The bamboo raft docked, Qingmu jumped onto the riverbank. The water behind him flowed as before, and the surrounding green mountains remained unchanged. Everything was the same as on the other side, but he was now standing on the land of Mianyue.
As they passed the outpost, Burmese soldiers poked their heads out of the wooden hut and asked a few questions in Burmese.
Qingmu actually understood.
He had no idea how much was hidden in his strange mind. Before this, he had already proven that he could speak at least Chinese, English, Japanese, and several local dialects, and now he had added Burmese to his repertoire.
If you have a good foundation from childhood studies, English is manageable, Japanese is already an exaggeration, but what on earth is this Burmese?!
If he were a born linguistic genius, able to understand all languages instantly, while it might seem bizarre, how can we explain his inability to understand the dialect of Ruihekou?
Qingmu chuckled self-deprecatingly, then mumbled something in Burmese to the sentry. The sentry waved him over and then snapped the window of the cabin shut.
The shortest path from the Nangou River to Masuba is over a hundred li long, and it would take at least a full day to walk there. Mu Ka had someone to meet him, Qingmu saw him get into a jeep shortly after leaving the outpost.
To catch up with Mu Ka, at least before Yu Meiren gets hurt, Qingmu needs to find a car.
He walked for about a mile and there was a village. A brand-new motorcycle was parked in front of the first house at the village entrance. A dark-skinned, short man was drying medicinal herbs in the open space in front of the house.
Qingmu walked over, pointed at the motorcycle, and said in Burmese, "Hey, can I borrow this motorcycle for a bit?"
The homeowner looked at him with a puzzled expression and asked, "Who are you?"
"Give me the car keys! My name is Qingmu," Qingmu said.
For some reason, the homeowner didn't resist at all and obediently handed over the car keys.
Qingmu got on the motorcycle, started it, and turned around to ask, "How much is this motorcycle?"
"Five hundred thousand kyats, a very nice car, for my son's wedding." The man chuckled sheepishly.
"Oh, is your son getting married?"
"Yes, next month."
"Understood, I'll pay you back before the wedding." Qingmu released the clutch, and the motorcycle roared out of the village, heading towards Masuba.
The motorcycles sped along, more agile than cars on the rugged and narrow mountain roads.
Qingmu barely let go of the accelerator the whole way, narrowly avoiding trucks on the road several times, which made the angry drivers curse. However, by the time they leaned out of their windows and raised their middle fingers, the motorcycle had already disappeared around the next bend.
However, he ultimately failed to catch up with Mu Ka's jeep before entering Masuba. The next problem was how to find Mu Ka.
Masuba sounds like a small dam, just like Kuaziba, but thanks to the opium trade, it has become the largest city in Northern Myanmar and a well-known opium production base even in the entire Golden Triangle.
As Qingmu rode his motorcycle through the streets and alleys, he Mu Ka where Muka would take Yu Meiren.
Mu Ka said he would inject the Beauty with a new type of drug, so he would definitely go to his laboratory. Qingmu asked a few passersby, and in order to save time, they all hypnotized them directly, but they knew nothing about Mu Ka or the laboratory. However, they all knew that Wu Suotun had a large mansion, like a castle, guarded by many fully armed soldiers.
Since we can't find Mu Ka, we might as well go straight to Wu Suotun's lair. We can always find Mu Ka's trail through Wu Suotun.
Just as he was making this plan, a Madman dressed in tattered clothes suddenly rushed over, waving his arms and shouting in front of him.
Qingmu looked closely and realized it was the same mad beggar who had been locked up next to him in the cave—the one who had rescued Yu Meiren from the Mangdian Grand Hotel. He wondered how Yu Meiren had ended up in Masuba after escaping the cage.
"Did you see Beauty?" Qingmu asked.
The Madman paused for a moment, then immediately nodded. " Beauty, Beauty."
Qingmu hurriedly asked him where he was. The Madman pointed westward, calling out " Beauty, Beauty."
Qingmu gestured for him to get on the motorcycle, and with the Madman in tow, they arrived at a dark old street in Baxi.
On the old street, many women dressed provocatively stood at the doorways, some smoking, some cracking sunflower seeds. When a man walked by, they would throw him a flirtatious glance. If a man showed even the slightest interest, the woman would come closer and coquettishly drag him towards the small wooden hut behind.
Qingmu parked his motorcycle at the street corner and went inside with the Madman.
The women naturally cast flirtatious glances at him, but upon seeing that he was a beggar, even though the young man following behind him was quite handsome and cool, his tattered clothes meant he was unlikely to bring them any business. So their eyes revealed disdain and impatience, as if their expressions were a waste.
Several women even called out, "Hey, beggar, do you have any money? If you do, come in and have some fun!"
The Madman walked forward with his head down, not daring to even glance at anyone.
The women laughed.
"I'll give you a discount, five thousand kyats will do, you'll be satisfied!"
"Are you a virgin? If you are, I'll give you a thousand!"
"Oh, are you crazy? Even if she's a virgin, I wouldn't want her. She's so dirty, like a radish pulled from the mud. Who could possibly put that in her!"
The Madman lowered his head even further.
The women laughed even harder.
But their smiles quickly froze on their faces as they saw the young man in flip-flops pull out a large wad of banknotes and casually toss them away.
The bright red banknotes were blown into the air by the wind, like autumn leaves.
Someone shouted "Rob it!" and a dozen women rushed to the center of the street to grab the money.
At first, everyone picked up their own things, but then they started fighting over them. It went from pushing and shoving to a full-blown brawl. Thin clothes were torn to shreds, and long fingernails scratched faces covered in makeup into grotesque grimaces.
"Hey! Look what we've picked up!" someone shouted in alarm.
The battered and disheveled women finally calmed down and looked closely. They found their pockets and purses stuffed with leaves—not a single banknote in sight.
They looked in shock toward the end of the street, but the two beggars had vanished without a trace.
A gust of wind came, and many more fallen leaves danced in the air.
The Madman led Qingmu into a dark, musty alley. On both sides of the alley were courtyards enclosed by low walls, most of which had their gates closed.
A thin, tattooed man was leaning against a wall in the alley, smoking. He saw the Madman and started yelling, "It's you again, you filthy beggar! Didn't I just tell you to get lost? Nobody's giving you money here. If you come back, I'll break your legs!"
He had barely finished speaking when a long, strong hand reached out, grabbed his neck, and slammed him against the wall with a thud.
"Where are Mu Ka and that little girl?" Qingmu asked.
The man's face flushed red, and he threatened, "Do you know where you are? If you don't let go, you'll die a horrible death!"
"I'm only asking you, where are Mu Ka and that little girl?" Qingmu's fingers tightened. He didn't use his Mental Power; dealing with a drug addict who looked like he smoked opium Tiantian didn't require Mental Power at all.
The thin man, choked and unable to breathe, had no strength to resist. He pointed to a door in the middle of the alley and said, "Inside... we're... doing business."