Money flying as desperate dash home begins

Zhou Geng appeared out of nowhere.

Making the briefest possible eye contact with his buyer, the skinny teenager dashed on his e-bike to a dark corner behind a subway station in southern Beijing.

"We are closely watched," said the short, perm-haired, youth as he held the pink extra-charged ticket for a sleeper train bound for Heilongjiang province that would depart from Beijing West Railway Station.