8: Chapter 8: The True Colors Revealed and Entering the Demon's Lair

The black car stopped at the end of a muddy dirt road in a border town. This was dozens of kilometers from the national gate, yet it was the busiest "dock" for Snakeheads.

"Boss, I can only take you this far. Further ahead are minefields and patrols, so be careful." The driver took the money and sped off faster than a rabbit.

Zhang Cheng stood by the roadside, carrying a simple canvas bag. The setting sun cast a long shadow, making him look somewhat lonely and desolate.

Soon, several figures emerged from the bushes by the roadside.

Leading them was a man wearing a floral shirt with a thick gold chain dangling around his neck—the "contact" Lin Weiwei had mentioned on the phone, Zhao Lei. Behind him were two shirtless, heavily tattooed thugs, their waists bulging, clearly carrying weapons.

"Yo, is this the top student Weiwei talked about, Zhang Cheng?" Zhao Lei, a toothpick in his mouth, sized Zhang Cheng up, his eyes looking as if he were staring at a fat sheep ready for slaughter.

Zhang Cheng's face appropriately showed a hint of the awkwardness and obsequiousness typical of an "honest man" as he pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Hello, Brother Lei, I'm Zhang Cheng. Weiwei... didn't Weiwei come?"

"Weiwei?" Zhao Lei sneered and spat out the toothpick. "Weiwei is a busy woman; how would she have time to pick you up? I'm her cousin. Come with me, and I'll make sure you're living the high life."

Having said that, he didn't care if Zhang Cheng believed him or not, turning to head into the woods. The two thugs flanked Zhang Cheng, half-escorting and half-escorting him into the jungle.

The mountain path was rugged, but the group moved quickly.

"Brother Lei, where are we going? Didn't you say there'd be a company car?" Zhang Cheng asked breathlessly, acting the part perfectly.

"Company car? Heh, where would a company car come from in these mountains? That was just sweet talk for scholars like you." Zhao Lei didn't look back, his tone full of contempt. "If you want to get rich, you have to suffer first, understand? Once we cross the river ahead, we'll be in Myanmar. It's heaven and it's hell, depending on whether you have the skills."

After walking for over an hour, it became completely dark. There were only the sounds of unknown insects and the gurgling of water.

A murky stream appeared before them. On the opposite bank was a pitch-black dense forest, where a few ghost-like lights could be seen in the distance.

"We're here, cross the river!" Zhao Lei ordered.

They waded through the waist-deep water, stumbling their way to the other side.

As soon as they reached the bank, the two thugs changed their expressions, instantly tearing off their masks.

"Don't move! Drop the bag! Hands up!"

One of the thugs suddenly pulled a gleaming switchblade from his waist and pressed it against the small of Zhang Cheng's back. The other roughly snatched Zhang Cheng's canvas bag, unzipped it, and dumped the clothes and toiletries onto the muddy ground, rummaging through them like trash.

"What... what are you doing? I'm Weiwei's friend! I'm here to work!" Zhang Cheng cried out in "terror," his body shaking in coordination.

"Work? Hahahaha!" Zhao Lei turned around, the fake smile on his face completely gone, replaced by ferocity and greed. "Idiot! Now that you're here, you're my piglets! Weiwei's friend? Do you know how much commission Weiwei gets for selling one 'pig'? Thirty thousand! In her eyes, you're just thirty thousand yuan!"

"Phone! Wallet! ID card! Hand them all over!" The thug searching him felt around Zhang Cheng's body and pulled out the old phone and a few hundred yuan in cash that Zhang Cheng had deliberately left there.

"Damn! Poor bastard! Only this much money?" Zhao Lei spat. "Looks like I can only sell you into the park and squeeze you dry!"

Zhang Cheng kept his head down, but his eyes coldly watched everything through his disheveled hair.

"So these are the so-called 'Snakeheads'? Just a bunch of low-level bandits," he evaluated coldly in his mind.

Just then, two blinding beams of light from car headlights shot across the dirt road in the distance. A dilapidated but reinforced Jinbei van rumbled over, with crooked Burmese script sprayed on the doors and a crude luggage rack welded to the roof, where two armed militiamen sat.

"Hurry up! The pickup vehicle is here!" Zhao Lei kicked Zhang Cheng. "Behave yourself! If you dare to run, those two with guns won't hesitate to turn you into a sieve!"

The van stopped, and several local Myanmar armed personnel in camouflage uniforms jumped out, carrying AK-47s. They looked at Zhang Cheng as if he were a piece of cargo—cold, numb, and devoid of any human emotion.

"This is the kid? He looks a bit thin; can he handle it?" a leader of the armed men asked in broken Chinese, glancing at Zhang Cheng with disdain.

"Don't worry, Brother Yan. This kid is a college student with a sharp mind. He'll be a natural at fraud! As long as he isn't beaten to death, he'll definitely produce results!" Zhao Lei adopted a fawning expression, handing over a cigarette and bowing repeatedly.

"Alright, get in!"

Zhang Cheng was roughly shoved into the van's interior, which reeked of sweat, stinky feet, and gasoline.

Four or five other young people with equally ashen faces were already crammed inside, clearly "pigletss" who had been deceived. Some were sobbing quietly, others stared blankly; the air was thick with despair.

"Vroom—"

The vehicle started and sped wildly along the bumpy dirt road, heading toward the devil's den known as Feifan Park.

Zhang Cheng huddled in the corner, his body shaking violently with the movement of the van.

He closed his eyes, seemingly resigned to his fate.

In reality, he was awakening the system in his mind.

"Open Real-time Map."

[Real-time Map enabled (Primary)]

Instantly, a 3D map surfaced in his mind. With the van as the center, the surrounding terrain and roads were clearly visible.

He watched the red dot representing "Feifan Park" on the map grow closer.

That wasn't hell; it was his hunting ground.

"Right now, I'm penniless, unarmed, and just a piglets being bought and sold at will."

Zhang Cheng whispered to himself in his heart, the cold smile on his lips deepening.

"But if I so desire, the jungle around that red dot can be filled with five hundred fully armed Death Soldiers at any moment."

"Twelve thousand points is enough to blow this crappy park of yours, along with its foundation, right into the sky."