Counterfeit liquor from 1982
It was him, it was him. It was this pilot who flew the AW139 rescue helicopter behind me over Huai City when we were caught in a zombie horde crisis. He coldly looked down at the city overrun by zombies, arbitrarily concluded that there were no survivors, and left without a care, reporting to the base and bringing annihilation upon Huai City.
Nationwide search and rescue—what an arduous, noble, and great task! How many precious lives were lost because of his irresponsible judgment?
Shortly after leaving the helipad, the AW139 took off, the downwind from its rotors felt even a hundred meters away. I watched the helicopter roar westward, shielding my eyes from the sun for a long, long time, until it disappeared on the horizon.
Xiao Qing joked, "It seems you really like pilots. It's a pity that all the ones at our base are middle-aged men, otherwise I would introduce you to one."
I tilted my chin up and asked, "Does this gentleman have a girlfriend?"
Xiao Qing's eyebrows shot up: "Cousin, he's almost forty years old, can you please not have such heavy tastes?"
Back in the dorm, I quickly had a meeting with Xiao Zhang and Da Gan, and we decided to add some extra difficulty to the mission—by kidnapping the pilot as well.
Zhang Yanhuang said, "Sister Qi, please think it over. If the difficulty of kidnapping the base commander is 10,000 points, kidnapping a pilot is at most 100 points, but it is very likely that these 100 points will become the key to the failure of the mission."
Da Gan also said, "We don't have enough manpower. How can four people get two hostages out of here?"
I stood by the window, watching a patrol team with guns pass by on the clean street below; two men in red vests were emptying trash cans by the roadside; four or five workers strolled leisurely together. From six floors away, I could clearly see the smiles on their faces.
The capital was safe, the base was safe; they had bombers, bombs, and weapons capable of annihilating zombies from afar. So they lived and worked in a relaxed manner, unaware that danger might strike without warning.
"You don't need to worry about that. I'm just thinking about one thing: if I bring someone here by force, how can I prevent him from making a sound?"
Da Gan waved his fist: "Knock me out."
"He's awake?"
Knock him out.
I looked at Da Gan with appreciation: "I'm happy to work with someone as straightforward and direct as you. I'll get some things from Gao Chen, you guys get ready according to plan."
The next day, through Xiao Qing, I expressed to Lieutenant Colonel Wu my desire to treat him to a meal, ask him about flying, and hear his search and rescue stories. The meeting place was the dormitory cafeteria, and the cost of the meal would be covered by my cousin Gao's supplies. I don't know who it was because of, but Lieutenant Colonel Wu agreed. However, Xiao Qing was quite shocked and tried her best to persuade me to change my ways.
“You like helicopters, you can have him take you for a ride anytime, what’s the point of having dinner?” Xiao Qing’s apple-shaped face wrinkled. “Cousin, don’t be fooled by the mature and steady appearance of these uncles. They are very greasy in private, not as wonderful as you imagine.”
"Oh, okay, I got it." I replied perfunctorily, standing in front of the headquarters building and looking up at the reflective glass on the top floor: "Sister-in-law, didn't you say you could take me to visit your sister's office? Can we go now?"
"Not now, the base commander is in a meeting upstairs."
I pulled her along and said, "Let's reschedule the visit. Dinner without drinks is no fun. Let's go to the free market and set up a bar. My cousin can use his salary from the year after next to pay for it."
Xiao Qing disapproved of me drinking alcohol on my first date with a man I didn't know well, but I kept joking around as I continued my journey to the North District, determined to buy wine. Later, she probably felt that she wasn't married yet and couldn't afford to argue with her cousin, so she unabashedly suggested that if we were going to drink, we should drink something good. She said she could get her sister to sponsor a few bottles of red wine, the kind that wine lovers all over the world have been drinking for decades and still haven't finished their stock of.
The restaurant offers à la carte menus for dinner, with a wide variety of dishes, including plenty of fresh vegetables and meats.
Holding the menu, I sneered inwardly and ordered ten dishes in one go. I ordered three servings of stir-fried vegetables, braised pork belly, braised chicken, and red sausage. Finally, I splurged on a main dish: braised oxtail in an iron pot.
I learned on my first day visiting the base that my dormitory and the base headquarters building behind it belonged to the East Zone, which also housed key protected units such as the power supply station and water treatment facility. The airport runway and terminal area was the South Zone, where a military unit was stationed to protect advanced military equipment. The West and North Zones were located on the outskirts of the airport; they were originally an economic development zone in the suburbs of Beijing, but are now residential areas for ordinary survivors, as well as a free market and agricultural product supply area. There were vegetable greenhouses, livestock farms, and food processing plants there, all built after the apocalypse.
Why was it possible to establish this system? Because the foundation wasn't destroyed. This also shows that someone thought about protecting species, seeds, and livestock like pigs, sheep, cattle, and chickens at the very beginning of the outbreak. They built greenhouses, provided them with air conditioning, watered them, fertilized them, and fed them to ensure a continuous supply of fresh vegetables and meat in the future. And what were we doing at that time? We weren't even as well off as the pigs, sheep, cattle, and chickens in the capital. We didn't have the resources to protect anything; we were lucky if we could protect ourselves.
Those who control the gun can establish a regime, seize resources, and manipulate people to serve them. They can exploit, develop, and hoard simultaneously. If one day the capital falls and all renewable resources on the ground disappear, the things the powerful have stored up will be enough for them to hide and live out the rest of their lives.
So I didn't stand on ceremony with them, nor did I skimp on supplies. While there was still production, I ate as much as I could. In just three days, the three of them had already used up the three months' worth of supplies Gao Chen had advanced at the beginning of the year. After this feast, they wouldn't need to collect their wages for the remaining nine months. He was a member of the guard regiment, essentially a close advisor to the emperor, able to sign off on things… listen to that, sign off on things, how corrupt! Let the Red Star Base go after Gao Chen for the debt—if they can find him in the future.
Lieutenant Colonel Wu arrived for the banquet, but remained unimpressed by the lavish spread. He only broke into a smile when he saw the 1982 vintage red wine. Pilots eat much better than ordinary staff members; clearly, he has plenty of oil and fat, but not so much alcohol.
I said I was treating him to dinner, but there were actually six people at the banquet. Gao Chen and Xiao Qing were there as his colleagues, while Xiao Zhang and Da Gan were there as my "benefactors" to freeload.
At first, the atmosphere was a little reserved. After making his polite remarks, Lieutenant Colonel Wu only exchanged a few words with Xiao Qing in a reserved manner. But as I frequently raised my glass, showered him with compliments without restraint, and my eyes constantly flashed with a fervent light mixed with admiration, responding extravagantly to everything he said, especially after finishing the first bottle of 1982 vintage, I pulled out a second bottle from under the table, opened it with great fanfare, and placed a third bottle in front of him as well, Lieutenant Colonel Wu finally got tipsy.
The meal lasted until the restaurant closed, the base lost power, the bowls and basins were empty, and candles were lit for the night's work. Xiao Zhang and Da Gan didn't drink a drop; they finished their meals, said goodbye, and left. Xiao Qing and Gao Chen each only touched their lips to the bottom of a glass of wine. Wu Zhongxiao and I finished off all three bottles of 1982 vintage. I carefully controlled my intake, drinking about half a bottle, while Wu Zhongxiao downed two and a half bottles by himself.
To be honest, after the first two bottles, this guy remained calm and composed, almost making me lose my composure. Had I encountered a drinking master like myself, someone who could drink a thousand cups without getting drunk? But after the third bottle, his persona suddenly collapsed. In an instant, he transformed from a seasoned and mature man into a drunkard with out-of-control expressions, unsteady limbs, and unrestrained speech, boasting in a way that would put even the I Ching to shame.
"Brother, I've saved... I've saved so many people! I don't want your thanks, what do I need? They even brought me food... Haha, do you think I'm short of a couple of pounds of millet? They all knelt down before me, and they looked so pitiful. I thought, why not take them with me? Let them live a good life in the capital for a couple of days, right? Luckily they met me, otherwise they'd be dead somewhere. This is a kind of... sense of responsibility, you know, sister? A person should have a sense of responsibility, uh!"
He tried to cover my hand, but I subtly dodged him. He then tried to pat my thigh, but I smiled, nodded, and turned to the side, giving Gao Chen a wink. Xiao Qing had already fallen asleep on his shoulder.
I'm not jealous. I owe my victory over this tough guy today to Xiao Qing. If she hadn't provided three bottles of fake 1982 liquor, I probably wouldn't have been able to handle him. I've never drunk 1982, but I have experience; only adulterated liquor can drive someone this wild. Exactly! There aren't that many genuine 1982 bottles out there. If a bottle contains even one percent of the original liquor, that's considered good for the consumer. As for Xiao Qing's three bottles, I bet only the bottles themselves are real.
Gao Chen nudged Xiao Qing awake: "Commander Wu has had too much to drink, I'll take him home."
Xiao Qing rubbed her eyes: "What about me? It's so late, and I didn't bring a flashlight. Aren't you going to take me home?"
"How about I have Aifeng take you?"
I slammed my head on the table, closed my eyes, and mumbled, "Brother Wu has a huge capacity for alcohol, let's keep drinking."
Wu Zhongxiao, swaying from side to side, finally found an opportunity to pat me on the back: "Drink...no drinking, no going home!"
I suddenly straightened up and shouted, "Drink!" Then I slammed my head down again. He was thrown off balance, fell backward to the side, and without any support, landed directly on the ground.
Gao Chen said, "Look, neither of them is doing well. You should go back first, and I'll take them one by one."
Xiao Qing muttered something and walked away. Half a minute later, I opened my eyes and saw Gao Chen squatting in front of Lieutenant Colonel Wu, patting his face. "Regimental Commander Wu, Regimental Commander Wu, wake up. You have a mission tomorrow."
Alcohol enters the bloodstream, and one can become drunk and travel a thousand miles. It only took about ten minutes for Lieutenant Colonel Wu to go from being able to speak coherently to starting to ramble incoherently. Seeing that he was indeed drunk, Gao Chen turned him over and carried him on his back. Without saying anything more to me, he left directly.
I was slumped over the table counting sheep when the sentry inside the building glanced at me. He had come to check on me several times during the meal, and seeing that I was "drunk," he sneered twice and left, showing absolutely no gentlemanly manners!
When I counted to five hundred sheep, I stood up and, with all my might, let out a high-pitched, loud cry: "Ah! A ghost!"
Two sentries rushed in, panicking: "What's wrong? What happened?"
I pointed to the large glass window on the west side of the restaurant: "There's a ghost! A ghostly shadow floated by!" After saying that, I turned around and stumbled towards the door, shouting that there was a ghost as I ran. In the dead of night, my shout was no different from sounding a police siren.
Before the sentries could react, I quickly ran out of the building, turned, and headed towards the base headquarters building behind it. When I was still a few dozen steps from the entrance, I saw two sentries standing under the emergency lights, talking to Gao Chen, who was carrying Lieutenant Colonel Wu. As soon as I ran over, the sentries immediately raised their guns alertly: "Halt!"
"A ghost! A ghost!"
"Who goes there? Stop right there! Hands up!"
I stopped, still yelling that there was a ghost. The two sentries cocked their rifles, threatening to fire, and came down the steps towards me. At that moment, Gao Chen stepped out from behind them and hurriedly said, "Captain Sheng, don't shoot, she's my cousin."
One of the sentries stopped approaching me, turned around angrily, and said, "What's wrong with her? She's out during curfew and shouting. We have the right to kill her for violating the rules!"
Gao Chen apologized, "She had dinner with Wu Tuan tonight and drank too much. I was just seeing Wu Tuan off, and I didn't have time to see her off before she ran away. I'll take Wu Tuan upstairs first and then take her back right away."
The two men put away their guns, and the man surnamed Sheng waved his hand impatiently at Gao Chen: "Get under control right now. I don't care about your cousins. If you violate the rules, I will report it truthfully. You and she can expect to be dealt with tomorrow!"
I almost lost my temper. What does my violation of the rules have to do with Gao Chen? Judging from his attitude, he must have been dissatisfied with Gao Chen before. If I let him report it, he might exaggerate and fabricate something to slander me. He's just another pervert who can't stand seeing others do better than him!
Gao Chen turned back into the building, picked up the person from a corner of the lobby, and quickly went up the stairs. I was still standing at the door pretending to be drunk, but I no longer shouted loudly, only muttering softly that there was a ghost.
The sentry kept a watchful eye on me, while the man surnamed Sheng snorted disdainfully, "What cousins? Drinking until the wee hours of the morning, no good people at all."
Just then, a louder, higher-pitched, and more piercing shout suddenly rang out from the north, and it came from more than one person: "Fire! Help! The market is on fire! Help!"
A fire broke out in the free market in the North District, waking half the base. Due to water scarcity, everyone was unsure how to fight the fire and could only watch anxiously as the market burned. Later, leaders at all levels from the headquarters building came out and personally directed personnel to dig and haul sand to fight the fire. However, the weather was dry, and the night was cold and windy, so the speed of filling the fire with sand could not keep up with the spread of the fire. By dawn, the free market at the Red Star Base had been completely burned down, and several surrounding facilities had also been affected, resulting in heavy losses.
As someone who had drunk too much, I naturally couldn't participate in this grand firefighting operation, and Gao Chen, who was in charge of taking care of others who had also drunk too much, didn't participate either. As for Zhang Yanhuang and Gan Mingde, they were brought in by Xiao Qing; they had no positions or titles, nobody knew them, and nobody cared whether they participated or not.
So the four of us gathered in Xiao Zhang and Da Gan's standard room, listening to the deafening shouts outside, and bounced our hands together to express our joy at achieving this milestone.
"Do you remember how Captain Yu explained the core points of the plan?"
Zhang Yanhuang said, "Don't force things, create chaos, or try to fish in troubled waters."
I pointed to Lieutenant Colonel Wu, who was unconscious on the bed, and said happily, "Look how well we executed the plan. The operation to capture the adulterer was a great success. I have a feeling that our group will complete the mission even better than theirs."
While Colonel Wu was rambling incoherently, Xiao Zhang and Da Gan had already carried out the first step of their plan: arson. It was past ten o'clock, the base was without power, and approaching the target wasn't difficult as long as they avoided the sentry patrols. The free market was a makeshift trading place made of wooden frames and plastic sheds; after closing, there were no goods inside, so it was unattended. But the market itself was flammable, so Da Gan used strips of bed sheet soaked in gasoline to tie to a corner of the market, dragged it a few meters away, lit it, and left.
The fire was burning quickly, but because no one was paying attention, even after the fire started, we had some time to implement the second step of our plan: the substitution of the prince for the raccoon dog.
Gao Chen carried Lieutenant Colonel Wu away but didn't immediately take him back to the headquarters building. He waited for Xiao Zhang and Da Gan to return from the fire, and then the three of them escorted him back together. The two hid in the shadows on the side of the building to avoid the sentries' notice. Gao Chen entered and underwent a search, showing Lieutenant Colonel Wu's drunken face. I made my grand entrance, shouting my only line: "There's a ghost!" drawing the sentries' attention to me. Gao Chen and Da Gan completed the handover of Lieutenant Colonel Wu behind them. Zhang Yanhuang slipped into the lobby pretending to be drunk. After apologizing, Gao Chen went into the building and carried Zhang Yanhuang upstairs.
Because the emergency lights were on the outside, the lobby was extremely dark, and the sentry wouldn't notice that the person Gao Chen was carrying had been changed. Meanwhile, Da Gan, carrying Lieutenant Colonel Wu back to the staff dormitory, would face two possible scenarios. One, the sentry might go out to check if there was anything amiss at the restaurant's exterior wall, leaving the building entrance vulnerable; two, they might not go out, in which case they would have to wait for the fire to start and the building to become chaotic before sneaking in.
Fortunately, the sentry did go out to check, and although they were only separated by a corner of a wall, Da Gan still managed to carry the person inside unnoticed. The market and surrounding area caught fire, and many people rushed down from the headquarters building, rendering the sentry ineffective. Zhang Yanhuang also shouted for help and ran back in the chaos.
Lucky? Not at all. We went through every step and every detail countless times, adding many backup plans for any potential oversights. You could say success was inevitable; failure was simply divine retribution. I was drinking with a small melon in my pocket, thinking that if I couldn't handle this Wu guy, I might as well make a scene and blow him up. I just wouldn't let him have another day of his life.
They took out the nylon rope and tape that had been prepared beforehand, tied Wu Zhongxiao up tightly, lifted a bed board, stuffed it into the bed box, covered it with the board and mattress, and laid the bed sheet down. There was no trace of him in the room.
“He’ll be drunk for several hours, so you two take turns lying down for a while. When he wakes up, knock him out again. Always have someone in the room watching over him. Leave the cleanup to Gao Chen and me. We’ll get it done quickly and try to be back within two days.”
Zhang Yanhuang asked anxiously, "We've caught the one with 100 points, but what about the one with 10,000 points? And how do we get him out of here?"
I looked at Gao Chen with reluctance and said with heartache, "It's easier to get things done if you have connections in the court. Let's figure out how to control them first. As for how to take them out of the base without anyone noticing, you might have to make a sacrifice and pretend to be friendly with the enemy."
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