SES Chapter 214 Part 1

Chapter 214

Aoki sent word back: they had managed to contact the bounty hunters, but mobilizing them wouldn’t be that fast. The earliest they could arrive would be the next afternoon.

That suited Wan San just fine. After all, those oddball scorpions and centipedes also took time to prepare.

Early the next morning, he set off enthusiastically with Cao Yanhua, leaving Yan Hongsha at the hotel to stay in touch and relay messages. Yan Hongsha was clearly unhappy about it.

“Why can’t we tell Luo Ren and Mu Dai?”

Cao Yanhua said, “Hongsha, don’t let anything slip. We’re going to give Brother Luo and little Shifu a huge surprise!”

According to him, Brother Luo was a bit too “worship-the-foreigners.” Bounty hunters were an American product, improved by the French, but what they had were authentic, homegrown methods passed down by their ancestors. This was a peak showdown between national heritage and imported goods.

“Hongsha, don’t you have any national pride at all? Don’t you want to see Brother Luo get embarrassed? Don’t you want to promote our sense of national pride?”

“National pride, my ass,” Yan Hongsha thought sourly.

Still, watching someone lose face and kicking them when they were down was something the masses always enjoyed, and Yan Hongsha was no exception.

That afternoon, she messaged Wan San, saying that Luo Ren had decided to set off at three o’clock, and that the bounty hunters had already arrived.

The modified version really was different. It looked much cooler than anything you could find online, was easy to carry, and the LCD screen supposedly displayed a rough outline of underground objects, almost like X-ray vision. And it wasn’t cheap. The base model already cost five figures, and the upgraded version probably doubled that.

Out of “national pride,” she worriedly asked Wan San, “How about you guys? Did you get everything you needed?”

At that moment, Wan San was making his final transaction with a group of elementary school kids who had skipped class.

“Five yuan. Centipedes, five max. No half-dead ones.”

“Scorpions are ten. Kid, that’s a fair price. Enough to buy ice cream.”

“Earthworms, one yuan. Just one…”

Earlier, he and Cao Yanhua had analyzed it: anything worked better with numbers. You had to mobilize “the masses” and target the right niche market. Elementary school kids were short on cash, loved messing with this kind of stuff, and were simple-minded. Perfect for business.

But watching the “flowers of the nation” happily skipping school still gave Cao Yanhua a twinge of guilt. When handing over the money, he couldn’t help nagging a bit, telling them to study hard, that diligence in youth mattered, and so on.

Hardly anyone appreciated it. One little boy even muttered as he left, “Fat guys are so annoying.”

Good intentions treated like donkey liver and lungs. Cao Yanhua was so angry his nose nearly twisted crooked.

Thankfully, everything went smoothly. They hurried back and just made it in time to get into the car at the hotel entrance at three.

Luo Ren found it odd. As the car started, he asked, “What were you two doing all morning?”

Cao Yanhua smiled brightly. Inside, his heart was surging with the passion of a coming showdown. “Personal business.”

Mu Dai gave him a curious look. Afraid she might notice something, Cao Yanhua quickly looked away.

In the back of the car, Cao Jiefang lay sprawled out, bored. It probably felt strange too. The three people in the back seat kept glancing at it every so often. What, did they think it looked good?

Annoyed, it turned around and pointed its butt at them.

This time, the route was familiar. They reached Fengzi Ridge around five o’clock. Everyone had backpacks. As they passed through the village, many villagers watched curiously. Old Ding the Ninth came out as well, looking worried. He jogged up to Luo Ren and said, “I can tell from your packs—you’re planning to stay in the mountains, right? It’s really not easy living in there. There might be wild animals. I’m not trying to scare you.”

Luo Ren smiled and instead handed him two bills. “Uncle, please keep an eye on my car.”

They weren’t small bills. Ding Lao Jiu’s heart leapt with joy. He rubbed them to check if they were real, forgetting to keep lecturing. When he looked up again, the group—plus one chicken—was already far away.

Once they entered the mountain pass, Luo Ren stopped to organize their gear. The heavy supplies went into the men’s packs, while Hongsha’s and Mu Dai’s packs were lighter. The plan was to start searching from the first ridge. That night’s search was expected to last four hours. Everyone had headlamps. Two bounty hunters would operate at the same time. Someone would stand at a higher point with infrared night-vision goggles and a handgun as lookout, guarding against possible wild animals.

The first lookout shift was Mu Dai’s. Luo Ren assembled the weapon and explained how to use it. “This fires an electrified barbed dart with a wire. The range is about seven meters. After a person or animal is hit, they’ll temporarily lose mobility. It’s just in case. This isn’t deep mountain yet, so I don’t think the chance of wild animals is that high.”

Mu Dai had never seen a handgun before and found it fascinating. “Where’d you buy it? How much was it?”

Luo Ren looked at her. “These are illegal domestically.”

“Oh.” Mu Dai nodded, lowering her voice knowingly. “Don’t worry. I won’t report you.”

Luo Ren lowered his voice too, clearly appreciative. “You’re… very righteous.”

Before he could finish, he suddenly frowned and turned his head. “What’s burning? Why does it smell like alcohol?”

Not far away, Wan San was pressing Cao Jiefang’s head down to make it eat, acting sneaky, frantic, coaxing and half-lying. “Jiefang, good stuff. You don’t get this usually. Hurry, hurry…”

Using Yan Hongsha as cover, Cao Yanhua shakily finished burning the paper talismans, scooped up the ashes, and opened the bottle of liquor to pour it in. When Luo Ren suddenly asked, he nearly spilled the alcohol.

Thinking fast, he blurted out, “We brought liquor, Brother Luo. It gets cold in the mountains at night. A little strong liquor helps warm you up. Uh… want some?”

Luckily, Luo Ren had little interest in things like alcohol and cigarettes that dulled the nerves and slowed reaction time. If he’d actually wanted some, Cao Yanhua wouldn’t have known how to deal with it—after all, that liquor had talisman ashes mixed in.

Ants, earthworms, centipedes, even scorpions and rice grains still in their husks—Cao Jiefang happily ate them all. But it wouldn’t drink the liquor.

It wasn’t stupid. One sniff was enough to know it wasn’t water.

Luo Ren finished packing and led Mu Dai deeper in, urging them to follow. Wan San answered verbally, letting Yan Hongsha go ahead first.

Cao Yanhua was frantic. “It won’t drink!”

Wan San was anxious too. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Hold its beak shut, lift its neck, and pour!”