Coach Chen Wants to Hunt
Putting the thought aside, Wang An said to Coach Chen, "A 100-pound one will do too. Do you have a way to help me get one? Price won't be a problem."
Coach Chen thought for a moment and said,
"In your situation, I can only ask a friend to make inquiries.
He can check with the top manufacturers in North America and see whether there's a way to custom-make one."
Wang An nodded, then added,
"Help me get a custom set of arrows too. They need to be specifically for hunting large animals, and they need blood grooves.
"Oh, right, I'll send you another 100,000 yuan as a deposit. Ask around some more and try to get the compound bow's draw weight as high as possible."
He then sent Coach Chen another 100,000 yuan as a deposit.
Coach Chen took out a notebook and wrote down the requirements. After putting it away,
he carefully closed the office door and asked Wang An in a low voice,
"Do you need such a powerful bow because you're going to hunt mutated creatures in the restricted zones?"
Seeing how careful he was, Wang An found it a little funny and said,
"Coach Chen, there's no need to be so cautious. Since mutated creatures have already been made public, it's to remind everyone to watch out for them.
"I really am ordering these things to guard against those mutated creatures."
Hearing that, Coach Chen breathed a sigh of relief, then asked with interest,
"What kind of mutated creature needs a 200-pound compound bow?"
In truth, Wang An was only making extra preparations. He didn't know what the mutated creatures in those restricted zones were like either.
Since Coach Chen was interested and had done him such a big favor, Wang An decided to tell him about the wild boar king he had encountered before.
Coach Chen was dumbstruck when he heard about the wild boar king, which weighed at least 800 jin.
When he heard how Wang An had taken advantage of the wild boar king's rest to shoot it in the eye with an arrow, he cheered again and again. He was so excited that it was as if he had been there and made the shot himself.
This was the hunting instinct inherited from humanity's ancestors: the bigger the creature, the greater the excitement and sense of achievement.
That was even more true for Coach Chen, who had spent so many years with bows and arrows.
Seeing Coach Chen like this, a thought stirred in Wang An's mind, and he had an idea.
"Since you're interested, Coach Chen, I can invite you along the next time I go into the mountains.
"But let me give you a warning first.
"The mountains and forests are extremely dangerous now. Wild boars, venomous snakes, and all kinds of mutated creatures aren't on the same level as they used to be."
At that, the agreement Coach Chen had been about to blurt out came to an abrupt halt.
Thinking of his family and child, he hesitated.
"Coach Chen, I have a company called Changnan Interstellar Exploration Technology Co., Ltd.
"This bow is for our company's exploration team captain, and it was our captain who hunted that wild boar.
"If you want to hunt, you can join the exploration team.
"The captain will still do most of the work of driving off or killing mutated creatures.
"The others are only responsible for searching for the resources the company needs."
"If you join, you can count as a support worker and lend a hand.
"But don't look down on lending a hand. We require everyone in the hunting team to be capable of fighting.
"If you didn't have excellent archery skills, Coach Chen, you might not be able to get in."
Coach Chen was a little disappointed to hear he wouldn't be one of the main fighters.
But that made it feel more realistic to him, and he wanted to go even more.
If he wasn't one of the main fighters, the danger would be greatly reduced.
Wang An played his final card.
"If circumstances permit and you encounter a mutated creature that isn't particularly strong, you can get the captain's permission to give it a try."
Hearing that, Coach Chen immediately decided to go.
He, Chen Zhenhua, was 42 years old and had spent twenty or thirty years shooting bows, yet he had never truly hunted.
He felt it was a great regret. He had considered going before, either alone or with a few colleagues.
But they were unfamiliar with the places they would go, and none of them had received specialized training.
Besides, the wilderness was so dangerous now that they might go and never return, so he had abandoned the idea.
Now the opportunity was right in front of him. There was a specially assembled exploration team, and it had a super tough guy who could hunt a wild boar king.
Taking part just once would make his life complete.
For someone like Coach Chen, who had spent his whole life with bows and arrows, never having truly hunted with a bow was a great regret.
In the end, Coach Chen thought for a while and agreed.
Seeing Coach Chen agree, Wang An smiled in satisfaction.
He gave him the company address and told him to come by when he had time to take part in the exploration team's training.
People like them who had never gone into the mountains and forests would definitely need training. A single mistake could put the exploration team in danger.
Coach Chen wholeheartedly agreed to the training. After all, his own life was at stake.
If his own stupidity or ignorance put him or the entire exploration team in danger, he wouldn't even have a place to cry.
He immediately said he happened to have no classes the following afternoon and could attend the training.
After Wang An left, he arranged to view houses with an agent that afternoon.
The agent saw that Wang An carried himself exceptionally well and, based on his requirements for a detached villa in a quiet setting where he wouldn't be disturbed,
finally took him to Meiling District, where he chose a detached villa near the mountains. It stood in a peaceful setting, with a forest park behind it.
It was fifty or sixty meters from the other residences, occupied more than 500 square meters, and came luxuriously furnished with a courtyard. It offered good privacy.
The deal was settled at a rent of 10,000 yuan a month.
Next came picking up a car. With Wang An's current net worth of over two million yuan and his other resources, he could afford to buy and maintain a car costing over a million.
But there was no need. In the end, he picked up a Jiewen 7 from Weihua. It used an advanced intelligent driving system, and its safety and driver-assistance capabilities were considered top-tier.
That evening, when he drove home, a message came from Coach Chen.
A manufacturer had agreed to custom-make a 100-pound compound bow. Apparently, their boss was very interested in the request and planned to make a compound bow with a draw weight beyond what the world thought possible.
They considered it a way to make a name for their brand, so they only intended to charge 250,000 yuan for materials.
Wang An asked Coach Chen how long delivery would take.
Coach Chen said the manufacturer estimated it could be finished in about half a month.
That was already extremely fast.
Nowadays, there were all kinds of high-end tools, saving a great deal of time on work that would otherwise have been laborious and time-consuming.
Others wouldn't be able to finish it in just a few months.
Wang An made a point of transferring tens of thousands of yuan to Coach Chen to thank him for doing him such a big favor.
Later, Coach Chen said that several friends of his who were also archery coaches wanted to join the exploration team to hunt too.
After all, herding one sheep was the same as herding two; a few more people would add to their manpower.
Besides, these people were all skilled archers and had some ability to protect themselves. At most, training them would take a little more time.
So Wang An simply told Coach Chen to have them come to the company when they had time and find the exploration team captain for training.
But he also asked Coach Chen to tell those friends of his
that they wouldn't receive a share of the resources collected during the exploration.
He had to make that clear to them beforehand, or there would be all sorts of troublesome disputes later.
As for why they wouldn't get a share?
Of course, it was because they were mainly coming to hunt, not because Wang An had specifically recruited them as exploration team members.
If these people came along, the team would have to divert its attention to protecting them. In essence, it was like a sightseeing trip.
Wang An wasn't charging them out of consideration for Coach Chen, so naturally there was no way he would allocate any resources to them.
Coach Chen understood that as well, so he told Wang An that if anyone was dissatisfied with the arrangement, he wouldn't bring them along.
Bringing someone who couldn't see things clearly would only harm both them and others.