng wouldn't get far anytime soon.
At the center of the grenade trap zone, Liu Yusheng crept out from the bushes, carefully scanning his surroundings. Seeing the scattered limbs and bodies, he sucked in a sharp breath. Then he smirked, pleased that his scheme had worked. Now that these men had triggered the traps, he just needed to follow their footprints to escape safely.
After surveying the area, Liu Yusheng picked up a rifle and looted the dead men's belongings. Minutes later, staring at hundreds of bullets and over two thousand in cash, he grinned from ear to ear.
"That bastard Zhang Mingtao, you never thought I'd be this lucky, did you? And that dog Liu Tiezhu—once I get out of here, it'll be your turn to die." Liu Yusheng cursed a few times, then grabbed the rifle to leave. But a bamboo arrow shot out, burying itself in his right arm.
*Ahh...* Liu Yusheng's face twisted in pain as he screamed in terror.
*Whoosh...* Another arrow struck his other arm.
Liu Yusheng's eyes bulged, his forehead drenched in cold sweat. Then more arrows hit his legs, the pain so intense he blacked out.
"Fucking hell, playing dead, are you?" Er Gouzi walked over, unzipped his pants without hesitation, and pissed a steaming stream onto Liu Yusheng's face.
Seeing no sign of him waking, Er Gouzi chambered a round in his rifle and shot Liu Yusheng in the thigh.
*Ahh...* The unconscious Liu Yusheng jolted upright, screaming in agony.
*Bang...* Er Gouzi slammed the rifle butt into his face, shutting him up.
"Didn't expect to end up in my hands, did you, you bastard? Tell me how you want to die. If it's not too much, I might grant it."
Liu Yusheng screamed in terror, "Liu Er Gou, you can't kill me! My sister is now the wife of the second-in-command of Tiangang Stronghold. If you kill me, Tiangang won't let you off!"
"Screw that." Er Gouzi cursed and fired another shot into Liu Yusheng's other leg.
Threatening him with Tiangang Stronghold at a time like this? Ridiculous. "What was that? I didn't catch it. Say it again?" Er Gouzi chambered another round, aiming the muzzle at Liu Yusheng's crotch.
Killing this scumbag outright would be too easy. He wanted to make him suffer before putting a bullet in his head.
"Brother Gou, please, let me go! We don't have that deep a grudge. Doing this will bring you bad karma—"
"Karma my ass!" Liu Tiezhu cut him off, firing an arrow into his thigh. "You've used Zhang Jingyang to screw me over multiple times, you bastard, and you say there's no grudge? You think I didn't know? Let me tell you—I knew all along. And that fight between the Tiangang bandits and the horse thieves? I planned that too."
"You... you..." Liu Yusheng pointed at Liu Tiezhu, unable to speak, before coughing up blood.
He had thought his schemes were flawless, treating Liu Tiezhu and the others like pawns. But he was the real pawn, too stupid to see it.
"Just kill me," Liu Yusheng said, giving up and closing his eyes.
"Die? Not that easy. You tried to screw me over, so get ready to suffer." Er Gouzi laughed coldly and shot another bullet into Liu Yusheng's leg.
Liu Yusheng writhed in pain, glaring venomously at Er Gouzi.
*Whoosh...* An arrow hit his arm, twisting his face in agony.
*Bang...* Another gunshot blew Liu Yusheng's balls to pieces.
He lay on the ground, writhing wildly, begging Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi to end it quickly.
*Bang...* Another shot turned his dick into pulp.
Under this unbearable torture, Liu Yusheng broke. "Give me a quick death, and I'll tell you about a bandit supply depot."
At this point, he didn't care about dragging his sister Liu Ruyi into it. He just wanted the pain to stop.