“Hey, buddy! You’ve asked the right person! This kind of map is very secretive; ordinary people haven’t heard of this yet. However, as long as the price is right, I can sell you a duplicate copy!” The thick-browed big-eyed young white man whispered and leaned into Zhang Lisheng’s ears before continuing to talk in a mysterious yet sincere way. “It’s leaked from the military channel, so it’s guaranteed to be genuine!”
“Duplicate? There’s even an original and a duplicate copy for the map?” This stunned Zhang Lisheng for a moment before adding in, “Oh well, it doesn’t matter! Duplicate it is then, as long as it’s usable! They said 3000 USD is a fair price…”
“Very fair, man! It’s exactly this price, 3000 USD. Looks like you have some sources of information; you’re very sensible too!” The young white man patted Zhang Lisheng’s shoulder forcefully. “Follow me, we’ll deal in cash and hand you the goods at the same time!”
After saying so, the young white man kept muttering about how the map was in high demand but in short supply as he brought Zhang Lisheng to walk through several blocks in hastened footsteps before walking into a crowded cement house.
This was a simple house that had an area of 30 square meters and could accommodate eight people in double-decker beds. Upon seeing the young white man walking into the house together with Zhang Lisheng, a strapping fellow who wore a black suit while sitting on an iron bed said in a low muffled voice. “John, you’re bringing another guest again? Looks like business is great; it’s time for us to consider raising the price of our goods now!”
The young white man pointed at Zhang Lisheng and flashed a thumb up as he said, “Phillip, it’s reasonable for us to raise our price when the business is good, but this guy is a straightforward person! We’ve already agreed on the price, so I will carry this business out in three grand!”
“If you say so,” the strapping fellow said with a cold expression. “To be honest, buddy, with such a down-to-earth personality, you’re really not suitable for this business at all!”
“We can’t do business like how you do! We’ve already agreed on the price, so of course, I…” The white young man curled his lips and looked as though he was about to argue with the strapping fellow; however, a young black man who looked small, skinny, yet clever that was sitting on the bed next to him cast a meaningful glance at him, so the young man immediately ceased his hostility and harrumphed loudly. “Mind your own business, Phillip! Manny, bring out the laptop! I’ll print a duplicate copy of the map for our customers. It’s 3000 USD, so don’t take more from him!”
“Look at his attitude, Manny! I was just speaking on behalf of everybody’s benefit…”
“Stop complaining, Phillip! John is right this time! The most important thing in doing business is trustworthiness from both parties!” The small and thin black man took out an old laptop equipped with a printer and leaped down from the bed before handing it over to the young white man.
The young white man turned on the computer and opened a document in a hidden folder. Pointing at a complicated-looking jungle map painted with some kind of drawing software, he told Zhang Lisheng, “This is it, buddy! The distribution map of all the known indigenous tribes on Shrimp B1 Island. Let us deliver the goods in one hand and money in another!”
Then, eagerly, as he was about to click on the ‘print’ button…
“Hold on, Mr. John!” Zhang Lisheng suddenly reached out a hand to place it on the young white man’s hand and said loudly to stop him. At that instant, the atmosphere in the cement room became heavy while the thin black man said with a hypocritical smile, “Hey buddy! John is very sincere in doing business with you! He even argued with Phillip because of this…”
“I know how sincere Mr. John is.” Zhang Lisheng smiled and interrupted the young man’s words before taking out a stack of USD banknotes from his pocket to hand it to the young white man. “I’ll give you the money first, Mr. John, but can I look at the map on the laptop first before I print it out?”
Upon seeing the stack of USD banknotes in front of him, the young white man pushed the laptop into Zhang Lisheng’s arms and grabbed the USD banknotes before laughing out loud. “Since you’re so sincere, buddy, of course, it’s no problem at all!”
The atmosphere in the cement house became joyous right away when the young white man took the money. They were quite happy that nobody noticed that Zhang Lisheng sat down on an empty bed and put the laptop on his lap. Muttering “pst shh…” in his lonesome, he cast some spells and changed some bits on the map in a calm state for a while before printing out a finished product.
Then, he held the finished map in his hands and looked at it before showing a satisfied smile. Standing up, he said, “Alright, Mr. John! I’m happy to have carried out this deal with you. Goodbye!” He then smiled before leaving the cement house.
“Oh, oh buddy! Goodbye! I hope we have a chance to make another deal next time…” The young white man who was still counting the banknotes again was stunned for a moment before waving at Zhang Lisheng’s silhouette with all his might. After the silhouette had disappeared, he laughed so hard till tears started to flow from his eyes. “Did you hear it, Manny? H-He even said goodbye to me! Oh my God! What a naïve person! Hahaha… Oh, I can’t anymore! I can’t! My stomach is in pain for laughing too much right now…”
“But this guy is really too naïve! Don’t you think it’s a little strange, John? If you think carefully about it, it’s just too strange!” Because of Zhang Lisheng’s overly cooperative manner, the skinny and small black man commented with a frown and perplexed expression instead.
“Strange? What is so strange about it? We only made a copy of paper, anyway! Even if we received 30 counterfeit bills, we’d make great profits as well!” The young white man held the banknotes up to his mouth and smelled the new papers before saying out loud, “Let alone the fact that these 30 babies are all real!”
It stunned the small and skinny man for a moment before shrugging as he said in relief, “You’re right, John! I shouldn’t care about whether or not it’s strange! Our cost is just one paper; even if that ‘banana’ finds out that something is not right later, he wouldn’t have any evidence to sue us! Hey, let’s talk about the division of profit now…”
The group of temporary gusted scammers began to quarrel for their profit division. At the same time, in the cement room within one of the gathering place’s corner where the great wizards gathered, Ouyang Boxiong said sinisterly, “That boy is quite hardworking, even though he has to go out to do things all by himself…”
“Older Brother Ouyang, the attached soul on your living corpse can indeed see clearly, but you don’t understand a word of the foreign language at all. How do you know whether or not he’s hardworking then?” Yang Tianyun, who was by the side, said as he curled his lips, “Anyways, it’s kinda unnecessary to do so. There’s an ancient saying that says ‘if you use a man, don’t suspect him; if you suspect him, don’t use him’. Besides, he’s only a kid who’s barely even 20 years old; even if he has an ulterior motive, just how far can he get with his plan?”
“Even though I can’t comprehend what he was saying, I can still understand the ways of the world, so I can definitely tell with just one glance if he has any cunning plans. Other than not being able to enter the house, the entire journey is… Ah, forget it, that kid is coming back soon. Anyway, caution is the parent of safety, so there’s nothing wrong with being careful.” Ouyang Boxiong smiled with a grim expression.
After being silent for a moment, he saw Zhang Lisheng walk into the house with hastened footsteps, so he immediately pretended to ask, “Lisheng, how did it go?”
“I’ve already got the ship tickets and the map. It’s just that the map is a duplicate and the ratio is smaller! Not only that, there are only details of several dozen tribes.” Zhang Lisheng answered as he stacked the tickets and the map together before handing them over to Ouyang Boxiong with both hands.
“It doesn’t matter if the ratio is small. Our eyes can even see insects that are thousands of meters away, so this means nothing to us.” The old man took the ship tickets and map before studying them carefully. Then, nodding his head, he said, “Several dozen aborigine nests grouped together are already enough for us! Good! You did very well! You’ve done great contributions and even the Old Gods may even want to summon you personally when we return to the Mountain Gate! When that time comes, it’ll be no surprise if you’re given a secret method, or even directly promoted as a ‘B-ranked disciple’. Go rest for a while and attain your mental composure. Follow us out in the evening to leave town. By that time, we’ll show you the methods we, these witchcraft seniors of yours, have!”
Wizards situated between heaven and earth shepherded the people on behalf of their gods and ancestors. When they were free, they rebuked at the sun and seized the moon, but when they were at war, they would never yield till they died. Not only that, they joined the so-called ‘Mountain Gates’ and became some sort of ‘disciples’.
After spending a long time with them, Zhang Lisheng originally did not have much respect for these great wizards, so now that he heard Ouyang Boxiong’s words, he looked down on them even more. Even so, he still put a pleasantly surprised facade and retreated with a lowered head.
Time passed by; unknowingly, evening arrived. The sun that was about to set sprinkled countless rays of golden sunshine on the shoreline and illuminated the entire gathering place as though it was a dreamy ancient city.
Just as the gate of the city wall was about to close, a large group of different ages, skin colors, and fashion queued up in a long line and walked out of the city gate during the sunset.
As big companies from the human world started to settle in Shrimp B1 Island, there was an increasing number of workers who took the risk to stay outside the gathering place due to being tempted by high rewards. For this reason, more people capable of surviving in the island’s wildlands were slowly being discovered.
Even though there were still dangers lurking outside, as long as it was not too far away from the human gathering place, the danger was no longer fatal. The departure of this group of people did not elicit much attention from others.
Even so, Ouyang Boxiong, who had established some kind of authority inexplicably by ordering Zhang Lisheng around, recently posed as the leader of the team and said cautiously, “Let us take a detour from the city entrance and enter the forest from a remote place on the other side. Don’t let these US devils see through our plans!”
Upon hearing the old man’s words, several great wizards were about to take a detour reluctantly, but Zhang Lisheng suddenly said with a wry smile, “Senior Ouyang, other than the coastal area, all three sides of the gathering place have lookout holes with high-infrared monitoring rays. It’d be even more suspicious if we take a detour to enter the jungle. We might as well separate in groups of three to five and enter the jungle directly.”
“Did you hear that, Older Brother Ouyang? Don’t act as though you know a lot!” Yang Tianyun chuckled loudly and put his arm around Zhang Lisheng’s shoulder. “Lisheng knows a lot, so let’s do what he says. Let’s go, boy! Let’s enter the jungle first!”
Then, with big strides, he ran into the jungle right away.
With such a separation, it took a while for all the wizards to gather again in the depths of the jungle. At this time, the sky was already dark and darkness covered the woodland, with only the remaining inexplicable faint sounds of hissing and the horrifying roaring of strange beasts in the distance.
Amidst the roaring of the foreign world’s strange beasts, Ouyang Boxiong glanced at Zhang Lisheng with a glum expression and said, “We can finally make our moves freely now that we’ve reached here. Brother Tianyun, since you keep refuting what I said, why don’t you show us what you got instead?”
