Chapter 25 - A Friend

Chapter 25: A Friend

Translated by: Spot

Edited by: Isalee

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Gao Yang was only twenty or so meters away from that restaurant and that was already very close. Gao Yang scouted out all four directions, but there were no forked roads nearby, nor were there any alleyway to hide in. However, that Chinese restaurant had an intersection, and a small street was close by.

Gao Yang sucked in a deep breath. In a whisper, he said, “We can’t stay here. If there’s a gunshot, everything will be in chaos and then we’ll have a huge problem on our hands. They seem to be waiting for something. We’ll act as if we didn’t see anything and walk over right into the small alley.”

As he finished his sentence, Gao Yang strongly resisted his fear as he walked head-on towards the two muzzles. After taking two steps, Gao Yang glanced back only to see Bob’s head lowered, almost as if he was shaking; but he still followed behind.

Gao Yang spared no effort in pretending as if nothing happened. With Bob at his side, step by step, they closed in on the Chinese restaurant’s entrance. They were only four or five hundred meters away from the two hidden gunmen. Thankfully, the gunmen didn’t fire.

Reaching the end of the block, Gao Yang wasn’t sure how to proceed further. Despite that, he quickly passed by the hidden gunman’s position and turned right into a small alleyway. Gao Yang soon found out that there were still a couple people peeking at the small gathering of people on the streets. Gao Yang immediately made a decision. He’d rather travel in the small alleyway all day than linger in the big streets as a target or be stampeded to death.

Gao Yang focused all of his efforts to resist his fear. He suddenly turned into the small restaurant’s street, with Bob following his footsteps. However, Bob’s nervousness almost made him not able to walk normally. Gao Yang didn’t have any other choice but to pull Bob’s arm before fast-walking ahead.

Gao Yang’s heart was pounding like a drum. When he walked about ten or so meters, the fear of being exposed to the guns prevented him from keeping his composure. He glanced back and discovered that nobody had followed. Then in a low voice, Gao Yang said, “Run.”

Bob lowered his head with his body shaking non stop, and had no reaction to Gao Yang’s command. Gao Yang unhappily tugged at Bob’s arm, then abruptly started running.

Bob almost fell down from Gao Yang’s tug, but Gao Yang used a lot of power to let Bob regain control of his body. Once Bob reacted however, he immediately scampered off.

Gao Yang and Bob didn’t run for very long. From behind, the sound of a gunshot erupted, and immediately after, all the guns started firing off. There was at least a dozen guns firing at the same time for them to release this type of sound.

After hearing the gunshots, Gao Yang and Bob both increased their running speed. The two people followed the streets between the buildings and ran for their lives. Just at this moment, Gao Yang realized that to the wall beside him, cement pieces mixed with brick started bursting out. Then, tiny dents started appearing on the walls. At this point, Bob who was running beside Gao Yang, suddenly fell to the floor.

Seeing Bob drop to the ground, Gao Yang’s mind didn’t have enough time to think. He stopped running, grabbed Bob’s arm, and started to pull him.

“I’ve been shot!”

After Bob shouted, he used both his hands and feet to cooperate with Gao Yang as he started crawling in order to increase their movement speed. Just then, Gao Yang found that behind him was a store entrance so he used his all of his body’s energy to pull Bob a couple steps forward, hoping to enter the store.

As soon as Gao Yang dragged Bob to the store entrance, he found himself face to face with a South Asian man with an ax in his hand looking at them in alarm. Gao Yang yelled out, “Help me, pull him inside.”

That South Asian man shook his head in fear and soon after he actually started closing the door. Gao Yang started to worry and he stuck his foot out to stop the door from closing as he shouted: “Let us in! They’re shooting outside, do you want to see us die?”

Gao Yang was truly worried now. If that man still didn’t let him in, he’d have to forcibly make his way inside. One could hear the panic of people in the street and their chaotic footsteps, with gunshots following close behind. Now there was good news though as the entrance to the store was extended outwards a bit and Gao Yang and Bob were within the protection of the brick walls.

They didn’t have to be scared of bullets temporarily, but if they couldn’t get inside the store to evade the bullets, Gao Yang didn’t dare imagine what sort of aftermath would be waiting for them. Just when he let go of Bob’s arm, wanting to seize the South Asian man’s ax to forcibly charge into the store, the man suddenly let out a sentence.

“Are you Chinese?”

;Gao Yang blankly stared for a bit, then responded immediately with a big voice: “Yes, I’m Chinese, please let us in.”

After hearing Gao Yang say he was Chinese, the South Asian man tossed aside the ax in his hand and opened the wooden door. Then, he grabbed one of Bob’s arms and pulled him in with Gao Yang into the store.

Once inside the store, the South Asian man loudly called, “Give me a hand.”

Gao Yang helped the man bring down a roll-up sluice gate, then shut the wooden door of the store as well. Finally, they locked it all up before finally letting out a huge sigh of relief.

After closing the door, Gao Yang ran over to the now sitting Bob and urgently asked, “Where were you hit? Let me see.”

Bob was a bit embarrassed and pointed to his left knee. He said, “It seems like it wasn’t a gunshot. Look, there’s no blood. But earlier, it really hurt, so I thought it must’ve been hit by a gun.”

Gao Yang looked at Bob’s knee and found that there was a gray mark. Gao Yang let out a long sigh and smacked Bob’s knee. “You little rascal, scared the sh*t out of me, you were only hit by debris, okay?”

“Sorry, but it really did hurt. So, so much. Under our circumstances, it’s obvious that I’d think that I was shot.”

They found out that Bob wasn’t actually struck by a bullet, but by the cement fragments. Gao Yang finally calmed down and sat his ass on the ground while swearing. Even though they still hadn’t completely left the danger zone, they were safe for now.

“I’m truly sorry for the way I treated you guys earlier, but in these times, things are very sensitive. Especially foreigners. They are extremely dangerous. I had to be extra careful, really sorry.”

;The South Asian man was holding the ax and guarding the entrance. Then with a full and tensed up face, he started talking to Gao Yang. Gao Yang got up from the ground and nodded to the South Asian man and replied, “But, ultimately you still let us in. Thank you.”

“Are you really Chinese? Say something in Chinese.”

“Ni hao.”

Hearing Gao Yang using Chinese and saying “Ni Hao”, the south Asian man smiled and said, ;“You are Chinese. That’s why I let you in. I can say a couple simple words in Chinese. Ni hao, zai jian, and so on. I am friends with a Chinese man, and his restaurant’s just up the street. Did you guys see that restaurant? The foreigners nowadays are very dangerous. We must avoid them, but you are Chinese, so naturally it’s different.”

Gao Yang was a bit curious. “Why? Why are Chinese people fine?”

The South Asian man put down his ax and extended his hand. Then with a smile, he said, “I’m from Pakistan, friend.”

Gao Yang came to a realization and seized the South Asian man’s extended hand. He shook it with vigor: “Oh no wonder. I’m extremely grateful, friend.”

“I’m called Malik, from Karachi. Very pleased to meet your acquaintance, friend. But we must wait a bit before we can chat. I need to shut the windows as well, it’s too dangerous.”

;After a simple self introduction, Malik armed his ax again. He peered out from the shop’s display window, and Gao Yang also looked out. Just then, he saw the store on the other side. Someone came out and stood there as they glanced around.

“Go inside. Do you want get hit by bullets?”

Gao Yang and Malik shouted out pretty much at the same time. But Gao Yang used English, while Malik used Arabic. Unfortunately, just as they shouted out, the man standing outside suddenly exploded into a mist of blood and fell onto the ground.

Just as the person on the street fell down, Gao Yang and Malik saw two men running over with guns in their hands. One of the guys passing by the person’s body suddenly stopped. He aimed and fired a shot at the back of the man’s head who was thinking of crawling back to his store.

Brain matter splattered everywhere, including the display window in front of Gao Yang. After the sound of splat, it slowly dripped down, leaving behind a whitish trail of fluid.

Gao Yang and Malik stared at each other wide-eyed. both of them dashed to the display windows’ side, behind a wall. Soon after, the sound of gunfire rang out and the display glass shattered.

Malik stood to the side of the glass display, with his hands clutching the ax. Gao Yang looked in all four directions and found that the store he was hiding in sold tools. There were all sorts of metal hardware and electric powered tools. There was no shortage of weapons. Gao Yang ran to the shelves, and grabbed two long axes, and sat beside Bob who was on the ground, who at this point also stood up, and took long steel crowbar, standing behind Gao Yang.

Gao Yang threw an ax over to Malik. After he caught it, he put down his short-handled ax on the window sill. The three of them raised their weapons, getting ready to smash in the gangster’s head who was climbing in from the display window.

Gao Yang saw everything clearly. The man who fired was a black man, and from the looks of it, he was fairly young — only fourteen to fifteen years old. But the way he acted out was a bit too cruel. In front of a man who had already lost the ability to resist, he needlessly shot him in the brains; Gao Yang definitely wouldn’t let these types of people break into the store.

Thankfully, it seemed like the young black kid who fired wasn’t planning on coming into the store. After firing at the display window a few times, he hurriedly ran away. Hearing the footsteps growing further away, Malik said in a deep voice, “We need to find a way to seal the window. F*ck, I should’ve have added a protective mesh for the window as well.”

The store was filled with tools, there were plenty of things to seal up the window. The three of them started to work together, and soon after using wooden planks and long metal rods, the window was sealed. Even though there were still some cracks, it was impossible for people to charge in.

Just when Gao Yang and the rest sealed up the window, the streets started swelling with panic stricken people. Fortunately, nobody tried to charge into the store, but after the crowd had left, the gunshots didn’t stop. From the beginning to the end, there were scattered gunshots, and moreover, some were fired extremely close to Gao Yang and his crew.

The three of them were continuously tensed up while listening to the activity beyond the door. Once the streets finally started to quiet down, led Gao Yang to believe it was completely safe. Just then, there were gunshots in front of the door, and they were fired at store. The bullets penetrated through metal roll up sluice gate, and then hit the wooden door, sending out wooden pieces everywhere.