“Alright! Weekend it is, then.” Lin Wan nodded.
Lu Zheng asked, “The case has only just broken. If he dies now, won’t they link it to us?”
Lin Wan smiled. “No chance. He is the financial backer of local armed groups, a notorious drug lord across Southeast Asia with enemies everywhere. If he did not have a private bodyguard team of over a hundred men and almost never left northern Myanmar, he would have been killed long ago.”
“Fair enough.” Lu Zheng nodded. “Do you know where he is?”
“He has several villas. When the time comes, we can just check them one by one.” Lin Wan said. “Anyway, he always has more than a hundred bodyguards around him. He will be very easy to find.”
“That many people?”
“Because he is terrified of dying.”
Lin Wan gave a cold laugh. “The Myanmar government wants him dead, his competitors want him dead, and rival armed factions want him dead too.”
“Then why does he still mess with our country?”
Lin Wan said helplessly, “Because this is the only way he can make money. If he sells to the Lighthouse Country, his prices have no advantage. They are even worse than the legal opioid raw materials exported from here.”
Lu Zheng, “…”
“Bloody hell. It is absurd. Something meant to treat illness and save lives has been turned into this nightmare by people like him.”
“That is just how the world is.”
Lin Wan shrugged. “At least this time we took out his cargo ship and his channels. Once he is dead too, we will have at least two years without worrying.”
Lu Zheng frowned. “Is there no permanent solution?”
Lin Wan glanced at him. “Are you planning to go to northern Myanmar, help the locals there establish order, and lift them out of poverty through legitimate means?”
Lu Zheng, “…”
“I suspect you are mocking me, and I have proof,” Lu Zheng said.
“Or you could reveal your identity, unify all the factions in northern Myanmar, proclaim yourself king, and then set rules forbidding them from selling drugs into our country.” Lin Wan said this with perfect seriousness.
“How is tonight’s food? Does it suit your taste?” Lu Zheng asked.
Lin Wan let out a laugh, then could not help sighing and shaking her head.
“In a lawless zone like that, looking at the current situation, there really is no solution.”
Lu Zheng nodded and fell silent.
He was no saint. He had no interest in revealing his identity to deal with matters like this.
However…
“Since we have run into this, we might as well visit a few more places,” Lu Zheng said after thinking. “Consider it clearing some threats in advance for the anti-drug police in Yunnan Province.”
Lin Wan smiled at that. “Good!”
…
The next day, Lin Wan went to work. Lu Zheng popped over to the ancient world for a while, found nothing to do, crossed back, made himself lunch, and then lay on the sofa scrolling through his phone.
Do not misunderstand. It was not that Lu Zheng wanted to go back to Pesticide and torment those already miserable workers. Zhao Xiaodao’s new drama had just premiered, and he intended to watch it.
Hmm. Still an airport…
“Buzz!”
A light notification. There was a message in the group chat.
Lu Zheng switched over. It was the four-person group with him, Lin Wan, Zhao Xiaodao, and Zhang Weili.
Zhang Weili: Sister Xiaodao is so good in the new drama. Her acting is explosive!
Lu Zheng: …
Lin Wan: …
Zhao Xiaodao: If we were competitors and I did not know what you are like, I would suspect you were taking a dig at me (speechless.jpg)
Zhang Weili: (shocked.jpg) What?
Zhao Xiaodao: The phrase “acting is explosive” has been so overused it is practically a slur now.
Zhang Weili: (shocked.jpg) Shouldn’t it mean the acting is good? How did it become a slur?
Zhao Xiaodao: How would I know…
Lu Zheng: I am watching it right now. The plot is pretty good.
Zhao Xiaodao: (cute.jpg)
Zhao Xiaodao: I am going to Haicheng on Sunday to record a programme. Afternoon flight. I will find you and Sister Wan for dinner then.
Lin Wan: Fine. Waiting for you.
Lu Zheng was typing when there suddenly came a “dong dong dong” knock at the door.
“Hm?”
Though Lu Zheng had classmates and friends in Haicheng, he never brought anyone home, so usually the only people who knocked were property management or neighbours.
He did not think much of it, slipped on his slippers, phone still in hand, and went to the door.
He opened it casually and found a delivery rider standing outside.
Delivery?
“I did not order…”
Lu Zheng started to say instinctively, then his eyes flashed.
At the same moment, the lean, muscular delivery rider reached out to clamp Lu Zheng’s mouth shut, aiming to silence any cry for help from the very first instant.
A fierce grin spread across Lu Zheng’s face. He reached out, seized the extended wrist, stepped back, sidestepped, and neatly dodged the punch aimed at his abdomen.
Even if it had landed it would not have mattered, but why should I let you hit me?
Lu Zheng’s grin widened. Still sideways, he pulled the wrist, padded back, and retreated swiftly, yanking the delivery rider into the flat.
The delivery rider’s eyes widened in shock. He saw the gleam in Lu Zheng’s eyes, the ferocious smile, felt the immense force dragging him inside, and his heart pounded wildly. The bright living room seemed to turn into a black abyss, radiating soul-chilling terror.
However…
The delivery rider was a professional. Though startled, he did not panic. He went with the force and rushed inside, struggled to free his gripped left wrist, countered to seize Lu Zheng’s right hand, kicked out to hook Lu Zheng’s left leg and control his stance, then punched again with his free right hand, middle-knuckle protruding, straight at Lu Zheng’s throat.
“Not bad.” Lu Zheng nodded. A proper fighter.
Then he continued retreating, lashed out with a shadowless kick that struck the knee dead centre.
At the same time his right hand clamped the rider’s left wrist, stopping all movement from that arm. Finally he extended his left hand, blocked in front of his throat, caught the incoming fist, and twisted.
“Crack!”
With a light snap, the delivery rider’s right elbow was dislocated.
Agonising knee pain, fractured right arm, and the crushing grip on his left wrist left him unable to break free.
The delivery rider’s face went white in an instant, then he was helplessly yanked by Lu Zheng and thrown to the floor.
“Ah!!!”
The delivery rider could not hold back a scream, but by then Lu Zheng had already waved a hand and closed the front door.
Upscale neighbourhood. Excellent soundproofing.
“Tsk tsk. An assassin?” Lu Zheng looked at the delivery rider with pure amusement.
In modern society Lu Zheng did not keep his senses on constant alert, but once he realised something was wrong with this delivery rider, it was easy to spot the many vicious little tools hidden under the uniform.
“Who sent you? Ding Lunyin?” Lu Zheng asked with a smile.
The delivery rider’s pupils contracted sharply.
Ding Lunyin.
That was the name of the major drug lord from northern Myanmar.
“Heh heh. I have not even gone looking for him yet, and he comes looking for me first?” Lu Zheng’s lips curved. He was not surprised.
This major case had started from an ordinary one with no early secrecy, so it was not strange that Ding could learn about him and Lin Wan through certain channels.
What was strange was…
Ding Lunyin truly was a desperado. After his illegal operations had been smashed, he still dared to send men into the country to commit murder. It was utter lawlessness. Did he not know what had happened to Nuokang?
“You… who are you?”
“How can you come to kill me and not even know who I am?”
“I…”
The delivery rider did know that Lu Zheng had trained in Chinese martial arts, but…
Chinese martial arts were supposed to be all show and no substance, a silver wax spearhead, pretty but useless. How could he react so fast?
Lu Zheng read the answer in his face, gave a cold sneer, knocked the delivery rider unconscious with a backhand blow, and then rang Lin Wan.
