Four hours later, the fat man was brought back, tightly bound, but it was clear that Zhang Haixing hadn’t gained much from the encounter either. Her hair was all disheveled, her clothes were loose and sagging, and she wore a face full of anger.

I looked at the fat man with a bag over his head and then at Zhang Haixing, and asked her, “What did you go to do? Were you going to rape him? If you have that kind of free time, why not just rape me? Even if I’m not great, I’m still better than this dead weight.”

Zhang Haike ignored my words and started asking Zhang Haixing, “How strong is this guy?”

“His skills are decent, but he’s a bit slow-witted, and when he fights, his hands are all over the place. If it weren’t for the fact that I can’t kill him, I would have castrated him on the spot.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at Zhang Haixing, but I also felt a bit frustrated: Damn it, why didn’t I get that kind of treatment? I should have put up a fight, at least pinched him where it hurts!

“What do you think, is he more suitable to follow us or to stay with our people?”

“I think a person like this has strength, but in that kind of environment, he might not be very agile. You know, once we get in, many things aren’t about fighting, but about various strategies.”

Zhang Haixing replied while patting her clothes. I still felt that our own people would be more in sync in other aspects.

I sighed, and Zhang Haike looked at me: “I’m sorry, I believe Haixing’s opinion is quite objective. Can you accept that?”

“I can’t accept it. I think you should listen to what my friend has to say.” I said, “Hurry up and untie him. Now that he’s here, don’t keep the fat man restrained.”

Zhang Haixing suddenly became furious: “It doesn’t matter who says what; unless he can break free and escape right now, to us, he’s already dead once.”

As she spoke, she pulled off the fat man’s hood. I looked at the fat man, wanting to see his embarrassed face, but as soon as the hood was removed, I realized something was off and exclaimed, “Huh?”

“You’ve got the wrong person,” I said. The person under the hood was not the fat man at all, but a sturdy Tibetan man.

He was somewhat similar in build to the fat man but much darker, and he clearly hadn’t understood what we had been saying, looking at us with a confused expression.

“This isn’t your friend?” Haixing asked in surprise.

“No, my friend is way more sleazy than this guy.”

“Then who is he?”

“I don’t know; you can ask him yourself!” I replied.

Haixing turned to the strong man and began to rattle off a series of questions in Tibetan, and only after a while did the man slowly answer a few. I noticed Zhang Haixing’s face suddenly turned pale.

“Translate!” I knew she must have been played, and I felt an immense sense of satisfaction, deliberately trying to provoke her.

“He says he was drunk by a Han Chinese fat man, who made him drink a lot of good liquor and gave him many good cigarettes. He fell asleep in the Han fat man’s room. Then, suddenly, someone came to tie him up, and he got angry and fought with that person, resulting in him being brought here.” Zhang Haixing translated.

I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. This was too satisfying; that girl was so arrogant, and luckily the fat man was clever—what a relief!

“Then where is the real fat man now?” Zhang Haixing seemed to be losing her composure and immediately asked me.

I said, “How would I know? But from what I understand about the fat guy, he wouldn’t set up this kind of trap just to prevent himself from being kidnapped. This must be part of a larger scheme. The fat guy is different from me; if he wants to ensnare someone, it’s definitely aggressive and very ruthless. Once someone falls into his trap, they’ll suffer terribly—but his traps are usually quite crude, so it’s hard for anyone who isn’t particularly arrogant to get caught.”

“He must be nearby right now,” Zhang Haike said. “If it were me, I would definitely follow closely and be fully prepared. If the other side has a lot of people, we’d be sitting ducks right now.”

“Then I’ll have the others strengthen the guard.”

“No need. According to Wu Xie, this fat guy must know some things about us; he’s not an ordinary person.”

Just as he finished speaking, something suddenly fell out of the clothes of the Tibetan strongman with a clang.

Everyone’s gaze turned to see that it was a jar.

“What is this?” Zhang Haixing asked him.

The strongman shook his head. Suddenly, the jar exploded, and a large amount of yellow gas instantly filled the entire room. An incredibly pungent smell rushed into my nose, and I almost fainted.

“Toxic gas! Everyone get down! Open the windows!” Zhang Haixing shouted.

The Zhang family reacted too quickly; in an instant, all the windows were opened, and the cool breeze from outside blew in, dispersing the smoke within five minutes.

“Did anyone come in to ambush us?” Haixing asked through the smoke. “Is anyone missing?”

“No, everyone is here.”

“Damn it, trying to ambush me?” Zhang Haixing was almost going crazy, shouting at me, “Tell your friend to come out quickly. If he has the guts, let him challenge me one-on-one. These childish tricks are useless against us!”

Before she finished speaking, Zhang Haike suddenly told her to stay still. We then saw a laser dot flashing on her forehead.

A laser from outside the window, which had just been opened, was steadily aimed at her forehead. No matter how she moved, the laser pointer followed her.

“Wu Xie, tell your friend who we are. We apologize to him and ask him not to act rashly, causing any misunderstandings that could lead to casualties.”

I looked at Zhang Haixing; she had completely calmed down and was silently staring at me.

The Zhang family had held the advantage in numbers for too long; they probably hadn’t tasted this kind of bitterness in a long while. But where did the fat guy get such an impressive gun?

I looked outside; it was pitch black, and the fat guy must be very far away, which is why the guards hadn’t noticed. But this also meant I didn’t know how to communicate with him.

“Don’t move,” I suddenly had a mischievous idea. “He can’t hear me, so I have to show him with actions that you’re one of us.”

“What kind of action?”

I slowly moved closer to Zhang Haixing, leaning in beside her and bringing my face close. She panicked and said, “What do you want to do? If you dare to make a move, I swear I won’t let you off even if I have to blow my own head off.”

“Don’t worry, I’m different from you guys; I’m a civilized person,” I said.

With that, I leaned in and used the back of my head to block the laser dot aimed at her forehead.

In an instant, Zhang Haixing quickly moved aside. I found it amusing as I turned around and made a few casual gestures, then pulled Zhang Haike over to do various brotherly actions. We were identical, and that scene must have been quite funny.

The laser dots danced around us for a while and finally disappeared; even I let out a sigh of relief. Zhang Haike said, “Please bring your friend over! He passed the test; he’s quite an impressive character.”

I chuckled and suddenly noticed the Tibetan strongman kneeling on one side had already untied himself and was sitting on the sofa drinking butter tea, saying, “Is that it? I haven’t had enough fun yet.”

I was astonished to see this strongman wiping off the grease paint from his face with his clothes; my jaw nearly dropped.

Haixing glared at me and said, “Didn’t you say I got the wrong person? You two teamed up to set me up!”

The strongman finished wiping off his makeup, tore off his fake beard, and said to me, “Understanding, you know? This is the understanding of comrades.” Indeed, he was a hefty guy.

I steadied my mind, thinking: Damn it, how could I recognize you when you’re disguised like this? But I couldn’t show weakness, so I laughed heartily and patted the hefty guy on the shoulder.

“Who is that person outside?” Zhang Haixing asked.

“That’s the son of the owner of the guesthouse where I’m staying. That’s not a laser; it’s a little toy I use as a pointer during lectures,” the hefty guy said. “You guys are too confident. My little friend here is innocent and has no fighting ability at all; how could I let him come here alone? I already planted a listening device on him.” Saying this, the hefty guy took out a small object from my pants pocket; it turned out to be the cigarettes I had bought at the convenience store. He peeled off the packaging from the bottom of the cigarette, revealing a small device. “I can hear everything you say. Ladies, you’re too naïve; you’re no longer suited to survive in this society. Go back and train some more.”

Zhang Haixing’s eyes turned red with anger, and she turned to leave.

The hefty guy tore open the cigarette pack, took out a cigarette, lit it, and said, “Women are just women; without a man, they can’t be trusted.” Suddenly, he froze, picked up the cigarette pack again, looked at it, and took out another object from inside.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“There’s another listening device; this one isn’t mine.”

As soon as he finished speaking, countless laser sight red dots shot in from various places outside the window, and everyone had one pointed at them.

Oh no, I thought: This is really chaotic; the yellow sparrow is behind!