178: Chapter 177: Capture the King First to Capture the Thieves 178: Chapter 177: Capture the King First to Capture the Thieves Li Jinfang was much slower than usual to fire his gun.
It wasn’t until after Gao Yang had fallen that he finally took his shots.
Starting with a burst, he killed the man who had taken down Gao Yang, then two consecutive bursts laid the remaining two pistol-wielding men dead on the ground.
However, Li Jinfang didn’t stop there.
There were still a few unarmed men in the room, but Li Jinfang shot them one by one.
The shock grenade that Frey threw into the room didn’t achieve its full effect.
It was clear that most of the occupants had not been severely affected, due to several factors.
One key factor was the room’s size, and another was that the people inside knew how to minimize the impact of the shock grenade.
Amid the gunfire from Gao Yang and Li Jinfang, women’s screams filled the room, with at least a dozen half-naked women present.
After all the men in the room had fallen, only a group of screaming women remained.
Li Jinfang didn’t continue firing but instead, unsteady on his feet, he turned to Gao Yang and asked, “How are you holding up?”
Gao Yang first struggled to sit up from the ground, then clenched the hand Li Jinfang extended to him and tried to stand.
Yet when Gao Yang stood up and saw Li Jinfang’s face, he got quite the fright.
During the operation, Gao Yang and his team had been wearing black balaclavas similar to those worn by special forces in training.
But now, the black mask on Li Jinfang’s face had turned a dark red and right above Li Jinfang’s forehead was a small bullet hole.
Blood was continuously streaming from beneath Li Jinfang’s helmet and no wonder Li Jinfang’s response was much slower; he had been shot in the head and was now so shaky on his feet that he could only lean against the door frame to stay upright.
Gao Yang didn’t dare to immediately check Li Jinfang’s injury and instead shouted, “Little Fly, switch positions, Big Dog, hold your own!”
Frey, clutching a submachine gun, quickly ran into the room to check for any remaining threats, while Gao Yang followed him in.
But as he stepped forward, he found he couldn’t put any strength into his left leg, which also felt wet.
Looking down, Gao Yang saw a small hole in the outer side of his left thigh, and the blood had completely soaked his trousers.
It didn’t hurt too much if he didn’t move, but the pain was excruciating whenever he did.
Fortunately, he could still manage to keep moving.
After cursing under his breath, Gao Yang dragged his injured leg into the room.
He aimed his gun at the still-screaming women and bellowed, “Shut up if you don’t want to die!”
Gao Yang’s shouting had no effect as the women kept screaming.
After Frey had swept the room without finding any men who were still a threat, on hearing Gao Yang’s shout, he raised his gun and fired a burst of bullets over the women’s heads, and they immediately fell silent.
Bodies lay in disarray across the room—nine in total.
Most were dressed like typical gang members from Mexico, but two of the bodies were white men in suits, carrying M4 rifles instead of pistols.
The bullets that had hit Gao Yang and Li Jinfang had been fired from these two men’s guns.
Gao Yang felt that these two men in black suits didn’t fit the environment and didn’t seem like gang members—they looked more like the bodyguards that usually followed Morgan.
Gao Yang sensed something was off but didn’t spot any other suspicious individuals.
Gao Yang just wanted the women to be quiet; he hadn’t thought about what to do next, whether to kill them all or leave them alone.
These were things Gao Yang hadn’t yet considered.
He just wanted to make sure the room was safe so he could quickly check on Li Jinfang’s condition.
Watching Li Jinfang sway, Gao Yang was terrified, absolutely petrified.
He dreaded finding Li Jinfang’s brain matter exposed after lifting the helmet because the position of the bullet hole suggested there was little chance Li Jinfang had escaped unharmed.
It was as if Gao Yang could no longer feel the pain from his wound.
He hopped and stumbled over to Li Jinfang and then lifted his helmet.
Starting from the hairline on Li Jinfang’s forehead, there was a blood groove plowed by the bullet, extending to the highest point of the crown of the head.
The groove dug by the bullet was full of blood, making it impossible to see how deep it was or whether the brain matter was exposed after breaching the skull.
Gao Yang held Li Jinfang’s head steady, making him look down.
The blood flowed out of the groove, but it was still hard to see inside the wound.
Gao Yang immediately probed the injury with his gloved finger, starting from the groove and feeling relief when he touched something hard—it seemed the bone hadn’t been broken enough to reveal the soft brain tissue.
Aside from being able to feel the unbroken bone, Gao Yang’s glove also wiped away some of the blood, revealing the stark white of the skull.
Although the blood quickly flowed again, Gao Yang could finally confirm that Li Jinfang’s skull had not been shattered.
Now somewhat relieved, Gao Yang casually put the helmet back on Li Jinfang’s head and slapped the top of it, laughing, “You’ve got a thick skull!
You won’t die.
Try moving half a centimeter lower next time, and I’d be the one arranging your funeral!”
Feeling considerably happier, Gao Yang immediately addressed the room full of half-naked women, “Which of you has seen a chubby young white guy?
Tell me, and you won’t have to die.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t mind taking you all down!”
In fact, Gao Yang had little hope of obtaining any effective information from these women’s mouths, but he noticed that over half of them had unwittingly cast their gazes simultaneously toward the largest sofa.
Gao Yang also directed his attention to the luxurious genuine leather sofa.
After making a gesture to Frey, both of them became more alert and slowly circled to the back of the sofa.
There was a very long zipper on the back of the sofa, which was unusual.
Gao Yang, aiming at the top of the sofa’s backrest, fired a shot and shouted loudly, “Either you crawl out on your own, or I’ll toss a grenade in there.
It’s your choice.”
Immediately, muffled cries came from inside the sofa.
“No, please, don’t, I’m coming out, don’t shoot, we can talk this over!”
The zipper was pulled open from the inside, first revealing a tentative head peeking out.
After assessing Gao Yang and Frey, the face displayed resignation as the zipper was fully undone, and then the person crawled out from the sofa.
The man who emerged was a thin, slightly aged middle-aged man, who looked about fifty.
Even with his hands raised and the barrel of Gao Yang’s shotgun pressed against his forehead, his expression did not seem particularly panicked, retaining at least a veneer of composure.
Looking at the middle-aged man’s face, Gao Yang felt he had seen it somewhere before, and then quickly remembered.
Simon had shown him this man’s photo, Torrey Candimon, the number one person of the Candimon family.
Gao Yang became so excited that his hands trembled.
He pushed the gun forward and said shakily, “Where’s Bob?
Tell me, and I’ll let you go.”
Torrey Candimon was very disheartened.
After giving Gao Yang a look, he said with reluctant acceptance, “Even if I tell you, you won’t let me go, so why should I tell you?”
Gao Yang quickly thought through what to say next.
With an extremely impatient tone, he said, “Dammit, if you know where that damned Bob is, you’d better talk fast.
I just want to get the guy and collect the reward.
I’m asking you one more time, where is a guy named Bob!”
Hearing the intense bitterness in Gao Yang’s voice, Torrey Candimon responded in surprise, “You don’t know who I am?
And are you mercenaries?
Hey, don’t get upset; I know where Bob is.
Maybe we should have a chat.”
“F**k, I don’t care who you are.
If you’re in the way of my money, I’ll send you to hell.
Speak up.
Where’s that damned Bob!”
“On the second floor, second floor, pal.
Listen to me, if you’re here for the bounty, then how about we talk?
I can offer you more money!”
Gao Yang, with his gun still pressed against Torrey Candimon, said sternly, “Lead us to him, and if you’re lying, you know what happens to you.”
Torrey Candimon immediately shook his head and said, “No, no, I don’t want to die.
Let’s say, the person you want to save is guarded by two gunmen.
If they realize someone is trying to rescue him, they’ll shoot to kill on sight.
And I bet your employer hasn’t hired you to bring back a dead body, right?
Buddy, I have a proposal: you let me go, and I’ll give you a hefty sum of money, twice as much as what your current employer is offering—no, five times!
I’ll give you five times the money!”
Gao Yang immediately extended his hand and demanded, “Fifty million, in cash, since you’re the one who said five times.”
Torrey Candimon, visibly irritated, retorted, “Are you joking?
Who carries fifty million in cash on them?”
Gao Yang shook his head and replied, “No cash, then it seems I’ll have to stick to professional ethics.
Fine, you damned bastard, take me to get Bob out, then give me a load of money to take with me, and I’ll let you go.”
Torrey Candimon frowned and suggested, “I can give you more money, just give me time.
So, I have a better proposal: you don’t try to take the guy named Bob, and I give you fifty million US dollars, how about that?”
Gao Yang smiled slightly at Torrey Candimon, then he drew a pistol from his holster, aimed at Torrey’s thigh, and before Torrey’s eyes widened in horror, he fired a shot into his thigh.
After Torrey Candimon fell to the floor, screaming and clutching his leg, Gao Yang said angrily, “You talk too much, and you shouldn’t have treated me like a fool.
That pisses me off.
So I had to put a hole in your leg to wake you up, to make sure you understood I was serious about everything I said.
If it hurt, sorry, that was intentional.
Now let me repeat for the last time: order your men to cease fire, allow our people outside to come in, and then lead me to that Bob worth ten million dollars and let us take him.
Mind you, Bob must be alive.
If you fail to meet even one of these conditions, the next shot will be in your head.”
(To be continued.
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