Volume 1: The Fierce Tiger Leaves Its Leash Chapter 8: A Narrow Escape (Part 1 and Part 2)

  Two foreigners emerged from Wang Yilin's office, and Huang Longfei quickly turned around. They were two senior secretaries of the US Embassy. Huang Longfei did not want the Americans to think that he was also involved in what was happening now.

  "Mr. Huang, Assistant Wang is asking for you." The secretary used a very polite title, as Huang Longfei was a frequent visitor here.

  "Wait for me here, Little Li," he instructed Li Minghan and the two bodyguards who followed him in. Huang Longfei then followed his female secretary into Wang Yilin's office.

  "Xiao Tao, help Mr. Huang brew a cup of Bi Luo Chun." Wang Yilin stood guard at the door and waited for the secretary to leave before closing it. "Second brother, you also saw that now Americans have come knocking on our door."

  "Do they have evidence?" Huang Longfei sat down on the sofa without any courtesy.

  "If they had evidence, would they be so polite? And they wouldn't come to me, I'm afraid the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already received a diplomatic note." Wang Yilin smiled wryly and shook his head. At this time, the secretary brought in tea, and the action was indeed quick. After the secretary went out, he came over and sat down opposite Huang Longfei. "The Premier just called to ask what happened."

  "How can you say that?" Huang Longfei didn't have any evasive or ambiguous tone.

  "For now, I can only report based on the information provided by the military side, and that's all I can say." Wang Yilin shrugged.

  "Lao San, let's get straight to the point." Huang Longfeng flicked off the ash from his cigar. "What's the most troublesome thing right now, and what can I do about it?"

  Wang Yilin knew what Huang Longfei meant, and after a moment's thought, he said: "Now, the most troublesome problem is that if the United States has conclusive evidence, then all our efforts will be in vain. If the United States does not have evidence, we can still make amends."

  "As you said, if the US had evidence, their diplomats wouldn't have come looking for you."

  "The question is, now that the incident has not yet subsided, can it be guaranteed that the US will not obtain evidence?"

  Huang Longfei hesitated for a moment, and the meaning of Wang Yilin's words was very clear. If Ling Tianxiang fell into the hands of the US military, then the US would have evidence. On the other hand, as long as Ling Tianxiang returned safely, the US would not have any evidence to prove that the Republic was involved in the Zebak attack.

  "Big Brother is doing his best to find Ling Tianxiang and Wei Daming. For now, it can be determined that the two of them have escaped from the US military camp, but they haven't left the search range of the US military yet, maybe hiding somewhere, trying to return." Wang Jilin's words were calm and peaceful, this was his usual tone, in the past even Huang Longfei suspected whether Wang Jilin had any emotions. "But apart from finding a way to bring them back, there is another extremely important issue."

  "You say." Huang Longfei knew that Lao San wanted him to take action now.

  "Somebody must take responsibility for this attack, and the sooner the better." Wang Yilin looked up at Huang Longfei, "Now, no organization has taken responsibility for this attack, probably none of them expected such a severe attack to happen either."

  "Your meaning is that now America lacks a step down from the stage, and must give them a chance to save face and a reasonable explanation?"

  Wang Yilin nodded slightly, which was exactly what he wanted to express. In the struggle and game of international politics, covert conflicts between major powers are not uncommon, but these conflicts cannot be put on the surface, so as not to damage the relationship between major powers. Therefore, after a conflict occurs, the most important thing is to find a suitable cover reason, that is, an explanation.

  "So, what can I do?" Huang Longfei extinguished the cigar. Since it was his son who caused the trouble, he should be the one to clean up the mess.

  "Now, which organizations in Afghanistan can take responsibility for this attack?"

  Huang Longfei slightly furrowed his brow, but he didn't say anything.

  Wang Yilin walked to the desk, took out a business card from the drawer. "Get in touch with this person as soon as possible, you talk to him about the terms, I won't intervene, and the government won't acknowledge it, you should understand the severity of this relationship."

  Huang Longfeng took the business card, glanced at it and put it in his pocket, then stood up. "I'll go deal with it as soon as possible, if there's any news, I'll contact you by phone."

  Wang Yilin nodded and sent Huang Longfei to the door. From start to finish, he didn't say a word more, nor did he utter a key sentence.

  "Huang in total..."

  "Let's talk in the car." Huang Longfei pressed down on his hand, not letting Li Minghan rush to ask.

  After the fleet drove onto the big street outside, Huang Longfei handed that business card to Li Minghan. "Investigate this person's identity as soon as possible and have the plane prepare for takeoff."

  "Where are we going?" Li Minghan quickly scanned the name and phone number on the business card.

  "Islamabad, contact the branch over there and arrange for reception work." Huang Longfei rubbed his slightly sore forehead, "Also, find out the specific address of this phone call and send someone to monitor it as soon as possible, but do not take any action before I arrive."

  Li Minghan didn't say much and immediately picked up the phone in the car.

  Huang Longfei's gaze shifted to the bustling street outside the car window. Things seemed to be getting out of control at this point, and Huang Longfei didn't know either whether he was right or wrong in agreeing to let Ling Tianxiang join the army back then.

  When bringing Ling Tianxiang back home, Huang Longfei knew that he was different from other children. From young to old, Ling Tianxiang had always shown strong independence and a stubborn personality. To this day, Huang Longfei still remembers how at the age of eleven, Ling Tianxiang got into a fight with some street thugs and ended up with over a dozen knife wounds all over his body. When the doctor was stitching him up, he didn't even cry, not even shedding a single tear. At that moment, Huang Longfei saw in Ling Tianxiang's eyes not pain but anger and hatred.

  Originally, Huang Longfei had planned to send him to live with his uncle Zhou Guohui for a while after he recovered from his injuries, so as to forget the past. But at the time, there were too many work-related matters, and Huang Longfei put this matter aside. Within a month of Ling Tianxiang's recovery, one of the four street thugs who had beaten him up was stabbed twice in an alleyway, two others fell off a rooftop and broke their legs, and another was scared away to another city.

  Later on, the police couldn't find out what exactly happened, but from then on, no street thug dared to bully him again!

  Thinking of this, Huang Longfeng let out a sigh. Now that Ling Tianxiang was being forced into a desperate situation, what would he do? Ling Tianxiang touched the bottle of aspirin in his pocket and quickened his pace up the mountain. He didn't know why the villagers had given him medicine, food, and water; all he knew was that Old Wei could be saved now. The most ironic thing was that this bottle of aspirin was actually distributed by the US military to the local villagers. It's likely that when the US military provided medical supplies to the villagers, they never imagined that these medicines would be used on an enemy.

  "Old Wei, we're saved!"

  Ling Tianxiang suddenly stopped in his tracks, the wolf's den was empty, and Wei Daming had lost his trace. The M4 was still there, and the spare ammunition hadn't been taken away either. Ling Tianxiang quickly squatted down to check around, but didn't find any signs of a fight, nor were there any other footprints on the ground. Ling Tianxiang's heart skipped a beat as he immediately realized that Wei Daming must have left alone, not wanting to drag him down!

  Lao Wei, you damn bastard! Two lines of tears rolled down Ling Tianxiang's face. No, damn it, I won't believe that I can't bring you back, Lao Wei, wait for me, I will definitely find you and bring you back!

  Ling Tianxiang wiped away his tears and began searching for clues on the ground. Soon, he found the trail left behind by Wei Daming when he departed - a not-so-obvious mark that seemed to be made by crawling. Following this trail, Ling Tianxiang headed west along the slope of the mountain, which was very steep. What worried him most now was that Wei Daming might have run out of energy and fallen down the slope.

  Lao Wei, wait for me, I'll catch up with you! Ling Tianxiang quickened his pace. The mountain road was very steep, but it couldn't stop Ling Tianxiang's footsteps at all. He would never admit defeat easily, just like ten years ago, he would not admit defeat to those little rascals who had hacked him into a serious injury.

  When Ling Tianxiang saw Wei Daming crawling forward, he almost rushed up. "Old Wei, you *** , you *** ...... "

  When being held up by Ling Tianxiang, Wei Daming was almost out of breath.

  "Drink some water, drink quickly!" Ling Tianxiang brought the water bottle to Wei Daming's mouth, "Old Wei, you are really a damn fool!"

  "Tian Xiang, don't bother about me anymore." Under the stimulation of the cold water, Wei Da Ming opened his eyes, "I won't be able to walk, you carry me, we can't both not walk, don't bother about me anymore!"

  "Don't talk nonsense to me! Since I've rescued you, would I abandon you? Even if you're done for, I'll still carry you back!" Ling Tianxiang took out a medicine bottle, "I've already found the anti-inflammatory medication, you won't be in trouble."

  "Medicine, where did you find the medicine?" Wei Daming grasped Ling Tianxiang's wrist, as if he had seen hope.

  "In the village, it was given by the villagers." Ling Tianxiang opened the medicine bottle and took out a few pills. "Hurry up and take the medicine, you'll get better, I said I'd bring you back with me."

  Wei Daming did not resist and immediately swallowed the pill. Then he suddenly thought of something, "Tianxiang, will those villagers betray us?"

  "I don't know, I think it won't," Ling Tianxiang said as he carried Wei Daming. "However, we can't stay here anymore. Regardless of whether the villagers will betray us to the American army or not, we must leave first and find another place to hide. After your illness gets a bit better, we'll go back."

  The two of them walked east on the mountain slope, which was the direction of their motherland. Ling Tianxiang didn't quite trust those villagers either. Even if the villager who gave him medicine wouldn't betray him to the American army, he couldn't guarantee that other villagers hadn't seen him, and even more so, he couldn't guarantee that other villagers wouldn't betray him to the American army. Therefore, they had to hurry up and move now, and couldn't continue staying here any longer.

  On the hillside, two people slowly went eastward. In the village below the hillside, a frail figure had already rushed out of the village and was running towards Zeback in the west.

  Before dawn, Ling Tianxiang found another hiding place. Wei Daming's condition had improved a lot, his body temperature was under control, the redness and swelling around the wound were subsiding, more importantly, Wei Daming's physical strength had recovered somewhat, although he still couldn't walk on his own, but it was much better than a few hours ago, and he could already sit up by himself.

  "Lao Wei, here!" Ling Tianxiang handed a piece of dried meat to Wei Daming, which was also given by the villagers. "Eat something, so you'll have energy, when you're better, we still have hundreds of kilometers to go."

  Wei Daming took the dried meat and started chewing. "What's today's date?"

  "5th, the operation has already ended for 2 days." Ling Tianxiang sighed silently, he knew why Wei Daming asked this question. The troops responsible for receiving them had long since withdrawn, they had to walk back by themselves, don't think about getting rescued by the troops.

  "I'll rest for another day, and we'll set off after dark."

  Ling Tianxiang nodded towards Wei Daming. "You stay lying down, don't think about escaping, I'll go take a look at the situation."

  The eastern mountain pass has already seen the dawn, and the sky is about to brighten up. Ling Tianxiang looked at Mount Noshak in the south and estimated the distance they had moved overnight. Before daybreak, they had moved about 15 kilometers, which was beyond the search range of the US military. Wanting to find two special soldiers who were determined to hide in the mountains was harder than climbing to heaven! Moreover, the Hindu Kush Mountains are not short of caves, and if you really want to hide, even God might not be able to find you!

  When Ling Tianxiang turned his head, the dawn had already appeared on the top of the sky. Then a wisp of cyan smoke rising from the western sky caught Ling Tianxiang's attention. He immediately felt that something was wrong, and it was in the direction of the village where he had obtained medicine, food, and water. Ling Tianxiang hesitated for a moment before returning to his hiding place.

  "What's going on?" Wei Daming also immediately noticed that Ling Tianxiang's expression was off.

  "The US military probably found the village that provided us with medicine, but they shouldn't have discovered our trail." Ling Tianxiang quickly checked his weapons. "To be on the safe side, I need to go and divert the US military, can't let them search in this direction. Old Wei, I'll leave you a handgun for self-defense, as well as enough food and water to sustain yourself for two days, but you have to agree to one condition."

  Wei Daming nodded, and after his body started recovering, he too ignited a desire to survive.

  "If the rescue doesn't arrive, wait for me to come back no matter what, don't do anything stupid!" Ling Tianxiang placed the pistol loaded with bullets on Wei Daming's thigh. "If the rescue arrives, you leave first and use three stones to form a 'pin' shape in the corner, I'll know you've returned safely and I'll find my own way back to base. Can you promise me that?"

  Wei Daming nodded again. Ling Tianxiang hesitated for a moment before handing the pistol over to Wei Daming, then patted him on the shoulder and slipped out of the cave.