Rebirth 04: Starting from Taking an Unconventional Approach

When Zhang Ruiyi entered the office, Han Fei was on the phone. Han Fei put his index finger to his lips to indicate that he was talking to someone. Zhang Ruiyi guessed that the person on the other end of the line was probably Ma Yongxing, and that they were talking about the Oriental Culture Media Co., Ltd., which meant that Han Fei had come up with the same idea as her.

"Be careful, it's best not to alert them," Han Fei said. "Once you get it, you can leave. Leave the rest to me. Okay, thank you, Mr. Ma." He hung up the phone.

"How is it?" Zhang Ruiyi asked, sitting in a chair.

"Mr. Ma had someone go to that office building in the XH district, and just as we suspected, the address printed in the magazine was fake. There was only a legitimate small company there that had nothing to do with the publishing industry, and there was no Oriental Culture Media Co., Ltd."

Zhang Ruiyi nodded: "This isn't some legitimate company imitating us; it's a group of people involved in a black market industry chain of illegal publishing, pirated content, and aggressive distribution. The less they dare to leave their real names and addresses, the more it shows they have no connections or backing, making it easier for our reports to stand. But the problem is that regulatory departments simply can't find clear targets for enforcement, and the process might get stuck in a vicious cycle. By the time they find them, they've already made their money and run away."

"So you have an idea?" Han Fei asked.

"Hmm, a Han Fei-style idea," Zhang Ruiyi said, "to launch a series of combined attacks."

What is meant by "Han Fei-style ideas"?

Zhang Ruiyi smiled knowingly: "Your way of thinking is systematic and multi-linear. First, integrate existing resources and information, classify them precisely, and put them into the channels that generate the most value. Then, design an action chain that you can completely control, leveraging external forces. Those people from Oriental Culture Company are like cockroaches that can't stand the light. If you chase them with a broom, they'll scurry everywhere, but if you turn on the light and lift the lid, they'll have nowhere to escape."

Han Fei smiled knowingly: "Good for you. Turning on the lights so the cockroaches have nowhere to hide, it seems you really thought of the same thing as me. Don't worry, I've already taken care of things with Mr. Ma. If all goes well, we'll soon have those cockroaches nowhere to hide and wipe them all out in one fell swoop."

......

They had been lying in the grass by the river for almost two hours, waiting for the magazine delivery truck to appear. Just a few dozen meters away, at the edge of a grove of low bushes, lay Qian Youde's red-brick warehouse. The dead-end dirt road in front of them was the only path leading to the warehouse's tin roll-up door.

So far, they haven't heard or seen any vehicles pass by, not even a soul in sight. Ah Yong tried to think of something else, to avoid considering what might be lurking in the bushes. It had only taken them less than an hour to drive here from the city, but it felt like they had entered another world.

Elephant's task for him and Ah Shan was to keep an eye on Qian Youde, remember what kind of vehicle and people were delivering the goods, and then report back to Elephant by phone. Elephant had already driven to the entrance of Songjiang Town with several people to wait. Ah Yong lay on his back, listening to the silence around him. At first, he thought he had cotton balls stuffed in his ears, but then he realized what was going on. It turned out that he had never left the city for so many years, and the surroundings had never been quiet.

As night fell, the silence ended. At first, there were intermittent friction sounds and humming, as if an orchestra was tuning its instruments. Then the concert began, with croaking, clucking, howling, and loud whistling from the trees joining in. The music crescendoed and resounded through the sky.

"Have these animals always been here?" A-Yong asked.

"Don't ask me," Ah Shan said, "I grew up in the city."

Ah Yong felt something cool brush against his skin and quickly pulled his hand away.

Qian Youde chuckled: "It's just frogs coming out for a nighttime stroll."

Ah Yong took a breath. Sure enough, they were soon surrounded by frogs, hopping wherever they wanted, clearly doing as they pleased.

"Well, it's alright if it's just frogs," A-Yong said.

"Frogs are delicious," Qian Youde said, pulling his black hood up to his face. "But where there are frogs, there are snakes."

"You're kidding, right!"

Qian Youde shrugged.

Ah Yong didn't want to know the truth, but he couldn't help asking, "What kind of snake?"

"The most common are water snakes and rat snakes, as well as a few venomous ones. Be careful, especially the green bamboo snake and the mud snake. They're grayish-brown and you can't see them at all when they're lying in the mud. These things are very insidious. They don't move when they're not biting you, but as soon as you step on them—snap!—they bite your ankle right away. The wound is just two small holes, not red or swollen, just numb, the numbness goes all the way from the sole of your foot to the back of your head. If you don't quickly cut the wound with a knife and tie a rope around your thigh, you won't be able to walk two miles before you get an erection."

Ah Yong just stared at him in disbelief.

"That's not even the worst part. If you're unlucky enough to run into that..." Qian Youde pointed upwards, "that thing doesn't stay on the ground; it prefers to hang from tree branches. It's all green, like a vine. If you walk under it, it hooks the branch with the tip of its tail, hangs upside down, and bites you on the back of the neck. Hey, the blood is black, and it has a sweet, fishy smell. Last summer, a scrap collector in town walked this road at night, and the next day he was found lying on the roadside, his face purple, and the back of his neck swollen like a bun, with two clear teeth marks."

"Holy crap. How do you tell if it's poisonous?"

Qian Youde looked at him with pity for the newbie: "Kid, based on that... uh, what's it called? Oh, probability theory! From a probability perspective, you should assume they're all poisonous, right?"

"Here you are, don't speak!" Ah Shan growled.

A car's low-speed engine rumbled through the air, its headlights sweeping across the sky. A dark blue van appeared at the corner of the intersection.

"Ah Yong, get the camera ready," Ah Shan said impatiently, checking his small digital camera for the third time.

"Are you scared?" Qian Youde asked.

"Damn it, do you really have to mention snakes?" Ah Yong said, making a final check of the camera's battery level, memory card capacity, lens focus, and whether the flash was off and in silent mode.

"You don't like snakes?"

"Hmph, those I've encountered gave me a terrible first impression."

"If you get bitten, you must catch the snake so that you can get an effective antidote. That way, even if you get bitten again while catching the snake, it won't matter."

In the darkness, A Yong couldn't see clearly whether Qian Youde was smiling, but he guessed that was the case.

The van braked suddenly. The headlights illuminated the warehouse's roller shutter door.