Chapter 18 - Men Who Deal in Big Business
Translated by: Ciel
Edited by: Isalee
Gao Yang had no idea if the person he just knocked down was the last one. He carefully looked around him to make sure there were no humans left alive. Even so, Gao Yang was still worried. He picked up a new M1A and looked through the night vision scope to double check. When he was sure he couldn’t see any more men, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
Even without enemies, Gao Yang did not completely let his guard down. Morgan and his son Bob were just too strange and mysterious. Before he could be certain that they didn’t hold any hostilities against him, Gao Yang remained vigilant.
He held up the M4A1 and stood up with a wave. “It’s safe now, come out.”
Morgan and Bob walked out together. Morgan held a flashlight in one hand and a handgun in the other. He knelt before the car door and examined the side. After he stood up again, he jogged over to the sniper that Gao Yang had just killed and picked up a shiny revolver. He then jogged back to Gao Yang.
When he reached Gao Yang, Bob looked like he was taking a minute to judge Gao Yang. He then shouted, “Woah mate, you’re really strong. I can tell, especially from your clothes. I can’t help but comment that even I was confused by your outfit. You are truly my idol. Hehe, even your clothing looks like it’s from a tribe. Mate, what do you think?”
Bob was on the chubbier side, and he looked around twenty years old. He was a tall kid, but he was somewhat rotund and blunt with his words. Not to mention the fact that he was constantly shouting. He gave an indescribably annoying feeling.
Gao Yang ignored Bob and looked towards Morgan: “Aren’t you going to go check it out with your father?”
Bob switched his gun to his left hand and raised his right hand. “Come on brother, give me a high five. Can I put those pictures of you on my Twitter? Oh, my handle is bob.louis. I’m happy we met.”
Gao Yang reached out and clapped Bob’s extended hand. “My name is Gao Yang, and I’m from China. Thanks for your gun. But please don’t take my picture. I will be very unhappy otherwise. Thanks.”
Bob shrugged. “Alright then, I’ll respect your wishes. But it’s really a pity. You’re missing out on a chance to become famous.”
Gao Yang thought about it for a moment and figured he might actually be able to get some information from Bob. At the very least, it’d be much easier than getting information from his father.
“Hey, Bob, why were you guys ambushed? You guys aren’t really here to hunt, are you?”
“This f*cking country, only G.o.d knows why we were ambushed. Motherf*ckers, we really came here to hunt. I love hunting, but I’ve already hunted every animal the States. When I got my new gun, there wasn’t any prey that I was interested in, so when my father came to Africa, I followed along.”
“Then what’s your father doing here? Brother, you’re not going to try and tell me that you’re using bazookas to hunt, right?”
“Oh, my old man’s here for business. You should know, South Africa is about to go independent. They’re already in the middle of voting. Soon, South Africa will become its own independent nation. Father wants to take this chance to make a big deal.”
“South Africa is becoming independent? That really is big news. So what kind of business does your father do?”
“He does everything really. As long as it means earning money, he’s doing it. My old man found some connections with some d.i.n.ka tribes here. He’s probably here to buy some land. All I know is that this region is abundant in oil. When South Africa becomes independent, then we’ll be able to mine the oil here. We’ve been waiting here for a few days now. My old man’s probably like me and wants to kill a lion so we can make a rug for our fireplace. That’s why we went out today to hunt. But we were randomly ambushed, and as you saw, both of my father’s bodyguards died. If it weren’t for you, the two of us would’ve died too.”
Bob didn’t hide anything. He had the guts to say everything. Gao Yang wanted to extract some more information from him, but right then, Morgan ran over. He ran right up to Gao Yang and then glared at Bob. He reached out for Gao Yang’s hand and said, “Let me introduce myself, I’m Morgan Louis. Thank you for helping us. I’m extremely grateful. But we have to leave right now. We’re far from being out of danger.”
After shaking Morgan’s hand, Gao Yang said, “Nice meeting you. Mr. Morgan, if you can tell me, just what other danger are we in?”
Mr. Morgan put his gun back into the holster on his hip, pulled out a walkie-talkie, and gravely said, “Here, just now, someone called out for that dead sniper. If nothing expected happens, more people will come after him.”
Right then, the radio in Morgan’s hand made a noise. Everything was spoken in code. All Gao Yang heard was a bunch of meaningless words, but the man’s voice sounded extremely familiar.
The three didn’t respond. After the voice finished speaking, Gao Yang pointed at the radio on his waist. “I’ve heard this man’s voice before. He said he was going to kill you, but he chose the wrong target and killed a bunch of innocents. On top of it, he said that if we wanted revenge, we should go after the Sudanese Liberation Front. I exchanged fire with them just this afternoon. They’re clearly talented and have the advantage in numbers.”
Morgan nodded. He clenched his teeth and said, “D*mned idiots, they aren’t even truly independent yet and they’re already fighting amongst themselves. Thanks for your report, but it is time for us to leave now.”
Gao Yang hesitated for a moment and then shook his head: “I’m sorry, I cannot go with you. There are some others I need to take care of. I have to go find them. You can leave on your own — just pretend you never met me.”
Morgan pondered for a moment and then shook his head. “We can’t leave on our own. I’m not familiar with this region, and there’s a high probability that we’ll be found. I have to ask for your a.s.sistance. I’ll pay you. Name any price. I’ll give you the highest pay amongst regular bodyguards. No, how about this? I’ll take you to Malakal and give you a hundred thousand dollars. How does that sound?”
Gao Yang shook his head. “This isn’t a question of money. I’ve told you, there’s other people waiting for me. Plus, I don’t accept this kind of business because I’m not interested in putting my life on the line for others.”
Morgan still was hesitant. It looked he was determined. He nodded and said to Gao Yang, “How about this — you take us away from here and go find your people. They are probably about to leave as well. I will still give you the agreed upon hundred thousand. Mr. Gao Yang, you must help us.”
Gao Yang thought for a second. He was worried that if he brought Morgan and Bob, he’d attract the attackers to himself. Even so, these two had just gone through a battle, and he couldn’t just leave them. His conscious wouldn’t allow that. Gao Yang finally nodded. “Please wait then, I have to contact my friends. I need to get their agreement first.”
After that, Gao Yang went to the side, picked up his walkie-talkie, and softly said, “I am Gao Yang. If you can hear this, please respond.”
Kathleen’s voice immediately responded. She had clearly been waiting for his call.
“This is Kathleen. Please respond.”
He briefly explained the situation that he’d just been in, including Bob and Morgan’s ident.i.ties. He then told Kathleen that their photography team had met their misfortune because of these two. Gao Yang was blunt about it. If Professor Buck and Kathleen wanted to help them, Gao Yang would bring them along. If they didn’t, then Gao Yang would leave on his own.
Even though they were simply strangers who he had just so happened to meet, Professor Buck and the others provided unconditional and generous a.s.sistance. Furthermore, they had a clean background. Naturally, Gao Yang already thought of them as his friends. As for the Morgans, Gao Yang had no obligation to help them. He would’ve left long ago if he hadn’t been caught up in their conflict.
Professor Buck and Kathleen quickly discussed among themselves. They finally decided that if it were convenient for Gao Yang, then they asked that he help the father and son. Of course, the condition was that Gao Yang would agree to help.
When he received that reply, Gao Yang didn’t waste any time. He jogged back to the Morgans and said, “Time is of essence. Quickly gather your things and leave.”
The Morgans were naturally very happy with this outcome. n.o.body wasted their breath on small talk and quickly packed up the truck. Morgan pointed at the two bodies next to the car and said, “If you’re okay with it, I want to take their bodies. At the very least, we should find a place to bury them when we’re out of the area. Is that fine?”
Gao Yang nodded: “Start up the car, I’ll help you move them.”
The car had taken a lot of shots. Bullet holes were scattered about on the side of the car. Miraculously, it still worked. Morgan easily started up the car while Gao Yang and Bob moved the bodies into the trunk. Gao Yang also picked up the M4A1 and some bullets.
With the two bodies in the back, there wasn’t any s.p.a.ce to sit. Gao Yang slapped his forehead and ran over to the car that their attackers had ridden. He pushed off the bodies in the front seats and started the car. It was good that nothing was wrong with this car either. The only problem was that the seats were covered in blood. Gao Yang shot out each corner of the windshield and then kicked it out before driving it over to the Morgans.
Gao Yang knew how to drive, but it had been so long since he had last driven that he was feeling a bit rusty. Despite that, he could still drive it over. After starting it up, he started loading his own things onto the car.
Without any pretenses or courtesy, Gao Yang helped himself to the M1A from Bob and threw it onto the car. He then ran over to the dead sniper and searched him for guns and bullets. The most thing was the night vision goggles on his helmet.
Originally, he didn’t need anything else, but the rifle on the ground caught his eye. Gao Yang didn’t want to part with it. After thinking for some time, Gao Yang yelled to Bob for some help to gather the six somewhat new AK-47s off the dead enemies.
Gao Yang picked up another AK-47. It was much better than the battered one that he was using before. Plus, there was still a dozen or so bullets that came with it. If they weren’t in a rush, Gao Yang would have taken more time to gather all of the guns and bullets. He continued collecting them until Morgan urged him to leave. It was only then that Gao Yang reluctantly jumped into the car and lead the way.