Chapter 100: Riverbank Dog Managers of the Jianghe

“Aowu——”

Bai, who had transformed from a long-haired, milky-white tuft of fur into a wolf-like creature, stood at the edge of the fish pond and let out a wolf howl toward the nearly twenty dogs.

After the howl, Bai leapt forward and sprinted rapidly toward the dock.

“Wang wang wang——”

The dog pack followed Bai, howling excitedly and racing just as fast toward the dock.

Among them, the Xigou led the pack, staying tightly behind Bai at a speed of roughly fifty kilometers per hour, like an arrow released into the night.

“Wa”

Seeing the dogs take off, the little fox’s cheeks twisted in distaste.

Keeping up with the dogs’ speed was no real challenge for An Sheng, but as a small fox with short legs, he rarely bothered to run.

“I thought we were coming here to fish for new energy, but I never expected we’d have to run two li before even casting a line.”

The little fox sighed deeply, trotted after the retreating dog pack, then flipped onto the back of the Xigou, who was galloping wildly.

The Xigou paused in surprise but didn’t mind, carrying the fox on its back as it chased after its leader.

Upon reaching the dock, the dogs did not go deep into the harbor but instead sprinted west along Jianghe, traveling nearly three kilometers until they reached a shallow shore, where the wolf-transformed Bai leapt over the railing.

“Aowu——”

Bai halted, his gaze sharp as a hawk’s, fixed on the river channel; the other dogs gathered beside him, tongues lolling, forming a long, single-file line.

“Are we going to fight?”

An Sheng’s ears twitched slightly as he heard waves rising in the river, assuming Bai intended to lead the dogs against some strange giant fish lurking below.

But.

After a moment, familiar engine roars erupted as a swarm of heavily modified speedboats appeared on the shallow shore; Bai’s face twisted into a snarl as he let out another wolf howl toward them.

The dog pack bared their teeth, advancing steadily toward the speedboats moored along the shore.

“Pay! Pay! We’ll pay—”

Under Bai’s lead, the dogs closed in on the modified speedboats; the nearest man, seeing Bai and the pack approaching, immediately shouted.

On a six-meter-long modified speedboat, three men held six large plastic bags.

Bai lifted his head; the boat’s owner, helpless, sat at the bow, opened a bag, pulled out a roasted chicken, bit into it in front of the dogs, then tossed it onto the shore.

“Wang——”

The Xigou leapt up, snatched the hot chicken, then scurried off to eat it.

The other two crewmen on the boat did the same: each bit into a chicken and tossed it into the dog pack.

The dogs, clearly accustomed to this routine, lined up in orderly fashion, taking turns leaping to claim their food.

Bai sat calmly to the side, as composed as an old dog, refusing to touch the food thrown by the boat owner.

“You’re robbing Da Fei?” An Sheng stared at the wolf-transformed Bai, his expression uncertain.

“Aow!”

Bai nudged the little fox, urging him to go claim his share—he’d keep watch. If the boat crew dared slip poison into the food, he’d capsize the boat.

The dogs on the shore and the boat owners clearly weren’t meeting for the first time; both sides followed the rules strictly.

While the boat owner and his two crewmen fed the dogs, other crewmen on nearby speedboats pulled back waterproof tarps, revealing stacks of Traditional Chinese edition 4090 GPUs and cardboard boxes filled with CPU chips, which they unloaded one by one.

One crewman tossed boxes from the boat; several others stood waist-deep in the water, catching the cargo and hauling it ashore, where a tricycle, parked in hiding, reversed toward them.

After brief exchanges, the crewmen loaded the GPU and CPU boxes onto the tricycle.

Besides ROG computer parts, An Sheng spotted two brand-new BMW motorcycles covered in dust, nearly a hundred wheel rims, and boxes of milk powder.

Genuine milk powder cans—with Hong Kong labels.

Next came ten tons of frozen pig’s feet; two six-meter speedboats dumped crate after crate onto the riverbank, while tricycles and electric vehicles arrived, grabbed two crates each, and sped off.

The riverside was bustling at dawn; less than half an hour later, the speedboats had mostly vanished, and the tricycles and electric vehicles had disappeared without a trace.

The two motorcycles with foreign plates were ridden away by several youths, who revved their engines and took off like rockets.

“Insane—Da Fei actually organized a convoy,” An Sheng watched, stunned.

Of course, An Sheng wasn’t surprised that Da Fei operated along the river.

In fact, Da Fei on Jianghe was normal—patrols at sea were handled by the Coast Guard, and to evade them, smugglers had to flee into river systems, since rivers fell under River Police jurisdiction.

Two different enforcement zones couldn’t act in each other’s territory unless jointly authorized.

What stunned An Sheng was that these Da Fei crews operated in organized groups—weren’t they afraid of the Iron Dragonflies (armed helicopters) from Jiule?

If even one boat carried contraband, the Iron Dragonflies could and would riddle the river with bullets until it boiled.

“Hurry up! Where’s the passenger?!” The boat owner glanced at his digital watch and cursed after feeding the river dog managers.

This stretch of river wasn’t safe—not just because of the dog pack that had been stationed on the shore for the past half-year, collecting tolls on schedule.

There were also crocodiles and giant fish in the river. If you met the dog pack, you could negotiate—you just paid a few thousand for river access.

But if you encountered a crocodile or a giant fish, smugglers like them faced at best shipwreck and death.

And they couldn’t even report it afterward—because if the Anquan Bureau investigated, they’d immediately see their declared professions and incomes didn’t match their actual wealth.

Sure, dead men didn’t go to jail—but having all illegal earnings seized was far worse than prison!

The boat owner waited anxiously for his passenger, even considering calling—wasn’t Mazu’s visa supposed to clear instantly? Why was it taking half an hour?

Before, it didn’t matter—but now, every extra second on the river meant another second of danger.

I can’t risk a speedboat worth over a million just to save a little fuel cost, can I?

“Wang!”

As leader, Bai waited until every dog was full and the boat owner showed no tricks before calmly beginning his late-night snack.

But Bai had barely taken two bites when he suddenly stiffened, snapping his head toward the dark river surface and barking furiously.

“Jia! Go now!”

Hearing Bai’s bark, the boat owner’s heart lurched—he spun and shouted orders to his crew.

But it was too late.

A monstrous fish, with a duck-like bill and an underbite, erupted from the river, slammed back down onto the water, sending up towering waves.

Beneath the violent surges, the speedboat, still unstarted, rocked violently, hurling the owner and his two crewmen into the river.

“Gaga——”

The monstrous fish, nearly nine meters long—almost the size of a small semi-trailer—swam to the speedboat, raised its head, and pressed its bulk against the boat’s edge.

It seemed to be trying to force something out—but the boat was empty; the GPUs and CPUs had already been unloaded onto the tricycle.

(End of Chapter)