Chapter 49 The Truth Almost immediately, Yu Tang was about to throw off the covers and get out of bed…
She thought for a second. Yu Chaoxian was always ruthless and would stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Would he push her out as a target so he could take the opportunity to leave?
The image of the mangled corpse in the Hummer flashed through her mind, and after only a second, Yu Tang was so frightened that she took a step back.
"Don't be afraid, it's alright." Yu Chaoxian took off his shirt and draped it over her, covering her snow-white neck.
Seeing that she was so nervous that her lips were turning white from biting them, he suddenly lowered his head and lightly pecked her lips, tucking the stray hairs damp with sweat from her forehead behind her ear with his fingers. "I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to you, and nothing will happen."
This time, Yu Tang didn't bother to argue. She lowered her head and didn't speak or wipe her mouth. She simply put the gauze out of her equipment bag, so she didn't see the man's fierce expression when he looked out the window.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Cement debris flew from the window beside him, and more bullets poured in, exploding a series of bullet holes in the wall.
Yu Chaoxian used one hand to protect the back of the girl's head and rolled her behind the load-bearing pillar on the right.
The equipment bag he hastily grabbed only contained a dagger and some gauze and hemostatic medicine; there was no gun for self-defense. Chen Diao's voice was no longer in his communication headset. Chen Diao had been supposed to arrive in ten minutes, as agreed, but he was already past the agreed time; it was obvious he was being obstructed.
At this moment, Howard ordered a four-man search team to storm in from one side. There were two team members on each side of the entrance, and they were to turn to the left and right as they stormed in.
This is a common method of storming a held room.
According to his calculations, even if Yu Chaoxian was highly skilled, he would have no chance of dealing with four well-trained mercenaries at the same time while carrying a burdensome girl.
The unfinished building had two floors. Mercenary Parker and his partner advanced slowly, their guns sweeping through every dark corner. A signal came from downstairs confirming safety, but Parker's back was already drenched in cold sweat; the empty warehouse was eerily quiet.
Parker winked at his partner and pointed to the first load-bearing column, where a glimpse of a black shirt was visible. His partner nodded silently.
To create an opportunity for Parker, his partner deliberately made some footsteps and walked towards the second support column, with half of the black muzzle of his gun showing, right on Yu Tang's side.
The girl bit her lip hard, tears welling in her eyes. She stared at the gun barrel beside her, her eyes brimming with tears, but she forced herself to close them. Would not looking reduce her fear?
Parker quickly sidestepped behind the support column and opened fire.
With a "thud," a figure fell to the ground—it was Parker's partner!
The moment Parker fired, his partner turned around. A cold light pierced his throat from below. He didn't even have time to make a sound, clutching his bleeding throat and staggering backward. In his final moments, he looked up and met a pair of smiling eyes, a contemptuous curve on the man's lips.
Yu Chao first flicked the blood off the dagger.
The dull thud of his partner falling to the ground was perfectly masked by the gunshot that followed immediately afterward.
Yu Chaoxian quickly picked up the gun from his hand. It was actually a Remington 870, the king of shotguns, perfect for close combat.
Parker's gunfire missed its target; all he saw on the ground was a tattered black suit jacket. His hopes of making a name for himself vanished; capturing Yu Chaoxian would have been a major achievement.
Yu Chaoxian glanced down at Yu Tang, who was squatting obediently. Being next to her was dangerous for her. Yu Chaoxian turned sideways and went around to the back, making a little noise, and moved away from the pillar where Yu Tang was hiding.
Hearing the sound, Parker turned around quickly. In a flash, Yu Chaoxian raised his gun and shot Parker, who was standing in front of the first load-bearing pillar.
In an instant, Parker's heart was pierced, and blood mist mixed with dust floated in the air.
The two remaining mercenaries searching downstairs heard the gunshot, unaware that a black gun barrel was already pointed at the back of his head through a crack in the floor.
Yu Chaoxian's bullets were faster than their reactions. After two muffled thuds, two more bodies lay on the ground.
Howard heard the gunshot and asked over the communicator, "Please reply if you receive this, please reply if you receive this."
Only static noise remained in the communicator. He asked four times, but only deathly silence answered him.
Howard suddenly realized he had made a fatal mistake: he had severely underestimated the man's strength. Even without reinforcements arriving, Yu Chaoxian was fully capable of escaping the warehouse unscathed. And the reason he chose to stay was easy to guess.
It's because of that girl.
His obsession with capturing Yu Chaoxian clouded his judgment. He acted rashly without waiting for reinforcements from Maerzhou, and the six mercenaries he brought with him were all killed.
The first two were burned to a crisp inside the Hummer, while the remaining four were dealt with one by one by Yu Chaoxian in the warehouse.
Howard knew it was his turn. He pulled out his sniper rifle from the car and scanned the windows through the scope.
Yu Chaoxian was too sensitive to guns. Just as he had scanned countless heads through his scope, he knew all too well what it felt like to be pinpointed by a sniper rifle.
Almost instinctively, Yu Chaoxian sensed that someone outside was looking for him with a gun.
A bird's call suddenly came from outside the window, startling Yu Tang, who was on high alert. The bird's call... this reminded Yu Chaoxian. "Don't be afraid." He approached the girl, his rough fingertips gently stroking her cold cheek. Yu Chaoxian knew very well that if Yu Tang stayed in the same space with him, the probability of her being accidentally injured was high. "Wait for me here. Until I arrive, no matter what you hear, don't come out."
The same instructions as before. Yu Tang looked at him and nodded. As the man picked up his gun to leave, he suddenly felt a familiar force grab his wrist. He turned around and met the girl's hesitant gaze.
"Fear?"
Yu Tang opened her mouth, but her gaze involuntarily fell on the blood seeping from his neck and back. It was from when he jumped out of the helicopter with her in his arms. Without the shirt to cover it, the bright red blood had soaked through his vest.
"Your injury..." she began hesitantly, "should we bandage it first?"
Yu Chaoxian's lips curled into a barely perceptible smile as he gently ruffled her messy hair with his large hand. "Help me deal with this when we get back."
That tall figure quickly disappeared from Yu Tang's sight.
In front of the unfinished building was the car that the four-man group had just driven. Almost the instant Yu Chaoxian came out of the warehouse, he loaded his gun and fired, swiftly and cleanly breaking the vehicle's fuel tank.
"Boom—!" A burst of red flames shot into the sky, instantly disrupting Howard's vision and hearing.
Howard's sniping perspective was shrouded in black and gray smoke, and through the scope, he could vaguely see Yu Chaoxian, alone, running rapidly away towards the reeds.
Did he abandon the girl and leave on his own?
Yu Chaoxian suddenly sped up, and Howard's scope could no longer keep up with Yu Chaoxian's pace. Such rapid movement made it difficult for him to lock onto the target.
But with a split second to spare, Howard couldn't just watch his gaze escape, so he had to try. "Bang—" One shot, then two more.
All shots failed to hit the target.
At this point, even a fool could see that Yu Chaoxian was using himself as bait to deliberately lure him into firing his gun and pinpointing his location.
Howard was very wary. Logically speaking, Yu Chaoxian shouldn't have a sniper rifle on him. Even if he did, it should be a mercenary's gun, which is only good for close combat and wouldn't be able to hurt him from a distance.
But what if... Howard had personally witnessed Yu Chaoxian accurately shoot the driver of the Hummer in the head with a single shot.
Howard wasn't about to risk his life, and realizing his position had been exposed, he quickly put away his gun.
The location must be changed.
He also looked towards the patch of reeds taller than a person, which was the best concealed sniping position.
Yu Chaoxian scoffed and cursed him as an idiot. Howard, as expected, was influenced by him and moved to the position Yu had chosen.
The reeds rustled, and Yu Chaoxian suddenly stopped.
With the sound of running gone, the birdsong also fell silent.
Howard hid himself well, his eyes quickly scanning the surroundings, searching for Yu Chaoxian's coordinates through the gaps in the reeds.
Shotguns are no match for sniper rifles for long-range combat, and this weapon disadvantage forces Yu Chaoxian to choose close-quarters combat.
Thinking of Yu Tang in the unfinished building, Yu Chaoxian's facial features softened. He guessed that Yu Tang was probably holding a medical kit in her arms, her head resting on it, obediently waiting for him to come back and bandage her wounds, and maybe she was still worried about his wounds.
Just as he had expected, Yu Tang placed the medical kit on her lap, utterly exhausted both mentally and physically. She rested her head on the kit, her eyes closed. She couldn't sleep. Even though she had heard on the communicator that the mercenaries who had stormed the area were gone and knew it was safe, she still couldn't relax.
There was another question she couldn't understand: if Yu Chaoxian had abandoned her, he could have gotten out quickly with his skills, whether it was during the previous plane jump or his current predicament. But Yu Chaoxian never did that.
She had experienced a similar kidnapping when she was a child. It was because of her brother's business. She knew early on that her brother's business was not doing well and always brought a lot of danger. She knew that this was something the Yu family had to endure, so she never complained or felt that she was being implicated. She only worried about whether her brother would get hurt. Perhaps... Yu Chaoxian was the same way.
Although cruel and cold-hearted, blood ties still held a certain weight in his heart, which is why he didn't give up on her.
Dawn was breaking, and Yu Tang was still waiting for him to return to the unfinished building, so Yu Chaoxian didn't intend to linger for long. Suddenly, he raised his gun and fired a shot into the reeds, startling a flock of birds into flight.
The flock of birds wouldn't land in the direction of people. It was thanks to the scene of Yu Tang being startled by the birdsong that he was reminded that he could use the flock to pinpoint the other person's location.
Yu Chaoxian's sharp eyes followed the circling trajectory of the flock of birds and quickly locked onto Howard's hiding place.
Howard, on the other side, was startled by the sudden gunshot and reflexively turned his scope to search for the source of the sound. His gaze quickly followed the birdsong, his sense of distance and direction now lost in the chaos of the flock.
It was only at this moment that Howard suddenly realized that Yu Chaoxian was using a shotgun to pinpoint his location by taking advantage of the birds' cover!
But it was too late.
Howard immediately drew his pistol, preparing for close combat. His eyes darted around the area with a mixture of panic and vigilance, every shadow seeming like a lurking deadly threat. Yu Chaoxian could very well be right behind him...
The reeds rustled, and Howard quickly turned around and pulled the trigger, firing a shot with a sudden burst of power, but there was nothing behind him but swaying reeds.
Howard was unaware that his frequent changes of position in the reeds had become a fatal flaw, directly exposing his figure to Yu Chaoxian's view.
Yu Chaoxian, who was initially at a disadvantage, gradually gained the upper hand through quiet waiting.
Using the rustling of the reeds as cover, he quietly circled around to Howard's side.
Yu Chaoxian followed the disoriented Howard, cocked his gun, and fired—"Bang!"
The impact of the bullet knocked Howard to the ground. A sharp pain shot through his right shoulder, and the gun in his hand flew out and landed in the dense reeds.
At this moment, Howard finally understood why Michael, such an excellent mercenary, had died at the hands of Yu Chaoxian. The tactical skills, mastery of various weapons, and the calm and composed killing intent honed in the midst of gunfire that the man before him displayed were far beyond the capabilities of ordinary arms dealers. His extremely rich combat experience was also something they could never match.
Howard was breathing heavily, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. His face was ashen, and he growled in pain. As he struggled to his feet, he left dark red trails of blood in the reeds.
He stared intently at the figure looking down at him, and in a daze, he seemed to see a deeper truth hidden behind Yu Chaoxian, a dark truth that even the international team members' files could not touch.
Just when things were at their most critical, a military Humvee roared into the reeds. The last remaining mercenary arrived and dragged the barely alive Howard into the vehicle. Before the door could be closed properly, the tires were already spinning wildly in the mud.
The roar of helicopter rotors came from afar. Yu Chaoxian looked up at the sky—an AH-6 attack helicopter was circling overhead. Howard heard the sound, and a flash of wild joy crossed his pale face, but his expression turned ashen the moment he saw the helicopter's paint scheme.
That wasn't support from the Maldives police, but from Yu Chaoxian's private army!
Yu Chaoxian glanced at the dying Howard as he got into the car, but didn't immediately deal with him; he still had questions to ask.
Before that, Yu Chaoxian arranged for A Jin, who had driven over, to pick up Yu Tang. Yu Tang heard Yu Chaoxian's voice on the phone, hummed in response, and there was a brief silence on the phone for a few seconds. Yu Chaoxian hung up, and Yu Tang, clutching her phone, got into the car with A Jin.
Inside the Hummer, half of Howard's body was covered in blood, and even the seats were stained red with his blood. He kept telling the driver to speed up!
How could this be? Howard couldn't figure out where things went wrong. He had clearly arranged for people from Malzhou to arrest Yu Chaoxian, so why didn't the people from Malzhou stop them and even let Yu Chaoxian's armed helicopter in?
Mickey and Chen Diao's helicopters chased the Humvee from both sides until it was cornered and the mercenary driving it abandoned the vehicle and surrendered. Howard, dragging his injured body, staggered into the warehouse he had just been in and called the governor of Malta, asking them to come and provide support as soon as possible, because he still had a chance of survival if the support arrived.
The warehouse was shrouded in the dim light of the just-brightening sky, the damp air thick with the smells of blood and rust. Howard struggled to pull out his phone, his trembling, icy fingers pressing the call button with difficulty.
A rapid, somewhat jarring ringtone sounded behind Howard.
The shrill ringing continued, each ring like a countdown, echoing through the empty warehouse.
Howard's breath hitched slightly, and his bloodied fingers tightened around his phone. Why was the call to the governor of Marr State ringing behind him?
Suddenly, a gut feeling made him turn around abruptly—
Yu Chaoxian had already stood a few steps away, his face half-hidden in the shadows, with only the barrel of the gun in his hand gleaming with a unique dark, cold light in the dim light.
Time seemed to stand still, with only the sound of the telephone ringing in the warehouse.
Now that things have come to this, Howard understands perfectly well that the governor of Marzhou is actually Yu Chaoxian's man, and the two have long been in cahoots!
Doug, the governor of Malta, wants to run for the next presidential election, which requires the financial support of Yu Chaoxian, so Doug naturally wants to cooperate with Yu Chaoxian.
Before Yu Chaoxian could lightly press the trigger with his index finger, a faint mechanical sound could be clearly heard in the deathly silence. He asked, "Whose mercenary are you?"
Howard's pupils contracted sharply, and his Adam's apple bobbed: "Carson."
Carson.
The name made Yu Chaoxian raise an eyebrow. "He's still living in the CIA building, isn't he?"
Howard was surprised by Yu Chaoxian's attitude towards the director. Judging from his tone, could the two be old acquaintances? Director Carson does indeed spend most of his time in the CIA office building and rarely leaves unless necessary.
Having gotten the answer he wanted, Yu Chaoxian had nothing more to ask. However, before firing, he paused, remembering how Yu Tang had been innocently implicated, which made him pale and bite his lip, afraid to cry out.
The man frowned, suddenly feeling that letting Howard die like this was too easy for him.
He enjoys gradually extinguishing someone's only hope until they are truly dead.
Mickey handed Yu Chaoxian his personal cell phone. There was a call that had been dialed many times before Yu Chaoxian finally answered it.
He turned on the speakerphone, and the other party spoke in English: "Mr. Yu, this matter is a complete misunderstanding. It was an unauthorized action by the CIA. I have already given the order that the CIA will not issue an arrest warrant for you. As for the unrelated personnel, Mr. Yu can deal with them as he sees fit. Please make sure to deliver that batch of orders on time."
Yu Chaoxian scoffed: "If we continue to complete the orders, the price won't be this high."
After a pause, the person on the other end said, "We can increase Mr. Yu's interest by another 30%."
It's not a buyer's market now, it's a seller's market. If Yu Chaoxian doesn't sell this batch of "Poison Sting," the situation in the Fuzhou war will be irreversible.
Howard recognized the voice on the phone as the president's chief of staff and the Senate president who led them in swearing an oath to serve the country in Congress!
Now, they've actually colluded with an arms dealer!
Howard was incredulous. "How could this be? How could our government do business with an arms dealer like you?" The light in his eyes quickly died. What was the meaning of all those days and nights fighting alongside Michael, the oath of justice they swore to defend to the death, and even risking their lives for each other?
"An arms dealer?" Yu Chaoxian looked down at him with a disdainful smile. In the shadows where light and darkness met, he glanced at the dying idealist. "The world's largest arms dealer is sitting in your presidential office. I'm not even sure if your president sells more or if I, the arms dealer, sell more."
"What does that mean?" Howard had a guess in his mind, but he didn't want to think about it in detail, such as their president being an extremely hypocritical leader.
Yu Chaoxian slowly lit a cigarette. Howard would be the first person besides him and the President of America to know the truth.
Unfortunately, this also means that he had to die.
Through the smoke, Yu Chaoxian's expression was blurred, only his voice, devoid of emotion, remained: "If you really want to investigate thoroughly, you might even find your president's fingerprints on the guns on the battlefield. The president's identity naturally makes it inconvenient for him to show his face, so sometimes he needs freelancers like me to support armies he can't openly support, like Fuzhou now. So you need to understand, my existence isn't what those armies need, it's what your well-dressed rulers need, understand?"
Upon hearing this, Howard gave a desperate smile; he had finally died knowing the truth. At this moment, more clearly than ever before, he knew that he had been abandoned by his own country, and in an instant, his ideals and beliefs crumbled. Their deaths were for their ideals, but those ideals had long since rotted, and their president was the root of that decay.
“I have one last question,” Howard said, his gaze shifting to Yu Chaoxian through the smoke. A gust of wind blew by, and in that instant, he saw Yu Chaoxian’s expression clearly. “You are the Shark from the SAS task force who rescued the president, aren’t you?”
Mickey, who had been quiet all along, gazed at Yu Chaoxian's retreating figure with a complex expression. In that world-shaking rescue operation, only this man survived and walked out of hell; his codename had become a legend in the special forces.
Yu Chaoxian merely glanced at the gradually brightening sky, thinking that it would be better to go back and hug his aunt to sleep than to waste time here.
The muzzle flash disappeared in the darkness in an instant—"Bang!"
A cloud of blood exploded from Howard's chest. He felt dizzy and his body began to tilt, eventually crashing heavily onto the concrete floor. The identification document that represented his identity shattered into pieces amidst the hail of bullets, ultimately being buried forever along with its owner in the gushing blood.
At this moment, the rising sun on the horizon was as red as blood, ushering in a new day.
The ship glided slowly across the calm sea, the cries of seagulls mingling with the sound of the waves. Occasionally, a bold bird would land on the railing, unafraid of people, tilting its head to observe Mickey and Ajin basking in the sun on the deck. Ajin had never seen seagulls up close before, so Mickey told him to take some bread and feed them.
Ah Jin opened his hand, only to find his palm empty. The seagull snatched his bread and then suddenly spread its wings, disappearing into the azure sky.
A refreshing sea breeze wafted by, carrying a faint, unique salty smell of the sea. The window in the room was not closed, and Yu Tang, half-awake, heard the sound of the mooring ropes gently pattering against the mast. In a daze, she felt as if the entire ship had become a cradle.
The distant horizon undulated gently, carrying her thoughts in a long, rambling way, before finally solidifying into a clear image: she had already boarded the ship.
Why are we on a ship? Where is this ship headed? How long will the voyage last? The answers to these questions were never within her control. Yu Tang knew very well that even if she asked or tried to resist, she would only get an unquestionable decision from Yu Chaoxian, and might even be given a cold lecture by him.
Just thinking about it made her feel exhausted. She thought it best to continue sleeping so she wouldn't have to see Yu Chaoxian. As Yu Tang closed her eyes again and was about to turn over, she suddenly felt something strange. It felt like something was pressing against her waist, and she could feel a hot breath near her ear.
The moment her hand instinctively reached for her lower back, the man's breath beside her ear immediately became heavy. Realizing she was holding something, Yu Tang almost flung her hand away, her sleepiness instantly vanishing.
Isn't this her room? Why is Yu Chaoxian treating her so badly? There are so many rooms on the ship, why does he have to choose this one to sleep in? He won't even let her have this one?
If it were her older brother, he would definitely let her choose whichever she liked, and if she liked them all, she could have them all.
Almost the next second, Yu Tang was about to throw off the covers and get out of bed. Before her feet even touched the ground, a large hand around her waist pulled her around and turned her around.
Amid the girl's gasp, Yu Chaoxian pulled her into his arms and let Yu Tang lie on his chest to sleep.
He ruffled her hair and touched her cheek, and Yu Tang caught a faint scent of mint.
She held her breath and carefully tried to break free from his embrace.
Yu Tang was determined to slip away before he woke up, and preferably change rooms to give him all the space.
However, just as she moved her waist and legs, a slap, neither too light nor too heavy, landed on her tailbone.
She winced and glared at the man behind her who was pretending to be asleep, and spoke before he could open his eyes: "I want to get up."
"Mmm," Yu Chao responded first, but the arm around her waist didn't move an inch.
"Then let go of me." Yu Tang struggled, only to realize with a start that her legs had been firmly locked by his knees without her noticing.
Yu Chaoxian suddenly took a deep breath, his burning lips brushing against her earlobe: "Does it still hurt?"
"What?" She focused on prying his arms and legs apart, trying to leave, but was startled and froze when his fingers suddenly slid down.
His calloused fingertips slid down her waistline, then further down: "Here."
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