Chapter 2: Debauchery and Corruption

  After arriving here, Cheng Long was particularly active. He told me that in the small alley at the corner over there, as soon as they found out you weren't speaking the local language, women would immediately come over to flirt with you.

  She tells you two sentences that you can't understand, then she will switch to Cantonese and say: "Brother, let's go into the room with sister xx."

  The women in this town are far inferior to those at the river mouth. The ones at the river mouth are all under 20 years old, with good looks and figures that can be shown off. The women in this alley, however, have thick layers of makeup covering their pale faces, which are etched with worry and hardship. They come in different ages, and the prices are ridiculously low. As you walk down the street, you're constantly pestered by streetwalkers.

  I burst out laughing: "Gun God, are you so miserable in your own country that you've come here to vent?"

  Cheng Long immediately took out a piece of paper for me to see:

  One, guarantee a female; Two, marry her back within three months; Three, absolutely no price increase; Four, if she runs away within one year, compensate with another one.

  Look, it's easy to get married quickly, take the girl home with a marriage certificate, and spend no more than 50,000 yuan. A Vietnamese bride who costs 50,000 yuan is gentle, obedient, and beautiful, what are you waiting for?

  I felt dizzy and disoriented: "Didn't they say online that this was all fake?"

  "There are also real ones." Cheng Long chuckled and said: "Wu Mingkai is familiar with Vietnam, he can get beautiful girls. Hey, don't look at me like that, I'm not so hungry that I'll eat anything. I'm preparing two for my comrades, haha! In the past, when I didn't have a house, it was others who chose us, but now that I have a house, it's me who chooses them. Now I have a car, a house, and a job, and my conditions aren't bad either. I'm also a good man."

  "I'm speechless, it seems I have no choice but to take matters into my own hands."

  Then, we seven people, five motorcycles went there. Jiang Yu rode on Lin Ruoyin's motorcycle, while Cheng Long rode on Wu Mingkai's motorcycle.

  It's just a bit annoying that all the motorcycles and electronics in this place are made in Japan.

  Dada dada dada~~~~

  We rode our motorcycles all the way through, crossing dense forests and passing between fields.

  At the end of the big road, we saw such a scene: a Vietnamese man walking leisurely in front, and another Vietnamese 'woman' carrying a heavy load on her back...

  "Hey~~~~ big deal, I'm here!" Wu Mingkai rode his motorcycle, excitedly waving his hands.

  Isn't he Vietnamese?

  That dark-haired man with a flat head turned around and took a glance, also revealing great joy: "Kai Ge, damn it, brother almost died for you!"

  He is Chinese!

  Then, under Aryo's leadership, we returned to their earth-sheltered house. The house was mostly made of wood and was very large, with a geographical area comparable to that of a villa. All around were vegetables and fruit trees for their own use, as well as several sheep and a few free-range chickens.

  The Vietnamese woman put down her carrying pole and went to prepare food. The eight of us sat in the wooden hall chatting.

  Alio and Wu Mingkai, after a brief reunion, immediately introduced us: "Alio, my brother owes a favor on the mainland. As long as you help them retrieve the Golden Buddha, he won't leave afterwards. Call over a few brothers, we'll go to Basa together to enjoy our good fortune."

  Arlo looked at us: "When we were in our heyday, we planned to have at least twenty special task force brothers go together to steal the Golden Buddha. Even if I bring six more brothers, plus these few people, it's probably not enough. However, the matter of guns is not something that can stump me."

  "Hold on." Luo Sansi smiled and said: "What are your five brothers doing now?"

  Wu Mingkai explained: "At first, we were in the army for nearly ten years, and unexpectedly after retiring, the second and third phase of officers all had no work, went back with no money to start a family and career, and the local civil affairs bureau didn't care. I was unwilling to go be a bodyguard and struggle, leaders told me what to do and I did it, while these six brothers took some retirement fees and came to Vietnam to start a family and career, now some of them have children."

  Arlyo's face was filled with emotion: "We seven brothers had a fierce battle with Vietnam back then, drug lords, smuggling, espionage, countless gunfights... who would have thought that in the end, we'd end up here?"

  "Cut it out!" Lin Rouyin was not convinced: "I think you're living a pretty comfortable life, letting your wife carry such a heavy burden, while you get to walk around so carefree."

  "Haha~" Wu Mingkai burst out laughing: "Miss Lin, you're wrong. In Vietnam, you have to act like a Vietnamese man. If you pity your wife and do the work yourself, your wife will definitely be drowned by people's spitting stars, and you'll also be discriminated against."

  Oh ~ I didn't know there was such a saying, it's true, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

  Zhao Yong furrowed his brow: "Now that you've returned to a normal life, are you still very aware of the Golden Buddha's affairs?"

  "Yes!" Alyo replied firmly: "We six brothers often gather together to drink and study when we have nothing to do. Perhaps you don't know, it's easy to start a family and career here, but if you don't have money, it's really hard."

  Jiang Yu looked down and said: "Backed by a mountain, facing the water, a small wooden house, with loved ones, 'flowers' and grass, and little sheep. What a perfect life, how can it be difficult?"

  "Cough, cough!" The men cleared their throats in protest. Our views are different.

  Arlo smiled wryly: "How to say this, marrying a Vietnamese wife has two good-looking and plump advantages, but it's not interesting in daily life. You have different ideas from the men here, they just gamble, eat, drink and play all day. After living here for a long time, you will find that you can't communicate with them, there is no family feeling. We want to gather together like brothers every day, but this economy is always a stumbling block."

  Wu Mingkai waved his hand: "Settle this matter, and each of you brothers will get one million yuan. Oh ~ it's RMB, not Vietnamese dong."

  "Alright, I'll get a few brothers over and we can discuss it together."

  After the phone call, Alyo took us to dinner. In a rural courtyard, there was less meat, but it's said that life here is stress-free. However, if you want to make a lot of money, you still have to go to the city, but it's not easy to get by there either.

  As for them calling six comrades together, we will treat it naturally. This is not the time for internal strife. Moreover, even if Wu Mingkai has some reservations, he wouldn't dare to really take action against us. He who 'mixed' his way through the provincial city understands the consequences better than anyone else.

  After everyone was seated, Ali spread out a map and began to tell us about the legend of King Glorious Blue Buddha.

  It is said that they first met Kim Quang in a French-style town called Ba Sa in Vietnam, where the Golden Buddha calmed down the rumors of destruction and chaos in the small town of 10,000 people, and then sent him back to the ancient cave of Lu Xi A Lu.

  To be precise, it is a secret branch location of the ancient 'cave' of Lusi Atru.

  There was a camp stationed there, with about 60 or 70 people. According to their plan, 20 combat-hardened warriors would split up and advance in a pincer movement, cutting off the camp's communication lines, and then launch a lightning-fast attack to thoroughly destroy and kill everyone. After that, they would seize the Golden Buddha and be able to escape back to their country or hide elsewhere within five hours.

  Such means, we almost entirely deny: "Absolutely not, this will cause friction between the two countries, and no one can bear the responsibility of a tense situation."

  "What do you want to do, sneak?" Alyo sneered: "Even if we know the Golden Buddha is hidden in the camp, no one knows where it is. We have to work together to destroy it and then search for it thoroughly, only then there's a little chance of success."

  Cheng Long was somewhat perplexed: "Haven't you tried to capture both tongues or probe around them?"

  Arlo shook his head: "You don't know that Vietnamese people are very wild by nature, either you take him down or you don't provoke him, the possibility of them telling you the truth is extremely small."

  As he spoke, Wu Mingkai lifted his back collar to show us: "This four-and-a-half-inch scar is the masterpiece of a Vietnamese fruit vendor kid. For drug trafficking, they can instill hatred in a child to assassinate, you should understand a little now, they are simply people who cannot be communicated with, and there is no way to reason with them, don't expect any soft policy to work."

  Lin Ruo Yin's face turned slightly red: "You used to be a hero for the country and the people, how did you... never mind, I won't say it."

  "Why can't we say it?!" Wu Mingkai suddenly became agitated: "We suffered knives and bullets for the motherland, stood guard, followed orders, and fought against evil forces in the past decade. But what did we get in return? The country didn't even give us a job assignment! On the other hand, those university students, rich second-generation kids, and officials' children had it easy - they went to school, dated girls, graduated, and got assigned good jobs at companies. Meanwhile, we can only go back to being security guards or construction workers. We work for ten or twenty years and still can't afford a house, let alone get married! That's why my brothers were forced to go to Vietnam!"

  "Exactly!" Alyo also indignantly said: "Take another look at those corrupt officials in our motherland, China originally has more men than women, leaders occupy three, occupy ten young girls, keep two mistresses, raise a third one, drive luxury cars, live in villas, travel to Europe, famous internationally, we are all ashamed to say that we are Chinese, damn it's humiliating!"

  "Ugh~" Cheng Long patted the two on the shoulder: "When I returned to 'Spring' City, I still remember that the Civil Affairs Bureau had a deadpan expression, assigning work to you, one thousand yuan per month, love it or leave it. Luckily, I met Brother Yong, otherwise I might be laying bricks on that construction site right now."

  I see.

  The torment of life has ground down their kind hearts, when people pay out a lot but don't get the return they deserve, and are in a state of long-term resentment, jealousy, and yearning for a life that is within sight but out of reach. The ferocious beast will then appear, and for one million, they can unite to kill sixty or seventy people, their hearts no longer softening because of others' suffering.

  If it were me, without Lin Zhen and Zhao Yong, I would be a part-time cop making one or two thousand yuan per month, spending my days mediating disputes between uncles and aunts. If I met someone as good as Zhang Mian, would I dare to pursue her? What would I rely on?

  Maybe this is also why I won against Lin Zhen and didn't call him Lin Xiao Er.

  On the other hand, the plan for the crime had not been finalized. We waited for the five comrades at the same time and rode a motorcycle to the scene several times, which was not far away, about two hours' drive.

  Gathering intelligence, observing the movements of sentries, and analyzing every move in the camp with binoculars.

  This aspect of detective work is no bragging matter, the framework of the camp, interpersonal relationships, guarding the central location, was soon dissected by us for more than half.

  Let's analyze the intelligence and see what Wu Mingkai and his comrades are capable of.

  Zhang Da Fei, with a mouthful of curses: "Shorty, you're really asking for it! You've gone and gotten on my bad side, hammerhead! I'm gonna take you down!"

  He Wen Shu had his own views: "Anyway, since we've decided to go up, let's just capture a few camp soldiers and 'force' them to ask questions. It's much better than blindly advancing forward, and it also weakens the enemy's strength."

  Tang Jian's face sank as he said, "We've captured the leaders of the bandits' camp. What are we afraid of not getting any information?"

  The two brothers Sun Licheng and Sun Liwei were silent, with a look of admiration for Wu Mingkai, it seems that the kid still has some prestige in this circle...

  Zhao Yong saw that the other party was so weak, and his old 'arrogance' suddenly relapsed: "Chuan Jie, you little newcomer, what have you discovered? Come on, don't always stand behind, tell everyone."

  "I pointed to the map and said: 'The other side has a total of seventy-four people, while we have thirteen. Although the number is vastly different, it's actually not difficult to defeat them at all. Setting up eight firepower points around can effectively weaken them and prevent escape. Their arsenal is inside the surveillance room, just one 'door'. We'll use two blocking guns and one charging gun to seal off the surveillance room, whoever comes over will be beaten, this is equivalent to cutting off their throat. Even the bullet remote control box on their sentry post can't be opened. Finally, two people will adapt to the situation and ensure complete safety.'"

  "...I finished speaking, and those seven soldiers all had a green face."

  Wu Mingkai was the first to speak out of dissatisfaction: "Aren't you firmly opposed to opening fire and killing people, why do you want to kill now?"

  "Don't rush." I pointed to the five headshots on the map: "That's just the final plan, everyone take a look at these five people, with your troops' interpretation, one squadron leader, one instructor, three platoon leaders, as long as one of them loses their grip, we might be able to reap the benefits."

  Zhang Da Fei suddenly became angry: "These Vietnamese monkeys are really hard to talk to, they just don't like us Chinese."

  "Hmph!" I suddenly had a mischievous grin: "We can also be Japanese now."

  "My god..."