Chapter 122: Cut and Run
Gu Fei raised her hand, taking out the shouting bandit with a single shot. She then dispatched the few bandits who were surrounding Chen Hu and Zhang Ze.
The area around them was now clear. She glanced at Chen Hu and Zhang Ze. "One of you stay here and protect your young master. The other—"
Before she could finish, a bandit leaped out from behind a tree on the side of the path, swinging his broadsword at her back.
Su Chen saw it all clearly from the carriage and shouted, "Watch your back!"
Gu Fei hadn’t anticipated a treacherous bandit lying in ambush behind a tree. With no time to look back, she lunged forward.
She landed right beside the carriage, her eyes locking with Su Chen’s from an incredibly close distance. His eyes, as brilliant as starlight in the night, were filled with anxiety and horror.
Then, a cold sensation spread across her back.
Gu Fei pushed off the carriage with both hands, spun around, and fired a single shot.
The bullet struck the bandit squarely in the forehead. A large hole opened up as he slowly fell backward.
From inside the carriage, Su Chen saw a tear ripped open in Gu Fei’s apricot-yellow jacket. Blood seeped through, quickly dyeing the garment red.
He was about to say something, but he saw Gu Fei already running toward the rear.
Su Chen watched her run, her hand constantly rising and falling. One by one, the bandits dropped.
Gu Fei ran all the way to the rear of the convoy. Her great-uncle was there with his eldest grandson, Tie Niu; her great-aunt was nearby as well. Her great-uncle slashed one bandit across the neck, but another bandit struck him back, his blade landing squarely on her great-uncle’s shoulder.
Gu Fei took out the bandits there with a few shots, then rounded the end of the line of wagons and headed for the other side of the convoy.
As she ran, she quickly swapped magazines.
The situation on this side was far more dire.
The village chief and his two sons were spattered with blood, still fighting the bandits. Aunt Liu was on the ground, panting, and it was hard to tell if she was hurt.
Further up, Boss Zhang had fallen to the ground. His wife and children were hiding under the cart, watching the bandits ransack their mule-drawn wagon.
Gu Zhong’s entire family was huddled together under their cart. The bandits had tossed their belongings all over the ground.
Gu Fei swept her way through them. Cold steel was no match for a firearm. The bandits were mowed down one by one before they could even get close, utterly powerless to fight back.
The bearded man fighting Uncle Ma up ahead watched in horror as Gu Fei cut a path toward them, his men falling one by one. She was slaughtering them all. Overcome with grief and fury, he wanted to go kill her himself, but Uncle Ma kept him relentlessly tied up.
Seeing Gu Fei get closer and closer, the bearded man felt a growing fear of the weapon in her hand. He suddenly bellowed, "This one’s too tough! Time to bail!"
The few remaining bandits—some still fighting, others looting—heard the cry. Some clutched their swords, others their freshly stolen loot, as they all scrambled up the mountainside.
The bearded man swung his blade in one last vicious slash. Uncle Ma dodged, and the bandit seized the opening to flee.
Gu Fei lowered her gun and stood there, panting. The mountain path fell quiet.
Suddenly, Boss Zhang’s wife, Mrs. Yu, began to cry out, "My man! What’s wrong with you? Don’t you scare me like this—"
As Gu Fei strode over, she mentally scanned the area, retrieving all the shell casings from the ground and the bullets from the bandits’ bodies, pulling them all into her pocket dimension.
Reaching Boss Zhang, she knelt beside him for a look. His clothes were slashed open across the chest, revealing a gash over his ribs so deep she could see bone.
Gu Fei called out urgently, "Aunt Yu, rip open Uncle Zhang’s shirt! I have medicine!"
As she took out the golden sore medicine and began pouring it onto Boss Zhang’s wound, she yelled, "Xiao Cui, bring a clean strip of cloth!"