Flip the table and divide the family property! Take his wife and daughter into the mountains and eat

More than half an hour later.

On the dirt road leading to Xiakanzi Village, a series of chaotic and muffled engine noises approached from afar, abruptly shattering the silence of the wilderness.

"Rat-a-tat-tat—!"

Three dilapidated motorcycles braved the biting night wind and sped ahead, followed by a hand-operated tractor billowing black smoke.

A dozen or so burly men were crammed into the back of the truck, each wearing a black cotton-padded jacket and a dog-skin hat. They were either carrying thick steel pipes or wooden sticks more than a foot long, and two of them had bulging waists, as if they were hiding something.

Ma San sat in the sidecar of the motorcycle at the very front.

The black leather jacket flapped loudly in the night wind, and a cotton hat, which he had snatched from someone, was placed on his bald head. His scarred face was frighteningly gloomy.

Liu Changgui also came.

The old man had half of his head wrapped in gauze.

His arm was still in a sling, and he squeezed himself into the back of the tractor, his neck hunched over. The cold wind made his nose run, but the thought of his three houses and the yard full of timber made his eyes red like a rabbit's, and he muttered through gritted teeth the whole way:

"Kill him... Ma San, we must kill that little bastard tonight! Skin him alive and use the skin for firewood!!"

Braving the biting black wind, the convoy, like a pack of wolves emerging from their den in search of food, bumped and jolted its way into the entrance of Xiakanzi Village.

Before even entering the village, what hit you wasn't the earthy smell of the mountains, but a strong, pungent smell of diesel smoke and burnt wood.

From a distance, you could see the land that originally belonged to Liu Changgui's family at the east end of the village. Although the fire had subsided, the charred beams and collapsed walls still emitted glaring red embers and billowing smoke.

The entire courtyard, the three large mud-brick houses, and the neatly stacked thick logs in the courtyard were completely reduced to a scorched ruin emitting blue smoke!

"Squeak—!!"

The motorcycle with the sidecar at the front braked suddenly, leaving two deep black tracks in the muddy ground in front of Liu's courtyard.

The tractor then stalled with a "putt-putt-putt" sound, and a dozen fierce-looking men wrapped in black cotton-padded coats jumped out of the truck bed, clutching steel pipes and pickaxe handles, looking menacing.

Liu Changgui tumbled and scrambled off the truck bed, staggering to the gate of the courtyard. Looking at the ruins before him, he collapsed onto the scorched earth as if all his strength had been drained, pounding his thighs and wailing inconsolably.

"My house! My belongings! You damned bastard! I'll never forgive you!!"

Ma San stepped out of the sidecar expressionlessly, his leather shoes making a teeth-grinding crunch as they trod on the broken tiles and muddy water soaked in black oil.

He ignored Liu Changgui's wailing and slowly raised his head. His sinister triangular eyes swept over the courtyard gate that had been smashed flat by gravity, and then landed on the two deep tire tracks that were driven into the soil and bore the large treads of heavy trucks.

The tire tracks led eastward, extending directly into the dark mountain road.

"Third Brother."

A henchman approached, carrying a gleaming machete, and examined the tire tracks on the ground by the light of the embers in the ruins.

"Look at these tire tracks, that little bastard didn't go anywhere else after setting the fire, he just drove his big Jiefang truck straight back to Kaoshantun along the mountain road!"

"Back to Kaoshantun?"

A chilling smile curved Ma San's lips, his eyes revealing a ruthless, cat-and-mouse-like glint in them.

"Having committed such a heinous act of wiping out his family line, he neither took the provincial highway nor ventured into the deep mountains and forests, yet he dared to brazenly drive his truck back to his old hideout? This brat really thinks no one in the world can control him!"

Ma San pulled a pack of filtered cigarettes from his leather jacket pocket, took one out, and put it in his mouth.

The subordinate next to him quickly stepped forward, lit a lighter with a "click," and approached.

The flickering orange flames illuminated Ma San's face, which bore a short scar. He took a deep drag, exhaling bluish-white smoke into the cold night wind.

"It's good that you went back; you can run away, but you can't hide."

Ma San spat the cigarette butt from his mouth into the charred ruins, turned his head, and waved his hand at the dozen or so men behind him who were wielding steel pipes and had fierce faces. His voice was icy cold:

"Get on the bus!"

"Head straight to Kaoshantun! Surround that kid's lousy hideout and kill him!"

"I'm going to see for myself tonight just how tough that little bastard really is, standing right on his own doorstep!"

"roar!!"

A dozen or so men responded with a roar, their eyes flashing with ferocity. They brandished steel pipes and wooden sticks, howling as they turned and climbed onto the vehicle.

The tractor's crank handle clattered and rattled wildly, and the throttles of the three motorcycles roared loudly, spewing out pungent black smoke once again.

"Wait, Third Brother!"

Just as everyone was about to set off, an old henchman who had been following Ma San and was carrying an iron rod wrapped in black duct tape suddenly stepped forward and grabbed the handlebars of the sidecar motorcycle.

Ma San's brows furrowed sharply, his sinister triangular eyes sweeping over him: "Second brother, what are you doing?"

The veteran henchman glanced around at the dark mountain path, a hint of apprehension in his eyes, and whispered in Ma San's ear, "Third Brother, haven't we... gone a bit too far?"

Ma San paused for a moment, his hand holding the cigarette between his fingers.

"What do you mean?"

The second brother glanced at the dozen or so men behind him who had already climbed onto motorcycles and tractors, each carrying a weapon, and lowered his voice even further:

"If we need to ambush someone or settle a matter outside, that's easy to do."

"But now, a dozen or so people are barging into someone's village in the middle of the night, carrying knives and clubs. If this really starts, back in the old days, it would have been a massive brawl spanning multiple villages!"

The second son swallowed hard, his expression growing increasingly serious.

"Third Brother, Kaoshantun is different from other places. It's nestled deep in the old forest, and back in the day, it was full of ruthless people who hunted and logged in gangs. The local customs are incredibly fierce, and they stick together like glue! We can mess around with Ergaizi outside and nobody cares, but if we storm into their village, arrest people, and smash houses, and it alerts all the villagers, young and old, they'll grab their homemade guns, spears, and pickaxes and surround us in the ravine. Then we'll really be in trouble..."

The second son spoke with extreme caution.

In the black soil of Northeast China, the boundaries between villages are very deep. No matter how fierce the local bullies and thugs are, they would not dare to raid other villages at night, as that would provoke the entire village to fight to the death.

Ma San's hand holding the cigarette paused slightly, and the fierce and malevolent energy that had filled his mind was mostly awakened by the biting night wind.

He's been in the underworld for so many years, and his survival to this day is definitely not just due to sheer grit.

The second brother's words were like daggers to the heart; sneaking into a remote, uncivilized village deep in the mountains at night was a major taboo for those who traveled the martial world.

If those peasants from Kaoshantun really got enraged and blocked the mountain road with their hunting rifles and spears, even if Ma Yama had three heads and six arms, he would still be beaten into a pile of minced meat by these villagers.

Ma San pursed his lips, his mind racing as he weighed the pros and cons of advancing or retreating.

But when Liu Changgui, who was lying on the scorched earth, saw that Ma San had lowered his head and remained silent, his heart skipped a beat. He was afraid that this fierce man had really been persuaded to back down by the second brother's two words!

Liu Changgui's eyes darted around, and with a determined heart, ignoring the excruciating pain all over his body, he lunged forward, using both hands and feet, and began to mock him in a raspy, grating voice:

"Ma San, are you scared?!"

"Just now at the clinic, you were patting your chest and bragging loudly, saying that our Cui'er is incredibly lucky to marry you, and that no one in the surrounding villages will dare to touch a hair on the Liu family's head!"

"And what happened?! Now some little bastard who appeared out of nowhere drove a big truck into my house in the middle of the night and wrecked it, burning it to the ground. You'd be scared to even go into the village to catch a kid now—"

Liu Changgui got more and more excited as he spoke, and started yelling in front of the crowd in his hoarse voice:

"I think you should stop calling yourself 'King Yama'! You don't deserve those two words at all! You should just be called 'Turtle Ma' or 'Bastard Ma'! From now on, anyone walking down the street can stomp on your head, and you can just hide your head in your pants and play dead!!"

In the deathly stillness of the night, the dozen or so henchmen around him held their breath, their eyes fixed on Ma San.

Damn it, that old bastard!

Ma San stood there, his chest heaving violently, so angry he almost exploded on the spot!

I wish I could pull out the dagger from my back right now and stab this old bastard to death!

This is the second time tonight! Every time, this old bastard puts him on the hot seat, trying to embarrass him in front of everyone!

But the dozen or so brothers beside him were all staring wide-eyed. If they didn't even manage to touch a hair on the real Ergaizi, and instead of daring to go to Kaoshantun to arrest him, they first pinned their newly recognized father-in-law to the ground and beat him up, what kind of impression would that make?!

Ma San gritted his teeth, the scar at the corner of his eye bloodshot and purplish. He forcefully removed his hand from the hilt of his knife, suppressing the surging rage in his chest. He abruptly turned and roared at Lao Er and his men behind him:

"Second brother! Shut up your nonsense! What are you all standing there for?!"

Ma San swiftly drew the boning knife from his waist, the tip pointing directly at the dark mountain path.

"Today I'll show all the peasants from this surrounding area whether Kaoshantun can really keep me, Ma San!"

"Grab your weapons! Screw the gas pedal all the way up, straight for Kaoshantun!"

"If I don't skin that little bastard alive and burn him to the ground tonight, I'll write Yama's name backwards!!"

"roar!!"

The dozen or so thugs were completely enraged, howling and brandishing steel pipes and iron bars as they jumped onto the car.

Three motorcycles and a hand tractor roared furiously at the same time, their exhaust pipes spewing thick black smoke as they tore through the night like madmen, speeding menacingly toward Kaoshantun!