Chapter 80: Gold

Upon hearing the order that there would be a heavy reward for capturing True Love, not only did Zhao Ming, Zhang Feng, and the soldiers from Yanhuang Village charge forward, but the militia from the other four tribes also swarmed in. They surrounded the tribal hall, raining down a barrage of clubs, iron swords, and arrows. The arrows that True Love occasionally fired from within posed no threat. The entire tribal hall underwent a visible transformation—cracks appeared, it tilted, caught fire, and finally collapsed with a thunderous roar. The soldiers rushed forward, tore through the wreckage, and dragged True Love out by his feet.

True Love was covered in dirt and grime; cold sweat streamed down his face, carving tracks through the dust. His hair was a disheveled mess, resembling a bird’s nest. He let out piercing, shrill screams, his hands clawing at the air, unable to find anything to cling to. He looked wretched and had completely lost all composure, a far cry from his previous arrogance.

Zhao Ming and a militiaman from the Waiwai Tribe each took one of True Love’s feet and dragged him before Li Zhan. Li Zhan looked down at this clown coldly, saying nothing. After clawing frantically for a moment, True Love saw the feet standing before him and suddenly went quiet. He looked up bit by bit, and upon recognizing Li Zhan’s face, he shuddered violently. He hurriedly plastered a sycophantic, dry smile onto his furrowed face and trembled as he begged:

"Town Chief Li... no, Big Brother Li, this little brother knows he was wrong. Big Brother, please have mercy and spare me this once. Hehehehe... urk..."

"Thump!" At a signal from Li Zhan, Zhao Ming and the militiaman let go, dropping True Love to the ground. True Love, still trying to force a smile, had not expected this; his head hit the ground hard, choking off his laughter. Li Zhan looked at the man rolling his eyes and snorted:

"True Love, now that you’ve fallen into my hands, stop fantasizing. Begging for mercy or asking for a magnanimous pardon—that is all total bullsh*t. When you ambushed my Yanhuang tribe and whipped my villagers, did you ever think about sparing them? As those female villagers said, if I had arrived a moment later, Zhou Min would likely have died at your hands! Blood debts must be paid in blood. Even if I cut you into a thousand pieces right now, it would not be enough to appease the fury in my heart!"

With that, Li Zhan ordered Zhao Ming and the others:

"Tie this trash up and let him experience the taste of the lash himself!"

Zhao Ming and his men acknowledged the order, hoisted the shivering True Love up, and dragged him to a wooden stake nearby, binding him tightly. Li Zhan grabbed a leather whip, pointed it at True Love, and said:

"You ambushed my Yanhuang tribe and whipped my villagers. Now, it is time for you to pay your debt!"

As he spoke, he cracked the whip, lashing out at True Love with a fierce flurry of strikes. The entire True Love tribe was filled with nothing but the sound of the whip and True Love’s pig-like screams.

The leather whip: A torture device that causes stinging pain upon impact. Its effect on NPCs is extremely significant, while slightly reduced on players. However, as the force of the strikes increases, the player’s discomfort also intensifies. Each strike drains one point of health.

True Love’s screams stirred the villagers of the True Love tribe. They emerged from their wooden huts one by one, watching coldly as their chieftain was whipped by Li Zhan. There was no pity in their hearts, only the relief of seeing someone get what they deserved. When they were forced to work themselves to the bone under that very same whip, had True Love ever shown them the slightest bit of compassion? Their feelings for him were not just fear, but deep, bone-piercing hatred.

The tyranny of the warlord had brought True Love great resource advantages while simultaneously alienating his villagers, leaving them with no attachment whatsoever to the tribe or their chieftain.

After lashing out with all his might for over twenty strokes, the anger in Li Zhan’s heart finally eased somewhat. He handed the whip to Zhao Ming. Li Zhan had every reason to believe that True Love’s behavior had been classified by the system as "heinous," so he ordered Zhao Ming and his swordsmen to continue the punishment. He told them to use all their strength, not to worry about speed, and to keep striking relentlessly until this piece of trash was beaten to death.

By this time, the remaining watchtowers had also been dismantled, including the one built beside the open-pit gold mine. The wooden fences surrounding the mine were also cleared away, leaving the entire gold mine fully exposed. Waiwai Radish had already led the five cargo ships to the dock. After the villagers disembarked, they followed Waiwai Radish to the gold mine. Because there were too many villagers to fit, Waiwai Radish assigned tasks: each tribe would remain a unit, with half staying to mine gold and the other half responsible for loading the harvested gold onto the ships.

Zhang Chong stumbled all the way from the dock to the center of the tribe. Upon seeing Zhou Min, he let out a cry and fell to his knees, clutching her tightly. Zhou Min, having regained some consciousness under the treatment of the missionary, set aside her reserve; having just survived a life-or-death ordeal, the two embraced and wept in each other's arms. Afterward, they both knelt before Li Zhan to thank the Town Chief for saving their lives.

With the fences and watchtowers between the mine and the dock removed, the entire process of collecting and loading the gold went smoothly. The four cargo ships lined up at the dock, with four streams of workers moving steadily to the mine. The villagers were busy, moving back and forth. The remaining ship was tasked with transporting the resources Lei Long had recovered from the tribal hall. These were primarily gold, with a small amount of stone; as for the food and wood, there was no time to worry about them now.

Although there were no more threats, they were, after all, mining gold on someone else’s territory. The villagers from the three tribes remained slightly nervous, acting a bit flustered. In contrast, the villagers from Yanhuang Village, having a different state of mind, were fully immersed in their work. By the time the ships of the three tribes were three-quarters full, the Yanhuang cargo ship was already completely filled. (Cargo ship capacity: 1,200)

By now, the sky was beginning to brighten. Li Zhan had Zhang Feng lead five archers on a fishing boat to escort the shipment of gold back to unload it at the tribe before rushing back. Four female villagers and the missionary also returned on the boat. Before leaving, they gathered some straw and reeds from the True Love tribe to cover the gold in the cargo hold, preventing any accidents if they were spotted by malicious players or tribes along the way.

More than half an hour later, the three tribes—including Lei Long’s ship—were all loaded. The four ships departed together. Each of the four chieftains dispatched some militia to escort the cargo ships back to their respective tribes (the Waiwai Tribe, being inland, had to temporarily transport their gold to Yanhuang Village and find a way to move it back later). The remaining militia stayed behind to guard the villagers who were still mining. Since the cargo ships had departed, the villagers stacked the mined gold nearby, waiting for the ships to return to load it all at once.

With a final, abrupt scream, True Love’s last bit of health was exhausted, and he was whipped to death. Zhao Ming threw the whip onto True Love’s corpse and walked over to Li Zhan, saying:

"Town Chief, True Love has been executed. Please inspect the results."

Li Zhan turned back to look at True Love, who was still tied to the stake, and shook his head.

"The purpose of punishing him has been achieved. Take his body down and let it disappear on its own."

Zhao Ming acknowledged the order, and he and his swordsmen took True Love down from the stake and laid him flat on the ground. The villagers of the True Love tribe stood in a circle, watching everything blankly, showing no reaction.

Feng Xing walked over at this moment and asked Li Zhan:

"Leader Li, what do you think should be done with these villagers?"

Note:
1. Heinous: "Rise of the Empire" encourages interaction between players and NPCs. The system defines four levels of evil behavior for NPCs: "Black Sheep," "Public Menace," "Heinous," and "Public Enemy." When a player’s evil actions reach the "Heinous" level, the system lifts restrictions, allowing NPCs to punish the player as a deterrent.