Searching for someone in northern Myanmar, and you call that earning tuition fees?

The air inside the tent smelled of blood and sweat.

"What the hell is this?"

Buck's voice sounded like two rusty iron plates rubbing together. He didn't look at the sand table; his eyes were fixed on the three bright red plastic bags that Su Ming had slapped on the table.

The guards around him were pulling back their rifles with a clanging sound, and the muzzles of more than a dozen AKs were almost pressed against Su Ming's face.

Sam lay on the ground, hands behind his head, his backside sticking up high, frantically muttering in his native tongue, "It's over, it's over, that's an Eastern voodoo bomb... God, I'll never steal tires again, have mercy on me..."

Su Ming ignored Sam's rambling and pressed his finger on the three packets of "Weilong".

Su Ming calmly said, "This is a strategic material. No one but me knows how to disable its 'safety'."

A tall, thin man standing behind Buck pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses. He was Buck's staff officer, nicknamed "Fox." It was said that he had audited courses at a third-rate military academy in Europe and had a rudimentary understanding of modern chemistry and psychological tactics, but he always liked to talk about it.

"General, be careful." The fox leaned close to Buck's ear, its eyes warily fixed on the packaging soaked in red oil. "General, look, doesn't that red oil look like refined corpse poison? And that old man's smiling face on the packaging... In our tribe's legend, only the most wicked sorcerers would use such a smiling face as a mark!"

Buck tightened his grip on the machete, his muscles tensing. He maintained a beast-like wariness of the unknown.

"Do you want to die?" Buck pointed the knife at Su Ming's nose. "Take your poison and get out of here."

"This isn't poison, it's energy." Su Ming reached into his pocket.

"Don't move!" the guard shouted.

Su Ming didn't stop moving, but deliberately slowed down, and took out... the fourth pack from his pocket.

"It seems you don't know what you're talking about." Su Ming sighed. "In my hometown, this package can buy a child's loyalty for a whole day. It can instantly wake someone up from extreme exhaustion, and it can also make an enemy question the meaning of life under the intense sensory impact of its taste."

He tore open the packaging.

stab.

A domineering, intense, and damnably tempting spicy-sweet aroma, brimming with industrial fragrance, instantly exploded in the sweat-filled tent.

This flavor awakens a primal craving hidden in our genes for high-oil, high-salt, and high-sugar foods.

Buck's nose twitched twice.

The fox's Adam's apple bobbed.

Even Sam, who was lying on the ground, stopped muttering, secretly raised his head, and sniffed.

"This smell..." The fox swallowed hard. "It's extremely aggressive. It must be nerve gas."

Su Ming pulled out a shiny, oily spicy strip, waved it under the dim light, and then stuffed it into his mouth.

He chewed and swallowed expressionlessly.

"Since the general doesn't want to talk, then I'll be leaving." Su Ming picked up the remaining three packets, making a gesture as if to take them back. "What a pity, the Vultures are about to cut off your supply lines. You won't even get to eat this kind of delicious 'last meal'."

"stop."

Buck spoke. The aroma was so overpowering, it awakened the dormant cravings in his stomach. As a warlord, he had eaten roasted whole lamb and drunk whiskey, but he had never smelled such a pungent, head-on odor.

Buck squinted. "You're saying the vultures are going to cut off my food supply? Do you know what will happen if you lie to me?"

"The outcome is that I'll give all of this to you." Su Ming pointed to the spicy strips. "If I lose, my life is yours, and this whole pack... is yours too."

Buck stared at the glistening spicy strip, then glanced at Su Ming's calm face, and irritably threw down his machete. He gestured to a guard: "You, have a taste." The guard turned pale with fright and was about to step forward when Buck impatiently shoved him aside and took one out of the packaging himself.

"General! You can't eat it! That's witchcraft!" the fox shrieked.

Buck ignored him completely, grabbed a stick and stuffed it into his mouth.

One second. Two seconds.

Buck's eyes widened.

The sweet, spicy, and numbing flavors combined with the chewy texture of the gluten were like a flavor grenade detonating in his mouth.

"Woo!" Buck let out a deep growl, like a lion guarding its food.

He shoved away the fox that tried to approach him, grabbed a handful of food and stuffed it into his mouth, slurring, "This taste... it's like the feeling of my first successful robbery."

Watching this scene, Su Ming silently gave Wei Long a thumbs up in his heart.

He tapped the edge of the sand table with his finger: "We've tasted the flavors. Now, let's talk about how the vultures killed you. These three packets are a deposit. Listen to me, and I'll give you ten more."

Buck's mouth was full of red oil, but his eyes became more focused than ever before.

Buck, munching on a spicy snack, changed his attitude completely: "Tell me. If you have this stuff, you're my half-brother."

Sam quietly raised his head and looked at Buck, who was enjoying himself immensely. His jaw nearly dropped to the ground.

This is fucking possible?! Eastern witchcraft is terrifying!

Su Ming pulled up a chair and sat down, pointing to a canyon on the sand table: "The vultures aren't stupid; they won't launch a direct assault. They'll come from here, here, and here..."

His fingers drew three lines on the sand table, which eventually converged at the rear of the camp—the location of the kitchen.

"...Cut off the water supply and blow up the granary. Within three days, your men will be killing each other over a single loaf of bread."

Su Ming looked up at Buck: "Want to take a gamble? Just wait here. If you don't come, you can kill me. If you do come..."

"What if it comes?" Buck swallowed the last spicy snack and licked his fingers with lingering satisfaction.

"If you come, I need your car, your pass, and..." Su Ming pointed to the pickup truck outside the tent that was loaded with a heavy machine gun, "I need to borrow the driver in there."