"What?"
Answering quicker than his brain could process, Thief Six looked at the cold gleam of the kitchen knife in her hand, swallowed hard, and said in a trembling voice, "Okay, I'll talk."
Seeing that he understood, Qi Huan lowered the knife and took a step back.
"I'll talk! Spare me, lady!"
"......"
Seeing that his pleas were useless, Qi Huan tapped him on the back with the knife handle again, signaling him to shut up. Ignoring the pain in her cheek caused by speaking, she coldly asked, "What are you here for?"
Thief Six fell silent.
He felt that if he spoke, he might die even sooner.
The rain was still falling, dampening the hem of Qi Huan's dress, and a trace of displeasure surfaced in her eyes.
This dress was a gift from Shu, and it was a couple's outfit. Yet it had been stained by the blood flowing here.
She tugged at her dress, intending to drag Thief Six inside to interrogate him, but found him too heavy to drag.
As she tugged at his hair to pull him forward, Thief Six howled in pain.
"Spare me, lady! Spare me!"
Fortunately, Qi Huan stopped when she realized she couldn't drag him.
Just as Thief Six heaved a sigh of relief, he heard her ask again, "Will you talk or not?"
Silence fell in the courtyard once more, with only the sound of raindrops hitting the ground.
Qi Huan's patience was exhausted, and she slashed at his arm with the knife.
It was her first time doing this, and her aim was off, only cutting through his clothes.
She slashed again.
This time, it drew blood.
She continued to threaten, "If you don't talk, I'll cut you two hundred and fifty times until you're in agony!"
"...You're the most venomous woman!"
After cursing, he was slashed again.
Thief Six immediately changed his tone, "Beautiful and kind Miss Qi, I'll talk."
"We are a small band of thieves infesting the outskirts of Mo County. Coveting the things the late Dr. Qi left for you, we thought to kidnap you and force the information out of you......"
As for what the boss said about Qi Huan growing more and more shapely, and wanting to take her back as a concubine, he didn't dare utter a single word of it.
After saying that, he lifted his eyes to gauge Qi Huan's expression. Having heard that Miss Qi was a kind-hearted person, he prepared to shed some tears and beg for his life.
But before he could open his mouth, he was slashed again.
Qi Huan examined him carefully, sifting through the Original Host's vague memories, gradually recognizing who he was.
When Thief Six mentioned that they were thieves, she became suspicious. It had been quite some time, and she hadn't recognized these people at first sight.
After all, they had grown fatter than the Original Host's memories of them.
Their clothes were also better than before.
"You've gotten fatter. I almost didn't recognize you."
Hearing her words, Thief Six forced an even uglier smile than crying.
"Miss Qi, you have such a good memory. It's been almost a year, but you still remember us!"
"I just remembered. Your life has been good, huh? Why have you gotten so fat?"
With each utterance of the word "fat," Thief Six grew more annoyed.
Was he fat or simply more robust?!
Originally, the seven of them had joined forces to kill a scholar and, fearing execution or imprisonment, had fled to this place.
Without household registration, they couldn't find work or means of survival. When they were almost starving to death, they accidentally heard that the Qi couple had passed away and decided to target their lone daughter.
Food? They stole it all.
Warm clothing? They took it too.
Later, they occupied an abandoned hunter's hut and managed to stay alive.
After tasting success, the group began roaming the city, observing where the elderly, weak, and infirm lived, specifically targeting them for robbery.
After all, families with men would put up too much of a fight, causing too much commotion and potentially attracting others.
Most of their victims didn't survive after being robbed.
They kept the stolen food for themselves, and the stolen clothes and bedding were dismantled, with the cotton sold.
Since Mo County was cold and didn't produce cotton, they could fetch a good price for it. Gradually, they grew plump from the food and wore slightly better clothes.
However, the sheriff was closing in on them, and they hadn't been doing well lately. Tired of constantly fleeing and living in anxiety, they began planning to move somewhere else.
Having heard that Qi's father left many strange and valuable items, and that Qi Huan had earned a good income from them, the group plotted to rob her again and take some silver as seed money.
Qi Huan was the first person they had ever robbed, and they had a deep impression of her as a weak, timid little girl.
Little did they know that she was a veritable tiger mother!
With several cuts on his body, although none were deep, the pain was excruciating!
Thief Six was in so much pain that he wanted to cry, pleading, "Miss Qi, everyone says you have a kind heart. Please, be merciful. I'll never do it again."
"Too late."
Even if they had initially left the Original Host with half a bun and a small padded jacket, she would not have hated them so much.
Recalling the Original Host's memories of freezing and starving to death, she steeled her heart and said resolutely, "Not all mistakes can be forgiven."
"Forgiving you is 'Qi Huan's' decision, but my decision is to send you to meet her."
With that, Qi Huan carefully selected a piece of jewelry with a poisoned needle and sent him on his way.
As for why she didn't just cut him down with a knife?
Qi Huan stated that it would be too bloody, and she couldn't bring herself to do it.
"Host, you have eliminated a threat to the people +6, score +6. Host, you are truly 666 (awesome)."
"The score doesn't matter. What matters is that they deserved to die."
Human life couldn't be restored, but a life could be redeemed for a life.
She had also avenged the Original Host and the other victims.
Holding an oiled paper umbrella, Qi Huan picked up the scattered pieces of jewelry and hidden weapons, washing them one by one in a basin of water.
She separated the used and unused ones. When Shu returned, she would give him the used ones and ask him to help reload the poisoned needles.
Glancing at the corpse in the courtyard, Qi Huan asked the system, "Can I store them in the spatial dimension?"
"Dead objects are allowed."
"Then I'll buy another carriage compartment."
"Very well, Host. Purchasing a carriage compartment costs one thousand points. Your current balance is 2101."
"Okay, put them in there."
She would find a suitable opportunity to bury them later.
After scooping out water to rinse the blood stains in the kitchen, Qi Huan changed into a clean set of clothes.
By evening, the rain showed no signs of stopping.
Fearing that Li Shuchen might catch a cold from the rain, she retrieved some ginger from the spatial dimension, intending to boil him a pot of ginger soup.
As she picked up the kitchen knife, she remembered it was stained with Thief Six's blood, so she put it back into the spatial dimension, temporarily setting it aside.
She added a scoop of water to the iron pot and, after some thought, broke the ginger into a few pieces and threw them in.
After all, it was just ginger soup, so it didn't matter much.
Once it boiled, she left some embers burning to keep it warm and purchased some instant hot pot ingredients.
With the heavy rain outside, she couldn't go out to buy a kitchen knife for cutting vegetables, so they would make do with a simple meal tonight.
After preparing everything, Qi Huan thought that in case Shu got caught in the rain and needed a bath, she should boil some hot water in another pot.
When she finished her tasks, she went to the hall and lit some candles, instantly brightening the dim room.
She had applied iodine to Heizi's wounds, and its leg injury didn't seem like a fracture, so it was fine for the time being. Since she couldn't carry Heizi, she would have to wait for Li Shuchen to return and take it to see the doctor together.
Heizi obediently lay at her feet, and the two of them, human and dog, patiently waited for Li Shuchen in the warm candlelight.
Suddenly, Qi Huan's right eyelid started twitching uncontrollably.
Shortly after, a faint rumbling sound came from the distance. Heizi whimpered, and she too became restless and anxious.
Donning a rain cape and a bamboo hat, she went to the stable behind the house to fetch a horse, intending to go to the logging camp to meet Shu.
Halfway there, she encountered the cunning and villainous Thief Seven.
Thief Seven looked at her suspiciously: "What did you do to my brothers?"
Seated atop a tall horse, Qi Huan lowered her gaze towards him: "Killed them."
"You wretched girl, I'll avenge my brothers!"
But then Thief Seven realized that his martial arts skills were inferior to those of his brothers.
Since his brothers couldn't defeat this girl, he surely wouldn't be able to either.
He shrank back his neck, withdrew the knife in his hand, and acknowledged the situation: "I won't seek revenge today."
With that, he tried to flee.
However, the rain was pouring heavily, and there was no one around, so Qi Huan decisively sent him to reunite with his brothers.
After shooting him with a poisoned needle, she stored his corpse in her second spatial dimension, laying him down beside his brothers.
If you don't remove the roots, the weeds will grow again in the spring breeze.
Since they were all villains, there was no need to leave a potential threat.
With the last bandit eliminated, the system awarded her another point.
Qi Huan put away the hidden weapon in her hand, and her hand gripping the reins trembled slightly. She understood the reasoning, but she wasn't quite used to it yet.
She asked the system: "Does killing count as a good deed? Can I still earn points for that?"
"Killing the wicked is done to save more innocent lives. Of course it counts," the system replied with righteous conviction.
Although composed of various complex programs, over its long existence, it had gradually developed its own set of thought processes.
Qi Huan nodded.
Kill to stop killing. She understood.
Cracking the whip, she resolutely continued forward.
As she neared the logging camp, she was stunned by the sight before her.
