You were tasked with guarding the Sihang Warehouse, and you brought out a Tiger tank?

A night breeze blew by, and the henchman let out a burp, clearing his head a bit.

I looked up at the earthen wall.

Huh?

There are usually two or three people keeping watch on the wall at night, but why are there none of them tonight?

Never mind, I guess he's gone off to drink too.

Anyway, that damn security chief has been arrested, and all the guards have run away. What danger could there be?

With that thought in mind, he continued walking towards the outhouse on the back hill.

He squinted as he passed the woodpile.

It seems like... there are a lot more dark shadows behind the woodpile?

Before he could even examine it closely—

A dark figure suddenly darted out from beside him.

A large hand tightly covered his mouth, and then a sharp pain shot through his lower back and kidneys.

Something cold and sharp pierced in and twisted hard.

"Well……!"

His eyes bulged out, and all his strength was instantly drained, leaving him limp.

My last thought was, "Where the hell did this guy come from?!"

-----

Inside the Hall of Gathering Righteousness.

The candlelight flickered, illuminating several oily faces.

The man in the main seat was a one-eyed man, around forty years old, with a black eye patch over his left eye and two iron walnuts twirling in his right hand.

He was the leader of Erlong Mountain, and legend has it that he came from the Northeast and was known as "One-Eyed Dragon".

"Fuck you..."

One-Eyed Dragon took a swig of wine and slammed the rough porcelain bowl on the table: "How much can that Commander Lin's family actually give us? Don't drag this out for ten or fifteen days."

A clerk with a pointed face and monkey-like features leaned over and whispered, "Boss, we've found out that his father, Lin Shouye, is a member of the Zhejiang Provincial Chamber of Commerce. He has shops in Hangzhou and Shanghai... at least that many."

He held up five fingers and shook them.

"Five thousand silver dollars?"

"fifty thousand!"

A collective gasp filled the air at the table.

A burly man with a face full of scars glared and said, "Damn, fifty thousand? Are we still going to be drinking horse piss and gnawing on bones here? Hurry up and write a letter asking for the money."

The advisor shook his head: "We can't rush it. That old man from the Lin family is very shrewd; we have to talk it over slowly."

"Talk my ass."

A scarred bandit leader (a high-ranking bandit) slammed his fist on the table and said, "If you ask me, once we get the ransom, we should just kill him to avoid future trouble."

One-Eyed Dragon frowned: "Lord Wang from the county sent word that he wants to spare his life. This kid's family has some shady dealings with the White Army. We only want money, let's not cause trouble."

Scarface sneered, "Trouble? Boss, when did you become such a coward?"

He leaned forward, lowering his voice even further:

"I've already made arrangements with Special Envoy Komatsu. Once the Japanese—oh no, once the Japanese commander arrives—we'll transform ourselves into a legitimate security force. What are we afraid of then? The White Army will definitely get their teeth knocked out by the Japanese commander."

It turns out that this group of bandits not only had connections with wealthy families in the county, but some of them also had connections with the Japanese and were preparing to become traitors.

The table fell silent instantly.

The leaders exchanged glances, their eyes darting around.

The advisor swallowed hard. "Third brother, is that... really true?"

Scarface grinned smugly: "How could that be fake? Special Envoy Komatsu said that as long as we show our loyalty, the Imperial Army will provide us with guns, ammunition, and military pay."

The one-eyed man remained silent for a while, turning the iron walnut.

The candlelight crackled.

After a long pause, he slowly spoke: "This matter... needs careful consideration. Being a traitor doesn't have a good reputation."

"reputation?"

Scarface sneered, "Boss, what's reputation worth these days? Guns and provisions make you king! Once the Imperial Army takes over Zhejiang Province, we'll be heroes!"

As they were talking, the one-eyed man suddenly tilted his ear.

"Isn't it a bit too quiet outside?"

He put down the iron walnut and stood up.

Everyone else in the hall was taken aback.

If you listen carefully, the faint sounds of drinking games and laughter that could be heard just moments ago have stopped.

Only the mournful sound of the night wind blowing through the valley remains.

Something's not right.

The one-eyed man's expression changed. He strode to the window, pushed it open a crack, and looked outside.

Under the moonlight, dozens of banquet tables remained in the courtyard, with bowls and plates scattered about.

But people...

What about people?

Those henchmen who should have been drunk and lying down were now all squatting on the ground with their heads in their hands, a dark mass of them.

Dozens of soldiers in military uniforms stood around, holding guns, their bayonets gleaming coldly in the moonlight.

There were also people pointing guns at the Hall of Righteousness nearby, clearly indicating an impending attack.

"Hold."

The one-eyed man slammed the window shut, turned around, and yelled, "It's getting windy, grab your weapons!"

The room erupted in chaos.

The leaders overturned tables and kicked benches, frantically grabbing the guns leaning against the wall.

The one-eyed man lunged at the door, about to pull the latch—

"Bang."

Suddenly, something pierced the paper window.

A dark, smoky thing rolled in and stopped beside the table leg.

hiss hiss hiss—

White smoke quickly filled the air.

"What the heck?"

A bandit went over to take a look.

The one-eyed man's pupils suddenly contracted.

He had seen this commotion during the warlord conflicts when he was in the army.

"Grenade! Get down—!"

boom!!!

Loud noise.

The blast wave overturned the table, and wood chips, porcelain shards, and bits of meat, mixed with flames, exploded in the hall.

Immediately afterwards—

"Da da da da da!!!"

Outside the wall, Maxim machine guns opened fire.

The monotonous bursts of fire were like drumming; bullets pierced the wooden walls, carving lines of death across the hall.

Screams, curses, and pleas for mercy were instantly drowned out by the sound of gunfire.

"Thump! Thump!"

Two muffled thuds followed as grenades fired from a grenade launcher struck the entrance to the Hall of Righteousness with pinpoint accuracy, blasting half of the door down.

Flames shot into the sky.

-

The battle ended quickly.

Or rather, it couldn't even be called a battle.

A group of half-drunk bandits, with no guns at hand, couldn't even muster a semblance of resistance against a well-organized, heavily armed regular army squad.

Most of the leaders in the Hall of Righteousness were killed or wounded under the barrage of grenades and machine gun fire.

The few survivors who managed to rush out the door were immediately riddled with bullets by infantry squads lying in ambush on both sides.

In the open space of the compound, several of the controlled henchmen tried to escape or seize guns in the chaos.

They were met with precise bursts of fire.

Three or four of the fastest runners fell to the ground on the spot, their blood splattering everywhere.

The remaining people immediately became obedient, covering their heads and crouching even lower.

A few minutes later.

The gunfire completely stopped.

The only sounds were the crackling of burning wood and the groans of the wounded.

A squad leader ran over and saluted Lin Feng, who was standing in front of the dilapidated house that served as a prison: "Reporting, sir, the bandits have been completely wiped out. 19 were killed and 103 were captured. There were no casualties on our side."

Lin Feng nodded: "Take me to see it."

Zhao Dashan immediately led his engineering squad to surround Lin Feng, protecting him from all sides.

The group entered the courtyard.

The strong smell of gunpowder hit us.

It had a strange, burnt, roasted meat smell.

Lin Feng wrinkled his nose.

On the open ground, about a hundred bandits squatted with their heads in their hands, trembling with fear.

Soldiers stood guard around with their guns at the ready, occasionally kicking someone and saying, "Stay put, don't move."

On the other side, several corpses lay side by side on the ground.

They were all killed for trying to resist.

Soldiers were still dragging corpses out of the bombed-out assembly hall.

One, two...

Some were only half left, with their intestines dragging on the ground.

Some were blown to pieces and could only be wrapped in clothes or blankets and carried out piece by piece.

Lin Feng felt a sudden jolt in his stomach.

He suddenly bent over and vomited.

Previously, this body was locked in a cell, where it didn't even get food and was vomiting bile.

Zhao Dashan quickly helped him up: "Sir, are you alright?"

Lin Feng waved his hand, straightened up, and wiped his mouth.

Her face was a little pale.

Damn, that's so exciting!

Watching explosions in movies is one thing, but smelling the burning flesh in person is quite another.

His gaze swept over the corpses, then looked at the prisoners squatting on the ground.

This is war.

Or rather, this is what a chaotic world is like.

Either you die or I live.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

He walked to a table that hadn't been overturned yet, grabbed a wine jug from it, uncorked it, and started drinking.

Glug glug—

"puff!"

Lin Feng spat it all out after only two mouthfuls.

"Hold."

He coughed, looking at the wine jug in his hand: "Did they add wine to water, or water to wine?"

It was astringent, bitter, and had a strange taste.

In my past life, at a gathering of colleagues, someone always said that cheap water and beer were horse urine.

Now he knows that even horse urine tastes better than this stuff.

But the alcohol still had some effect.

A surge of heat rose from my stomach, making me feel dizzy, and the nausea I had just felt subsided considerably.

Lin Feng composed himself, and even took a handful of boiled peanuts from the plate on the table, slowly peeled them, and threw them into his mouth.

It's salty, overcooked, and a bit too soft.

But it's edible.

He chewed as he looked at the mess in the yard.

The discomfort I felt was actually slowly fading away.

Perhaps human resilience is indeed stronger than we imagine.

Just thinking—

【Ding! 】

A cold, impersonal system notification sounded in my mind.

[First combat mission completed.]

[Settlement begins...]

[Kill 1 bandit henchmen, Merit Points +0.5]

[Kill 1 bandit henchmen, Merit Points +0.5]

[Kill 1 veteran bandits, +1 merit points]

[Kill the bandit leader x1, merit points +10]

……

The messages scrolled by quickly.

Final summary:

A total of 19 enemies were killed.

[Captured/controlled 103 people]

[Merit points are being calculated...]

Total Merit Points Earned: 85

Current permission level: Level I (85/300)

【Ding! 】

[Congratulations, host, on completing your first battle! New feature unlocked: Portable Space]

[Space dimensions: 10m x 10m x 10m (total 1000 cubic meters)]

[Note: Can store inanimate objects; access is controlled by consciousness; access distance is within 1 meter. The host can use merit points to expand the storage space.]

Portable space?

Lin Feng's eyes lit up.

A typical apartment in a residential complex, with three bedrooms and a living room, is only about 100 square meters, with a ceiling height of 2.8 meters, totaling less than 300 cubic meters.

The system space is 100 square meters in size and 10 meters in height.

How much stuff can this space hold?

Ammunition, food, medicine...

All the valuable items captured later can be stuffed into it.

nice one.

Just as he was getting excited, the system notification went off again:

[Host has merit points detected. Upgrade your subordinate teams?]

upgrade?

Lin Feng subconsciously looked at Zhao Dashan standing beside him.

An interface pops up instantly in front of you:

Should the basic ROC Armed Forces combat engineer platoons be upgraded?