Friends who are frequently robbed know that if you don't want to be robbed by bad people, you must have a good weapon in hand.
As soon as Lu Chen returned home, he went into his small room.
As for the small handful of coarse rice given to him by the village chief, he had already thrown it into his space.
He couldn't even finish the refined white rice he had, so how could he care for such a small amount of coarse rice?
That's right, the village chief took out ten catties of coarse rice, distributing it among more than sixty households, with each household getting a little over one liang on average.
Lu Chen's family had few members, so he received less than one liang.
Hiding in his room, Lu Chen checked the system store.
In the Armory System Store, weapons were, of course, the most numerous.
The variety of weapons was extremely vast.
There were over a hundred types of pistols alone.
Lu Chen did not intend to buy a pistol.
Taking out a pistol now would be too conspicuous.
It's better to buy cold weapons first.
After all, cold weapons are cheaper.
He chose two cheap long swords, each costing only 300 yuan.
These two swords were one and a half meters long, made of refined steel, with sharp edges and thick backs, weighing 24 catties each.
If he were just an ordinary person, wielding such a heavy sword would be very strenuous.
But now that his strength had increased tenfold, such a sword felt as light as a feather in his hand.
He then found the crossbow category in the store.
There was a great variety of crossbows; the cheap ones cost only twenty or thirty yuan, similar to toys.
The more expensive crossbows cost hundreds of thousands, which he simply couldn't afford.
Finally, he settled on a repeating crossbow.
This repeating crossbow could hold ten arrows, similar to a revolver design, and cost only 500 yuan.
“This repeating crossbow it is!”
Afterward, he bought 100 crossbow arrows, at 3 yuan each.
In the blink of an eye, his system funds were down to only 100 yuan.
“This little money doesn’t last long!” Lu Chen sighed.
With weapons in hand, Lu Chen felt much more at ease.
At this moment, Lu Family Village was no longer as peaceful as it used to be.
Some people gathered in groups, discussing the bandits who could attack at any time, sighing repeatedly.
Some were busy burying their valuable belongings at home, hoping to retain some wealth after the bandits left.
Others were sharpening their knives, vowing to live and die with the village.
Xie Qiao was not idle either.
When she heard that bandits were coming, she immediately got busy.
In fact, Lu Chen's family had no valuable possessions at all.
The most valuable thing was probably the broken iron pot in the kitchen.
After Xie Qiao hid the iron pot under the firewood pile, she felt a bit lost.
It seemed there was nothing else to hide.
She suddenly remembered that Lu Chen said he bought rice.
She quickly lifted the lid of the rice jar to take a look.
At this sight, she was instantly stunned.
A full jar, all sparkling white rice!
There were dozens of catties!
She had never seen so much white rice.
She was a little flustered; so much rice must not be stolen by bandits.
Xie Qiao quickly picked up the rice jar and ran to the cellar behind the house.
After placing the rice jar in the cellar, Xie Qiao put some firewood on top of the cellar, making a slight disguise.
“It shouldn't be discovered now, right?”
Xie Qiao patted her chest.
Just then, she suddenly heard a burst of shouting and cursing from not far away.
“You black-hearted hussy! How did I end up with such a prodigal good-for-nothing like you! Watch me beat you to death…”
Xie Qiao's beautiful brows furrowed slightly.
Zhao Daya next door was being beaten by her stepmother again.
Xie Qiao had seen Zhao Daya the day before yesterday; she had been tortured beyond recognition, emaciated, covered in wounds, and tottered when she walked.
Starving every day, beaten every day.
If this continued, she probably wouldn't last much longer.
Xie Qiao thought and thought, and finally came to Lu Chen's door.
“Husband.”
Lu Chen put the crossbow and arrows into his space, then said, “What is it, wife? Come in and speak.”
As soon as Xie Qiao entered, she saw Lu Chen holding two gleaming Great Swords.
Xie Qiao was startled: “Husband, this is…”
Lu Chen smiled: “I bought these in town yesterday, and they just happen to be useful. Two swords, one for each of us. If bandits really come, we can use them for self-defense.”
Saying that, he handed one of the swords to Xie Qiao.
Xie Qiao took the long sword, gently stroking its blade with her fingers; this was much more useful than an iron shovel.
“Be careful, don’t cut your hand,” Lu Chen reminded her.
“Mm.”
Xie Qiao held the long sword, loving it so much that she kept fiddling with it, unable to put it down.
Suddenly, another burst of curses came from afar.
Only then did Xie Qiao remember why she came to find Lu Chen.
“Husband…”
Xie Qiao stammered, “Husband, look… Zhao Daya is being beaten by her stepmother again…”
As she spoke, she secretly peeked at Lu Chen’s expression.
Lu Chen frowned: “This is her family matter; it’s not good for us to interfere.”
“Husband, how about… how about…”
Xie Qiao hemmed and hawed for a long time, but couldn't articulate what she wanted to say.
Lu Chen found it a little amusing and asked, “Wife, what exactly do you want to say?”
In his eyes, Xie Qiao was still a half-grown child.
Although he himself was only one year older than her.
Xie Qiao finally mustered up the courage and said, “How about, Husband buys Zhao Daya over!”
If it were before, Xie Qiao would have been powerless.
But now, didn’t the family have dozens of catties of rice?
In these times, two catties of rice could buy a wife.
Speaking of which, when Xie Qiao was sold to Lu Chen's family, she only fetched three catties of cornmeal.
She truly couldn't bear to see Zhao Daya tormented to death by her vicious stepmother.
Although she also knew that Zhao Daya held a very significant place in Lu Chen's heart.
Every time Zhao Daya was beaten, seeing Lu Chen's pained expression, it seemed to hurt him more than if he were beaten himself.
But even so, Xie Qiao was unwilling to watch Zhao Daya be tortured to death.
“Buy Zhao Daya over?”
Lu Chen didn't expect Xie Qiao to have this idea.
He certainly knew what his previous self thought of Zhao Daya.
But now, he had no other thoughts about Zhao Daya.
“Zhao Daya…”
Lu Chen furrowed his brows, pondering in silence.
The Great Strength Pill in his hand was only effective on young girls.
If he took in Zhao Daya, he would also gain an additional helper.
Tenfold strength amplification, plus tenfold body toughness, and onefold agility amplification.
This was not as simple as one plus one equals two.
This was a qualitative change.
A qualitative change from human to a small superhuman.
Although he hadn't tried it, he could feel that now, with just a slight leap, he could jump over a wall more than ten feet high.
What martial arts masters, what martial arts grandmasters, in his eyes, were nothing.
Under the brutal elevenfold strength, brutal elevenfold defense, and brutal twofold speed, all strong individuals were mere weaklings before him.
If he were to form a female soldiers regiment and have them all take a Great Strength Pill…
Lu Chen felt thrilled just thinking about it.
Lu Chen looked at Xie Qiao: “Then… should we buy Zhao Daya over?”
Xie Qiao nodded heavily.
But deep down, her heart ached slightly.