Chapter 38: Steeling the heart (1/2)

Chapter 38: Steeling the heart

“What a pity!”

Wang Chao closed his eyes and let out a long breath of air as if trying to expel all of the air from his stomach. After the gunfire had stopped, a final bang could be heard as the man fell down to the floor. His hands were only a few inches away from Zhu Jia’s toes, but those few inches may as well have been an entire world apart since he was completely powerless now.

Zhu Jia’s face was pale and her chest continued to heave up and down violently. It took several moments in order for her to be calm once more. Taking a few steps back, she forced out a smile as she muttered a few words out loud, “One has to study marksmanship for a long time in order to have an accurate shot. Not only that, but one has to be steady in both hand and emotions. This way a shot will be guaranteed; if it weren’t for me practicing how to shoot, then I would have missed. I didn’t think that a martial artist would be so amazing though, it took so many bullets and yet he was able to get close enough.”

Wang Chao had only said a single phrase and nothing more. Slowly opening his eyes, he looked at the man on the ground only to see his eyes still wide open despite his death.

Letting out a sigh in admiration, Wang Chao stepped down to the body and covered his eyes. At the same time, he began to quell his own heart.

Wang Chao’s phrase of “What a pity!” had two meanings. The first had been regarding the man’s excellent martial arts. If this was an official match, then he wouldn’t have been an opponent for him. If the man were to calm himself down, in another ten minutes of fighting, Wang Chao’s inner Qi would have burst out from his pores from the fight then.

Although Zhu Jia had saved him this time, the man was still in the end an expert. After two years of practicing and experiencing many fights, Wang Chao had never been so excited as today. Although it was a bit scary, it was also satisfying; but with the man dying by gunfire, Wang Chao felt dispirited.

The other reason was because of the two suitcases full of money. Back when Zhu Jia wasn’t here, Wang Chao was thinking of ways to appropriate the money for himself. But now that she was here, he couldn’t do such a thing.

A sudden but malicious thought popped up in Wang Chao’s mind to silence her to get the money. But his thoughts were not the same as reality. If the officers came by later and he did anything that Zhu Jia would report, then he would take up a heavy loss.

And it was especially since this gunfight, Wang Chao didn’t wish to kill anyone for money.

Because of that instant, his heart rate had went up, but he used the opportunity to close the dead man’s eyes as a way to calm himself down.

It was at this moment that Zhu Jia had noticed the inner contents of the two suitcases and was unable to contain her shock. While Wang Chao didn’t know the conversion rate, but she knew it well. Each 500 Euro bill could be equated to around 4000 or 5000 RMB. So that meant within the two suitcases, an innumerable sum of wealth could be had.

“To treat money as if it was dirt, I’ve always thought people like that existed only in books or TV. Who would have thought that there truly existed such a person?!”

While Zhu Jia had seen plenty of money before, she had been excited by the amount of Euros on the ground. But seeing how Wang Chao hadn’t even given a glance at the money and instead and instead closed the eyes of the dead man, her opinion of Wang Chao couldn’t help but go up several steps.

But unbeknownst to her, not only did Wang Chao desperately want the Euros, but his movement just now was an attempt to quell his emotions and evil thoughts.

“Cough cough…okay, no need for regret.” Zhu Jia immediately put on a calm look. Realizing her voice was off-key, she started to cough to clear up her throat. “This is my first time using a gun on a person, in the past, I’ve always shot at targets. The fight you and he were having, I saw it all. Ai! For an expert like this to go down by gunfire, even I’m unhappy so I understand your feelings.

Wang Chao’s sigh had been full of regret and lament. As a news reporter, Zhu Jia had talked to many people before and had instantly realized what Wang Chao was feeling.

After calming himself, Wang Chao’s heart began to liven up a bit. But the suitcases of Euros was something he hadn’t even spared a glance at at all.

“An expert of Chinese boxing, whether good or bad, is a sorrowful affair when they die by gunfire. In the past, Bagua master Cheng Tinghua met his end like this, and so did Xingyi master Xue Dian.” Wang Chao’s voice was filled with regret. This was no act for Zhu Jia to see, this was Wang Chao’s true feelings in regard to the powerful threat that was guns.

Bagua master Cheng Tinghua had died during the Eight-Nation Alliance invasion during the Boxer Rebellion, but he was still a true hero.

Xingyi master Xue Dian was Shang Yunxiang’s disciple and was a master of Guoshu during the Republic of China. His martial arts had attained a realm of transformation. With his book of theory, he had developed and promoted Guoshu. It was unfortunate that when the Communist won in 1949, he had been executed by firing squad.