Siheyuan, Shazhu: I have both parents in this life

Chapter 244 Borrowing a Knife and Escaping

Half an hour later, He Yuzhu turned on the radio. After the indicator light flashed a few times, the same voice came from the other end: "'Wanderer,' this is Eagle's Nest. Your information has attracted great attention from above. We need coordinates, precise coordinates. And the specific nature of the 'Iron Curtain.'"

He Yuzhu's smile widened: "Eagle's Nest, I'll provide the coordinates later. As for the nature of the 'Iron Curtain'..." He paused deliberately, "You can think of it as a huge, assembling heart. A 'steel heart' capable of plunging the entire region into panic. Its, is your old friend's most prized 'spear'."

"A spear?!" The voice on the other end of the communicator suddenly rose, filled with incredulous shock. "You mean... a strategic-level...?!"

"Bingo."

Silence fell on the other end of the radio. He Yuzhu heard slightly rapid breathing, as well as sounds of quick movement and flipping through papers, indicating that it was not just one person listening to the call.

This information was like a bombshell, causing a huge uproar in the command center over there.

"Please provide us with the precise coordinates! We need to verify them! If the information you provide is accurate, we promise to forgive and forget about your past actions." The last sentence clearly carries a transactional tone.

He Yuzhu sneered inwardly.

"Let bygones be bygones? Is that even possible?"

不过他只是借一把刀而已，于是他利索的给出了坐标：“北纬 22°15'30“，东经 103°45'18“；重复：北纬 22°15'30“，东经 103°45'18“”

Then he shut down the radio. He didn't believe they would only target the place he mentioned. He was now evacuating, evacuating the Huanglian Mountains.

Hundreds of kilometers away, at the Bald Eagle Forward Tactical Command (TOC).

"Lance," Colonel Hackett stared intently at the coordinates circled in red on the map and said in a deep voice, "Who exactly is this 'Ghost'? What does he want?"

"Sir, the motive is unclear! But the coordinates are located deep in the Huanglian Mountains of Beihouzi, which highly coincides with the area of ​​abnormal activity recently detected by our satellite reconnaissance! This area does indeed have high-intensity air defense and electronic shielding, and there are thermal traces of large engineering vehicles recently!"

"His description of a 'steel heart' and 'assembly' is logically sound!" The operations staff pointed to the map. "This is the core area of ​​the northern part of the South, an ideal location for deploying such weapons! If it really is the latest model, once deployed, the entire South, our base, and even parts of Thailand will be under its coverage! The consequences will be unimaginable!"

"A trap! This must be a trap!" Others disagreed.

"Impossible. Who would be stupid enough to go deep into the mountains to find such coordinates as a trap?"

"Even if it's a trap, we'll jump in. At worst, we'll lose a few planes. We'll bring Delta Force along, and if anything goes wrong, we'll bring the pilots back!"

"Sir, only Team C is left in Delta Force. Team B lost contact in MZ a while ago. Our men went there but couldn't find them. They must have met with some misfortune."

"Could it be a 'ghost'?"

"We don't know. The 'ghost' is elusive, so we can't match it."

"Dispatch Squad C out, just in case!"

"Sir! We can't fall for it!" the staff officer who had just said it was a trap exclaimed urgently.

"Trying it?" Hackett looked up sharply, his eyes gleaming. "What if the intelligence is true? If we hesitate and miss the chance to destroy this 'heart,' allowing our adversaries to raise a 'spear' right under our noses that could alter the regional strategic balance, who will bear the responsibility? You?"

The command center fell silent instantly.

Hackett took a deep breath and made his decision.

He turned to the communications officer, his voice resolute: "Connect to SAC immediately! Top priority! Codename 'Thunder Furnace'!"

"Yes"

About ten kilometers outside the Huanglian Mountains.

He Yuzhu continued driving further away, not daring to be sure if those people would do what they did to F877.

Half an hour later, He Yuzhu had left the Huanglian Mountains by about 20 kilometers. He parked his car, found a place to set up a high-powered telescope, and looked at the sky.

Time passes minute by minute.

One hour and thirty minutes...

One hour and forty minutes…

One hour and fifty minutes...

Almost two hours later, a low, suppressed hum came from the distant southern horizon!
The sound was initially faint, like a swarm of bees, but it quickly grew louder, eventually sounding like thunder exploding overhead.

coming!

He Yuzhu perked up and immediately pointed the binoculars in the direction from which the sound came.

Through the telescope, the massive formation of B-52D bombers, maintaining a tight formation, rolled towards the Hoang Lien Shan Mountains!

Slightly below them in the lower airspace are the smaller but faster "Thunder Gods" and "Ghosts".

The telescope has a limited field of vision, so He Yuzhu could only watch them for a few kilometers.

A dozen minutes later, deep in the Huanglian Mountains.

“Woo-woo-woo!!!”

Almost as soon as the aircraft entered the mountain range, the piercing and shrill air raid sirens blared in the base in the mountain valley! The silence was completely shattered!
Hidden on the mountain ridge and camouflaged in the forest, the SAM-2 breaks free of its disguise! The vehicle's radar antenna spins wildly, locking onto a target high in the sky!

"Boo! Hah! Hah!"

Several streaks of blazing white flame appeared, and the venomous snakes, trailing long plumes of smoke, rushed straight toward the massive formation of B-52s!

"Mockingbird! Launch!"

The low-flying F-105 formation opened fire! One after another, the "Shrike" swooped down at an even faster speed!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Huge fireballs exploded in the air!
"Target area confirmed! Bombing lanes open!"

Inside the B-52 cabin, the bombardier's cold voice rang out.

"bomb!"

The massive bomb bay door on the belly of the aircraft slowly opened!

"Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—!!!"

High-explosive aerial bombs, incendiary bombs, and even bunker buster bombs, detached from the B-52's bomb bay, rained down on the locked-down ravine with piercing whistles!

The sight was so spectacular it was breathtaking, and so terrifying it froze your soul!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Rumble rumble rumble! Rumble rumble rumble!
He Yuzhu couldn't see it, but he felt a slight tremor in the ground. If he could feel it from this far away, one can imagine what the actual impact point of the bullet must have been like.

The earth cracked! A real earthquake!

The entire mountain valley where the "Iron Curtain" base was located, along with the surrounding area of ​​several square kilometers, was completely engulfed by an endless, orange-red fireball! It became a boiling, churning sea of ​​death!

The shockwave spread wildly outwards in a ring from the point of bombing!
Towering ancient trees were uprooted and instantly carbonized and pulverized! Solid mountain rocks collapsed and disintegrated like brittle biscuits under the impact of thousands of degrees of temperature and terrifying pressure!
Those meticulously constructed semi-underground bunkers and permanent fortifications hidden in the mountains were smashed through.

Then He Yuzhu used his binoculars to see a column of smoke shooting straight into the sky.

"That's pretty ruthless! How much did they throw away? They're really rich!" He Yuzhu exclaimed again.

This knife made him think about the future!

"Hey, it's time to go." He Yuzhu didn't linger and drove towards Laos.

He needs to leave this area as soon as possible; the fury of the Northern Monkeys and the possible follow-up reconnaissance by the Bald Eagles will make this the new eye of the storm.

Unbeknownst to him, the bombing was still ongoing, with B-52 formations carrying out second and third waves of bombing.

He Yuzhu drove the captured GAZ-69 jeep, bumping and speeding along the rugged mountain road until the road ended.

He put away the jeep and plunged into the vast, primeval rainforest bordering Laos.

The jungles of Laos are more primitive, humid, and sparsely populated than those of Vietnam.

There are no clear battle lines here, yet danger lurks everywhere.

The Ho Chi Minh Trail, like a hidden vein, meanders through the area, transporting soldiers and supplies from the north.

Along the way, there were not only guard posts and transport teams of the Northern Monkeys, but also guerrillas active to protect the supply lines, as well as hostile mountain tribes driven by the war.

Not to mention the deadly traps everywhere—bamboo skewer arrays, booby traps, poisonous snakes, miasma, and swamps that can devour everything.

When He Yuzhu encounters a checkpoint or patrol team that he cannot bypass, he takes swift and decisive action.

He wiped out several small groups of Northern Monkey transport teams he encountered.

After nearly twenty days of arduous trekking, He Yuzhu finally crossed the deadly jungle of northern Laos and arrived near Udon Thani Province in northeastern Thailand, which borders Laos.

The atmosphere here is completely different from that of war-torn Laos, but it is by no means a paradise.

As an ally of the Bald Eagle, Thailand has numerous Bald Eagle bases throughout its territory, especially in Udon Thani and Ubon Ratchathani in the northeast, which are important air force bases and logistics hubs.

At the same time, this area is also a gray area where various intelligence agencies, arms dealers, drug kingpins, and anti-government armed groups are active.

On the surface, the village appeared peaceful, but who knows what kind of shady dealings were going on behind the scenes. He Yuzhu stopped outside a small border town near the border, a place teeming with all sorts of people.

He needed information—how to get to Bangkok safely or find a boat directly to Hong Kong.

More importantly, he needs a new, verifiable identity.

He observed the town for two days.

The town has shabby bars, casinos, and huts with suggestive pink lights. People come and go, including tired bald eagle soldiers, Thai locals with shifty eyes, Western backpackers in a hurry, and some tough-looking characters who don't seem like good people.

The target was quickly identified: a Chinese man nicknamed "Snakehead Gold." In his fifties, lean and shrewd, he ran an inconspicuous grocery store in town, but secretly engaged in human smuggling, document forgery, and other illegal activities. He was rumored to have powerful connections and could obtain "safe" tickets to Hong Kong.

Late at night, in the backyard of the general store.

He Yuzhu scaled the wall and silently appeared behind the snakehead, Jin, who was counting money under the lamp, with the cold muzzle of a gun pressed against the back of his head.

Snakehead Jin froze, cold sweat instantly soaking his vest. "Friend... let's talk this out... want money? Take everything on the table..."

“I have the money.” He Yuzhu’s voice was hoarse and cold, carrying a heavy smell of gunpowder. “I need a ferry ticket to Hong Kong, the fastest and safest one. I also need a clean identity, from Thailand, that can get through security.”

The smuggler swallowed hard, realizing the other party was no ordinary person, nor a deserter or adventurer. "A ship...yes! The day after tomorrow night, at Chiang Saen Port (near the Golden Triangle), the 'Shunfeng' cargo ship, running the Bangkok-Hong Kong route. The captain is my cousin, absolutely safe! Identity...identity is a bit tricky, I need a photo, the earliest I can get it is tomorrow afternoon..."

"Here's the photo for you now." He Yuzhu put away his gun, took out the photo from his spatial storage, and then took out a few small gold bars and slapped them on the table.

"This is the deposit. I'll come to pick it up tomorrow afternoon. Don't try anything funny; you know the consequences." His gaze swept over the snakehead gold, sending a chill down the other man's spine.

The following afternoon, He Yuzhu received a Thai-Chinese ID card under the name "Chen Xing". The photo had been roughly edited and was barely usable.

There was also a crumpled temporary work certificate for a sailor on the cargo ship "Shunfeng".

Chiang Saen Pier is located on the banks of the Mekong River, near the infamous Golden Triangle.

The docks at night were filled with smuggling boats, and the air was thick with the smells of fish, diesel, and cheap cosmetics.

The "Smooth Sailing" was a rusty medium-sized cargo ship with sacks and wooden crates piled on its deck, smelling of local produce and cheap spices.

The captain, a middle-aged man with a fierce look and a burly face, was sizing up He Yuzhu, the "new sailor," while smoking a cheap cigar. He was clearly unhappy with the man that the smuggler had forced on him, but for the sake of the gold bars, he just waved his hand impatiently: "Get to the hold! Don't come out and loiter before the ship sets sail! Get out of here when we get to Hong Kong!"

He Yuzhu nodded, picked up an inconspicuous tattered canvas bag, and followed a drunken sailor toward the stuffy, oily, and sweaty hold.

The cargo ship slowly set sail in the night, drifting downstream along the turbid Mekong River.

He Yuzhu lay on the narrow bunk, listening to the roar of the engine and the faint noise outside the cabin.

After months of tension, my nerves finally had a chance to relax.

Exhaustion washed over him like a tidal wave, but he maintained his last shred of vigilance.

The journey was far from peaceful. Bandits were rampant on the Mekong River, and the checkpoints along the way needed to be appeased.

The captain of the "Smooth Sailing" was clearly well-versed in this, and he dealt with several small groups of pirates by paying them off.

When faced with official checks, they skillfully slip in US dollars or local currency.

He Yuzhu hid in the darkest corner of the lower deck like an invisible man, avoiding all unnecessary contact.

His presence was reduced to a minimum; even the rude sailors rarely remembered that there was such a person in the hold.

A few days later, the cargo ship sailed out of the Mekong River estuary and into the vast South China Sea.

The salty, fishy smell of the sea breeze replaced the earthy smell of the river water.

He Yuzhu would occasionally sneak up onto the deck and gaze at the dark sea and the glittering starry sky when no one was around at night.

The closer they got to Hong Kong, the more lively the conversations became among the sailors in the lower decks.

The conversation gradually shifted from the price of opium in the Golden Triangle and the nightlife in Bangkok to the Oriental Pearl Tower that was about to be reached.

"...Hey, have you heard? The fighting in Kwai Chung is even fiercer!" A marine engineer covered in grease took a swig of cheap rice wine and smacked his lips. "Those foreigners from Jardine Matheson are locked in a fierce battle with Yellow River Industries!"

“Nonsense! Everyone’s fighting for a piece of the pie at the new docks, right?” another sailor chimed in. “But seriously, Boss Ho Fei is really something. He disappears without a trace, yet his dock business is still thriving, and he’s even driven Wharf Holdings into retreat! I heard his General Manager Ah Lang is incredibly ruthless!”

He Yuzhu kept his eyes closed, but his ears picked up every word.

The price war continues, and Alang is doing a good job.

But since "the person is nowhere to be seen," it seems that the disguises of the third and fourth brothers haven't been exposed yet.

"Sharp? Hmph!" The engineer scoffed, lowering his voice, "Did you know? Rumors are circulating that Boss Ho hasn't been in Hong Kong for long! The guy sitting in the office all day might be a stand-in!"

The lower deck fell silent for a moment.

"Crazy! Who dares to spout nonsense about 24?" Another sailor didn't believe it. "Why would a big boss like He Fei need a stand-in? Is something really wrong?"

"Who knows!" The engine room worker shrugged. "Anyway, there's a lot of undercurrent in Hong Kong's business world right now. Li Ka-shing and the shipping magnates are watching the show closely, and the British conglomerates are even more eager to sell their shares to Yellow River Industries! If Ho Fei really isn't here... hehe, what do you think will happen?"

The topic quickly shifted to other gossip, but He Yuzhu's heart sank a little.

Rumors about a body double have already started circulating! This is happening faster than he expected.

It seems that the third and fourth brothers, or Ah Lang and the others, have finally revealed their weaknesses.

The sharks in Hong Kong, with their keen sense of smell, have already begun to gather around, drawn by the scent of blood.

A few days later, the massive "Shunfeng" slowly sailed into the busy waters of Victoria Harbour.

The towering skyscrapers, the dense cargo ships, and the Star Ferry shuttles—familiar sights came into view, making He Yuzhu feel uneasy, as if he had returned from the wilderness to human society.

He Yuzhu hadn't expected the cargo ship to dock at the Kwai Chung cargo terminal; it seems the price was very attractive to the small boat owners.

He did not rush to disembark, but waited until the night was deep. Under the cover of darkness and the noise of the cargo ship unloading, He Yuzhu quietly climbed over the ship's side and stepped onto the land of Hong Kong.

Instead of heading towards the brightly lit gate, he quickly disappeared into the shadows of the mountain of containers behind the dock.

Under the lights of the dock office building in the distance, several figures not dressed as dockworkers could be vaguely seen loitering around; they were Taishan Security personnel.

Outside the dock, a black Ford sedan sat quietly in the shadows by the roadside, its windows closed, yet exuding an air of surveillance.

"Five locations or others?" He Yuzhu's eyes sharpened.

Although Colin's team was buried in the Burmese jungle, the connection was clearly not broken.

The British not only haven't given up on finding out the truth behind Colin's team's disappearance, but they may even have already pointed the finger at him! They've even set up surveillance at the docks!
It seems that during his absence, the waters of Hong Kong have become deeper and more murky than he imagined.

Not only was the business war raging, but British intelligence agents were also relentlessly pursuing them.

The pressure on the third and fourth brothers is probably even greater.

He Yuzhu took out an inconspicuous set of work clothes from his spatial storage and put them on, pulling the brim of his hat down even lower.

Instead of heading towards any exits that might be monitored, he relied on his familiarity with the terrain and used the gaps between containers and the cover of yard machinery to move like a ghost through the vast dock area.

He avoided the lights, climbed over the low wall, and finally emerged from the dock control area through an abandoned small maintenance passage, arriving at the roadside connecting Kwai Chung and the New Territories.

Instead of stopping a car, he walked quickly along the green belt at the edge of the road until he was far away from the dock area and made sure there were no tails behind him before stopping in front of a public phone booth.

He inserted a coin and dialed a number he knew by heart.

"Beep—beep—beep"

"Hello, who is it?"

"Old Bai."

"Boss, you're back! Where are you? I'll come pick you up!"

"How's your life at home?"

"everything is fine."

Are we being watched?

"Yes, after the lynx came back."

Is the villa safe?

"Someone is watching."

"Okay, I understand. Wait for me to come find you."

"Yes."

After hanging up the phone, He Yu quickly left the phone booth, found a secluded spot, parked a car, and drove towards Bai Yifeng's location.

(End of this chapter)