Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The loading site was a private reservoir. I heard it was also Li Family territory, and it was nearly a twenty-hour drive from our destination.

By the time I arrived at the reservoir the next day, the big fish we were supposed to transport had already been sealed up.

Since the distance wasn’t considered too far, all the fish were being transported in transparent nylon bags filled with oxygen.

The problem was that the fish were enormous. It took three people to lift each bag just to lay it flat inside a crate.

The Li Family was strange, too. For a short-haul shipment like this, cardboard boxes would obviously have been lighter and more convenient, yet they insisted on using custom-made wooden crates.

Those crates, each more than a man’s height in length, were lined up side by side. At first glance, they looked like unpainted coffins.

“Brother Long,” Wang Cheng called. Peng You had arranged for him to take turns with me on this job, and from the look on his face, the kid didn’t want to be here either.

“Brother Long, stay away from those fish. They stink, especially bad. They smell awful even sealed in the bags.”

Wang Cheng was right. The closer I got, the stronger that fishy stench became.

Would carp raised in a reservoir really smell that foul? They hadn’t even been gutted yet.

I couldn’t be sure, so I still walked over. Before the crates were sealed, I leaned in and carefully examined the fish inside the sealed bags.

The fish were half-floating at the surface of the water. Their mouths opened and closed, and their fins swayed gently.

Their bellies were somewhat pale. The scales looked very sparse, and the flesh beneath seemed thick.

I went past the crates one by one. No doubt about it-every single one contained a living fish.

The workers began sealing the crates. Not only did the wooden crates need lids, they also had to be nailed shut with seven long, black nails each. The sight left me deeply puzzled.

As the hammering started, the fish inside the sealed bags began to grow restless.

They rocked their bodies and flicked their tails over and over.

It was then that I suddenly realized those bizarre carp could blink.

Most normal fish rarely have eyelid structures. They live in water, so they don’t need eyelids.

But when I looked closely, above those pairs of bluish-white fish eyes, there was unmistakably a thin layer of flesh.

“Didn’t think Peng You would still dare send someone. I heard the last driver pissed himself from fright.” A somewhat flippant voice rang out.

“None of your business!”

Wang Cheng refused to back down. “We run our own jobs. Keep your noses out of it!”

“You little greenhorn, who do you think you’re talking to?!”

“Luo Hong!” I called out, and the newcomer turned to look at me.

“Oh, it’s Brother Long. No wonder Peng You suddenly grew a backbone.” Luo Hong looked at me, grinning from ear to ear.

I ignored him and looked behind him instead.

Following close behind Luo Hong was his younger brother-Luo Gui.

Luo Hong and Luo Gui were the most troublesome competitors I’d had in all my years driving trucks.

Like me, they often took Chongsha jobs.