The Imperial Hunter

Gao Shusen was flabbergasted by this.

“No, is that important right now?”

“Of course, it’s important. There is a saying that a leaky pot inside will leak outside too, and there may come a time when a minor slip of the tongue turns your entire reputation into a mirage.”

“It doesn’t matter! All broadcasts go through censorship by default!”

“It might matter to your static allies who can be involved in censorship.”

“….”

“If you think it’s fine to give them a weakness with just one word, well, do as you please. Even if it’s not a decisive weakness, quietly keeping it stored away might be a means to open the gate when a real opportunity arises. Something like, ‘Look. The hero of the people, Gao Shusen, was actually nothing more than a reactionary opportunist who disdained the people.'”

“Hmm.”

After hesitating for a bit, Gao Shusen finally nodded reluctantly in a low voice.

“You’re right. Thank you for waking me up. I will always bear that in mind.”

“Please.”

“Anyway, what’s the plan? You did say you were preparing something when we spoke on the phone, but I still don’t see how we can penetrate this maze without any sacrifices, when the army and armed police aren’t just sitting by idly… Chairman, someone like you must be aware of the horrors of a poetry war…”

The depleted army and other departments of the Guangzhou security bureau were waiting for reinforcements from the central government. It would be difficult for now, but once the factories that had essentially switched to wartime operations began churning out tanks and armored vehicles, they expected to receive the equipment support they needed if they could just hold on.

Since personnel losses translated directly into reduced influence for their affiliated factions, no department was willing to step up and lead the charge with guns blazing.

I glanced at my watch and calmly said,

“Just wait a little longer. They’ll arrive soon.”

“Arrive?”

“Yes. It won’t take long.”

December wind in Guangzhou were eighteen out of twenty times northerlies. Since the northern border of Daxing Village, which contained the strike point, abutted the Da Shui Waterway, one of the streams of the Pearl River, I decided to first launch three barges reeking of stench along that waterway.

“…Huh?”

A commotion started in the residential area across the road where we were waiting. Hearing the shouts and yells as residents hurried en masse northward, Gao Shusen showed an expression mixing bewilderment and curiosity.

“Just what is going on here? Why are those usele- I mean, residents suddenly making a fuss like that?”

“We’re evacuating the residents in preparation for the attack. To minimize civilian casualties. It’s a tactic you guys use once in a while too.”

“A tactic we use?”

I nodded, but Gao Shusen still had a clueless look on his face.

Once in China, local officials had overturned a truck full of soft drinks in front of a residential area whose occupants were resisting administrative demolition and refusing to vacate. While the residents rushed out to steal the spilled cargo, the officials swiftly barricaded the residential area and immediately commenced demolition.

It was the same tactic now. Nothing was better for tempting the hungry than food. The three low-draft sightseeing ships contracted under the name of state security, along with the catering companies, surely believed their role was disaster relief for the poor. After docking at the pier, they would have announced as planned that they would distribute food according to the number of people, so it was only natural for the suspicious masses who caught a whiff of the smell to hurriedly gather family and friends and flock over there. The buildings that did not consider soundproofing also allowed one person’s shout to be heard by multiple households.

“Here they come.”

Following my words, Gao Shusen turned his head along the street saw five dump trucks parked in a row about 120 meters away, then gaped in shock.

“What the… What is that?”

In boomtowns experiencing economic depression, it was common to see construction sites left abandoned mid-project. Aside from the Chinese government’s infrastructure stimulus policies, there were simply so many companies going bankrupt that half-finished building patches were haphazardly left all over the cityscape, like ugly pockmarks.

I took note of the large cargo vehicles left in neglect at such sites. Truck drivers who had gone a long time without work readily handed over their trucks to me when I offered 500,000 yuan each.

It did not take long to modify the secured cargo trucks into battering rams for breaching by lowering their center of gravity and installing V-shaped ramming gear. The materials could be taken from the construction sites and paid for later, and the technicians formerly employed by the state-owned enterprise were equally idle, after all. At just one call from Suyeon mobilizing her underlings, the unemployed who eagerly poured in completed all the work in just 57 minutes. I had promised to pay them three days’ worth of wages if they finished flawlessly within an hour, which was why so many hands made swift work.

Therefore, the five cargo trucks Gao Shusen was looking at now had, at least in terms of their frontal section, a strong resemblance to the narco tanks I had seen with El Juego in Mexico. The heavy battering rams protruding from the front of the headlights and the long horizontal steel plates protecting the windshield. In the cargo holds, they secured 30 tons of steel frames with welds to maximize destructive weight.

“Wait a minute.”

Having intuitively grasped the substance of the plan, the excited communist nobleman grabbed my clothes.

“Wait, wait just a minute! Have you lost your mind? You tell me to watch my image, then try to do something totally absurd!”

“Calm down.”

“Calm down, you say? When directives have already come down that crimes undermining public sentiment will be prosecuted for treason and insurrection! If we just bulldoze those homes on the grounds of being obstructions, what am I supposed to say! Absolutely not! Stop this at once!”

“That can be resolved with money.”

“What?”

“I mean money. Money. I’ll go ahead since they’ll catch on.”

The modified trucks were too conspicuous. With their jutting triangular snouts like warthogs. I signaled Kyung-tae, who relayed the instructions via radio to the lead truck.

“Unit 1, charge.”

The idling vehicle immediately accelerated.

“Huh? Wha-“

While Gao Shusen flustered about at a loss, the cargo truck with the pedal to the metal passed by me and the communist nobleman and plowed straight into the slums, smashing through the residences of the poor.

It sounded like thunder racing across the earth. The low-rise dwellings, stained by poverty and time, were demolished at a speed of tens of kilometers per hour. The shoddy structures made of bamboo reinforcement rather than steel, the hollow concrete blocks—they were like styrofoam before the battering charge of the cargo truck exceeding 50 tons gross weight. The swirling dust was like a horizontal sandstorm.

After dashing some forty meters, the now-slowed truck skewed slightly and advanced another ten-odd meters before coming to a stop. This was to make way for the subsequent vehicles that would come in.

“This is crazy…”

Faced with the overwhelming spectacle, the communist nobleman grabbed his head and swore under his breath. After confirming the safety of the driver who sat in the driver’s seat of Vehicle 1, I promptly ordered the charge of Vehicle 2. The red taillights Vehicle 1 had turned on served as a beacon amidst the thick dust for the following vehicles.

”I guess it won’t go around until number 4.’

Considering the fragility of the buildings, three charges from a 50-ton vehicle should create a path to their stronghold. The shabby headquarters of the Guangdong Triad’s ruffians rose like a fortress between narrow alleys and faded roofs. A roughly constructed, five-story building with an uncertain appearance, making it difficult to guess its original purpose.

“What’s with the money talk!”

When pondered alone, it might be easy to figure out, but Gao Shusen seemed to be paralyzed or his thoughts were lost, preventing him from responding.

The chain of roars resounded again. The charge of the second vehicle started like a wave splitting the broken debris in front of the triangular siege tip, pushing it aside. Following the path of the first vehicle, the second one cleared a new route, almost identical in length.

I waited for the noise to subside before answering Gao Shusen’s probing.

“You can just compensate the victims. When people hear the news, they’ll resent the authorities less and be more likely to censure those who received compensation if you give enough money. I’m talking around 200,000 yuan per household for homeowners and tenants separately. That should be plenty.”

“Who’s going to give that much money! There are who knows how many wrecked homes!”

“Obviously you’ll be giving it. A high-ranking party official selflessly spending his personal wealth for justice. That makes for good optics, doesn’t it? Showmanship is a virtue for heroes.”

The moment he heard I was talking about money that he would give, Gao Shusen’s expression curdled. Even compensating 200 households altogether would cost 40 million yuan. A mere 700 billion won.

This wasn’t simply about greed. It was a fundamentally different mindset. The vulgar sorts who regarded greed itself as a virtue and believed wealth meant blessing. It was nearly impossible for this kind of person to voluntarily give back money once it entered their hands. In short, Gao Shusen’s belly was already full. With my tongue in cheek, I said,

“Don’t worry. Just nominally—it’ll actually be paid out from our ‘public funds’.”

Right after I finished speaking, the third gray waterfall flowed. The straight approach to the destination was now complete.

Vehicle 5, which was originally supposed to go last, cut in front of 4 and rolled up before me. Instead of H-beams to add weight, Vehicle 5’s cargo hold contained lockboxes full of artworks, antiques, jade carvings, stacks of yuan bills, and Combat Agents from the security team who would infiltrate the enemy interior. I, along with Kyung-tae, also boarded the cargo hold.

I left the gorged communist nobleman with a brief farewell.

“I’ll see you again shortly.”

The nobleman looked at me with a complex expression.