A Mercenary's War

Chapter 57: Made Several Calls

Translated by: kevin1782

Edited by: Isalee

Grolev didn’t ask much. After a long silence, he said softly, “Got it. If you can wait, wait for a few days. I should have ways to get to China. Also, have you told Hare?”

Gao Yang didn’t think he actually needed them to help him. He didn’t want to get Tribo involved in this. Grolev’s injuries wouldn’t be able to heal within these ten days or even within half a month. He just wanted a way to get guns, and Grolev happened to have mentioned it before.

“Don’t tell Hare, and you don’t have to help me either. I can handle this myself. Alright, without further ado, I’ll contact you should I have anything else. If there’s nothing else, there’s no need to call this number.”

Gao Yang hung up and was immediately about to call the number Grolev had given him. But before he pressed the “dial” b.u.t.ton, he was somewhat hesitant. He had just come home; if he was going to kill somebody, it wouldn’t be possible for him to live so comfortably. He would either be sent to jail or he would have to run from all that. He had to think about the consequences of whether his parents could take it or not, not to mention losing him once again.[1]

He hesitated for a really long time, but he still pressed the “dial” b.u.t.ton. That’s because he recalled something: he was already a “dead” man.

Gao Yang had been p.r.o.nounced dead; his pa.s.sport and ident.i.ty and other related stuff had all been registered already. When he came back, he reported with Tribo’s name, and that’s to say that his unintentional actions had made him immune to investigations. There was no “Gao Yang”, so why would he still be afraid of being suspected or listed on the wanted list?

In fact, he just wanted to find himself an excuse. He was a hot-headed person who would dare to do anything. In addition to the war and personally killing somebody, his first decision was also the only one: that was to f*cking kill those mo*herf*ckers who had harmed his parents. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to vent his anger no matter what he chose to do.

He pressed the b.u.t.ton and prayed in his heart that it’d get through. Maybe those loan sharks who created a din at their house really deserved just their desserts. The call not only got through, but the person answered really quickly.

“h.e.l.lo.”

Mandarin Chinese could be heard through the phone. It was a pure and official northeastern accent [2]. Gao Yang felt the person wasn’t who he was looking for. After slightly hesitating, he still decided to ask anyway.

“h.e.l.lo, are you Mr. Molotov?”

The name that Gao Yang said was a fake one. It was a nickname rather. Only Grolev and his comrades back during the Grozny War knew about it. After a momentary silence, the voice suddenly became agitated and excited, “I’m Molotov, who is this?”

Gao Yang was very excited too. He suppressed his voice and said, “I am Yuri Grolevsky Ivanov’s friend, he gave me this number and told me that maybe you could help me out.”

Molotov was astonished and gasped in disbelief, “Heavens, Yuri isn’t dead? How do you know him? Tell me about it[3].”

He knew it was Molotov’s test for him. He immediately replied, “Yuri is called Grolev now. He’s a merc in Africa. We met in Africa. The two of you were in the first Grozny War. The armored vehicle you guys were on was burned and destroyed by a c.o.c.ktail. There were six of you then, but only two of you survived. Then you and Yuri used the Molotov c.o.c.ktail and burned all the seven buildings with the people inside all to ashes. Yuri hence called you Molotov. And you called Yuri c.o.c.ktail. The first war ended and you retired. Am I right?”

“Absolutely right. I believe you are Yuri’s friend, tell me what you need. As long as I can do it, I’ll definitely help you.”

Gao Yang thought before replying, “I need a handgun with at least thirty rounds for it. Best to have at least three magazines. I need all that within three days in Province Ji (Jisheng). You tell me the price.”

Molotov was quiet for a moment and lowered his volume, “I’ve done many years of business, but I never touch firearms. If not, I wouldn’t be here today. But since you’ve opened your mouth, I’ll surely get it for you. It’s just that while getting the gun’s easy, the part on sending it to Province Ji isn’t.”

“I understand, but I can’t seek help from other people. Therefore, please help me with this.”

Molotov was silent for a very long while before he spoke solemnly in a small voice. “I’m doing this on behalf of Yuri. I’ll help you settle it, but the price ain’t cheap. Fifty thousand. RMB. Not Ruble (Russian). We’d solely be responsible for the risks on the way.”

He felt that fifty thousand wasn’t expensive. He immediately agreed to the price. After thinking for a while, he felt that since Molotov was the “snakehead” or the gang lord of that region, why not leave some leeway for himself in case he was caught? Plan B, as they all say.

“No problem, can you perhaps help smuggle me into Russia? I might not go, but I wanna be prepared. Just me alone. It’ll be better to have some legal doc.u.ments, fake ones of course. Is it possible? Oh, of course, no matter if I’m leaving or not, I’ll pay up as usual.”

“No problem, it’s just ten thousand to get across the country border. Just for Yuri though, I can do that for you without any charge. If you need to stay in Russia legally, fifteen bucks. I’ll give you a pa.s.sport with relevant legal registration doc.u.ments. I can’t do that for free of course, I have many connections to pa.s.s through, you see.”

“Okay, twenty thousand. I’ll give this to you as I promised. When the stuff’s here, give me a call.”

Just a few sentences more and the location to get the gun was confirmed. He hung up and everything was smooth. It even exceeded his expectations. After hanging up though, he was now having a headache on what to say to his parents.

He walked and strolled along the unfamiliar streets for a very long time, thinking about how to prevent his parents from being swept into the case he was about to commit. He also had to think about how he was gonna end all those five people together with that Mr. Zhao.

Just as Gao Yang’s brains were all in a whirl, Morgan called and told him his money was there. He hung up after a few bantering sentences and walked straight to a bank and checked his father’s account. He found there a million RMB exactly in the savings account.

Morgan still owed Gao Yang ninety-four thousand USD and using the current exchange rates, that was roughly six hundred thousand RMB. But Morgan gave him a million.

He saved Morgan twice, but Morgan also helped him greatly. These exchanges of favor and whatnot weren’t easy to make clear. He didn’t want to say anything more about the extra dollars that Morgan had given him. He needed that money anyway, and so he’d just remember the favor. It would do.

Now that the money was in the account, he became more confident. He hurried back to the hospital since the sky was getting darker.

His parents originally intended to go home after half a day of observation since it wasn’t necessary to stay in the ward even if his mother needed rest. However, Gao Yang had other ideas and thoughts.

When he entered the ward, his parents heaved a sigh of relief and relaxed. The three years of longing and yearning couldn’t be appeased by merely half a day of reunion time. It was far from it. They were worried about Gao Yang. Seeing that he returned safely, they were relieved.

“Pa, Ma, I’ve already paid the hospital. We aren’t going home today. A head concussion isn’t the same as other maladies or diseases, I feel that staying in the hospital for further observation is imperative. I’ve changed it into a single-person ward and we’re going to move there in just a moment.”

His mom furrowed her eyebrows and replied, “Aiya, I am totally okay, no need to stay in the hospital. How much are we going to spend a day in the hospital? Even more so for a single-person ward. Quickly get a refund!”

He smiled and a.s.sured his mother, “Ma, I’ve already paid five days worth of money. I’ve already paid it so how can I ask for a refund? Also, Ma, there’s no need to worry about money, since the money has arrived. A million! It’s just been deposited in the card. If you don’t trust me you can let Dad check it. Here, I’ve withdrawn fifty thousand first and I paid the hospital a deposit of ten thousand. I’ll give Dad the remaining forty thousand.”

When he dug out a big pile of notes from his wallet and stuffed them into his father’s hands, he said, “See, I didn’t bluff you guys, right? Pa, those US dollars I brought back, where did you put them? Give them to me as I have use for them. As for this, you can spend it as you like. I still have more money on the way.”

His father, of course, wouldn’t be so courteous as he would be to strangers. After he kept the money, he took out a few stacks of green notes from a briefcase. He said, “Keep them for yourself, luckily I stashed it away already or else it’d be really troublesome if we got robbed of them.”

He put the money in his wallet and smiled, “Pa, we didn’t get to eat our lunch properly, so how about this? You find a good restaurant and we’ll order a few dishes here. Then we can settle it in the hospital. It’s a single-person ward anyway, so we wouldn’t be bothering other people.”

That night the family of three just ate at the hospital. Even though the dishes were in galore and of good quality, including the fact that his parents hadn’t eaten a grand meal in those three years, the ambience and atmosphere were different from lunch. The difference was akin to Heaven and Earth[4].

Seeing his parents furrow their eyebrows and seem troubled, he said, “Are you still worrying about what happened at noon? Don’t worry, I still got money. We can just give them the money. One point two million isn’t a big sum anyways. I can get it, at most I can just earn more next time.”

His father just shook his head and heaved a long sigh before replying. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t let them get us no matter what. Hey, it’s all my fault, I was anxious to leave that day. That b*stard Mr. Zhao said he didn’t bring the IOU agreement and that he would give me another day. I was blur that time and gave the money to that b*stard. Ai, worked hard for half my life and yet I still got swindled. No witnesses, and furthermore the IOU is in their hands. Even at court, I would still have to pay that five hundred thousand even without the interest.”

Ever since the plane crash, Gao Wu hadn’t had a single day in comfort or peace. He discarded his business and was completely focused on finding his son. If it weren’t for that, he wouldn’t be cheated so easily.

Gao Yang only advised his dad to not be contrite and bemoan his fate. Yet he didn’t ask about the particulars of that Mr. Zhao because, in his heart, Zhao Xin Wen was already a dead man. There was no need to care about his background or anything.

In the next two days, he stayed with his parents and they took turns looking after his mother. His mother was indeed fine and was in stable condition. She strongly proposed to get discharged from the hospital, but Gao Yang reasoned or made an excuse that staying in the hospital would offer sanctuary from those debt collectors. He advised his mom against leaving the hospital. In those two days, the smiles on his parents’ faces appeared more and more frequently.

That lasted until the third morning, where he received a call and it finally broke the tranquility he enjoyed. The first sentence from that phone was, “Hi, the goods are here. Come and get them.”

Translator’s note(s):