The tension at the Westland Ranch was palpable, stretched tight like a bowstring.
For three days, Han Qiang had been drilling the men. Not just in fencing or ranch work, but in combat. They practiced with the stout wooden staffs used for herding and the heavy iron pry bars used for fence posts.
"They will come at night," Han Qiang had told them during the briefing. "Thugs like Gao's men are lazy. They prefer the dark. They prefer fear."
Li Shun stood on the porch of the cabin, the cool night air biting at his face. The moon was hidden behind a bank of clouds, plunging the valley into darkness. Only the windmill creaked rhythmically in the distance, a lonely sentinel.
"Wang Da," Li Shun whispered to the young man sitting by the door. "Are the lanterns ready?"
"Yes, Boss," Wang Da replied, his hand trembling slightly on the crossbow in his lap. "Soaked in oil. Covered."
"Good. Steady. We hear the signal, we light the field."
Li Shun checked his own weapon. It wasn't a sword. It was a coil of rope on his hip and a heavy six-foot bullwhip he had braided from leather scraps. He had practiced with it for weeks, learning to crack it with the sound of a pistol shot.
---
The signal didn't come from the front gate.
It came from the southern ridge.
*Craaaack!*
The sound of splitting wood echoed through the valley, followed by the terrified lowing of cattle.
"They're hitting the new fence!" Han Qiang's voice boomed from the darkness. "Move!"
Li Shun sprinted toward the southern pasture. He could see shadows moving against the faint starlight—dozens of them. Torches flared to life, bobbing like malicious fireflies.
"Torch the haystacks!" a rough voice bellowed. "Scatter the cows! Break their legs!"
The Guild hadn't come to steal. They had come to destroy.
*Not on my watch.*
Li Shun mounted his horse, which was tied near the cabin. He grabbed a lantern from the post and slammed it against the ground, igniting the oil-soaked trench he had dug around the main barn.
*Whoosh.*
A wall of flame erupted, illuminating the yard. It wasn't just for defense; it was a spotlight.
Suddenly, the shadows became men. A group of ten thugs, armed with clubs and knives, was hacking at the fence of the steer pen. The red steers were panicking, milling around in a terrified mass.
"Westland!" Li Shun shouted, spurring his horse forward. "Defend the herd!"
Han Qiang and the workers erupted from the ditches they had dug earlier.
Han Qiang didn't charge blindly. He signaled One-Ear and Old Scar. "Crossbows! Aim for the torches! Put out the fire!"
*Thwack! Thwack!*
Two bolts flew. One thug screamed, clutching his shoulder. Another dropped his torch as a bolt pierced his forearm.
But the main group, led by a brute wielding a heavy iron bar, smashed through the gate.
"Get the bull!" the brute roared. "Kill the black one!"
They were targeting Hei Bao.
*They know about the breeding,* Li Shun realized with a cold chill. *This is an assassination.*
Li Shun rode straight for the brute. He wasn't a soldier, but he was a rider. He urged his horse into a gallop, weaving through the chaos.
The brute saw him coming and swung his iron bar.
Li Shun didn't draw a sword. He uncoiled his bullwhip.
With a snap of his wrist, the whip cracked like thunder. The leather tip lashed out, faster than the eye could follow, and wrapped around the iron bar.
Li Shun spurred his horse forward, leaning into the momentum.
"Drop it!"
The sudden jerk ripped the bar from the brute's hand. It went flying into the darkness.
The brute gaped, stunned.
Before he could recover, a shadow tackled him from the side. It was Han Qiang. The ex-sergeant didn't use fancy moves; he used efficiency. A knee to the gut, an elbow to the temple. The brute crumpled.
"The leader is down!" Li Shun shouted. "Push them back!"
---
The fight turned into a chaotic brawl.
Wang Da, his fear replaced by adrenaline, stood guard over the windmill pump. A group of three thugs tried to smash the mechanism.
"Get back!" Wang Da yelled, leveling his crossbow.
The thugs laughed. "One boy? One arrow?"
They rushed him.
Wang Da fired. The bolt took the first man in the thigh. He fell, screaming.
He dropped the crossbow and raised his staff. The limp he had carried for months didn't matter now. He held his ground, swinging the staff like a club, blocking a knife slash.
Suddenly, a heavy weight slammed into the attacker from behind.
It was Hei Bao.
The bull, enraged by the noise and the violation of his territory, had broken through the weakened fence. He didn't run away. He charged.
The black beast, weighing nearly a ton, slammed into the two remaining thugs, tossing them aside like rag dolls.
"Holy..." one of the thugs whispered, staring at the snorting, stamping monster.
"Call off your men!" Li Shun's voice cut through the night, amplified by the system's presence.
He sat atop his horse, the bullwhip in hand, looking down at the remaining thugs. Behind him, Han Qiang and the workers formed a line, weapons ready. And to their right, Hei Bao pawed the ground, his massive horns glinting in the firelight.
"You are trespassing on Magistrate-protected land," Li Shun declared, his voice cold. "Surrender, or we feed you to the bull."
The thugs looked at their fallen leader. They looked at the bull. They looked at the crossbows.
One by one, they dropped their weapons.
---
By dawn, the damage had been assessed.
The fence was broken in two places. One steer had a gash on its flank from a knife, but it would heal. The hay was safe.
Twelve men were tied up and sitting in the mud. The brute who had led them was waking up with a splitting headache.
Li Shun sat on a barrel in front of them, cleaning his whip.
"Who sent you?" he asked quietly.
"We... we were just hired to scare you," one of the thugs mumbled, terrified. "Gao... Master Gao paid us."
"Did he tell you to kill the bull?"
"No... just to break things. But the boss there," he nodded to the brute, "he has a grudge. He wanted to hurt you where it counts."
Li Shun nodded slowly. "Han Qiang. Load them into the wagon."
"Where are we taking them?"
"To the Magistrate's office in Clearwater," Li Shun said. "But first... we make a stop at the Meat Guild."
---
The convoy that arrived in Clearwater later that morning was unlike anything the town had seen.
Two wagons. The first carried Li Shun and Han Qiang. The second was an open-air cage, holding twelve bruised, defeated men.
Li Shun rode his horse alongside the wagon, wearing his full cowboy regalia—the hat, the boots, the duster coat. He looked like a sheriff from a western movie, and he played the part.
He didn't go to the back alleys. He went straight to the main street, where the Meat Guild's storefront was located.
People stopped to stare.
"Look at that..."
"Is that Li Shun? The son-in-law?"
"Who are those men in the cage? Thugs?"
Li Shun stopped the wagon directly in front of the Guild's heavy oak doors.
Master Gao was inside, probably waiting for a report. Li Shun dismounted. He walked to the back of the wagon and grabbed the brute—the leader of the gang.
He dragged the man out and threw him onto the street in front of the Guild's door.
"Gao!" Li Shun shouted, his voice ringing through the street. "Your dogs came to my house last night! I'm returning them!"
The street went silent. Merchants peeked out of their shops.
The Guild door opened. Master Gao stepped out, his face pale. He saw his men, beaten and bound. He saw the crowd watching.
"What is the meaning of this?" Gao blustered, though his voice shook. "I don't know these men!"
"Really?" Li Shun walked up to him. "Because they had very specific instructions. Break the fences. Kill the bull. Destroy the Westland."
Li Shun pulled a small pouch from the brute's pocket—a pouch of silver coins. He opened it and poured the coins onto the street.
"Strange currency for random thugs," Li Shun said. "These are *Guild* stamps. Minted by the Merchant Alliance, distributed only to Guild members for payroll."
It was a lie—the coins were generic silver, but the crowd didn't know that. The suggestion was enough. The crowd murmured.
"Attacking a registered ranch..."
"That's tax evasion..."
"The Magistrate won't like this..."
Gao's face turned purple. "You... you dare accuse me?"
"I don't accuse," Li Shun said. "I prosecute. These men are being taken to the Magistrate. They will confess. And if your name comes up... even once... I will use every penny of my profit to bury you."
He turned his back on Gao, a deliberate insult.
"Han Qiang. Move out. We have an appointment with the law."
---
Magistrate Zhao was furious.
Not at Li Shun, but at the audacity of the attack. The Westland Ranch was now a showcase project for the province, thanks to Xu Wei's report. An attack on it was an insult to the Magistrate's vision.
"Sabotage? Violence?" Zhao slammed his hand on the desk. He looked at the thugs kneeling in the hall. "Take them to the dungeon. Interrogate them. Find out exactly who paid them."
He looked at Li Shun. "Shun'er. Are you hurt?"
"Not a scratch, Father."
"Good. This Gao... he has overstepped. The Merchant Guilds are useful, but when they turn into gangs, they become cancers."
Zhao leaned back. "I will revoke Gao's license to sell meat in the West District. He is becoming a nuisance."
"A clean kill," Li Shun nodded. "Thank you, Father."
"Go home," Zhao said, waving his hand. "Protect your herd. And... send my daughter some of that steak. The stress of this has made her lose her appetite."
Li Shun smiled. "I will grill it myself."
---
That evening, the Westland felt different.
The broken fence was being repaired by Old Scar and One-Ear. The fire had been put out. The cattle were grazing peacefully, unaware of the chaos of the night.
Li Shun stood by the corral, watching Hei Bao. The bull was calm again, chewing his cud.
"You fought well," Li Shun told the bull. "Saved Wang Da, didn't you?"
Hei Bao snorted, tossing his head.
Han Qiang walked up, wiping blood from his knuckles. "The men are celebrating. They feel like warriors."
"They are warriors," Li Shun said. "They just fight for cows instead of kings."
He looked out at the moonlit hills. The danger wasn't over—Gao still had influence—but the first battle had been won decisively.
"Start building the watchtowers tomorrow," Li Shun ordered. "Stone. Ten feet high. I want a view of the entire valley. No more surprise attacks."
"Understood."
Li Shun walked toward the cabin. He was tired, his muscles aching, but his spirit was soaring.
He had defended his home. He had faced the city's underworld and won.
*Level 5 feels good,* he thought. *But I need to get stronger. The bigger the ranch gets, the bigger the wolves.*
**[QUEST COMPLETE: DEFEND THE RANCH]**
**[REWARD:]**
* **Reputation: Feared/Respected (Clearwater)**
* **Blueprint: Watchtower**
* **Item: Premium Steel Branding Iron**
**[NEXT OBJECTIVE: THE GREAT AUCTION.]**