Chapter 159: Your Doom

As a result, each dilapidated house was completely empty, with no sign of the villagers anywhere. The men accompanying the group were all puzzled. "Strange, where on earth did everyone go?"

"Everyone, spread out and search, but be extremely careful." Wujue led one of the men straight into the center of the village, and shortly after, they heard someone shouting for help.

"It's one of our brothers!" The man recognized the voice and hurried off to find him. Wujue, however, merely sneered and followed behind. A moment later, a figure flashed ahead, and his companion vanished into a nearby house.

When the two of them pushed the door open and stepped inside, there was no trace of anyone. The man shouted, "What in the world is going on? Are they playing Tunnel Warfare?"

No sooner had he finished grumbling than someone else began shouting outside. One after another, the men rushed off in pursuit, only to disappear completely, leaving none of them behind.

By the time only Wujue and that single companion remained, the man was thoroughly terrified. "This is it, we're done for! Has this place turned into a ghost village? If I'd known, I never would have come. Big brother, what do we do now?"

"What do we do?" Wujue reached out, pressed down on the man's shoulder, and smiled. "What do you think we should do?"

Suddenly, Wujue lifted the head of the bed to reveal a secret passage beneath it, shoved the man directly inside, and jumped in after him. The two of them slid all the way down, finally coming to a stop at the bottom of the tunnel.

Wujue pulled the fellow up by his collar and said, "Wake up and take a look at where your companions are."

The tunnel opened into a large air-raid shelter, where the villagers had gathered and tied up every single one of the men who had arrived earlier, without leaving a single one out.

The man snapped out of his daze as if waking from a nightmare and screamed, "You're in cahoots with them! No wonder..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Wujue kicked him, sending him stumbling forward into a tumble. "Who's in cahoots with them? I'm acting on behalf of heaven. You scoundrels of the South China Gang commit every imaginable evil; you deserved retribution long ago."

With that, Wujue grabbed the fellow by the scruff of his neck, tossing him into the center of the room as easily as if he were a child. The village chief and Zhuzi stepped forward and said, "Many thanks to you both. We've taken plenty of abuse from them over the years, and today we can finally settle the score and exact our revenge."

"What do you plan to do with them?" Wujue merely asked. He knew that at this point, there was practically no choice: either deal with these people once and for all, or play the naive savior and try to win them over.

These days, Wujue operated with even greater subtlety; he hoped to let these villagers dig themselves into a deep mess and then step in to clean it up himself.

Sure enough, Zhuzi shouted, "Kill them! Not a single one lives! Kill them all. They've always been utterly devoid of conscience and murdered many of our fellow villagers. Keeping them alive is just asking for trouble."

"That's right! We've suffered losses at their hands before, we can't afford to be soft-hearted again." Several villagers howled with excitement, worked up into a frenzy.

Little Han couldn't help but glance at Wujue from within the crowd, hesitating slightly. Wujue, however, simply frowned. Before he could utter a word, someone already grabbed a mallet and brought it down on a man with a heavy thud. Blood immediately gushed forth, staining the ground crimson.

The horrific sight instantly drove the rest of the villagers past the point of restraint. They swarmed forward, launching a brutal assault on the members of the South China Gang. Screams echoed ceaselessly through the space as some desperately begged Wujue for mercy: "Save us! We swear we'll quit the underworld for good, please, save us!"

Wujue knew full well that a single gesture from him could save these men, yet he deliberately delayed, waiting until only two or three of them remained untouched by the slaughter before rushing forward to block the attackers. "That's enough," he said. "At least one or two should be left alive. We still need someone to carry a message back and lure the rest of the South China Gang out."

"What, do we need to dig another tunnel and wage guerrilla warfare against the South China Gang?" Zhuzi, high on the adrenaline of murder, retorted, "There aren't many of them left anyway. We can strike while the iron is hot and charge right over there."

Wujue shook his head. "Charge? They still have plenty of weapons in their hands. What do you expect to use to fight them? If you ask me, we should use the same trick again." With a cold sneer, he hoisted the remaining captive by his side and turned to leave.

To his surprise, several villagers blocked his path and demanded, "You can't let them go! Letting a tiger return to the mountain invites endless trouble. These people must be beaten to death to avenge our fallen villagers."

Having tasted blood, these people had gone completely mad and were now actively opposing Wujue. Seeing this, Little Han darted forward in a blur of motion, spinning several villagers around in all directions before flashing in front of Wujue. "Cut it out," Little Han snapped. "Stop playing games. Did you really think we'd be afraid of you? We offered kind-hearted help, and this is how we get repaid?"

The village chief, being more worldly and experienced, hurried over to smooth things over. "Honored heroes, please don't take offense. We've simply suffered under Boss Wu's bullying for far too long. You have no idea how they treated us back then—seizing women, plundering property, committing every atrocity imaginable, and grabbing over half the village's land while refusing to share even the smallest benefit..."

Just as he was speaking, a sharp crack rang out. Zhuzi had stealthily slipped behind Wujue and brought a mallet down hard against his back, shouting, "Dad, why waste words with them? I knew these two weren't any kind of divine beings—chances are they're just in cahoots with the South China Gang anyway! We've already killed so many of them, let's just seize their weapons and—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Wujue caught the head of the mallet with one hand, lifted Zhuzi right off the ground, and sneered, "Attacking the ones who saved your life from behind—that's hardly a proper thing to do. Is this how the Three Kings Village treats its guests? In that case, you're no different from Boss Wu after all."

Upon hearing this, the village chief stepped back with his hands behind his back, suddenly pulled a sharpened metal blade from his tunic, and lunged to stab it straight into Wujue's chest. "Things have come to this, there's no turning back! Time to end your lives!"

Just as the blade was about to sink into Wujue, Little Han moved with lightning speed, shoving the chief aside in a flash. "Enough of that. With pathetic skills like yours, you think you can pull off a sneak attack?"

The chief was sent sprawling, severely wrenching his lower back. The old man groaned from the floor, "Oh, my back! Are you thugs just going to beat people up?"

He actually had the audacity to frame Wujue and his companions. At that moment, Wujue saw right through the illusion: these people were cut from the exact same cloth as Boss Wu. In fact, one detail they had lied about was that not everyone in the Three Kings Village actually shared the surname Wang; their ancestors had been mountain bandits who, after being suppressed by the authorities, went into hiding and were forced to assume false identities to settle here.

Their so-called feud with Boss Wu was nothing more than a localized dispute over territory and profit—there was no such thing as one side bullying the other.

Having seen through their hypocrisy, Wujue flicked his wrist and tossed Zhuzi overhead, sending him crashing into a crowd of villagers and knocking over a large group of them. He then told Little Han, "Let's go. This place is no longer safe."

The two of them grabbed the rescued South China Gang captive and bolted straight toward the exit. The villagers chased wildly after them like a pack of out-of-control beasts, pursuing them all the way out of the air-raid shelter and back to the surface.

Little Han shouted, "This isn't a solution! Are we just going to keep running from them forever?"

"What about Anyi? Why haven't we seen her?" Wujue had a sudden flash of inspiration. "The green crystal can calm these people down, and she's the one holding it."

Just as they were embroiled in the chaotic standoff, a woman's voice rang out fiercely from within the village: "I've had enough of this! Get out of my way, all of you!"

With a loud crash, as if a doorway at the front of the village had been smashed to pieces, a figure burst through and lunged directly toward Wujue and the others. "You guys actually got me drunk and tied up a princess! Which one of you was trying to take liberties with me just now?"

It was none other than Anyi. Her face was flushed, reeking of alcohol, and she was seething with rage.

When Wujue saw that her clothes were torn in several places, bearing unmistakable traces of having been bound by ropes, and her hair was disheveled as she continued her furious rant, he realized the extent of it. "I'm not letting any of you off!" she roared.

She reached out and grabbed the leading Zhuzi, lifting him effortlessly into the air.

Panicking, Zhuzi yelled, "What are you doing, you crazy woman? If your people hadn't come back just now, I would have had my way with you and let you feel the wrath of a real man!"

*Crack!* Two resounding slaps from Princess Anyi instantly swelled his face before she tossed him away, sending him crashing into a cluster of villagers. "You? You couldn't even strip this princess's clothes off. Do you even know what I'm wearing underneath?"

With that, she stripped off her outer robe to reveal a form-fitting tactical battle suit that she had never before displayed to outsiders—a bright yellow mini-bustier paired with crimson armored shorts and golden knee-high boots that were completely impervious to blades and bullets.

Princess Anyi's protective battle armor was blessed by the deities of her Jiuli tribe, making it impossible for outsiders to remove by force.

The sight left both Wujue and Little Han dumbfounded. Little Han couldn't help stepping forward to ask, "Big Sister Anyi, you weren't actually so drunk that they managed to grope you, were you?"

Anyi spun around, glaring fiercely. "Are you still talking? This is all your fault for dragging me into this! Who would have thought these people were so vile?"

Recalling what had transpired earlier, it was evident she had genuinely been harassed. Wujue's expression shifted, and he let out a sigh. "Merciful heavens, it seems we truly need to civilize these locals. Where is the green crystal?"

"It's back in that room. I'm too lazy to go back and get it right now; I need to vent my anger first!" Princess Anyi unleashed her fury on the surrounding villagers, launching a fierce counterattack that terrified them into scattering in all directions once more.

Meanwhile, Little Han moved with lightning speed, darting over to the entrance of the secret tunnel and sealing it shut to prevent them from retreating inside.

Amidst the surrounding din and clamor, Wujue raised his particle rifle and began firing at the villagers. When the verdant green beams washed over them, the villagers froze in place, their bodies enveloped in a crystalline radiance as if undergoing a profound ascension.