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

After changing their tires, Bloodaxe's convoy roared up, kicking up clouds of yellow sand as they sped onto the dirt road.

The adjutant, sitting in the passenger seat, was scanning ahead with binoculars when suddenly he froze.

A kilometer ahead, Iron Hammer's four armed pickup trucks were parked across the middle of the road, but their formation was scattered. Iron Hammer himself stood by the roadside, no cigar in his mouth, his hands hanging down, staring motionlessly into the distance.

That expression—

The adjutant's gaze darted rapidly between the iron hammer and the blood axe, his surprise and doubt instantly turning into terror.

The adjutant, his voice trembling, cried out, "Boss! Look at Iron Hammer! That dazed look on his face is exactly like yours just now!"

Blood Axe snatched the binoculars and brought them close to his eyes.

In the shot, Iron Hammer's bald head gleamed coldly in the moonlight, his eyes were glazed over, and his lips were slightly parted, as if he had lost his soul.

"It's over." Blood Axe gasped. "That student... actually talked to Iron Hammer?"

The adjutant nodded vigorously: "It must be! Look at the way Iron Hammer's eyes have gone blank, I know him well! He must have been told he went bankrupt too!"

Blood Axe threw the binoculars aside and leaned heavily against the back of his chair.

He closed his eyes, his brain racing at an unprecedented speed.

Iron Hammer went bankrupt, his territory was emptied, and the morale of his soldiers collapsed.

What does this mean?

This means that the entire Iron Hammer Zone—three mining sites, two smuggling routes, and an arms depot—is now no man's land!

Blood Axe's eyes snapped open, gleaming green.

"Attention, all convoy!" Blood Axe grabbed the walkie-talkie, his voice suddenly regaining its warlord's domineering tone. "We're not chasing that student anymore! Target changed! The Iron Hammer unit ahead has collapsed, surround them immediately! Prepare to seize all his assets!"

The adjutant rubbed his hands excitedly: "Boss is brilliant! Bankruptcy liquidation! Strike while the iron is hot!"

More than a dozen pickup trucks accelerated toward Iron Hammer's convoy.

Blood Axe jumped off the vehicle and walked toward Iron Hammer, his face full of regret.

"Brother Iron Hammer!" Blood Axe spread his arms wide, his voice heavy with sorrow. "You fool! Didn't I tell you not to listen to that kid? How could you... Sigh! Tell me, did you also sign anything, or put your fingerprints on anything?"

Iron Hammer slowly turned his head, looking at Blood Axe with a complicated expression.

Blood Axe patted Iron Hammer on the shoulder, then took a step forward, positioning himself between Iron Hammer and his gang of henchmen.

"It's alright, I'll keep an eye on your territory for you. You can go and rest over there."

Iron Hammer frowned.

Before Blood Axe could speak, he turned to face the dozen or so henchmen behind Iron Hammer, who were holding guns, and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Brothers of Iron Hammer! Don't panic! Your boss is insolvent! He can't pay next month's salaries! Put down your weapons and fight for me, Blood Axe, from now on! I'll give you double severance pay!"

There was a two-second silence.

The skinny monkey was the first to react, and he almost dropped the gun in his hand.

"What bankruptcy?" The skinny guy's eyes widened. "Our boss didn't go bankrupt!"

Iron Hammer's face went from blank to ashen.

He wasn't just spacing out.

He was reviewing the situation—how exactly did that son of a bitch Blood Axe get swindled out of everything by a student? What was the underlying logic behind this?

As a result, this guy who had nothing left actually came up to him and tried to turn his soldiers against him.

"Blood Axe," Iron Hammer's voice was deep. "Say that again, who's insolvent?"

Blood Axe was taken aback.

He looked back at Iron Hammer and found that the other man's eyes didn't look like he had been fooled, but rather like he was holding back a fire.

"You...you didn't sign the documents?" Blood Axe asked tentatively.

"I'll sign your mother's documents!" Hammer stepped forward, "I moved aside because that student told me—you're fucking trying to raid my hideout!"

Blood Axe's mind went blank for a moment, then completely crashed.

"I've brought out the camp's best assault team; the rear is where the defenses are weakest." Hammer's voice grew louder, his chest heaving violently. "That student warned me that after you changed the tire, you'd take advantage of the situation and storm my base! And just as I was about to order a retreat—you actually brought a large force here?!"

Blood Axe opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know how to explain.

"You fucking insane!" Iron Hammer grabbed Blood Axe by the collar, lifting him half an inch. "I'm here to be your pawn, and you're plotting to raid my hometown? You got ripped off by that student, and you still dare to come to me acting like a big brother?!"

"Let go!" Blood Axe slapped away Iron Hammer's hand, veins bulging on his neck. "I'm just trying to be helpful! Look at your deadpan face, standing on the roadside like a telephone pole, everyone will think you've been scammed!"

"I was thinking!"

"What are you thinking about! When have you ever had this function?!"

Iron Hammer's fist slammed towards Blood Axe's face with a whoosh! Blood Axe dodged to the side, and at the same time, delivered a powerful elbow strike to Iron Hammer's ribs.

The two instantly became entangled in combat!

"Snap!"

The henchmen on both sides pulled the bolts almost simultaneously, their dark gun muzzles pointing at each other's heads, and the scene instantly spiraled out of control.

Blood Axe's lieutenant, half-protruding from behind the pickup truck's hood, shouted at Skinny Monkey, "Calm down! Your boss started it! Quickly, talk him down!"

The skinny guy squatted by the car wheel, baring his teeth and clutching his gun: "Go to hell! Your boss was trying to turn us against you two minutes ago! Double severance pay? You guys don't even have a salary for next month! How are you going to pay double? With your boss's underwear? Oh right, even his underwear is gone!"

The adjutant was speechless.

The underwear is indeed gone. There's no denying that.

"Stop fighting! Stop fighting!" Skinny Monkey shouted desperately as he watched the two gang leaders rolling on the ground like mud monkeys. "If they keep fighting, the students will just run even further away!"

Blood Axe and Iron Hammer rolled three times on the ground, with Iron Hammer straddling Blood Axe, its fist, which was halfway raised, abruptly stopping.

Blood Axe seized the opportunity, flipped over and pinned the iron hammer underneath, and stopped halfway up his fist.

The two stared at each other, both breathing heavily.

"Wait a minute," Hammer spoke first, panting like a donkey pulling a millstone. "You mean that student... what did he say to you?"

"He said I owed him four million one hundred and fifty thousand dollars," Bloodaxe spat out through gritted teeth, "and then he made me mortgage the fortress to him."

Iron Hammer's pupils dilated: "He told me that you were going to attack my base and that I should retreat immediately."

The two lay on the ground and stared at each other for three seconds.

Iron Hammer was the first to react, his voice tinged with lingering fear: "He told me to make way... Not only did I make way, but I was also in a hurry to retreat back to defend our home."

"He made me sign some documents... I not only signed them, but I also bowed to him," Blood Axe said through gritted teeth.

There was another two seconds of silence.

"Damn it!" Hammer slammed his fist on the ground. "He does one thing to you, and another to me. He tries to fool you to death, and he tries to scare me to death. And what happened? We crashed into each other, it was like we were fighting each other. He's outrunning us, we can't even see his taillights anymore."

Blood Axe got up from the ground and dusted himself off. The anger on his face faded, replaced by a chillingly calm silence.

"Iron Hammer, let me speak from the bottom of my heart." Blood Axe looked at Iron Hammer, his voice lowering.

Iron Hammer stood up and stared at him.

"In the past ten years, you are the person I have most wanted to kill."

Iron Hammer snorted: "Likewise."

"But today—" Blood Axe's gaze passed over Iron Hammer's shoulder and looked in the direction where Su Ming's convoy had disappeared, "someone even more deserving of death than you has appeared."

Hammer was silent for a moment, then bent down to pick up the unlit cigar from the ground and blew off the ash.

"He's not an ordinary person." Hammer slurred, a cigar dangling from his mouth. "The mistake you made in front of him was trying to reason with him. The mistake I made was listening to him reason."

"Then we won't give him a chance to reason." Blood Axe stretched out his right hand. "Let's team up. Chase after him. After we catch him—"

Blood Axe glanced around at his henchmen and raised his voice:

"First, seal his mouth shut with duct tape!"

The adjutant popped out from behind the car, slapping his thigh: "Right, right, right! His mouth is the weapon of mass destruction! If we don't shut him up, he can bankrupt the United Nations!"

Iron Hammer gripped the Blood Axe tightly.

"A partnership." Hammer nodded, then added, "But let me make this clear beforehand—once I catch up, I absolutely won't make eye contact with him. What if his eyes work too?"

"make a deal."

The two released their grip, and Blood Axe drew his gun and fired a shot into the air.

"Attention everyone! The two teams are merging! Target—those seven beat-up pickup trucks to the east! Give chase! Once you catch them, don't talk to the guy with the backpack in the truck! Don't look him in the eye! Don't accept any paper from him! Honk the horn as soon as you hear him speak! Anyone who disobeys will be shot first! Move out!"

The skinny monkey jumped up and climbed onto the car, muttering, "I told you he knew sorcery... you should have listened to me sooner..."