Volume 1: Fierce Tiger Leaves Its Ties Chapter 16: Killing Trap (Part 1)

  When Shweili woke up, he first found himself tied to a chair, with his mouth stuffed and sealed with tape. As his vision gradually returned to normal, he saw a figure standing behind him. When the man turned around, he saw a face that looked just like his own, an Oriental face. Shweili's eyes did not show any surprise, as if everything was happening naturally.

  Ling Tianxiang placed the "Plikin" safe in front of Swire's chair, then put the pistol on the table and pulled out a dagger. "I'm letting you speak now, but if you dare to shout out loud, I can guarantee that before the US military outside comes in, I'll bleed you dry first, and then escape. Do you understand what I mean?"

  Sweeney nodded, his greatest fear was that the other party would not talk to him.

  Ling Tianxiang tore off the adhesive tape from Swire's mouth and pulled out the sponge stuffed in his mouth.

  "We can talk about..."

  Before Swire could finish speaking, Ling Tianxiang gave him a punch and then covered his mouth with his hand. A dagger was pressed against the large artery on his neck. "You have to understand that you can only speak when I let you!"

  Swirey couldn't help but nod his head. After the other person loosened their grip, he spat out the two big teeth that had been knocked out.

  "Now tell me the password of this box."

  "I don't know the password either."

  Ling Tianxiang slightly furrowed his brow and made a threatening gesture.

  "This trunk belongs to the 'Blackwater' company, and the password is in their president's hands. Moreover, if I were you, I wouldn't dare open the trunk." Swire spat out another mouthful of blood, "The trunk has a self-destruct mechanism. If you enter the wrong password three times in a row or try to force it open, the self-destruct mechanism will immediately detonate the explosives inside. And the triple passwords on the trunk have at least 20 million possible combinations, don't try your luck."

  Ling Tianxiang glanced at the safe and knew that without a password, it was almost impossible to open.

  "We should talk."

  "Yes, I'm talking to you." Ling Tianxiang sneered, "Second question, who is the mole?"

  "Groundhog?" Sweeney looked very surprised, but the flicker of panic in his eyes did not escape Ling Tianxiang's gaze.

  "You have two choices." Ling Tianxiang slapped Swire's face twice with the blade of his dagger, "One is to cooperate with me actively, I can give you a quick death. Two is to see your God after suffering all kinds of torture. You're Chinese-American, right? Then you should know that in our country there is an ancient form of punishment..."

  "You mean I'm dead either way?" Swire said, switching from English to standard Mandarin.

  "You've seen my true face, so naturally there's only one way out." Ling Tianxiang glanced at the few corpses lying on the ground, "It's just that the way of dying is a bit different."

  "If I were you, I wouldn't think about how to kill a person who can't fight back, but rather how to escape as soon as possible." Swire didn't get scared, instead he burst out laughing.

  Ling Tianxiang was shocked in his heart and immediately realized that something was wrong.

  "How long have you been in here? Has it been fifteen minutes?"

  Ling Tianxiang glanced at his watch, it had already been twelve minutes.

  "We just sent out a safety signal before you came in. If the people outside don't receive the safety signal after fifteen minutes, they'll know something's wrong with the command center."

  "Are you saying this is a trap?" Ling Tianxiang immediately stood up and picked up his handgun.

  "Do you think I'm joking with you?" Seeing Ling Tianxiang's slightly panicked look, Shi Weili almost burst out laughing. "You didn't notice the four corners of the camp when you came in, nor the truck drivers, or the guards at the entrance."

  Ling Tianxiang was hiding in the truck at that time, of course, he didn't notice the situation outside. He quickly walked to the door and looked out from the gap. On the side of the warehouse, the truck driver was still moving containers to the storage location, but it was very obvious that those drivers' clothes were very loose, enough to hide an assault rifle underneath. Moreover, the guard force at the camp gate was weaker on the outside and stronger on the inside. The corner of the camp was very dark, and nothing could be seen clearly.

  "Ever since you rescued your partner from Zebeck, we knew you'd be back because what you want is still here." Swill raised his head and leaned against the chair back. "So, we set up a no-man's zone around the campsite and laid out quite a few landmines to force you to come in through the front gate. Don't you think the timing of your convoy's arrival is a bit suspicious?"

  Ling Tianhui turned his head to look at Swire, before that he really hadn't noticed the problem, after Swire said it, he immediately realized where the problem lay. The convoys transporting supplies for the US military were generally active during the day and rarely traveled at night, mainly to avoid being ambushed by Taliban militants at night. In order to allow the convoy to have a safe stopping point at night, the US military even established a military camp every 250-300 kilometers on the highway.

  "So you've been monitoring my actions all along?" Ling Tianxiang said, while starting to examine the table in the center of the room. If a signal was sent every fifteen minutes, then the signal transmitter must be on the table.

  "Don't waste your energy, you won't find it." Swire had already noticed that the other party was starting to panic. "We can't predict how you'll act, or else we wouldn't have let you get away with Zebak, so we haven't been monitoring your movements. But one thing is certain: you must come here, because what you want is here."

  Ling Tianxiang sneered. This was indeed a good trap. There was nothing special about the table, and the signal transmitter wasn't here. Where was it?

  "In order to lure you in, this safe has been left here all along. And I've even stayed a few more days in this place. Now, even if you grew wings, you can't fly out."

  "Then I'll drag a cushion too!" Ling Tianxiang's gaze fell on the radio to his left, could it be that the communication soldier was sending a signal?

  "It doesn't matter to me, I already knew what the outcome would be when I accepted this task, but for you, there is still room for choice!"

  Ling Tianxiang ignored Swillie and quickly searched the radio on the left, but found nothing. Just as he stood up, he suddenly heard a "tick-tock" sound, and the voice was coming from Swillie's body!