Of Mountains and Rivers Chapter 4
Prologue: Chu Huan
~Three months later~
An SUV was speeding, the car driven with frenzy on the rugged road of Mount Pan. It sped with lightning speed, its wheels almost leaving the ground as if it was in an F1 stadium.
The road of Mount Pan wasn’t easy to preserve – in addition, this was a remote area – so one could imagine what kind of shitty condition it was in.
Looking like a face pitted with smallpox, it must’ve created a wonderful ‘lakes of all sizes scattered about like stars in the sky’ scenery whenever it rained. On the side of the road, next to the rugged rocks gathered in groups of three or five, a team was stationed in preparation for a large-scale landslide. On the far side of the mountain was a cliff. On it, there wasn’t even a half-brick-sized shelter. When the person extended their head out from the car, they could see the winding river by the foot of the mountain and a few dilapidated buildings lined up on the distant hillsides, the scenery appearing very extraordinary.
The car continued its dangerous journey to the narrowest part of the road. It rushed through, suspended in the air less than 20cm distance from the cliff as it passed, prepared to slip at any time.
The lunatic driver had a handgun in one hand that rested on the steering wheel. In spite of the car becoming like Chang’e 3, he wore an unchanging expression of ease and relaxation.
The mountain wind followed the open car window and blew his hair into a flurry of dancing demons; by the time he got off, he was afraid he’d look like one of those 'scene kids' from the remote outskirts.
Amidst the roaring of the off-road vehicles and Super Mario mushroom sound effects, there was also a faint sound of struggling. There, a man was trussed up on the front passenger seat, his forehead dripping with sweat – it was unknown whether it was from fear or something else. The man’s mouth was stuffed full with a car-cleaning rag, his eyes flashing with a horrified glint.
“Chu Huan, Chu Huan, please respond when received.”
The driving Chu Huan wore an inexplicable smirk. He tilted his head to glance at the man sitting in the passenger seat who was scared to the point of pissing. He affectionately used his gun to knock the other’s head a few times. “Received, speak.”
On the other side, Old Wang Fei spoke quickly. “Our operation’s been cancelled; you must immediately bring him back. I repeat, our operation’s been cancelled. Small Ghost is obviously just a pawn – Big Ghost’s goal is you. Huo Hui from our side might already be…”
Chu Huan leisurely connected the dots. “We’ve been betrayed.”
Old Wang stuttered. After a while, he finally recovered his senses and urgently asked, “Where’s Huo Hui right now? Where are you?”
Chu Huan responded with a smile. “Oh, he’s next to me, accompanying me on a drive. Do you want to talk to him?”
Old Wang was silent for a moment. Realising that Chu Huan seemed to be confident in handling this matter, he felt relieved. “You… You rascal, how did you know?”
This time, Big and Small Ghost had entered the country very brazenly, desperately putting up a last struggle – they escorted a batch of arms hidden at the bottom of a pressure box to East Turkestan. Their route could’ve bypassed China, but they suddenly made a temporary change because they received news about Chu Huan – these two Ghosts hated nobody more than Chu Huan.
For the past three years, in order to protect himself, Chu Huan only maintained contact with Old Wang and lived his days in seclusion. However, even wise men make mistakes sometimes; even such strict confidentiality couldn’t hold them from deliberately looking for him.
No matter what side it was, whether it be the government's or the terrorists', a lot of power had been poured into this operation; they all understood that this time would truly end in either life or death. Either the two Ghosts would be completely eliminated or they had to watch as they rose from the ashes.
Old Wang, as the head of the operation, was so cautious it could make one’s hair stand up. Chu Huan had spent a long period of time living in his office, so the two had carefully considered all details in advance.
Until now, three or four problematic people involved in internal affairs had been cleared out and were under quarantined investigations.
Their preparations should’ve been seamless, but…
No matter. If the two Ghosts really were so easy to deal with, no country in Asia would’ve let them run wild for so long.
Now, the two Ghosts’ major troops had been successfully detained, the Chinese had seized all their arms and, according to sources, they’d also found Small Ghost’s foothold. Soldiers were divided into two groups; Old Wang was assigned to stop Small Ghost whilst Chu Huan was ordered to hunt down Big Ghost. They were only one step away from 'bringing back the two Ghosts' heads' for their inescapable trap, yet who would’ve thought something would go wrong?
There was a traitor among them, what could be more depressing than this?
The SUV alarmingly turned a huge corner, the rear wheels skidding with a piercing shriek. In contrast to the dangerous driving, Chu Huan sounded mild and lukewarm, similar to Chu Aiguo’s intonation. “Aiya, this? I can’t really explain it, but if I had to explain, it was just my intuition. My profession is to catch the Ghosts, so now their ghostly aura’s attached to me.”
Lao Wang: “You little shit, why the fuck didn’t you say so earlier – what are we gonna do now? Wait, Chu, don’t tell me you’re gonna leave the team?!”
Chu Huan ignored his raging roars and, without a shred of panic, began explaining. “It’s not like I know how to fortune-tell; without evidence, how would I have known who the inner ghost was? Since the others’ killers are used on the edge of a blade, then we have to use the blade in order to test them out, don’t we? In addition, as you know, just to eliminate me this time Big Ghost didn’t even hesitate to drag out his coffin; we have to cooperate with them to catch them all in one sweep, yeah?”
Lao Wang understood his ‘cool’ nature. Cool sweat immediately dripped down. The two Ghosts entered from the southwest border; after undergoing a strict demonstration, they chose this area as an interception location so they could avoid other citizens as much as possible. But the terrains here were very complex, and although they were capable of locating him, they’d still be unable to catch up with Chu Huan for a long while.
Little Glasses was usually so unhurried and sluggish, with a docile look to him, yet was truly unreliable during critical moments, not even recognising his own family. Old Wang recalled the group of people he sent out just then and the only one left from then was Chu Huan. If he also…
“No matter what you want to do, you must bring your ass back here – promptly, immediately, right now!”
Chu Huan laughed with a ‘hehe’. “Don’t be like this. I rarely pull my hatred out to this extent; if I miss my chance, it won’t be so easy for me to brush off in the future.”
Old Wang: “…”
He wanted to blow off Little Glasses’ head in one shot.
Chu Huan: “Anyways, it’s too late to say all this now – there’s a bomb under my car, you know?”
Old Wang screamed out: “WHAT?!”
Chu Huan clamped a small microchip between two fingers and inserted it into his glasses’ temples. Immediately, high-tech satellite images of his surroundings jumped out onto his flat lenses, a line of small print appearing on a corner: Readable, loading, please wait.
He curved his eyes and smiled at the traitor Huo Hui beside him before empty-handedly imitating a gesture of thanks by taking off a non-existent hat. “Your things are made so exquisitely, Brother Huo Hui. Your undercover act was more meticulous than mine from the past, so I represent the organisation to thank you.”
Loading completed. A cluster of small red dots appeared on his lenses.
“Maybe they were afraid I wouldn’t be bombed to death. There are thirteen, fourteen, hm… Fifteen people up ahead waiting to collect my body,” Chu Huan cheerfully said to Old Wang. ”Remember what we’ve discussed before. They’re afraid we’ll use helicopters and heavy weaponry, so their backup support must be in the northern town – there must be another batch of arms carried. There’s going to be a big rally today, so there’s no guarantee they won’t hide among normal citizens. I’ve asked our brothers to go there – if they can clean up properly, then Big Ghost will be completely helpless and have nowhere to run today.“
Old Wang: “You-”
Chu Huan interrupted him: “Don’t worry – let’s talk later. The car’s going to blow up.”
Old Wang: “Wai-”
Chu Huan cut off the communication without any explanation.
Two minutes later, the SUV drove into a mountainous forest, suddenly out of control. From the road of Mount Pan, the entire car rolled down and exploded in mid-air, the earth-shattering noise causing all the birds in the mountainous forest to fly away. Thick smoke billowed from the car that had dropped from the cliff.
As soon as the vehicle turned over, a long whistle suddenly sounded; from the shadows of the forest and mountain-foot boulders, many people rushed out. They’d clearly been waiting in ambush here for a very long time.
There were eight people in the forest and seven behind the sloping boulders, all carrying fire-extinguishing equipment.
A second explosion occurred five minutes after, just enough time for them to quickly get close. Once the explosion ended, it was clear nobody was in the car.
Chu Huan sat behind a big rock by the edge of the cliff and took out a pocket watch.
The red dots on his glasses could indicate the general locations of his enemies, but he knew it wasn’t complete – he couldn’t see Big Ghost with his glasses, but based on his understanding of the other, he must be on the scene.
Chu Huan carried his military weapon, the tip wedged against the still-trussed-up traitor’s throat; the man’s mouth was tightly gagged, but he didn’t dare make a sound anyway.
Chu Huan’s hands were very artistic; his palms were a little thin, his fingers long, and his nails clean and tidy. Huo Hui also knew these hands to be extremely steady. As long as he wanted it to, that humble-looking triangular bayonet would immediately poke a bloody hole in his throat.
He didn’t know why Chu Huan didn’t leave him in the exploding car.
Chu Huan took a cigarette from his pocket and held it in his mouth. Afraid of exposing himself, he didn’t light it; just smelt and tasted it.
”Did you know Brother Wang has a daughter?“ He seemed to have mentioned this casually, his tone plain as if he was initiating small talk between colleagues. “She’s very likeable. When I was young, I would play house, yet this silly girl would use stones to cut grass blades or throw two bugs into a bowl and pretend they were fried octopus. Those of us stuck with temporarily playing with the silly girl would have to pretend it's delicious, but she’s different – only she’d play with such seriousness. Everything we ate was from a clean bowl with milk, or even a scoop of ice cream, added in.”
When Chu Huan said all this, there was a slight smile by the corner of his mouth, but his eyes were clear and indifferent.
“Girls who’re too likeable are all disasters. For her, I’ve been beating up an idiot since childhood – both on my own and in groups. He led a bunch of hooligans to block me in an alley and broke one of my legs with a steel pipe, fracturing it, which forced me to stay an entire summer in the hospital and almost become lame. After I got discharged from the hospital, I single-handedly put him into concussion with a brick. He needed six stitches on his forehead, causing his face to be forever marred with a scar. Since then, that dumbass became increasingly jealous that I was more handsome than him. Whatever I’d do, he’d do, seemingly popping up everywhere. It was as if he couldn't sleep if he didn’t beat me at something.”
Chu Huan slightly lifted his bayonet, the ice-cold blade gently touching Huo Hui’s chin. He seemed to be able to smell the threatening scent of blood from it.
Chu Huan: “Guess what happened.”
The traitor still had a rag in his mouth; even if he guessed it, he wouldn’t be able to say it.
Chu Huan spoke in a tone that played down his words. “Later, when I was fighting with the Ghosts, there was a time I was almost exposed. To protect me, he and a few other comrades…”
His voice stopped abruptly, and his eyes lowered slightly. The corners of his lips instantly straightened into a line.
“That dumbass finally beat me at something; I even had to take care of his cat until it grew old and sent it off.” Chu Huan, under Huo Hui’s cold forehead sweat, looked away lightly. Through his standard lenses, he stared at his pocket watch, appearing both a little indifferent yet also a bit absent-minded. “Hey, I just can’t figure it out – why would you give your life to Big Ghost? Are you more of a dumbass than a dumbass?”
Of course, Huo Hui had no way of answering; he stared at Chu Huan’s handsome profile in horror, thinking he was going to hack him into pieces. Ever since Chu Huan retired, he never really appeared much in their sight. Huo Hui wasn’t familiar with him, however, that didn’t prevent him from hearing legends about this man… Such terrible legends.
“Small Ghost once triumphantly told me that the reason why they couldn’t be defeated was that they were so evil they had nothing to fear, allowing them to commit all manners of crime-” Chu Huan lightly tapped his fingers, the bayonet on the traitor’s neck sending out an awe-inspiring light, “-but then I disabled Small Ghost’s one arm and two legs. What about you? Trussed up like this, I’m slightly unsure of whether he was right or wrong.”
Speaking to this point, he slowly raised his head and smiled at Huo Hui – even his spectacles couldn’t resist his substantial killing intent.
The height of this mountain was the strength of his killing intent. The trussed-up traitor's mind blanked for a moment; completely shrouded in this killing intent, he almost thought he was dead.
