Chapter Seventeen: Weapons

  In the eastern suburbs of Nanquan City, there is a semi-open underground black market in She Ren Town. No matter what you want to buy, even if it's an airplane or a cannon, as long as you can afford the price, you can buy it here.

  Liu Sanmazi is well-versed in this black market, since he lost his job and came here to make a living by relying on his cleverness, quick wit, good reputation, and extensive connections with wealthy customers, establishing a vast network of relationships. He can get many things that others can't, and do business smoothly where others fail, thus earning a lot of money.

  That night, Ma Zi ate and drank enough, lying on the recliner in front of his small shop, humming a song contentedly, watching people come and go on the road in front of him. A brand new off-road vehicle caught his attention, it was a Jeep 2500, which had been modified, with the exhaust pipe moved from the rear to the front, stuck high up on the side of the car like a long chimney. There were not many car owners who could afford to modify their new cars so lavishly, and such an owner must have come here for some purpose, perhaps he could make a profit from it, Ma Zi lay still, his eyes fixed tightly on the Jeep.

  The Jeep 2500 seemed to know its mind, heading straight for Ma Zi's small store without slowing down. Ma Zi was startled and quickly jumped up to avoid it. Just as the Jeep was about to crash into the store, it suddenly braked hard, the thick off-road tires making a rough screeching sound on the sandy road surface, coming to a stop just less than half a meter away from the store, almost blocking the entrance.

  Ma Zi stormed over, but saw the passenger door open and a burly young man get out. He hastily changed his expression, smiling obsequiously as he approached, "Hey, it's Jing Ge, I thought it was someone else."

  "Cut the nonsense, let's talk inside your shop." Guo Jing waved his hand and walked into the shop first.

  As the Jeep's heavy door closed, three more young men got out of the car. Ma Zi took a peek and didn't recognize them, but they looked like trouble.

  As they entered the small shop, Guo Jing coldly asked Ma Zai: "Liu San Ma Zai, haven't you done anything illegal or disorderly recently?"

  "Look what you're saying, Officer Guo, how could I?" Ma Zi laughed and poured water for the cigarette, "These three are..."

  "There are three people you absolutely can't afford to mess with." Guo Jing pointed at Ma Zi's nose and said, "They're here to buy something, I know you definitely have it, don't hide it from them. They won't cheat you out of your money. But be careful for me, don't take advantage of my friends." After finishing speaking, he turned around and left the store, getting back into his car.

  Guo Jing's meaning is that you are about to conduct an illegal transaction which I haven't seen and won't interfere with, but you must complete this transaction.

  Cao Sen puffed on his cigarette and calmly looked at Ma Zi, "Liu boss, we brothers want to buy some hot goods."

  Hot goods are underworld terms, referring to those dangerous things that cannot be put on the table, such as guns.

  Ma Zi was shocked in his heart, who were these people and why did they want such things when they met? He had guns, more than 20 long and short ones, hidden in the cellar of the backyard. The problem was that he didn't know where the other party came from, even if Guo Jing introduced them, he still didn't dare to sell. What if these young people used the guns he sold to commit a big crime, he would definitely be implicated and thrown into prison.

  "Hehe, since you are brought by Officer Guo, I won't pretend to not understand. However, the thing you three want is currently out of stock in my small shop."

  "Don't worry, I've got your back." Teng Fei walked over to Ma Zi and whispered a name in his ear.

  Ma Zi glanced at Teng Fei and said, "Many people know Master Ma." The Master Ma that Ma Zi was referring to was actually the big scammer Li Long who had just been caught by Guo Jing yesterday.

  Teng Fei took out his mobile phone and dialed a number, "Old Ma, Liu boss doesn't want to do business with us brothers." He said, handing the phone over to Mazi.

  Ma Zi took the phone and said sorry, walked to the backyard to talk, a few minutes later he came back with a smile, "It was our own people, I was slow just now, please forgive me, what you want is too sensitive, I have to be careful."

  "I understand." Cao Sen said calmly.

  "Come on, the three of you, let's talk in the backyard." Ma Zi took a glance at Cao Sen, this young man was quite calm and composed, he had never seen him before, didn't know what kind of hero or good fellow he was.

  Four people came to the cellar in the backyard, Ma Zi drew a line on the ground, pulled out a hemp rope from the floating soil, and pulled it hard. The ground revealed another entrance, and when they went inside, Cao Sen and others found that this was simply a small arsenal. AK series, M16 series automatic rifles, Remington shotgun, and several world-renowned handguns were neatly placed on top of olive green ammunition boxes.

  "Everyone likes what they like, just pick whatever you want, and we can discuss the price. Let's be friends." said Ma Zi Da Lu.

  "We want shotguns with long barrels and four Kukris, also four Desert Eagles, the .44 caliber ones." Cao Sen said.

  "What, you want the Desert Eagle? Mazi almost thought he had misheard. The Desert Eagle was also known as a "pocket cannon", its power was astonishing and its recoil was also astonishing. Ordinary people simply couldn't withstand its recoil. Its owners were almost limited to sturdy men like Schwarzenegger. The three young men in front of him, although robust, were far from Schwarzenegger's level. Moreover, this fierce weapon he had only heard of but never seen before, even if he wanted to sell it, there was no way to start."

  "Liu boss, we're all straightforward people, take what you have now," Cao Sen said, taking out a package wrapped in newspaper. "This is the payment for this deal, keep it well. One week later, we'll come to pick up the Desert Eagle, each gun I want 500 rounds of ammunition, eight spare clips, remember, I want .44 caliber."

  Ma Zi was a businessman, and what he cared about most was money. He opened the newspaper and took a look, wow, it was all 100-yuan bills, estimated to be at least 1.4 million or 1.5 million based on its thickness and width. His heart was filled with joy, and his initial hesitation turned into a series of affirmative responses. "Don't worry, gentlemen, I have connections internationally, and I also have connections in the airline industry. I'll ask my friend to air transport it for you. I'll definitely prepare everything for you within a week. Hehe... Desert Eagle, .44 caliber, no mistake... hehe."

  Cao Sen ignored him, putting four shotguns and four Glock pistols into his carry-on bag. He also swept up all the 9mm Parabellum pistol ammunition he could find and emptied out all the shotgun shells before shouldering his bag and leaving.

  Ma Zi held the money to her chest, watching Cao Sen leave with a mix of emotions in her heart. They're all human beings, but others can buy guns without even asking the price and throw down tens of thousands of yuan, while I'm still weighing every penny when eating out at a restaurant, it's really unbearable, people are incomparable, it's infuriating!

  Ma Zi took out all the cash, counted it carefully three times, took a deep breath, and there were exactly 1.6 million yuan. What kind of people are these three young men? How can they be so generous?

  Ma Zi didn't know that, in order to get a portable and special forces counter-weapon as soon as possible, Cao Sen took out all his savings with the other three people. The purpose was to stimulate Liu San Ma Zi to buy the Desert Eagle in the shortest time. Those four Kukris were just for self-defense, and the shotgun was for dealing with that fierce ghost.

  Back to the jeep, driven by Guo Jing, the four brothers headed towards the Garrison Command of Nanquan City. On the way, Cao Sen made a phone call to Sima De and told him that they would go to the military area for shooting practice later.

  When they arrived at the gate of the military area, Sima De was already waiting at the entrance. He got into Cao Sen's jeep and guided the jeep to the underground shooting range.

  "What the hell are you guys doing? Want to rebel and become emperors?" Sima De looked at the guns and large amounts of bullets in his travel bag and said, "What's wrong with you guys, putting down the toy guns and starting to play with real ones?"

  "We almost sacrificed ourselves yesterday," Ding Haitao recounted what happened last night.

  "Special forces?" Sima De was furious, cursing loudly, "I'll screw his mother's bastard thing, it's that Zhu Jianjun's trash who's behind this, I'll damn his eight generations of ancestors! Guo Jing, turn the troops around and head to General's Building, we'll ransack his home tonight!"

  Cao Sen was puzzled, "Wait a minute, Commander, how did you know it was Zhu Jianjun's doing?"

  Simen De slowly gathered his anger and let out a somewhat embarrassed sigh. "Four younger brothers, it's me who brought you trouble."

  Originally, Sima De and Yang Xindu had found Zhu Jianjun after their honeymoon was over, telling him not to provoke his brother Cao Sen and others. At that time, Zhu Jianjun agreed with one mouth, saying that he would never do anything ungrateful or unjust. Two days ago, Sima De and Zhu Jianjun met again at a gathering, and Sima De brought up the old matter, warning Zhu Jianjun. In order to show the ferocity of Cao Sen and others, he repeatedly emphasized that Cao Sen had grasped an important handle on Zhu Jianjun. Sima De knew that with Zhu Jianjun's character, he would definitely do some shady things, so he thought that by intimidating him like this, Zhu Jianjun would have a sense of restraint in his heart and wouldn't dare to have any more crooked ideas.

  Zhu Jianjun smiled at the time and said that he was open and honest, and it was impossible for anyone to find any fault with him. He also promised Sima De that in the future, he would not betray his benefactor who had saved his life. Unexpectedly, what he meant by "not betraying" turned out to be silencing him forever.

  After listening to Sima De's account, Cao Sen furrowed his brow. "If it's as you say, Zhu Jianjun must have done something and once exposed, he'll be completely finished, so he's desperate and sent people to kill us."

  "Brother Sen, I'm really sorry to have caused you trouble. Don't worry about this matter, I'll take care of it myself. Tonight, I'll go and settle the score with Zhu Jianjun, even if it means risking my life!"

  Simen De said, grabbing a handful of handgun and wanting to open the car door. Cao Sen grabbed him and pressed him back onto the seat. "Commander, you also have good intentions, don't blame you. Besides, if you didn't say those words, Zhu Jianjun and I would still be enemies, and we would have to fight with real guns and knives sooner or later. Last night's matter has nothing to do with you."

  Teng Fei thought to himself that this Sima De was really a spoiled brat, older than his brothers but couldn't get things done, all talk and no action, who threatens people like that? And Zhu Jianjun was also a half-wit, trying to silence him with just a few words from Sima De and even deploying special forces. These two were a pair of psychopaths, how did they run into them? Were the children of high-ranking military officials all idiots?

  Teng Fei shook his head. Sima De's way of doing things had always been like this since he was young, but Zhu Jianjun didn't seem like a brainless person. He must have had his reasons for doing so. Was there something else fishy going on? For example, was there a third party framing us and pinning the blame on us, and Sima De just happened to say those thoughtless words, which led to yesterday's danger? Damn it! Teng Fei cursed in his heart. Why think about such complicated things? One day when he caught Zhu Jianjun, he would beat him to death and ask him clearly about the reasons behind everything. Then everything would be clear.

  Ding Haitao asked Sima De, "Whose official position is higher, your old man or Zhu Jianjun's father?"

  "All of them are major generals. My old man is in charge of military logistics, his father is in charge of combat troops, and the special forces of the military region directly report to his father."

  Four brothers were suddenly enlightened, no wonder Zhu Jianjun could mobilize special forces, it turned out that his father was the superior of the special forces.

  Zhu Jianjun continued: "Actually, Zhu Jianjun's old man is very orthodox, a well-known veteran in the military region. I don't know how he raised such a son. The things he does are all done secretly, if his father knew, he would skin him alive. If I get the chance, I'll expose these things to his father, and we won't need to lift a hand to take care of him."

  The four Cao brothers shook their heads together, staring at Sima De in a strange manner.

  "Alright, alright, stop staring at me. You're just a bunch of useless people who think you can solve everything on your own, damn it, one day you'll suffer the consequences."

  "He's screwed us over, and if we don't take revenge with our own hands, are we still men?" Guo Jing said discontentedly.

  "I've never been so badly screwed since I was born, damn it! We even saved that little bastard's life once, and he actually had the guts to do this. If I don't beat Zhu Jianjun to a pulp, I'm his father!" Ding Haitao said furiously.

  All the brothers burst out laughing.

  "Don't underestimate Zhu Jianjun, this guy has some skills, things he wants to do are never interfered by his dad and always get done."

  "It's still relying on his old man's signboard, otherwise who would know who he is?" Guo Jing said disdainfully.

  "What if he's not a killer sent by Zhu Jianjun?" Teng Fei put forward his own opinion.

  "Even if it wasn't him who did it last night, getting rid of him is still the right thing to do, Sen Ge, I'm not wrong, am I?" Ding Haitao had always looked down on Zhu Jianjun.

  Cao Sen said: "In Nanchuan City, we didn't offend anyone, and there are only a few people who can mobilize special forces. Zhu Jianjun is somewhat suspicious. But this matter is strange, there are some things I don't understand. Who exactly wants to kill us? What is the purpose of their doing so? Were those four people last night really special forces?"

  Cao Sen looked at Sima De and wanted to speak, shaking his head and saying, "Commander, I'll ask you, if you've done something that can't be exposed to the light of day, and someone comes to tell you that Zhu Jianjun has evidence of your crime, would you kill Zhu Jianjun without investigating?"

  Simu De stared blankly for a moment, "No."

  "So," Cao Sen continued, "there are too many doubts here. The first thing we need to do is to arm ourselves and increase our self-defense capabilities. Next is the investigation. Since there are no other clues, let's start with Zhu Jianjun. Guo Jing, Taotao, your work has convenient conditions for this aspect, use all means to investigate this kid."

  The two people nodded in agreement.

  "If you need money, just ask me for it." Teng Fei said.

  Caosen thought for a moment and added: "Taotao, Guo Jing, don't move Zhu Jianjun until we've investigated clearly."

  "Can't even beat him up?" Guo Jing asked reluctantly.

  "We won't stop until we beat him to the point where his mother can't recognize her own son," said Ding Haitao, subconsciously clenching and unclenching his fists.

  "Are you two brainless? Dealing with a ruthless character like Zhu Jianjun, brute force won't solve the problem." Teng Fei said discontentedly.

  "That's right, you two don't move him for now. Before we find conclusive evidence, just treat Zhu Jianjun as your grandson and protect him with care, just don't hit him." Cao Sen gave a warning glance to Ding Haitao and Guo Jing.

  The two brothers sighed helplessly. In trivial matters, they didn't take Cao Sen seriously, but in important matters, they didn't dare disobey Cao Sen's orders.

  "What am I doing?" Sima De asked.

  "?" Cao Sen glanced at Sima De, who was eager to try. "You just provide us with a shooting range for practice."

  "Commander, we can say it's settled then. We'll use our own guns, but the bullets will be yours to take," said Teng Fei.

  "No need for nonsense, you used to even use my guns." Sima De got out of the car and gave a nod to the guards at the shooting range, while Jeep drove directly into the range.

  Moments later, the originally quiet underground shooting range was filled with deafening gunfire. The five brothers were frantically consuming ammunition, each with a pile of yellow shell casings in front of them, and the entire military district's arsenal was providing them with ammunition support.

  A good handgun shooter needs to be nurtured with at least thousands of rounds and a long training process. Due to Sima De's relationship, the Cao Sen brothers often came to the military district to practice shooting and received guidance from many professional soldiers, so their foundation was very solid. This time they came to shoot targets, not to practice shooting techniques, but to familiarize themselves with the performance of the newly acquired firearms, allowing people and guns to fully grind together, making people and guns reach the best coordination state.

  At the same time, Cao Sen had another purpose, which was to let his brothers vent their anger. He knew his brothers too well, they were all people who would rather die than suffer a loss, if he didn't let them vent, it's possible that tomorrow Zhu Jianjun would become the human sandbag for their vented anger. If it was really Zhu Jianjun who did it, Cao Sen didn't want to startle the snake, the best way to deal with a venomous snake wasn't to beat it hard, but to grab its weak point and strangle it at once.

  Cao Sen had an additional task compared to his other brothers, attempting to control bullets in flight with his powers. However, the speed of the bullets was too fast, and multiple attempts ended in failure. Cao Sen could only give up. In last night's battle, neither his human nor ghostly abilities were useful, leaving Cao Sen feeling downhearted. Tonight's lack of success left him even more frustrated. Seeing Sima De holding a shotgun and firing happily, Cao Sen had a mischievous idea - he controlled a shell casing that had just fallen to the ground to roll under Sima De's ankle, causing Sima De to jump in surprise and curse loudly: "Damn it, I've seen a ghost!"

  Jing Zhe, who had been secretly following Cao Sen, found it strange and whispered to Cao Sen: "Can he also see me?"

  Cao Sen burst out laughing, replaced the pistol with a fully loaded clip, aimed at the bullseye and fired repeatedly. The target paper was shot to shreds, with a hole the size of a fist appearing in the center.

  Jing Zhe looked at Cao Sen, who was fully focused on shooting, he's really great, it would be wonderful if they could be together every night, but would he be willing?