Chapter 166
Zhou Yu frowned and muttered, “Why so many problems?” Then he poked his head out to look ahead. Sure enough, a van was parked in the middle of the road, and a middle-aged man was bowing and smiling at everyone, offering cigarettes from time to time. He got out of the van and went to the car where Xie Wendong was, explaining the situation briefly before saying, “I think we should take him with us for a while. Otherwise, with it blocking the road, it’ll be hard for us to pass.” Xie Wendong and Sanyan had already seen what was ahead and exchanged a smile. Sanyan narrowed his eyes at the van’s tires and after thinking for a moment said, “There must be at least ten people.” Xie Wendong nodded in agreement. “Pretty much.”
Sanyan said, “If they go ahead and attack like this, it’s too unoriginal.” Xie Wendong smiled and said, “At least we’ve used that method many times already.” Sanyan sighed, “I hope they can come up with something new to show us.” Xie Wendong replied, “But as long as it’s not much worse than ours, that’s fine. Otherwise, I’ll be very unhappy.” Sanyan nodded. “Me too. I’d be furious if treated like an idiot.” The two talked rapidly, back and forth, leaving Zhou Yu confused. After all, he came from a regular military academy. Though smart and resourceful, he knew very little about the tactics used by the underworld. Seeing their conversation finally end, he asked anxiously, “What are you talking about?”
Sanyan pointed at the middle-aged driver and said emphatically, “That man wants to kill us and steal our goods too!”
“Ah?” Zhou Yu was shocked. The driver seemed friendly and honest, not like someone who would kill anyone. But Sanyan looked serious, clearly not joking. Zhou Yu stammered, “No… that can’t be! We have the military! How would he dare attack the military?!”
Sanyan shook his head and smiled. “People in the underworld might not take the military seriously. If they decide to act, they’ll do it even if they’re escorted by angels.”
Zhou Yu raised his eyebrows angrily and said, “They’re even reversing the situation! I’m going to deal with these people.” He reached for his gun.
Xie Wendong held his hand back and shook his head. “Don’t rush. Let’s see what tricks he has up his sleeve first. There should be about ten more people in the van, but definitely more than that. Ten people can’t take on dozens of fully armed soldiers. I just don’t know when their accomplices will show up, but I’m sure they will.”
Zhou Yu was inwardly shocked. First, he was surprised by the bandits’ plan to wipe out an army of dozens of men. Second, he was amazed that Xie Wendong had made such accurate predictions, as if he himself had been involved in the planning. Worrying, he asked, “So what should we do now?”
Xie Wendong narrowed his eyes and smiled. “Since they’ve invested so much effort and money, of course we should play along with them. Secretly instruct all the soldiers to be on high alert, as combat could start at any moment.” Zhou Yu wiped the sweat from his forehead and quickly agreed. Usually, relying on his position in the Political Department, he would act domineerously, ignoring ordinary people, but when it came to actual combat, he would panic and not know what to do, so he obeyed Xie Wendong’s orders without question. Seeing this, Xie Wendong shook his head inwardly—such people were easy to control but unlikely to achieve great things. Compared to Zhang Fanyou, he was still a bit lacking. Patting him on the shoulder, he said with a smile, “Don’t worry too much. As long as we’re prepared, if a real fight breaks out, they’re no match for a regular army. Of course, this is also an opportunity. If you can lead your soldiers to wipe out the bandits completely, there might be an extra star added to your rank.”
Zhou Yu’s eyes darted around as he thought carefully. Indeed! If he could eliminate those bandits who dared to defy the national army and rebel, his achievements would be immense—not only would he get more stars on his rank, but he would also make a deep impression on the central authorities. With this in mind, he grabbed Xie Wendong’s hand and said urgently, “Brother Xie, you must really help me this time. If we can wipe out these rebel bandits, I’ll never forget your kindness. If we can take the chance to expose their hideout, then we’ll… we’ll…”
Sanyan sighed at his excited demeanor, his eyes filled with disapproval, and turned to look at Xie Wendong. Having been together for years, Xie Wendong could understand Sanyan’s thoughts just by looking at him. He could see what Sanyan was trying to convey through his eyes: This guy is so excited he doesn’t even know what to say! Xie Wendong smiled without saying a word.
With a mix of excitement and nervousness, Zhou Yu returned to his car and said to the soldier still waiting by it, “Take him along. It’s hard to find a car in these remote areas. Since we’ve run into them, it would be unkind not to help.” The soldier nodded happily and strode back, saying to the driver, “Alright, our officer agrees to let us ride in your car. I had to work hard to get him to agree!” The driver understood what he meant and quietly slipped another 200 yuan into his hand, smiling and saying, “Thank you, young man! Thank you so much!”
“Hmm!” The soldier rubbed his nose, secretly slipped the money into his pocket, patted the driver’s shoulder, and said, “It’s okay, no need to be so polite.” The soldier asked someone to bring a steel rope, tying one end to the driver’s van and the other end to his own vehicle. In less than five minutes, the convoy set off again with the van. Zhou Yu used a walkie-talkie to order the soldiers in each vehicle to prepare for combat. In particular, he instructed the soldiers at the front and back of the van to keep their guns ready, aiming at it at all times, ready to attack.
Hearing these orders, the soldier who had pleaded for the driver nearly choked on his own saliva, with cold sweat immediately breaking out on his forehead.
The convoy traveled for just over half an hour before reaching the foot of the mountain. Not far from the foot of the mountain was a checkpoint where several armed police officers were carefully checking passing vehicles. One of them saw a large convoy approaching, stepped into the road, and waved his hand to stop the cars. Sanyan, who was inside the vehicle, could see clearly and sighed, saying, “I remember there wasn’t a checkpoint here when we came.”
Xie Wendong nodded. “Indeed, there wasn’t.” Sanyan hummed in agreement and said to him, “Brother Dong, I’ll go take a look.” After saying that, he loaded his gun, disengaged the safety, slung it over his back, and got out of the vehicle. In front, the soldier in the vehicle stuck his head out irritably and complained, “Why block the road? Move aside!”
The armed police officer replied expressionlessly, “We need to inspect.” The soldier sneered, thinking, Another fool who dares to challenge death! He said disdainfully, “The contents in the vehicle are state secrets. If you’re not afraid of death, go ahead and check!” But the armed police officer ignored him, waved to the others, and more than a dozen officers rushed over, spreading out to inspect each vehicle one by one.
Sanyan walked leisurely with his hands behind his back past the armed police officers who were about to inspect the vehicles, stopped at the checkpoint, and looked around. On one side was a dark, dense forest, and on the other side was a steep mountain cliff. He nodded. His gaze accidentally fell on cigarette butts on the ground—not just one or two, but many. Sanyan shook his head and walked back slowly. An armed police officer was about to check inside a container, reaching out to pull the door latch, but Sanyan stopped him. Sanyan placed his hand on the officer’s arm and said with a smile, “Brother, what’s inside is classified.”
The armed police officer said coldly, “Whatever it is, I have to check it.” As he spoke, he swung his arm forcefully, only to find that Three-Eyes’ huge hand seemed glued to his arm, not moving at all. He chuckled and said, “Someone like you tried to check what was inside before. Well, that person died.” The armed police officer narrowed his eyes and stared straight at Three-Eyes’ face, sneering, “You’re trying to scare me!” This time, he used all his strength to swing his arm. Three-Eyes released his grip—not because of the opponent’s strength, but because of the tattoo inadvertently revealed under the officer’s sleeve during the swing: a blood-red character for “soul.” He was familiar with this tattoo; he had seen it often on members of the Soul Squad. Shocked, Three-Eyes turned away without showing any emotion. He went over to a soldier and whispered something. The soldier’s expression changed, and he took something out of the vehicle and handed it to Three-Eyes.
Three-Eyes walked over to the white van with a smile and knocked on the window. Not knowing what he wanted, the driver rolled down the window slightly and poked his head out, asking, “Brother, what do you need?”
“Nothing!” Three-Eyes smiled. “Where are you from?” The driver was stunned and mumbled, “I’m from around here!” “Oh!” Three-Eyes nodded. “Local! That’s great. It must be nice to grow up in such a beautiful environment. Yunnan is a great place!” The driver was confused, not understanding what he was talking about, and looked at Three-Eyes doubtfully. Three-Eyes added, “By the way, tell Brother Ma Feng hello for me next time you see him.” With that, he threw the item he had just received from the soldier into the vehicle and left, laughing.
With a clatter, the item thrown by Three-Eyes rolled inside the vehicle. The driver couldn’t see what it was and bent down to look, finally finding it under the seat. The moment he realized what it was, his mind went blank. He tried to shout, but no sound came out. He could even hear the sound of death calling.
Three-Eyes walked cheerfully toward the armed police officer who was about to open the container door, one hand behind his back, the other shaking a thumb-sized steel ring—the fuse ring of a grenade. “Boom!” A torrent of flames erupted inside the van, followed by a deafening explosion, like a volcano erupting after thousands of years. Waves of heat spread in all directions, carrying broken debris that struck the trees by the road and the mountain cliffs with a clattering sound.
This mutation shocked everyone present. The armed police officers stopped what they were doing and stared at the burning van, their expressions changing as confusion, surprise, pain, and fear appeared in their eyes. Sanyan wasn’t surprised at all; in fact, he was pleased and enjoyed this outcome. He walked slowly toward the armed police, glanced at the open container, and said with a smile, “Have you seen everything inside?”
The armed police officer snapped out of his shock upon hearing the voice. He managed to shift his gaze from the flames to Sanyan’s face and noticed the scar between his eyebrows was extremely red, so vivid it seemed blood was about to seep out. The officer remained silent. He saw the steel ring spinning on Sanyan’s finger and also noticed a dark, shiny pistol pointed at him. Sanyan flicked the steel ring away and said calmly, “My name is Sanyan!” The officer slowly narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice, “You do indeed look like you have three eyes.”
Sanyan said, “People say my third eye turns red every time I kill someone. The redder it is, the more people I kill. Please check if it’s red now.”
The officer took a look and sighed, “It’s very red! Redder than blood.” Sanyan responded with an “Oh” and said helplessly, “It seems I’ll have to kill many people again today.” The officer replied, “You’ve already killed many people just now.” Sanyan shook his head and said, “It seems not enough. If some annoying people aren’t dead, I can’t stay calm.” The officer said, “I hope the person you mean isn’t me.” “Who else could it be?” “One thing is clear to me: I won’t die today!”
Before the officer could finish speaking, he moved. He quickly sidestepped to avoid Sanyan’s gun and kicked at Sanyan’s wrist at the same time. Sanyan reacted swiftly, pulling the trigger as soon as the other man moved.
“Bang!” A gunshot rang out, and the two parted. That shot was like a clarion call in a battle between soldiers. The soldier and the disguised armed police officer immediately engaged in a gunfight. Due to the close distance, some of them resorted to hand-to-hand combat, fighting fiercely. Xie Wendong sat leisurely in the car, lighting a cigarette as he watched the battle outside. He wouldn’t get out of the car to join the fight. He knew well that it was much safer for one person to face the enemy alone than in such chaotic combat.
And he wasn’t in a hurry; he knew someone would definitely come to kill him. If they wanted to kill him, they would naturally come to him first. So he waited, while also calming his emotions. From outside the car, screams could be heard from time to time—so hoarse, as if coming from hell. Xie Wendong saw the corpses on the ground and those who were injured, writhing in pain, but he remained unmoved. A cold heart and a calm mind had always been his weapons for success. Sure enough, a man covered in blood walked toward the car he was sitting in. His clothes were disheveled and dusty, with blood on them that it was impossible to tell whether it was his own or someone else’s. He held a knife in his hand—a Japanese katana. Xie Wendong also saw this man and felt disappointed; this wasn’t the person he was waiting for. Slowly, Xie Wendong got out of the car and smiled at the man. The distance between them was only five steps as they stood facing each other. Xie Wendong sighed, “I thought Ma Feng would come.”