Chapter 4 Kidnapping

  After dawdling at Qingyutang, the sky had already brightened up, and there were more people on the road. Wang Chan estimated that he had enough time, so he took a break to grab something to eat at a roadside breakfast stall, and then waited for the bus by the side of the road. He arrived in Hulin County around 9:00.

  Hulin is a place that was once the land of "Sushen" in ancient times, and it has been the ancestral home of Hezhe people's fishing and hunting for generations. Even now, it is still inhabited by many ethnic minorities, with a strong folk culture. However, this place is surrounded by several large mountains, and transportation to the outside world, except for the Ussuri River waterway, is not very convenient. Therefore, since ancient times, it has always been sparsely populated, with more mountains and forests than people.

  Wang Chan's purpose for coming down the mountain this time was to sell the things in his hands and exchange them for money, and then purchase a batch of daily necessities. As for why he still wanted to take a detour to Hu Lin, it was actually to retrieve an item that he had specially customized from an acquaintance three months ago.

  Due to being in the deep mountains for many years, Wang Chan had few opportunities to interact with the outside world. The so-called acquaintances he had were actually just the merchants who traded with him every time he went down the mountain. Both parties were just buying and selling from each other, and if they were to be honest, it was all about profit. They were merely taking what they needed, and it couldn't be considered a friendly relationship.

  This time Wang Chan came all the way to Hu Lin to find Zhou Lin, who was the only exception.

  After the reform and opening up, the domestic economic situation has been improving day by day. With the establishment of the Hulin Border Trade Port, the small town of Hulin is becoming more and more prosperous, and the opportunities to make money are naturally increasing. Zhou Lin is an extremely "worldly" person, in his 40s, because of his quick wit and clever hands, he has a good relationship with both the white and black societies in the local area, so he has a certain reputation in Hulin and is one of the first batch of people to get rich domestically.

  Zhou Lin's main business, on the surface, is operating local specialty products and selling them in large quantities to outsiders, such as mountain delicacies, monkey heads, wood ears, and wild vegetables. However, his largest source of profit actually comes from large-scale smuggling operations conducted in secret. Relying on the gradual expansion of border trade, Zhou Lin had already monopolized most of the underground transaction market in the entire Hulin area several years ago, whether it was transporting domestic regional goods, rare and endangered wild animals and plants protected by the state, or constantly smuggling precious timber to Russia across the border.

  The acquaintance with Zhou Lin originated from an accidental encounter in the mountains many years ago, when Zhou Lin had not yet become as prominent as he is today and was only running a small private travel agency, recruiting tourists to explore the Daxing'anling Mountains. Due to the lack of distinctive tourism projects, Zhou Lin heard about a Guandi Temple built during the Qing Dynasty on Hu Tou Ling and decided to venture into the deep mountains alone, but unexpectedly got lost in the dense forest, missed the timing, and was stalked by a hungry "old red-haired" animal that followed closely behind him.

  If it hadn't been for Wang Chan, who happened to be passing by on his way back from collecting medicine, that old red-haired wolf would have killed Zhou Lin with one swipe of its paw. Exhausted and famished, Zhou Lin would have soon lost his life.

  "The old red wolf" is actually a kind of wild wolf in the mountains, but the wolves in Daxing'an Mountains are very different from those in other places. They usually have a bluish-gray coat color, are greedy and ferocious, hunt in groups, with at least a dozen or so, and are called "blue wolves" by locals. When these blue wolves get old, they leave their pack to live alone because after eating too much flesh and carrion, the long hair on their back turns reddish-brown, hence the name "old red wolf".

  In addition, after being expelled from the wolf pack, this old wolf is highly suspicious and has declining physical strength. When hunting, it is very different from ordinary wolves. It only follows its prey for a long time, often for 30 or 40 miles, exhausting both humans and animals before making a move, biting the throat of the prey from behind, making it the most cunning and ferocious wolf in the mountains.

  After that adventure, Zhou Lin recovered from his injuries at the Guandi Temple of Wang Chan and returned to Hulin. He decided to close the travel agency which had gradually gotten on track and started smuggling business from scratch. His dealings with Wang Chan also originated from this.

  In the following years, Zhou Lin occasionally went to Guandi Temple once or twice during festivals. Wang Chan also took a few trips there due to his need for medicinal herbs and obtained some rare old ginseng from the mountains. However, he didn't owe Zhou Lin any favors; although the high-quality ginseng was precious, most of the tiger skin and bear skin that Wang had accumulated over the years ended up in Zhou's hands, laying a solid foundation for his future prosperity.

  From this point on, Wang Chan is actually one of the backstage suppliers for Zhou Lin's smuggling.

  Everyone has their own way of living and must take responsibility for their actions in some sense. Zhou Lin's smuggling, if it violates national law, will naturally be punished by the country's laws, Wang Chan doesn't think this has anything to do with himself directly, but deep down he actually doesn't feel much resentment either.

  As long as this matter does not involve one's own head, even if the sky falls, there will be tall people to bear it, and it won't hit one's own head.

  As Wang Zhen's kung fu skills improved, the black wooden pole he used to practice spear techniques with was no longer suitable, so three months ago when he came down from the mountain, he found Zhou Lin and asked him to find a way to custom-make a large spear in the south, which is what he has come for this time.

  In modern society, the cold weapons used for killing in the past, especially large guns like this one, are either being exhibited in museums or collected as antiques by some people. It's almost impossible to find a satisfactory one among the folk. Even if you spend money to buy it, it's not cheap, let alone Wang Zhan's custom-made gun, which has many unique requirements and is tailored for himself, making the price even more outrageous. That's why he brought a whole tiger skin as compensation for Zhou Lin, as an exchange of goods.

  Although Zhou Lin's current wealth may not care about this money, Wang Chan has his own standard for being a person. Money is an external thing, and it will still be there when it's gone. Human feelings are the most difficult to repay, so don't owe people favors unless necessary, otherwise, it will be troublesome to repay in the future.

  Walking on the road to Zhou Lin's house, at this time Zhou Lin should have just gotten up not long ago. If everything goes as expected, Wang Chan thinks he should be able to run into Zhou Lin on the way. This Zhou Lin, although engaged in illegal activities, has made enough money over the years to last him ten lifetimes, but his daily life is not extravagant and even a bit frugal and low-key. He never spends money unnecessarily and even drives himself when going out, rarely bringing a group of bodyguards with him wherever he goes.

  The weather in the morning was still refreshing, not yet sweltering, and Wang Chan walked slowly on the road. After turning a corner, he saw Zhou Lin coming out of his villa with a long canvas backpack that looked very heavy, just as he was about to call out a greeting.

  Suddenly, an old-fashioned jeep engine roared to life and sped over from the opposite side of the road, arriving in an instant beside a stunned Zhou Lin. Without stopping, it slowed down slightly, and two burly men with shaved heads jumped out of the jeep, one on each side. With one punch, they knocked Zhou Lin unconscious, then one grabbed his head and the other lifted his legs, and in the blink of an eye, they tossed Zhou Lin into the back seat of the jeep.

  Then a rustling sound was heard, and it turned into a fork in the road ahead, and disappeared without a trace.

  "Kidnapping!" Wang Chan's eyes flashed and he immediately reacted that Zhou Lin had been kidnapped.

  "This Lin Ping has been making a fortune from his dealings every day, and in the past two years, he's even taken over half of the underground trade in the entire Huolin area. He must have also made many enemies, both openly and secretly, and is looked down upon by many people. I've long told him that it's wise to retire while one is still ahead, otherwise, one will suffer disaster. Now, isn't this exactly what I said would happen? Fortunately, I happened to see you today, or else your life would have been over!"

  Just now, those two big men who jumped off the jeep, from start to finish, took away a living person in less than a minute, without any extra movement, and each of them was agile and uniform in their movements. Obviously, they were not ordinary "kidnappers", even if they were far from Wang Chan's eyes, at least they were good hands who had practiced martial arts for several years.

  Wang Chan saw it with his own eyes, and naturally couldn't ignore it. However, his starting point at this time was that the large gun he had customized was still in Zhou Lin's hands. If something happened to Zhou Lin, wouldn't the large gun he had painstakingly designed also become "lost", and he would never be able to get it back?

  "If I'm not mistaken, the canvas bag that Zhou Lin was carrying just now had my big gun in it. It's really not that I'm being arrogant, but there's no other way! You've caught Zhou Lin, which is equivalent to taking away my big gun. Consider yourselves unlucky!"

  In his heart, Wang Chan suddenly felt a surge of hot blood, after all these years of practicing the Thirteen Taibao horizontal swordsmanship in the mountains, using wild beasts to hone his skills, he had never fought against a human before, but today was a rare opportunity.

  Just like seeing his most beloved toy, Wang Chan's feet moved and he was already carrying a hemp sack with tiger skin, dodging out 50 or 60 steps away. Closely following, one foot stomped the ground, and with a loud rumble, his entire body rolled out like a whirlwind.

  －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

  Thank you all for your support, Lao Lu bows to you!!!