My lord, spare his life!

Anyone who comes to Guan Si to reason with him will be killed by Guan Si.

"You're such a nuisance, all sorts of cats and dogs bother me, are you useless?"

Guan Si not only killed people, but he also cursed them.

Zeng Sheng, feeling coldly glared at and scolded by him, momentarily doubted his own life and felt it hanging by a thread. He then chuckled awkwardly, "After all, we're colleagues, and I can't let it go. The general is awe-inspiring and has the air of thunder. Only those who would plead for personal gain and engage in sophistry would be intimidated. Only the general can... shut them up."

At this point, Zeng Shengdu realized he had made a lame joke, because the bodies of his comrades lying in pools of blood were still warm.

It's not just a temporary silence; it's a lifetime of silence.

When Guan Si committed murder, the other families who wanted to seek justice were all frightened into stopping their actions and letting their shops be sealed off—whether it was the shops' livelihood or those people, who was more important than their own lives?

"Parents, should our family also lay low for a while?"

"Avoid the limelight? Avoid what limelight?"

"It's about that group of people... who vandalized and destroyed things everywhere."

The man dared not speak too directly, fearing that someone might overhear him. He had heard that the outsider surnamed Guan ostensibly condoned his men's extortion and robbery of merchants, but in reality, he was robbing the merchants' owners. Since he also owned several businesses, he figured it was better to have his servants close the shops for a while than to have them extorted.

The parent frowned upon hearing this. With so many businesses operating in the family, she couldn't guarantee everything was problem-free: "Stop all food-related businesses for now and have your staff conduct a self-inspection. If there are no problems, great. But if there are, destroy the evidence. Don't give anyone a handle against you..."

The man nodded in agreement.

He thought of the notices posted by the prefectural government, and the more he thought about it, the more frightened and indignant he became: "Those people will stop at nothing to extort money, how could they throw such dirty water on people? They said that the wine in their taverns was laced with arsenic, and that the honey sold by some vendors was alum honey, made by mixing alum water with sugar water... Aren't these all products of the local estates?"

He brought two estates with him when he entered the family.

One of the places had beekeeping. Farmers would go into the mountains to find wild beehives, use thick smoke to drive away the bees, and repeatedly harvest honey without harming the colony. Every year, they could send over a lot of honey; the surplus was sold to shops. Where would they find those terrifying and horrifying honey-making methods?

He also repeatedly asked the farm manager about it.

The manager swore to heaven that he had not done anything so heinous.

Therefore, it can be seen that—

The turmoil of the past few days is all just an excuse for thieves to extort money!

The parent wanted to nod in agreement, but when she saw the account book next to the man, she inadvertently noticed that it listed how many kilograms of honey the shop sold in a year. A vein throbbed on her forehead, and the words she was about to say stuck in her throat—a farm only has a dozen or twenty beehives, and an annual production of about two hundred kilograms is considered a bumper year.

After deducting what you use for your own consumption, how many kilograms are left that you can sell?

The family's shop sold over a thousand catties of goods to locals and to people from other places. This number seemed very strange.

The parents silently looked away, but another thought arose in their minds—no, this shop must be closed, and all the accounts from previous years must be destroyed to prevent any evidence from being left behind.

The couple each harbored their own secrets.

A short while later, footsteps were heard outside the door.

One of the retainers requested an audience.

This retainer came from a poor background but was eloquent and persuasive, and had become the most trusted person in the family in recent years. Hearing that the man urgently needed to see her, she let him in without hesitation. Only after seeing him did she notice the barely concealed panic on his face. She couldn't help but think of the recent turmoil and worried that the retainer was also seeking her help regarding the shop's business.

Just as he was thinking about how to refuse, the retainer spoke first.

Good news, the retainer didn't come to plead for mercy.

Bad news: they're here to tip you off.

"What did you say—"

The parents were shocked and bewildered, and countless thoughts flashed through their minds in an instant.

She swallowed nervously.

After a long while, he heard his own voice say, "Don't make this public. Take the person to a secret room in secret, and don't let anyone else know."

What is meant to be will be; what is meant to be will be.

During the short wait, she experienced firsthand what it meant to feel like she was sitting on pins and needles, and to feel like each day was an eternity. Sometimes she would drink tea because her mouth was dry, and other times she would look up anxiously, her eyes fixed on the doorway.

After a long while, the door creaked open.

When the two met, they both felt as if they had been separated by a lifetime.

"Sister-in-law—"

A mournful cry came from the newcomer.

She snapped out of her daze and rushed forward to help the person up.

Why do you look like this?

"It's a long story, all because of the cunning of the bandits." After suffering a defeat, they had to hide and flee at home, like stray dogs. Thinking of this, their sorrow deepened. "Are my family and friends alright?"

"Of course it's good. We're all worried about you since you've been out of contact with us." She said this half-truthfully, partly to reassure the other person and partly to remind them not to make any requests that would put her in a difficult position, which was also for the sake of the whole family.

The other party may not have grasped this subtle hint, or they may have, but the weight of their entire family is less than that of others.

He still spoke up: "There's something I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you with, sister-in-law."

Her heart skipped a beat: "What is it?"

"I wonder if my sister-in-law could help me contact those who are dissatisfied with the bandits' tyranny? The army is short of food, and slaughtering warhorses alone won't last long. We must not let the bandits take over our territory."

"this--"

"But it's inconvenient?"

"It's not that you're unwilling, sister-in-law, it's just that each family doesn't have much surplus grain right now... The previous granaries were built with funds raised by each family, as you know." She didn't answer directly, a cold sweat breaking out on her back. "If we raise more, I'm afraid we'll alert the enemy..."

She tried to politely decline.

When her gaze met the other person's suddenly cold expression, she became even more wary: "But don't worry, I'll definitely find a way to solve this. Today, I'll sound out the other families."

Grain can accumulate over time.

Bringing more people into the water can also spread the risk.

"Phew—then I'll trouble you, sister-in-law, to help me make a match."

The wind and rain were dark and gloomy, and the night wind was cold.

A wisp of black mist, as thin as a spider's thread and barely visible to the naked eye, silently slipped away from the shadows in the corner of the wall, drifting out of the courtyard along the ground and through the crack in the door, unnoticed by anyone. Even if they did notice, they would only have thought it was because the night breeze was a bit chilly.

"Waaah—"

The black mist drifted up the wall pillars to a rooftop.

Finally, it turned into a blackish-gray wolf cub in Guan Si's palm.

Guan Si gently stroked its slightly coarse wolf fur.

He asked, "What's wrong?"

Kui Mulang whimpered, his voice rising and falling in pitch.

Guan Si listened quietly to Kui Mulang's report, his already calm eyes growing even darker and more unfathomable. After a long while, he let out a sneer: "The old man is hanging himself, tired of living."

Perfect timing, let's take this opportunity to send a group of people on their way.

"Easter Egg Bro still loves squatting on the roof." Guan Si was about to get up when a familiar female voice suddenly came from behind him, "Is there any special significance to this spot? It's one thing to squat there on a calm, rainless night, but today it's both windy and rainy."

This isn't how you be a bohemian intellectual.

Guan Si suddenly turned around.

A strange-looking boy was crouching in what should have been an empty spot. His appearance was extremely ordinary, with no distinctive features—the kind of boy you'd easily lose in a crowd. However, the moment he spoke, it sounded damnably familiar. Guan Si shoved his half-drawn sword back into its sheath, annoyed, "Why are you back again?"

Zhang Yang said, "Come back and close the net."

If she doesn't have any tasks to do, she won't bother to move an inch.

Guan Si initially didn't understand what "closing the net" meant, but then he suddenly remembered the message sent back by the Kui Mulang avatar he had released. He seemed to realize something: "You know that remnant force is coming to procure supplies?"

Zhang Yang nodded: "I know, so I want to see who has the audacity to oppose me and is so rebellious."

Anyone who opposes her will be punished!

"How did you manage to track the movements of that army?"

"Oh, they bribed a few cowards who were afraid of dying."

He Zhi and his group brought back not only the corpses of military officers, but also some captured personal guards. Xiao Sui then used a few of them as spies, releasing them to infiltrate the remaining enemy forces. She accurately monitored the movements of the enemy remnants and knew their plans.

"Xiuying suggested we use a counter-strategy, letting them make contact slowly, and targeting whoever secretly provided the grain. Once they had done enough, we could close in and catch them like turtles in a jar."

Guan Si: "Even catching a turtle in a jar requires men and horses."

"So, that's why I came to find you?"

If troops were to be redeployed from the battlefield to secretly follow the remnants of the enemy, the process would be too lengthy and easily detected by enemy scouts, potentially alerting the enemy. However, if the troops stationed in Zongren County were to be divided, the enemy would have no time to react.

They can also eliminate any potential threats remaining in Zongren County.

That's killing two birds with one stone!

Guan Si sneered: "Use people when you need them, discard them when you don't."

Zhang Yang frowned, puzzled: "What do you mean by that?"

Guan Si: "..."

Zhang Yang whistled, and Zhang Daji, covered in dark blue feathers, landed hovering in mid-air: "Look, my new pet. Look at its feathers, its sleek body, what a slender and beautiful child."

Guan Si's face grew even colder, and he turned and left.

Zhang Yang: "...What's wrong with Easter Egg Bro?"

She and Zhang Daji looked at each other, bewildered.

When Zhang Yang found Guan Si again, he had a fluffy little ball nestled in his arms. Zhang Da Gu covered his head with his wings and buried it in his former master's broad, powerful chest. Guan Si still had a cold face, but his gaze toward Zhang Yang was even colder.

Zhang Daji stood with his hands on his hips, pressed close to Zhang Yang.

"...What exactly happened?"

Guan Si didn't answer, but Zhang Da Gu reacted violently, its feathers instantly bristling. It leaped out of Guan Si's arms, perched on its former master's shoulder, and began hurling insults at the new, wretched bird. Zhang Yang couldn't understand a word, only that the two birds were chattering incessantly, guessing their words were probably quite heated. If Zhang Yang hadn't been there, the two star beasts might have started a full-blown fight on the spot.

Guan Si said, "You shouldn't have touched a bird it knows."

Zhang Yang: "..."

Unlike Guan Si's somewhat aloof and cold personality, Zhang Dagu enjoys making friends. Whether it's the bird kept by the military general of the Imperial Throne City or the bird that frequently travels between Wangqi and Dongxian County, it has always shown goodwill by offering its new friends its favorite birdseed.

result--

The new friend became the new master and the new favorite.

Can we tolerate this?

Even humans can't tolerate it, let alone a bird.

"What do you mean, 'painted nails'? I didn't paint my nails..."

Guan Si exposed Zhang Yang: "Don't play dumb."

Zhang Yang said awkwardly, "I didn't know they knew each other."

"You don't even know them, yet you're already rushing to find new birds?" Guan Si's words carried a hint of barely perceptible complaint, it was unclear whether he was referring to the birds or the person. The new birds were acquired by Zhang Dagu after Zhang Yang ordered him to lose weight, what was the bird thinking? Would it think that it had eaten too much and gotten too fat, and that Zhang Yang was disliking it? Zhang Dagu was heartbroken, it would take a lot of bird food to appease him, "You appease him yourself."

Zhang Yang: "..."

Some were anxiously holding meetings to procure food, while others were struggling to feed the birds. After Zhang Dagu was barely appeased, it brought Zhang Yang another unfamiliar bird the next day. The bird stretched out its claws, sometimes pointing at the unfamiliar bird, sometimes patting the table with its claws.

"Coo coo coo coo..."

Zhang Yang's eyes were practically glued to the strange bird.

"What did Big Gu say?"

The strange bird stood on the same perch as Zhang Dagu and Zhang Daji, and flapped its wings: "Dagu said friend, friend."

Zhang Yang exclaimed in surprise, "You can talk!"

Strange bird: "Speak, speak."

Zhang Yang extended an invitation: "Little one, want to come with me?"

Zhang Dagu was so angry that he opened his beak and gently bit Zhang Yang's finger. Guan Si, seeing that she was incorrigible, said, "Dagu brought his friend to show you to tell you that this bird cannot be kept, not to let you fall in love with every bird you see. You've only had this bird named Zhang Daji for a few days. Besides, this bird is kept by the garrison commander of the Imperial Throne City. It is the most important link in the entire lookout and surveillance. You'd better not try to snatch it."

Zhang Yang: "...Tch."

She looked at the unfamiliar bird with a hint of regret.

"But it can talk."

Guan Si: "...He is fickle and cold-hearted."

Zhang Yang sighed and could only give up for the time being.

She desperately needed an outlet for her dissatisfaction and regret.

The day after that, they found the sucker.

"Yesterday, I tried to gauge Zeng Sansheng's intentions, but he was determined to climb the social ladder by clinging to the bandits and refused to help." The granary theft and the rampant price gouging by local grain merchants were also addressed by Guan Si's men hanging them at the city gates, creating an atmosphere of extreme anxiety within the prefecture capital at the mere mention of grain. They dared not make any significant moves at this critical juncture, fearing being targeted by Guan Si and his henchmen. "...Therefore, local grain cannot be obtained; the higher-ups are watching closely. With these tokens, you can try to obtain some from the estates within Bodu Prefecture. Although it's not much, it should be enough to support your breakout."

The group gathered in a secret place to discuss the matter. Since they were related by marriage, they couldn't bring themselves to completely sever ties, so they could only each contribute a small amount.

Seeing this result, the messenger knew that there could not be any more.

He sighed deeply, bowed, and thanked them sincerely, but whether it was genuine gratitude or resentment he couldn't show, only he knew. After the messenger left, the others sat silently for a while, then asked, "Do you think the thief can be driven away?"

The others remained silent.

"Why are you asking them this question instead of asking me?"

The room was so quiet that only the sound of breathing could be heard.

Suddenly, a strange female voice rang out.

Before anyone could react, one of them suddenly felt an icy hand cover his shoulder. The biting cold penetrated his thin summer shirt, seeping into his bones and chilling him to the bone.

The woman's voice sounded again from above his head.

"Just ask me, and I can tell you, right?"

The voice was soft and gentle, yet it carried a chilling coldness.

Everyone froze, a chill ran down their spines, and they looked as if they had seen a ghost in broad daylight, with every hair on their body standing on end.

His teeth were chattering uncontrollably, and his eyes were moving slowly and stiffly.

Until his gaze fell upon the figure behind his companion.

No, it's more terrifying than a vengeful ghost.

As the doors and windows closed, the last glimmer of light in the room was consumed. In the darkness, dozens of pairs of eerie green eyes opened simultaneously.

These are all incarnations of Kui Mulang.

Realizing this, the faces of the several people turned ashen.

Kui Mulang, Guan Si.

Zhang Yang looked with satisfaction at the [Intimidate] debuff hanging under each red-named health bar, the negative status layers still stacking up. He instructed Kui Mulang's avatar: "Keep an eye on them, and deal with them one by one when they return. If they dare to run, kill them."

These people aren't very brave.

Zhang Yang still couldn't understand one thing: "If he's so cowardly and spineless, why does he dare to secretly oppose me?"

Guan Si was dissatisfied with her soft-heartedness.

"Why not just kill them directly?"

His Kui Mulang star illusion is not a jailer.

Zhang Yang said, "Isn't it too crude to just kill them directly? Shouldn't we at least empty their pockets before killing them? I looked at their chat history, and some of them weren't genuinely trying to aid the enemy, and the severity of their actions varied... Perhaps we could extract more money from them."

"Are you short of money?"

Zhang Yang said, "I don't lack money, but I don't want people I don't like to have money. Even if I'm going to die, I want to be a poor wretch."

She spoke in a serious tone, yet her words were chilling.

Guan Si turned his face away: "That's unnecessary."

"...I think your nickname can have another suffix. Just 'Easter Egg Stubborn Bully' isn't enough; we need to add 'Puzzling' as well." Zhang Yang felt that the human world wasn't so wonderful after all, because analyzing and deciphering things was too much trouble. For example, right now, she had no idea what Guan Si had been up to these past two days.

Is it because his favorite killing activities are not available?

Zhang Yang patted his firm chest.

"Alright, I'll give you plenty of relaxation tonight."

A thousand players engaged in a thrilling PvP battle!

Guan Si: "..."

The messenger returned with the token to report, and the leading military officer, upon hearing this outcome, angrily smashed a stone beside him, his face filled with shame and resentment: "...Besides this, what else did they say?"

The messenger closed his eyes and shook his head heavily: "It's gone."

The strategist said, "They don't want to get involved in anything."

If they truly wanted to help, it would be more discreet for each household to send their stewards to the estates. No matter how tightly Guan Si managed things, he couldn't possibly keep a close eye on everyone's internal affairs. Simply sending them tokens to procure grain clearly showed he didn't want to offend either side.

"Should we still go and get the grain?"

"Take it, why not take it?"

"I'm worried that some of them might..."

"Would they secretly betray us and sell us to thieves?"

"It's not that I'm not worried about it."

Only a few days have passed since the capital of Zongren County was attacked and captured by bandits. According to the messenger's report, life in the city continues as usual, and the common people show no resistance to the bandits. Without the covert efforts of local forces, it would have been much harder for them to be accepted.

They had reason to suspect something was amiss, but now, with no other options and desperately needing the supplies to survive, they had no choice but to believe it. Everyone sighed inwardly.

Suddenly—

The leading military officer frowned, his expression hardening: "What was that sound?"

He suddenly stood up and looked around.

The remnants were hiding in a well-hidden location, where any suspicious individuals would not escape their surveillance. The sounds they heard were either wild animals in the mountains or the ordinary rustling of leaves in the evening breeze. The others listened intently but found nothing.

The leading military officer said, "That's not right!"

That commotion was—

Howling wolves!

? ?|??w?`)

Oh no, this is a huge financial blow! Several cousins ​​and siblings said they would take turns treating us, and this Saturday it's Mushroom's turn. I can't bear to look at the bill.