8: First robbery

Han Huohuo chuckled. A true big shot should hide behind the scenes. Someone who publicizes themselves everywhere is not a big shot at all.

It was simply too tiring.

He slept soundly that night.

At dawn the next day, Han Huohuo was woken up by the noise outside.

"What's happening?"

It was a bit cold. He glanced at the bonfire; the firewood had long since extinguished. Worried about carbon monoxide poisoning, the door crack was left open, letting in the cold wind. He moved his stiff body, then rubbed his eyes, stretched, and stood up.

His head felt heavy and muddled.

His whole body was uncomfortable!

How could he, a Lord now, still have such tough living conditions? This was too illogical!

He put on his shoes, walked to the door, and pushed it open.

He saw the Mechanical Giant Wolf guard at the door, silent but firmly blocking Gou San, preventing him from coming in and disturbing his sleep. Gou San was there, shouting loudly.

"Boss, we're going to rob! We're going to rob!"

He was still half-asleep, but upon hearing 'rob', Han Huohuo immediately became alert. He had the Mechanical Giant Wolf step aside, walked over, and angrily asked, "Which bold fellow dares to rob us? Where are they?"

Gou San shouted excitedly, "No, it's not someone robbing us, it's us going to rob others!"

Rob others?

Han Huohuo blinked, then remembered his identity. He was a bandits, a Mountain bandits. Robbing was his profession. How could he have forgotten?

The question was, who to rob?

"Boss, the early warning from down the mountain says there's a group of traveling merchants passing by! It's the perfect time for us to rob! Let's move out quickly, or they'll go far away and head to the next mountain!"

Hearing Gou San's urgency, Han Huohuo also became anxious. He had never robbed anyone in his life, and just thinking about it made his blood boil.

"Let's go, let's rob!"

With a command, Han Huohuo walked at the back, urging Gou San and the mechanical Giant Wolves to charge ahead. A mighty troop, a tiger and wolf army, rushed down the mountain in one go.

As Han Huohuo walked, he suddenly sneezed several times. These inexplicable sneezes felt strange, as if there was a premonition of bad luck. Oh no, he was probably catching a cold!

But it was hard to say; maybe the front was more dangerous? He was cautious. After descending the slope and nearing the main road, he first sent Gou San out to scout.

"Gou San, go take a look. How many people are ahead, and how many weapons do they have? If they're weak, we'll attack. If the other side is too strong, we'll retreat back to the mountain top first. There's no need to fight to the death."

Gou San received the order and cautiously crept forward alone.

Han Huohuo hid behind a large rock with the three mechanical Giant Wolves, anxiously waiting for Gou San's news.

Soon after, he heard Gou San grumbling as he returned.

"Come over, meet our Boss!"

Han Huohuo poked his head out from behind the rock, dumbfounded. Gou San had actually captured three prisoners and brought them back.

He was a bit puzzled. He hadn't heard any sounds of fighting. When did Gou San, that coward, become so fierce? What was going on?

Creaking footsteps.

Three people walked towards him, their clothes tattered, their faces sallow, and their skin cracked from the cold like dry earth.

Gou San pushed and shoved them, herding them like ducks.

"King, why did you only come down the mountain to capture us now? We were about to freeze and starve to death!" When these three saw Han Huohuo, sorrow welled up in their hearts. They bowed together, weeping profusely.

"Wait, what's the situation?"

These three were all men. Although their clothes were ragged, they were all big and strong, looking much more robust than Gou San.

The middle-aged flamboyant man in front, whose patterned underwear was showing, stepped forward and bowed ninety degrees. "King, to be honest with you, we are a merchant caravan from Wanqing City. We left early yesterday morning, planning to cross the Ten Thousand Mountains to trade with the tribes on the other side. Who knew we were first scattered by strongmen along the way, and then continuously robbed? Out of a caravan of several thousand people, only the three of us are left by the time we reached here. We were hungry and starving, so we thought it would be better to be captured by the King than to starve to death in these mountains."

"We humbly request the King to take us in!"

The three men wept together, and only then did Han Huohuo understand. It turned out Gou San hadn't captured them; they had surrendered voluntarily!

For some reason, he felt a faint unease in his heart. A merchant caravan of a thousand people was a large one. Han Huohuo didn't think the little Lords who had just entered the mountains yesterday could have scattered this caravan.

There was definitely something wrong with this!

Just as Han Huohuo was hesitating, the system's inquiry arrived.

【Do you want to recruit Bandits to join? Recruiting one bandits requires 50 food. Reminder: These three Bandits are not ordinary Bandits; they are all Bandits with skills.】

Han Huohuo temporarily cast aside the feeling of unease. After thinking it over, he still had to recruit them. His mountain stronghold couldn't just have robots; there were many jobs that robots couldn't do.

He still had over two hundred units of food left, which was enough to recruit three Bandits.

Moreover, the system indicated that these three Bandits all had special skills.

Having thought it through, he boldly stepped forward and shouted loudly, "Smart! You are all smart people!

Following me, your King, is the right choice. From now on, you'll eat well and drink well with me.

From today onwards, you are all people of my Black Wind Fortress. If anyone dares to bully you in the future, we will together raid his home and seize his family's money, food, and women!"

"Long live the King!"

Food -50

Food -50

Food -50

Successfully recruited three fierce Bandits.

Han Huohuo breathed a sigh of relief. His mountain stronghold's life was slowly getting better.

He clicked on the system to check the attributes of the newly joined Bandits and was immediately greatly surprised. They were much stronger than Gou San!

【bandits】: Liu Qiang

【Stamina】: 3/ 100

【Combat Power】: Strength 5, Defense 3, Endurance 5, Intelligence 8.

【Trait】: Literate, Tax Commissioner

【Food Consumption】: One unit per day

【Loyalty】: 35

Hmm? What is a Tax Commissioner?

He quickly clicked in to check.

【Tax Commissioner】: This bandits is literate and can be arranged to manage the mountain stronghold's accounts. Generates gold coin income based on the level of the Main Camp. A Level 2 Main Camp can earn 200 gold coins per day.

Holy crap, he found a treasure! This guy can earn gold coins just by being at home!

Although he didn't know how useful gold coins were yet, more was definitely better. At least trade tax required gold coins, and hiring craftsmen to work also required gold coins.

Han Huohuo didn't know that any literate bandits had this function. This was the first literate bandits he had seen, and he was amazed, immediately becoming overjoyed.

His team now had intellectuals joining!

Let's look at the next person.

【bandits】: Liu Hu

【Stamina】: 6/ 200

【Combat Power】: Strength 8, Defense 3, Endurance 5, Intelligence 3.

【Trait】: Strong, Blacksmith

【Food Consumption】: One unit per day

【Loyalty】: 35

This one was obvious, a Blacksmith. His stamina limit was naturally double that of other Bandits.

From now on, forging iron and making iron ingots would all depend on him.

This bandits was the most practical right now!

The last one.

【bandits】: Liu Long

【Stamina】: 3/ 100

【Combat Power】: Strength 5, Defense 4, Endurance 3, Intelligence 4.

【Trait】: Dexterous, Craftsman

【Food Consumption】: One unit per day

【Loyalty】: 35

It turned out these three guys were from the same family, all surnamed Liu. This guy was a Craftsman, but he hadn't built a workshop yet.

A Craftsman could produce furniture and tools, as well as some living facilities, which was also an indispensable profession.

The three newly recruited Bandits were all urgently needed talents, but their stamina was almost exhausted, and their loyalty was not high.

Han Huohuo secretly rejoiced that the system never lied. These were all talents. Fortunately, he didn't turn these people away because he had a bad feeling. He still had to believe in science and not be too paranoid!

He first took the three into the mountain stronghold, took out roasted meat, let these people eat their fill, and then arranged for them to rest.

One civilian house could accommodate four people, so he didn't need to build another one.

The loyalty of these three Bandits began to rise, and their stamina also began to recover.

After settling the three Bandits, Han Huohuo also ate some roasted meat and then checked his resources.

Ten workers could theoretically collect 200 wood, or 100 stone, or 20 iron ore per hour.

Because there was also travel time back and forth, the actual amount would be less.

Eight hours had passed during the night, plus some resources collected the previous day.

Now he had 1800 units of wood, 900 units of stone, and 180 units of iron ore.

Iron ore still needed to be smelted in the blacksmith shop to become iron ingots. He checked the number of iron ingots; he still had 228 pieces.

Han Huohuo was different from other Lords; he had a much faster start than other Lords.

Logically speaking, being fast in the first step should lead to being fast in every step.

But he had to seize the advantage and not let others surpass him.

Otherwise, the initial advantage would be wasted.

As long as food was not lacking, some Lords who had fortuitous encounters could also develop like a snowball.

It was not impossible for them to compete with his mechanical technology purely through a large amount of manpower.

In extreme cases, this could happen. But Han Huohuo did not want this to happen. He was thinking about how to maintain his advantage!