Chapter 871: Such a Huge Lump, Truly Impossible to Eat!

This bad seed named Xie Youcai looked about thirty-two or thirty-three, though now half his face was swollen as if he had goiter.

Li Long had used great force in that earlier punch, and this fellow felt as if half his jawbone were nearly broken.

Li Long wondered curiously how this guy could still speak so clearly; it was quite a unique skill.

Xie Youcai walked in front, while Li Long followed behind carrying his spear, with his backpack still strapped to his back.

"My old man liked tinkering with antiques and then building connections; reportedly, he knew an adjutant or someone similar from Usman's former troops. That person had no descendants, was persecuted during the Special Era, suffered poor health, and passed away two years ago; my father handled his funeral affairs.

In the diary he left behind, it was recorded that when Usman was robbing in this area and sensed the tide turning against him, he buried some of his weapons and plundered goods in the mountains, planning to rise again later if the opportunity arose..."

Li Long found this quite interesting, because after Usman was captured, he was immediately executed according to law; later, his son Xierman rebelled again (this was the same son Xierman who killed PLA Deputy Division Commander Luo Shaowei), but shortly after rebelling, he negotiated a surrender and even took some official post.

Neither this Usman nor his son Xierman later were any good; both were cunning and crafty, so attempting such a 'cunning hare with three burrows' scheme seemed quite normal for them.

Moreover, according to later historical records, the Usman bandit gang roamed and robbed across the northern and southern Xinjiang regions; initially, there was a Soviet shadow behind them, and later they received support from the Americans; in any case, these nations never wished for China to become strong.

Their support included not only weapons and personnel but also funds; later, as Usman was executed and Xierman surrendered, the Soviet and American plots failed one after another, and the matter subsided.

The intricate processes involved cannot be explained by the few short lines found in history books, and what Xie Youcai has come to retrieve now are the items hidden during the campaign to suppress the bandits.

While speaking, Xie Youcai led Li Long into the forest; the direction he took was somewhat strange, first southeast, then due south, then due east, making Li Long feel as though he was artificially increasing the difficulty.

"... I am searching based on the locations recorded in that diary," Xie Youcai said as he walked, chattering like a magpie, "The locations noted contain obvious landmarks; I find one landmark to locate the next; for instance, look there, that large rock ahead shaped like the character 'mountain,' high in the middle and low on both sides, that is one of the landmarks..."

Li Long looked over and indeed spotted a red giant rock seven or eight meters high on the slope to his right, which was the southwest direction; it was shaped like the character 'mountain,' low on both sides and high in the middle, and the two low sides were not equal, with the right side slightly higher than the left.

As Li Long watched and walked, he felt something amiss when his foot stepped down; he hastily retracted it, disrupting his stride—where his foot had landed was an abandoned marmot burrow, nearly covered by grass, invisible unless examined closely.

This hole was quite deep; had he stepped into it, his body would inevitably have become unstable, likely causing a fall; whether he would be injured was uncertain, but it would certainly have an effect.

Li Long thought to himself that this path was quite difficult to traverse.

He noticed Xie Youcai's pace slow slightly; when the man turned his head to look back, Li Long glared at him:

"Keep moving forward!"

"Okay, okay, okay, I'm walking, I'm walking..."

After walking another two or three hundred meters, Li Long halted again—this time, a withered tree stump lay in the grass ahead of his foot, similarly concealed by vegetation; had he not noticed it, stepping on it and lifting his foot would inevitably have tripped him, most likely causing a fall.

He glanced to the side, where the ground was clearly flatter with a trail beaten by animals, yet this fellow insisted on walking through the deeper grass.

At this moment, Xie Youcai also slowed his pace; judging by his posture, he seemed ready to turn around at any moment.

"Bang!" Li Long realized what was happening, kicked the fellow to the ground, and then repeatedly kicked him until he rolled in the grass begging for mercy.

"If you dare play such petty tricks again, I won't even go to that place; I'll just beat you to death right here, and tonight the wolves will pick your bones clean!"

After kicking him five or six times, leaving Xie Youcai bruised and swollen, with his right arm seeming as if it had suffered a bone fracture, Li Long finally stopped and said viciously, "I gave you a chance; that doesn't mean I absolutely must see that place! You better not make me feel there needs to be a next time!"

Previously, after beating that guy and extracting the secret information, Li Long had forgotten about the man's egregious act of defecating inside the house.

Now, seeing him playing these little clever games, it was clear he intended to wait for Li Long to fall, then turn around to snatch the spear or flee into the forest.

This beating of punches and kicks punished both crimes at once, venting Li Long's anger.

Xie Youcai repeatedly cried out that he wouldn't dare anymore; from then on, he obediently led the way, no longer daring to play any petty tricks.

To be honest, Xie Youcai was also suffering greatly; the urine on him was not yet dry, and the places Li Long had hit hurt terribly, but previously he truly could not resign himself to fate; having endured countless hardships to come all this way and finally locate the place and the goods, how could he let such a young lad have them cheaply?

Yet no matter how clever the prey, under absolute military pressure, he could not employ his wits nor dared to do so; obediently, he guided Li Long around several more landmark locations until they reached a rather complex mountain gully.

This mountain gully was not far from the source of the Hot Spring Gully; no trees grew within the gully, though there were many shrubs, and no fritillaria bulbs grew there either, giving it a messy appearance.

Because there were no resources here, very few people or animals entered, which was likely the reason the items hidden inside had been preserved.

Many scattered rocks, large and small, littered the slopes on both sides of the gully, looking quite dangerous; Xie Youcai led Li Long inward for over a hundred meters before stopping.

Stones were especially numerous in this area and very strange; Xie Youcai pointed to a rock on the slope to his right, which was the southern side, and said:

"There is a stone cave below that; the goods are hidden inside."

The stone cave Xie Youcai pointed to was located over ten meters above the gully floor, with rocks both below and above it, looking somewhat unremarkable.

"How do you distinguish it?" Li Long asked in a deep voice.

"Look," Xie Youcai pointed and said, "It is surrounded by five stones of roughly equal size; although their distances vary slightly, don't they resemble the petals of a flower? And this stone here is the central stamen."

Li Long nodded; upon explanation, it indeed made some sense.

"Lead the way," Li Long indicated with his spear.

Xie Youcai climbed upward.

Upon reaching the base of that rock, Li Long discovered there was indeed a stone cave; because rocks blocked it on all sides, it was not easy to spot, and shrubs grew on both sides; the cave was actually quite large, though at first glance it seemed shallow; only upon closer inspection could one discover that the cave floor turned to both sides, while the base of this rock acted like a spirit wall, perfectly blocking the view, so that without careful attention, one would never realize a passage existed.

Xie Youcai walked into the cave; that rock stood five or six meters high, while the stone cave was only about one meter thirty or forty centimeters high, forcing Xie Youcai to bend over.

Li Long also had to bend over, but soon, after turning a corner, the space inside expanded significantly, clearly showing signs of artificial modification.

The stone cave sloped downward; walking further inward, they turned another corner where steps began, the stairs being quite gentle.

The air inside the cave was not great, and the light dimmed, though this had little effect on Li Long; after turning in two directions, the space ahead suddenly opened up—this was a natural stone hall that had been modified.

The first thing to meet the eye was a pile of bones—seemingly animal bones—spread in a shallow layer on the ground; it was unknown whether these resulted from hunting by those former occupants or some ritual.

Li Long examined them carefully; the bones were large, mostly appearing to be horse bones.

This stone hall covered thirty or forty square meters; several dozen boxes were arranged against the wall directly ahead upon entering; the hall was over two meters high, and these boxes were stacked quite neatly; the few boxes closest to the entrance had been opened, their lids lifted but not closed tightly.

"That's all of it," Xie Youcai said, his tone somewhat muffled yet excited.

Li Long kept his spear pointed at him all the way to the boxes; being tall, Li Long used the bayonet to lift the lids; inside the several opened boxes, he saw old-fashioned cavalry rifles, boxes of sabers, and boxes of silver dollars.

"You can see all this?" Xie Youcai asked with some surprise.

The light inside this stone hall was already quite dim; back then, he had needed a lighter to see the items inside before selecting a portion of them.

Originally, after arriving here, Xie Youcai had still hoped that while Li Long rummaged through the goods, he might seize an opportunity to escape—but now it seemed he had underestimated this big fellow!

Li Long did not answer him, his mind racing with thoughts.

There were too many items here, and so many weapons—such a huge lump, he simply could not swallow it all completely.

According to Xie Youcai's account, currently only his father and he knew this information; he claimed his father had told him this specifically to make Li Long hesitate and dare not kill him.

But there might well be records in official archives too—surely he couldn't actually kill this fellow?

He turned his head again to look at those boxes, roughly calculated, and realized there were at least thirty or forty boxes in this cave.

Even if only one-tenth of them contained silver dollars, that would still amount to tens of thousands.

It was too much; he couldn't handle it.

Nevertheless, he used his backpack to pack quite a few silver dollars from the box Xie Youcai had opened, then opened several more boxes... before stopping.

He couldn't open any more; surprisingly, one-third of them contained silver dollars, and one box even held paper money! It seemed to be US dollars!

He grabbed several stacks, stuffed them into his bag, then pointed his gun at Xie Youcai:

"Let's go, outside!"

"Please, whatever you do, don't kill me..." Seeing Li Long's decisiveness, Xie Youcai couldn't figure him out; as he walked outward, he begged for mercy, "I've already told you everything I know..."

"I won't kill you!" Li Long said. "Move!"

Seeing Li Long agree, Xie Youcai felt slightly reassured and continued walking outward.

Several times, Li Long couldn't resist the urge to turn back and pack more of the contents to take out, but in the end, he did not.

The temptation was too great; he knew he couldn't control himself.

But with these things right before his eyes, he feared that if he opened a few more boxes and the temptation inside proved too great, he might impulsively shoot Xie Youcai dead!

This was damn well testing a person!

On the return journey, Li Long's mind was torn by internal conflict; with so many treasures, if he kept them, he could truly lie flat immediately and never have to work again.

But could he take them? Could he handle taking them?

Since he remained silent, Xie Youcai tentatively spoke a few words, but seeing Li Long did not respond, he dared not speak again. The entire way was filled with anxiety; he feared some situation might arise to make Li Long misunderstand and strike him down.

The return trip was even faster; when Li Long escorted Xie Youcai back to the wooden cabin, he was surprised to find Hearing Hearing Bolati sitting on the cabin's threshold.

Perfect timing!

"Adaxi, the moment I saw this meat, I knew you had come... A few days ago, someone pried open your house; it made me furious, but I couldn't find out who it was. If I had found them, I would have given them a beating..." Upon seeing Li Long, Hearing Hearing Bolati immediately stood up and said with a face full of smiles.

He was extremely satisfied with the courtyard Li Long had found for him; his son had moved in and was currently arranging it in preparation for marriage.

"It's this coward." Li Long pointed at Xie Youcai and said, "He came carrying a gun, even a pistol—here, take this." Li Long handed over the other Type 56 rifle from his shoulder!

Hearing Hearing Bolati also knew about Usman; he was startled: "He was carrying a gun?"

"Yeah, and he even took a dump in my house..." Li Long pointed at Xie Youcai's face and said, "It made me so angry that I beat him into this state. Take him back and let your people interrogate him; this guy holds a huge secret!"

With Li Long saying this, Hearing Hearing Bolati became happy, and Xie Youcai became happy too.

Since Li Long was handing him over to someone else, it naturally meant he would soon be returned to the organization—even if it meant going to prison at this point, it was better than being under Li Long's control; just now, he had been terrified, and with Li Long remaining silent all the way back, the atmosphere had been so oppressive that he feared being secretly shot by Li Long at any moment.

Hearing Hearing Bolati took the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle and the Black Star pistol that Li Long handed over, tied Xie Youcai up again with rope, then dragged him behind a horse as they headed back.

Li Long, meanwhile, packed the smoked meat and the meat hanging on the wire into a sack, placed it in the car trunk, scooped the meat from the pot into a basin, washed the pot, and put it back inside the house.

After relocking the wooden cabin, he went over, drove the Jeep over, loaded the meat inside, and as he got into the vehicle, he turned his head to glance at the grassy bushes in front of the cabin; after hesitating for a moment, he got in, started the engine, and drove out of the mountains.

He drove quite fast all the way, returning to the county town in less than an hour; Li Long first went home to drop off the guns and the meat.

When Sister Yang was about to ask questions, Li Long waved his hand:

"Sister Yang, I have important matters; I might return late tonight, or perhaps not at all. Please inform Mingming and Haohao's mother when the time comes."

After speaking, he drove out again, heading straight for the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

At this moment, Li Long remembered very clearly that he had an organization!

Li Xiang Qian was in his office discussing recent procurement plans with Zhou Yuan when he saw Li Long rush in hurriedly; somewhat surprised, he smiled and asked:

"Little Li, what happened to make you so urgent?"

Li Long said nothing, looking at Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan felt a chill run down his spine under Li Long's gaze; he hastily said to Li Xiang Qian:

"Director, you chat with Little Li; I can see Little Li is quite anxious, so there must be some urgent matter. We can discuss my side later..."

Li Xiang Qian also realized this; he nodded and said:

"Alright, then you go ahead first."

Zhou Yuan left, thoughtfully closing the door behind him.

Only after Li Long heard the sound of Zhou Yuan's departing footsteps did he pull a handful of silver dollars from his pocket and place them on Li Xiang Qian's desk:

"Director, something huge has happened!" (End of Chapter)