Amid the strange cries, he seemed to hear a “ding” as the old woman put the iron flute to her lips, and a dart flew out from it—
How could it be a dart? Must be fake, right?
Closer and closer, closer and closer—
“It’s real!”
This was the bandit chief’s last words in this world. With these words, he flew up, fell to the ground, and the next moment was trampled by horse hooves.
Following the dart, those old, young, and small ones charged into the bandits. From who knows where they drew out swords, spears, and halberds, like entering a melon patch—hands rose, melons fell—
“When traveling, eat and dress in the best—besides not letting people look down on us, it also attracts fat sheep—”
“These Central Plains bandits are no good. We’ve been so ostentatious all this way for so long, and only this few popped out.”
“Sister Xiao Man, these bandits look really poor.”
“Even if they’re poor, we rob them! Don’t forget our rule—bandits don’t leave empty-handed!”
“You bandits, put down everything you have! Don’t keep what you’re wearing either, and your lives—you can’t keep those either.”
In the dusk mountain valley, sounds of striking and screaming continued.
……
……
Night covered the blood and gore. It wasn’t discovered until daybreak.
When local officials arrived, they saw over ten corpses, not a stitch of clothing on them, naked bodies arranged neatly by the roadside.
On the ground, besides the corpses, bloodstains, severed limbs, and carriage and horse tracks, nothing else was left behind.
No, that wasn’t quite right.
An officer picked up a silk flower from one corpse’s hair.
“This is truly strange.”
The official looked at the dead bodies on the ground. Although he’d never seen naked bodies before, these faces weren’t unfamiliar—they were still posted on wanted notices at the city gates.
This was the bandit chief who had plagued the area for many years.
“Why does it look like this group of bandits was robbed?”
The official reached out to receive the silk flower. With his experience, he recognized at a glance it was a cotton rose flower.
“When did these bandits pick up the habit of wearing flowers?”
Strange things happened every year, but this year there were especially many.
First there were the young women in the capital competing with men, and now there were male bandits dying with flowers in their hair.