Chapter 9 - A Twist of Luck

Translated by: Spot

Edited by: Isalee

While sitting in the speeding vehicle, Gao Yang was swimming in his thoughts and they soon arrived.

Gao Yang was familiar with cars, but it was very frightening for a stranger like Ku’Sto. Throughout the ride, he tightly gripped Gao Yang’s arm, holding onto his dear life. Yet it only took a short while before his curiosity overcame his fear.

Daniel, the cameraman, couldn’t stop taking pictures even though the quality of the pictures could have been poor because of the car jolting.

Gao Yang had so many questions and now, he finally had some time to ask them. But just when he was about to open his mouth, the professor stole the spotlight.

“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Buck Rodney and this pretty lady beside me is Kathleen Taylor. Please pardon me and forgive my boldness, but I'm terribly curious. You and the aboriginal man are not the same race so could you tell me what type of person you are? Where did you learn English?”

“It’s an honor to meet you guys. My name is Gao Yang and I’m Chinese. I was in a plane crash, but I was saved by the people of the A’Kuli tribe and have lived with them for about three years.

Everyone on the car was very interested about him, even more so than the interest that Ku’Sto had for the car. Now that their doubts were finally put to rest, they all let out in unison: “Ohhhhhh.”

“Oh my G.o.d, lady luck is really with you. Could you tell us about your experiences? They must have been thrilling.”  

“I would be more than willing to talk about my experiences, except right now I’m truly worried about the chief’s situation. We’ve lived together for three years, so he’s basically my family member. I can’t really focus on anything else right now. I’m very sorry.”

“Ah, pardon me. It was inappropriate of me to ask questions at this moment. G.o.d bless, your chief will be just fine.”

After Professor Buck expressed his apologies and refrained from asking his questions, the group became quiet. Gao Yang’s hunting ground was actually quite close to Professor Buck’s campsite as it only took about twenty minutes by car. Once the car started slowing down, Gao Yang and Ku’Sto quickly confirmed that they had arrived.

When Gao Yang led the party to the chief, they saw the chief lying on the ground motionless. Big Ba’al and Little Ba’al sat beside the chief with tears streaming down their faces and were swatting away the flies that were flocking to him.

Gao Yang’s heart dropped. Standing in front of the chief, he was afraid that the chief was already dead, but was too scared of moving forward to verify. At that moment, the doctor carrying a bag full of medical supplies came rus.h.i.+ng to the chief’s side. He grabbed onto the chief’s hand, looking for the carotid artery before he declared out loud, “He hasn’t died, let me examine him.”

The doctor wore his rubber gloves and observed the wound on the chief’s neck. He then checked his pupils and took out some instruments to measure his blood pressure and breathing. Both Big and Little Ba’al’s faces were full of worry but also antic.i.p.ation. Their concern for their father surpa.s.sed everything else.

Very soon, there was good news from the doctor.

“He’s very fortunate. The leopard’s teeth avoided the main arteries and only pierced two small ones. But his situation is still pretty bad because he’s lost at least two pints of blood. We must transfuse blood. I’ll need to first check his blood type, and in addition, if someone has type O blood and is willing to donate, please let me know.”

But because Big Ba’al and them were the chief’s children, they had a higher probability of having the same blood type. Gao Yang called them over and told them that the white folk’s shaman needed a little bit of their blood to save the chief.

Just when the doctor was about to give Big Ba’al and the others a blood confirmation test, Kathleen walked over with a huge smile on her face and quietly said, “I’m type O and I volunteer to donate my blood. Evan, you can draw blood out from me.”

With a stern face, the doctor said, “Kathleen, I must warn you. I only have equipment for a person to person transfusion. Although I can guarantee the instrument is pretty much safe, the process is extremely dangerous. When doing the transfusion, the amount of blood transfused can’t be controlled. There have been cases where people have died during transfusions.”

“No worries, I must save him. I can’t just sit back and not help while we wait for their blood types to be revealed. You can first draw my blood.”

Kathleen was still very young and looked to be about twenty-three to twenty-four years old. She was approximately 170cm in height, with short brown hair and delicate facial features, making her very pretty. A beautiful woman like her who possessed bravery and sympathy was dazzling to Gao Yang. Kathleen was an incarnation of an angel.

The doctor took a soft tube with a needle on both sides and connected it between Kathleen and the chief’s arms. He warned Kathleen again that if she felt lightheaded, she must notify him. He then started cleaning out the chief’s injuries. Once they were clean, the wounds would start bleeding again, therefore, he had to keep cleaning them while transfusing.

Gao Yang was extremely grateful for Kathleen, except he wasn’t sure what to say. After hesitating for a bit, Gao Yang deeply bowed to Kathleen and gratefully said, “Miss Kathleen, I represent the entire A’Kuli tribe in thanking you for your help. Following both the Chinese and A’Kuli customs, I will definitely repay you. I promise.”

At this moment, Big Ba’al and the others’ blood type also came out. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary as the doctor announced happily that they were all A positive. If four people transfused blood, then the chief definitely could be saved, and the blood donors could be guaranteed their safety. 

Once all four people transfused their blood, the doctor packed up the transfusion tube and announced that the transfusions could be stopped. If there were no other mishaps, the chief would definitely live.

Right when the doctor announced that they were done with the blood transfusions, the chief woke up. Immediately, the atmosphere lightened up. After the doctor finished treating the small wounds on Big Ba’al and the chief, he gave them antibiotics. As soon as he finished, Gao Yang, who was extremely ecstatic, gave hugs and thanked everyone who came.

When Gao Yang was hugging the last person, who turned out to be Kathleen, he realized with embarra.s.sment that he was hugging her a bit too tightly. Immediately, he shyly backed up two steps with a grin. Luckily, Kathleen wasn’t mad.

Even though there was a language barrier between the chief and Professor Buck, they managed to express their grat.i.tude and offered their most sincere blessings. Amidst all the cries of joy and laughter, the walkie-talkie on the professor’s waist suddenly made a noise.

“We’re being raided. We’re being raided at our campsite. Professor, quickly leave this place. Don’t come back. They will kill everyone.”

Suddenly, there were sounds of gunfire and the celebration promptly died out. The professor grabbed his walkie-talkie and just when he was about to press the transmit b.u.t.ton and reply, the walkie-talkie made another sound.

“Oh G.o.d, Charlie was killed. They’ve almost caught up to me. They have a lot of people. Help! No, don’t come back. This was premeditated. They’ll kill every single one of you. They’re probably going to go after you. Heavens, quickly run! Leave this d.a.m.n country! Oh heavens, help m-...”

The voice on the other side of the walkie-talkie became rushed and chaotic as it was also mixed with sounds of rapid firing. Finally, after a gunshot, the crying man’s words came to a stop.