Chapter Seventy-Nine: Evolution Island (V)

“Stop! Stop!” Luo Hanya, dizzy from the dwarf’s endless string of names, hurriedly cut him off. “What are you trying to say?”

The dwarf glared at Luo Hanya with contempt and huffed, “If you dare lay a finger on me, my old man will blow you to bits!”

“Uh—” Luo Hanya was utterly dumbfounded by the dwarf, convinced he was looking at a simpleton. “So after all that, you’re just planning to invoke your father?”

“That’s right! What of it? Are you scared now?” The dwarf looked supremely confident, as if sure that Luo Hanya wouldn’t dare harm him.

“Idiot,” Luo Hanya muttered, rolling his eyes. Without hesitation, he swung his fist straight into the dwarf’s slightly bulging beer belly.

“Do you—do you even know what you’re doing?” the dwarf shrieked, utterly shocked by his treatment.

“What am I doing?” Luo Hanya’s tone turned almost gentle. He patted the dwarf’s pudgy cheek with a grin, then released his grip and dropped him to the ground.

“Hmph! So you know you were wrong? Since you seem to have a decent attitude, I’ll be magnanimous and let you off this time.” The dwarf, assuming Luo Hanya was yielding, immediately regained his arrogant posture.

“Of course I’m hitting you!” Luo Hanya beamed at the surly little fellow, seized his short legs, and lifted him upside down.

“Spare me! Have mercy! I said, have mercy!” Luo Hanya echoed the dwarf’s pleas, all the while slamming the dwarf’s upper body into the ground with every swing.

The dwarf was so dazed from being wielded like a club that he was left speechless.

“What are you doing!” After a dozen swings, the dwarf finally came to his senses and shouted in desperation.

“What am I doing?” Luo Hanya repeated his question, pausing his actions and smiling. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m showing you, through my actions, the reality of your situation.”

“W-what do you mean?” the dwarf stammered.

“It means,” Luo Hanya said, swinging him up once more, “if you keep talking to me with that attitude, I’ll kill you!”

As Luo Hanya roared, he spun in place while holding the dwarf by one leg, whirling him around like a hammer, smashing him into the surrounding branches again and again.

“You maniac! Put me down!” The dwarf, dizzy and aching all over, shrieked incessantly.

Thud!

A few seconds later, Luo Hanya really did let him go, tossing him unceremoniously to the ground. Of course, it wasn’t because the dwarf’s words had any effect—it was simply that Luo Hanya’s arm was getting tired.

“There,” Luo Hanya said, after having his fun. “Now do you have a clearer understanding of your current predicament?”

What Luo Hanya meant by “predicament” was quite simple: he could do anything he wanted to the dwarf, while the dwarf could do nothing to him—aside from issuing some limp, useless threats.

“What do you want from me?” The dwarf, apparently cowed by Luo Hanya’s beating, looked up at him with trepidation, like a peasant facing an oppressive landlord.

Luo Hanya chuckled. “Good. Let’s get to the point.” He flexed his wrists lazily and looked down at the dwarf. “Tell me, what are you prepared to offer?”

The dwarf stiffened, clutching his musket tighter to his chest. He tested the waters, “Offer what? I have nothing. I don’t know what you mean.”

The dwarf thought playing dumb would get him out of trouble, but Luo Hanya replied bluntly:

“You’re a pig.”

“What did you say?” The dwarf thought he’d misheard.

“You’re missing a chunk of your brain,” Luo Hanya retorted, enunciating every word with perfect clarity.

The dwarf wasn’t angry—just bewildered by the turn of events.

“Haven’t you realized you’re a prisoner? Don’t you know what a prisoner is supposed to do?” Luo Hanya pressed.

“Uh—” The dwarf finally grasped what was happening, and instantly flew into a rage. “You wretch! My father—”

But Luo Hanya didn’t give him the chance to finish. Instead, he spat at the dwarf with a string of “ptooey, ptooey, ptooey,” then planted his shoe squarely on the dwarf’s beer belly.

The dwarf’s face underwent a dramatic transformation, turning from red to black in seconds—he was a picture of utter humiliation. Yet he knew there was nothing he could do to Luo Hanya, whereas Luo Hanya could beat him to death if he pleased.

Luo Hanya knew this as well, which left him completely unfazed.

“I warn you,” the dwarf growled after taking a few seconds to regain his composure, “if you keep this up, it won’t do you any good.”

“And as I’ve said: what can you do to me?” Luo Hanya kicked the dwarf’s belly again, his manner insolent.

“Let me tell you! If you cross me, be prepared to be hunted by dwarves without end! And don’t even think of ever getting your hands on dwarven-forged weapons again!”

“Oh, I’m so scared!” Luo Hanya sneered, impatiently. “Are you going to offer me something worthwhile or not? If not, I’ll send you on your way!”

“You! You!” The dwarf was flabbergasted. Usually, when he issued threats, people would fall over themselves to apologize. He’d never met someone who responded like this.

“What’s with the ‘you, you’! Hand over everything of value you’ve got on you, and I might just let you live!” Luo Hanya snapped ferociously.

“I—I have nothing!” the dwarf wailed, rolling and flailing on the ground.

“Then hand it over!” Luo Hanya, without hesitation, snatched the musket from the dwarf’s arms and began frisking him up and down as if searching for hidden loot.

“Help! I’m being molested!” the dwarf howled, desperately rolling about as if trying to keep some treasure hidden.

Luo Hanya might look shameless, but in truth, he wasn’t about to go too far—after all, who would want to be left with unpleasant memories by such a filthy, repulsive creature?

Unexpectedly, the dwarf began to whimper, “Fine, mighty hero, I surrender, okay? I’ll give you all the musket bullets I have…”