Qin Feng knew what Green Dragon was going to do. He had always been cruel to prisoners. Although he violated the military discipline, he did get the information he wanted every time. In terms of efficiency, Green Dragon"s means were better. But sometime, he could be too cruel. When Qin Feng could not bear to look at it, he would step away and let Green Dragon do things his way.
Of course, there were times when he went overboard. On two occasions when they had interrogated captives in the Middle East, the prisoners had already had their fingers and toes cut off but he still didn"t ask for the information he wanted. In the end, the prisoners could no longer bear the torment and bit their own tongues to kill themselves by blood loss.
"Wait," Qin Feng stopped Green Dragon. He gently shook his head and said, "Let me try first."
"It"s a waste of time." Green Dragon rolled his eyes at him but obediently withdrew the bayonet. He sat down with his back to a tree and lit a cigarette, the dead body beside him staring emptily straight at him. Green Dragon took off his cap and covered the dead man"s face. "Rest in peace, baby. Tianhe is lovely this time of year."
Qin Feng pressed him with questions, and the team leader finally opened his mouth and divulged who sent him and why.
It was as Qin Feng suspected. "I already knew you were Shark Kun"s people. It seems that someone has already reported my affairs in Tianhe to him. Sending you guys out here with all this ordnance, he must be really desperate."
"Shark Kun was afraid your actions would expose his operation and lead to international disputes for him. Since I joined the profession, I have taken on more than 300 missions and have never failed. I even got in and out of the US Capitol on three separate occasions. I never thought you"d be the one to take me down. I say this because I admire your skill. I have been defeated. I have nothing more to say. My integrity as a professional killer demands I pay for my failure with my life."
Green Dragon raised the bayonet in a trance. He thought the team leader would put up a fight. He never thought he"d calmly ask for death.
The five-inch blade buried itself in his chest. The team leader gasped, and finally, with a satisfied smile, fell limp.
Qin Feng did not have time to respond. He looked at the body solemnly and sighed, "He was a mercenary; he didn"t have to die."
"Even if we didn"t kill him, Shark Kun would have sent someone after him. Sooner or later, he"d be dead anyway. Once you set foot on the mercenary path, there"s no other way out. None of them can die peacefully, but we are also..."
Green Dragon stopped talking. A trace of sadness flashed in his eyes. To put it bluntly, their fates were out of their control. Any day could be their last and they had no sense of security.
Qin Feng patted Green Dragon on the shoulder. "OK, they are them, we are us. We"re not the same. They"re in it for themselves, we"re in it for the country. We have a higher purpose. We are worthy of the praise of future generations. Even if we die, it"s all right."
Although Qin Feng did not really believe that nonsense, in front of Green Dragon, who often wavered in his heart and mind, he had to maintain this kind of discipline and set an example with his own actions to strengthen his faith little by little. If the captain ever faltered, there would be no use for the Golden Four"s existence.
Others could think differently, but Qin Feng could not. This was the oath he had made when he was a child. From the day he joined the army, he would be always loyal.
There was nothing to be vague about.
Qin Feng immediately called HQ to explain what had just happened. The Ministry of National Defense soon contacted the provincial public security bureau to carry out confidential arrangements about this matter, and the bodies would be secretly transferred that very night. All the blood and bullet casings would be cleaned up before dawn, leaving behind no evidence that might cause public unrest. Such incidents happened rarely, but the authorities across China had plenty of experience dealing with them.
In these peaceful times, a robbery in the city was a big enough event to make headlines. If anyone knew that there was a shootout on the sh.o.r.es of the lake and eight people died, the entire 2 million residents of Tianhe City would be in uproar. For a time, the full attention of China would be focused there. Popular sentiment would be a mess and it would be difficult to cover it all up.
When everything was said and done, it was 5:30 in the morning. The morning air by the lakeside was crisp in the early autumn. More and more people arrived to exercise by the edge of the water. The sun slowly rose from the east and everything looked the same as always. The people that walked by did not notice anything unusual. The government even stationed a few plainclothes agents around the area, who would take immediate action if anyone found anything suspicious.
Whenever these kinds of incidents occurred in China, a professional and discreet "cleaning crew" would always promptly dispose of the evidence. The seemingly peaceful façade was hiding a lot of pain and strife.
Coming to the plaza on the east side of the lake, Qin Feng bought two pancakes and two small cartons of soy milk. He sat down on a bench with Green Dragon, watching the groups of people practicing Tai Chi by the lake. Green Dragon smiled knowingly. "Look at their lives. Comfortable, ordinary, predictable. They wake up to a comfortable life and work in the city, while we just spent a night on the verge of death."
Qin Feng felt the same. After he came to Tianhe, he fell in love with this way of life. He thought about quitting, burning the bridges with the stubborn old general and leaving the absurd military headquarters forever. He would have liked to live every day without worries, work from nine to five, get married and have children, and enjoy the rest of his life.
But he knew that from the moment he stepped into the army recruitment bureau, that life became impossible. He was destined to spend his youth on the battlefield, and the only way out was death.
There could never be absolute peace in the world. There were endless battles to fight. He was like a machine - no matter how efficient he was, he would not be able to deviate from his cycle. He could only keep the gears moving on and on...
They could never live on their own, always in the shadows. But even so, Qin Feng still believed that what covered his shadow was the Five-star Red Flag dipped in the blood of the founders!