A Mercenary's War

Chapter 40: The Revenge Begins

Translated by: kevin1782

Edited by: Isalee

Gao Yang wasn"t a great hero who could sweep through millions of armies back and forth numerous times. Neither was he a mighty man who could offer his life for a friend whom he"d met just once. The only reason why he decided to stay and was so adamant about it after hearing the death messages of Fedor and Malik was because he had become that kind, hot-headed fool yet again.

Gao Yang had always been hot-headed — he always that temperament of disregarding everything in the way. Otherwise, he wouldn"t have gone to Africa to exhaust all his savings just to come to play with guns there. Anyone who did that wasn"t normal for sure.

Sitting in the car, Gao Yang just looked blankly out of the window. After the hot-bloodedness in his brain cooled down, it"d be false to say that the now-composed Gao Yang didn’t have a single regret. A person who could stay undaunted in the face of a life-and-death decision was certainly not him. That would a saint we’d be talking about.

Though somewhat regretting it, it was utterly impossible for him to let Malik and Fedor go unavenged. He was just momentarily torn on it.

Staring at Gao Yang who was quiet, Tribo nudged Gao Yang’s leg with his and said, "Bro Yang, are you regretting it?"

He didn"t turn around and he replied, "A little."

"I"m sorry. You know me. Sometimes I am such a dumba.s.s. But I shouldn"t have let you come too. I have a younger brother, but you are an only child. You’d been gone for three years and your family thought you were dead. If you go back, how happy would your parents be? Yet I dragged you down into this with a moment of impetuousness."

Gao Yang finally turned around and stared at Tribo for a while. Just when Tribo was getting nervous from all that staring, Gao Yang slapped the top of his head.

"You fool, you followed me for such a long time and you still don’t know what your bro"s like? If I weren"t as dumb as you were, you think I"d play with a dumba.s.s like you all the way huh? Baloney! Tell you what, this thing’s got nothin" to do with you. Your big bro is just gettin" revenge for Fedor, that’s all! Does avenging them and homesickness conflict? Any contradictions? No way, you moron."

After being slapped with an intermediate amount of force, and being told off like that, Hare wasn"t angry. Instead, he laughed and said, "Hehe, good that you don"t blame me. In fact, if you didn"t come, I didn"t really think that I would have much of a chance. I just intended to kill a few and count on whoever I could get. Now that we"re together, those opponents ain"t worth sh*t, let"s put "em down tonight. Hey hey, the case in point knowing you ain"t burdened by me makes me feel a h.e.l.l lot better. So even if you become a corpse I don"t need to feel so guilty."

Hearing Tribo"s words, Gao Yang was so angry that his root ca.n.a.ls itched. He raised his hand and gave Tribo two hard slaps on the head.

"You b.l.o.o.d.y idiot. Hare, would it kill you to say something more auspicious?! Gloomy bullsh*t, this old man"s not dyin", I"d survive even if you were dead! Hurry up and say something auspicious!"

Tribo was really spastic at times. Gao Yang had known that for several years already. So when he spoke to Tribo, he"d call himself "Bro" if he was happy and "old man" if he was p.i.s.sed. And Tribo also knew about his scattered brain and that would lead him to spout some inappropriate things, and thus he was long accustomed to both Gao Yang"s physical and "linguistic" attacks alike.

"Pui, pui, pui, reckless kids know no boundaries. Zephyr and gale come about, we"d be at peace no doubt, got near misses [1] without danger! Ah nope, no danger nor close shaves, succeed always as the horse arrives [2], and kill those ol" sons of b*tches ice cold."

Gao Yang"s anger reached a point where he wanted to laugh. He helplessly shook his head and said, "You balderdash, I"m really impressed. Locate our twenty [3] now, if we ain"t far from our destination we gotta get off early."

The trio was sitting in the exact same car that the Resistance had used to send them to the airport. The chauffeur didn"t know where they were off to and hence he headed back the same way. Gao Yang didn"t want to cause too much movement and therefore he didn"t want to directly go to Fedor"s shop.

Tribo looked out and said, "Almost there, ten minutes walk away. Let"s get off here."

After gesturing to the driver to stop, the trio alighted from the car and watched the car leave. They tidied their "armor" and kept alert while reaching the destination.

Gao Yang wasn"t sure when to attack, but they had to understand the situation first. They had to at least know who the enemy was. That"s why he decided to rush back at night.

Since it was nightfall at a close range, both Tribo and his sniper rifles were somewhat obsolete. Both of them carried their sniper rifles on their backs. Gao Yang then took out his shotgun, and Tribo took out his M4. The trio speed walked towards their destination after putting themselves at least ten meters apart.

Benghazi at night had gunshots ringing everywhere, but there was not a single sight of a battle. The surprising thing was that the city was already in chaos yet the road lights were still on. The difference from usual was that there wasn"t anybody on the roads. It looked really empty.

They didn"t walk long before reaching the street where the shop was located. The houses on both sides of the street had no lights on at all. Stygian darkness devoured the whole block.

After reaching the street corner, Hare, who was at the front, raised his right hand and made a gesture to stop. When the trio gathered quickly at a point and squatted in a dark corner, Tribo whispered, "We"re just three hundred meters away. We can"t see nothing here so let"s put on the night vision devices (NVDs)."

Entering a dark area from a bright one would temporarily blind one in the darkness. But after a while, they adapted to the blindness. They could see objects nearby, but combat"s still somewhat difficult. Gao Yang felt that they really got to wear NVDs.
[a][b]
The trio had helmet-styled NVDs in their hands, and this time they came in just handy. The infrared sight on Gao Yang"s gun with the small field of vision didn’t have much use in close combat.

The NVDs were hanging on Tribo"s backpack, and when Tribo removed the NVDs, Gao Yang reached out and whispered, "I"m gonna storm towards the front and you provide cover fire."

Tribo whispered, "Don"t, let me do it. You can cover because you are the only child."

The guy at the front faced the highest risk: he’d be walking at the front and would have to rush forward when it was time to attack. Obviously, it was the most dangerous.

Gao Yang did not scold Tribo and just whispered, "Okay. You lead. Take off your gla.s.ses and wear the NVD."

That sentence from Gao Yang immediately dropped Tribo"s mood down into the valley. He became totally listless and droopy. It was his permanent Achilles" Heel, with both eyes at least five hundred degrees of myopia, he"d be blind as a bat without his gla.s.ses on with the NVD. However, he couldn"t wear the NVD with his gla.s.ses on.

Tribo immediately ‘withered’ and stopped talking. After Gao Yang put on his NVD, he couldn"t help but say something extra.

"Next time before I speak, gotta process my brain first. Old myopic me trying to s.n.a.t.c.h an NVD for what?"

Tribo gave a long sigh full of sadness and helplessness.

Gao Yang switched the NVD on. His left eye immediately captured a glittering green picturesque: no one on the street at all. It seemed to be really safe. Gao Yang touched the area at the back of his vest where there were shotgun rounds. Then he unholstered his pistol and released the safety.

1911 was an old gun — it was only a single-shot action bolt. So she couldn"t be fired for modern guns with the simple pull of a trigger after releasing the safety lever. He had to first pull the slide to open up the hammer [4].

Gao Yang loaded the bullet into the chamber and opened the hammer at the same time. He released the safety catch and then holstered it in a way that allowed him to be prepared to fire at any time. He then put the holster"s buckle in between the opened hammer and gun body. This would not only ensure that the pistol wouldn"t ND, (Negligent Discharge[5]) but also allowed him to shoot immediately.

After all the preparations, Gao Yang whispered, “Action!” before he stood up and walked a few steps forward slowly with Tribo and Grolev behind him. The three moved in a triangular formation and advanced quickly.

As soon as they reached the door to Fedor"s shop, Gao Yang stopped.

Fedor and Malik"s bodies were hanging at the door. Two ropes were strapped around their necks, hanging on the gate rolling shutters. The cadavers had dried blood all over and were covered with knife wounds. The two faces of the now-dead bodies were distorted with pain and fear. It showed that both of them had died in extreme agony.

Gao Yang"s flames of anger surged and exploded at that very moment. He just wanted to find the murderer right now and blast them into meat pulp and sauce ruthlessly and brutally.

The shop door was widely ajar and Gao Yang was familiar with the terrain of the shop. He slowly put his head close to the door and looked inside. The shop was a mess, but the contents of the shop were not ransacked and empty, which puzzled Gao Yang greatly. He thought it would be looted clean in there.

After taking a glance and confirming that no one was on the first floor, Gao Yang made a gesture to Tribo and Grolev and whispered to the two of them the first floor. "No one on the first floor, but I heard two people. They seemed to be talking, let"s go up and check it out. You two be careful, the ground"s messy. Follow my footsteps."

Gao Yang had to say it twice because Tribo didn"t understand English. Grolev also apparently did not understand Chinese.

After giving his orders, Gao Yang gently walked in front to the stairs. He waited for Tribo and Grolev to get into position. Gao Yang took a deep breath and raised the shotgun, ready to shoot at any time. He slowly embarked on his "journey’ up the stairs.

Trying very hard not to make any noises, Gao Yang saw some light emitting from the door leading to Malik and Fedor"s rooms when he reached the second story. It seemed that both rooms were occupied and Gao Yang could also hear voices coming out from there.

Gao Yang paused and waited for the other two to reach him from behind. He made a hand-sign to indicate that he and Tribo would each rush into a room each while Grolev would stay outside. Then Grolev would provide backup for the room that required help. When he finished a.s.signing the rooms to their attackers, he took in a deep breath, raised his hand, and gestured for them to prepare for the a.s.sault.

After the hand was waved downwards, Gao Yang suddenly rushed out. He chose Malik"s room, which sounded like it was more crowded. There was no longer a need to consider the noise. Gao Yang rushed with all the speed he had before he smashed the room"s door with a kick.

Translator"s note(s):