In Hand

"That kind of thing? What the hell?"

Xiong Da had no idea what Bai Yang meant, staring blankly at him as he asked.

"It's just..."

Bai Yang glanced left and right, and after confirming no one was paying attention, he quietly raised his right hand, index and middle fingers together, thumb sticking up, and made a silent 'pop' with his mouth...

"Boss, you..."

Xiong Da's eyes widened as he looked at Bai Yang, about to say something when Bai Yang quickly cut him off.

"Shh shh shh... keep your damn voice down."

You taking a piss or what, with all that shh shh shh...

Xiong Da looked around, blinked, and whispered to Bai Yang, "Boss, what are you trying to do?"

"Ahem, just curious, want to get one to play with. What, not allowed?"

Bai Yang lifted his chin and snapped back, then changed his tone, glaring at the other and saying, "Hey hey, I'm your boss now, where's all this nonsense coming from? Just tell me if you have a connection or not!"

Xiong Da frowned at Bai Yang, scratched his head, scratched it again, and scratched it once more...

"You got a rash or something? Just say yes or no, will you?"

Seeing the other scratching away, Bai Yang took a step back, afraid dandruff might fall on him, curling his lip in annoyance.

"Boss, tell me the truth. When I sent the compensation payment to that guy before, he said someone had already put in a word, and they wouldn't bother us anymore. That someone was you, right?"

Xiong Da suddenly asked, looking at Bai Yang.

"...That's a pretty sharp turn of topic. What does it matter either way? You haven't answered my question yet." Bai Yang waved his hand casually and rolled his eyes.

Since everyone here was on the same page, spelling things out too clearly would just kill the fun.

"I can."

Xiong Da nodded. Though his answer was just that single word, Bai Yang's heart skipped a beat.

Oh shit, damn, once in a thousand years, finally found a way in. Though honestly, he'd never seriously looked for such a connection, right?

"But, boss, at most I can only get ones this long. Anything longer than that is impossible unless it's abroad. You know how it is domestically."

Xiong Da gestured as he spoke, first indicating something as long as chopsticks, then half a meter or even longer...

Bai Yang caught on instantly. Handguns and the like were probably doable, but if you wanted something long? Bro, don't mess around. This was domestic. While that kind of thing wasn't completely extinct, getting your hands on it was harder than reaching the heavens!

"Wait, so you guys have foreign connections too?"

Bai Yang asked curiously. He'd long suspected they weren't up to any good. Every single worker at that metal fabrication plant looked like a murderer. Legitimate workers? Who'd believe that? It was more like a bandit's den...

"Heh heh..."

Xiong Da looked at Bai Yang like a simpleton and laughed, saying nothing.

Shrugging, Bai Yang knew damn well the guy wasn't willing to spill his secrets. The relationship wasn't there yet. But Bai Yang wasn't in a rush. You're all my people now, and I'll strip you bare down to your last thread one day!

"I want it now. Name your price!"

Bai Yang glanced around mysteriously again, then looked at the other expectantly. Damn, something big could go down over there any minute. Without that thing on him, he wouldn't feel safe. With it in hand, heh, the Che family? I'll make you spin like a wheel...

"How many does the boss need?"

Xiong Da blurted out without context.

Holy shit, Bai Yang's hand twitched. That was kind of impressive. How many? As if he could get a whole truckload?

"Ahem, eight or ten wouldn't be too few, a hundred or a thousand wouldn't be too many..."

Bai Yang rubbed his hands together and winked.

"Not that many. Ahem, boss, for now I'll try to get you two."

Xiong Da gave an awkward laugh. He'd oversold it, but inwardly he thought, Boss, you planning to start a war? A hundred or a thousand? If that many showed up domestically, they'd have fighter jets on you in minutes...

"I'll wait for your news."

His face turning serious, Bai Yang dropped that line, walked with his hands behind his back to a lounge chair under a tree in the factory yard, and lay down. The message was clear: you handle this matter first, and I'll wait right here!

Xiong Da curled his lip, stepped aside, and pulled out his phone to make a call.

"I knew it!"

Bai Yang's eyes were sharp. Though he couldn't hear what Xiong Da was saying, from the shape of his mouth as he spoke, Bai Yang analyzed the words 'Brother Lang.'

The rest was easy to guess. Xiong Da was definitely going through that zombie-faced Old Wolf's connections!

Sure enough, going around was the way. Directly approaching zombie-face Old Wolf got you nowhere, but through Xiong Da and his crew, heh, things were settled!

Truth was, Bai Yang had been planning this ever since he found out Xiong Da and the others were connected to Old Wolf. Why else would he go through all that trouble—sending orders, selling the factory, doing favors? Couldn't he have done that anywhere? Why mess with a bunch of guys who looked like dangerous elements if he wasn't scared?

In less than half an hour, zombie-faced Old Wolf, dressed in camouflage, rode a Harley-Davidson motorcycle into the factory yard. From a distance, he saw Bai Yang but didn't greet him, leaving Bai Yang, who had raised his hand to wave, feeling pretty awkward.

We're this familiar, and you're making things hard for me. Well, I'll just take it out on Xiong Da and the others as payback. Yeah, happily decided...

Xiong Da and his crew were innocent collateral damage...

Old Wolf and Xiong Da muttered in the distance. Bai Yang noticed that when Old Wolf showed up, the factory workers all seemed much more restrained. The loud noise and commotion from before had mostly disappeared.

And although Xiong Da was a full head taller than Old Wolf, standing before him he somehow seemed shorter instead.

"Tsk tsk, this Old Wolf is definitely shady as hell, but what the hell is he really? An international thief? A legendary mercenary or an assassin?"

Squinting as he watched Xiong Da nod like a grandson while muttering with Old Wolf, Bai Yang's mind wandered with guesses.

Over there, Old Wolf frowned at Xiong Da and said, "How did you end up mixed up with that kid?"

"Heh heh, Brother Lang, it's a long story. I'll tell you later."

Xiong Da said awkwardly.

"That kid... forget it. You're not an idiot, just watch yourself. You've finally settled down... The stuff's here. I'm leaving. Contact me immediately if anything comes up."

Shaking his head, Old Wolf took a silver-gray case off his motorcycle, tossed it to Xiong Da, turned around, swung his leg over the bike, and rumbled away.

He came and went in a flash. From start to finish, Old Wolf never even glanced at Bai Yang.

But Bai Yang figured the guy was naturally highly alert and averse to contact—hadn't he ignored everyone else in the factory area too?

Xiong Da stood at attention until Old Wolf had completely disappeared, then picked up the small case and walked toward Bai Yang.

Bai Yang quickly stood up, rubbing his hands together, his eyes locked onto the case in Xiong Da's hands, unable to look away. His hands were even trembling. Holy crap, the legendary stuff—he was about to see the real thing!

"Boss, let's talk inside."

Xiong Da shook his head and pointed toward the warehouse.

Got it. This stuff couldn't be seen in the light. Bai Yang dashed frantically toward the warehouse.

Xiong Da followed, slammed the door shut with a clang, turned on the light, and placed the small case on a wooden platform. It was a password case—you had to enter a code to open it...

When the case opened, Bai Yang stared at the contents, his eyes wide and unable to look away.

Two pitch-black, cold pistols lay in the foam padding inside the case, with several boxes of bullets beside them.

"Holy shit, is this the legendary Desert Eagle?"

Bai Yang said, eyes gleaming. As he spoke, he reached out and picked one up—heavy and cold.

Xiong Da's forehead was covered in black lines.

"Boss, you're overthinking it. This is a domestic QSG92. Total length 199 mm, weight 0.76 kg, fifteen-round double-stack magazine capacity, effective range 50 meters. Uses domestic DAP 9 mm pistol rounds. Within effective range, it can penetrate 1.3 mm thick 232 steel plate and still go through 50 mm pine board. If using Parabellum rounds under the same conditions, it can't achieve the above results. Features include..."

Holding the pistol, Bai Yang stared at Xiong Da with wide eyes. You're spouting all that—I don't understand it, man! And damn, you're way too professional, aren't you?

"Don't give me all that useless crap. Just tell me how to use it safely."

Waving his hand, Bai Yang cut off Xiong Da's endless stream of words.

Xiong Da's face twitched. Fine, pearls cast before swine. He picked up the other gun from the case, and Bai Yang watched dumbfounded as Xiong Da clicked and clacked, disassembling the gun into parts, then magically reassembled it.

"Ahem, reflex, totally reflex. I just checked—they're all brand new. Now let me teach you how to use it, boss. First, for a beginner..."

An hour later, Bai Yang realized that just getting a gun didn't make you badass. If you didn't pay attention to certain details, you might even accidentally hurt yourself.

When he watched TV, the actors looked so cool—bang bang bang, every one a sharpshooter. All fake. To become a sharpshooter, in Xiong Da's words, you had to feed it with a sea of bullets, plus high-intensity training and so on.

That was too much work. Bai Yang didn't want to become some sharpshooter. Being able to pick up a gun, threaten an enemy, and protect himself was enough.

Look at his lack of ambition...

"Now that you've grasped the basics, boss, want to try a few shots?"

The so-called 92 pistol spun nimbly on Xiong Da's finger as he looked at Bai Yang.

"Here?"

Bai Yang's eyes went wide.

"Don't worry, boss. They're all our people. I'll have them start up the machinery and mess around—the machine noise will cover the gunshots. No problem."

Xiong Da was clearly more eager than Bai Yang...

"Alright, let's do a few rounds."

Bai Yang wasn't scared either. Bring it on. Who's afraid of who? Mutual harm... uh...

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