Northern Shan State, the jungle of Myanmar.
Crack… crack… crack…
Five young Chinese boys between the ages of eight and twelve trudged through the forest with heavy steps, struggling onward. It was an age when kids were fearless and mischievous, yet now, they only wore terror on their faces, barely daring to breathe, as every inch of their skin was bruised and laced with ugly red welts from insect bites.
A bloodstained whip lashed viciously at their feet as a bearded middle-aged man yelled at them in Burmese, “Move faster! Stall again, and I’ll whip you to death!”
All of the children wore expensive branded clothes, born into wealthy families and never having suffered. The most outdoorsy thing they’d probably done was climb small hills in parks, but now they were forced to ascend through uneven jungle crawling with venomous insects and snakes. After hours of struggling, their bodies and minds sat on the brink of collapse, with tears filling their eyes. However, no one dared to cry out or stop, even though their feet were numb, swollen, blistered, and bleeding.
Ahead of them walked a man with a Burmese blade hanging at his hip. In the middle strode a handsome but cold young man, and the bearded man with the whip walked at the rear. If their steps slowed even a little, that whip would swing without mercy.
The children could not understand Burmese, but they heard the fury in the bearded man’s voice and stumbled on, hastening their pace, with only fear carrying them forward despite their exhausted bodies. However, ten minutes later, the youngest child, Tong Ran, had nothing left in him. Exhaustion overwhelmed fear as his limbs went slack, collapsing to his knees. He trembled violently, his face streaked with tears, and finally, unable to hold back, he wailed, “Mama… I want mama…”
The bearded man stepped forward two paces and, with a swift arm movement, swung the long whip down toward Tong Ran. The whip cut the air with a terrible hiss as the boy tightened into a ball and cried out in a high voice, “Ah!”
But the terrible pain did not come.
One second before the whip would have struck him, a long, slender hand that was as quick as lightning snatched it.
The bearded man shoved with force to pull the whip back, but it would not budge. With an angry, red face, he spat, “Xiao Zhun, what the hell do you think you’re doing?! Don’t think that because Brother Gang allowed you on this job, you can stand above me! When I was with Brother Gang, you were still playing in the mud!”
The young man holding the whip lowered his head respectfully and let go, saying, “Brother Long, I didn’t mean that.”
The bearded man’s nickname was Hu Long. He sneered, “You’re so soft on these little bastards, what, are you a cop?!”
At that, the man with the Burmese blade glanced suspiciously at the young man called Xiao Zhun. The road was already rough, and carrying five deadweights only made it worse. He and Hu Long had long since grown impatient; when annoyed, they liked to teach the burdens a lesson, a slap here, a kick there, and Hu Long generously cracked his whip as the children’s cries of pain echoed through the hills. Only Xiao Zhun was an exception: he had never laid a finger on those burdens and would even occasionally pull back a child who was about to fall.
But each time they started to suspect something, Xiao Zhun would meet their wary stares calmly, stating, “I’m not.”
Hu Long chuckled coldly. “In our line of work, who isn’t ruthless?! If you ask me, we should toss these little bastardsinto the crocodile pit and be done with it. But you, soft-hearted, suggest Brother Gang send them back to China instead, doting all the way! If there’s an ambush, I’ll snap your head off and kick it!”
Even without understanding the language, the little children still huddled together, trembling and stifling their sobs.
“Shut up! Cry again, and I’ll leave you to the mountain!” the man with the blade shouted, then turned to Hu Long. “Brother Long, if this kid really is a cop, aren’t we in danger?”
“Whether he’s a cop or not, let’s test him and we’ll know.” Hu Long grinned as he tossed a dagger at Xiao Zhun. “These little bastards have been whining the whole way,” he said. “Too noisy. Go cut their tongues out. Brother Gang only told us to deliver them alive to China, but he didn’t say we couldn’t take something off them.”
Xiao Zhun glanced at him with indifference, bent down, and picked up the dagger. He slowly wiped the blade with his fingertip, its edge flashing a chilling light. Suddenly, the dagger sliced the air, grazing Hu Long’s face and embedding itself deeply into the tree behind him. Right there, a blackened, venomous snake stood impaled, exactly seven inches from its head. The blade almost tore the snake in two, and it twitched a few times before going limp and hanging from the tree.
Hu Long’s pupils shrank, and a cold sweat broke out on his back. If the dagger’s aim had shifted just one inch to the right, the dead snake would have been him.
But Xiao Zhun’s face remained unchanged, as if he hadn’t thrown the dagger. His tone was cool and obedient, saying, “Brother Long, these little bastards can’t keep up anyway. Cutting their tongues and knocking a few out would only slow us down more when we have to carry them. We can’t deliver them across the border at the appointed time. If the Chinese cops get wind and set an ambush at the border, the trouble will be on us. That’s why I told them to keep moving on the way.”
Hu Long looked at him, then at the dead snake nailed to the tree, snorted once, and strode forward. The man with the Burmese blade stopped talking as well and began pushing the children onward again, as none of them wanted to run into the Chinese cops.
As for Xiao Zhun, he grabbed Tong Ran by the arm and swung him onto his back, whispering to him in Chinese: “Hold tight. If you fall, you’re staying here.”
Tong Ran forgot his tears and quickly wrapped his arms around the man’s neck.
Three hours later, they reached a secret border crossing, a route that was one of Wu Gang’s personal gold mines. Countless illegal goods had passed through that line, as Brother Gang was one of the four trusted lieutenants under Sheng Jun, the Golden Triangle’s infamous drug lord. As for the men tasked with delivering the children, they were all Wu Gang’s confidants.
Xiao Zhun had joined Wu Gang’s organization three years before. It took him two years to climb from an unknown nobody to someone Brother Gang trusted, and another year before he gained access to confidential operations. He had only recently learned about that particular smuggling route, but Hu Long, however, knew it well. Wu Gang had deliberately assigned the two to work together, partly so Hu Long could guide him, and partly because Xiao Zhun was calmer and more discreet in handling unexpected situations.
When they finally arrived at the border, Hu Long and the man with the Burmese blade exhaled in relief. All that remained was to send the “little bastards” across, and the job would be done. But soon enough, they sensed something was wrong. Moments after crossing the Burmese-Chinese border line, small red dots appeared on their foreheads and chests.
Xiao Zhun reacted first, as thousands of thoughts flashed through his mind. Two days ago, he had secretly passed that route’s location to the authorities, but he hadn’t yet managed to report that Hu Long had kidnapped five children.
So why were the police already waiting here today? What was the purpose behind it?
Had someone deliberately leaked the intel to Wu Gang to show that the line had been compromised?
Or did they know about his and Hu Long’s mission and send the police to rescue the children?
If that was the case… did the officers know his identity?
All those thoughts came and went in a split second.
From not far away, the Chinese police emerged from the jungle, closing in fast. Hu Long and his accomplice looked down and saw the red dots glowing on their bodies, and, realizing what it meant, they cursed under their breath. With their crimes, being caught meant death either way, so they chose to resist.
Out of the corner of his eye, Xiao Zhun caught the look they exchanged, knowing they were about to fight back. The instant they moved, he dropped into a crouch, rolled aside, and slipped behind a large tree. Hu Long and the other man were no amateurs either; as Wu Gang’s trusted subordinates, their reflexes were sharp. Grabbing the nearest children to use as shields, they rolled and darted behind cover as well.
Afraid of hitting the children, the police held their fire.
Their hiding spots weren’t far apart. The Burmese-blade man held two trembling children in one arm and a gun in the other, screaming: “Brother Long, what do we do?!”
Hu Long glared at the small, trembling boy in his grasp, a kid who was already on the verge of fainting. “Don’t move, or I’ll blow your head off,” he hissed. Then, he responded to his partner, “We only walked twenty meters into Chinese territory. The Chinese pigs probably haven’t finished negotiating with the Burmese side, so we’ll use these brats as hostages. Once we cross back, we’re safe.”
The Burmese-blade man looked toward Xiao Zhun, saying, “But he doesn’t have a kid.”
However, Hu Long sneered. “He didn’t need one to dodge bullets just now,” he answered. “He’ll manage fine.”
Just then, the Chinese police called out through a loudspeaker: “Put down the hostages. As long as the children are unharmed, you can name your conditions.”
But Xiao Zhun couldn’t care less about Hu Long’s mockery. His expression was calm, but under that calm, a storm was brewing. The voice that had spoken, steady and commanding, sent a jolt through him. He could already picture that man’s face, hard and composed, yet what flashed in Xiao Zhun’s mind was an entirely different image: the same man, years ago, with a crooked grin, tilting his chin up and teasing him like a scoundrel.
Xiao Zhun shut his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, his mind was clear.
If Han Huaixiao was leading the operation, then the police on site couldn’t possibly know Xiao Zhun’s true identity. His handler knew about his past connection with Captain Han and was aware that his existence had to remain secret. If higher-ups had fed intel to the local police to rescue the children, they would have kept Han Huaixiao out of the loop entirely.
Therefore, he was immensely relieved. Before the mission, they’d put on camouflage uniforms and smeared grease paint across their faces. His hair was longer now, his body stronger, and most importantly, he hadn’t come face-to-face with Han Huaixiao in years.
However, if the police didn’t know who he was, then he couldn’t afford to be caught. If they captured him, Wu Gang’s trust would be gone.
So he’d have to run.
But how?
Hu Long held countless secrets about Wu Gang. Should he seize the chance to help the police capture him? But even if he left Hu Long behind, he’d still have to flee back to base with the other Burmese man; otherwise, Wu Gang would grow suspicious.
So, while Hu Long and his partner hesitated, Xiao Zhun’s plan already started to roll, as he spoke quickly: “I’ll run left and draw their attention. You two run right. Leave the kids behind; if even one of them dies, the police won’t let it go. You’ll bring trouble on Brother Gang and even the big boss himself.”
Maybe it was his composed tone, or maybe the mention of Sheng Jun, the “big boss”, that made them hesitate, but neither Hu Long nor his accomplice argued against the plan.
And Xiao Zhun didn’t give them time to think either. He shouted, low enough for only the three of them to hear, “Run!” then sprinted out first.
He darted between the trees like a leopard, zigzagging, and fired two shots toward an open patch not far from where the children huddled. The police, afraid he might hit the kids, held their fire. Seeing Xiao Zhun run, Hu Long and the other man instinctively bolted as well.
But luck wasn’t on their side.
Under Han Huaixiao’s command, some officers moved to protect the children while others opened fire before the traffickers could cross the border.
The man with the Burmese blade, running ahead, was hit in the right arm but managed to stumble across the line. However, Hu Long wasn’t so lucky. Just as he was about to cross, he was shot in both of his legs simultaneously, falling straight to the ground.
On the other side of the border, the Burmese man and Xiao Zhun met up again, only to realize Hu Long hadn’t followed. His accomplice turned back in panic, but Xiao Zhun grabbed him, saying, “Go back now, and you’ll just die! We’ll return first and let Brother Gang handle it.”
The man shoved his hand away, screaming: “It’s your plan that got Brother Long caught! If we’d kept hold of the kids, the cops wouldn’t have dared to shoot!”
Xiao Zhun’s eyes were cold, raging back: “You really think the snipers hidden out there would let you carry the kids across the border and vanish in front of them?!”
The man fell silent, glaring at him furiously, but Xiao Zhun ignored him and walked off alone.
Back on Chinese territory, Han Huaixiao stood with eyes narrowed, watching one of the figures vanish swiftly behind the trees.
Was it a trick of the light?
For a second, he could’ve sworn he saw Xia Hang’s silhouette.
However, that was impossible. Xia Hang should be overseas now, and with his crippling fear of snakes, there’s no way he’d ever appear in a jungle like that.
…………………………
T.N: Please consider reading this novel on my website, here
It’s the exact same translation, but it would help my new website grow. Thank you!