Chapter 23: The Playboy of Bangkok Streets

  A month has passed and I still haven't received any reply. Winter is approaching soon, but Bangkok doesn't have winter, which makes me, who grew up in northern China, feel very uncomfortable. I'm fed up with this humid and hot weather. If I were at home, it should be snowing around this time.

  That noon, Ou Di was with me in the yard practicing boxing as usual.

  Oudi, although only a 17-year-old high school student, has an excellent physical condition. He loves military and martial arts, and we get along well. I also like this outgoing little brother, so whenever I have time, I teach him some boxing and kicking skills.

  After practicing for a while, Oudi was getting tired. He stopped and grabbed a bottle of mineral water to take a sip, then wiped the sweat with a towel while saying to me: "Hai Gege, next week I'm going to drop out of school and become a monk at Zama Temple, so I won't be able to accompany you to practice boxing anymore." "Oh! How long will you stay in the temple?" I asked while punching the sandbag vigorously. "Hmm... probably about three months!" Oudi replied.

  I stopped my movements after a heavy punch on the sandbag. I took over the mineral water thrown by Oudi and drank a mouthful, then took off my sweat-soaked shirt and smiled at him: "The life in the temple will be more ascetic, you'd better make psychological preparations." "My god! Hai'er brother, what have you been through?" Oudi was shocked to see the scars on me. I smiled and said: "Nothing, every soldier who has experienced war is like this, nothing worth making a fuss about." Oudi said: "Hai'er brother, I admire you more and more, when you have time, you must tell me your battle stories." "Okay, after you come back from the temple, I'll definitely tell you. Okay, let's not talk about me, let's talk about your becoming a monk instead. The life in the temple is ascetic, can you bear it?" Oudi said: "That little bit of hardship doesn't count for anything to me." "Then that's good, then I wish Oudi young master to receive the Buddhist teachings and attain the Mahayana doctrine soon!" As I said this, I raised the mineral water bottle and made a toast with Oudi. "Thanks Hai'er brother," Oudi smiled and said.

  "Wow, Audi brother is really practicing boxing here! Look who's back!" Just as we were chatting happily, Xiao Mi walked in with a big smile on her face, followed by a tall and slender girl.

  "Ah! Manlin, it's you! I've missed you so much!" Oudi exclaimed as she excitedly ran over to hug the tall girl. Manlin said: "I heard that our Oudi is going to become a monk, so I came back especially to see her." Oudi said: "I'm so happy you're back, come on Manlin, let me introduce you to a new friend, this is Hai'er brother, he just moved in next door to us recently." Then, Oudi turned to me and said: "Hai'er brother, this is Manlin, our family's eldest sister." Manlin looked at me with a smile and extended her hand, saying: "Nice to meet you, Hai'er!" I lightly shook Manlin's hand and replied: "Nice to meet you too, Manlin." Oudi said: "Hai'er brother, since Manlin is back for the first time in a long while, let's have dinner together tonight?" I thought for a moment before saying: "No need, I have overtime at work tonight, maybe some other time." In reality, I didn't actually have overtime, but because of my special identity, I didn't want to get too involved in other people's lives. Oudi looked slightly disappointed when she heard my response, but didn't say anything else.

  The next evening, Oudi came over to chat with me. I asked him: "Why don't you go accompany your sister, what are you doing here?" Oudi hesitated for a moment before responding: "She's gone back to Pattaya, and besides, Manlin isn't my sister." "Huh? Didn't you say yesterday that she was the eldest in your household?" I asked in confusion. Oudi said: "Strictly speaking, Manlin should be my older brother, but I couldn't call her that." "What's going on?" Oudi's response left me perplexed.

  Audi said: "As my mother told me, because the family was very poor, Manlin was sent to 'art class' by her family since she was a child. Now she is working as a 'princess' in Pattaya. It's really not easy for Manlin, she has paid a lot for this family." Audi's answer finally made me understand that Manlin was the legendary Thai "double-faced artist", also known as a ladyboy.

  In Thailand, cases like Audi's, where families send their handsome boys to "art schools" to become kathoeys for a living, are not uncommon. This is originally a deformed product of social development, but it's unclear why this inhumane behavior has persisted for centuries. Perhaps poverty is the main culprit, but isn't people's pursuit of fame and wealth also a driving force behind this deformity?

  I saw Oudi mention Manlin with some sadness, so I advised him to say: "Okay, don't think too much, life is diverse, in our China there is an old saying called 'life is not as expected ten have **', life is only a few decades, we must face everything optimistically, there is no recognized happiness in any kind of life, since Manlin has paid so much, then you will work hard in the future and give her a happy life." Oudi nodded and said: "Thank you, Hai'er brother, I know what to do now!"

  The night before Ou Di left home, I made an exception to have dinner at his house under his strong invitation, which was a farewell dinner for him. We both drank a small amount of white wine and chatted till very late. After the meal, Manlin sent me out of her house and suddenly wanted me to accompany her to take a walk on the street. Although it was already late, the joyful atmosphere of having dinner with Ou Di's family made me feel the long-lost warmth of home, so I gladly agreed to Manlin's request for a walk.

  The street was quiet, gone was the hustle and bustle of daytime. The tree shadows cast by the streetlights swayed gently in the breeze, and the starlight on the horizon was faintly visible. I walked slowly alongside Manlin, our footsteps echoing softly in the stillness of the night. Because Manlin, Oudi, and their families, and perhaps every person who brushed past me on the street, were not people from my world. They had nothing to do with war, or bloodshed and death. They were just ordinary people living ordinary lives. So we didn't have much to talk about, and spoke little along the way, simply walking quietly like this.

  Later, Manlin broke the silence. Manlin asked me, "Hai'er brother, I heard from Ou Di that you used to be a soldier and even fought in battles, is that true?" "Yes, but those are all past events," I replied calmly. Manlin asked, "How did you think of coming to Thailand to develop?" I thought for a moment before answering, "After retiring from the army, I lost money opening a mine on the border, and coincidentally, one of my distant relatives was doing business in Bangkok, so when I was struggling and had nowhere to turn, I came here to rely on him." "Oh! Are you planning to stay in Bangkok for a long time?" Manlin asked. I replied calmly, "Maybe not, I might have to return to China soon." Manlin said, "Oh, I see, Hai'er brother, I believe you will get out of trouble quickly."

  I smiled and said, "Let's hope so." I was being very cautious with my words to Manlin, considering her sensitive identity. I didn't want to say anything that might hurt her self-esteem. Although Manlin had been trained in an "art class" since she was a child, from head to toe, in speech and behavior, even psychologically, she was like a girl, but I still didn't know whether to treat her as a man or a woman. However, Manlin's words were very straightforward, without any avoidance of her own trans identity, which made me realize that my concerns were completely unnecessary. Manlin asked me, "Hai'er brother, you've been in Thailand for so long, have you ever been to Pattaya?" I replied, "No." Manlin said, "If you come to Thailand and don't visit our 'princess' show at Pattaya, it's like you haven't been to Thailand at all! Hai'er brother, I'm formally inviting you to watch our performance on the Oriental Princess in Pattaya Island. Will you accept?" I replied, "Hmm, okay, I'll go when I have time." Manlin said, "What do you mean by 'when I have time'? How about this Sunday?" I smiled and said, "Okay, this Sunday then." Manlin excitedly said, "Great, it's a date!"

  "Hey! Isn't this Marilyn 'Princess' of Pattaya...?"

  As we were chatting, several young men in their twenties suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Judging from their clothes and expressions, it was clear that they were local thugs. When Manlin saw them, she said with disgust: "What do you want?" The leader sneered and said: "Nothing, 'Princess Manlin', since we've run into you today, why don't you give us some face and come have a few drinks with us?" Manlin said: "Sorry, I'm busy, maybe next time." After finishing speaking, Manlin pulled my arm and was about to leave. "Hey! 'Princess Manlin' don't go...don't go...it's still early, just have a few drinks with us!" The leader of the thugs said, grabbing onto Manlin's arm.

  Manlin shook off the hand of the rascal and said angrily: "Geldan, I warn you, don't be reckless!" "I'm being reckless, what's it to you?" Geldan continued to pester her, becoming even more brazen in his movements. "Yeah, 'princess' come play with us!" The other little rascals also started to join in, cheering and jeering. "Take away your dirty hands!" I glared at Geldan, saying coldly. Geldan looked at me, sneering: "Oh, so there's someone here, Manlin's new boyfriend?" Manlin said angrily: "Don't talk nonsense! Hai'er gege, let's go, don't bother with them." After that, Manlin pulled my arm and wanted to leave again.

  I gave Gerdan a look and his lewd expression instantly sparked a surge of anger in me. But then I thought better of it and decided not to stir up trouble. I suppressed the anger burning inside me and followed Manlin as she was about to leave. However, at this moment, Gerdan and his gang still refused to give up, surrounding us and refusing to let us go. In a stern tone, I warned them: "Get out of our way, don't look for trouble..." One of the thugs said: "Gerdan, look at this kid, he seems like he's quite arrogant. Should we teach him a lesson today?" Gerdan sneered and asked me: "You little scum, where are you from? How dare you speak to me, Gerdan, in such a tone?"

  "Back off..." I didn't have the mood to reason with Gerdan, and continued to coldly warn them. Gerdan saw my tough attitude, and suddenly pulled out a folding dagger from his waist, opening it with two clicks, and then pressed the blade against my neck. "Believe me or not, I can cripple you?" Gerdan said viciously. I said indifferently: "Fine, try it." As I spoke, I suddenly grabbed Gerdan's hand holding the knife, and then exerted force, twisting his wrist. Gerdan let out a loud cry of pain. The other thugs didn't realize my actions, seeing me get angry, they all pulled out their knives and surrounded me to attack. I instinctively reached into my boot to grab my dagger, wanting to engage in close combat, but suddenly discovered that the dagger wasn't on me at all.

  In a state of extreme emergency, I fought them with my bare hands. Manlin saw us fighting and hurriedly shouted at us to stop. The thugs were extremely vicious, every knife stabbing towards my vital parts. My hands were unarmed, naturally at a disadvantage, dodging left and right but still being slashed multiple times, all just superficial wounds. Gerdan was sitting on the ground in pain, shouting at the other thugs: "Get rid of him for me, ah...my hand...it hurts to death." The thugs' attack became more and more fierce, I also showed no mercy using my ruthless moves to counter them. The more I fought, the more ruthless I became, even having a hallucination of returning to the battlefield. Ah...I roared loudly, kicking two thugs down, then quickly changing my stance, using my elbow to heavily strike a thug's temple.

  The thugs were fierce, but they must not have received professional training. They were no match for me, a soldier who had received special forces training. After just one round of fighting, all the thugs except one had been knocked to the ground, their legs and arms broken as they groaned in pain. I let out a loud shout and charged at the last thug standing, who was still holding a knife. He looked up at me with fear in his eyes and suddenly dropped to his knees. "Big brother, spare my life...I'll never dare again!" I walked up to him, grabbed his collar, and threw him far away. Then I shouted at them, "Get out of here, all of you!" The thugs were now shaking with fear, and when they heard me tell them to leave, they quickly helped each other up and limped away.

  The thug ran away, and Manlin hastily ran to my side. "Hai'er brother, are you okay? Let's hurry back, these people aren't easy to mess with." "What were they doing?" I asked Manlin. Manlin said, "They're just some thugs, but Gerdan's brother has a lot of power, nobody in the area dares to provoke them, Hai'er brother, you'd better go into hiding, they won't let you off easily." "It's fine, let's go," I calmly said, wiping away the blood flowing from my wound.

  After returning home, Manlin applied some medicine to my wound. She apologized and said: "Hai'er brother, it's all my fault, if I hadn't taken you shopping, this wouldn't have happened, now look at the trouble I've caused for you." I comforted Manlin by saying: "It's nothing, a few small hooligans are not worth being afraid of." Manlin said: "Don't underestimate them, these people can do anything." As she spoke, Manlin took out a bank card from her bag and handed it to me. "There's some money in here, you should go hide somewhere else tomorrow." "No need!" I put the bank card back into Manlin's bag and said: "Don't worry about me, I have ways to deal with them, besides, if I leave, how will they trouble you?" Manlin said: "Hai'er brother, why won't you listen? You don't need to worry, they wouldn't dare do anything to me. Listen to me and go hide for a while." I thought for a moment and said: "Okay, I'll go to my relative's house tomorrow." Hearing this, Manlin nodded in relief. I looked at the clock and saw it was already 11 o'clock, so I told Manlin: "Manlin, it's getting late, you should head back and rest early." Manlin looked at me with a complex expression, nodded and said: "Yeah, Hai'er brother, you too, get some rest!"

  After Manlin left, I couldn't sleep. The years of war had stored up a huge amount of combat energy in my body, and recently I had been suppressing it so much that this suppressed emotion was finally released today in the fight with the hooligan, it was incredibly refreshing. I got out of bed, opened "Black Lightning" with an inexplicable excitement, and after searching for valuable information on the radio, I started collecting wireless codes again. Just as I was seriously recording and analyzing the continuously collected codes, a strange code suddenly appeared. This code was transmitted very regularly, so I was sure it was man-made, but the arrangement method was something I had never seen before. This strange code got me excited all of a sudden. Because of this code, I stayed up all night, analyzing it over and over again, but still couldn't crack it.

  The next morning, Manlin knocked on my door early. "Hai'er brother, I've prepared the car, take a look and let's go." I asked in confusion: "Where are we going?" Manlin said: "I'm afraid Ge'er Dan will come to bother you, so I'll take you out to hide for a while." I told Manlin: "Didn't I tell you last night that I was going to my relative's house? Why do you want me to go with you again today?" Manlin said: "This is all because of me, I have to take care of it. Don't bother your relatives, just come with me." I said: "No way, you have your own life and can't be disrupted by me. Don't worry about me, I can handle Ge'er Dan myself." Manlin started to say something, but I interrupted her: "Manlin, don't say anything else, just listen to me on this matter." Manlin saw my determined attitude and reluctantly said: "Okay, Hai'er brother, take care of yourself. I'll think of a way to help you out of this situation." I said: "Don't worry, those few punks can't do anything to me. Manlin, go take care of your own business." "Okay!" Manlin nodded and drove away.

  Three days have passed, and Gerdan and his men haven't come to bother me. During these three days, I've been closely monitoring that strange radio wave, discovering it has appeared abnormally frequently in recent days. Just as I was pondering whether it might be the secret communication code of the upper echelons of the ancient cult organization, Gurtal, something happened in Europe. Multiple countries and regions in Northern Europe were simultaneously attacked by terrorist bacteria. Although no organization has yet claimed responsibility for these terrorist attacks, the international community knows that this is the work of the Gurtal cult. The terrorist attack on Northern Europe confirms my speculation - that strange coded message was indeed sent out by the organization, only I currently have no way to decipher it.

  These past few days, the inability to decipher the cult's secret code has left me extremely vexed. At the same time, I feel helpless and anguished because I'm hiding in this unfamiliar city with a humiliating burden on my back. I keep asking myself: "Mudfish, when can you return to the battlefield and start your own fight?" That noon, as I was riding my bike home from work through the pedestrian street intersection, a black sedan suddenly burst out of a side road, and before I could dodge, it knocked me over with one blow.

  Before I could get up from the ground, a van stopped not far away from me, and four big men with thick waists got out of the car, holding sticks and walking towards me in a menacing manner. Before I could say anything, one of the men swung his stick at me. Seeing that things were not looking good, I quickly dodged to the side and jumped up, fighting back against them. Although the big men were tall and strong, their movements were slow, and my fists and feet struck back like a whirlwind, quickly knocking them to the ground. At this time, the window of the black sedan rolled down, revealing Gerdan sitting inside, glaring at me angrily.

  I suddenly understood that all of this was his arrangement. If I wasn't mistaken, the little mustache sitting next to him should be his so-called very powerful brother. Looking at Gerdan's ugly face, my anger in my heart suddenly reached its peak. I searched for a dagger from my body and took three steps forward in two strides to rush to the black sedan. Gerdan's brother apparently saw my intention and pulled out a handgun to shoot me.

  But before he could pull the trigger, my dagger had already flown out of my hand. The dagger pinned itself to Gerdan's brother's wrist, and at the same time, I rushed to the car window and pulled Gerdan out through it with one swift motion, then gave him a good beating in the face. At this moment, the bandits who intended to attack me were stunned by my series of agile movements and ferocious tactics, and they all stood there, not daring to come closer.

  I got angrier and angrier, hitting harder and harder, until the thugs in front of me turned into enemy soldiers on the battlefield. After beating up Gerdan, I pulled his brother down from the car, yanked out the dagger stuck in his wrist, grabbed his hair and pulled his head back, ready to cut off his windpipe. Gerdan's brother was so scared that he screamed loudly and begged for mercy. At this point, how could I hold back my hands? Years of combat life had already turned me into a killing machine. I let out a loud roar and was about to take action. "Don't move..." Just then, several police officers aimed their guns at me and sternly ordered me to put down the weapon in my hand. It wasn't until then that I suddenly realized I wasn't on the battlefield, but on the bustling streets of Bangkok.