A tactic was decided upon with just a few exchanged glances.
The bandits outside had already begun kicking at the door.
Lock looked at their identical clothes and announced with a smile, "Operation White Hoodie, begin!"
Annie yanked the door open, and Lock came face-to-face with a burly man whose kick had just met empty air.
Lock sent the man flying with a kick to the solar plexus, while simultaneously grabbing two guns pointed at his face and quickly jerking the muzzles upward.
"Bang!"
The bandit on the right fired in a panic, but the shot only hit the deck overhead.
Annie slipped out from behind Lock and delivered a high roundhouse kick to the man on the right's head; he slammed into the corridor wall like a ball and lost consciousness instantly.
Lock released his right hand and pulled the gun in his left, forcing the other bandit to stumble toward him involuntarily.
He stepped forward with his left foot and blasted the bandit's chest with a Half-Step Crushing Fist, sending the man flying while coughing up blood.
The two of them each picked up a gun and headed toward the passage leading to the deck, one leading and one following.
Passing a room, Lock grabbed a pervert who was pinning down a crying girl, threw him out the door, and Annie followed up with a brutal strike from her rifle butt.
After comforting the weeping girl, Lock stepped out and closed the door.
The cabins were cleared; the remaining bandits should all be on the deck.
Lock gave Annie a look, and Annie tilted her head, asking what he meant.
Lock spoke up, "There are at least six more outside, and they already know something's wrong down here. They're waiting by the door for us to come out."
Currently, due to the deliberate suppression by the Royal Government, firearm technology within the Walls remained at the level of single-shot Flintlocks.
He wondered how many Flintlocks were on the deck. Did they have crossbows or pistols?
Hearing Lock's words, Annie frowned. "What's your plan?"
Lock turned back and pushed the door open again, startling the girl inside. He pointed at the fixed window in the room and said, "We'll go through here then."
He handed his gun to Annie and said with a relaxed expression, "I'll rush out to draw their attention. You use this junk gun to take one down. Once they've fired their shots, won't they be easy pickings for us?"
Annie looked at Lock's face. "It seems you weren't lying; you really aren't afraid of death."
Lock shrugged, as if to say, 'Is that even a question?'
He said directly, "If you have no objections, I'm ready to break the window."
Annie looked at the trembling girl in the room and suddenly said, "Wait, I have an idea."
...The bandit leader, White, who shared the same bald head style as Keith Shadis, stared intently at the cabin entrance.
He couldn't help but spit, "I knew something was off."
Since he started his career, he had only robbed merchant caravans besides random passersby; he had never even killed anyone.
The brothers under him were all people who couldn't make a living in their villages; they had never done anything as big as today.
Two days ago, when White had a dozen guns pointed at his head and saw the other party's Corps uniforms, he knew he could only agree to any demand they made.
They gave him ten guns, a time, a location, and the physical characteristics of the targets.
"Dead or alive is fine. You can do whatever you want with the other people and the property."
White had no way to refuse.
The deck was quickly brought under control. Those three useless Garrison Regiment Soldiers wet themselves on the spot when they saw so many guns. But the targets weren't on deck, so he had to send men to search the cabins room by room... The gunshots just now definitely meant trouble, and there was no response when he called out the names of the guys who went in.
White, who had never seen such a large-scale situation, was getting a bit panicked.
Someone beside him asked, "Boss, what do we do? Should we go in and check?"
White hesitated for a moment before saying, "Wait a bit longer. They're also waiting for us to go in. Don't act rashly."
"Ah! No!"
A girl's scream reached everyone's ears. After a burst of hurried footsteps, White saw a blonde girl in a dress rush out crying.
White hurriedly said, "Don't shoot! Reed, go grab her."
"It must be that guy Deakin's doing. I told him he'd die over a woman sooner or later!"
White said to Reed, "Ask her what's going on inside..."
Before he could finish, White saw Reed flying directly toward him.
The blonde girl followed close behind. White barely managed to dodge Reed, but just as he raised his gun, the muzzle was slapped aside by an arm.
Realizing he was about to be closed in on, White immediately dropped his gun and retreated, preparing to pull a knife from his waist.
Unfortunately, before the knife was fully out, Annie grabbed his wrist, pulled his neck down, and slammed her knee hard into the bridge of his nose.
White instantly saw stars, and the knife in his hand was snatched by Annie and held against his own throat.
The other four, finally reacting, all turned and pointed their guns at White.
Annie hid behind White and said, "Don't move!"
"Bang!" A gun went off accidentally.
White shuddered instantly, and Annie held him up firmly from behind to keep him from falling.
"What are you doing?" someone shouted at the person who fired.
The man explained nervously, "I... I've never handled a gun before."
"Bang!"
Another gunshot rang out, and the man who was just shouting collapsed instantly.
Lock rushed over from behind the crowd at a terrifying speed.
With both hands, he used a Forward Step Prop Elbow to knock aside two guns, forcibly opening their defenses, and used his brutal momentum to drive his elbows hard into their chests.
Just as the two were sent flying, Lock twisted his body and swung his arm, his fist crashing like a long-handled iron hammer into another man's temple, who collapsed instantly.
Eight Extremes Fist—Overlord Hard-Bends the Reins!
"Bang!"
The last man finally fired, but Lock, who had been on guard, dodged it in advance.
Lock rushed directly in front of him and swung his fists from top to bottom. The first right fist smashed into the man's face, the second left fist hit the top of his head, and the third right fist slammed into the back of his head.
Eight Extremes Fist—Fierce Tiger Hard-Climbs the Mountain!
With a thud, the man's head hit the ground as he collapsed to his knees, unconscious.
At this point, all the bandits had lost their ability to resist.
"Finished, job done."
Lock clapped his hands. With his current strength, these few couldn't stand up again.
Annie let go of White, and Lock walked over, grabbing him by the collar to lift him. "Were you coming for me?"
White glanced at Lock and nodded weakly. Before Lock could even ask, he said, "It's the military..."
He fainted before he could finish.
Lock's face was full of confusion, but he still stood up and said, "Alright, when the ship reaches the next stop, we'll hand them over to the local Garrison Regiment."
Annie looked at the wound on White's body and said indifferently, "He won't last until then."
"Whatever, if he dies, he dies."
Lock turned to the passengers on the deck who still hadn't figured out the situation and shouted, "It's over now! All the bandits have been subdued."
"Those who were robbed, come line up to get your things back."
The crowd came forward to express their gratitude warmly.
"Are you Soldiers?"
"Almost. We're on our way to the Royal Capital."
"That's incredible! You two took them all down by yourselves!"
"It was alright, nothing special."
Lock accepted the crowd's praise with a face full of humility.
"The big sister is so pretty! Here's a flower for you."
Lock turned his head and saw Annie, dressed in a skirt with her long hair draped over her shoulders, slowly taking the flower from a little girl with a slightly flushed face.
She said somewhat awkwardly, "Thank you."
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