"Let's pack up." Outside on the mountain path, Luo Qi waved his hand tiredly.
The ice and snow were howling in the mountains, and it was much colder than in the village. At least there were many places in the village to shelter from the wind and cold, but when people went out to work, it was really freezing cold.
Luo Qi became a small leader, leading his team to lurk on the mountain roads, trying to rob passing merchants, but how many merchants could come in such a cold weather? Not even a ghost was seen all day, and the falling snow had already covered his hair and shoulders, and his thin body was like an eggplant covered with frost.
When he left the Luo family, he did not have time to pack his belongings. He was only wearing a thin coat. He stayed in the wind, snow and ice for a whole day. Even with his slight achievements in practice, it was still difficult to cope with it.
On the contrary, his subordinates were all dressed thickly, better than him. Luo Qi had just arrived and had not established his authority, so he was embarrassed to snatch clothes from his subordinates, and he gritted his teeth and held on for a long time.
A subordinate next to him said, "Boss Luo, this mountain road is not a solution. It seems we have to go to the city..."
Luo Qi shook his head and said, "Let's wait for two days. I don't know if the higher-ups intend to preach in the city. When the time comes, there will be believers to offer their services. We can't act rashly."
Preaching donations and bandit looting are two typical sources of income for the Demon Cult. If they develop well, they may also set up industries for operation. However, everything in this new branch has just started, and there is nothing. So far, the food that everyone eats is still purchased from the mountain, which is the start-up capital.
The subordinate said, "But we have been hungry for a whole day! We will be scolded if we go back to the village, and we may not be given any food at all. If this continues, we will starve to death!"
Luo Qi said: "We will go to the city privately some other day, and I will treat the brothers to a meal."
The subordinates smiled ingratiatingly. It seemed that this newly promoted leader was quite good at dealing with people, which made everyone feel less worried.
Luo Qi dismissed his subordinates and slowly walked back to the mountain village in the sunset, dragging his tired body.
When passing by the underground altar, Luo Qi subconsciously glanced at the secret door that was hidden so that no one could recognize it, and sneered slightly.
He knows what it is.
Zhao Changhe thought that he had come here out of helplessness and coercion. Only he knew that he was not here to guard a prisoner, nor was he so weak that he could not walk. He could have left halfway, so why did he have to come here and suffer
Because he always understood what this place was, what the Blood God Cult did, and... why they wanted to destroy the Luo family.
He decided to come here after careful consideration.
He walked into the village as if nothing had happened, and reported today's looting mission to the steward's hall. Naturally, he was scolded for getting nothing, and he didn't even have a meal to eat. Luo Qi smiled and retreated, slowly returning to the residential area.
I saw my wooden house from a distance. Zhao Changhe was standing at the door, reading a book in the afterglow of the setting sun.
It really is a bit like using a firefly to reflect the light through the snow or chiseling a hole in the wall to steal light.
He was squatting in a horse stance, holding a book in his left hand and a single-edged sword in his right hand, and he was demonstrating the posture of holding the sword and chopping down, over and over again.
There was a wooden stake in front of him. It seemed that he was trying hard to chop the stake at the same place with each blow, but now the chop was in a mess and there were knife marks all over the stake.
Luo Qi dared to say that he had never seen such a hard-working person... Well, although he didn't meet many people.
Zhao Changhe turned around and saw him coming back, with a look of surprise on his face: "You're back?"
This natural surprise made Luo Qi feel very strange: "What are you excited about?"
"Well... I was afraid that you might be in danger." Zhao Changhe smiled and said, "It seems that you are okay? That's good. Have you eaten?"
Luo Qi's eyes became even more strange, and after a while he said, "I ate it."
In fact, Luo Qi hadn't eaten anything today except the steamed corn bread in the morning. As soon as he said this, his stomach growled as an accompaniment.
Luo Qi's face turned red instantly and he glared at Zhao Changhe angrily.
Zhao Changhe would never argue with such a proud and arrogant person, so he turned around and went into the house: "I was just worried that you wouldn't be able to find food in the freezing weather, so I left some food for you... You came back just in time, and the food is still warm."
Luo Qi followed behind like a sleepwalker, looking at the leftovers on the table that were still warm, his heart filled with confusion.
Seeing him standing there in a daze, Zhao Changhe said with a straight face, "You don't mind me having eaten before? Just make do with it, my senior brother."
Luo Qi said nothing, but sat down at the table quietly, looking down at the meal. There was actually a piece of meat in the meal.
"You... need meat more right now." He said with some difficulty.
Zhao Changhe waved his hand indifferently: "I ate three servings at noon, that's enough, I'm not hungry."
Luo Qi stopped talking. How can you skip dinner after having lunch
Zhao Changhe sat beside him and ate with him, and asked, "In the middle of winter, there are no passing merchants. How can we do this kind of mission?"
"Sometimes, but if not..." Luo Qi paused and didn't say it. Instead, he turned to look at Zhao Changhe in surprise: "Maybe a lot of Zhaocuo things will happen in our hands this winter. You don't care at all? Then wasn't your anger at that time ironic?"
Zhao Changhe stared at the sunset outside in a trance and whispered, "Before you came back, I was struggling with this and thought about it for a long time. I just happened to have something to discuss with you."
Luo Qiqi asked: "What?"
"We had no choice before, we could only take things one step at a time, but now we actually have a certain degree of autonomy." Zhao Changhe lowered his voice again: "For example, can we choose our targets? For example, if we choose someone like the Luo family, they can claim to be acting on behalf of heaven and robbing the rich to help the poor when they cause trouble? I suspect that many heroes' income comes from this..."
Luo Qi's expression became very interesting. He looked at Zhao Changhe for a long time as if he was looking at something strange. Then he laughed and said, "I thought you were a hero, but how could you be so naive?"
"Naive? Maybe." Zhao Changhe whispered, "It's just that there are some things I really don't want to lose."
Luo Qi did not mock him, but lowered his head and poked at the rice in the bowl: "You are in the devil's cave, how can you be free? You know in your heart that you can't do it."
Zhao Changhe said, "If you can't do it now, then get stronger. Today I've also seen that the Demon Cult believes in strength the most. If you are awesome, others will respect you, and no one will fart. If you are a leader, at least you can make some decisions about the team. What if you become the helmsman one day? Then you will have the final say here."
Zhao Changhe hadn't said anything else.
As long as you have enough ability to deal with the future pursuit, then you can just run away. It's just a broken village, you can escape if you really want to.
A stranger in a strange land, who cares about who? We are all born bandits, so it is no big deal to have another born rebel.
“Heh…” Luo Qi didn’t know if he understood the hidden meaning of his words, but sighed softly: “I hope you can keep your conscience and your innocence. Just like the meal now… Thank you.”
Zhao Changhe smiled and said, "This tone is not easy. We are friends now."
Luo Qi hummed, and said softly: "It has been a long time ago."
In fact, they were more than just friends, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they depended on each other, but Luo Qi had never thought that this word would appear between him and anyone else.
"Then can we lie down together tonight?" Zhao Changhe knocked on the table. "I say, have you had enough? How long are you going to have to sleep on the bed alone and lie on the table alone? Anyway, no matter what you say, I'm going to sleep on the bed tonight. I'm freezing to death."
"..." Luo Qi said calmly, "Just sleep on the bed. Or maybe one day I die outside, and you won't have to worry about this kind of thing."
Zhao Changhe said unhappily, "I wonder if you are really a woman? Why are you so hypocritical? Readers don't even like to read novels about women disguising themselves as men these days."
Luo Qi pointed at his Adam's apple in annoyance and said, "Mr. Zhao, are you crazy? You think of women when you see anything?"
"On the contrary! I don't have the mood to get tangled up with a woman right now!" Zhao Changhe said angrily, "I don't want you to be a woman at all. It's so much easier for a man. It's troublesome to be a woman, okay? Can't you be more manly?"
Luo Qi's eyes widened, and after a while he laughed and said, "Really... the words of a hero in the martial arts world."
"You mean I'm a straight man, right? Oh, I forgot you don't know this word." Zhao Changhe said: "I'm a straight man, so what? Now let me tell you, if you're a man, we'll sleep together from today. If you're a woman, I'll go to Teacher Sun tomorrow and ask him to change my room for me! It's just a nap, what a fuss!"
Luo Qi poked and poked at the rice bowl with his chopsticks, almost tearing the meat that he had been reluctant to eat. He muttered inaudibly, "What a bandit, so vulgar."
Zhao Changhe didn't hear clearly: "What?"
"Nothing." Luo Qi raised his neck: "Let's sleep together, I'm not afraid of you!"
(End of this chapter)