Chapter 40 The Locals Join In

  "This... Fan Jin passed the imperial examination?" It seems there's an essay that says Fan Jin took the imperial exam, he took it for many years but didn't pass, when he finally passed at an old age, he was so overjoyed that he went crazy.

  Su Haicheng said again: "Go and get a slap in the face, or you'll really go crazy."

  Kakaxi pushed me, after all, he is our boss, and we two are a bit timid in this regard. I took a step back to Ah Tian's side and pushed him. He looked at us two, walking over while saying: "How can you be so timid?" As soon as he finished speaking, his palm had already struck.

  The boss's laughter stopped and he looked at us for a while before saying: "She didn't die! She really didn't die!"

  Su Haicheng was assembling the guns over there, saying: "Since your girlfriend is not dead, you can go back now. Go back to D city and find her. After something like this happened, she should have left here already."

  I also think that the boss's initial insistence on coming was for Sakura's sake, now that he knows Sakura is not dead, there's no need for him to follow us and take risks together.

  Ah Tian's face turned cold and he said: "At this point, he can't leave!"

  Kakaxi jumped up: "Why? The boss is looking for his girlfriend after all."

  "Then why did you come?" Ah Tian asked.

  "I, I, I'm here just to have fun. You see, this thing is like a game. We've been passing levels one by one until now, and it's almost time to beat the final boss, of course, I want to hold on till the end." This theory really resembles Kakashi, those people who live in the internet. The only difference is that games have teleportation gates, but here there aren't any, so we'll have to walk out the rest of the road with our own two feet."

  "Ah Tian turned to me: 'And you, girl?'"

  "I, I..." I couldn't say the reason, but my gaze was still on Su Haicheng, who was crouching on the ground checking his gun. The way he held his gun was really cool.

  "I understand. In other words, we are going to continue, so your boss can't leave. If he leaves, it will be easy for us to get caught."

  The boss tidied up the medical records and said, "You're worried that I'll go report you guys."

  "Maybe you will, maybe you won't, but it's not about reporting this word, rather it should be used to surrender accomplices."

  "Okay, I won't leave. I also want to know the truth about what happened."

  Su Haicheng held the gun, aiming at a teacup beside him, and said: "No need for that, Ah Tian. If he wants to leave, let him leave. Or, whoever wants to leave can leave, I'll go alone. This was originally my own business."

  I looked away and Kaka Xi started playing games on the tablet. Ah Tian also squatted down to assemble his gun, while Boss counted the equipment, everyone pretended not to hear what he said.

  On the third day, all our equipment arrived. Looking at the many large boxes in front of us, Su Haicheng suggested that we hire locals to help carry things for me. With five people, including Kaka and myself, we could barely make up 0.8 laborers. Let alone other things, even if it was just our own diving equipment, we wouldn't be able to carry it for half an hour.

  How to ask locals for help, who to ask, has become a difficult problem we face. We are not familiar with others here and many of our things are prohibited items.

  That evening, we sat at the entrance of the big stall, eating and discussing this issue. The food outside the big stall was good on the first day, but by the second day, it was already getting boring, and by the third day, it was basically inedible. Kakashi picked at his rice grains and proposed a solution to this problem: "Why don't we put up a sign in that lively area and say 151 yuan per day, recruiting four laborers?"

  The four porters were previously calculated by them. To bring all the equipment, it takes four people. The rubber boat and diving equipment alone require three people.

  "Our time is uncertain, the route is uncertain, and we don't know if anyone will be willing to take on this task. Moreover, without an intermediary, if we recruit workers like this, they will definitely ask us for our ID cards too. If the ID cards of several of us are left here as evidence, it will be troublesome for all of us if we get investigated later. It's best to have an intermediary." Just as Su Haicheng finished speaking, I saw the silhouette of the intermediary.

  It's not just me who noticed it, everyone did. The one walking towards us isn't that teacher in his thirties from the last time we went to that village?

  "Hello!" The teacher greeted us from afar, "Why are you eating here? It's better to eat at our village."

  I don't know what they were thinking, anyway I'm quite depressed. When we arrived at the village, there was basically nothing to eat.

  Ah Tian quickly pulled that teacher down to sit, smiling and saying: "Come on, Qin teacher, take a seat. You've come at just the right time."

  Ah Tian, this kind of businessman, who hasn't he fooled? He spent over 20 minutes convincing that teacher that we were just here to gather inspiration, and that we had some equipment, hoping to find someone local to carry it. They need to be strong, honest, and most importantly, have a tight mouth. Ah Tian didn't hesitate to hand over 200 yuan, saying it was an introduction fee for Teacher Qin.

  Teacher Tan pushed open the door: "This little thing, what introduction fee is needed. I can find four people for you in an hour. Today is a holiday, many people are on the street. You wait for me."

  Mr. Tan just got up, but stopped in his tracks and turned around, hesitating to say: "You know, can you guys help our school find some sponsorship? If we could get the higher-ups to send another teacher over, that would be even better. That way, we can divide the classes and I won't have to teach six grades by myself, haha."

  The boss patted him on the shoulder: "Alright, I'll give you feedback on this." Actually, the boss probably didn't have that skill either, but for now, just go along with it.

  Teacher Tan brought four men in their 40s, only one of whom was slightly taller, while the other three were relatively short and stout, looking like they walked mountain roads. Some of the men were introverted, hanging their heads low and not looking at us, while others smiled foolishly, and one seemed to be used to dealing with outsiders, offering us cigarettes.

  Su Haicheng whispered something to Ah Tian, and then Ah Tian walked up to the four people and asked: "Dare to catch snakes? If you don't dare, then don't go."

  All four nodded and said they dared. The man who handed over the cigarette even spoke with a glib tongue: "I caught snakes at the age of ten. Those snakes on the road, no matter how big, would take a detour when they saw me."

  "A Tian nodded: 'You don't have to go. The three of you can.'"

  Mr. Tan looked on from the side, anxiously saying to Su Haicheng: "Why don't you want this one? This one has great strength." His eyesight was not bad, he knew that our group of people revolved around Su Haicheng. Although Su Haicheng didn't say much, he was still an existence that couldn't be ignored.

  "Teacher, just those three will do. You guys just need to be at the hotel entrance by 7am tomorrow and we'll take care of it. One hundred and fifty per day."

  Those three people laughed when they heard this price, in such a village, it's already very good to earn this much.

  On the way back, I asked Su Haicheng why he didn't want that man who handed him a cigarette.

  Kakaxi followed closely behind me, playing with his tablet and saying, "Need I say more? That man's eyes are fixed on you. I really don't know what's so good about your figure."

  "Hey, I'm telling you, Kakaxi, who said last time that I looked great in this outdoor sports suit?"

  The two of us were arguing, Su Haicheng said in a low voice: "He's right, that man's eyes are too sharp and his courage is too big."

  After preparing for so many days, we are finally departing, still walking on foot in that direction. The three men who came to help us carry things in the morning were all very quiet and just carried our stuff and led the way. Because this time there was no car, after walking for two hours, we had already left the small town behind and entered the mountain road in the forest.

  "On the mountain road, with no one around, Su Haicheng suddenly shouted: "Stop and rest for ten minutes!""

  Kakaxi jumped in front of him: "Hey, I haven't even shouted tired, and you're calling for a rest?" Of course, it's a bit hard for him to shout tired, he has his own luggage on his back, no equipment to take care of. And I'm still carrying several bottles of water!

  Su Haicheng ignored him and walked up to the three men, asking: "Do you know which way is the nearest road to the lake over there?"

  His words caused the three men who were about to drink water to freeze in place.