Upon hearing Yelü's words, Old Master Gu Dongfeng felt as if he wanted to cry but had no tears.
Now he couldn't help but regret becoming Zhou Ziwei's worthless advisor... Although Gu Dongfeng wasn't particularly talented in jade gambling, he'd at least heard pigs grunt, even if he hadn't eaten pork! Having spent his entire life in Tengchong, seeing nothing but jadeite and raw jadeite stones with their skins intact, he hadn't learned much about the tricks of the trade. He believed he should be far better than Zhou Ziwei, a complete novice. But... since arriving here, had Zhou Ziwei ever asked him, his advisor, a single question? And when Gu Dongfeng tried to persuade Zhou Ziwei to select some second- or third-grade jadeite stones, Zhou Ziwei refused to listen... Looking at the row of SUVs ahead, filled with worthless stones, Gu Dongfeng could only sigh helplessly.
In his view, these grade four rough stones were basically just ordinary stones. Although knowledgeable people could tell from the surface that they were probably dug out of jade mines, would knowledgeable people spend money to buy such grade four rough stones that they wouldn't even want to throw away? And those who didn't know anything about jade... couldn't even tell the difference between these stones and the stones used as stepping stones in a latrine, so it was even less likely that anyone would spend money to buy them.
So... this trip is just going to be a complete loss on shipping costs! Fortunately, Zhou Ziwei also selected three piles of first-grade rough stones. Based on Gu Dongfeng's experience, the quality of those first-grade rough stones was not bad. He estimated that he could probably cut out a few decent pieces of jade from them. So at least the trip wasn't a complete waste!
Another important point is that Gu Dongfeng didn't try to persuade Zhou Ziwei to throw away those broken stones.
That is... the journey back will definitely not be peaceful. Gu Dongfeng knows a bit about Zhou Ziwei's abilities, so he estimates that if they only encounter a small group of bandits, it won't be a big deal. But if they encounter a large bandit gang, or even a local armed force... then they can completely abandon the eight carts of stones and make a clean getaway. As long as they manage to get the only two valuable carts back to China, they'll have made a profit. Anyway, those ruthless bandits will definitely come out to rob anyone who sees jadeite rough being transported, but in reality, there are almost no bandits who truly understand how to appraise stones. Therefore, they can't distinguish the quality of the stones at all. If they just leave eight carts of stones behind, he doesn't believe those bandits won't rob them...
Finally, it was time to return... Xu Zhengguang once again arranged a lavish banquet to properly entertain everyone.
Xu Zhengguang has been running a jade mine for many years and has made a lot of money, but he has never seen anyone as generous and magnanimous as Zhou Ziwei, who is also "greedy for small gains".
It's unimaginable that he could throw out sixty million US dollars without batting an eye just to buy a piece of golden jade that only looks a little strange but will soon melt away without a trace. Yet, just to get a little bargain, he could also load up eight truckloads of worthless stones that could never be ripped out of jade.
However, Zhou Ziwei was the biggest benefactor Xu Zhengguang had ever met in recent years, so he naturally put extra effort into entertaining Zhou Ziwei and his entourage. This time, he specially ordered people to hunt a lot of wild game in the wild, not only setting up a very sumptuous farewell banquet, but also making all the remaining game into smoked meat for them to take on the road. There were still more than ten days' journey ahead, and the entire route was through desolate mountains, so they wouldn't be able to encounter anyone every time they rested.
Finding a hotel was, of course, even more impossible.
After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, just as they were about to start their cars and hit the road, Xu Zhengguang had someone bring over a wooden box and said solemnly, "I noticed that you didn't bring any weapons this time... This road isn't very safe. I have government investment here, so getting some guns isn't a problem. These guns are the ones that were phased out last time. You'd better keep them with you. If you're worried about trouble when crossing the border, you can just dump them somewhere. But on the road... it's better to have some weapons for self-defense."
Zhou Ziwei knew that Xu Zhengguang meant well, so he naturally didn't refuse. He opened the box and saw that it was indeed full of old firearms, including four pistols and more than a dozen semi-automatic and automatic rifles. Just enough for each of them to get one, and even the four children could each get a pistol.
There weren't many bullets, but at least every gun had a full magazine.
Zhou Ziwei knew that it wasn't difficult to get some firearms in this place, but bullets were in short supply. It was quite an achievement that Xu Zhengguang was able to get so many firearms for them.
Moreover, Zhou Ziwei had his own trump cards and didn't care too much about the guns, so he didn't care about the number of bullets and immediately had Li Yifeng distribute the guns to everyone.
After formally bidding farewell to Xu Zhengguang, the group finally embarked on their journey back to Tengchong.
Everyone knew they were bound to encounter something on the way back, so the atmosphere was somewhat oppressive and somber.
However, Zhou Ziwei seemed not to care much about these things. He just kept playing with the golden jade in his hand and occasionally held it out of the car window to bask in the sunlight.
Liu Xiaofei and Zhou Ziwei rode in the same car, and at Zhou Ziwei's request, Liu Xiaofei drove back.
Liu Xiaofei was a good driver and had no objection to it. However, seeing Zhou Ziwei constantly looking at that piece of jade worth 60 million US dollars without saying a word to her for a long time made her feel neglected. She couldn't help but pout her lips in grievance and let out a soft hum with some resentment.
Normally, Zhou Ziwei would have turned around and coaxed her after hearing her disgruntled hum. However, he seemed oblivious, focusing all his attention on the golden jade. He frowned slightly from time to time, and after a long while, he sighed helplessly and muttered to himself, "Sigh... it will eventually melt away!"
Upon hearing this, Liu Xiaofei forgot about her anger towards Zhou Ziwei and hurriedly asked anxiously, "Ah... this thing really melts in the sun? Then why do you keep putting it in the sun all the time... This is 60 million US dollars... If it melts away, wouldn't that be a huge loss? I really don't know what you were thinking... Why did you buy this thing!"
Zhou Ziwei smiled and shook his head. Just as he was about to say something, his expression suddenly darkened slightly, and he said with a cold laugh, "These people came really fast... They've already set their sights on us. Heh... Looks like we're going to be busy on this journey."
Volume 2: The Killer's Nightmare, Chapter 315: I Want to Be Superman
This is a sparse forest in the mountains. Although the forest is sparse, there is only one road that can be driven through it smoothly. Moreover, the paths between the trees are very narrow. Once you drive in, it is very difficult to turn around and go back. So it would be very frustrating if someone blocked the road.
Yelü Xiaosu was driving at the front when she suddenly saw two large trees blocking the road ahead.
The two trees looked freshly felled, with the raft openings appearing very clean. Their placement in the middle of the road was clearly intentional. Obviously... someone was plotting against them.
Eleven cars stopped one after another, and Yelü Xiaosu jumped out of the car without hesitation. They were just two thick trees, and with Yelü Xiaosu's brute strength, he could easily handle them by himself.
Upon seeing this, Zhou Ziwei opened his mouth as if to say something, but after narrowing his eyes, he immediately shut his mouth again.
He muttered to himself, "These guys look like a bunch of penniless thugs. They can't even afford an automatic rifle, yet they're using pistols to rob people in this place... Sigh, what a ridiculously stupid bunch of thugs..."
Zhou Ziwei had already witnessed Yelü Xiaosu's formidable hard qigong, and in addition, he had once been given a drop of the Reincarnation Water by Zhou Ziwei. Now, ordinary pistol bullets probably wouldn't be able to harm him at all. Therefore, Zhou Ziwei didn't mind letting him undergo some more training, provided that his safety could be guaranteed.
If Zhou Ziwei, the boss, has to personally handle every problem along the way, then what's the point of having so many people following along?
Sure enough... just as Yelü Xiaosu jumped out of the car and walked toward the two big trees that were blocking the road, a sparse burst of gunfire suddenly rang out.
Caught off guard, Yelü Xiaosu was shot twice in the chest and involuntarily took a half step back.
"Damn it, how dare you ambush me!" Yelü Xiaosu looked down at her chest and saw that her clothes had been torn with two small holes. Fortunately, the skin underneath was only slightly red and not even scratched.
Yelü Xiaosu was overjoyed again. Since taking the Reincarnation Water given to him by the boss, he had never tried it before. Unexpectedly, his Iron Shirt skill had become so powerful without him even realizing it. In the past, gunshot wounds of this level would not kill him, but they would leave some marks on his body. However, after being hit by these two shots just now, he barely felt any pain.
He immediately perked up, raised his head, and roared at the spot where the gunshot had just rang out, saying, "You bastards, get out here and see how I tear you apart!"
After saying that, Yelü Xiaosu immediately charged forward like a heavy armored vehicle, charging headlong into that direction without any attempt to conceal her actions.
"Bang bang bang..." This time the gunshots were much more frequent, and Yelü Xiaosu's chest was once again given special attention. In an instant, her perfectly good clothes were torn to shreds, and her large chest was almost completely exposed.
"You sons of bitches... these clothes are brand new... you're all dead... if you ruin my clothes, I'll smash your heads..."
Yelü Xiaosu roared, but her speed was not slow at all. She ignored the bullets flying all over the sky and rushed towards the targets in a straight line. In just over ten seconds, she had already reached them.
Behind a huge rock in the forest, five ragged bandits were already paralyzed with fear by Yelü Xiaosu's fierce and unparalleled aura. Their limbs were weak, and they watched helplessly as their bullets bounced off their opponents' chests like elephant skin hitting a rock, barely leaving any marks on their clothes. So many shots, yet not a drop of blood had been drawn. How could they possibly fight this battle?
Seeing that Yelü Xiaosu had already rushed to the boulder, the three guys in the lead immediately smashed their guns into Yelü Xiaosu's head, then leaped up and ran into the dense forest. The other two were so frightened that their legs wouldn't obey them, and they had no strength to run.
Yelü Xiaosu roared and, without even considering the method of attack, first jumped onto the huge rock, then leaped straight up with all his might, and then crashed down heavily. As a result, the two poor guys were crushed to death there by Yelü Xiaosu, this big guy, using this almost barbaric method.
The other three guys reacted fairly quickly, but they hadn't run more than a few steps when gunshots suddenly rang out behind them. After a series of "rat-a-tat-tat" shots, the backs of the three men were torn to shreds like a honeycomb.
They didn't possess the kind of hard qigong that Yelü Xiaosu had trained in. After being shot, their internal organs were completely shattered, and they were beyond dead.
However, these three guys died with their eyes wide open in disbelief. When Zhou Ziwei and his group arrived, they had followed them and scouted them out more than once. They clearly saw that this group didn't have a single gun... Otherwise, they were only five people, and the guns they carried were those old, outdated World War II pistols. If they had known that the other side had guns, even automatic rifles, they wouldn't have been so reckless as to try to rob these thugs...
The person who just fired the shot was neither A Da nor A Er, nor Yelü Huage or Li Yifeng. To Zhou Ziwei's utter surprise, the one who fired the shot and took down the three bandits was actually one of the children he had saved from the Storm Mercenary Group.
He was the youngest of the three boys, only one year older than the little princess.
Zhou Ziwei was too lazy to remember their foreign names, so after adopting these children, he simply gave them Chinese names. The boy was named Zhou Xiaofeng, and he was very clever. He was probably the first of the children to learn simple Chinese conversation.
He had already managed to fool Yelü Huage, who was traveling with him, with his broken Chinese on the train. He had finally managed to trick Yelü Huage into handing over the automatic rifle. While Yelü Huage was excitedly looking at it and comparing it with his hands, an enemy attack appeared ahead.
Yelü Huage was a master of internal martial arts and had never been particularly interested in firearms. So when he encountered the enemy, he didn't even think about using a gun. He simply opened the car door, intending to get out and meet Yelü Xiaosu so he could fight alongside his brothers. However, when Zhou Xiaofeng saw a live target in front of him, he immediately released the safety on his gun without hesitation and fired a burst of bullets without restraint. Before the others could even react, he had already ended the battle.
Yelü Huage had just jumped off the car when he realized there was nothing left for him to do. He was both annoyed and amused. He snatched the automatic rifle from Zhou Xiaofeng's hand, chuckling and cursing at him. But when he saw that Zhou Xiaofeng had already emptied almost half the magazine in the blink of an eye, his face turned ashen. Xu Zhengguang hadn't given him many bullets; he only had two magazines. Zhou Xiaofeng had used up a quarter of them in one go. How could he not be angry? But since the other person was just a child, Yelü Huage couldn't really take it personally. He could only sigh in utter frustration.
Five fresh souls?
Although the soul power that ordinary people's souls could provide to Zhou Ziwei was negligible at present, fresh souls were still necessary to create soul beads. Therefore, Zhou Ziwei would not easily let go of the souls of these bandits. So, while Yelü Huage and Yelü Huage were dragging away the two big trees blocking the road, he quietly extended five strands of soul power from the car, captured the five newborn souls, and quickly refined them into five small soul beads.
Now his soul power can extend to a distance of sixty meters, which is much more convenient for him. Otherwise, in the past, he would have had to jump out of the car and run to the corpses to capture these souls.
After this brief incident, the group quickly continued on their way. However, this time, perhaps because they quickly eliminated the five bandits or because they had revealed that they had guns, they did not encounter any bandits blocking their path for the next three days.
However, Zhou Ziwei knew that they were not safe. There were people roaming around their caravan almost every moment. Yelü Huage and his men naturally could not find these people, but for Zhou Ziwei, who had a group of Kun Chong as scouts, there was nothing that could be hidden from him.
However, although Zhou Ziwei knew that those guys were definitely eyeing the jadeite rough stones in their car, he couldn't bring himself to kill them without them showing any obvious hostility.
Otherwise, Zhou Ziwei only needed to think and give an order to his Kun pets, and these mere clowns would be no match for the Kun pets' stealthy and elusive attack methods.
In addition, Zhou Ziwei brought so many people with the intention of training them. This would be a good opportunity for Yelü Huage and his men to practice. If they didn't cherish this opportunity to kill people openly and legitimately, they might not have another chance after returning home.
On the fourth day of their journey through the boundless mountains, another group of bandits, numbering more than twenty, finally couldn't resist attacking Zhou Ziwei and his men.
These guys weren't as poorly armed as the five guys from the first time. Of the twenty-odd men, a dozen or so were armed with pistols, but there were also six automatic rifles... Their firepower was only enough to deal with a dozen or so vehicles, so it wasn't exactly weak.
Although Zhou Ziwei was determined to train his troops, he couldn't allow these people to threaten their lives. He didn't want to lose the lives of his trusted men in his elite unit before he could even train his troops. So, just before the enemy launched their attack, he ordered the mosquitoes that had already landed on the men wielding automatic rifles to launch a surprise attack, instantly injecting venom into their bodies. Before the unfortunate men could even fire a shot, a bloody hole rotted into their necks, and they died instantly.
The remaining dozen or so people posed no threat whatsoever to Yelü Xiaosu and A'da and A'er, who were like human tanks. They charged forward without dodging or flinching, even without using their guns, tearing the dozen or so people apart.
Seeing that he had been left out of both situations, Yelü Huage was so angry that his eyebrows stood on end.
Unfortunately, the kung fu he practiced wasn't the kind of hard qigong that required physical strength. Although he had consumed a drop of the Reincarnation Water, it only slightly increased his physical strength, but it didn't reach the point where he could withstand bullets. Therefore, in this gunfight, his Xingyi Quan (a style of Chinese martial arts) had little use, which made him so frustrated that he almost went crazy.
After the battlefield was cleaned up, Zhou Ziwei secretly condensed more than twenty low-level soul beads, which made him very happy. In the blink of an eye, he saw Yelü Huage walk in front of his car at some point and kneel down on the ground without saying a word.
Zhou Ziwei was startled and hurriedly grabbed Yelü Huage's arm tightly to prevent him from performing the grand ceremony.
Since everyone was around the same age, Zhou Ziwei didn't want to make their relationship too distant, so he naturally refused to accept such outdated etiquette.
"Brother Huage, just say what you have to say, but please don't do this again... I can't afford it!"
Yelü Huage bit his lip tightly and said, "Boss... no... Master... I beg you to give me a few more drops of that milky white liquid from last time. I... I want to become stronger, to become as invulnerable as that humanoid monster Yelü Xiaosu... Waaah... Watching that guy slaughter everyone like a madman in a hail of bullets, while I can only cower in the car waiting to clean up the battlefield, this... this is too damn pathetic... I can't live like this for even a day longer. I've never been outdone by that big elephant since I was a child. If you... if you don't agree, then... then I don't want to live anymore... Waaah... I can feel that the milky white liquid can strengthen a person's body. After taking one drop last time, my body has become much stronger. I estimate that if I drink another ten or eight drops, I'll probably be as invulnerable as that big elephant."
"This..." Zhou Ziwei was at a loss for words when he saw this big man almost bursting into tears because of his frustration.
This water of reincarnation does indeed have such an incredibly powerful strengthening effect, and Zhou Ziwei has plenty of it on him; he could easily provide unlimited strengthening for at least a few hundred people.
However, his relationship with Yelü Huage was just a simple employer-employee relationship. Yelü Huage only stayed by Zhou Ziwei's side because he saw that Zhou Ziwei was very skilled, just like his brother Yelü Xiaosu. Who knew when he would just leave him?
Zhou Ziwei did want to train him as a protégé, but he couldn't be considered a protégé yet, and their relationship hadn't progressed to that of friends. Therefore, Zhou Ziwei didn't want to waste his Reincarnation Water on others. Giving each of his brothers a drop of Reincarnation Water was already quite generous.
Yelü Huage seemed to have read Zhou Ziwei's mind. He immediately raised his head and said with a heartfelt expression, "Boss, Master... I don't care if you see me as your employee or your apprentice. In short, I... I see you as both my master and my boss. I also know that since that milky white liquid has such miraculous effects, it must be a priceless treasure that money can't buy. So I won't take your things for free... Well, I don't have the money to buy the divine water in your hands, but I, Yelü Huage, can sell myself to you. As long as you can make me strong quickly, I... I, Yelü Huage, will be your henchman for life. If you tell me to go east, I won't go west; if you tell me to be a gigolo, I won't go to prostitutes..."
Zhou Ziwei couldn't help but laugh at Yelü Huage's words. He looked Yelü Huage up and down a few times. He had to admit... although this guy wasn't particularly handsome, his physique was extremely well-built. His muscles were much more proportionate than Yelü Xiaosu's human tank. If he were to become a gigolo, he would probably be wildly popular with countless wealthy women. Hmm... business would definitely be very good!
Seeing Zhou Ziwei's ambiguous smile, Yelü Huage never imagined that Zhou Ziwei was actually considering whether or not he should really become a gigolo. Thinking Zhou Ziwei was pleased with his words, he immediately seized the opportunity and continued, "Master, boss... Boss, you see... could you transform me into Superman right now... um... if you have a good supply of that magic potion, could you just give me a small bottle? Maybe after drinking it I'll really become Superman..."
Zhou Ziwei rolled his eyes at Yelü Huage, speechless, and then pointed at the enormous fleshy ball that was Ah Er, saying, "Did you see what he looks like? Actually, he was originally about the same size as Ah Da, but he accidentally drank two extra drops of the Water of Reincarnation, so... he became what he is now... Well, if you really want to drink that stuff like plain water, I can't guarantee what you'll end up looking like!"
Yelü Huage glanced back at A'er, who weighed over a hundred kilograms more than him, and immediately shuddered...
Volume 2, The Assassin's Nightmare, Chapter 316: Heart of Flame
When they had traveled halfway through the ten-day journey, Zhou Ziwei had used the wondrous golden jade to increase the liquid soul power in his sea of souls to more than fifty drops, which meant that... his total soul power was now more than fifty thousand.
Just then, the group encountered their first major attack.
More than fifty men, dressed in uniform camouflage and of dubious status as either soldiers or bandits, were lying in ambush on both sides of a narrow valley passage, each carrying an automatic rifle. Their faces displayed a ferocious and sinister expression.
Zhou Ziwei's dozens of Kun pets have now essentially become his scout battalion. Under the reconnaissance of this scout force, which is elusive, skilled in flight, and highly intelligent, there is virtually no precedent for an enemy to enter within ten kilometers of Zhou Ziwei's convoy without being detected by him.
Although the fifty-odd people lying in ambush in the valley had hidden themselves very well, they still had nowhere to hide from the search of so many insects.
After Zhou Ziwei learned about the situation ahead through his soul perception, his expression became slightly more serious.
This time, he didn't want Yelü Huage and the others to charge into battle relying on their thick skin.
Although the Yelü brothers pleaded and begged for three drops of the Water of Reincarnation from Zhou Ziwei each, they endured excruciating pain and forced themselves to drink it without diluting it with tea. This caused their strength to increase again, and ordinary pistol bullets no longer posed any threat to them.
However, if faced with automatic rifle fire, especially if it were to come in large-scale, widespread bursts, their thick skin would likely be no match for it.
Zhou Ziwei didn't want any casualties among his trusted men here, so... this time Zhou Ziwei decided to take matters into his own hands.
Despite the guns those people were carrying, to Zhou Ziwei they were essentially no different from lifeless rakes. All Zhou Ziwei had to consider was which method to use to end their lives.
When the convoy reached the valley entrance, Zhou Ziwei immediately ordered all the vehicles to stop. They were still about a kilometer away from the bandits who were lying in ambush on both sides of the valley.
This is relatively safe for them.