Courtyard House: Home Alone

In less than half an hour, he arrived outside the gate of the stronghold. Along the way, he also cleared out two hidden sentries.

He didn't act immediately, but instead carefully checked the situation inside the stronghold again, and found that apart from the two sentries at the gate, the other bandits were having dinner in their respective rooms.

Above the door of the middle room hung a wooden plaque with the words "Gathering Righteousness Hall" engraved on it. Inside the Gathering Righteousness Hall, seven people were playing drinking games at a table. The one sitting in the main seat, Neng, was probably in his forties. He had a pointed face and a monkey-like appearance, no wonder he was called "Sky-Drilling Monkey".

At this moment, a burly man to his right approached with a wine bowl, saying, "Brother, we're holed up in these mountains, and all we catch are some rural women, they're disgusting to look at."

"Could...could you perhaps give me those two beauties I captured a couple of days ago to satisfy my craving?"

Drill Monkey glanced at him, a lewd smile on his face: "What's the rush? Those two women are college students from the city, with delicate skin and tender flesh, unlike the rough girls from the mountains."

"Once their family sends the ransom in a couple of days, it will naturally be given to you. But let me make this clear beforehand: if they get away before we get the ransom, I'll skin him alive!"

"Thank you, brother! Thank you, brother! Don't worry, brother, even if you gave them wings, they couldn't fly out of the warehouse in the back mountain." The burly man was overjoyed and quickly picked up his wine bowl and drank it all in one gulp. His fat face was practically beaming with joy.

The other bandits chimed in, spewing vulgarities and their own slurs, filling the hall with unbearable laughter.

Lin Yifan listened from outside, his gaze growing colder. He hadn't expected these bandits to not only rob people on the road but also kidnap women. A surge of anger rose within him. He had originally only wanted to wipe out this bandit hideout, but now it seemed these scumbags didn't deserve to live!

Without further hesitation, he instantly locked his mental energy onto the two sentries at the gate. The two sentries were leaning against the pillars of the gate, drinking and chatting idly, completely unaware of the approaching death.

Lin Yifan moved with lightning speed, like a shadow in the night, silently creeping towards the Hall of Righteousness. Behind him, the two bandit sentries lay lifeless on the ground.

He arrived quickly and silently outside the Hall of Righteousness, his steps as light as if they were weightless. The noise and smell of alcohol inside the Hall of Righteousness seeped through the crack in the door, creating a stark contrast with the silence outside.

Lin Yifan took a deep breath, suppressing the killing intent in his heart. His mental energy surged into the room like a tide, locking onto the seven bandits who were drunk and indulging in revelry.

"Bang!"

With a soft thud, Lin Yifan kicked open the not-so-sturdy wooden door of the Gathering Hall. Wood chips flew everywhere, and the sound of the bolt breaking was particularly jarring in the silent mountain stronghold.

The noise inside the house stopped abruptly, and the smiles on the faces of the seven bandits froze instantly. They all turned around in astonishment to look at the uninvited guests who had suddenly appeared at the door.

"Who goes there?!" Drill Monkey slammed his hand on the table, jumped up, and stared intently at Lin Yifan with his triangular eyes, his face filled with vigilance and anger. He had already drawn his Mauser pistol from his waist, the muzzle trembling as it pointed towards the door.

The other bandits also realized what was happening, and they all put down their wine bowls and frantically reached for the weapons around them—there were rifles, broadswords, and some even grabbed stools.

However, their movements appeared as slow as snails to Lin Yifan.

The instant they made a move, Lin Yifan moved.

He didn't use a gun; that would be too noisy, and using the bullets in his inventory on these beasts would be a waste. He chose a faster and silent method. His figure moved like a ghost through the cramped hall, the dagger in his hand gleaming with a cold light.

"Pfft!" "Pfft!"

The sounds of sharp blades piercing flesh rang out one after another, short and deadly.

The burly man who had just been begging the skydiving monkey for female college students had his throat slashed by a cold dagger before he could finish speaking. Blood gushed out like a fountain. His eyes widened, he made a hoarse sound, and his body went limp as he collapsed, knocking over the wine jar behind him. Wine mixed with blood flowed all over the ground.

Another bandit, who had just raised his rifle, had his wrist grabbed by Lin Yifan. With a crisp "crack," his wrist bone shattered, and the rifle slipped from his hand. Immediately afterward, a dagger mercilessly pierced his heart.

Although Drill Monkey reacted the fastest and raised his Mauser pistol, before his finger could pull the trigger, he felt a numbness in his wrist. The pistol had been snatched away by Lin Yifan with his mental power and fell to the ground with a clatter.

At the same time, a cold dagger was pressed against his neck.

"Who...who are you?!" Drill Monkey trembled all over, his drunkenness instantly sobering up. His face was drained of color, and his voice was trembling with sobs. All traces of his previous arrogance were gone.

He couldn't understand how this person, who looked like a child, could have such terrifying skills.

Lin Yifan did not answer him, his eyes as cold as ice. He lightly sliced ​​the Sky Monkey's neck with his dagger, and a fountain of blood gushed out.

The monkey instinctively tried to cover the spurting blood with its hands, but found that its hands were completely unresponsive. Its body felt as if all its strength had been drained, and it collapsed heavily to its knees.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end only a series of gurgling sounds of blood foam came out. His eyes stared at Lin Yifan unwillingly, and slowly lost their luster.

After dealing with the bandits in the Juyitang, Lin Yifan didn't linger. He knew there were other bandits in the stronghold, especially the abducted women who were still in the warehouse at the back of the mountain.

He had to deal with these bandits as soon as possible, then go to the back mountain to rescue the hostages who had been kidnapped and ensure their safety. After overhearing a conversation among the bandits, he used his mental power to locate the warehouse in the back mountain, where he found more than a dozen young women imprisoned.

His mental energy spread out again, scanning the entire stronghold like a radar. He discovered that, apart from the main hall, there were still quite a few bandits in the other rooms, but most of them were already completely drunk.

Lin Yifan showed no mercy to these people, swiftly dispatching them one by one like autumn leaves being swept away by the wind. He encountered no significant resistance whatsoever; these bandits, who usually swaggered and bullied others, were utterly vulnerable in the face of overwhelming power.

Soon, the entire stronghold fell into a deathly silence, with only Lin Yifan's light footsteps echoing in the empty courtyard. The air was thick with the stench of blood, which mingled with the smell of alcohol from the previous gathering hall, making one want to vomit.

Lin Yifan frowned, suppressing his discomfort, and headed towards the back mountain. The path to the back mountain was somewhat rugged, but guided by his spiritual power, he quickly found the cave that the bandits had used as a "warehouse".