Little Fatty’s mouth is truly sharp. With those words, he essentially cornered Brother Mian, making him look bad after losing a teammate. It was a clear loss.
Assistant Lin was awkward; he didn’t want to offend either side, but after weighing the pros and cons, he felt Brother Mian’s group was more important, especially given the mission was “capture” or “eliminate.” Now that Little Fatty was mocking Brother Mian, Assistant Lin had no choice but to turn to Xī Yuè and say, “Can you please tell your Little Fatty to shut up? Our contract didn’t mention carrying bodies. Now that something’s happened and we need your help to move the body, you can’t just ignore it, right?”
Xī Yuè offered a sound excuse for herself: “Assistant Lin, think carefully. A murder case has happened here. It’s a criminal case in China. I don’t know how they handle such cases in Eastern Tāi, Myanmar, but this is China. Before calling the police, can we destroy the scene at will?”
Burmese Monkey looked at Assistant Lin and asked, “What do you mean?”
Assistant Lin frantically scratched his ear and said, “Never mind the law or anything else, just get the body out first.”
Xī Yuè refused, “I won’t tamper with the scene. If you want to, you can do it. Also, let me reiterate, your contract with the company was to find Yú Zékǎi in the deep mountains of Qiangxi and report to Brother Mian. Our mission seems to be complete now, so we can leave, right?”
Brother Mian seemed reluctant. “You’re leaving already?”
Little Fatty chimed in, “What? You want to treat us to a meal to express your gratitude?”
Brother Mian glared fiercely at Little Fatty, then said to Burmese Monkey No. 2 behind him, “Notify the teammates to come for backup.”
Burmese Monkey No. 2 squatted on the ground, held the walkie-talkie on his shoulder strap with his right hand, and babbled in Burmese. No one understood what he said, but the general meaning was to call for someone to collect the body.
Cāng Yúnfēng watched from the side, silent. He thought, *With the same walkie-talkie, let’s see how you contact anyone.*
About three seconds after Burmese Monkey No. 2 finished his call, there was no response from the walkie-talkie. This displeased Brother Mian, who stared at Burmese Monkey No. 2.
Burmese Monkey No. 2 pressed the walkie-talkie again to call for backup.
Brother Mian got impatient and kicked Burmese Monkey’s backside, yelling, “Are you stupid? Use the satellite phone.”
Burmese Monkey No. 2, kicked to the ground, looked at Brother Mian innocently and said, “I don’t have a satellite phone…”
Brother Mian roared, “If you don’t have one, can’t you find it?”
Burmese Monkey No. 2, feeling wronged, turned over Burmese Monkey No. 1’s backpack. The satellite phone was indeed with Burmese Monkey No. 1, but Yú Zékǎi had already taken it. Burmese Monkey No. 2 turned the entire backpack upside down but couldn’t find the satellite phone. Finally, he had to admit the fact and said to Brother Mian in panic, “The satellite phone… it seems… that person took it.”
Brother Mian was furious, almost out of his mind.
Assistant Lin comforted Brother Mian, “Don’t worry yet. See if Team Nine has a satellite phone.”
“Yes,” Xī Yuè replied directly, “but we didn’t bring it. It’s at the camp.”
Brother Mian looked at Xī Yuè with incomprehension. “You have one, why didn’t you bring it? Why?”
Xī Yuè put her hands in the pockets of her jacket on both sides, staring alertly at Brother Mian. “The camp is near the main path, where there’s 5G signal. This area of the forest isn’t that large, so a satellite…”
Little Fatty interrupted Xī Yuè, looking provocatively at Brother Mian, “Is it any of your business whether we bring a satellite phone or not? Even if we had it, we wouldn’t lend it to you. So what? Can’t we?”
Assistant Lin looked at Xī Yuè and said, “Your Team Nine has disappointed me greatly.”
Xī Yuè brought Team Nine to the dense Qiangxi forest to find Yú Zékǎi. They had found him, and she was sure Cāng Yúnfēng had already met with Yú Zékǎi. The main objective had been achieved, so Xī Yuè didn’t care what Assistant Lin said, nor was she afraid of offending him. She said indifferently, “Team Nine has completed its mission. We’ve helped you find Yú Zékǎi and reported the news to Brother Mian as per the contract. Our cooperation ends here.”
After saying this, Xī Yuè prepared to turn and leave.
Assistant Lin loudly called out to Xī Yuè, “Wait a moment. How can you be sure that person just now was Yú Zékǎi?”
This question was crucial,