The First Bucket of Devil's Fund

"Pay to save your lives?"

Upon hearing the words of the man wearing a brown paper bag over his head, the robbers were stunned.

What the hell did that mean?!

This guy wasn’t here to uphold justice—he was here to rob them?!

Damn it!

Who’s the real robber here?!

"What are you waiting for? Hand over the money!" An Yi barked, his dagger stabbed into the ground, his expression fierce.

The man with the cleft chin was utterly humiliated.

They were the robbers here! Couldn’t this bastard have picked some wealthy civilian instead?

"Brother Chao, don’t listen to this son of a bitch!"

"Let’s fight! A man would rather die than suffer this disgrace! Death is better than humiliation!"

The robbers were furious. Even though they were all lying on the ground, they roared, ready to go down fighting.

Then—

A scrawny man with a venomous glint in his eyes stealthily pulled out a black pistol and aimed it at An Yi.

Whoosh!

With just a glance from the corner of his eye, An Yi flicked his combat knife like a streak of light, piercing the gunman’s arm.

"AHH!"

Blood gushed from the hole in his wrist.

The scrawny man howled in agony.

"Not bad for someone who just mastered throwing knives, huh?"

An Yi could’ve hit the target blindfolded—something that would’ve been unthinkable before.

"You dare point a gun at me?"

An Yi strode over, yanked the knife out, and blood splattered.

Then, he casually picked up the fallen pistol and aimed it at the scrawny man.

"Your money. All of it. Now."

"I don’t have any!" the scrawny man spat defiantly.

BANG!

A gunshot rang out.

The bullet tore through the man’s leg.

An Yi was secretly amazed—real guns were way more powerful than in the movies!

One shot had blown a gaping hole in the man’s leg, revealing shattered bone and mangled flesh.

Thanks to crappy action films, he’d thought guns were just for making flashy sparks and loud noises.

"I—"

The scrawny man’s face twisted in agony, sweat pouring down his forehead.

BANG!

Before he could finish, An Yi shot his other leg.

"Mercy! Mercy! I’ll pay, I’ll pay!"

With two bullets in his knees, the man broke down, snot and tears streaming down his face.

An Yi smiled warmly. "That’s more like it."

The gruesome sight of the scrawny man terrified the other robbers.

With their tendons slashed, they couldn’t run far—they were like fish on a chopping block.

This guy didn’t even blink while cutting tendons or firing shots. He must’ve taken dozens of lives to be this calm!

If they provoked him again, they’d really die.

Sure, they knew this life would end badly, but seeing their comrade writhing in pain, they fell silent.

Better a live coward than a dead hero...

The scrawny man’s money was all in his bank account.

An Yi grinned at the cleft-chin man. "You got a POS machine?"

With the gun barrel pressed against his forehead, the man cooperated eagerly. "Y-yes! Standard equipment for robbers! I’ll get it right away!"

After setting up the POS machine, An Yi was stunned when he saw the transfer.

280,000 yuan!

Damn! Robbers really were loaded!

Once the money went through, it doubled in An Yi’s "Demon Fund" to 560,000 yuan—a string of digits that brought him pure joy.

"Next!"

An Yi waved the gun, and the robbers, despite their injuries, scrambled to swipe their cards.

Their dedication was almost admirable.

Then, one robber sneakily transferred only 30,000 yuan.

An Yi frowned. Without a word, he shot the man’s knee. "Too little."

"I—I really don’t have more!" the robber gasped, collapsing to his knees.

An Yi didn’t bother arguing. He just shot the other leg.

The robber wailed, "Wait! I remember now—this card has another 200,000!"

"I minored in psychology. I know when you’re lying."

An Yi smirked as the payment went through, twirling the gun before holding it out to the scrawny man. "Out of bullets. Gimme more."

The scrawny man: ...

The insult hurt worse than the injury.

The next robber cooperated fully, emptying every card he had.

"Good, good. No bullets for you!" An Yi praised cheerfully while collecting the cash.

The robber exhaled in relief, his back drenched in sweat.

(An Yi was lying about the psychology degree—he barely remembered his college major. But under his threats, the robbers played along.)

(Of course, in their hearts, they cursed him and his ancestors eighteen generations back.)

This bastard deserved the worst death imaginable!

What psychology?!

This asshole just shoots if he feels something’s off!

And his excuse is fucking intuition!

BANG!

The familiar gunshot made the robbers flinch.

"Big guy, why so little? Only 3,000?" An Yi said coldly. "I’m pissed now. This won’t end well."

"I... I really don’t have more," the tall robber stammered, pale-faced.

BANG!

Another bullet tore through his other leg.

"Still lying?"

"That’s all I’ve got!"

BANG!

Three more shots. The robsters watched, furious yet helpless.

Finally, the cleft-chin man spoke up. "H-he’s an addict. He only turned to robbery because he ran out of money for drugs!"

"Oh. Well, no worries. Just testing his honesty."

An Yi patted the big guy’s shoulder. "Congrats, you passed. As a reward, you can keep your 3,000."

The big robber: ...

Soon, all forty robbers were cleaned out.

An Yi checked his account balance.

"One, ten, hundred, thousand... million!"

By the end, his hands were shaking.

Five million yuan!

In the Demon Fund, it doubled to ten million!

A massive payday!

But as he calculated how much life that bought him, his excitement faded.

"Only about a hundred days?"

Not even half a year. Barely three or four months.

"Damn this shitty life!"

With that, the robbers watched as the paper-bag-wearing man hoisted two heavy sacks of cash over his shoulders and stomped away, cursing.

"Brother Chao... all the money we stole over the years... gone," the scrawny robber whimpered.

People only saw how fast robbery paid—they didn’t know how hard it was to amass this much!

The cleft-chin man punched the ground, eyes burning with hatred. "That beast! As long as we’re alive, we’ll get our revenge. We’ll slaughter his whole family!"

One robber, unable to bear the loss, snarled, "Brother Chao, we can’t take this! Let’s report him to the police!"

The man with a cleft chin, suppressing the pain from his severed tendons, slapped the back of his head: "Dumbass!"

They had no intention of reporting to the authorities, but they never expected that the guy who just robbed them had already called the law enforcement hotline.

"Hello, Officer? Yeah, there's a bunch of robbers here! The same ones who robbed the bank! What? Who am I? I go by my true name—Lin Chen!"