Chapter 10 Purchasing a Hunting Rifle
The sudden outing task made Li Mang ecstatic, and he hastily packed a few clothes into his backpack and headed to Zhang Daoshi's yard.
The nine groups of yards are all concentrated in this area. Zhang Daoshi is also a member of the ninth group, and his yard is not far away. Li Mang arrived quickly.
The courtyards are all the same, but Zhang Daoshi's courtyard is quite peculiar. The gate is plastered with yellow talismans, and each railing has one stuck to it. When the wind blows, they flutter and dance, making it seem like an unclean place at first glance, giving people a creepy feeling. But living in the Yan Huang courtyard, you naturally need to have thick nerves.
"Zhang Daoist!" Li Meng pounded on the courtyard gate.
"Here!" A loud and coarse voice came from inside, followed by a middle-aged man with thick eyebrows wearing a Taoist robe walking out of the house.
Zhang Daoshi was approaching fifty, with a square face and thick eyebrows and big ears. What's more, he had an aura of justice that couldn't be ignored. If he were to change out of his Taoist robes and into formal wear, he would probably look quite the part. But then again, Li Meng had never seen Zhang Daoshi in casual clothes.
"Li Meng? What brings you here?" Zhang Daoshi asked in surprise.
"Zhang Daoshi, take a look, we have an external task." Li Meng handed him a document signed with Yang Fan's name.
"What?" Zhang Daoshi suspected he had misheard, didn't Li Meng know his own identity? But still took the thing with a mixture of trust and doubt, carefully read it several times before returning it to him, let out a deep sigh, and said in a serious tone: "Li Meng, I know you've been having a hard time these past six months, but the Yan Huang law is strict, it's better if you don't have any unrealistic thoughts, hurry back, I'll pretend I didn't see anything."
Having said that, Zhang Daoshi shook his head and turned around to leave.
"...... Zhang Daoshi, this is true!" Li Mang hastily stopped him, crying and laughing, after a good explanation, and also asked Yang Fan to confirm, only then did Zhang Daoshi believe his words.
After making all the preparations, Li Meng took Zhang Daoshi to the capital airport and boarded a flight to Nanjing Wuxi. They then transferred flights to their final destination, Wuzhou. By the time they arrived, it was already 3 pm. After discussing for a while, they only had a quick meal on the way and then took the off-road vehicle of the Huangpu Wuzhou office to rush to their last stop, Mengshan County.
"Two leaders, and a two-hour drive from here, this is the detailed information of the event, you can take a look first!" The director of Wuzhou Office was a middle-aged man in his fifties, but when facing Li Meng and Zhang Daoshi, he was very respectful. His surname was Bao, and his name was Ren.
Bao Ren was just an ordinary person, responsible for receiving and accepting tasks. Although he was a department head, when faced with people from "above", even young Li Meng, he was extremely respectful. Despite not knowing much about the Flame Yellow tribe, he knew that these outsiders were not to be trifled with.
The incident occurred in Huangjia Village, Mengshan County. A few days ago, the richest man in the village died suddenly. The forensic diagnosis was myocardial infarction, but the deceased had no history of heart disease or similar conditions before his death. Therefore, it is inferred that the rich man in Huangjia Village was scared to death.
The second victim was in the neighboring village of Changping Yao Township, a tea farmer with an average family income. The cause of death was the same as the first one, also due to heart attack caused by fright.
"Two days ago, the police sent someone to investigate. As a result, when they drove back in the early morning, their car fell off a cliff and all three detectives were killed. After investigation, it was found that the road conditions at the scene of the accident were very good, and the vehicle had rushed out of a slope of over 20 meters before falling off the cliff. Even a novice driver wouldn't make such a mistake. Moreover, the faces of the three detectives still showed terrified expressions until their death." Li Mang read out the information in his hand to Zhang Daoshi, suddenly feeling that the car he was sitting in wasn't very safe.
"Not bad, now there's another doubt. Huangjiacun and Changping Yao Township are adjacent to each other, with an execution ground in between where a prisoner was shot dead. On the night of the rich man's death in Huangjiacun, he drove past the execution ground, while the tea farmer from Changping Yao Township had also picked tea near the execution ground before his death. The scene of the three detectives' accident is also on the road segment right in front of the execution ground. Now all the villagers are whispering that there's something dirty about this execution ground." Bao Ren added, driving ahead.
"Bao, just drive and don't talk." Li Mang glanced at him.
"…Alright, Secretary Li." Bao Ren replied with a scowl, focusing on driving his car, but in his heart he despised him. With his experience, how couldn't he see through Li's thoughts? This Secretary Li was surprisingly timid; if the other party wasn't from 'Headquarters', Bao Ren would have given him a cold shoulder.
"Let's first go to Xiangshan County town to rest for a few hours, and then head to the execution ground at dawn." Zhang Daoshi said after some deliberation.
After a simple and light dinner, several people decided to stay in Mengshan County and set off at 11 o'clock tonight.
When checking in, there was a small episode. Originally, Bao Ren was going to book the room, but Li Meng said that the task expenses for this trip were already on him and rushed to book three luxurious single rooms.
After knowing each other for a few moments, Bao Ren had already learned from the side that Li Mang was a descendant of Yan and Huang, although on the surface he was still respectful, but in his heart he had already looked down on Li Mang's ability. However, he is also an ordinary person, and in terms of position, he is not even higher than him, if it weren't for coming from the mysterious headquarters, Bao Ren wouldn't have to be so respectful to him, must be despised continuously, unexpectedly choosing the most luxurious single room, very extravagant and corrupt!
"Zhang Daoshi, you rest first. I'll go downstairs to send some money back home." Li Meng put away the gifts and came over to the next room to say this to Zhang Daoshi.
"Go ahead!" Zhang Daoshi responded with a smile on his face. He appreciated people who were loyal and filial.
Li Mang felt guilty, this time going out his main purpose was not to send money home, but to take the opportunity to buy what he needed, but in order to prevent Huáng Huì from suspecting changes in his bank account, he had no choice but to resort to this tactic.
Mengshan County is a small town and an ancient mountain city, with a relatively small area and less modern atmosphere. Hardware stores can be seen everywhere in the city.
But Li Meng didn't rush to buy what he needed, instead he went to a post office bank far away, withdrew 50,000 from the ATM, then went to another credit union and transferred 40,000 to his home account, leaving himself with 10,000.
Seeing no one following him, Li Meng walked into a hardware store and bought two choppers, four or five bundles of coarse rope, and a small pot, all of which he stuffed into a burlap sack.
When Li Meng was about to settle the bill, two young men rode a motorcycle in front of the hardware store, with a long object tied behind the car, but it was wrapped in hemp cloth and couldn't be seen what it was.
"Boss lady, give me two boxes of dog food." A young man walked into the hardware store and called out to the boss, his voice slightly lowered.
"Here!" The shop owner's wife glanced at Li Mang, didn't think much and took out two small boxes from under the counter. The packaging was very rough and there were no words on it.
After seeing off the young man, the landlady began to settle accounts with Li Meng.
Li Meng didn't rush either, and suddenly asked in a low voice: "Boss lady, where is there a gas dog for sale nearby?"
What is referred to as "dog food" is actually a term used by insiders to refer to shotgun bullets, after all, this thing is illegal, calling it "dog food" will be more "harmonious". The two boxes of dog food that young man bought earlier are naturally not food for dogs, but lead bullets for shooting birds. And the "gas dog" that Li Meng wants is actually an air gun. (The character "" is harmonized, replaced with "")
The boss's wife paused for a moment, her eyes flashing with vigilance but also greed, then she calmly looked at him and asked: "Do you want to buy?"
"Yes, I'm going into the mountains for a while and want to buy something for self-defense." Li Mang raised the hemp sack in his hand to make his words more convincing.
The boss's wife didn't suspect anything, after all Li Mang had sold many things before and only proposed buying the "gas dog" after seeing others buy bullets, from which it can be seen that Li Mang is not a traitor.
These things are only sold to regular customers, or customers brought by regular customers, but the huge profit makes her reluctant to give up. Seeing that there is no one around, she whispers: "We have this at home, if you want it, go to the backyard to take a look."
"Good!" Li Mang was surprised and delighted. Previously, he had only been guessing, having bullets for sale didn't necessarily mean there were guns available, but considering the special geography of Ningmeng County, hunting rifles wouldn't be scarce, so he tried asking tentatively, not expecting to actually find one.
Behind the hardware store was a courtyard, where the boss's wife pulled out a long trunk from the room and opened it to reveal three black lacquered rods.
However, Li Mang slightly furrowed his brow. This type of multi-shot air gun, which is charged under the barrel, has a greater power with more compressions, but its shortcomings are that it's generally inaccurate, has moderate power, and uses small lead pellets. It's fine for shooting birds one by one, but if you encounter large wild beasts, it's better to run as far away as possible.
However, in recent years the ban has been severe, and it's not easy to buy a powerful hunting rifle domestically. Having one is better than having none, so Li Mang began testing this guy with a sense of relief.
Because he had played before, Li Meng's movements were also very skilled. He loaded the bullet, compressed the air, aimed and fired - "Bang!"
The sound is loud and the power is still good, a beer bottle in front of it shattered with a loud noise.
"How much is this?" Li Meng asked directly.
The bloated boss lady stretched out a meaty palm and said, "These years the checks have been strict, prices soaring upwards, five thousand, I'll throw in five boxes of bullets."
"Boss lady, this is too much! This thing can be had for just a few hundred bucks!" Li Meng glanced at her.
"The market is like this now, at most I can give you a little less." The boss's wife didn't even frown, her attitude was firm.
"1,500!" Li Mǎng gave a psychological price. This type of hunting rifle could be bought for several hundred yuan in previous years, but the price has skyrocketed in recent years. 1,500 is the market price.
"Little brother, 1,500 is too little, I'll give you 3,000!" The boss's wife shook her head like a drum.
Li Mang slightly furrowed his brow, although he considered wealth to be worthless and valued integrity... but that didn't mean he could be taken advantage of at will. Moreover, he couldn't delay for too long, so he impatiently said: "Two thousand, and I'll throw in twenty boxes of bullets."
"Alright, I'll let you have it cheap!" The boss's wife observed Li Mang's low price and could only agree with a painful expression on her face. However, she was secretly laughing to herself, thinking that this deal would bring in over a thousand yuan in profit. To show off her "generosity", she even threw in two boxes of lead bullets for free, which left Li Mang speechless - each box was only worth two yuan anyway.
"Little brother, there are wild beasts in the mountains, having a gun doesn't necessarily mean you're safe. I also have big knives, daggers, and electric batons, do you want to buy some more?" Having tasted the sweetness of success, the boss's wife also took Li Mang as a 'trustworthy' person, and enthusiastically recommended.
"This is naturally good!" Li Meng did not refuse, and bought two daggers, two mountain-opening knives, and five electric batons. These things are hard to find in other cities, after all, they are contraband, but Lengshan County is surrounded by mountains on four sides, with primitive forests and wild beasts coming and going, making it easy to buy these things, an opportunity not to be missed.