Chapter 47 – Desire
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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After staying like that for a while, the ground shook. Shen Changze opened his eyes and looked back. The first thing he saw was Lily’s big breasts, which were particularly conspicuous in the dark night. Behind her were Pell, Kali and others.
Pell ran to his side, looked at his sweaty face and sighed. She said with some distress, “Why are you injured every time? I don’t think you are suitable for battlefields at all. It’s too early for you. “
Shen Changze said clearly, “Pell, it’s not early at all. I’m a qualified mercenary. Just help me heal.”
Lily twisted her nose, “Shut up. Just shut up and rest.”
Pell cut all the broken clothes on his back and checked his wound. She breathed a sigh of relief, “Kali, his injury is not as serious as you said.”
Kali was lying on the ground panting as he bit a straw to drink the water from his vest. He muttered casually, “Really? I thought it was bad.”
“I knew I should have stayed by the side of the canal. Jushi is still unconscious. I have to go back immediately after dealing with the child.”
Shen Changze opened his eyes widely, “Pell, is Jushi injured? Just gGo over there and leave me alone. I’m fine.”
“Jushi was hit by a grenade at his waist. I have treated him. He will need antibacterial treatment next. I don’t have the instruments here. We have to go back to the base of the Angolan Armed Forces. Kali told me that you were injured so I came here first to treat your injury.” As Pell said this, she quickly cut off the bandage that Kali had hastily wrapped for the child. She re-applied antibacterial treatment and hemostasis and then bandaged it back up again.
“Kali, Lily, follow me to the canal immediately. We have to leave as soon as possible.”
Kali’s back was also injured. Although it wasn’t serious, it was a bit difficult to carry people and equipment. So Lily carried the child and their equipment all by herself. She quickly evacuated towards the canal.
After they ran halfway, they saw Ayer and the others. Shen Changze, who was lying silently on Lily’s back without saying a word, became energetic when he saw Shan Ming. He stretched out his hand and shouted: “Baba, carry me on your back.”
Shan Ming didn’t have time to entertain him. He was communicating with the officers of the Angolan Armed Forces in French through the radio, instructing them to load the weapons on board and then evacuate as soon as possible. These idiots are greedy and want to empty the entire arsenal. It is impossible to do that. They can’t wait here until the reinforcements from the government soldiers come for counterattack. Once they get here, they can no longer run away.
Shen Changze yelled again unwillingly, “Baba, you carry me. Lily is carrying too many things.”
Lily sneered and said: “Stinky brat. You will act like a baby with your father.” She ran to Shan Ming’s side, “Your son. Carry him yourself.”
Shan Ming cursed loudly into the radio while running towards them. He turned his head towards Lily, motioning her to hand over the child.
The child put his arms around Shan Ming’s neck at once and moved to him. He clamped Shan Ming’s waist with his legs and was carried on his father’s back contentedly.
Seeing that the Angolan Armed Forces began to withdraw, Shan Ming’s voice had already become hoarse from cursing, Only then that he remembered there was someone behind him. He asked, “Why are you injured again?”
“I can’t outrun the bomb. Don’t worry. I’m not badly hurt.” The child rubbed his face against Shan Ming’s short hair and then put his face against his wet neck. The smell of blood, sweat and gunpowder smoke on Shan Ming’s body made him feel very warm.
Although the two of them were in a state of embarrassment, they were still alive after all. Surviving the battlefield is the greatest victory.
Shan Ming frowned, feeling that this kid seemed to be acting like a baby with him even more. He was not like this when he was a child. He always grinned and waved his little fist, saying that one day he would beat him to the ground. But now he loves to always be with him. It’s really strange that the cuddling becomes even more crooked as he grows up.
The child didn’t think of it as abnormal at all. He whispered “Baba, I’m fine. I don’t feel pain”. But he really hoped that Shan Ming would comfort him. Even though he knew that Shan Ming definitely didn’t have such a delicate attitude.
Shen Changze has some kind of a desire for Shan Ming. He admires Shan Ming and is proud of having such a strong father as Shan Ming. But Shan Ming is too indifferent to people and everything around him. He never follows the customs of communication between human beings like ordinary people. Let alone being a father. He doesn’t know how to care about a son or how to teach his son. For a child, having such a father is almost as good as not having one at all. So he yearns for the fatherly love he had dreamed of even more. He longs to be close to Shan Ming. He longs to receive tenderness and praise from him. He longs to have more interaction between them. The more he knows that Shan Ming will never behave like an ordinary father, the more he longs to get his attention.
So he can only take the initiative to get close to Shan Ming whether it is physically or communicatively. And he would also try his best to complete a task, waiting for Shan Ming’s approval.
Sometimes he would be angry and sad because of Shan Ming’s indifference towards him. But on most occasions, he would feel doubly satisfied because of the ‘intimacy’ he had won from him. Just like right now where he is lying on Shan Ming’s back. He felt very happy.
Shan Ming would not understand the feelings of an unloved child who had left his parents and everything he was familiar with at the age of five. He had never even thought about it. He believed that all a man needs is a handy weapon and the ability to defeat the enemy. Everything else is insignificant.
After they boarded the boat, their tense hearts relaxed.
Since this was a sneak attack in the dark, their losses were lighter than expected. At least none of the members died. But Jushi, Heibaiji and Dino were all seriously injured. More than a dozen other members suffered minor injuries to varying degrees. However, in a camp with more than 600 people stationed, their arsenal was almost emptied. It is also an incredible record.
After the boat returned to the base of the Angolan Armed Forces, they received a warm welcome. Those people cheered seeing the stolen weapons and were so excited that they almost regarded them as Gods.
They have no time to celebrate with them. The most important thing now is to find a place with good sanitary conditions to heal the wounded.
Although the consultation room in the Angolan Armed Forces base was a bit crude, it was still very clean. The members of ‘Peregrine Falcon’ knew some medical skills, so Pell asked Ayer and Lily to assist her in performing surgery on Jushi and the rest.
According to the situation of the three seriously injured patients, they couldn’t leave the base for a while since there was no place suitable for a helicopter to land because of the raging fires nearby. They had to drive for more than three hours to get back to the helicopter landing point where they came. But the bumps along the way were not something the injured could bear.
So they temporarily stayed behind the base of the Angolan Armed Forces.
Due to the limited bed space, Shen Changze, who was slightly injured, did not sleep in the medical room. He also stayed in the barracks vacated for the ‘Peregrine Falcon’. There wasn’t enough space in the barracks. But there were only twenty or so of them, regardless of gender, they all slept in one room. The bad air, old buildings, and narrow beds made them feel oppressed.
During the day when there is nothing to do, the healthy mercenaries who can run and jump sometimes go to the front line to train the Angolan Armed Forces how to fight. And they don’t talk much when they sleep at night. They have not forgotten that they are still on the battlefield. The rear of the battlefield is still relatively safe, but if the front line is breached, they will have to evacuate immediately. So it is necessary to maintain sufficient physical strength at all times.
At night, Shan Ming and Shen Changze slept on the same bed.
The bed was small but the child’s back was injured. So he slept on top of Shan Ming.
Although the pressure on Shan Ming’s chest made him feel uncomfortable, he knew that letting an injured person lie on the dirty, smelly and wet bed would definitely be quite troublesome.
The child fell asleep on top of him but Shan Ming couldn’t fall asleep.
Somehow, he recalled what happened five years ago.
He was wounded and fled into the primaeval forest at the time. He picked up the child back then. After nightfall, the forest was dark and cold. The child cried and climbed onto him, desperately getting into his arms. At that time, the child was so small that he could be nestled into his arms by only curling up a little. Now, however, the child is much bigger and heavier.
In a few years, this child will become an adult. It’s hard to imagine that the baby who was so timid and weak at the beginning and who would cry at every turn will become a powerful mercenary.
In Shan Ming’s mind, he pictured the image of the child with big bright eyes calling him ‘Baba’ crisply. It is really interesting.
The son in his arms moved and murmured indistinctly in his sleep.
Shan Ming tried to hear what he said and only then did he realise that he was calling “Baba” in his sleep.
“Baba, Baba, Baba.”
There was a slight smile on the corner of Shan Ming’s mouth.
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*Translator’s Note: In the novel, the anti-government force is written as the ‘Freedom Army’. It is actually ‘People’s Armed Forces of Liberation of Angola’ or now, commonly known as ‘Angolan Armed Forces’. They had successfully taken over the government in 1993, I think? So the context of this storyline should be around that time. I will use the term ‘Angolan Armed Forces’ throughout my translation instead of ‘Freedom Army’. -K
Next update: 2023.–.–
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