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墨書 Inktalez
In Taiwan, farmers rely on cultivating poppies to sustain their livelihoods. Once the poppies are harvested, government officials come to purchase them uniformly, and the farmers use the money from selling poppies to buy essential goods and food. Essentially, the income from the poppies grown by a farming household each year allows every family member to live a comfortable life. The Taiwanese government processes and refines the purchased poppies into high-purity heroin and methamphetamine, which are then sold worldwide, yielding profits that are many times greater than what they pay the farmers. This is because the government not only needs drugs to meet the minimum living requirements of everyone in Taiwan but also relies on drug sales to purchase firearms and ammunition, thereby filling the national treasury. Although farmers know that the purchase price offered by the government is extremely low, they have no choice; selling poppies to the government is their only option since only the government has the authority to buy poppies in Taiwan. Any private transactions involving poppies are considered criminal acts and can even be escalated to charges of treason, with military personnel having the authority to execute anyone without question. Therefore, as long as they can grow poppies and sell them to the government in exchange for necessities and food, they are content.
The small village near the border with Heavenly Pride is called Gank Village. There are only about thirty households in this village, and its residents are very poor because it is located on Taiwan's border, separated from other regions by a vast expanse of jungle. The population is sparse, and productivity is extremely limited, so the Taiwanese government has no need to traverse the entire jungle to purchase poppies here. The villagers of Gank Village can only grow some ordinary crops to meet their own food needs. As for cash crops, there is a Sugarcane Forest nearby; however, due to the village's isolated transportation situation, the sugarcane can only be sold to farmers across a small river in Heavenly Pride Nation, who then resell it to wholesalers. In this process, the farmers across the river take a small cut as middlemen. The key issue lies with the border soldiers stationed at Taiwan's border; since they have little opportunity for profit otherwise, they see facilitating the transport of sugarcane across the river as a means of making money. Farmers must pay them hefty fees for passage, leaving those who grow sugarcane with only a small portion of their income.
At this time in Gank Village, at the home of village chief Yandingshu, Leixu, the station chief of the local Border Station, was drinking homemade sweet wine brewed by local farmers while discussing this year's crossing fees for transporting sugarcane across the river. It was already close to dawn when they were still discussing such matters; however, Leixu had been summoned back to the capital recently and just returned to Border Station yesterday. The sugarcane needed to be transported urgently across the river, so upon hearing that Leixu had returned, Yandingshu hurried over to Border Station to discuss it. Leixu was not inclined to accommodate Yandingshu; he first left Yandingshu waiting at Border Station while he went into the village to spend some time with his girlfriend before returning when it was already dark.
Leixu then brought two soldiers with him and followed Yandingshu back to his home. However, he was completely captivated by a plate of dried smoked antelope meat on the dinner table. Not only did he finish an entire plate himself, but upon seeing a leg of dried smoked antelope hanging from Yandingshu's rafters, he resolved to finish it before leaving. That dried smoked antelope meat was simply the best delicacy in existence.
Of course, not everyone can eat antelope; this endangered species is a specialty of this jungle region. Even so, their numbers are dwindling. Local hunters generally do not hunt such rare animals because creatures that are extremely scarce in the jungle are often regarded as spiritual beings by hunters. Killing a spiritual being would invite retribution from the jungle. The antelope at Yandingshu's home was found several months ago at the edge of the jungle with a small knife stuck in its neck; Yandingshu had carried it back.
Thus, during dinner, Leixu kept lingering over his wine until deep into the night. The villagers accompanying him did not dare leave; after all, these crossing fees for sugarcane were entirely at his discretion—who would dare offend someone like him? So Yandingshu called for his wife to prepare what remained of an antelope leg for Leixu as a side dish for his drinks. Finally satisfied after eating and drinking enough, they settled on this year's crossing fee for sugarcane; however, it was not lower than what Yandingshu had hoped but rather significantly higher than previous years'. After finishing off all remaining dried smoked antelope meat, Leixu finally swayed out with his two soldiers while Yandingshu and several villagers sighed deeply about how hard life had become—earning just a little money yet having most extorted by these thugs.
The three drunken soldiers stumbled out of the village humming lewd tunes. Leixu stood by the roadside pulling out his dark object to urinate. After finishing up, he burped and cursed: "This dried smoked antelope meat is so damn salty! I'm dying of thirst! Hey you! Go get me some water!" he shouted at one of his soldiers.
"Boss! Where am I supposed to go at this hour for water?" replied one soldier before muttering under his breath: "You weren't thirsty back in the village; now that we're out here you suddenly are? Are you trying to make me run back again?"
"You bastard! When I tell you to get me some water you start making excuses! You didn’t complain when we were splitting money earlier! Damn it! If you keep stalling I'll shoot you!" Leixu shouted angrily while actually reaching for his gun.
The soldier was terrified; given how much Leixu had drunk that night, he might really go crazy and shoot him without hesitation—then there would be no place left to cry injustice. Thinking quickly, he smiled and said: "Boss! I didn't mean I couldn't get water; I just meant there's nothing good about it! I'll go get you some refreshing pineapples instead—just wait right there!"
"You clever little monkey!" Leixu laughed while cursing: "Then hurry up! And you—go with him! Bring back plenty! I'm really thirsty!"
Upon hearing this command, both soldiers hurried off excitedly while Leixu sat down by the roadside waiting. Having indeed drunk quite a bit of wine over several hours—though low in alcohol content—the local sweet wine had taken its toll on him; soon enough he leaned against an earthen embankment and fell asleep. Just as drool began trickling from his mouth in slumber, two sharp gunshots suddenly pierced through the night sky. Startled awake, Leixu scrambled up and drew his gun before rushing toward where he heard the shots.
Before long, he spotted his two soldiers under some nearby pineapple trees; they rushed over upon seeing him and exclaimed: "B... Boss! There are people! We just saw several individuals!"
"Shut up! Who's out there?! I think you all have had too much to drink! It's the middle of the night, and there's no one around! And you dare to fire a gun? You're asking for trouble!" Leixu shouted angrily.
"Really... really, big brother, it's true! Just now, five people really ran past here. We saw it clearly. We were here helping you pick pineapples when we suddenly saw five people coming from that direction. We were hiding under the trees, so they didn't see us. When they got closer, we heard their accents and realized they weren't locals; they must have crossed the border. We thought about catching them for some money, so we fired a warning shot to make them stop. But unexpectedly, instead of stopping, they ran even faster. By the time we wanted to shoot at them, they had already run far away. We figured you would hear the gunshots and come after them, so we waited here for you. Big brother, let's go chase them!" said the two soldiers.
Leixu looked at the two for a moment in confusion and asked, "Really? You two aren't lying to me?"
"Absolutely true! Big brother, let's hurry and chase them; otherwise, we won't catch up!" one soldier urged. Being a soldier these days is tough work; in this godforsaken place with no benefits to be had, living off a few military salaries all year is hard enough. The money from collecting sugarcane or similar activities is just pocket change; after a few meals and some indulgences, it's all gone. If they want to get rich, they need to catch those sneaking across the border. It's not just about making achievements; if they catch a few border crossers, not only can they search for money on them but also send word back home for ransom. If they're lucky enough to encounter wealthy individuals, one good haul could make them rich. That's why the Border Guards are very interested in catching border crossers.
"Which direction did they run?" Leixu now believed what his soldiers said; the alcohol in his system had faded significantly, and he was alert and clearly interested in this task.
"I saw them running towards the jungle over there. If I'm not mistaken, they're definitely trying to enter it," one soldier quickly replied.
"Hmph," Leixu chuckled and said sarcastically, "People sneaking across the border want to enter the jungle? They must be looking for trouble. Alright, you come with me to chase those people. And you, hurry back to the station and call the Brothers over. We'll leave markers along the way for you to follow and meet up with us! This time we might just get rich, hahaha..."
"Yes! Big brother!" one soldier replied before running towards the Border Station, while Leixu hurriedly led another soldier towards the jungle.
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