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At that moment, Freddy Four-Eyes nearby said, "Shawn, Aunt Linda and the others are coming over!"
Shawn Young looked over and saw Linda Young already walking this way, supported by Joanna Gong and Sherry Young. The three of them, still shaken, glanced nervously at the dozens of Tiger Mafia enforcers lying unconscious on the ground, and cautiously approached Shawn.
"Shawn, you’re okay... Please, don’t get involved with these people. We’re just honest folks, we can’t afford to mess with them. Let’s just go home and keep our heads down! If it really gets too dangerous, we’ll just leave Clearview City!" Linda Young said anxiously.
Just then, Longhair crawled up from the ground, knelt down, and nervously said to Linda Young, "Uh—Ma’am, you don’t need to leave Clearview City. I’m really sorry about what happened just now! I was wrong! I apologize! I’ll bow and admit my mistake— I promise, no one will ever dare bother you again—"
"Ah! W-What are you doing? Please, don’t—" Linda Young was at a loss, clearly not used to someone as intimidating as Longhair apologizing to her.
But Longhair didn’t care, and with three loud thumps—"thud, thud, thud"—he kowtowed on the ground, apologizing nonstop, making Linda Young feel extremely embarrassed.
Shawn stepped forward and pulled Longhair up, saying, "Alright, enough, quit making a scene. Get up, we’re on a tight schedule!"
Then, with Rainie Cheng’s help, Shawn came up with an excuse: he’d be leaving Clearview City for a few days to find a "special medicine" for his father, Sam Young! Rainie would stay with Linda Young and Sherry Young, and Shawn genuinely planned to use this opportunity to search for Sleeping Dragon Valley! After all, Myanmar is located in the far south, and there’s a good chance of finding Sleeping Dragon Valley there! Although Linda Young didn’t know exactly where Shawn was headed, she was relieved at the possibility of treating her husband’s illness, and with Rainie’s assurance, she trusted Shawn and didn’t try to stop him.
After saying goodbye to his family, Longhair got a motorcycle and took Shawn out of Clearview City toward the outskirts. To Shawn’s surprise, Longhair drove straight into the same banana grove they’d entered before, followed the little path deeper in, and after passing through the banana trees, they arrived at a vast sugarcane field.
"See, this sugarcane field has a secret route controlled by our Tiger Mafia. We’ll use this channel to cross the border!" Longhair said, parking the motorcycle among the sugarcane.
Turns out, the southwestern border of China connects with Myanmar, Vietnam, and Laos, stretching nearly 4,000 kilometers. Along this long border, there are few natural barriers like rivers or mountains—most of it just runs through villages and farmland. Aside from the official border gates, there are countless little paths people use to cross. Locals often use these routes for cross-border travel.
Because of this geography, casinos can be built right next to the Chinese border—some are only a few dozen meters away! Gamblers just wait for an opportunity and dash across, making border management a real headache.
In the late 1990s, a few casinos popped up in the Golden Triangle near China’s southwestern border. On January 26, 1999, the eastern fourth district of Myanmar’s Shan State issued trial regulations for the gambling industry. A small village called Mong La on the China-Myanmar border quickly turned into a casino city packed with hotels, and in just five years, its annual revenue soared to 200 million yuan.
Mong La’s success was quickly copied. On the Myanmar side opposite border cities like Dehong, Ruili, Luxi, Longchuan, Yingjiang, Jiegu, Lincang, Baoshan, Nujiang, Simao, and others, dozens of casinos sprang up overnight. Investors and operators came from Myanmar, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China. Some Chinese citizens even took Myanmar nationality after opening casinos there. Most casino workers were Chinese, and the gamblers came from places like Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian, and other wealthy regions—including plenty of rich bosses from Clearview City. Joanna Gong’s father, Samuel Gong, was one of them!
Compared to the border casinos in northern and southeastern China, those in Myanmar are more numerous, offer better service, and are easier to get to—so they attract tons of Chinese gamblers.
On the way, Longhair told Shawn that the Chinese authorities had repeatedly cracked down on border casinos and gambling by Chinese citizens—especially officials—and had made some real progress. But since this area is controlled by various armed groups in northern Myanmar, who openly or secretly support the casinos (because they bring in huge profits), the problem never really goes away.
Also, these places used to be dirt poor, and land was practically free—so building new casinos was cheap. Even if the authorities blocked gamblers or funds in one spot, casino bosses would just move to another place and set up a new gambling hub.
A recent example is the rapid rise of the Maizayang Economic Zone. In 2002, Chinese police launched "Operation Sword" to clean up the border region. Casinos in Myanmar quickly shut down, but the big ones just relocated to the Maizayang Special Zone in eastern Kachin State, building even bigger and fancier gambling centers.
Shawn listened to Longhair’s rundown about the situation and precautions around the Myanmar casinos as they wandered through the vast sugarcane field. Before they knew it, they’d been walking for over half an hour and finally came out the other side.
Shawn looked up and saw a stretch of rolling hills on the other side, also covered in sugarcane. In the distance, a border outpost appeared. Longhair pointed to the sugarcane field across from them and said, "That’s the Maizayang Special Zone in Myanmar, and over there is our Chinese border checkpoint. If we sneak through the secret route, we’ll be in Myanmar in no time!"