Chapter 29: Trust 

Translated by: kevin1782

Edited by: Isalee

After firing, he reloaded as fast as he could. He kept his eyes on the scope. Since he had already fired, he had no choice but to firmly block the stairs.

“Good marksmans.h.i.+p, but chances aren’t very good. You should have waited for him to be completely up there before shootin’. You should have hit his chest, ‘cuz ensuring accuracy is more important than lethality.”

“Understood. I’m actually overwrought with anxiety and didn’t really think before firing. What should I do now, sir?”

Fedor raised his binoculars and said without hurry, “Remember, on the battlefield, composure is ya friend. Impetuousness and trepidation will give ya life away. Don’t wanna die, then don’t be afraid of it. The worse the situation, the more composure you must have. Since the enemy doesn’t know your actual motive, the situation ain’t as bad as ye imagine. Whoo! There’s an idjit[4] observin’ on the second floor. Four o’clock. Screw his a.s.s!”

Gao Yang adjusted without further ado and saw a man on the second floor. In his hand was a pistol, and the curtains were pried open by that very same pistol. The man was at a position further inside the window. He had a walkie-talkie beside his mouth. He was gazing at Gao Yang’s direction.

Gao Yang fired immediately after spotting the target. Fedor’s words were engraved deeply in his mind as the bullet flew towards the idiot’s chest.

“Ensuring the kill, very good! He’s probably dead as doornail with a shot on his chest with this distance. They’ve got no snipers, nor do they have any artillery reinforcements. Their lives are in ya hands. You are the grim reaper.”

Gao Yang liked the feeling where everything was in his grasp. He could reap as many lives as he wanted. Yet his enemies were at a low ebb, helpless to all of his advances — like a real grim reaper.

He swiftly changed his line of sight towards the staircase, but he did not see anybody coming out from the stairs after waiting for several minutes.

“Sir, they aren’t coming out. What do we do? I feel that we shouldn’t waste time. We won’t be able to do anything after dark.”

Fedor grinned, “Ye gotta learn how to observe son, think about it. Eleven cadavers just popped up. Those militias, or the Resistance Organization, or whatever personnel, they wouldn’t give up just like that. When they mount their second wave, there’s ya chance.”

Gao Yang felt that it made a lot of sense. He started focusing his aim on the stairs, clearing his mind of any minute or worthless matters. Fedor continued surveying the situation for targets with the binoculars. He played a noteworthy role at being a spotter.

The silence did not last long. People started appearing from every corner of the street side. Fedor observed for a while before lowering his voice. “Prepare yourself. I think a new round of suicidal a.s.sault is gonna start. You make sure the garret’s safe and look out for any situation at the windows at the same time. The best result would be for these mercs to leave on their own accord.”

Gao Yang and Fedor both prepared themselves, but after waiting for a long time, these locals did not start charging. Just when Gao Yang was wondering if they were waiting for more people to gather before attacking, he heard gunshots boom around him.

Fedor looked behind and swore furiously. “Fick[1]! Fick! These morons, sons of b*tches and Neanderthals! Tis’ a war? What’s this? What the h.e.l.l are they doing? This is not a f**king war, this is dog sh*t!”

Gao Yang was not aware of why Fedor was so p.i.s.sed. He quickly turned. The things he saw made him want to join Fedor’s expletive-shooting episode.

Gazing at the street Gao Yang was in, he had two to three people at every alleyway. They were spraying at the hotel that was at the street corner. Yet the problem lied in the proximity between them. They were at most seven or eight hundred meters away from the hotel and at least three to four hundred meters away. At such a distance, the bullets from AK-47s would be lucky enough to even land on the outer rim of the hotel walls. 

In fact, the weapons were not limited to only the AK-47s. Gao Yang saw at least two General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs). Having them was different from utilizing them. He was not sure if they learned it from the battle actions in movies or whatnot, but they were ferocious and sprayed bullets like lunatics while embracing their weapons. They would retreat back into the alleys after using up their ammunition. They would change their ammunition belt links before returning to the same position and hurrying to clear the ammo in one go.

Gao Yang really wanted to shout at those people. “If you’re using GPMGs, can’t you at least lay p.r.o.ne or aim?!”

Both of them were speechless while they s.h.i.+fted their positions. This was because some of the bullets were continuously hitting their short wall. Both the cement and the tiles were flying everywhere. In order to not get hit by the stray bullets, they had to move.

Useless frenzy shooting served no purpose against the mercenary troop. Not even intimidation. Gao Yang felt that if he were one of those mercenaries, his confidence would be greatly boosted given this type of opponent. 

Fedor sighed resignedly and shook his head. “Forget it, these idiots weren’t reliable. What the b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l is this? A war? Killing by scaring people to deaths with gunshot sounds?”

Gao Yang felt that this war wasn’t fightable anymore. There was a large mob of ignorant civilians who could only shoot the air. The mercenaries cowering in the hotel would just not come out, not to mention even returning fire. These two parties seemed to be intensely fighting, but actually, they were safe and sound and living in peace with each other.

Just when Gao Yang was resigned to his fate, he heard Bob shouting, “Gao, Gao! Your friend called!”

Gao Yang twisted his head and looked over. Bob was suddenly on the rooftop and running towards him. He made a gesture and hushed, “Get down, get down!”

Bob stretched his body like a cat as he scurried in front of Gao Yang and gave him the phone. He signaled Gao Yang to take the phone. Gao Yang glanced at Fedor and put the phone to his ears when Fedor also gestured him to pick it up. He took a deep breath and said in a low voice, “D*mn. Hare, is that you?”

“Who are you?”

 “I’m Gao Yang.”

A surprised gasp echoed in Gao Yang’s ear. “Brother Yang? Oh my Ci Ao[2], aren’t you dead? Oh Ci Ao, it’s really you! Didn’t your plane crash? I always thought you were dead, I Ci Ao!”

Gao Yang helplessly interrupted Tribo’s sentence and growled, “Ci Ao your a.s.s, can’t you say something more humane and proper? Your daddy ain’t dead, he’s alive and kickin’, one more word of c.r.a.p and you’ll be the first to die! I, your papa, is right on the rooftop of Malik’s shop aiming at your garret's stairway man. That’s my situation, tell me about yours.”

“Bro Yang I really thought you were dead! Holy s.h.i.+t it’s great that you aren’t dead! Oh, the situation, I ain’t too sure. There were a few people, two whites, and four blackies, two of them are probably boy scouts. No heavy weaps, basically all AK-47s. There seemed to an FN FAL[3] though. These ruffians scuttled in and killed everybody they saw ice cold! No captives. They ain’t good people. I’m the only one left. Bro Yang, you weren’t dead! Plus, us meeting here, holy f*ck, Heaven’s really got some motherf*king eyes!”

Gao Yang could hear Tribo’s excitement. This was not strange. To be honest, Gao Yang was very high in the spirits too. However, he had a more important task to complete, and now was not the time to be happy about a reunion with old buddies. One mishap and he could be seeing Tribo’s cadaver.

“Okay, stop ranting c.r.a.p. Tell you what, I killed two, a blackie and a whitey each. The white seemed to be the commander. I have confidence blocking the stairs over at your side, but not after dusk. You’re familiar with the situation, any ideas about getting away?”

“This hotel is newly built, not like the linked houses on your side. There’s no connection to the neighboring house. If I want to escape, I can only jump down the hotel.”

Gao Yang obviously knew that the structure was solitary. What he wanted to know was if Tribo could get off the building through other means, such as using the rope to rappel himself down or something like that.

“No ropes or something? If you were to jump, you’d either be dead or half-handicapped.”

“Nope, nothing. If I had one I’d have used it. I only have some tools and sc.r.a.ps, but nothing usable. I have a hammer to smash human skulls though.”

Gao Yang wanted to say a few more sentences but at this moment, Fedor urged, “Danger! Second target point, sniper!”

Gao Yang threw the phone in his left hand away. Even when talking on the phone, his right hand did not leave the trigger and neither did his eyes leave the scope. After hearing Fedor’s warning, when he put down the phone, he had already aimed at target point two. The point was a building’s window opposite the hotel. It was a very suitable point for snipers.

He targeted that window and saw a gun pointing towards him through the scope. He instinctively fired. A muzzle flash could be seen through the scope as the other party also fired. Gao Yang thought he was dead meat at that instant.

“Missed! Hurry!”

Fedor shouted and Gao Yang reacted to his empty rifle. He hurriedly squirmed under the short wall and clumsily reloaded. A bullet flew behind him at the brick wall above his head. It blew off a small crater in the wall. If he hadn’t shrunk his head back, that bullet could have taken his life.

Bob had been lying p.r.o.ne on the floor. Fedor also shrank his head back in the nick of time. He rushed Gao Yang. “Switch positions, we have been discovered.”

Even without Fedor saying that Gao Yang also knew he had to switch positions. Both the sniper and him had shot in a hurry and thus they both missed. However, it was clear that the sniper had a semi-automatic sniper rifle, and hence the firing rate was much higher than his. With this advantage, the enemy’s sniper had already suppressed Gao Yang.

Bolt-action sniper rifles had this disadvantage that caused the firing rate to be too slow. It was acceptable at far distances, but at closer distances, there wasn’t a chance for an extra shot. If Gao Yang wanted to show himself and aim, the required time would be enough for the enemy sniper to decimate him.

He grabbed the phone and crawled to one side of the wall that was three meters away with Fedor. The rooftop was not very big. It was not the best idea to go to the other corner as it would be specially “taken care” of.

After the change in position, he raised the phone and sursurrated softly, “I’m currently being targeted by a sniper. He’s right across at the second-floor window on your side. I am totally suppressed. I don’t dare to reveal myself at all. You gotta be careful. People are probably on the rooftop by now.

Hare’s urgent voice was transmitted through the phone. “I already heard footsteps. There are people coming up. Bro Yang, remember the movie, “Enemy at the Gates”? We used that tactic before. I’m gonna lure them and you’ll take care of them. Counting down from three and I’ll go out. You shoot after a one second delay. Starting now, three.”

Gao Yang screamed, “No! Don’t! They might not know that there are people in the garret!”

“Two.”

Gao Yang immediately threw the phone and tightly grabbed the rifle. He prepared himself for the “one”.

He knew what Tribo was trying to do. They did it frequently when playing the wargame. If there was only one left, or if they hid very well, or if they couldn’t finish them off, there would be one person who’d rush out as bait. He would be destroyed by the other player. The success rate was very high and it worked almost every time, but on the other hand, the bait had less than half a chance of surviving. Of course, that was just a game in the first place. Even if struck down, it’d just be a little sore and people would still be able to the place. But now, the one who was the bait was risking his own life.

“One.”

He counted silently and waited for a moment before flas.h.i.+ng himself and aimed at the window that was under his perception.

Translator’s note(s):

“Fick dich” means “Eff you” in German. Fedor’s a German, if you followed the story, yeah?

“Ci Ao” means “Cao (fick)” in Mandarin Internet games. This is because of the censors.h.i.+p and they have to come up with similar p.r.o.nunciations. Clever Chinese, eh? 

FN FAL: a battle rifle designed by Belgian small arms designers Dieudonné Saive and Ernest Vervier, used in cold war.

It’s a Southern thing. Idiot. Cretin. Balderdash. Baloney. Humbug. ;-)