Chapter 5 (1/2)

Chapter 5

”You may not know this, but the situation out there is rather dangerous right now!” From the moment they stepped out of the house, Jake had been muttering constantly. ”Slow down, you a.s.shole! Why did Li Yuanyu have to leave you with me now of all times? What have I done to deserve this?”

”How is it dangerous? Is it because of those three soldiers who got lost?”

”Uh...” Jake faltered, unable to answer.

”Is it another secret?” Tang Shan rolled his eyes.

”It's not a really a secret, but, uh, I don't know if I can tell you.”

”If you don't tell me, how would I know how dangerous it is out there?”

”That's true. I guess there's no harm in telling you.” After deliberating on it, Jake proceeded to tell him everything. ”After some research into the background of those three soldiers, we found that they'd escaped from the army. We've already informed the military and they'll send people over to deal with the situation. Now they've disappeared... You can tell how serious this is, right? Hey! Are you even listening? Hey!”

Jake cursed and shouted, creating a ruckus behind him, but Tang Shan turned a deaf ear to his actions, moving forward with large steps as he pleased.

”Oi! Don't go towards the city! Oi!!! I told you not to go there!” Jake couldn't control him at all. In the blink of an eye, Tang Shan had already entered the alleys, which were maze-like and difficult to tell apart. Jake hurriedly rushed after him, but by the time he got to the entrance of the alleyway, Tang Shan was nowhere to be seen.

”I'm finished! This is game over for me...” Jake had given up all hope. He'd actually lost Tang Shan.

Tang Shan squatted in the shadows of the alley, watching as Jake rushed past him. He didn't dare to act recklessly and waited quietly for him to move further away.

”Tang Shan! Where are you? Don't try to fool me! Come out! Tang Shan!”

Jake's voice eventually faded into the distance, and Tang Shan decided that it was the best time to leave. Just as he was about to get up, he was stopped.

”Hey!”

From somewhere around him, he heard some rustling. Three men appeared from within the alley, dressed in the green camouflage military uniform. There were two men and a woman, and the person who had stopped him was the black woman.

”You're Tang Shan?”

Tang Shan watched them closely. Seeing that they didn't seem friendly, he did not bother replying.

”You're the manager's partner, aren't you?” the female soldier came closer to him and inquired.

”Get him,” one of the men exclaimed and pushed the woman aside, stepping onto Tang Shan's shoulder and kicking at his head.

”Hey! Didn't we agree not to use violence?” The woman shoved at the man, expressing her discontent.

”Shut up, woman!” His tone was that of disdain, and he even spat at her.

Tang Shan held his shoulder, feeling a little dizzy. The man had not been holding back. Hearing them beginning to argue amongst themselves, he found that it was best if he left as quickly as possible. However, just when he'd managed to crawl a small distance using his arms, a pair of army boots appeared in front of him.

”Where do you think you're going?” The third soldier blocked his way, dissipating any hopes he had of escaping.

Jake's voice had also travelled over. It seemed like he'd heard the argument and was rus.h.i.+ng over.

”Jake, save me! Jake! I'm here!” Tang Shan yelled as loudly as he could. He was left with no other choice and had the feeling that these three soldiers might actually kill him.

”Shut him up, you idiot!”

After some confusion, there was an acute pain from the back of his head. Things went black in front of him, and he immediately lost consciousness.

Tang Shan had disappeared!

Jake nervously brought this news to Li Yuanyu, who appeared to be calm and collected. However, the metal pointer (used to mark out things on the whiteboard) in his grip had been bent out of shape by his bare hands.

The police officers around him looked at each other, faces struck with fear as they wondered if they could leave the meeting room before he blew up.

”Do as I said just now. You're dismissed.”

They quickly dispersed, relieved at having received permission to do so.

Only Jake and Li Yuanyu were left in the meeting room.

Jake stood at his spot, stricken with fear. He knew he'd committed a huge crime and had no idea how Li Yuanyu would punish him.

”Don't get so nervous. You can't be blamed for this. I know Tang Shan's character better than anyone else. It's impossible for you to control him. If he were so easy to control, I wouldn't need to get so worried about him all the time.” Unexpectedly, Li Yuanyu seemed to be very understanding, though he was expressionless when he spoke.

Even though that was what he said, Jake still couldn't completely heave a sigh of relief. After all, that person had disappeared on his watch, right under his nose.

”The patrol team is going to conduct a blanket search. Right now, what we need the most are helpers, so you should join them. Leave me alone for a while.” Li Yuanyu waved Jake away.

Jake glanced at Li Yuanyu once more before he left the room, taking in the signs of fatigue on him. He knew what Li Yuanyu was feeling. With such a problematic and immature lover, it was obvious that it would be troubling.

If Li Yuanyu wasn't so fixated on Tang Shan, his life would be a lot better.

Or really, everyone's lives would be a lot better.

___

Tang Shan was beaten awake and he forced his eyelids open. The person who was. .h.i.tting him was the female soldier, the only mediator in the group of three.

”Hurry up, we need to be on our way.” The woman slapped him again and he felt his face swelling up.

Tang Shan tried to move but realised his hands had been tied behind his back. His mouth was stuffed with a piece of cloth, and was also tied up with rope. The cloth in his mouth had an awful smell, and he suspected the gag was one of the soldier's socks.

”Get up!” the woman pushed him unreservedly.

His legs seemed to be numb and he couldn't gather any strength in them. Tang Shan stood up with some difficulty, and with a moan of pain, took a step, wobbled, and almost fell backwards. Someone caught hold of him.

”Stop wasting your time talking! Hurry up or they're going to catch up to us!” One of the soldiers grabbed Tang Shan and left hurriedly. The direction they took was rather strange, from one alleyway to another.

Tang Shan was unfamiliar with the pathways in the city and had absolutely no sense of direction. All he knew was that his legs were so numb that he couldn't walk, and he was almost being dragged along. The putrid smell was overwhelming him, but he couldn't vomit even if he tried. It was extremely uncomfortable.

While they were moving, he would often hear voices that seemed to be searching for them. From the volume, there were definitely more than one or two people. This caused the soldiers to be extremely anxious, and they hastened the pace.

Tang Shan had been dragged along the whole time and felt like his wrist was going to be broken. Cold sweat kept dripping down his back.

They finally made it to the tunnel that was pitch black inside.

”We should be able to escape from this town if we take the tunnel. This is the only way out of the city.” The female soldier continued on, ”We couldn't tell where the tunnel lead to from the roof of a building, but this is the only way out.”

”It doesn't matter. There's only one way to find out!”

It wasn't as if they had any other option to fall back on.

They walked along the walls of the tunnel, afraid a car would appear. Luckily, there were no rails on the ground, which meant that trains didn't pa.s.s through here.

The further they walked in the dark tunnel, the more afraid they became.

”Why haven't we reached the end of the tunnel yet? There's not even a hint of light!”

”Hey! Don't stop! Keep walking!”

The four of them b.u.mped into one another, and Tang Shan, who had not been steady on his feet, fell to the ground. He was pulled up again.

”What's with you? Don't you even know how to stand properly?”

In the midst of the scolding, someone else shoved him.

”Hey, that's enough. Stop arguing and save your strength! We still don't know how much longer we have to walk till we can get out!” Apparently, the person holding onto him was now the woman. No wonder the strength of the hold on him had lessened quite a bit.

”Who the h.e.l.l suggested we walk into this stupid tunnel!”

”This is the only way out!”

”It better be!”

”Shut up, both of you!” the female soldier yelled. Her voice echoed back, causing everyone to quiet down.

In her emotional state, she grabbed onto Tang Shan tighter, her fingernails digging deeper into his flesh. Tang Shan groaned in pain but could not make any sound.

”The reason why we haven't seen the end despite walking for such a long time is probably because this tunnel isn't going straight. There may be a curve somewhere. Let's keep walking. We'll definitely see the end. It's not the time for internal strife right now.”

The three of them calmed down and set off again. Afraid that they'd lose their sense of direction after being in the dark for an extended period of time, they decided that for every few meters they walked, they would bend a glow stick to illuminate the area.

They had a total of nine glow sticks, with three on each person. When the third glow stick's light faded away, they still hadn't gotten to the curve, and much less the end. The enraged soldier threw the glow stick forward with a fair bit of strength, and the faint green glow stick flew quite a distance before it fell. It rolled forward for a bit of time before stopping, but there didn't seem to be any signs of it reaching the end, as usual.

”What's the furthest you can throw a hand grenade?” One of them asked their partner.

”My record's forty metres.”

”What? So even if we walk another forty metres, we still won't reach the end? d.a.m.n it, we've spent forever in this tunnel and we still don't know how long it'll take for us to get out!”

Right after was another round of cursing that was too fast for Tang Shan to follow.

”Save your strength,” the female soldier sounded tired.

Tang Shan found it incredibly strange. This tunnel was so long to the point that it was disconcerting. It was so dark around them, but there wasn't a single light.  In addition, they'd been here for such a long period of time, yet not even a car pa.s.sed through. They hadn't seen anything alive either, not even a bat or something like that.

He remembered coming here with Jake after waking with no memory. He had a feeling that no cars could come through, and that they should enter it.

Thinking through every detail, he began to feel frightened.

Why did he feel that he had to walk towards a dark tunnel that he could not see the end of? Tang Shan was absorbed in the labyrinth of thoughts in his mind, letting the female soldier push him along.

”That's it! I'm done! I can't go on anymore! This makes no sense!”

Finally, somebody gave up. Tang Shan heard the sound of something metallic and a rock smas.h.i.+ng against each other, and that person seemed to have sat where he was standing.

”Stop joking around! We usually have to march for a lot longer than this!”

”This is even scarier than marching. You don't know your destination and you're just wandering around aimlessly. I can't take it anymore! Go on if you want! I'm turning back!”

”You're impossible! Back in the army, you couldn't endure anything remotely difficult as well. What kind of soldier are you? If you thought you could keep living your spoilt city life in the army, think again!” another man scolded.

”Who are you to scold me? Your abilities are way below mine. I'm more suited to be a soldier!”

”What the army needs is obedient soldiers, not supermen! You don't even have any team spirit at all, and you still think you're suited to be a soldier?! I must have done something terrible in my previous life to have been a.s.signed to the same squad as you!”

”Enough. Stop arguing!” the female soldier stopped them again.

However, n.o.body listened to her this time. The argument continued. In the darkness where n.o.body could see anybody else, they could only rely on the dim lighting from the glow sticks.

The situation was getting more dramatic. One had pounced on another and began a.s.saulting him, and Tang Shan could hear the sound of flesh hitting against each other. The glow stick had fallen onto the floor.

”Stop it, stop it! You two- just stop it!” the female soldier lost her cool and started yelling, but to no avail.

The person who had the advantage got tired and finally stopped. He didn't care whether his opponent was dead or alive and wrung his hands, before walking over to get his glow stick.

In the faint light, Tang Shan could see blood on the man's hands. He walked to Tang Shan and the female soldier, expression cold. ”Don't bother with him. Let's go.”

Tang Shan believed he might have killed the man.