Chapter 56 - 55: March 7th's Loot

The group continued to move forward, but they hadn't gone far when they heard a commotion up ahead. March 7th pointed to the distance: "What's all that noise over there? Are people arguing? Should we knock them all out and see if they've got anything valuable?" Pei Guang pulled out his wooden sword: "What? An argument? Where?" Stelle: "Let's go, let's go! Let's hit a 1-in-a-1,000,000 chance this time!" Pei Guang: "You little troublemaker! Let me show you who's the real luck master today." March 7th: "Let's go! Let's go~ We'll knock out all the vagrants." Before anyone else could react, March 7th, Pei Guang, and Stelle had already dashed off in the blink of an eye. Logically, the one who should've been most concerned was Seele, but at this point, she was too worn out to care. All she could do was pray—pray that they'd go easy on them. Pei Guang and the others moved swiftly, arriving at the scene of the commotion to find a standoff between the Vagrants and the miners. Distinguishing between the two groups was easy. The latter wore uniforms, and their tools and equipment were standardized and neatly arranged. The former, on the other hand, wore a mix of outfits, with all kinds of weapons, and some even had mechanical aids they'd dug up to assist in combat. The miners and Vagrants were arguing, with a woman named Antonia from the miner's side standing up to them. Antonia: "Cowards! Why do you shrink away when facing Svarog's lackeys? Didn't your parents ever teach you what it means to have a backbone?" Her voice made it clear that she was furious. This mining area had been discovered by the miners, and while they would have welcomed the Vagrants to help with the digging, these guys clearly weren't interested in working hard: instead, they wanted to take advantage of the situation and throw their weight around. The leader of the group waved a gun he'd somehow dug up: "Are you kidding? Fighting robots? What's in it for us? And don't pretend you're so clean—you found a big chunk of geomarrow and tried to hide it all for yourselves. Is it tasty hogging it all?" As the argument continued, the Vagrant leader realized they had weapons on their side. He then threatened them viciously: "If you don't want to get hurt, hand over all your supplies! Don't be greedy." Pei Guang: "Well said! I'm the one who's going to be greedy. If you don't want to die, hand over everything and tie yourselves up." Antonia: "?" Vagrant Leader: "?" Both sides turned to look at the suddenly appearing Pei Guang. Antonia gritted her teeth: "You bunch of opportunists, robbing us while we're down? Have you no shame?" The Vagrant leader sneered at Pei Guang: "Who the hell are you guys? Do you even know whose turf this is?" At this point, Stelle had already taken out her bat, and Pei Guang was adjusting the order of his tools in his storage space, righteously declaring: "Shame? Robbing the weak may be shameful, but I'm going to rob you whether there's fire or not. As for whose turf this is, from now on, all the unmined ore here is mine—my oil fields, my mines. You got a problem with that? Prepare for battle!" The miners, unarmed, tensed up at Pei Guang's words. Antonia couldn't believe Pei Guang was this ruthless, ready to fight without saying much. The Vagrants, however, didn't hesitate, immediately pointing their guns at Pei Guang and his group. But before they could fire, three ice arrows flew past Pei Guang and Stelle, shattering into cute ice sculptures just before reaching the enemies, freezing their hands, feet, and weapons. There was no danger to worry about—while Pei Guang was blabbering on, March 7th had been preparing to ensure that while they were restrained, no physical harm would come to them. March 7th emerged from the shadows with her bow: "When I'm here, I'm worth two of you. What are you waiting for? Teach me how to loot bodies already!" Pei Guang: "Let's go, let's go!" Stelle: "Wanna bet on who's luckier?" Stelle's suggestion was obvious, but Pei Guang wasn't going to fall for it. "Heh, you think I'll fall for that? Maybe in your next life. Alright, let's get to it! Don't struggle now, just empty your pockets." The Vagrants were shocked: they hadn't expected to run into such tough enemies! Pei Guang and Stelle were smiling brightly, but their innocent, childlike grins only added to the fear. Yes, they smiled so purely, so innocently, that it sent chills down everyone's spine. The Vagrants were in this for selfish reasons—they were shameless and immoral, and they knew it. But Pei Guang and Stelle were different. Their innocent, righteous actions paired with their intentions only made everyone feel terror. The leader quickly begged for mercy: "Heroes! Mighty warriors! Spare us, we were just momentarily blinded by greed." Pei Guang rubbed his hands together excitedly: "Don't worry! If I were a hero, I'd definitely spare you... but I'm not." Stelle weighed her bat in her hand: "Neither am I." March 7th: "What a coincidence, I'm not a hero either." Seeing that begging for mercy was useless, the Vagrant leader snarled in a threatening tone, "Just you wait, once I'm gone, you won't have an easy time." Facing the threat, Pei Guang looked at him and said, "You're right, once you're gone, we might not have an easy time. But before you leave, you definitely won't have a good time either." Stelle: "Then let's make sure you don't leave at all. Ah Guang! Let's take him down!" Pei Guang: "Don't steal my lines!" Vagrant Leader: "Aren't you going to follow the rules of the Underworld? If you've got the guts, fight us fair and square!" Stelle: "Good point, but rules are meant to be broken!" Just as Stelle was about to swing her bat, Pei Guang stopped her, pulling out a bottle of "Coffee" and pouring it into a flask: "Hold on! We can break the rules later. Let's loot them first, then beat them up. Come on, let's make them behave~" Stelle took the flask and started forcing it down the vagrant's throat: "Makes sense! Drink up!" Gulp gulp gulp— The vagrant leader's vision went dark, and he passed out. He was quite unlucky, as he didn't even get to taste anything before blacking out. The other three vagrants, loyal followers of their leader, panicked and struggled, trying to run away. To them, Pei Guang and Stelle were like demons—worse than the Fragmentum monsters, a truly terrifying presence. But the most frightening part was yet to come. March 7th casually walked up to the unconscious vagrant leader and started rummaging through his pockets. March 7th: "Is there something? Wait, I actually got something!" Pei Guang was shocked: "What did you get?" Although the pocket looked empty, March 7th pulled out a strange object. It was about the size of a fist, resembling a handheld firework. March 7th handed the firework-sized object to Pei Guang: "No idea!" Pei Guang inspected it: "Oh! It's a weapon effect—equipping it will give your weapon a special effect. After we finish looting, whoever wants it can have it." Stelle didn't know what it was, but hearing that she could use it made her excited: "Awesome!" March 7th stepped back with her loot: "Awesome? It's mine." Stelle mimicked Pei Guang's hand-rubbing gesture, a bright smile on her face: "Oh, come on~ We're all part of the same crew!"