Foreigner Of Time [JENLISA]

69

"Someone's coming!" 

Someone called out quietly among the trees.

"What kind of person?"

"They're still too far to see, I'll check again once they're closer."

"Boss, he's a skinny dog!"

"Tch, no luck."

'Skinny dog' was argot among the mountain bandits.

'Fat' and 'skinny' indicated the wealthy and the poor, while 'dog' meant someone who was alone or didn't have much combat ability.

A 'pig' meant someone who had helpers, but none of them look skilled.

A 'bear' meant someone with servants or helpers that look strong and difficult to handle.

A 'wolf' also meant someone who was alone, but that person looked very strong and was visibly armed.

Other than those, there were also two unique groups such as 'hard tiger' and 'soft tiger'.

A soft tiger would be messengers, carriages, or sedans that carry a flag of the court or a provincial authority, but they do not carry a lot of supplies.

All of the camps in the Chongshan ridge were compelled not to have any ideas about 'soft tigers'. 

They wouldn't get any real loot, and they would also offend the court. 

It wasn't worth the effort.

For example, Jisoo's horse carriage had a flag but not a lot of items. That would be called a 'soft tiger'.

A 'hard tiger' meant provisions, silver, or taxes escorted by officers... Such as caravans delivering the annual revenue.

"Boss, what do we do?"

"Let him pass, the fat meat is coming soon."

"Understood! Wait... This 'dog' doesn't seem to be too skinny. That horse is pretty good. It's plump and sturdy, we can sell it for a few silver pieces."

"You good-for-nothing! Don't expose our tracks, just keep waiting."

"Boss, this little loot isn't worth much in your eyes, but we've been waiting here for days. We still haven't even 'started business' yet. Why not score a little something from this first, maybe the hard tiger will come after that? It'll encourage our brothers too. And besides, a donkey is already pretty good for the average person. I think he might actually have fat goods on him."

The man called 'boss' fell silent for a moment, then he relented, "Don't shed any blood. Knock him out, tie him up, then just throw him at the side of the road and wait for the cold to do the work for you. If you leave any tracks that rouse the hard tiger's suspicion, you better watch your skin!"

"Yes yes yes, this one understands. It's just a skinny dog, this one can handle it myself."

The bandit's eyes gleamed as he slid down the tree trunk. 

He remained hidden behind the tree as he took out a lasso from his chest silently, then he started to spin it.

This bandit was called Tox. He developed a skill in lassoing horses when he worked for a stud farm, but he later fell into debt.

Pressured to his wit's end by the debtors, he decided to sell the horses without his boss' knowledge, then he ran off into Chongshan ridge and became an outlaw.

It was also because of his skill in lassoing horses that Tox words had some weight; he had never missed while robbing passing merchants.

Tox could hardly realize that despite his stealthy movements, Lisa saw him crystal clearly through her super sharp camera.

Her heart sank: she had not expected that these bandits would not even spare poor common folks.

Lisa wanted to turn back and escape right away, but that would be the same as telling the bandits she had already noticed them.

They would definitely kill her in order to keep her quiet. If they had long-distance weapons, then the results would be too horrifying to imagine...

Lisa pulled out the dagger from underneath the saddle. 

She decided to grasp it in her hand and cover it with the cloak instead. 

Holding the reins with her other hand, her heart pounded in her chest.

'Why didn't they let me bring a modern weapon here for self-defence?' This thought suddenly brushed Lisa's mind.

If I died here, wouldn't it be all for nothing? 

If their first volunteer never returned from the past, wouldn't that severely damage the public opinion of the research lab?

This thought and complaint left Lisa's mind as soon as it came. 

She had no time to think about it deeper, because she had already entered the bandits' territory.

"Go!" 

Lisa levelled her heart and squeezed the horse's belly; she decided to charge through it.

At that moment, something flashed out from the side and caught onto the neck of her horse securely.

Startled, the horse raised its front hooves.

Tox was an experienced one; he ran around the tree, then he quickly tied the other end of the lasso securely on its trunk with an inescapable cross knot.

"Hahaha!" Tox ran out from behind the tree with a blade raised in the air.

The horse struggled in terror, but it couldn't break free from Tox's specially-made lasso at all... It only seemed to pull it even tighter.

Lisa had to keep her own balance while doing her best to prevent the horse from falling over.

The bandit was getting closer towards her, while a few figures peeked out from the forests too. They were evidently prepared to spectate their fellow bandit's work.

===============The EnD==============