Chapter 15 – Stalked
Novel Title: 龙血 (Dragon Blood)
Author：水千丞 (Shui Qian Cheng)
Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)
Protagonists: 单鸣 (Shan Ming -MC), 沈长泽 (Shen Changze -ML)
*Please read at Novels Space.space, the original site of translation. TQ*
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When Shan Ming saw Ayer and Job, he realised that things were more serious than he had imagined.
The two looked very bad. There are abrasions to varying degrees on their bodies. Ayer’s wound was not that bad and he looked fine. Meanwhile, Job’s military pants had a big cut on it. His arms and thighs were entangled with a bandage.
Shan Ming frowned and said, “What’s going on?”
Ayer was smoking a cigarette. His eyes were gloomy and fierce as he seemed to be thinking about something. He looked up at Shan Ming and said in a low voice, “Let’s hear it from Job.”
Job seemed to feel very incompetent. He gritted his teeth: “We found Mutai’s apartment according to the method given by Tiger Shark. The door was unlocked, so we went in. The room was messy and no one was there. There were signs of struggle. Then, Ayer found out that there was a time-bomb in there. It was triggered with the bedroom door being opened. We jumped out of the window in time. That’s it. Fuck.”
Shan Ming said in a deep voice, “Is there someone trying to mess with us?”
Ayer said: “It’s hard to say for now. Mutai has committed crimes in the local area and has many enemies. Maybe we just happened to be unlucky. But the C9 bomb in the bedroom must have been left to ‘entertain’ certain people.”
Pell treated Job’s wound. She then wiped her hands and said, “I think it’s just a coincidence. It should not be against us. But Mutai is missing, so where can we get a boat?”
“I’ve told Tiger Shark about the situation here. He’s trying to figure it out. But I’m afraid we’ll have to stay here for a few more days.”
“Stay for a few more days?” Pell became more worried: “There are so many of us hiding here. Even though we’re in the suburbs, we are in danger of being discovered at any time. It would be too troublesome if we got into trouble with the local police.”
Ayer stubbed out the cigarette. He got up and said: “Pell is right. We can’t wait for Tiger Shark to figure this out. Shan, you are the only Asian here. You won’t look too obvious as an outsider. You go to the port tomorrow to ask if there is a boat we can take. We can pay them any amount. No matter how much it costs.”
Shan Ming nodded, “Let’s not wait until tomorrow. I’ll go tonight. I mean, if I don’t get anything by tonight and there’s still no news from Tiger Shark by tomorrow, then tomorrow night we’ll find a ‘suitable’ boat and just go straight to the sea.”
Shan Ming specially emphasised the word ‘suitable’. Everyone understood that this meant that an unlucky ship needed to be hijacked by them as a means of transportation. Although this method was only done in desperation, it would be even more risky for them to delay.
In the middle of the night, Shan Ming went to the port alone. Many boats moored on the shore were lit. The boatmen were drinking and playing cards in groups. He couldn’t understand what they were saying so he couldn’t communicate with them at all. Instead of wasting time talking, it would be more reliable to choose a ‘suitable’ boat and force them to sail tomorrow night with a gun to their heads.
He stayed in the port until 4 a.m. in the morning. He checked out the terrain of the port, the time when these ships left and returned from work, and also the general security situation of the port.
He targeted three boats and marked where they were docked. He then began to pick out the route for them to drive in. He was walking back and forth three times on his legs. He finally settled on two boats.
When he walked to the temporary camp, he crossed two streets by memory and he felt that something was wrong.
He didn’t need to see it with his own eyes to know it. With years of experience walking on the edge of life and death, he felt the feeling of being watched from the moment he left the port. His guts told him he was being followed.
The other party was very cautious and kept a safe distance from him. Shan Ming made three extra detours and still was not able to get rid of him.
Shan Ming originally planned to cut him loose. But the sky almost turned to dawn. Although he was curious why this person followed him and whether it had something to do with Mutai’s disappearance or the bomb, he felt that the priority should be to evacuate safely. After all, killing people now may be dangerous and would affect their actions at night. In the end, this stalker was really asking for death.
Shan Ming decided to face him.
He turned into a narrow alley, stepped on a rough stone wall and climbed up to the roof of a house. He then drew out his triangular army thorn.
After waiting for about half a minute, a sneaky figure appeared at the entrance of the alley. He was taking out his walkie-talkie and saying something in a low voice. It was as if he was waiting for instructions.
Under the darkness of the night, Shan Ming could barely see that it was a man of medium build. He looked like an Asian in terms of body shape.
Shan Ming was waiting for the man to approach, but the man was not in a hurry to move until he put the walkie-talkie to his ear. He probably received an order so he took out his gun and walked carefully into the alley.
Shan Ming held his breath, watching him slowly pass under him.
He stared at the gun in the man’s hand. If he just jumped down like this, whether he would be shot or not would depend on the man’s reaction speed. After all, he had nowhere to hide in the air. Not only that this method was unsafe, the gunshots would definitely disturb the residents as well.
The best way is to pierce his palm with a military lance. But that thing is too heavy to be used as a throwing knife. If it goes on like this, he will be in a very dangerous situation. He can only be shot at that time. Should he face him or just run immediately?
He decided to take a gamble.
Shan Ming’s eyes flashed with excitement. He raised his hand silently and aimed at the shoulder of the hand holding the gun guided by the pale moonlight. He threw out the sabre to stab him with a strong force. The person fell and he jumped down.
The man turned his head back in horror. The army thorn missed and pierced into his shoulder blade. He let out a muffled cry but he kept the gun from his hand. He tried to aim in the direction of Shan Ming.
Shan Ming had already jumped onto him in an instant. He clamped his arms and waist with his legs. He then pulled out the army thorn. With a hissing sound, blood spattered everywhere and the man’s forearm was pierced through.
Shan Ming’s body leaned back vigorously. The man fell to the ground following his movements and Shan Ming pushed him against his back.
As soon as the man landed on the ground, Shan Ming jumped up quickly, his knees pressed against the man’s neck bone. He said in a deep voice, “Don’t move.”
The triangular army thorn is also known as the ‘Bloodletting Knife’. Due to its overbearing design, if it is inserted into the human body and then rotated half a circle, the wound will form a Y-shaped hole. The wound cannot be sewed up even if you want to and the blood will flow out fiercely. Usually, the skin around the wound will be as white as ivory. It is a very vicious and deadly weapon.
Shan Ming turned his army thorn lightly. The ground under the man was already stained with his blood. Shan Ming stared at the man for half a second and said in Chinese with an affirmative tone, “You are Chinese.”
The man was suppressed and couldn’t move. There were beads of sweat on his forehead. Watching the bloodletting, the physical pain and psychological pressure were very heavy. Fortunately, he was only stabbed in the arm. If it was his internal organs or something closer to that, he would probably be in shock from bleeding.
“Why are you following me? Does Mutai’s disappearance have anything to do with you? Did you put the bomb in the apartment?”
The man gritted his teeth and said, “There is a little Chinese boy who disappeared on the China-Myanmar border. Is he in your hands?”
Shan Ming turned his army’s thorn fiercely, “You haven’t answered my question yet. You are asking me instead?”
The man screamed in pain, “You won’t get anything from me!”
Shan Ming reached into his arms and found the walkie-talkie. He spoke to the radio, “I’m going to kill him now. Do you need him to leave any last word for you?”
There was a rustling sound from the radio. It sounded especially loud in the silent alley.
After a while, a monotonous cold and rigid voice came from the other end, “Let’s talk.”
“Talk? So that you can send more people to attack me?” Shan Ming said coldly, “Answer my question.”
The cold voice said, “I’ll answer you only three questions. And then, you let him go.”
Shan Ming snorted: “You are talking nonsense. It seems that his life is only worth three insignificant questions.”
“It is his honour to sacrifice for the national interest.”
Shan Ming didn’t want to waste any more time. He said: “Okay, three. First, what do you want to do to us? Second, why do you want that child? Third, who is that child?”
“I can answer your first two. That child is very important to us. I want you to return him to us and we can arrange a ship to send you out to sea.”
Shan Ming snorted coldly: “Don’t fuck with me. You will kill us, just like you did to our client.”
“So, you admit that the child is in your hands?”
Shan Ming realised that he had been tricked by him. He couldn’t help feeling very annoyed. He simply said: “You have worked so hard to get here, it should be confirmed. Then why do you still ask me? I won’t give him to you. He is my child. But I can give you his body parts.”
The man was silent for a moment, “It won’t do you any good to hurt him. You will definitely regret it.”
“If you don’t want me to hurt him, then stay away from us.” Shan Ming knew that it was impossible for him to return the child to these people. Otherwise, they would have no leverage against the enemies. These people would definitely shut their mouths forever.
The man said: “You release my soldier first and I will let you go to sea.”
Shan Ming felt that they would never let go of what happened this night easily. But he still wanted to avoid provoking them, so he pulled out his army thorns from the man and said fiercely to the radio, “Remember, don’t trouble us. Or I will kill that little boy, divide him into several pieces and send them to you piece by piece.”
He threw the radio on the soldier who was stalking him and quickly disappeared into the night.
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☝🏻Triangular army thorn
☝🏻A lance. Not sure which one was Shan Ming referring to but it should be some kind of a spear used by the military. I guess this one was for close combat.
Next update: 2023.–.–
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