Chapter 4: The Ninth Day of the Little Brother's Descent

  The dirt road was temporarily dug out by loggers using excavators to transport wood from the mountains. The lifespan of this dirt road is short, and once the wood is transported, its mission is complete, so don't expect the shrewd businessmen to invest a single penny in road comfort! However, this road was opened somewhat strangely. Many temporary roads were dug around the mountain waist, utilizing the terrain to make it easier for vehicles to pass through. But some sections of this road had almost U-shaped 180° turns, some places went deep into a certain canyon, some places passed through dense forests that blocked out the sky and sun, and some places were so narrow that even trucks couldn't get through. But Wang Licheng didn't have time to investigate the planning issues with this road; he had to rack his brains to persuade Zhu Jie to give him a way out.

  Run, Wang Licheng had thought about it, this seemingly reliable method is actually not feasible. Wang Licheng has now offended both the black and white societies. Not to mention that the police are wanted everywhere, he must seek help from his "friends" in the underworld if he wants to run, but these so-called "friends" will immediately sell him out once they have an interest, without even leaving him with a pair of underwear!

  At this moment, Wang Licheng felt that he still had a bit of control over letting Zhu Jie give himself a way out by going to talk to the helmsman of the house.

  "It's safe here now, we can get out and take a break." The car stopped in a grove of trees, where several felled trees, still not completely dry, lay slanting by the roadside.

  "Where have we arrived?" Wang Licheng got out of the back seat, the off-road vehicle's comfort was not very good, plus the double torture of the road, his waist was almost broken, he looked up and asked.

  "Don't worry, we've already crossed the border." The middleman remained nonchalant.

  At night, when they arrived at Gangtong, Wang Licheng was left with only half a life. The middleman threw him a sentence: "Zhu Jie has been very busy recently, I'll let you know if there's any news." and threw him and Cong Zai into the hotel and left.

  "Can...can Brother Cheng...is this place habitable?" Cong Zai looked at the "inn" that was partitioned with wooden boards and thought that even the pigpens on the farm were more upscale than here.

  Wang Licheng smiled wryly, now people are the knife and I am the fish on the chopping board, where is there still room for haggling?

  "Do you still have money?" Wang Licheng asked.

  "That's all..." Cong Zai pulled out a crumpled stack of bills from his pocket. Altogether, it was only a few hundred yuan.

  "First, let's figure out how to get some food." Wang Licheng sighed and thought to himself that he had never suffered such humiliation when he was in Luoyang, where he could eat and drink as he pleased. But now that he was under someone else's roof, he had no choice but to lower his head. The middleman wasn't even afraid of him running away, just leaving him here without a word was already giving him a warning.

  It's okay, the RMB is still a relatively valuable currency here. The few hundred yuan that Cong Zai had was spent in just one week and it only decreased by half. The middleman would send someone over to take a look every day, but when Wang Licheng asked when he could meet with Zhu Jie, the other party was evasive.

  Wang Licheng found time to call Liu Zi, but the phone didn't go through. Wang Licheng had a bad premonition, but things had come to this point and he could only grit his teeth and stick with it.

  Daytime wandering aimlessly, nighttime returning to that pigsty-like hotel to sleep, half a month has passed, and the matter of meeting Zhu Jie still hasn't made any progress. Seeing that Cong Zai's money is almost gone, Wang Licheng sees the Grand Lisboa Casino and thinks of going to gamble!

  "Cheng Ge, that's all I have left, be careful!" Cong Zai reluctantly took out all the money from his body and barely managed to scrape together 200 yuan.

  "Damn it, anyway we'll starve to death, let's go all in!" Wang Licheng couldn't care less about that anymore. The Lisboa Casino was indeed a place of business, as long as you had money, no matter how much, the casino would open its doors to welcome customers.

  Several hours passed, Wang Licheng's eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the card table. Calculating it out, he was still slightly profitable. The 200 yuan had now turned into over 800 chips in front of him. Cong Zai was on edge beside him, looking like he was about to collapse, and tugged on his clothes: "Brother Cheng, let's call it a day."

  "Go big or go home, this one's definitely going to be a big win!" Wang Licheng saw that several big bets had been placed in a row and thought the next bet would also be big, so he pushed all his chips forward: "Bet big! Bet big!"

  Cong Zai was startled, and by the time he wanted to stop it, it was too late. The dealer's eyes were fixed on the color cup as he chanted and shook it like a magic wand. With a loud "slam", he slammed the cup onto the table surface. Wang Licheng's heart was in his throat, his body leaning forward almost halfway across the gambling table, his face flushed red, and he muttered: "Big! Big! Big..."

  The dice cup is opened, and the total is only 8 points! It actually opened small! The banker skillfully stretches out his rake to pull the large chips towards him.

  "You're cheating!" Wang Licheng's last hope was gone, he shouted at the banker and climbed onto the gambling table to retrieve his chips.

  "Sir, I'll take the loss and leave!" The banker gave a signal with his eyes, and several onlookers nearby dispersed.

  The king, having lost his mind, couldn't hear anything, he jumped onto the gambling table, grabbed the chips, the dealer tried to stop him, but Wang Licheng didn't care, and with one punch, hit the expert's nose, the expert's eyes were seeing stars and was speaking incoherently, the other gamblers saw the commotion and took advantage of it, the scene became chaotic.

  "Brother Cheng, Brother Cheng, run quickly!" Cong Zai took advantage of the chaos to grab a few large chips and pulled Wang Licheng, who was still shoveling chips into his own pocket, towards the door.

  Chips can't be exchanged for cash, it's just a pile of plastic chips. Wang Licheng, who has lost his mind, doesn't think that much, he grabs as many chips as possible and rushes to the casino entrance.

  However, he was still one step too late. Would a casino not have guards? Especially in the chaotic M district, Wang Licheng had not even reached the door when he saw several armed police officers approaching, surrounding him. Several of them closed the gate, and now there was no escape. Wang Licheng stood stupidly, watching as the owner, accompanied by several police officers, ran over, their guns pointed at him.

  A small military officer-like policeman rushed forward in a rage, pinning Wang Licheng to the ground with one hand, shouting in M language from his mouth, and pulling out a pistol from his waist to aim at his head.

  The clever boy was so scared that his pants were wet, Wang Licheng thought he was dead for sure, the onlookers stretched their necks, waiting for the sound of the gunshot!

  There are rules for the lawless, and the military police on duty have the right to dispose of gamblers who do not follow the rules to warn other gamblers. Who is the boss here!

  The little head seemed to have done many such on-site executions, with the gun pointing at Wang Licheng's head, and loudly publicizing the casino rules to the surrounding crowd, the general idea being that those who gamble should accept their losses, and whoever dares to make trouble in the casino will end up like this guy!

  The onlookers didn't care about these rules, everyone was more concerned with when the gun would go off. Suddenly, a voice emerged from the crowd: "Wait a minute."

  The little boss turned his head in anger, and at this time, someone actually challenged his authority! A man walked out of the crowd and said: "I don't have much money, I'll help him pay it back."

  The little boss looked like a regular at the casino, his angry face slightly relaxed: "How much can you pay?"

  "Go ahead and count."

  "100,000!"

  "Fifty thousand!"

  They haggled over the price and finally settled on a deal. The little boss put away his gun, waved his hand and said, "Let's go inside to talk."

  Two military police came forward, dragged Wang Licheng up, and the onlookers let out a regretful sigh. The scene of brain splattering was not seen by many, which was a pity. The crowd dispersed and continued to join different gambling tables.

  "Boss Peng is really kind-hearted." a bald-headed man with scars said.

  "Brother Alligator? You're here too?" Peng Haoming said in surprise.

  "Just arrived and wanted to play a few rounds, then saw Boss Peng buying drinks for others. Looks like Boss Peng is in a good mood today? How's the business with that little yellow-haired kid going lately?"

  "It's nothing, just earning a little money, can't compare with your business." Peng Haoming replied.

  The military police saw Peng Haoming and Xinyi being so familiar, they stood there suspiciously. Xinyi said a few words in the M language to the little leader, who nodded and bowed, ordering his subordinates to release Wang Licheng.

  "Where's your assistant?" Bald Scar asked casually when he saw Peng Haoming alone.

  "He went to Goa on a business trip."

  "Oh? Looks like business has been good lately, want to play a few rounds together?"

  "No, he just called me and there's something urgent to attend to. You have fun, Crocodile Brother." Peng Haoming declined Xinyi's kind offer.

  As Peng Haoming was about to leave, Wang Licheng hurriedly followed up. As Peng Haoming passed by Xiaotoumu, he stuffed a few chips into his hand, and Xiaotoumu's face lit up with joy!

  "Thanks, big brother!" As he walked out of the casino's entrance, Wang Licheng took a glance at the door that seemed like a huge mouth of blood, touched his head to confirm it was still attached to his neck, and felt a chill run down his back.

  "What are you doing here?" Peng Haoming asked, usually those who come here to do business wouldn't risk their lives for just a few chips.

  "No... nothing, we just came to have fun, hehe..." Wang Licheng didn't dare tell the truth.

  "Right, right, we're here on a trip..." Chung-ji echoed in agreement.

  The excuse of traveling doesn't seem to be very good, how can this chaotic place outside the law be a good tourist destination? Peng Haoming smiled and didn't expose it, asking: "Let's have dinner together."

  The proposal was irresistible to both of them, and they followed Peng Haoming to the best restaurant in Gangong, where they had the best meal since their arrival.

  After three rounds of drinks, Wang Licheng and Peng Haoming also became familiar with each other, calling each other "Brother Ming".

  It's not everyone's luck to run into a noble person in an unfamiliar place. Wang Licheng saw Peng Haoming being generous and thought that he must be someone of some stature in this area, maybe he could even help with something...

  "Brother Ming, I want to ask you something..." Wang Licheng said, looking around cautiously.

  "Huh? What's up?" The conversation at the dinner table made Peng Haoming roughly understand that he had run into big trouble and ended up here.

  "You're known as Sister Zhu on the rivers and lakes, don't you know?"

  "She is the largest timber merchant in M area." Peng Haoming listened and was even more certain of his judgment: "However, I heard that she also has other businesses, which are more profitable."

  "This... Ming Ge is indeed an old hand." Wang Licheng heard this and thought there was hope.

  "It seems you're doing big business with Sister Zhu." Peng Haoming said calmly.

  "Somewhere... somewhere... also earning some small money, recently encountered some trouble, so came to find Sister Zhu to talk."

  "Huh?"

  "This... I lost Zhu Jie's goods." Wang Licheng felt that it all depended on this one move.

  A drowning man will clutch at any straw to save his life, and Wang Licheng is no exception. He is now thinking of a way to save himself, and the key is to convince Peng Haoming. Although they have only known each other for a few hours, and are merely friends who met over food and drink, Wang Licheng can't worry about that now. He thinks that as long as there's profit in it, Peng Haoming will be willing to help him out.

  "Ming Ge probably also understands what goods they are." Wang Licheng said: "Ming Ge also understands the profit of those goods..."

  "Huh? You're talking about that kind of goods with high profits?" Peng Haoming's reaction made Wang Licheng overjoyed, looks like there's a chance.

  "Of course, I have a channel, Zhu sister has goods, we've been cooperating very happily, it's just that recently something happened, the cops are watching closely, lost a batch of goods, my funds..." Just as he was about to get to the point, Wang Licheng intentionally slowed down his speech.

  "It's really hard to do business when the capital chain is broken." Peng Haoming seemed to have no reaction.

  "Brother Ming is indeed a wise man, heh... Brother Ming, do you think we can cooperate?" Whether it works or not, Wang Licheng has already taken the gamble!

  "Zhu Jie has goods, but no channels. You have channels, but no funds. I have funds, but neither goods nor channels. Is that what you mean?" Peng Haoming said lightly.

  "Brother Ming is indeed an old hand, heh heh... it all depends on whether Brother Ming has the guts." Wang Licheng hastily flattered him a few times, but in reality his heart was hanging in suspense, afraid of being rejected.

  "Those who can come here to do business are not short of courage, but this is a matter of life and death." Peng Haoming said: "We must consider the safety issue."

  "Don't worry, Brother Ming. Last time was just a slight oversight. I've been doing this for so long and I'm very familiar with it. As long as the goods can be delivered domestically, I guarantee that the profit will increase by at least several tens of times..." Seeing that Peng Haoming did not explicitly refuse, Wang Licheng hurriedly talked about his various advantages, which inevitably included a lot of boasting.

  "If it's as you say, I can consider it." Two hours later, after listening to Wang Licheng's many words, Peng Haoming replied.

  "Brother Ming, rest assured, you are my lifesaver, I absolutely won't cheat you!" Wang Licheng patted his chest and guaranteed with a solemn oath.

  "It's getting late, I think I'll go deal with some business matters. Take this money first for emergency use, if anything happens you can call me at this number." Peng Haoming took out a stack of cash from his bag, totaling 10,000 yuan, and handed over a business card: "This place, as long as you have money, you can go anywhere unimpeded."

  "This world is all the same, having money is the king's way! Thank you, Ming Ge!" Wang Licheng took over the money and business card, thanking him repeatedly.

  "I see you guys are in a hurry, I guess the place to stay is not good either. I'm staying at a hotel next to the casino." Peng Haoming stood up and said another sentence.

  Wang Licheng could naturally hear the implicit tone in Peng Haoming's words, and hastily said: "We'll move right away, we'll move right away."

  "Cheng Ge, what's going on?" Cong Zai couldn't help but ask after holding back his words for a long time, seeing that Peng Haoming had left.

  "You're crazy! We lost so much cargo, Sister Zhu will let us off? I want to use his money to make up for it!"

  Cong Zai looked at Wang Licheng with a skeptical expression, thinking he was daydreaming: "Brother Cheng, what makes you think he'll give you money?"

  "If we can't find anyone to take over, we'll all definitely die here!" Wang Licheng said: "It depends on this guy named Peng Haoming! As long as there's money, I believe he won't be unmoved."

  "Cheng Ge, you mean let Peng Haoming pay the money and we'll split it?" Cong Zai's brain, which had been insulted by being called "Cong", seemed to have only just reacted.

  "Hmm, as long as Peng Haoming agrees to cooperate, I can go and talk to Zhu Jie. Peng Haoming will provide the funds, I'll provide the channel, and Zhu Jie is also in it for the money. Even if they kill me, they won't be able to get that batch of goods back. This way, I can still make a move!"

  Wang Licheng's abacus of good fortune, Peng Haoming couldn't have known that for several months, Peng Haoming had been racking his brains to get a foot in this "highly profitable" business, but unfortunately, he had no one to introduce him and couldn't break into the circle. Peng Haoming thought Wang Licheng was a usable pawn.