Mercenary's War

Gao Yang did not rush to shoot. Instead, he waited until the enemy entered within two hundred meters before aiming his sights at a guy who looked like the leader and took him down with a short burst of two shots.

The men chasing Gao Yang were already extremely nervous about gunfire. At the sound of the shots, they immediately threw themselves to the ground.

The guy who had been hit by bullets wasn't dead but was screaming miserably, cursing loudly between cries. After a short wait, the few men who did not dare to move fired a hail of bullets in Gao Yang's direction. One fearless guy stood up and ran a few steps, probably to check on the injury of the guy who had just been shot.

For Gao Yang, such an easy target was not to be missed, so he aimed at the running guy and took him down with two more shots, laying out another daring individual on the ground.

By this time, Gao Yang was not in a hurry. He had been running for a whole day, and now his calves were starting to ache faintly, showing signs of cramps from time to time, so he was quite content to rest a while under the protection of cover.

Gao Yang was neither anxious nor afraid, but his opponents were. They had dwindled from more than a dozen to just six and were now suppressed by Gao Yang. To move meant certain death. If it weren't for someone forcing them, these scattered soldiers would have scattered long ago.

Gao Yang was in no hurry, leisurely regaining his strength, but the opponents scared out of their wits finally collapsed.

A dirty white piece of cloth was lifted on the barrel of a gun, followed by someone shouting, "Don't shoot, we surrender. Please let us go."

Gao Yang was both surprised and amused that the other side would actually surrender to him, which was totally unexpected, but it was good news not to have to continue fighting. After pondering for a moment, Gao Yang shouted, "Throw out all your weapons, and then you can leave."

"No way, without weapons we will be killed when we return. Don't shoot, and we won't shoot either. We call a truce."

Gao Yang also felt that he shouldn't push the opponents too far. After all, they still had a numerical advantage. A truce and both sides leaving might be the best choice.

"Alright, let me see your hands, no tricks, now you can go. I promise I won't shoot."

After whispering among themselves, one person stood up with hands raised, approached the no longer vocal commander, bent over and dragged what must have been his dead body, and started to back away. Soon another person got up, picked up a gun from the ground and together they began dragging the commander's body away by the legs.

Gao Yang did not fire, allowing the two men to drag away the corpse. Once they were far enough, two more men stood up in succession and pulled away another body to retreat.

Gao Yang remained motionless until all six men had left and were far away, then he finally relaxed completely. He did not dare to linger, and walked a good distance from his original location before sitting down on the ground.

Gao Yang didn't want to walk another step. Once completely relaxed, fatigue and thirst came over him all at once, making even moving his fingers feel strenuous. He was astonished at his own untapped potential. From morning to night, without eating anything and just drinking a few sips of water, he had endured temperatures exceeding forty degrees Celsius and the scorching sun, not only surviving heatstroke but also managing to march at least several tens of kilometers while fighting and running. In the past, he would never have dared to imagine doing something like this.

Fearing that he would pass out, Gao Yang pressed the transmit button on his walkie-talkie to distract himself and to report his safety.

"I'm fine here, no problems at all. How about you? Please respond, over."

After waiting a little while, Catherine's voice full of surprise came through.

"I knew you'd be fine. We're also without any big issues here. Only Yves was hit by a stray bullet. A bullet went through his right arm, but he's not too badly hurt, and the professor is taking care of him. Do you need to talk to the professor? Over."

On hearing that no one had died or was seriously injured, Gao Yang's heart fully settled, and a sense of pride and satisfaction rose within him. He laughed stupidly for a moment before speaking into the walkie-talkie again.

"No need to bother the professor. Let someone from our tribe talk to me, over."

Soon, when Catherine signaled that the Chieftain was ready on the other end, Gao Yang said, "Chieftain, do you know where you are now? Tell me, and I'll come to you."

"White Child, is that you? This thing is amazing. Is this the strange white people's sorcery? We're still far from the tribe, these strange white people move too slowly. We're near the watering hole where we hunted wart hogs last time. We plan to rest a bit before moving on, but I feel the strange white people can't walk anymore. I want to find a place to sleep, let them rest, and also find something more to eat. We are hungry, the strange white people are very hungry too, and one of them has been crying the whole time, which is so embarrassing."

The Chieftain babbled at length, obviously too excited about talking through the walkie-talkie, but Gao Yang wasn't worried this time about their conversation being overheard. If anyone was listening in, they certainly couldn't understand the language spoken only by Akuri's tribe.

The Chieftain's resting place was still quite far from the tribe. To reach the tribe, even at the Chieftain's jogging speed, it would be the middle of the night. Thinking it over, Gao Yang decided it was better for them to wait for him.

"Chieftain, stay nearby and wait for me, but be careful, there could still be bad guys around. If you hear any strange noises, run immediately. And yes, make sure not to light a fire."

After finishing, Gao Yang thought for a moment and then repeated the message in English to Catherine, although this time it was much simpler.

"Wait for me, be careful, I'm coming back for you. Don't make contact unless necessary, and if your walkie-talkie has an earpiece, wear it. If not, keep the volume at the minimum, over."

"Understood, be cautious, over."

After finishing the conversation with Catherine, Gao Yang turned the volume on his walkie-talkie down to the minimum. This precaution was taken just in case there was a need to communicate, to ensure the volume wouldn't be too loud. Though it seemed less dangerous at the moment, being careful was always good.

Gao Yang didn't rest for very long, as he needed to move while there was still light. There wasn't really a path on the grassland, and since he wasn't familiar with the terrain, though he knew the general direction to find his way back to the tribe, it would be much harder to discern directions after dark.