"That bastard, always commanding us to do the hard job, isn't this work supposed to be for the newbie?!" The man in silver armor complained and kicked the large corpse of a beast that looked like a lion.
"Yeah. It seems that he was bewitched by that bitch into making her his woman. When I have the chance, I will definitely kill her!" the other man in black with an eye patch also spat. Anger could be seen in his eye.
"Hehe, how about this, how about we f-" he did not even finish his sentence when he was suddenly flung backwards and got rammed in the beast he was dragging.
"Wha-" Puff! Eye patched man's head suddenly exploded, there was now a huge hole in his head.
"Second... brother?!" The man in silver armour was not dead yet and managed to call out in a weak voice. He leaned on the beast and tried to stop the bleeding coming from his stomach, he was also dying.
'Which bastard dared to ambush us?!' he was angry, but there was nothing he could do. If he could only see his back, he would probably see a large hole too, far bigger than the entrance wound.
...
"Those two, they sure are taking their time. How about a round?" the man who was also carrying a big sword on his back had a perverted expression on his face as he looked at the lady's bountiful body next to her. His hand slowly crept up towards her azz, but she did not seem to mind. Instead, she was also smiling provocatively.
There lips were about to touch when.. puff! Just like the other man who had an eye patch, his head also exploded.
"Aaaahhh!" The woman screamed and instinctively backed up. There was now blood all over her body. She kicked the ground trying to get away from the man when.. puff!
She did not even feel the pain, she just felt something pass through her leg and she couldn't move it anymore.
She tried to scream, but she was too terrified to do so. Only tears were running down from her cheeks, and her was pale from horror. She tried to hold her leg but she couldn't feel it anymore.
The only thing she could hear was the cries of the four horses echoing in her ears. Despair was in her eyes, she was already hopeless.
People are always afraid of the unknown, she did not even bother to look around for their attacker, she just cried.
...
Up in the hill, Rick stood up with a snort.
'Scums like this doesn't deserve to live at all.' A cold glint flashed through Ricks eyes as he stood up. He beckoned for Xinxin to follow him. If he interpreted it in his own language, then these people are terrorists. The feeling from shooting them was the feeling he got when shooting those insurgents, it felt strangely good.
Xinxin was shocked, she looked at him with a surprised expression. Although he had seen Rick kill spirit beasts many times before, she regarded beast as food. Seeing his side like this made her feel like the Rick she knew this previous days and the Rick now are completely different person.
She could feel coldness coming from him. There was not an ounce of that doting expression of his when he talks to her. It was then that she knew, the man in front or her was not as gentle as he looked. But even then, she felt like Rick did not do anything wrong at all. Those bandits deserve to die, they had it coming.
They could hear the cries of the horses as they descend downhill. At this time, Rick finally spoke.
"This is lesson number 2. Since this world is ruthless, then you must also learn to be ruthless too. You should learn to return kindness with 10 times the kindness and pay evil 100 times back. I live by the principle, 'you don't offend me, I don't offend you'. It is up to you to understand. I am not a saint, nor I am the devil." Rick said sternly.
"I understand, Big Brother." Xinxin replied. She maybe young, but she was smart and had experienced many things. She gripped the Binocular in her and and followed Rick quietly.
When they finally reached their destination, the horses already calmed down and it was Xinxin's turn to be wide eyed. Her stomach churned to the max and her breathing was unsteady. Finally she could not help it anymore and..
"Urgh.. Bwak!" she vomited. Next to her, Rick chuckled. He remembered when he first killed a person. He did not vomit, but he did not sleep peacefully for 2 nights. Rick imagined if she saw the battlefield that they avoided 2 days ago, it made him chuckle even more. He vomited from it, he estimate the she will probably pass out.
Finally, after a couple of minutes, Xinxin managed to calm her emotions and control her gut.
"Haha, don't worry, it happens to everyone." Rick comforted her. And seeing his attitude back to normal, Xinxin also smiled. She knew that in the future, she would be facing scenes like this. And next time, she might be the one who would deal the killing blow.
"Please, I don't want to die! I'm begging you, please don't kill me... I'll give you anything.. I can give you money! " the woman begged with hurried voice. She looked pitiful and helpless. She knew that a man with the ability to kill their leader without him even noticing was a powerful being. She knew that to survive, she could only beg. He was bloody all over, but Rick did not care at all. He stared coldly at her and asked.
"Was it fun being a bandit? Tell me, was it fun killing weak people?" Rick did not have to be powerful to know the strength of this group. The lady was already at Stage 6 Qi Condensation, and he could guess that the man dead besides the fire was probably at Stage 7 or above. Now you might think that they are weak, but to mortals, they would be like gods who can control their fates.
A single punch could take down a tree, and that was just a punch, what if they employ techniques? Then in the mortal world, the could become a killing machine that could take on dozens of people at once.
"N-no. I just- I just.." The woman was speechless. Throughout her life, she never really considered the lives of mortals as equal to hers. She saw them as ants and she could step over them if she wanted to.
Rick knew the mindset of these people, no, the people of this world. Power is the law, so unless you become the most powerful, then just shut your mouth and continue living. There was no such thing as grow up in this world. Their attitude are basically the attitude of kids in his previous world, the only difference was, the people on this world don't grow up. Bully the weak and fear the strong, as simple as that.
This land only has the empire as the law. But although the empire is powerful, they really couldn't control all of the land. It is a normal occurrence everywhere you go, there will always be trouble maker.
With the thinning of Spiritual Energy, the lawless became more lawless. Chaos run amok throughout the land and peacefulness could only be found in the wild.
Rick looked around and found bags beside the man that just died. Since they are bandits, they were sure to carry money, Rick found it weird that they did not carry anything other than this bags. He looked at the horses ans could see metals still buckled up on their bodies. Rick then knew that they had a carriage before. Many conclusions came to his mind, since he could not confirm any of it, he could only ask the woman.
"Were is the carriage you used?" asked Rick. The woman managed to stop the bleeding using her Qi. She already calmed down in a short time, it was a skill honed from experience. Rick already knew that she was only acting earlier, he was also experienced. He knew that the woman was planning on seducing him. She just did not know that he wouldn't even be turned on with the blood all over her, it was disgusting to look at.
"What do you mean?" she asked. You can be the best at lying when you can convince even yourself that it was the truth. But clearly, she has not reached that level yet.
"Tell me where it is and I could let you live." Rick said coldly. Xinxin just watched silently without saying a word.
"Really? You really won't kill me?" a hint of hope flashed in her eyes.
"I could. Of course, if you tell me the truth." Rick replied.
"Okay, I'll tell. I'll tell. 10 li (5 kms) to the north, you will reach the road that leads to the Tian Empire. Just travel straight and you will be able to find our carriage." she said and pointed to the direction of north. It was also the direction they were planning to take.
"Then thank you. Listen, Little Xin, this is your third lesson for the day and you will be dismissed." he saw Xinxin nod and continued speaking. "When you have a problem, you must always make sure that you cut the roots so it won't grow again." as he said that, he took out the pistol on his back.
"Don't look." Xinxin knew the meaning and looked away immediately.
"No!" The woman screamed. She was full of hope earlier, but now, she finally found out that her acting did not work. When she found out that the man was weak and young, she already started acting. In the middle of her act, she was already planning her revenge.
"I said I could, not I would. Good bye, you may rot in hell." Rick looked at her with contempt. Someone as vile as this don't deserve to live at all.
"Curse you! You bast-" was the last words of the woman.
Pang! The ringing sound echoed in Xinxin's ears as she turned her head around and looked. This time, she did not vomit, but her face was pale. She was scared!
"Come on, let's go." Rick felt guilty. But he knew that the world they were going to enter was harsher than this. She was dazed for a minute before absentmindedly following Rick.