Martial Arts Master

With the military officer under one foot, Lou Cheng read the message to Yan Zheke. Before he asked anything, she turned the steering wheel with her eyes fixated on the road.

“Let’s go.”

“Huh?” asked Lou Cheng, slightly caught off guard.

“Weren’t you going to ask me if we should go?” Yan Zheke drove fast. Sporadic gunshots sounded in the midnight. “My answer is we should.”

She stopped and pursed her lips into a self-deriding smile.

“I would never have agreed if the situation was extremely dangerous, but currently it’s manageable. Extending a helping hand to fellow countrymen and picking up a few of them along the way, isn’t that what we are supposed to do? Even with you at my side and me being somewhat capable myself, I still lose nerve when encountering such things. Though I managed to pull myself back together, I can’t be as sensible as usual. In this state, I have spoken and reacted with poor judgment. I hate it when I’m like that. And if it can do these things to me, what would it do to them?”

“Putting myself in their shoes, they must be terrified and distressed, and in dire need of help and support.”

“Sigh. I always proclaim myself to be someone who draws a clear line between strangers and kin. That the further someone is from my social circle, the less regard I have for them. And that I might pity them, but never worry about them. Heh, but now, it seems like my self-centricity isn’t that extreme or hopeless after all.”

Lou Cheng listened silently, and when she was done he laughed softly.

“You already are very, very good.”

He tapped a reply to the military dispatch agent. “I’ll take them along.”

After sending the message, he recalled a worrying matter. He quickly told her that the military Jeep might have a tracking device installed, so they had to switch cars.

“At this time at night… Can you hotwire a car?” questioned Yan Zheke.

“I can’t…” admitted Lou Cheng.

I never learned that skill!

Pulling out wires and connecting them to start up the car is a common trope in dramas and movies, but I never tried it before. I wonder if it works…

Now it makes sense why the seniors always say ‘A wanderer in the Jianghu is better off with more skills.’

At that moment, Yan Zheke looked up.

“Actually, it’s not hard to deal with the tracking devices. I can control the magnetic field with my supernatural abilities, so I might be able to interrupt it!”

“But would it affect the functionality of the car?” said Lou Cheng thoughtfully.

“…I don’t know about that,” replied Yan Zheke after a brief silence. “Want to give it a try?”

“…Let’s do it!” Lou Cheng prepared.

A while later, the Jeep was smoothly on the road again.

“It worked!” said Yan Zheke gaily.

“Good,” Lou Cheng made a gesture of wiping away sweat. He then used the Army Formula and his aura to break down the military officer’s mental defense and extract useful information.

Know yourself and know your enemy, for that would guarantee your victory.

Yan Zheke drove on for a little while, then, in a meek voice, asked, “Cheng. How do I get to the Syragu Supermarket…?”

The question put Lou Cheng at a loss. After a few seconds of spacing out, he declared triumphantly, “I had the map downloaded!”

…

In the basement carpark of the Syragu Supermarket, Ma Chaoyang cowered in the shadows of a pillar to avoid detection.

He was a seasoned backpacker currently traveling around Nile.

Beside him was an SUV, behind which hid a family of three. They were on a leisure trip, had set off from Deeka, and were headed for Tetans. Amidst the chaos when the Renegades stormed the hotel, they escaped to somewhere nearby, where they met Ma Chaoyang, a fellow countryman. They heeded his suggestion and hid in the carpark, waiting for the riot to be over.

“What do we do? Will the riot last for a long time?” whispered Zhou Yong, a middle-aged man with a beer belly. There was definite fear in his voice.

His wife, Li Xiaoyun, her hair all unkempt, tightly hugged their daughter Zhou Xuanying, who was only about 11 or 12 years old. She glanced around furtively, fearing that barbaric, savage, and cold-blooded Nile soldiers might emerge from any corner.

They wouldn’t have escaped the hotel so easily if it wasn’t for a few protestors drawing the Renegades’ attention. At the same time, they witnessed the gory scenes of those who stood up being killed and maimed, and heart-rending scenes where women were pinned down and cruelly assaulted by the Renegades.

They came from a stable and peaceful country, so it was a miracle that they were merely a little on edge and not completely broken after witnessing such cruelty.

Ma Chaoyang had once passed by the borders of war zones, making him the somewhat experienced one. Flourishing the phone in his hand, he said, “I have contacted the Embassy. They said they’ll figure something out. I’m sure we’ll be saved!”

“Mhm,” said Zhou Yong, slightly pacified knowing that help is on the way.

At that moment, Ma Chaoyang’s phone(which often lost signal) rang. A message came in.

He looked down. A joyous smile spread across his face.

“The Embassy has replied! Someone will be here to get us and bring us to KhuKhang, where we’ll be with the main forces! For now, we have been told to stay patient here!”

As he spoke, his eyes were suffused with tears of gratitude.

It feels so good to know that you haven’t been abandoned! It feels so good to know that someone thinks about you and is willing to help!

It reminded him of the times when he received a call from mother at the toughest times when he was traveling all by himself.

“Yes, yes!” Zhou Yong heaved a long sigh of relief. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel gave him hope.

He turned to his wife and daughter. “Don’t be scared, the Embassy has sent help. We’ll be okay.”

“Mhm-mhm!” Li Xiaoyun and Zhou Xuanying nodded at once, feeling reassured.

That didn’t make the waiting any easier. They dared not move, but at times glanced at their watches and adjusted their postures as though they had fleas on them.

In the quiet and empty underground car park, Li Xiaoyun couldn’t help but complain.

“What’s taking them so long?”

“It’s all chaos all there. It’s gonna take time…” said Ma Chaoyang to the effect of calming them down and self-comfort. In truth, he was equally anxious.

That was when an elevator in the distance chimed. There came footsteps.

“They are he—” Zhou Xuanying’s surprise exclamation was cut short by her father’s hand covering her mouth.

Cautiously, Zhou Yong shook his head at her, signaling her to wait longer.

Earlier, when they were at the hotel, some tourists mistook the incoming Renegades as cops and rushed out excitedly. They were caught immediately. As to what happened to them, it’s not hard to imagine.

Thump, thump, thump. Heavy footsteps approached, then came halting English.

“Where is your car?”

“Ahead. Right ahead. All my money and jewelry are in there,” said a woman in a low-pitched, panicking voice.

Their hearts sank. Driven by instinct, they cowered even more to conceal themselves.

Through the windscreens of the cars across them, they vaguely saw four men in Renegade clothing escorting a pretty white woman to a crimson sedan. One of them, who seemed to be their leader, walked alongside them by himself. Her captors occasionally laid hands on her at inappropriate places.

“It’s in the glove compartment in front of the passenger seat,” said the white woman, beckoning at the crimson sedan with her chin.

One of the Renegades unlocked the car door with a remote, then opened the door and began rifling through the glove compartment.

The soldier that seemed to be in charge sidled to him, in case his subordinate hid anything. The other captors also looked in that direction.

Seeing that, the white woman suddenly moved, stomping and driving her right foot into the toe of one of the soldiers. At the same time, she half-squatted and swung her left elbow backward, hitting another soldier in the crotch.

“Ouch!””Ow!”

One soldier cradled his feet and the other covered his crotch, both forgetting to fire.

The white woman immediately turned and made a dash for it.

Bang, bang, bang!

After a few gunshots, she stopped and fell limply to the ground. The back of her head was blown right open by bullets. A viscous red liquid mixed with white matter streamed, along with the victim’s leaking urine and feces.

The leader of the soldiers blew triumphantly at the barrel tip of his large pistol with the intention to mimic Western movies.

He was properly trained and was the rare sharpshooter in his tribe.

At that time, Zhou Yong covered his wife and daughter’s lips tightly. Terror was written on his face.

The spectacle just now came close to making him scream.

“Nothing!” The soldier searching the sedan lifted his head, vexed. “Fuckin* Bitc*!”

He glanced at the dead white woman.

“What a waste…” he muttered.

The leader’s face darkened as he waited for his subordinates to recover.

Those few minutes felt like an eternity to the four fugitives. They counted every second in their hearts and breathed extremely softly to avoid being discovered.

A while later, the soldier who was injured in his crotch lost his cool and led the others on a rampage, the smashing windshields of cars around them and pillaging the contents. Alarms were set off.

They soon left the car park, either out of exhaustion or realization of their inefficiency. With that kind of effort, they might as well move on to rob the next place. What remained was silence and the smell of blood.

Ma Chaoyang exchanged a glance the Zhou family, then heaved a sigh of relief and slumped. They had no idea when the nightmare would come to an end.

That was when they heard familiar Mandarin spoken fluently.

“Ma Chaoyang? Zhou Yong?”

People from the Embassy? Has help arrived? Ma Chaoyang and the others sprang to their feet and rushed out at once.

At that moment, the ordinary Mandarin sounded like a voice from Heaven. It was so familiar and melodious!

When they were out of their hiding spots, they saw a young man and lady that looked like a college couple. The young lady was elegant and beautiful, like a light in the darkness. The young man had sharp features and exuded calm maturity.

Though they weren’t the soldiers they were expecting, the young man had a power that made them feel safe and at ease. Redeemed from the jaws of death, the fugitives spoke.

“Are you…”

Lou Cheng cut them short with a smile.

“We are from the military. The Embassy sent us here. Let’s hurry and evacuate.”

Hearing those words, the fugitives broke down. Tears clouded their visions.