He changed Tiwat

"Hehe, do you want to try my strength?" Timor was not convinced. Radomir was just a sergeant, but because he had been in the army for a long time, he often acted like the big brother among them.

Radomir clearly felt that Timor needed to be taught a lesson, and he clenched his fists, which were as big as sand bowls, and said, "I'm telling you, Timor, you might need to take a beating to wake you up."

"Alright, come on! Let me kick you a couple of times too!" Timor provocatively kicked a pebble next to him toward Radomir.

Just before the pebble was about to hit Radomir's face, Anton stepped forward, grabbed the pebble, and threw it to the ground.

"Quiet down! Do you want to fight? If you want to fight, go down there and fight! Fight those things that are coming out of the mud! Go on an empty stomach!" He finally lost his temper.

The noisy soldiers quieted down.

Anton pulled his hat down low and glared fiercely at his subordinates: "If we want to survive, if we want to leave this place, we must unite! Don't make me repeat myself again, understand?"

Timor's face, wrapped in bandages, was expressionless, while Radomir turned his head away. Only Danila stood at attention and gave a military salute.

Anton clapped his hands. "One, two, slogan! Who else but us!"

“If not me, then who!” Danila shouted.

"If not me, then who..." Radomir's voice was weak and feeble.

"..." Timor didn't even open his mouth.

Anton glared at Timor for two seconds, probably thinking that causing internal strife in front of outsiders would indeed damage the prestige of the Fools, and finally gave up his plan to teach Timor a lesson.

He adjusted his hat, quickly put on a slightly stiff smile, and walked towards Han Fulai and the others, switching his language to Liyue: "Uh, hehe... I'm Sergeant Anton Melnikov, the acting company commander of the Ninth Company. Just call me Anton. How shall I address you, my friends?"

Although there were many disagreements among them in this small team, there was one thing they all agreed on: they believed in their comrades' abilities.

On the battlefield, they were people who could cover each other's backs. Since Timor brought these men with him, it at least meant that Timor believed these men would not pose a threat to his comrades and were "friends" with whom he could communicate. Timor's attitude was indeed terrible, but Anton knew that Timor was a warrior who would rather die than surrender.

Timor, showing no mercy, retorted sharply: "Antoha, they are merchants trading with the Romansky. This is Boss Han, and the two next to him are his henchmen, Lao Jiang and Xiao Lan. They brought food with them and are here to ask you for money!"

After saying that, he strode past Anton with his head held high, deliberately bumping into Anton's shoulder as if to provoke him. Then, in a provocative tone, he added to Anton, "Be careful, they have the Eye of God, they're stronger than me."

Ye Lan naturally heard these words, and she gave a cold smile without saying a word. Jiang Xue, on the other hand, casually stroked the bladeless sword at her waist.

Han Fulai put on a professional smile again and warmly shook Anton's hand: "Company Commander Anton, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

When he heard someone call him "Company Commander Anton," Anton felt a little uncomfortable and awkwardly tugged at the corner of his mouth: "Hello, Mr. Han, just call me Anton. After all, I'm just an agent, haha. As you can see, we're a little... cough cough, out of sorts, since we've encountered a small setback recently."

"Hmph... 'A minor setback,' you've learned that from the captain quite well..." Radomir mocked from behind in a voice that Anton could definitely hear.

Anton turned around and yelled in the winter language, "The captain isn't here, and he's probably already dead! I'm the company commander! Save your energy and go back to your tent!"

"Tch..." Radomir clicked his tongue and walked into the tent on his own.

Ye Lan narrowed her eyes; she believed this guy was using the argument as an excuse to get a weapon.

Jiang Xue calmly stroked the hilt of his sword. If he wanted, these four fools would be no more than four swords in his hands.

Although Han Fulai couldn't understand what they were saying, he noticed that Timor had returned to Anton's back, and that Danila looked somewhat nervous. It seemed that the other party still harbored some wariness.

But he pretended not to know, still wearing a warm smile, and clapped his hands twice.

"Old Jiang, Xiao Lan, bring the goods out for Company Commander An Dong to see."

"Old Jiang" and "Little Lan," the two "followers," expressionlessly pulled out two large bags of dry food and drinking water from the Eye of God. Ye Lan even took out some commonly used healing medicines in Liyue, such as healing essential oils produced in Bubulu.

When Anton saw this, his two little eyes practically gleamed with green light.

He couldn't wait to go forward and get the goods, but Han Fulai stretched out his hand to block his way.

"Wait a minute, let's stick to the old saying: cash on delivery."

With Jiang Xue and Ye Lan around, Han Fulai wasn't worried at all about what trouble the Fools could cause. He even thought that a fight might break out later, so he'd better get the money first...

Anton nodded quickly, "I will give you all of our Mora!"

He turned around and shouted, "Radomir, bring out all our Mora!"

Radomir responded and came out of the tent carrying two large bags. After all, the Fools didn't have convenient things like paper money, and their pay was given by the bag.

Han Fulai casually tossed the Mora bag to Jiang Xue, and then had Jiang Xue give Anton a bag of dry rations.

“We’ll take these, but the quantity isn’t enough, is it?” Han Fulai rubbed his fingers together, making a gesture that was common throughout the entire Teyvat continent.

He didn't actually know what price the thieves and the Fools had agreed on, but even if he raised the price on the spot, the Fools couldn't do anything about it.

Anton looked slightly embarrassed—because they didn't know what price Romansky had agreed on, and they desperately needed food and medicine.

He made up his mind and said, "We still have some Mora here, but... those belong to Wofka and his group. They've gone out to find supplies and haven't returned yet, so we can't make a decision on our own... Could you friends wait a little while?"

Han Fulai turned around and exchanged glances with Jiang Xue and Ye Lan. The two of them clearly had no objections; if they were to arrest people, it would be best to catch them all at once.

"Okay," Han Fulai agreed.

"Great!" Anton was overjoyed. "Timor, Danila, bring out our stored 'fire water,' let's have a tea party to entertain our friends!"

Chapter 221 A Flammable Tea Party (Bonus Chapter 10/20)

Judging by the time, it was now dinner time outside the Layered Rock Abyss, so Han Fulai and his group ate with the Fools.

Since it's a tea party, tea is of course essential.

For people born on the winter solstice, they can skip meals, but they cannot do without "fire water." Drinking "fire water" is the same as drinking oolong tea for them; flammable oolong tea is still oolong tea, after all!

Although this army of Fools lacked food and clothing, they never lacked "fire and water." The Fools' logistical tradition was to prepare large quantities of "fire and water" for their soldiers.

"Fire and water" can quench thirst, relieve pain, warm the body, disinfect, and heal wounds. When necessary, it can also be used as fuel or even as currency for barter. It is an indispensable item for the Fools, from home and travel to murder and cover-ups. When Anton and his men evacuated the old camp, they didn't even bother to move the tents; they prioritized taking all the "fire and water."

Although there were no tables or barbecue grills at the campsite, everyone sat around the fire, drinking and chatting, creating a unique and hearty atmosphere.

Although Han Fulai had never drunk such strong liquor as "fire water" before, he was, after all, a person protected by immortal power, so drinking a little wouldn't be a big problem. Almost half a day had passed since he broke through the black mist barrier with all his might, and the remnants of the demon god within his body were like a nuclear reactor, continuously restoring his strength. He had now recovered about 30% of his usual level.

Jiang Xue was someone who ate and drank at Wangshu Inn all the time. He was also a former soldier with a high alcohol tolerance. A mere bottle of "fire water" would only make him slightly tipsy.

Ye Lan's drinking capacity surprised everyone present.

Perhaps in every world, there is a tradition of pouring drinks for girls at the dinner table, so the Fools were very enthusiastic in pouring drinks for Yelan.

Ye Lan claimed she couldn't drink, but when she actually did, she was much more hearty than the men. She would pick up the bottle and chug it down, and afterwards she would remain calm, as if she had just drunk oolong tea. It made people marvel at how she was truly a hidden talent.

Of course, Ye Lan was telling the truth; she really didn't like drinking. But not liking to drink didn't mean she couldn't drink. Apart from occasionally having a few drinks with Ning Guang, Ye Lan had many opportunities to drink while gathering information—especially when she disguised herself as a burly man to enter taverns to extract information. If she couldn't drink, she would have been exposed long ago.

For her, drinking is just an essential skill for her profession. Not only can she drink, she can even appreciate the nuances. For example, she can tell you exactly which winery in Zhidong produced the bottle of wine she just drank.

In addition, she also knew that there was such a clause in the "Fools' Vanguard Training Manual"—

[Appendix 4-4, Article 32: Sharing food and information appropriately can shut up any inquiries.]

Clearly, this group of fools is putting the instructions in the training manual into practice.

—But the three people present didn't have such small appetites that they could be knocked out by just two gulps of "fire and water".

Anton seemed to be infected by the atmosphere of the "tea party" and reminisced with Han Fulai and the others about the comrades who used to sit together and share "hot water".

Just a few days ago, there was a girl with them who could generously chug down a bottle of "firewater" in one go. Her name was Katarina Schneitzfna, and she was a "lightning fire mage".

Their Ninth Company, officially named the "Ninth Special Forces Company," came to the Lava Pit in Liyue a year ago to participate in disaster relief operations due to the "Protection Agreement" between Winter and Liyue. The company has a strength of sixty-four men, but all officers of the rank of lieutenant and above, including the company commander, have either died in battle or gone missing. Therefore, the most senior sergeant, Anton, took over the position of "acting company commander."

Currently, he, as the "acting company commander," has no more than eight subordinates, four of whom are still working elsewhere.

The two vanguard squads directly commanded by the company commander consisted of a total of sixteen men, while their squad was originally supposed to have eight men.

Company commander and squad leader, Thunder Hammer Vanguard Army, Captain;

Anton, Vanguard of the Wind Fist Army, Sergeant First Class;

Timor, debt collector, sergeant;

Radomir, Ice Gun Heavy Guard, Sergeant;

Danila, a guerrilla soldier from the Rock Envoy, sergeant;

Romansky, musket heavy guard, corporal;

Katarina, Lightning Sorcerer, Corporal;

Nikolai, musketeer guerrilla, corporal.

The other squad was led by Lieutenant Fadeka, but that squad was in a worse state, with only three men left, including Corporal Mashkov.

Because Corporal Mashkov, whom Anton had previously referred to as "Wovka," had a minor disagreement with them (Timor interjects at this point: "I told you on the way here, the two of them got into a fight." Anton taps him on the head with his wine glass: "Can't food shut you up?"), the remaining members of the other squad were taken out today to search for food.

Captain and Corporal Nikolai went missing during an exploration mission more than two weeks ago. Since Corporal Katharina and Corporal Nikolai grew up together in "House of Hearths," Katharina had a heated argument with Anton and then said in a fit of pique that she would leave the team to find her brother.

Despite Anton and the others' best efforts to stop her, they couldn't persuade Katarina otherwise. In the end, they left most of their supplies to Katarina and led the remaining team members to continue the mission—until Romansky passed away the day before yesterday.

In this situation, even the strongest will could not withstand the combined injuries and lack of food and clothing of everyone. Anton knew the mission was unsustainable, and he didn't want the last remaining members of the Ninth Company to starve to death in this abyss of rock, so his choice was to retreat. Once Corporal Mashkov and the others returned, Anton planned to discuss with them the possibility of evacuating everyone from the abyss.

As everyone arrived, while they were drinking "fire water" and enjoying their rare cooked food, an angry shout came from the entrance of the cave: "Anton, you traitor! Have you forgotten how to pronounce 'secret'?! And you, Liyue people! Hand over all the food!"

Han Fulai looked toward the source of the sound and saw an angry Thunder Hammer Vanguard soldier charging toward them. Behind him were a musket guerrilla and a rock envoy guerrilla, who had also raised their weapons.

The one roaring was none other than Corporal Mashkov, whom we just mentioned. He was as tall as Anton, but his face was slightly swollen from hunger. The thunder hammer in his hand was obviously a bit too heavy for him now, and he seemed to be struggling just to lift it.

Anton quickly stood up, waving his hands to explain to Mashkov, "Wait, Vovka, my good brother! Please let us explain, we don't need to make a big fuss..."

However, Mashkov completely ignored him, his gaze fixed on Han Fulai and the other two—and the bags of food beside them.

Chapter 222 I Don't Like Your Hat

Clearly, Han Fulai's Moonsea Pavilion uniform misled Mashkov, who thought that Anton and the others had betrayed Winter and sold information to the Liyue people for food—of course, in essence, this was not a misunderstanding.

Han Fulai and Ye Lan were indeed planning to take this opportunity to extract more information from the Fools, whether by deception, theft, or violence... as long as they could get the information.

If these Fools soldiers had only started their missions after this year, their training manuals would certainly have included Han Fulai's name and portrait; and if they were under the command of the Executor "Young Master" Dadalia or "Rich Man" Pantalone, these two Executors would certainly have warned them to be careful of Yelan... Unfortunately, this Ninth Company, which had gone to the bottom of the Abyss of Layered Rocks a year ago, had indeed never heard of these two villains.

At least the few fools enjoying the long-awaited food still regarded Han Fulai and his group as great benefactors. These rough men of winter had a rather simple value system—those who dared to drink "fire water" with them could not be bad people, and bad people would vomit out all their bad intentions after a few cups of "fire water".

Anton quickly stepped in front of Mashkov, trying to stop his impulsive behavior, but someone pulled him back.

It was Han Fulai.

Mashkov came with great force, but Han Fulai was not afraid at all.

He still wore that business-like smile: "Corporal Mashkov, if you want some food, I'd be happy to give you this bag of rations for free."

He pointed to the bag of dry food next to him.

When Han Fulai said this, not only did Mashkov stop what he was doing, but even Anton was stunned. He didn't expect that this Mr. Han would be so easy to talk to.

However, Han Fulai chuckled again, "But I'm the kind of person who responds better to gentle persuasion than force. If you beg me sincerely, I might soften and give in, but if you threaten me with a weapon, I won't be happy. I'm giving you one more chance, Corporal Mashkov, put down your weapon and let's talk this over."

"Hmph!" Mashkov snorted heavily, glaring at Anton, clearly assuming that Anton was begging for food from the people of Liyue.

However, since Mashkov could obtain food without resorting to force, he didn't necessarily want to take it by force, especially since he didn't have much strength left.

But he remained arrogant and continued to interrogate us: "According to the agreement with the higher-ups, you Liyue were supposed to provide us with supplies, but you betrayed us and cut off the supply without our consent, causing the deaths of so many of our comrades! Now you suddenly come out pretending to be good people, who knows what evil intentions you have?"

The air suddenly turned cold at Mashkov's words—the biggest conflict that Anton and the others had been trying so hard to avoid mentioning had been bluntly exposed by Mashkov.

Timor and the others stopped eating, unsure whether to eat or not... They knew that "Boss Han" was accompanied by two "followers" with divine eyes, so his identity must be extraordinary—but who would care about such things when there was food to eat? They didn't come to the Laminaria to be enemies of the Liyue people.

Now that Mashkov has said this, it is a scathing remark, both to them and to Han Fulai and his group.

Han Fulai remained all smiles. "I see. It's not unreasonable for you to have this idea. It's just that there are many reasons behind it, and it's a long story... But..."

Han Fulai raised his hand and pointed to the top of Mashkov's head.

“I don’t like your hat, so… Lao Jiang, Xiao Lan, do it.”

The two "followers" stood up silently.

With a flick of her wrist, Ye Lan revealed the blue "Yuan Tu Ling Long Dice".

A series of shimmering water lines appeared around her, like a curtain of water, yet they could not conceal her graceful figure. With a flick of her finger, several water arrows shot out from the water curtain, striking Mashkov and the other two Fools soldiers.

Before the three could react, they found their hands empty; their weapons, including the thunder hammer, staff, and musket, had all been knocked away by the water arrows.

Jiang Xue, on the other hand, was much more direct. He simply swung his bladeless sword, still sheathed, like a club, striking each of the three men on the back of the head. In less than three seconds, the three Fools soldiers collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

From beginning to end, let alone resist, these three Fools soldiers couldn't even utter a single cry.

Despite suffering from hunger and injuries, Mashkov and his men were still elite soldiers who could be selected for the special forces. Yet they were defeated without any resistance... The strength shown by Jiang Xue and Ye Lan was too terrifying.

Even though Timor had warned his comrades that they were very strong, Anton and his men were shocked to realize that if they really fought, their fate would be no different from that of Mashkov and his men.

Han Fu looked at An Dong, his face still bearing that business-like smile.

Food can only be used to obtain some information; the other part requires force. Carrots and whips are equally effective against the stubborn mules of the Fools.

Mashkov and his men were given a beating for their comrades; otherwise, according to the plan, after the "tea party" was over, it would have been time to grab Anton and his men and beat them up.

"Wait! I can apologize for Mashkov and the others! I'm really sorry!" Anton bowed deeply to Han Fulai, but for someone over 1.9 meters tall, the gesture looked somewhat pitiful and comical.

"Our command network experienced a minor... glitch... please forgive us..."