Chapter 145: Who Is Stirring Trouble Behind the Scenes?

“What did you say? You want to trade your broken motorcycle for my truck? This truck and the wine inside are my entire livelihood. If you take them away, you might as well kill me.” The truck driver shouted loudly, “You’re being unreasonable. Even robbers should leave some room for us businessmen, right?”

“My plane got swapped for a broken motorcycle and I didn’t say a word,” Qin Yang rolled his eyes and slid his knife back into its sheath.

He glanced at the truck and nodded with satisfaction. Then he walked to the rear cargo area and opened it. It was packed full of red wine—some in wooden barrels, others in exquisite bottles. Licking his lips, he grabbed a bottle without hesitation, opened it, and took a hearty swig. He nodded approvingly. The truck driver was furious and wanted to confront Qin Yang, but when Qin Yang threw a bag over, the driver instinctively caught it.

He opened the bag. The dazzling gleam hurt his eyes, and his heart pounded wildly. Hastily, he closed the bag and said excitedly, “This is for me?”

“Is that enough to cover your life’s worth?” Qin Yang took another swig. He’d only been drinking boiled water for the past few days; his mouth felt utterly bland. Even his cigarettes had come from the military base. He called out cheerfully.

The truck driver chuckled, “Enough, enough.”

“Then come help me pin this guy under the truck.” Qin Yang noticed Walker seemed somewhat conscious. He kicked him hard and knocked him out again.

The driver knew things were chaotic in Nili now; anything could happen. Capturing someone was nothing special, so he didn’t ask questions. He helped Qin Yang crawl under the truck and secured Walker beneath it. When they crawled out, both brushed off dust. Qin Yang downed the rest of the wine from the opened bottle and said, “You know what to say and what not to say, right?”

“Understood.” The driver was still very agitated. He got on his motorcycle and shouted, “Buddy, if you want to buy wine, call me. I guarantee I can deliver anywhere. This is my first deal. God, I believe I’ll become the world’s wine king.”

After the driver left, Qin Yang climbed into the truck. The gems in the bag had been seized from the armed jungle rebels; they didn’t interest him much, so he considered them payment for the wine.

He turned on the air conditioning for some cool air, feeling instantly comfortable. Seeing some business cards on the dashboard, he picked one up—it was the truck driver’s—and slipped it into his pocket. He thought that if he needed to buy wine in the future, this guy was worth contacting. If he dared deliver to Nili, where else wouldn’t he dare go? He freshened up, improving his complexion and shape, quickly transforming into a relatively slender white man. Wearing sunglasses, he parked the truck under a large tree by the roadside and enjoyed a good sleep.

...

Walker had gone missing, taken captive. When the news spread, the armed jungle rebels suddenly realized that the damned bastard had flown off in the plane. That meant the poor soul left behind was Walker. Now they cursed the plane. Leo Serel was killed because he was mistaken for the enemy due to the plane’s presence. Now the supposed ally, the plane, had been flaunting its way out, an enemy in disguise. No wonder no deaths occurred all night.

...

Azarias of Kano was furious to the point of madness.

Leo Serel’s death already complicated matters; now his son was missing, and his fate unknown. The old man seemed decades older, sitting in the grand hall of the palace, repeatedly demanding his subordinates find Walker immediately. From the start, Azarias felt none of their carefully laid plans had succeeded. The intended plague war failed as the military had prepared defenses, resulting in no real impact. Starting today, many mercenaries inexplicably began abandoning Nili. What was this? He owed no debts, but from the Crens faction onward, most mercenaries withdrew, and the military’s offensive halted.

“Damn it, damn it!”

Azarias angrily stood and paced, while his subordinates kept their distance. Last time, several unfortunate men were strangled to death by him in such a rage; no one dared approach.

“Search! Search nationwide! If you can’t find Walker, none of you will return alive!” Azarias roared.

His subordinates hurriedly withdrew.

Meanwhile, Walker was right outside the city gates.

“What are you doing? No, this wine is my life! You can’t move it!” Qin Yang shouted, but the stationed rebels ignored him and continued loading barrels of wine. Soon, a truck over ten meters long was one-third emptied. Qin Yang pretended to suffer and fled in the truck. The rebels laughed triumphantly.

This scene repeated at several other city exits in Kano.

Qin Yang tirelessly drove around. Whenever he saw rebels guarding an entrance or exit, he would pull up, pretending to be a wine merchant entering the city. The greedy band shamelessly took large portions. Eventually, only a few dozen precious bottles remained in the truck. A leader wanted to take those, but Qin Yang stopped him, “You really can’t touch these. They’re for General Azarias.”

Hearing this, the leader dared not take more.

His men had already moved more than ten barrels and dozens of bottles.

Finally, Qin Yang drove to the palace gates. Seeing the tense comings and goings, he knew Walker’s disappearance was causing great concern. The guards dared not be distracted. After a long talk with a sentry, Qin Yang drove to a section of the palace. Soon, over ten men carefully unloaded the precious wine. In the end, a leader handed Qin Yang a small bag of rough diamonds and said, “You did well. This wine is excellent. This is for you.”

“Hey, thanks, thanks.” Qin Yang smiled and pocketed the diamonds. “Gentlemen, I won’t disturb you further.”

With that, he drove out of the city.

...

These events stretched into midnight. Lying atop the truck, sipping a bottle of expensive wine beneath the starry sky, Qin Yang felt much more at ease. He toyed with the diamonds he’d received—some large, some small. Though their total value didn’t match what he’d given the driver, each was rare and precious. After polishing, they would fetch a good price.

“Qin Yang, aren’t we being too cruel?” Yu Wenrou asked softly.

Qin Yang smiled. “Sister, each of them has blood on their hands. Letting them taste the evil they’ve wrought is their punishment.”

“But what about the innocent civilians in the city?” Yu Wenrou sighed. “This time you put the entire Black Death virus into the wine, and the truck carries some black rats. If it spreads widely, many people will die.”

“Let them die,” the steward said excitedly. “The more who die, the better.”

Yu Wenrou gave a bitter smile. “Qin Yang, have you noticed how strange the Black Death virus is?”

“What do you mean?” Qin Yang frowned.

“Based on the plague corpses you’ve seen and the modern books I read in the Black Prison, I believe the Black Death isn’t just simple bubonic plague. It’s a viral hemorrhagic fever, similar to Ebola. Most importantly, this virus is nearly extinct on Earth, only kept in a few national labs. It can’t arise naturally anymore. Creating such a virus isn’t as simple as a few rats or corpses; it needs extremely harsh conditions. Given Nili’s current situation, they might create some plague strains, but treatable ones. The Black Death virus? Almost impossible,” Yu Wenrou explained softly.

Qin Yang sat up sharply, eyes narrowed. “You think someone released this mysterious virus?”

“If true, I don’t understand their motive,” Yu Wenrou said. “The Black Death is the most legendary plague in the world; everyone fears it. It’s highly contagious, still lacks reliable treatment, and many people from around the world have gathered near Nili recently. If they get infected and carry the virus home, it will be a terrifying disaster.”

Qin Yang took a sip of wine. “If it were me, I’d have a cure and make a fortune. Haha, you might be right. Sister, can you cure the Black Death?”

Yu Wenrou sighed. “I can only defend against it, not cure it. With hell’s protection on me, I don’t worry too much about viruses. For ordinary plagues, I have remedies—like Bupleurum. As for curing Black Death, the only possible healers I know are the three great doctors from the plague-ridden Three Kingdoms period: Hua Tuo, Dong Feng, and Zhang Zhongjing. They studied plagues deeply. After all, the Three Kingdoms was the darkest time in Chinese history, with countless deaths from disease yearly. Their experience with plagues was unparalleled. I believe Black Death wouldn’t have been a problem for them.”

“Good. After we return, we’ll seek out their spirits. And also find Sun Simiao, Li Shizhen, and other legendary doctors,” Qin Yang clapped his hands. “Then we’ll start a pharmaceutical company and have these divine doctors develop cures for incurable diseases. Haha, if we succeed, I’ll make a fortune. Producing a drug to treat the Black Death virus would completely foil whoever released it.”

...