Chapter Forty-Nine: Slaying the Enemy

“Take the village women to gather stones and crush these pirates!” Qin Zhen commanded in a deep voice.

At that moment, Chief Constable Chen also arrived with his men.

Seeing the knives in their hands, Qin Zhen said solemnly, “Brother Chen, we may need you and your men to follow me and hold the line.”

In truth, Chen wanted to ask Qin Zhen whether they could really hold the line if given the knives. But seeing the ferocious pirates, he found himself unable to utter those words.

Everyone understood: today, either the pirates died, or they would.

“No problem!”

Having resolved himself, Chief Constable Chen nodded fiercely. “I’ve got a blade—just stay behind me…”

Before he could finish, Qin Zhen drew a steel blade.

Not only him, but several members of the village guard team also produced iron knives.

“Where did you get those?” Chen was stunned.

“Brother Scar gave them,” Qin Zhen replied, now too busy to hide anything.

“Where’s Brother Scar?” Chen swallowed hard.

By now, Chen Shu had led his men to lay the wooden barricades, and Li Han and the others began retreating.

The direction of the village gate was already empty!

Qin Zhen’s voice was icy: “He’s dead.”

Before the words had faded, the gate was finally battered open by the pirates!

Watching the villagers scatter, Oda Takaya’s expression twisted into something nearly mad.

“Brothers, follow me in! Seize the merchant slaves!”

Qin Zhen gave his order in that moment.

“First row, volley! Second row, fire at will! Third row, stand ready—shoot!”

A rain of arrows, not dense but sudden, enveloped the pirates. Cries of pain erupted!

The repeating crossbows lacked the range of traditional bows, especially those handmade by Qin Zhen, whose effective killing distance was barely thirty meters—sometimes less than the stones thrown by hand. But within those thirty meters, their suppressive power was unmatched.

Qin Zhen had only twelve repeating crossbows.

Three bolts per crossbow, one round meant thirty-six arrows.

Excluding the third row, the villagers in the first two rows emptied their quivers in mere moments, presenting the pirates clustered at the narrow village entrance with a wall of arrows.

In the darkness, curses, cries, and fury echoed.

Qin Zhen could clearly see that in this first volley, seven or eight pirate figures collapsed!

“Don’t be nervous—just like in training. They are not pirates, they’re pigs waiting to be slaughtered! Look, they bleed too!” Qin Zhen’s steady voice resonated in everyone’s hearts.

The effectiveness of the volley calmed the villagers. Once the first two rows finished, they began reloading, while the third row filled the gaps, allowing for error.

“They have bows!”

“My knee’s been hit!”

“Someone’s dead! Someone’s dead!”

The cries of the wounded pirates in the front row quickly swept through their ranks. Oda Takaya, shocked, found himself hating the villagers of the little fishing village even more.

Mere lowly peasants! Why weren’t they waiting quietly to be slaughtered? How dare they resist!

Unforgivable!

“Their arrows are weak—don’t be afraid! Those in bamboo armor, charge with me, kill all these merchants!”

Oda Takaya roared, leading the charge into the village.

He understood the limitations of crossbow bolts; he was only thirty meters away. In just a few breaths, once he reached the merchants, his sword would cut through everything.

Indeed, without iron tips, the bolts could not pierce his bamboo armor.

But as he stepped over his fallen comrades, he stumbled heavily.

“It’s wood! These merchants have covered the road with wood!”

The randomly piled wood formed a complicated barrier, greatly hindering the pirates’ progress. With darkness obscuring the path, many pirates tripped and fell as they crossed the wooden barricades.

Meanwhile, the repeating crossbows were reloaded, and under Qin Zhen’s command, a second volley was fired.

Along with countless stones—slower than arrows, but solid and heavy, and painful when they struck.

Especially the women, like Liu Juan, terrified by the savage pirates, hurled stones desperately.

Many pirates found their heads smashed and bleeding.

The wounded pirates twisted and writhed among the woodpiles, creating further obstacles.

Thirty meters had become an impassable gauntlet!

“Brilliant!” Chen Shu applauded.

He couldn’t help but admire Qin Zhen’s arrangements.

The surrounding villagers grew more confident in Qin Zhen, and as they listened to the pirates’ cries, they began to realize: pirates are nothing special.

Pirates are human, afraid of pain, and capable of dying.

With that realization, their fear diminished, replaced by a bloodthirsty courage to avenge themselves.

“Despicable merchants!” Oda Takaya’s heart bled. Watching his brothers fall one after another, his hatred for the villagers deepened.

He made a decision.

“Light the torches!”

Illumination would expose them to the enemy’s aim, making them arrow targets.

That was why he had his troops fight in darkness from the start.

Darkness was equally limiting for both sides.

But now, caught in this predicament, he desperately needed light to escape the area.

Unexpectedly, before the pirates could light their torches, pillars of fire shot up around them!

Only then did the pirates realize how many people were in the village!

“Set the fires!”

Qin Zhen gestured, grave.

Villagers threw torches at the pirates.

The fish-oil-soaked torches and piled wood created a perfect inferno, igniting instantly! As the pirates watched in horror, flames soared, spreading swiftly!

Almost simultaneously, Li Han, long waiting, climbed the earthen wall and spread fish oil outside the village.

“Burn, you mongrels!”

The searing fire sealed the pirates’ escape, the stench of burning flesh mingling with fish oil, spreading in everyone’s hearts.

“I don’t want to die!”

“Captain Oda, save me!”

Amid the wailing, Oda Takaya’s eyes burned red, ghostlike. He never expected that a night raid on a tiny village would end like this!

Now, their retreat was cut off. They had no choice: burn in the flames, or fight their way out.

“Brothers, follow me—fight our way out!” His face was desperate, almost insane.

Just then, Qin Zhen’s icy voice rang out again!

“Keep firing! The rest, grab your sticks and push these scum into the fire!”

That night.

The old village chief perched atop the wall, heart pounding.

Behind him were faces full of innocence—the only escape route for the fishing village. If Qin Zhen failed to defeat the pirates, the old chief would have to lead the children into the woods to seek survival.

“Sister Miaoyun, did Brother Qin Zhen defeat those bad men?” Hua asked in her childish voice.

Gazing at the distant flames, the pirates struggling in the inferno, and that solemn, resolute figure, Miaoyun was momentarily lost and murmured,

“I don’t know…”