198: Chapter 197 Savage Mountain

The next day, Cao Xiao originally intended to go to the jewelry and jade market to purchase rubies. However, everyone was exhausted from the previous day, and the news of going shopping again turned their psychological shadows into protests. Even when Cao Xiao promised they wouldn't have to carry anything and offered a thirty-thousand-yuan bonus, no one was willing to believe him. Furthermore, the quality of rubies on the market was uneven, with high-quality ones being rare. Counterfeiting was common among medium-quality rubies; 'heated' goods, which are color-enhanced through high-temperature and high-pressure processing, were difficult to identify, and he had no interest in low-end products. The domestic ruby jewelry market wasn't large and wasn't as widely recognized as diamonds or jade. When prices were similar, people usually chose diamonds. Sales for low-to-mid-range ruby jewelry were quite sluggish, but high-quality ruby jewelry itself held great collectible value; though expensive, it was far more popular than the lower-end stuff.

Thinking it over, he could only give up on the idea and changed the itinerary. After resting for the morning, they prepared to set off for Myitkyina in the afternoon. However, Myitkyina held a vital strategic position in Myanmar and was only open to foreigners with special permission. Being unfamiliar with the place and unable to speak the language, Cao Xiao had no choice but to hire a local Chinese person as a translator. He visited the municipal department and spent a fair amount of silver to obtain an entry permit, which came with a time limit and a requirement to be accompanied by a designated person when going out. Cao Xiao didn't mind; he didn't plan to stay long anyway. Even if an elite agent were by his side, they wouldn't discover what he was secretly planning to do. Moreover, the person sent was a young ethnic Chinese man named Zheng Hui. According to him, he was just a temporary worker following them for show, just to earn some extra pocket money.

He had the bodyguards split up in Yangon's city center to buy camping equipment and outdoor survival necessities, especially medicine, purchasing a huge pile of miscellaneous items. At dusk, Cao Xiao's private jet took off from Yangon Airport, flying directly to Myitkyina Airport.

Myitkyina is the capital of Kachin State in northern Myanmar, the most important river port, trade center, and transportation hub in the region, with a population of about two hundred thousand. Located in the northernmost part of Myanmar, it is bordered to the north by the snow-capped Himalayas and flanked to the east and west by the towering Hengduan Mountains. Spanning five to six hundred kilometers with high elevation, it serves as the watershed for the upper tributaries of the Mali and Chindwin Rivers. A secondary highway connects Myitkyina to the nearest border city in Huaxia, a distance of just over a hundred kilometers.

Myitkyina is one of the regions with the richest natural resources in all of Myanmar, with two-thirds of its land covered by dense forests. Mineral resources are abundant, including large deposits of molybdenum, gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin. The quantity and quality of its gemstones and jadeite are among the best in the world. Its flora and fauna are also uniquely blessed, with over seventy types of precious medicinal materials such as rattan and Coptis chinensis. There are more than eighty types of high-quality timber resources available for commercial extraction, including rosewood, camphor, and teak, as well as rare animals like elephants, rhinoceroses, tigers, leopards, bears, wild oxen, and pythons.

Cao Xiao came to Myitkyina not only to 'inspect' the jadeite resources but also to collect a batch of precious timber from the primeval forests. Tianxing Garden was designed in a classical garden style, and the underground base also required a large amount of furniture, all of which needed massive amounts of wood. Ordinary wood didn't catch his eye; teak for beams and pillars, and rosewood for furniture, doors, and windows were of sufficient grade. Myanmar restricted the export of rare timber, making it difficult to buy in bulk on the market. Since he had bragged to Hao Linger about providing the materials himself, he had to come to Myitkyina personally.

They didn't arrive at Myitkyina Airport until 8:30 PM and found a decent hotel nearby to stay. Early the next morning, a party of eighteen—including twelve bodyguards, Zhang Qiling, Zhou Qingxuan, the tag-along Zheng Hui, two highly-paid guides, and Cao Xiao himself—set off in four rented off-road vehicles. Their destination was Yeren Mountain near the China-Myanmar border! They had originally planned to rent a helicopter, but none were available in the surrounding cities, so they had to take the highway. Once they reached the outskirts of Yeren Mountain, they would have to continue on foot. Progressing through the primeval jungle was difficult, they had a lot of gear, and they had to be constantly on guard against unknown dangers. Zhou Qingxuan, who had been excited before the departure, was already starting to have second thoughts halfway there.

Yeren Mountain, also known as the Kachin Hills, Kumon Mountains, or Hukawng Valley, is located at the junction of Huaxia, Myanmar, and India, at 26 degrees north latitude and 97 degrees east longitude—part of the mysterious 30th parallel north. It is called Yeren Mountain (Wildman Mountain) because the Monpa people living there were once considered uncivilized and there were reports of wildmen. In Burmese, the name means 'the place where the devil dwells.' Most of the Yeren Mountain area consists of undeveloped primeval forests with overlapping peaks and a sea of jungle. Swamps stretch endlessly through the woods, the river valleys are dense, and wild beasts roam free. Miasma, malaria, mosquitoes, poisonous snakes, and toxic gases are everywhere, making it impossible to fully guard against, and many are lethal. From late May to October is the rainy season in Yeren Mountain. The rain not only makes the mosquitoes and leeches in the forest exceptionally active but also causes various forest diseases—relapsing fever, malaria, tetanus, septicemia, and more—to spread rapidly.

Despite its harsh natural environment, Yeren Mountain possesses unique natural resources. The world's most famous jade mine, the Pagan Jade Mine, is located on the outskirts of Yeren Mountain. The jadeite produced in the Pagan area is known for being old-mine, high-quality, clear-based, and pure-colored, mostly consisting of high-grade jadeite. The first stop of this trip was naturally the Pagan Jade Mine. Under the guise of a visit and with some incentives given, it should be no problem to take a tour accompanied by mine employees.

The sky was already somewhat overcast when they set out, and just over ten kilometers from the Pagan Jade Mine, a heavy rain suddenly poured down. The road conditions were poor, surrounded by dense forest, and the rain caused a thick fog to rise, reducing visibility to less than thirty meters. For safety, they had to pull over to the side of the road and wait for the storm to stop. This unexpected situation made Cao Xiao hesitate. It was currently the rainy season in Yeren Mountain, and weather forecasts were unreliable. If it kept raining after they entered the mountains, it would be disastrous; they might not even be able to get out. The horrors of Yeren Mountain had been proven by tens of thousands of lives. If they were stranded there for ten days or half a month in a place full of lethal dangers, Cao Xiao couldn't guarantee the safety of the others. The industrial mother machine wasn't omnipotent and couldn't foresee the future; a tiny poisonous insect could take a life unnoticed, and even a cold or fever could be life-threatening without timely treatment.

Shortly after they stopped, the rain grew even heavier, leaving the surroundings a blur. Yet, in such dangerous driving conditions, a convoy sped toward them from behind. Driving at high speeds in a rainstorm meant either an urgent matter or fleeing for one's life. Without needing Cao Xiao's orders, the bodyguards had already rolled down their windows and drawn their pistols in alert. Myanmar was not like home; the situation here was complex, and public security was unstable. Although firearms couldn't be openly traded in Myanmar now, there was effectively no ban on guns. On one hand, for historical reasons, ethnic minorities had a tradition of hunting, and a gun ban would cause widespread resistance. On the other hand, since the war against the Japanese, internal strife in Myanmar had left a large amount of guns and ammunition among the people. Yeren Mountain was near the border and sparsely populated, with roads built through dense jungle. Some impoverished people would block roads in remote areas to rob passing merchants, and some even specifically targeted vehicles transporting raw jadeite. During chaotic periods, army soldiers would even moonlight as bandits. Thus, seeing an abnormal situation at this time, they naturally couldn't let their guard down.

There were five off-road vehicles, two pickups, and two box trucks. Cao Xiao detected that the off-road vehicles were packed with people, all of whom were Japanese and nearly everyone was armed. The pickups and box trucks were filled with supplies—enough food, medicine, tents, and other outdoor gear for a hundred people to live in the wild for a month. Cao Xiao also discovered high-power metal detectors, engineering equipment, and a large amount of light and heavy weapons and ammunition. The situation in Myanmar had been stable in recent years, with no wars or large-scale local conflicts. Were these Japanese people trying to start a war? This guess didn't seem to make sense, but he couldn't figure out their purpose. As foreigners, they weren't supposed to carry weapons in another country, let alone heavy weapons like heavy machine guns and rocket launchers. In short, these Japanese people were definitely up to no good and planning something big.

If they were from another country, Cao Xiao might have avoided them if possible, not wanting to meddle in others' business for no gain and risk getting into trouble. But Japanese people... heh! If they dared to make a move, Cao Xiao would order fire and leave them all here as fertilizer. Conveniently, he had a companion sent by the Myanmar government with him; he could entirely act under the banner of the Myanmar government. The suffering the Japanese had once brought to the people of Myanmar was still unforgotten. He believed the Myanmar government would stand with him and treat this as an illegal armed invasion, serving as a warning to other Asian countries.

Thinking of this, Cao Xiao felt a bit eager, hoping the convoy would stop and look for trouble. But to his expectant gaze, the convoy showed no sign of stopping as it passed their vehicles. They didn't even slow down, vanishing into the misty rain in the blink of an eye.

“Mr. Cao, what exactly are you going to Yeren Mountain for? I won't say anything about your illegal firearms, and I'll pretend not to see if you shoot a few tigers or leopards, but if you cause a scene and get discovered, I'll be in big trouble.” Seeing the driver Duan Hong nonchalantly put away his pistol, Zheng Hui, sitting in the back seat, was the first to break the silence, asking Cao Xiao with a grave expression.

Cao Xiao knew Zheng Hui and the two guides would be suspicious, but he didn't mind. He laughed heartily and said, “Haha! You guys can rest easy. I'm just a businessman and an explorer. This trip to Yeren Mountain is just for hunting and exploration; I don't have any of those ulterior motives. Don't worry!”

“Sir, for the sake of us all being ethnic Chinese, I want to give you a warning. We know your men are well-trained soldiers, or at least they used to be. But we must state beforehand that you must take our advice to heart and follow our arrangements once we enter the mountains. Yeren Mountain is one of the most dangerous primeval forests in the world; it buried tens of thousands of the Huaxia Expeditionary Force. Weapons can only deal with wild beasts, not the countless lethal dangers invisible to the naked eye. If your people don't listen and something goes wrong, we won't be held responsible. Furthermore, there are some terrifying things in Yeren Mountain that human strength cannot resist. If we encounter them, everyone should run for their lives. We will also be the first to flee. If we die by accident and any of you happen to survive, remember to help look after our families once you're out.”

The two guides Cao Xiao had spent a lot of effort and two hundred thousand huaxia currency to hire were a father and son with the surname Huang. The father was named Huang Dacheng, and the son was Huang Sheng. According to them, they were descendants of the Expeditionary Force and had led people into Yeren Mountain many times. Initially, when he was hiring guides, many people rushed to apply, but as soon as they heard it was Yeren Mountain and that they were going deep inside, no one was willing to go. Even when the price was raised to fifty thousand, not a single person was willing to risk their life; anyone who had been to the depths of Yeren Mountain definitely never wanted to go back. It took a great deal of effort to find this father and son who were in desperate need of money. They used to be hunters in a village near Yeren Mountain and were far more familiar with the conditions there than guides who only took people around the outskirts. They had gone deep several times, and their extensive survival experience was proven by the various scars all over their bodies. Huang Dacheng had lost an eye in the deep mountains—he had gouged it out himself—and Huang Sheng had lost an arm, having chopped it off after being bitten by a deadly snake. From this, it was clear both were decisive men. Huang Sheng's words were a warning to him and the bodyguards: if something really happened, they could only blame themselves.

Hearing Huang Sheng's words, a shadow fell over Cao Xiao's heart. He couldn't understand why Huang Sheng would say there were things in the mountains that human strength couldn't resist. Such a statement was very abstract and exaggerated. 'Human strength' could be understood as the power of mankind, including individual strength and technological weaponry. An existence that heavy weaponry couldn't kill would be invincible globally and would have turned the world upside down long ago. To date, Cao Xiao had never heard of such a terrifying creature. Even the most powerful Ability User couldn't face a nuclear warhead head-on. He didn't believe such an existence lived in Yeren Mountain; it was likely that Huang Sheng's perspective was limited, viewing things that might belong to the world of abilities through the eyes of an ordinary person and claiming machine guns and cannons were useless. But Cao Xiao still had to ask clearly; even something that heavy weapons couldn't kill was worth being on high alert for. He had to understand and prepare before daring to enter the mountains. He wasn't afraid for himself—if he couldn't win, he could hide in his space—but everyone else would be finished. He wasn't willing to trade lives for timber. Fortunately, Huang Sheng was telling him now; otherwise, if he encountered it unprepared, he might fall too.

“Rest assured on that point. My men follow orders strictly, and I'm no fool. Can you tell me specifically what kind of terrifying existences are in the deep mountains?” Cao Xiao turned back to look at Huang Sheng, asking with a feigned curiosity.