Chapter 44: Countering Robbery

The four burly men were terrified, screaming in pain as Rod forced them around with that wooden stick. With a demonic smile on his face, Rod didn’t stop, happily swinging the stick amid their cries. It was unclear how long it went on; Rod only stopped when he himself felt out of breath. Looking at the men now, even Rod was shocked—their faces were swollen, much larger than before, covered with grotesque, centipede-like marks. Their arms were even more terrifying, covered in marks from the thin sticks and swollen, gruesome wounds.

Once Rod stopped hitting them, the men immediately relaxed, lying on the ground groaning in pain.
“Hehe, how’s that? Satisfied? Want to continue? Still planning to rob?”
With an even more sinister smile, Rod crouched in front of them, looking at their miserable state as he asked softly.

Hearing Rod’s words, the men instinctively rolled away, trying to stay as far away from this evil man as possible. They stared at him in fear, deeply regretful—after attacking so many times, they had ended up with their eyes damaged by this boy! They thought they had found an easy target, but never expected such an outcome.

Trembling in fear, they were on the verge of crying. “We dare not! Really, we dare not! Sir, please spare us! We really didn’t mean to! If we had known it would end like this, we would never have tried to harm you!”

“Hehe, weren’t you still shouting about robbing just now?” With a dark laugh, Rod raised the thin stick closer to them.

The men quickly stepped back, terrified of Rod’s next move, truly at a loss for words. Rod’s gaze filled them with panic—a sense of doom spread throughout their bodies, as if they could see him coming up with some new cruel trick.

“Alright, I don’t have time to waste on you! Squat over there, line up, hands on your heads—hurry up!”
With a cold snort, Rod nodded in satisfaction at his “masterpiece” and gave orders.

Without daring to protest, the men quickly obeyed, lining up nervously, afraid he might come up with another cruel plan.

“Hehe, daring to rob an old man! Let me show you what real power looks like. Hmph, do you know what resisting robbery means? Don’t you? Well, today you’ll get to experience it firsthand. Quickly hand over everything valuable you have, or I’ll have to use force—hurry up!”
Watching the men show evil smiles, Rod crouched down in front of them and spoke calmly.
With a bitter expression on his face, Rod’s words made the men feel like dying. Looking at the wobbling stick in his hand, they had no desire to resist—it was their current demon.
After some hesitation, they reluctantly began to take things out of their pockets!
Watching them with interest, Rod gathered quite a few miscellaneous items after they searched through their belongings. It seemed these guys still had quite a bit of stuff on them. As he sorted through the mess in front of him, his brows gradually furrowed.
These guys were really poor—the money they had together was less than ten gold coins, along with a few items that seemed decent on the surface. Probably stolen from others as well.
Without hesitation, he stuffed these items into his own pockets amid the men’s grim expressions. “Is that all? Nothing else? Let me tell you, it’s better if you behave, or I’ll have to take action myself! Hehe… that wouldn’t be good, right?”
Skeptical, Rod narrowed his eyes and spoke sarcastically to the men.
“What? It seems I need to get my hands dirty?”
After a long time with no response, he snorted coldly and raised his “weapon,” ready to search them.
“That’s the last one, really the last. Boss, even if you kill us, this is the only one left!”
At that moment, the men were on the verge of crying. After some hesitation, the intermediate warrior reluctantly took out a small bundle from his pocket and handed it to Rod.
Slightly surprised, Rod had originally planned to just scare them off, but he didn’t expect there to actually be more stuff. He took the bundle without hesitation and examined it carefully.
It was a finely crafted bundle, with high-quality fabric—so the contents inside must be pretty good too!

With a hint of anticipation, he slowly opened it. Instantly, Rod’s eyes lit up as two items appeared before him. One was a small vest, very thin, seemingly made of some metal material and looking quite sturdy. His first thought was that it must be some kind of combat armor undergarment. The other item was a pendant-like accessory—a simple, delicate stone that felt cool to the touch. Though he didn’t know its exact function, since it allowed these people to hide themselves, it surely wasn’t something trivial.

“Hmm, not bad. I’ll give you guys the benefit of the doubt. Alright, I’ll trust you this once—no searching! Oh, and you too, take off your clothes quickly! I’m going to rob you of your clothes!” Nodding in satisfaction, he walked over to the men on either side, measured their height and build, then said with a slight smile.

Wearing these clothes indeed didn’t seem ideal. They seemed too fancy—otherwise, why would these people have targeted him? Wearing such clothes as a mercenary was out of the question. Even if he couldn’t afford armor, at least he should get some rougher clothes!

“Ah…”

Rod’s words left the man gaping in disbelief.

They even wanted to take his clothes. Seeing the thin stick Rod was waving, and knowing it would bring him endless troubles, he reluctantly took off his clothes with a pained expression.

In the next moment, cries of agony and mocking laughter came from the woods.

“Boss, let us go! We’ve given you everything you wanted! You’ve even committed robbery now—please let us down!” Looking at Rod, the men really wanted to cry. Left hanging in the tree, completely naked, the cold made them shiver uncontrollably, and the wounds on their bodies were unbearable.

“Hehe, just stay here obediently. Let’s see if any kind-hearted passerby will save you!” Watching the men tied to the tree with their clothes torn off, Rod pushed one of them, making him “swing” in the air, as he sneered. At that moment, Rod was overjoyed—unexpecting to make an unexpected profit like this. He weighed the items in his arms and smiled in satisfaction.

“I smile proudly, I smile proudly, laughing through the world’s chaos…” Singing a little tune, Rod left the place triumphantly amid the cries of the men behind him and continued on his way.

Only now had his clothes been changed.

That’s right, just now, he snatched the clothes from a guy who was about his height and build, then put them on himself. As for his own original clothes, he naturally didn’t want to throw them away—they might come in handy later—so he put them in his pack. He then stripped the other people of their clothes as well, tied them to trees and hung them in mid-air before leaving satisfied.

“Little brat, challenging an old man? Hehe… I won’t let you die!”

Hearing the screams and cries for help behind him, Rod smirked evilly and spoke to himself.

At this moment, he was in high spirits—not only because he had successfully resisted the robbery, but perhaps more because of all the frustration he had endured since arriving in this world. Ever since he started living here as Knight Rod, he seemed to have no luck. Although there were some good things, overall, bad things seemed to outnumber them. And whenever something good happened, before he could even rejoice, bad things would follow! Especially when it came to fighting—never once had he truly enjoyed it! Never once had he felt as satisfied as he did this time.

Thinking back to the feeling of torturing others just now, he felt thrilled. At this thought, Rod even felt that he was extremely evil—when had he become someone with such tendencies?

A good character makes everything better. Truly, when one is happy, their spirit is uplifted. In his cheerful mood, humming a tune, he unconsciously let the day pass by. By now, it was nearly evening, with the sun setting in an orange-red glow, hanging on the horizon like a huge glowing disk, looking stunning. In the distance, the outlines of Blue Ice City’s city walls appeared before Rod’s eyes.

“Blue Ice City! I’m here!”

Seeing this, unable to contain his joy, Rod shouted loudly and ran toward it, feeling no fatigue from the day’s journey.

In less than ten minutes, he reached the city walls of Blue Ice City. In the evening, the place was bustling with activity—people coming and going, merchants, and poor folks, creating a thriving scene.

The shouts and noise from inside the city could even be heard here.

“As expected, a trade center! Hehe, Blue Ice City, I’ll start with you!” muttering to himself, Rod headed inside the city.

As usual, after paying the two copper coins as the entrance fee, Rod successfully entered Blue Ice City after some searching without any incidents.