The bandit leader had been waiting on this mountain path all day, finally getting his first business deal today. But in this day and age, there were too many experts, so the bandit leader habitually looked over the two people pulling the cart as they walked over. One was a white-clothed pretty boy, looking quite good, but seeming weak and scholarly without any strength at all - clearly a bookworm. The other was a kid dressed in black, also very delicate looking, and at most seemed to only be ten years old. Even if he had started learning martial arts skills in his mother's womb, he would have only practiced for ten years at most, definitely not enough to be a match for the bandit leader's high-level skills, plus he still had over twenty subordinates.
This was an easy score!
Looking at the cart behind the scholar in white, the bandit leader lamented: As expected, being a bandit still has good prospects!
After the bandit leader finished his opening remarks, he raised his hand, saying to his followers behind him: "Brothers, we have business today. Come with me and take this score, bringing us one step closer to fulfilling our dreams of going back home, buying a house, and getting married!"
The band of bandits responded vigorously:
"Alright!"
"We'll follow Big Brother!"
The bandit leader was very satisfied with his subordinates' fighting spirit. Now he just needed to threaten them with some words and...
Before the bandit leader could think further, a burst of raucous laughter suddenly rang out from the cart, interrupting his train of thought on what to say.
The laughter came from Wang Xiaoer. Wang Xiaoer said to Zhang San, "Master, Master, look! There really are bandits, our luck is too good! The book must be right!"
The bandit leader was stunned for a moment. He couldn't help but look down at himself.
With this getup, the knife in his hand, his fierce expression, burly physique, and previous opening remarks...was there a problem?
Was his bandit image not obvious enough?
But the reaction of that melon-headed kid...
The bandit leader asked the bandit on his right, "Brother, is my image normal?"
Bandit A also found it very strange, answering: "It's totally normal Big Brother, same as always."
The bandit leader asked the bandit on his left, Bandit B: "Brother, was there anything wrong with my opening remarks earlier?"
Bandit B scratched his head, saying: "Very normal Big Brother, you always say it like that."
The bandit leader couldn't help but think: Since everything was so normal, then clearly the current situation was very abnormal. Looking at the smile on that brat's face, was that the normal reaction a kid should have after running into such a normal bandit like himself?
Could they be experts in disguise?
The bandits looked at the two people doubtfully.
Soon after, Zhang San pulling the cart moved!
Not only were the bandits caught off guard when he moved, they were thrown into chaos.
"Big Brother, what should we do? He doesn't seem to be afraid of us."
"Big Brother, should we test out his skills?"
The bandit leader stamped his foot and said in a low voice: "Don't panic! If the enemy doesn't move, I don't move! Wait until he gets closer."
The bandits all nodded in agreement.
Zhang San pulling the cart just felt extremely tired...
Having just found out this morning about the bad news of the Hei Shanhu gang putting a bounty out for him, and now inexplicably running into this group of incompetent bandits with no future prospects in their career path, he was truly exhausted.
Especially after observing them for a bit, Zhang San directly eliminated the possibility that they were experts in disguise trying to catch him off guard.
The reason was simple. It was very possible for experts who grew tired of the struggles in the jianghu to retire into the mountains.
But for that kind of person, they might become farmers, fishermen, wandering doctors, but no matter what, it was impossible for them to become bandits!
Even if there really were some experts with such peculiar tastes, the chances of randomly running into a reclusive expert on a mountain path were already tragically low. And now for him, Zhang San, to just randomly walk onto a mountain path and bump into those eccentric masters, the probability was so low it couldn't even be described in words.
So Zhang San really didn't want to continue bothering these foolish-looking people, who took one look to know they had no future prospects in the bandit career path.
Zhang San pulled the cart and took a turn, wanting to circle around these bandits on the mountain path.
Seeing his hard-earned business about to slip away, the bandit leader quickly yelled: "Hey bookworm, what are you doing! We're professional bandits, the kill-without-blinking type. Take this seriously!"
Zhang San let out a sigh, impatiently asking: "So you want to rob us?"
The bandit leader had actually been observing Zhang San all along, but with his few decades of martial arts training only at the superior level, he truly could not see any traces of Zhang San having any martial skills from his scholar appearance.
Thus the bandit leader started thinking Zhang San was just all talk trying to scare him, and cursed: "Can't you see clearly enough from my getup?!
Zhang San retorted: "Then may I ask where your certification is?"
"Where is your certification?"
When these words came out, the bandits' faces clearly revealed traces of panic.
As an aside, out of occupational safety concerns, Zhang San had taken odd jobs in many underground organizations, mainly to rely on his own lightness skill and stealth technique to obtain inside information of the underground societies. After all, if you're going to be involved in the underworld, how could you not understand it? So Zhang San was a seasoned researcher into the black market industry.
The bandit leader smiled stiffly, saying: "You damn bookworm, has reading made you silly? In this day and age, bandits need certification?"
Zhang San scolded back: "This town seems to be territory of the Hundred Kills Hall. Judging from your looks, you all couldn't have obtained their qualification certificates either. You dare to operate as bandits without certification? You call this unlicensed operation, do you know?!"
That's right!
In this day and age, being a bandit also requires certification! (Although it is certification issued by the underground societies)
But please, don't think this is too outrageous or ridiculous. Actually, looking at the history of development of the underground societies, certified bandits who are officially employed is truly a trend of standardized operation in line with the times.
Starting from ancient eras, all the way till present times, and even in many wuxia novels, bandits and the underground societies have been equated.
And this understanding...is clearly correct.
But first we must recognize what bandits are, and what kind of underground industry they belong to.
Bandits, as the name implies, are mountain thieves who make a living through robbery, with their main means of survival and income coming entirely from robbing money and goods from passersby.
That is to say, they belong to the “predatory” type of underground industry.
Compared to the “operating” underground syndicates running brothels, gambling dens, and selling Five Stones Powder (opium), the income means of predatory underground groups is more straightforward and more violent.
In fact, over twenty years ago, when the powers of both white and black societies were still quite balanced, as part of the black industry and occupations, mountain bandits and horse bandits were still very welcomed by their underground peers. At that time, some larger-scale mountain strongholds and horse bandit gangs had even been invited to become members of the black societies alliance.
Even just over ten years ago, after the decline of the white societies and rapid development of the black societies, coupled with increasing corruption of officials, these predatory black societies that purely relied on plunder had wildly thrived for a period of time. Back then, you could randomly go out to visit a relative, and come back robbed of even your pants.
However, around seven or eight years ago, a purge of bandits was formally carried out by the underground network.
Yes, you heard correctly!
The underground societies purged bandits!
The reason was very simple. In the context of the rampant development of the black societies, and the huge profits to be gained from properly running black market operations, the existence of mountain bandits and horse bandits had become an impediment to the development of the underground network.
As it turned out, no matter whether mountain bandits and horse bandits were once members of the black societies alliance, anyone who stood in the way of the tidal wave of this historical trend would be crushed to smithereens.
In recent years, over the past decade or so, all those newly emerging mountain bandits and horse bandits that had once wantonly proliferated, as well as all other predatory black societies, were completely wiped out. The ones remaining now were all approved bands, which was what Zhang San had previously referred to as “certified” bandits.
In simple terms, in this day and age, it's not necessarily only officials who need certification to be employed, bandits may also need it!
As for why mountain bandits and horse bandits became obstacles to the development of the black societies, Zhang San actually understood very well!