Bai Shanbao’s eyes shone with excitement, "Daji is so amazing!"
Manbao said, "I want to learn from Daji how to run on rooftops and fight."
"No way, you can’t learn, only I can." Manbao was already wild when it came to fighting; if she learned more, how could he ever win against her?
Manbao still wanted to argue, but Keke said, "Host, while no one’s paying attention, why don’t you go get the stun baton back?"
"I don’t want to, I could get shocked too."
"You won’t," Keke said, "Just use a stick to pry open the person’s hand, and hold onto the end with the switch. If you’re still scared, host, you can consider buying a pair of insulating gloves."
Now that the situation wasn’t so dire, Manbao’s frugality returned and she shook her head, "Never mind, I need to save my points."
She left Bai Shanbao behind and squeezed her way back to the kitchen. After finding a stick, she went to pry the ones lying on the ground.
The fight on the rooftop was incredibly thrilling, and everyone’s attention was fixed on it. Especially Old Zhou, who would occasionally shout, "Oh, my tiles! Come down and fight, don’t fight on the roof... "
That only focused everyone’s attention even more.
Manbao squatted on the ground, pried open his hand with the stick, and didn’t reach for the stun baton directly but used the stick to push it away before grabbing it.
After turning off the switch, she looked at the two people sprawled on the ground and asked Keke curiously, "Why does this stick knock people out?"
"It’s not knocking out, it’s shocking out. Do you know what lightning is?"
Manbao nodded forcefully, "I know."
"The electricity in the stun baton is the same as lightning; it can shock people unconscious when it hits them."
Manbao shuddered, "But lightning can kill people."
"The stun baton won’t, at least not the ones in the Encyclopedia Hall. It has a safety system. Although it’s powerful, it’ll only knock people unconscious."
Manbao breathed a sigh of relief. She was just about to discuss with Keke how to knock out the person on the roof when she saw the man on the ground’s eyelids twitch, as if he was about to open his eyes.
She was startled and instinctively pressed the switch and then pressed it onto his hand.
The two on the ground jerked twice, their heads dropped limp, and they passed out completely again.
Manbao was overjoyed, "It really works so well."
The person on the rooftop just happened to see this scene and couldn’t help but scream twice in frustration, nearly going mad. He swung his sword, aiming for Daji’s vitals with each strike. At that moment, he wished he could kill all the villagers.
He was in too much discomfort, from injuries sustained in direct conflict with the villagers and from being scalded with boiling water.
Especially the bucket of scalding hot water from Junior Ms.Qian; his face and hands were now blistered, and the agony was almost driving him insane.
This was why Daji was barely managing to fend him off.
Ms. Liu could see that Daji was no match for him and grabbed the nanny’s hand, "Go back and call for more house guards. We must keep him here."
The nanny was perplexed, "Old Madam, if we offend him ..."
Ms. Liu said sternly, "Go quickly!"
The nanny could only bow and leave.
Manbao took the stun baton and ran back to Bai Shanbao’s side to enjoy the show, while also wondering how to throw the stun baton onto him.
But since he was moving and up on the rooftop, Manbao obviously couldn’t manage that, so she could only look up and watch.
The Bai Family’s house guards quickly arrived. They didn’t have Daji’s skills and couldn’t fly up to the rooftop to fight, but they had better organization and discipline than the villagers and knew some combat techniques.
After assessing the situation on the rooftop, the leader grabbed the village head and asked, "Got any bamboo poles?"
"Yes, the Zhou Er family lacks for nothing if not bamboo poles." The village head didn’t need someone from the Zhou Family to guide them and directly took them to the storeroom, where there were bamboo poles of all lengths, both dry and green, available for the picking.
The house guards each chose a pole and rushed out, forming ranks before striking at the man above with bamboo poles.
Caught off-guard, he was hit on the shin by a bamboo pole, lost his footing, and Daji took the chance to kick him off the roof.
With a great pain in his chest, he crashed to the ground. Before he could get up, he was surrounded by villagers wielding sticks, pressing them against him so he couldn’t rise.
One of the guards kicked away his sword and also pressed down on him.
Daji jumped down, found a rope, and bound him thoroughly.
The three were thrown together in a heap and then everyone fell silent, looking at them.
Caught up in the fight and excitement, they had forgotten to think about what to do after capturing them.
Even the village head began to panic, "Are they really fakes?"
If they were real then...
Old Zhou felt uneasy as well. He believed they were fakes, but he remembered the officials who had come to investigate in the past were indeed officials...
Mr. Zhuang, however, was very sure. He approached the only person still conscious and said, "Even if they are indeed officials, their purpose here is impure. I’ve never heard of any place where they give subsidies for people’s heads. Otherwise, why don’t you tell me where you are stationed?"
The man spat in response and glared at everyone with venom in his eyes, sneering, "Just wait, if you dare to capture us, the court will surely label you all as bandits. Before long, the entirety of Qili Village will be razed, and not a single one of you will escape."
The villagers became anxious upon hearing this, but Mr. Zhuang laughed and said, "I’m relieved to hear you talk . It seems you indeed came here with ulterior motives."
The village head quietly approached Mr. Zhuang and asked, "Mr. Zhuang, if they really are officials, us capturing them won’t be a problem, right?"
Mr. Zhuang reassured them, "No worries, they’re not even daring to reveal their identities. We have plenty of reasons even if we go to the yamen (government office)."
The village head then sighed in relief, then looked at the three worriedly, "What do we do with them now? Take them to the yamen?"
Mr. Zhuang glanced at the sky and said, "It’s late today, if we’re to send them it should be tomorrow. We need to detain them first."
"So... "The village head looked towards Old Zhou, obviously asking for his opinion. The men had been captured at his place, and it was because of the Zhou Family’s action that they had been captured.
Old Zhou was not troubled by this. He was still upset about his damaged tiles. Seeing the village head look over, he nodded, and was about to agree when suddenly a voice rang out, "If you all don’t mind, how about they be detained at my house first?"
Everyone looked in surprise to see Ms. Liu, who had walked up without their notice. She was looking down at the three people tied together.
Two of them were still unconscious, while one was alert. Anticipating what was coming, he began to shout but was quickly gagged by Daji with a cloth.
Disgusted and almost vomiting, he felt the cloth shoved deeper into his mouth, and a rare look of fear appeared in his eyes as he struggled.