Ah Meow knew it had taken advantage of Ah Bai, so it took the blow without retaliating. The pinecone was not too big, so Ah Meow was not hurt. At this sight, Ah Bai became angrier. Ah Meow not being affected was a great slight to the monkey — not only was it taken for a fool, but its attempt at retaliation was also met with great indifference.

Therefore, Ah Bai decided to continue pelting the ocelot with pinecones.

Ah Meow had never had much patience, so its temper flared after the first hit. It sat up and started meowing, but Ah Bai was not afraid. It looked around and spotted a bird’s nest, and then swiftly climbed up to it. It grabbed an egg from the nest and flung it at Ah Meow. The egg cracked, leaving the white and yolk running down from Ah Meow’s head.

Ah Meow got angry and charged towards Ah Bai. Its eyes were lit up in anger, and Ah Bai knew it was really in trouble now. It turned hurriedly to jump, swinging from branch to branch and hurriedly escaping.

Their shadows quickly vanished from Li Du’s line of sight and he was worried his two brats were about to cause trouble. He turned to speak to Brother Wolf. “Go chase them and bring them back.”

Brother Wolf nodded and ran off after the two animals, leaving Li Du alone with Ah Ow and Ah Meng who was perched on the rugged path. He released the little bugs and let them scuttle around to look for the vein hidden in the mountain rocks. Jade veins were notoriously difficult to detect. Unless you stumbled upon it while picking ore, it was virtually impossible to recognize jade.

Li Du was out of luck. He searched for a while but found nothing. He saw nothing unusual save for a whole bunch of burial posts, which probably added to his bad luck. Just as he was walking on the path, he heard the rumble of a motorcycle climbing upslope from behind him. There were two teenagers riding the bike, and he had no idea how they ended up on the mountain.

They sped up to skirt right by him before suddenly braking. They then turned to look at Ah Ow who was behind him and spoke to each other in Burmese. Li Du had been brushing up on his Burmese these days and was now able to hold a basic conversation.

The two teenagers were speaking in simple terms that he could understand. “This your dog? How much for it?”

Li Du replied in choppy Burmese, “Sorry, it’s my companion. It’s not for sale.”

The teenagers could tell he was a foreigner after they heard him speak. The blonde one who had been driving the bike mocked his accent and the one behind sneered at him. “Companion? Are you a dog, too?”

Li Du laughed. These were some aggressive kids. It had only been two days since he arrived at this town and he was already in trouble. There was no one with him, so he did not want to risk it. He just replied politely, “Sorry, sir. I’m not selling the dog, no matter how much you pay.”

The teen laughed. “Not selling? No problem, then. It’s not selling if there’s no money involved, right?”

Li Du laughed as well. How could the brat be so clever yet so dull at the same time?

The teen standing behind casually lifted his shirt, revealing a dagger strapped to his waist. He said insolently, “Hey, there’s no one on this hill. The dog, or your dog life? You choose.”

The other teen supplemented, “Just to be clear, when he said ‘dog life’ he meant yours and not the dog’s…”

The teen tacked on something else to the sentence. It could have been a local idiom of sorts, but it was more complicated and Li Du could not understand what he said. At his confusion, the two teens burst out into laughter and mocked him mercilessly.

At this moment, Brother Wolf rushed over to see the two hooligans standing in Li Du’s way. His face hardened and he tossed Ah Bai, who had been struggling in his hold, onto the ground and strode over to them. They two teenagers turned over at the sound of his footsteps, subconsciously recoiling at the sight of his hulking build and sharp eyes. They could tell he was not someone to mess with.

Li Du wanted to take the high road — they were just immature kids who knew no better, after all. He waved them off. “My bodyguard’s here, so you’d better leave.”

The teenagers prickled with shame at this, and one of them laughed and said, “You’re quite the comedian. Bodyguard?! Haha, you think we’re just a bunch of country bumpkins who don’t know anything?”

“That’s right, so what if you have a bodyguard? You’re still just two people. One word from me and twenty people will come running, you know? Hand over the dog or we’ll take more than just that,” said the teen from the back of the bike.

Li Du laughed and replied, “Then call for those twenty people.”

He glanced at Brother Wolf, who took out his walkie-talkie. He reported their coordinates, requesting the group to come over.

The teen did not speak English, but he knew something was up. He smacked the head of the bike and hollered, “Hey, you trying to pick a fight with us? You’re gonna regret this!”

Brother Wolf was not too pleased with the boy’s attitude. He turned to speak to the boy, punctuating his words with a jab to his chest. “Keep. Your. Mouth. Shut. If. You. Don’t. Have. Anything. Nice. To. Say.”

The teenager was thoroughly humiliated and retaliated by hitting Brother Wolf on the arm. “Son of a b*tch, you think you’re all that just because you speak English? So what if you’re white—”

Li Du could not take it anymore. “Deal with him.”

At his command, Brother Wolf moved immediately. He pulled the teen up by his shoulders and dragged him like a sack of potatoes down from the motorcycle, all in the blink of an eye. He flipped the boy over his shoulder. The teen screamed in agony. He scrambled up desperately and shouted, “Call Boss Soe Win! These white f*ckers!”

At this time, the Markelov brothers ran over with Firecracker and Vampire. The rest of the group slowly followed, and just the sight of ten tall, hulking men coming over from either side of the mountain path was enough to shock the teens. However, when Godzilla finally appeared, his overwhelming stature frightened them. They turned to Li Du and stuttered, their words tripping over each other and coming out in bits and pieces, “W-w-what do you want? We-Don’t try to m-mess with us, or y-you’ll regret it!”

Li Du pointed at one of the teens, whose hair was dyed blonde. “Where are you from?”

The blonde was not as arrogant as he had been before. He gulped before saying, “I’m from here. W-where are you from? Don’t mess with us locals—”

Young Markelov drew out a sharp dagger. He tossed it up and when it fell, he grabbed it by the handle and flung it viciously. The blade flew with a clean swooshed and was lodged completely in the fuel tank of the bike. The blood from the teenagers’ faces drained completely at this — it was their first time seeing a blade so sharp it could cut iron like butter.

“Answer my boss’s questions, or else,” Young Markelov chuckled darkly, like a predator leering at its prey. “Oh, and another thing. We’re all mercenaries and we’ve fought both government and guerrilla troops here, so I don’t know why you think we’d regret messing with you!”

The blonde was completely dejected and his knees were shaking so badly he was almost kneeling. Tears were streaming down his face as he said, “Alright, alright. Ask us anything, anything at all. We’ll tell you everything we know.”

Li Du asked, “Why did you ride your bikes up the mountain?”

The blonde opened his mouth to speak but the teen in the backseat stopped him immediately. “You can’t tell him! We’re not allowed to tell anyone, or the boss will have us killed!”