My sister broke off her engagement to marry someone richer? My older sister married me and became in

Li Erniu put all his strength into it, and the hoe in his hand had just broken through a layer of wet soil, before he could even turn it over a second time.

A sudden chill ran down my spine.

A cold, hard metal tube, carrying a pungent and unfamiliar smell of gunpowder, pressed firmly against his scalp.

"Bro, don't move."

A hoarse, cold southern accent rang in his ears, instantly sending shivers down his spine.

"The back of your head is quite round, like an unripe watermelon in the field."

"If I push this gun barrel forward just a little more, guess... won't it just 'poof' and split open like a watermelon?"

The sound wasn't loud, but it sent chills down your spine.

Li Erniu's muscles froze instantly, and the hoe he had raised high remained suspended in mid-air, as if he had forgotten to let it fall.

The men behind him, including Gou Sheng, were stunned when they saw this scene.

"Brother Erniu!"

Gou Sheng's eyes instantly turned red, and the bloodlust of villagers fighting instinctively surged up. He grabbed the gleaming wood-chopping knife in his hand.

Pointing at the dark figure, he yelled, "Who the hell are you? You're asking for trouble! Let go of my brother Erniu!"

As he spoke, he grabbed his knife and prepared to charge forward and fight to the death.

The dark figure holding the gun didn't move, only letting out a disdainful sneer from his throat.

"Da! Da! Da! Da! Da!"

A heart-wrenching, deafening scream suddenly shattered the deathly silence of the mountains and forests!

Li Erniu had never heard that sound before; it was unlike any hunting rifle or firecracker sound he had ever heard.

It was as if someone was frantically banging a broken gong with a red-hot iron rod, so fast and urgent that it took your breath away!

From the bushes to the side, a burly man with a face full of scars strode out, holding a strangely shaped gun in his hand, the tip of which was still hissing and emitting blue smoke.

"ah--!"

Gou Sheng, who was at the very front, let out a miserable howl that sounded inhuman.

His right calf looked as if a large chunk of flesh had been gnawed away by an unseen wild beast.

The trouser leg was ripped open, revealing a bloody mess, with white bone fragments exposed – a horrifying sight.

He rolled and fell into a pool of blood like a fish thrown ashore, clutching his legs and emitting wild howls and spasms.

"My leg... my leg! My leg! It's broken! Ahhh!"

"What...what is that thing?"

The remaining villager was so frightened that he dropped his skinning knife on the ground with a clatter, his teeth chattering.

"It's a gun...it's...it's one of those submachine guns you see on TV...the kind that can fire continuously!"

This completely crushed the remaining villagers who still wanted to resist with their blood and courage.

Their pride in brute force, their few machetes and skinning knives, were no match for that submachine gun that could fire continuously.

It's even more ridiculous than a fire poker in a child's hand.

This was something they had never seen before in their lives; it was an absolute force that crushed all their knowledge and courage.

Before they could recover from their shock...

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The other four dark figures darted out like ghosts from behind the surrounding trees and crevices in the rocks, landing silently.

Each person was holding an iron weapon similar to the one in the burly man's hand.

In a single encounter, they had locked down all the remaining villagers.

"Run? Where do you think you're going, you little rat?"

A man as thin as a monkey, with a savage grin like a cat catching a mouse, caught up with a villager who turned to run away. He didn't even use a gun; he simply swung the butt of his rifle and smashed it solidly into the back of the villager's head.

With a muffled thud, the villager collapsed to the ground without even uttering a sound, his eyes rolling back, unconscious.

The remaining people were each kicked hard in the back of their knees, and they all knelt on the ground without any dignity.

The cold muzzle of a gun was pressed against the back of their heads, and several rough nylon ropes quickly twisted their hands behind their backs, binding them tightly so that they couldn't even muster the strength to struggle.

From the moment the first person uttered a threat to the moment everyone was subdued, the entire process was breathtakingly fast.

They were scared.

It was the kind of fear that seeped from the very bones, a fear that made even the soul tremble.

"Alright, Chenpi, be careful. If you kill him, who's going to lead the way?"

Lei Dong, the bandit leader who initially pointed a gun at Li Erniu, slowly spoke.

He stepped on Li Erniu's back and used the hard toe of his military boot to press back and forth on his spine with a light but firm motion.

"Click."

The soft crack of bones dislocating made Li Erniu shudder with pain, almost fainting.

"Don't be nervous, I don't like to use force."

Lei Dong squatted down, his voice devoid of emotion, as if everything that had just happened had nothing to do with him.

"I'm here to discuss a business deal. If the deal goes through, we can become friends. You pay, we get the goods—a win-win situation. If it doesn't... well, then we'll just be friends with ghosts."

He pulled a slightly crumpled drawing from his pocket, threw it on the muddy ground in front of Li Er'er's face, and tapped it with the barrel of his gun.

On the drawing, a purple ginseng with an exaggerated shape was drawn in colored pencils.

"You recognize this thing, right?"

Lei Dong asked slowly and deliberately.

Li Erniu lay on the ground, his mind blank, staring at the blueprints, and subconsciously shook his head.

"Don't be so quick to shake your head."

Lei Dong chuckled and tapped the gun barrel against Lei Dong's scalp.

"Let me warn you. There's this idiot named Yu Bo who was bragging all over the black market a while ago, saying that your Hongshitun village dug up a rare purple-flowered wild ginseng that's only seen once in a thousand years and can fetch an astronomical price."

"We originally wanted to talk to him, but he wasn't very capable. He was taken care of by a kid named Lu Qingshan and is now dead."

"We followed the clues and found your Hongshitun. We even sent people to search your medicinal herb processing plant; it was spotless, not even a single ginseng root was left."

Lei Dong's voice suddenly turned cold, and he pressed the gun barrel down hard, almost embedding it into Li Erniu's scalp.

"So, if the ginseng isn't in the factory, it means it's been sold. Tell me, in which ginseng gully did you find this ginseng?"

He paused, his tone filled with impatience.

"Also, don't play dumb with me. We've also heard that there's a gold vein passed down from your ancestors in your Laoyagou."

"The purple ginseng and the golden vein—you must give us an explanation today. Take us with you, and you'll all live. Otherwise…"

He pointed the gun barrel at Gou Sheng, who was lying in a pool of blood, silent from the pain.

"His today is all your tomorrow."

Wild ginseng with purple flowers?

Gold vein?

Li Erniu was completely dumbfounded; he had never even heard of it!

Brother Qingshan did make a fortune, but the villagers all said it was because Brother Qingshan was very capable; he had hunted wild boars and black bears in the mountains, and he also made money from his medicinal herb business.

When did this purple ginseng appear out of nowhere, and even get involved with some kind of gold vein? This is simply a fantasy!

"Big...Big Brother, you...you must have made a mistake! We're innocent!"

Li Erniu's lips trembled, and saliva mixed with dirt dripped down the corners of his mouth.

"We're just ordinary farmers who come into the mountains to collect medicinal herbs. We make a living by our physical labor. We've never seen purple ginseng or golden veins before! Those are just legends, brother! If we knew, we would have been rich long ago. Why would we be out here in these remote mountains every day?"

"Still fucking stubborn!"

Chen Pi, the burly man with a face full of scars, who was standing to the side, sneered, stepped forward, and slapped him hard across the face.

"Snapped!"

Li Erniu was so badly beaten that he saw stars, half of his face swelled up like a steamed bun, and his ears were ringing.

"I really don't know! Brother, we just wanted to come in and dig up a regular ginseng root to exchange for some money for the brothers to drink... We really don't know anything!"

He cried out his innocence with all his might, his voice trembling with sobs.

Chen Pi's eyes turned cold, and he grinned maliciously.

"Brother Lei, I told you it's pointless to waste words with these hillbillies! If we don't give them something substantial, they won't know who we're dealing with!"

With a "whoosh," he pulled a military-grade triangular dagger with three blood grooves from the leather sheath at his waist.

In the dim forest light, the bayonet gleamed with a chilling, eerie blue light.

"This thing of mine is called a three-edged thorn. If you stick it in and make a hole, the bleeding won't stop for a long time."

Chen Pi tapped Li Erniu's face with the tip of his knife, the icy touch making him tremble even more.

"I'll ask you one last time, where is the purple ginseng? Where is the golden vein? Will you tell me or not?"

"I...I really...really don't know..." Li Erniu's voice was already out of tune.

"They won't shed a tear until they see the coffin!"

Chen Pi's patience was completely exhausted, and a cruel pleasure flashed across his face.

"Pfft!"

A terrible, muffled thud as flesh was pierced by a sharp blade.

Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Pi plunged the military dagger in his hand into Li Erniu's left shoulder from top to bottom!

The cold blade pierced the muscle beneath the collarbone, emerging from the back and drawing out a gush of hot, scalding blood.

"ah--!"

The excruciating pain felt like ten thousand red-hot iron clamps, instantly squeezing every nerve in Li Erniu's body.

He was in so much pain that his whole body convulsed violently, and a wild, inhuman roar came from his throat.

"If you don't speak up..."

Chen Pi bent down, twisted the military dagger half a turn deeper, brought it close to Li Erniu's ear, and gently grazed his Adam's apple with the blood-stained tip of the dagger, leaving a shallow bloodstain.

"The next cut will go in here. I promise, it will make your death slow and painful."

Li Erniu was panting heavily, the excruciating pain in his shoulder causing his vision to blur and his consciousness to become fuzzy.

He looked at Gou Sheng, who was lying in a pool of blood not far away, already unconscious from the pain.

He then looked at the other brothers, who were being held at gunpoint, trembling and defecating in fear.

An overwhelming sense of regret and despair overwhelmed his reason like a flash flood.

He regretted it!

He hated himself for not listening to Brother Qingshan!

Before leaving this morning, Brother Qingshan made it very clear that the red line was the line between life and death!

Why did I let myself be blinded by greed and delusion, and lead my brothers to their deaths, all for this illusory ginseng?

If we had listened to Brother Qingshan, none of the brothers would have broken their legs, and I wouldn't have gotten stabbed. We would all be on our way home now, drinking and bragging!

I'm the one who ruined them!

He ruined everyone's life!

In despair and excruciating pain, something inside Li Erniu's honest yet stubborn mind was forced to explode.

The fear and pleading in his eyes receded rapidly like a tide, replaced by a madness and savagery born of being driven to the brink.

Either way, it's a death sentence!

Even if I die, I'll take someone down with me! Even if I die, I'll at least let Brother Qingshan know!

"I...I'll say..."

Li Erniu's voice became extremely hoarse. He struggled to raise his head, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Chen Pi, who was right in front of him.

"The picture... the picture of harvesting that ginseng... it's in my breast pocket... I... I'll take you there..."

Chen Pi revealed a smug sneer as he loosened his grip on the military dagger.

"Why didn't you just do this earlier! You had to suffer like this, you spineless coward!"

He used the military dagger still stuck in Li Erniu's shoulder as a handrail, bent down, and reached into the inner pocket of Li Erniu's chest, which was tightly sewn to be waterproof.

It's now!

In the instant when Chenpi bends over, his vision is blocked, and his whole body relaxes!

Li Erniu mustered the last bit of strength driven by excruciating pain and regret, and like a dying wild boar launching its final charge, he arched his back and sprang up!

He opened his mouth, which was covered in mud and blood, and bit down hard on Chen Pi's wrist, which was reaching into his pocket!

"Snap!"

The crisp sound of bones being crushed by teeth!

"Aaaaaah!!"

Chen Pi let out a scream a hundred times more agonizing than Gou Sheng's. The excruciating pain in his wrist made his mind go blank, and he subconsciously pulled the trigger on his hand!

"Da da!"

The two bullets missed their mark and whistled into the muddy ground beside them, splashing up two streams of mud.

Take advantage of this fraction of a second of chaos!

Li Erniu used his only remaining mobile right hand to reach inside his belt with lightning speed.

Hidden there was a bamboo tube painted bright red that Lu Qingshan had forced on him that morning as a life-saving device!

He didn't even have time to look; relying on his senses, he used his teeth and the last bit of strength to violently rip off the short fuse at the end of the bamboo tube!

"call out--!"

A blindingly bright crimson flame, accompanied by an extremely sharp whistle, shot into the sky from Li Erniu's hand!

The red light, like a vengeful arrow, pierced through the layers of tree canopy and exploded with a "boom" in the hazy mist above Laoyagou, becoming a huge, eerie, and long-lasting blood-red firework!

This is a top-level distress signal personally crafted by Lu Qingshan—the Crimson Cloud Piercing Arrow!

"Fuck! You're asking for it!"

The bandit leader, Lei Dong, finally realized what was happening, his calm facade completely shattered, and he flew into a rage.

He lunged forward, his eyes bloodshot, and with all his might, swung the butt of his gun and slammed it heavily onto the back of Li Erniu's head.

"Bang!"

Li Erniu's vision went black, and he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with broken teeth. His mouth, which had been tightly gripping Chen Pi's wrist, finally loosened, and he collapsed like a lump of mud, completely losing consciousness.

The mountain wind howled.

The blinding red smoke stubbornly burned in the gray sky, lingering for a long time.

The piercing echo, seemingly carrying Li Erniu's endless grievances, regrets, and anger, traveled straight towards the county town, over mountains and through forests.