Chapter 3: The Conceited Sorrel

  I ran circuitously to the back of the woods where Duo La Gu and the other person were, estimating the distance between us to be about 50 meters. At this time, the two people sat side by side, forming a straight line with me, neither of them speaking, just drinking wine mouthful after mouthful.

  I gently stroked the rifle in my arms and muttered to myself: "Brother Lai Fu, today we have a chance to fight side by side, help me take out those two with one shot, 'Break the Repeating Line'! Hmph, let these idiots understand how ignorant they are of you!"

  I took a slight adjustment of my breath, the surroundings were quiet and still without a single breeze, the sun's direct rays on the wet ground steamed up quietly. In the scope, Dorago and his accomplices' heads swayed gently, in the corner of my eye, a green leaf fell from somewhere, I coldly focused my aim, just as the leaf landed on my gun barrel, my index finger pulled the trigger of the rifle, the bullet shot out at high speed, 50 meters away, Dorago and his accomplices' heads were instantly penetrated. The gunshot wounds on their foreheads gushed out fresh blood like newly born springs.

  The war had made me numb to blood, I didn't look at them again, quickly turned around and returned to the original ambush site, slung Soriel who was unconscious on the ground over my shoulder, and crawled into the dense forest once more.

  At night, I hid in a cave, and Sori might still be unconscious from my elbow strike. Through the dim light of the bonfire, I looked at Sori's annoyingly dark skin, and his cowardly appearance during the day flashed back into my mind. If he were an ally, Sori would undoubtedly be a disaster - at critical moments, he would sacrifice his comrades' lives to save his own, recklessly betraying any secret information that could keep him alive, with faith and honor being worthless to him. Yet, for our enemies, he is exactly what we like - his cowardice and baseness are the very weaknesses through which we can gain survival and victory.

  I opened the military canteen and poured the water inside onto Sol's head in one go. The icy spring water quickly took effect, and Sol, who had been dozing off, suddenly came to. As soon as he opened his eyes, our gazes met calmly. He leaned back in surprise and asked tensely, "You...who are you?"

  I shifted my gaze to the bonfire, where I was flipping a dagger, and replied nonchalantly, "You slept for an entire afternoon!" Soriel was furious at my response, but didn't dare overstep his bounds. Summoning his courage, he shouted loudly, "What the hell are you?!" I said coldly, "You don't need to know who I am, just recognize this." With that, I swiftly threw out the dagger and pierced Soriel's right palm, which was resting on the ground.

  Sori let out a loud cry... "Shut up!" I threw out the words coldly without turning my head. My voice wasn't loud, but the unyielding force behind it made Sori, that coward, immediately stop his shouting.

  Sori's palm was bleeding profusely as he endured the pain, his lips trembling as he begged me: "Brother, please don't kill me, I'll give you anything you want, just spare my life..." I ignored his pleas and calmly asked him: "Do you know China?" Sori replied uncertainly: "I do, what's wrong?" I asked again: "Do you know that in ancient China, there was a type of torture called...?" Sori tensed up and asked: "What kind of torture?" I coldly spat out two words: Lingchi! Sori's face turned deathly pale as he stuttered: "Y-you're going to... Ah..." Before he could finish speaking, I swiftly sliced off a thin piece of flesh from his arm, and Sori let out another loud cry...

  As I intended to cut the second knife, I slowed down my movements on purpose. Soriel, who was almost mentally collapsed, cried out loudly and begged me for mercy. "Please, don't torture me anymore, I can agree to any of your conditions... even if you shoot me dead, just please don't torture me anymore." Soriel sobbed uncontrollably.

  Looking at the pitiful figure of Sol, my heart involuntarily flashed a thread of sympathy. However, war required me to do so. My intention was not to torture him with cruel means, although some of his evil deeds were enough to warrant execution by firing squad. But out of humanity, I could have given him a fatal bullet or quickly cut off his airway. The reason I subjected him to such brutal treatment was entirely to thoroughly shatter his mental state, so as not to be deceived by him and truly obtain the necessary information.

  "I need a radio." I muttered to myself, tossing out the sentence coldly. "What?" Sori seemed not to have heard what I said clearly. I turned my head and looked at him, supplementing again, "I said, I need a radio, and please tell me about the details of your armed organization, can you understand what I'm saying?" My tone, which was slightly intimidating, made this timid guy jump again, and it was clear that in his eyes, I had already become a devil.

  His body ached with pain and fear, and Sori's face was covered in sweat as he spoke ingratiatingly: "No problem, I can get the radio for you! And all the other information you need, I'll tell you everything. For Buddha's sake, please spare me! Actually, I'm not a bad person, I only joined the reactionary alliance army because of my living conditions, and later when our troops were defeated, I was recruited by the armed forces under the leadership of the Guletar religious organization. I've never done anything evil like burning, killing or looting, really, please believe me."

  I pulled out the dagger stuck in his palm, and Soli let out a loud cry of pain, but quickly shut up, looking at me in terror, waiting for my disposal. I took out hemostatic medicine and gauze from my backpack and casually threw them to him, telling him to deal with the wound himself.

  Sori saw the hope of living on, and while bandaging his wound, he carefully said: "Thank you for sparing my life, I believe Buddha will protect you." I didn't respond to Sori's words, but after he finished bandaging his wound, I ordered him to sit across from me.

  I said to Sori, "Tell me everything you know about the Gureitaru religious organization." Sori said, "Gureitaru is a typical cult organization founded by an Asian man named Umi. His nationality and ethnicity are unclear, but it's said that he has a very complex international background. The symbol of this religion is the eye, and every member of the sect must dig out the eyes of a snake with their own hands during the initiation ceremony and swallow them alive to express their sincerity in joining the religion. However, what I find most terrifying is that I've heard some members even swallow human eyeballs when they join."

  I'm not interested in the cult's sensational rituals, so I changed my angle and asked Sori: "Where is the headquarters of Guleita? How many armed forces are under its jurisdiction?" Sori replied: "I really don't know where the headquarters is, and I'm not very clear about the specific number of troops. You know, I'm just a small role, but as far as I know, they should have at least 50,000 troops." I asked: "Then who provides their weapons and equipment?" Sori said: "They are purchased from the black market, and also supported by Western society."

  I continued to ask: "Do they have any connection with ****?" "Absolutely not!" Sori replied very firmly. I asked him why he was so sure. He said: "**** and Guleitar have fundamental differences in faith, so the two organizations do not come into contact with each other, let alone interfere with each other." I asked him again: "What level of leader is Colonel Zhaizai in your organization?" Sori said: "He is the commander of the directly affiliated regiment of the headquarters, who has served in the US Army Special Forces, is good at killing people, and is highly valued by the leaders of Guleitar. He is almost involved in all activities of this organization, including drug trafficking, smuggling, human trafficking, arms trade, political assassination."

  I said, "Alright, let's stop talking about Zahir for now. Tell me how you plan to help me get to the radio station." Soriel said, "In my unit, there is a communication vehicle. I can help you hijack it." I stood up and walked over to Soriel, grabbing his collar and lifting him off the ground. I dragged him towards the entrance of the cave. Soriel was terrified, shouting "Ahh! What are you going to do, sir?"

  I didn't notice him until he stopped at the entrance of the cave. I pointed to the twinkling star in the sky and said, "The direction of that star is due north. We are currently 15 kilometers away from your hunting ground at 14 o'clock. Now tell me, where is your unit located and how far is it from here?" Sorier thought for a moment before answering, "I think it should be in our northwest direction, yes, northwest direction, the straight-line distance is probably around 20 kilometers."

  "Alright, four hours later you take me to intercept the communication vehicle, now go into the cave..." I said, and before Sori could react, I had already walked back into the cave myself. Sori followed closely behind, looking like a frightened dog. "Sir, you won't kill me, will you?" Sori asked with a pleading expression.

  I sat by the bonfire, saying softly: "No one has the power to kill anyone at will..." My answer seemed not to reassure Sori, who asked again: "Sir, I don't quite understand what you mean. As long as you won't kill me, I can do anything for you. Sir, are you going to sleep?" Sori asked in a tentative tone, seeing that I had closed my eyes. I ignored Sori's question and remained with my eyes tightly shut. Sori plucked up the courage to take a few steps towards the entrance of the cave, saw that I still didn't react, and then ran out of the cave into the darkness of the forest...