Han Huohuo gave a little chuckle. A true big shot ought to stay hidden behind the scenes. Anyone going around broadcasting himself was no kind of big shot at all.
He was just too exhausted.
He slept deeply that night.
At first light the next day, Han Huohuo was woken by a commotion outside.
"What's going on?"
It was a bit cold. He glanced at the fire — the wood inside had long since died out. Worried about gas poisoning, he'd left the door ajar, and a cold wind had crept in. He worked his stiff body, then rubbed his eyes, stretched, and stood up.
His head was groggy.
Nothing on him felt right!
How is it that I've already become a Lord and conditions are still this harsh? This is just unscientific!
He pulled on his shoes, walked to the door, and shoved it open.
He saw the giant mechanical wolf guards at the entrance. Silent and wordless, yet firm, they were blocking Gou San, refusing to let him in to disturb his sleep, while Gou San hollered and yelled out there.
"Boss, we're being robbed! Robbed!"
Still half asleep, the instant he heard "robbed," Han Huohuo snapped wide awake. He had the giant wolves stand aside, walked over, and demanded furiously, "Which bold bastard dares to rob us? Where are they?"
Gou San shouted excitedly, "No, no — it's not someone robbing us, it's that we should go rob someone else!"
Rob someone else?
Han Huohuo blinked. Only then did he remember his own identity. I'm a mountain bandit — robbery is my line of work. How did I forget that?
The question was, rob who?
"Boss, there's an alert down the mountain. A merchant caravan is passing by — the perfect time for us to rob them! We need to move now, or they'll get too far and head for the next peak!"
Hearing the urgency in Gou San's voice, Han Huohuo got worked up too. Yours truly's never robbed anyone in his life — just thinking about it set his blood boiling.
"Move out, time to rob!"
At his command, Han Huohuo walked at the very back, urging Gou San and the giant mechanical wolves to charge ahead. A mighty column, an army of tigers and wolves, swept down the mountain in one breath.
Walking along the road, Han Huohuo suddenly sneezed several times in a row. These inexplicable sneezes came rather oddly, as if carrying a faint, ominous premonition. Crap, I think I'm coming down with a cold!
Then again, hard to say — what if it was something dangerous up ahead? Being cautious, once he'd come down the slope and was nearing the main road, he first sent Gou San out to scout.
"Gou San, go take a look. How many people up ahead, how many weapons? If they're weak, we'll strike; if they're too strong, we'll fall back to the peak first. No need to risk our lives."
Order received, Gou San crept forward alone, cautiously.
Han Huohuo hid behind a boulder with the three giant mechanical wolves, anxiously awaiting Gou San's word.
Before long, he heard Gou San coming back, cursing all the way.
"Get over here, all of you, and meet our boss!"
Han Huohuo poked his head out from behind the rock and gaped. Gou San had actually brought back three captives.
A little puzzled — he hadn't heard any sounds of fighting. Since when did this coward Gou San get so fierce? What was going on?
Crunch, crunch — the sound of footsteps.
Three men walked up to meet him, ragged head to toe, faces sallow, skin chapped by the cold like cracked earth.
Shoving and herding them along like ducks, Gou San drove them over.
"Chief, why did it take you so long to come down and capture us? We were about to freeze and starve to death!" The instant the three saw Han Huohuo, grief welled up in their hearts. Together they cupped their hands in salute and wept bitterly.
"Hold on — what's going on?"
These three were all men. Though dressed in rags, every one of them was broad and burly, clearly far stronger than Gou San.
The frontmost one — a middle-aged dandy with floral underwear showing through his rags — stepped forward and bowed ninety degrees. "Chief, I'll be honest with you. We're a caravan from Wanqing City. We set out early yesterday morning, meaning to cross the Hundred-Thousand Mountains to trade with the tribe on the other side. Who'd have known we'd first be scattered by brigands, then robbed again and again. A caravan of several thousand — by the time we reached here, only the three of us were left, cold and starving. So we figured we'd rather be captured by you, Chief, than starve to death in these mountains."
"We beg you to take us in, Chief!"
The three of them dissolved into tears together, and only then did Han Huohuo understand — so these weren't captives Gou San had taken at all. They'd come to surrender of their own accord!
For some reason, an unease stirred faintly in his heart. A caravan of thousands was a large one. To scatter a caravan like that — Han Huohuo didn't think these small transmigrator Lords who'd only entered the mountains yesterday could pull it off.
Something was definitely wrong with this!
Just as Han Huohuo wavered, the system's inquiry arrived.
【Recruit the bandits into your fold? Recruiting one bandit costs 50 food. Note: these three bandits are not ordinary bandits — each one is a bandit with a skill.】
Han Huohuo set his unease aside for the moment and thought it over. He still had to recruit them. His stronghold couldn't run on robots alone — there was plenty of work the robots couldn't do either.
He still had over two hundred food left; enough to recruit three bandits.
And the system had noted that all three had special skills.
His mind made up, he boldly stepped forward and called out loudly, "Smart! You're all smart men!
Following me, the Chief, is the right call. From now on, you'll eat well and live well with me.
From today, you're all men of my Black Wind Stronghold. If anyone ever dares to bully you, we'll raze his home together and seize his money, his grain, and his women!"
"Long live the Chief!"
Food -50
Food -50
Food -50
Successfully recruited three fierce bandits.
Han Huohuo let out a breath. Life at our stronghold is slowly getting better.
He opened the system to check the new recruits' stats, and was instantly astonished — these were far stronger than Gou San!
【Bandit】: Liu Qiang
【Stamina】: 3/100
【Combat Power】: Strength 5, Defense 3, Endurance 5, Intelligence 8.
【Traits】: Literate, Tax Officer
【Food Consumption】: one unit per day
【Loyalty】: 35
Hm? What was a Tax Officer?
He hurried to tap in and look.
【Tax Officer】: this bandit is literate and can be assigned to manage the stronghold's accounts, generating gold-coin income based on the Main Base's tier. At a Tier-2 Main Base, income is 200 gold coins per day.
Holy crap, struck gold! This guy could earn gold coins just sitting at home!
He didn't yet know how useful gold coins would prove, but more was surely better — at the very least, trading tax required gold, and hiring craftsmen to work required gold too.
What Han Huohuo didn't yet know was that any literate bandit had this function. This was the first literate bandit he'd seen, and he marveled at him like a genius, instantly tickled pink.
Our crew has an intellectual joining now!
He looked at the next one.
【Bandit】: Liu Hu
【Stamina】: 6/200
【Combat Power】: Strength 8, Defense 3, Endurance 5, Intelligence 3.
【Traits】: Strong, Blacksmith
【Food Consumption】: one unit per day
【Loyalty】: 35
This one was plain to see — a blacksmith, with a natural Stamina cap double that of other bandits.
From now on, smithing and making iron ingots would all rely on him.
This bandit was the most practical right now!
The last one.
【Bandit】: Liu Long
【Stamina】: 3/100
【Combat Power】: Strength 5, Defense 4, Endurance 3, Intelligence 4.
【Traits】: Deft Hands, Craftsman
【Food Consumption】: one unit per day
【Loyalty】: 35
So all three of these guys were from the same clan — all surnamed Liu. This one was a craftsman, but he hadn't built a workshop yet.
A craftsman could produce furniture and tools, plus some living facilities — an indispensable profession too.
The three newly recruited bandits were all sorely needed talents; it was just that their Stamina was now nearly drained and their Loyalty wasn't high.
Han Huohuo silently counted himself lucky. The system never lied — these were all talents. Good thing he hadn't shut them out just because of a bad feeling. Better to trust in science and not be so paranoid!
He took the three back to the stronghold first, brought out roast meat, let them eat their fill, then assigned them to rest.
One house happened to hold exactly four people, so there was no need to build another.
The three bandits' Loyalty began to rise, and their Stamina started to recover too.
Once the three bandits were settled, Han Huohuo ate a meal of roast meat himself, then checked his resources.
Ten workers could theoretically gather 200 wood, or 100 stone, or 20 iron ore in an hour.
Because of the round-trip hauling time, the actual amount was a bit less.
Eight hours of night had passed, plus a portion of the resources gathered the previous day.
He now had 1,800 wood, 900 stone, and 180 iron ore.
The iron ore still had to be smelted in the smithy to become iron ingots. He checked his ingot count — he had 228 left.
Han Huohuo was unlike the other Lords; his opening had been far faster than theirs.
By rights, one step ahead should mean every step ahead.
But he had to hold onto the advantage and not let anyone overtake him.
Otherwise the early lead would be wasted.
With food no object, certain Lords who'd had special encounters could also snowball their development.
He couldn't rule out someone competing against his mechanical technology with sheer brute manpower.
In extreme cases, it wasn't impossible. But Han Huohuo didn't want that to happen — he kept turning over how to maintain his edge!