Chapter 63: Subduing the Town's Gang of Ruffians

The urgent footsteps behind her made Du Yun’s back tense up instantly. Instinctively, she sensed that whoever was coming had ill intentions, and she spun around abruptly.

Thanks to the constant alertness honed in the world of zombies, Du Yun was extremely sensitive to danger. She had intended to have her bow and arrow in hand, but remembering she was at home, she forcibly swapped it for a rolling pin.

As she turned, the two figures were already upon her, each reaching out a large hand, aiming straight for her shoulders. If it were any ordinary girl, the strength they used would make resistance futile, and being robbed would be a foregone conclusion.

But Du Yun was no ordinary person. As the two hands reached toward her, she swept her two-foot-long rolling pin left and right—crack, crack—and struck both assailants on the hands. Looking up, she couldn’t help but laugh. Wasn’t this the pair of ruffians who had tried to rob her before, only to be taught a lesson?

“Oh, it’s you two?” Du Yun smiled at the two thugs as they clutched their hands and wailed. She gripped her rolling pin in one hand and tapped the palm of her other, her voice casual: “What, didn’t get enough last time?”

“Ah! It’s you!” Only now did one of the thugs seem to realize who he’d followed, his voice trembling in panic.

“That’s right, it’s me. Didn’t I say last time that if I caught you up to no good again, I’d deal with you? Did you think I was just making empty threats?” Du Yun strolled leisurely around the two, watching them tremble in their tattered clothes, and found their fear rather amusing.

Previously, Du Yun hadn’t paid these two much mind and had only disciplined them on a whim. But now, seeing them again, a new idea occurred to her: perhaps she could put them to use.

“What sort of misdeeds have you two committed?” she asked as she circled them, swatting them with the rolling pin whenever she spotted any sign of dishonesty.

Looking at their ragged, emaciated appearance, Du Yun doubted they were capable of major crimes, but it was best to be sure before employing them.

She considered that she had brought plenty of items from the zombie world. Besides what her family could use, there was quite a lot she could sell here—but that sort of thing would be hard to explain to her family. She’d need outsiders to handle it.

If these two hadn’t done anything truly evil, she’d clean them up and put them to work. Selling off all the goods she’d collected along the way in the zombie world could fetch a tidy sum.

“We—we haven’t done anything truly bad,” one of the thugs whimpered, his face long with misery. “Mostly just a bit of petty theft, and twice we tried our luck when we saw someone who looked like an easy mark—” He was cut off by a sharp jab from his companion.

“Are you trying to get us killed? It’s all his fault!” the other hissed, glaring fiercely.

The first just shrank back, nodding frantically and not daring to say another word.

“Oh? Only two times, and easy marks?” Du Yun was both amused and exasperated as she listened to their muttering. These two were truly unlucky—both times they’d tried to rob someone, it had been her. Easy mark, was it? She touched her own face; with its soft, smooth skin, perhaps she did look a bit like a fat sheep.

“We wouldn’t dare, we wouldn’t dare! We didn’t know who we were dealing with, Great Immortal, Heroine—please, be merciful, treat us as nothing, just let us go,” the first thug pleaded, eyes darting about. As soon as Du Yun walked in front of them, he suddenly lunged forward, trying to knock her over.

But he hadn’t reckoned on Du Yun’s reflexes—honed in countless brushes with death. She sensed danger far more quickly than ordinary people, and with movements swifter than any normal girl’s, she sidestepped his charge. He stumbled, and she spun around and struck him hard on the shoulder with the rolling pin, sending him crashing to the ground.

The second thug, who had been following his lead, saw his companion felled in an instant. He reacted quickly, spinning on his heel to escape in the opposite direction.

“Leaving so soon?” Du Yun’s rolling pin hooked behind his knee, and he followed his companion to the ground, having a close encounter with the dirt.

“If I don’t give you a proper lesson, you won’t behave, will you? Looks like I went too easy on you just now.” With that, she stowed the rolling pin away in her storage compartment, rolled up her sleeves to reveal a pair of fair, delicate fists that made the two ruffians swallow nervously—so this was what books meant by “dainty fists”.

“Let’s have a little exchange, shall we?” A small smile blossomed on Du Yun’s lips, and her fists rained down on the second thug, blows falling like a hailstorm. He howled in pain; these were no dainty fists, but iron hammers.

Unbeknownst to Du Yun, the harsh environment of the zombie world had transformed her body and spirit. Though she looked much the same outwardly, her bones, muscles, and skin had all been strengthened, and her power and speed had increased accordingly.

Seeing his companion rolling on the ground in agony, the first thug scrambled up to help, but Du Yun spotted him and sent him back to the ground with a backhanded blow. He, too, was soon tasting the storm of her fists.

For a full five minutes, Du Yun’s blows landed solidly. When she finally stopped, the two thugs lay crumpled on the ground, bruised and battered, too exhausted to even groan.

“Well? Convinced yet? Still want to resist?” Du Yun regarded their terrified faces with a smile. “If you yield, tell me your names.”

“We do, we do!” After being pummeled by a young woman for so long, even the slowest would know their place. They answered her questions obediently.

“I’m Zhang Liansheng, and he’s Zhao Jinbao. We’re cousins,” they confessed. Their family had always been poor, with no honest trade to support them, so they’d ended up running wild in the streets. Mostly, they picked on street vendors, collecting protection money for pocket change, and at most, committed a bit of petty theft—nothing truly evil.

“Alright. From today on, no more collecting protection money. From now on, you’ll work for me. I’ll have things for you to do.” Du Yun adopted a stern expression, watching the two nod fervently, their bruised faces earnest to the point of comedy.

“Go home and nurse your injuries first. Next market day, wait for me at the entrance to the town—I’ll have work for you then.” With that, she tossed two coins to Zhang Liansheng, then swung her basket onto one arm and disappeared down the road.