Chapter 29: Instinct

"Brother Da, Brother Yuan, he..."

In the dim light, Xiao Hua darted out from behind a tree on the other side. After crouching down beside Zhong Da, he glanced at the wooden cabin not far away, unable to hide his anxiety.

Zhong Da was checking the magazine of the rifle in his hands. Upon hearing this, he said softly, "Brother will be fine!" With a crisp click, he slid the magazine back into place.

He then lifted his gaze to scan the surrounding gloom.

"There are still many people hiding in the vicinity. Find a spot nearby to conceal yourself, and no matter what happens, do not come out." With that, Zhong Da prepared to leave.

"Then you be careful!" Xiao Hua did not indulge in empty pleasantries.

He carried no weapon, and his combat skills were not on par with Zhong Da’s; insisting on following him would only be a burden.

Zhong Da gave a curt nod and dashed out, his body hunched low.

Inside the cabin, Zhong Yuan slung a backpack over his shoulders and began to inch slowly toward the doorway. The corpse lying just inside the threshold had bled profusely, filling the air with a thick, metallic stench.

Zhong Yuan carefully skirted the bloodstains and stopped at the door to listen in silence.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out from outside the western window. A bullet shattered the glass and buried itself into the wooden wall. Immediately after, a Molotov cocktail trailing flickering flames flew through the broken window, smashing onto the table with a sharp crack.

The gasoline inside spilled out, igniting instantly and bathing the room in a sudden, harsh glow.

Where there was one, there was soon another.

*Clang!*

The fire in the room intensified.

They were trying to flush him out! It seemed they had set a trap outside, waiting for him to emerge so they could snare him in one fell swoop.

The fire grew fiercer. The small room was quickly choked with thick smoke, which billowed out through the open doors and windows. Zhong Yuan covered his nose and mouth, remaining motionless against the side of the door.

He was waiting for an opportunity.

And the opportunity soon arrived.

Gunshots abruptly shattered the silence outside, and Zhong Yuan moved. Using the thick smoke as cover, he lunged out from the doorway like a sharp arrow released from its sheath. The moment he cleared the threshold, he hit the ground and rolled.

Bullets followed in his wake, tearing into the dirt where he had been only a second before.

"Brother, over here!" Zhong Da’s voice rang out, but Zhong Yuan acted as if he hadn't heard. The moment he rose to his feet, he lunged forward again, twisting his body to fire two shots.

Behind a tree on the west side of the cabin, a figure had just poked his head out, only to be forced back by the incoming fire.

"Brother, are you okay..." Zhong Da crouched beside him, but before he could finish, the gunfire resumed.

Zhong Yuan quickly stood up, grabbed Zhong Da, and rolled to the side.

In the viscous darkness, bullets rained in from all directions. Zhong Yuan and Zhong Da dared not stop, let alone attempt a counterattack. Fortunately, the area was heavily forested; using the trees as cover, although they couldn't break through the encirclement immediately, it was equally difficult for the enemy to land a hit.

After a chaotic scramble, the gunfire chasing them finally thinned out.

The two men seized the chance to hide behind a tree. Zhong Yuan tapped Zhong Da on the shoulder and pointed to the west. "I’ll go this way in a moment," he said, then pointed in the other direction. "You take that side. There are at least two people hiding near that position—one behind the pile of debris, and the other should be behind that nearby tree. Take out as many as you can, but don't rush. Safety first; the night is still long."

Zhong Da nodded and gave a soft affirmative.

Zhong Yuan glanced at him once more before slipping out from behind the tree, his body hunched.

The forest was dense with trees and tangled weeds. While they hindered his movement slightly, for Zhong Yuan, they were an advantage. The enemy lacked night-vision equipment; in such dim surroundings, as long as Zhong Yuan could break their line of sight, finding him again would be nearly impossible.

Soon, Zhong Yuan reached the vicinity where the men were hiding. He lay flat beneath a clump of vines, his gaze sweeping the surroundings until it settled on a dark silhouette crouching behind a tree about five or six meters away.

*Bang!*

At the sound of the gunshot, the man collapsed.

Zhong Yuan remained still.

The others were startled, and two of them couldn't resist shifting their positions. That movement gave them away, revealing their locations to Zhong Yuan.

Once he confirmed their positions, Zhong Yuan fired another shot, then quickly retreated from beneath the vines, rose to his feet, and darted to the side, ducking behind a tree. No sooner had he stopped than he raised his weapon and fired again.

The bullet grazed the tree trunk and struck the shoulder of the man behind it. As the man recoiled from the impact, Zhong Yuan, who had been waiting, fired once more. The bullet again grazed the trunk, this time piercing the man’s heart.

Without a second glance, Zhong Yuan turned and ran.

Based on his earlier observations, there should be at least one more person on this side, hiding behind the massive rain tree to the west of the cabin. However, since he had just fired three shots, killing two and wounding one, it was hard to say if the one behind the rain tree was still in position.

Zhong Yuan didn't intend to confront that person directly; instead, he pushed further outward.

The Buddha Hand Gang’s operation tonight was a kill mission—they were determined to claim the lives of the three of them. Therefore, there were definitely more people in these woods than just the few he had encountered.

At that moment, sounds of a skirmish drifted over from Zhong Da’s direction.

Two pistol shots rang out, followed by a burst of rifle fire, then two more pistol shots. Then, silence returned.

Zhong Da had succeeded.

Zhong Yuan felt a slight sense of relief. While Zhong Da’s skills meant this wasn't exactly easy, it wasn't insurmountable either. But worry was simply instinct.

Zhong Yuan vanished into the shadows once more. He moved like a spirit of the night, light and silent, darting through the forest to hunt down the demons who sought to shatter the peace of this place.

Hundreds of meters away, at the empty ground by the head of the Ya River Bridge, seven or eight vehicles were parked.

In the back seat of a pickup truck sat a bald man, smoking a cigarette and watching a video on his phone. The loud music from the video felt utterly jarring against the silence of the surroundings.

Suddenly, the walkie-talkie on the seat beside him crackled to life.

"Brother Guang, those three are gone. We've already lost six or seven men. What should we do?"

Brother Guang, immersed in his video, turned off the phone, frowned, picked up the walkie-talkie, and asked, "What did you just say? They’re gone?"

"Yes! They’ve vanished! We can't find them..." Halfway through the sentence, a gunshot rang out over the walkie-talkie. The sudden, booming noise startled Brother Guang.

After a moment of stunned silence, his face darkened. He opened the door, stepped out of the truck, and shouted to the surroundings, "Everyone out of the cars!"

As his voice fell, six or seven more men climbed out of the surrounding vehicles.

"Grab your gear and get in there. Bottom line: if you don't kill those three Chinese tonight, don't bother coming back out!" Brother Guang scanned the men, and seeing the fierce expressions on their faces, he gave a smug smile. "Alright, get moving."