Water Bandits

Ten kilometers to the South of Xia Village, several players were being hunted down by water bandits.

The water bandits had horrific knife marks on their faces, slashing around their iron knives. The two players at the front were having a hard time.

"Archer, release the arrows now! We can't withstand it anymore!"

The two players were overtaxed by the attack of the bandits. Hurriedly, they sought help from their companions at the back.

Several arrows flew across the air, aiming for the water bandits.

"Don't assume you can end my life with just a few d*mn arrows!"

A water bandit sent the arrow flying in another direction, swinging his knife down on the player's shoulder!

"Ahh!!"

The player let out a scream full of misery. Scrambling, he took out medication to stop the bleeding.

The water bandit did not give the player enough time to respond before his knife swung down again. The player collapsed onto the ground, drawing his final breath.

"Retreat! We are no match for the water bandits!"

The squad leader holding the bow was grinding his teeth in rage. The water bandits were of a very high grade, and they, a group of players of around Grade 20, were totally powerless in the face of the several bandits. One of their companions had even been sacrificed in the fight.

While being hunted down by the water bandits and in the midst of all the havoc, many players had sustained knife injuries.

"God d*mn it, they are too powerful!"

The squad of players began to retreat as the fight went on, managing to flee two painstaking kilometers. The water bandits seemed rather reluctant to move too far from this region of the water, so they stopped chasing them any further.

The atmosphere of the entire squad was despondent. As they could not leave the game, they had no idea whether a person died for real after being killed by the water bandit in the game. The revival function was not yet available.

The squad leader seemed wretched, moaning, "It is my mistake! I provoked the water bandits. This gang of bandits should be Grade 30, or even 40. My current strength is 35, but it turned out I couldn't even kill a water bandit."

"Leader, let us go back to Langya City. It is too dangerous out here."

"The wooden boat has been despoiled by the water bandits. We'll go to a nearby village for replenishment and healing. I'm running out of the anti-bleeding meds."

"Will there be any villages in the vicinity, with such a dangerous water village located here?"

"Perhaps there are."

The squad of players retreated to the North, where Xia Village was located.

The construction of the Level 2 shipyard was completed. This shipyard was attached to a cove for wooden boats, which was just beside the Yi River. It was capable of producing boats that were just under 20 meters in length.

Special talents, including two ship crafters and a dozen carpenters and painters, were working at the shipyard.

"Besides timber, we need tung oil, hemp ropes, stiff sails, and nails..."

The ship crafters recited a list of crude materials that were essential for building a picket ship.

Chu Tian got a headache as he read the long, scrolling list of materials. He had no choice but to consign the trading contingent to go collect the crude materials. 

Xia Village was only a large-sized Level 3 village, after all. If they were specialized in building ships, it wouldn't be a problem to manufacture all the materials on their own. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, so they had to purchase a great deal of materials from outside sources, such as tung oil.

"There should be feudal lords in regions like Jiangdong and Jing Prefecture who have specialized in building ships, but as far as I'm concerned, having a certain degree of ship-building ability is adequate."

Chu Tian continued to consign the trading contingent of Xiaozhu Village to purchase materials.

While Chu Tian was making an inspection tour at the shipyard with two soldiers, Elder Li hurried over to him, coughing endlessly while holding onto his wooden stick.

"Elder Li, the Yellow Turban bandits have fully retreated now, and the village is at ease, so what makes you so anxious?"

"There's...there's a group of foreign people, who just came to our village."

"What's so strange about that?"

The foreign people that Elder Li had mentioned were free players. Free players in the Eastern Han could change their jobs to commanders, advisors, civil officers, assassins, blacksmiths, poets, and so forth. As far as Elder Li was concerned, players were a part of this world, so there wasn't anything strange about it. It was just that he referred to free players as foreign people.

Chu Tian wasn't really surprised by the fact that free players had shown up in Xia Village, as there were hundreds of millions of players trapped in Feudal Lords. Even when the area of Feudal Lords had been enlarged by ten times, players would usually congregate near important cities, such as Luoyang, Chang'an, Xiangyang and Chenliu.

Recently, a small number of free players had been in and out of Xia Village as well, all of whom Chu Tian treated as ordinary refugees. If there were regular-life free players, Chu Tian would even be glad if they bought houses in Xia Village and promoted the GDP of Xia Village, apart from contributing to the reinforcement of effects.

If free players did not have good equipment and skills, they would have no dominance over the elite infantry and light cavalry of Xia Village either. Besides, free players were different from armies. They could hardly form large-scale troops. After all, no one would be willing to succumb to the other person.

Small numbers of free players were unable to pose a threat to Xia Village's public security. As for players who intended to wreak havoc in Xia Village… The village had its own prison and a complete set of punishments for them.

"This group of foreign people are injured. I heard that they were injured by water bandits 10 kilometers to the South of our village. They mentioned that there's a water village there."

"A village 10 kilometers away? Let's go back."

Chu Tian was rather surprised when he was told this important piece of information.

A distance of 10 kilometers wasn't far. It was very close, even. By foot, it would take just an hour to travel 10 kilometers and bringing along equipment wouldn't slow one down by a lot either.

If that village was a water village, they could travel to Xia Village by the Yi River, cutting that time down further.

When Chu Tian and Elder Li returned to the village, he saw the squad of players who had come to Xia Village.

The squad of players were having their wounds tended to at Xia Village's Level 2 hospital. Elder Li's daughter, Li Lan, was probably the one who had heard about the water village 10 km to the South of Xia Village while she was giving treatment to the players.

"'I Just Want to Farm', is that you?!"

The squad leader seemed very surprised to see Chu Tian.

Chu Tian was startled for a second, only after a few seconds recalling that his username in the game was 'I Just Want to Farm'. The leader of this player squad was the vice chairman of Wolves Roam the World, Fatty.

"So you are 'I Just Want to Farm'! It is an honor to finally meet you!"

When the rest of the players heard of 'I Just Want to Farm', who was ranked first in the previous event, the Trails of Yellow Turban, they were filled with deep veneration.

Ever since Chu Tian overtook 'Jiujiu Old Qin', he had become one of the captivating feudal lords of the Eastern Han. Currently, the prosperity level of Xia Village was ranked 12th in Xu Prefecture, which made it one of the few big villages.

"It seems like you guys have encountered very powerful water bandits. I would like to learn more about them."

"Yes, we did. At a distance of about 10 km from your village lies a water village, which is formed by connecting a few dozen wooden houses. The water village has four wooden arrow towers and more than twenty small boats. Initially, we got near the place in our small boat, but were discovered by the water bandits, who attacked us later on. We ditched the boat and ran away, but at the riverside, one of our comrades was killed by the water bandits."

When Fatty mentioned the comrade who had died in the battle, he seemed forlorn.

Feudal Lords was no longer as simple as to be just a game. No one knew what happened after death!

A few dozen wooden houses accounted for the scale of a village. This gang of water bandits plundered cargo for a living, so preventative measures had to be taken against them.

Every prefecture and district had its own minor influences, such as the Yellow Turban bandits, mountain thieves, water bandits, mountain savages, the Qiang savages, and horse thieves. These minor influences would affect the development of the feudal lords in the vicinity.

"I will figure out a way to exterminate this gang of water bandits in the future, avenging your comrade," Chu Tian promised.

The water bandits 10 kilometers away had to be exterminated sooner or later, so he might as well do them a favor.

"We live in Langya City. If you plan to dispatch your army to besiege the water bandits, contact me in advance. I can summon a team of free players to help you. We can't let our people die for nothing!"

"Brother farm, there could be up to a hundred water bandits in that gang, and their grades are probably 30 or 40. Don't simply assault the water bandits. You need at least a hundred soldiers."

It was very kind of these players to remind Chu Tian of the dangers of the water bandits.

Chu Tian wasn't an impulsive person either. "Once our Xia Village gets upgraded to a town, I will certainly wipe them out."