227: Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-Five: Alone Awake 227: Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-Five: Alone Awake Groggy and disoriented, Gao Yang woke up with a severe headache and a strong, fishy stench in his nostrils.
It was only after a long while of trying to open his eyes that he realized they were actually open; he couldn’t see a thing simply because he was in complete darkness.
Instinctively, Gao Yang tried to feel his head, only to discover when he attempted to move his hands that they were firmly bound behind his back.
Only then did Gao Yang realize that he was in a terrible predicament, a very terrible one indeed.
Gao Yang struggled to recall what had happened but his mind was muddled, as if filled with mush, and he couldn’t remember anything.
Furthermore, his head was throbbing painfully.
After a while, as if suddenly jolted by electricity, Gao Yang abruptly remembered why he had ended up in this situation.
There was no doubt his food had been drugged.
Right now, Gao Yang wasn’t interested in finding out who had done it or why.
All he wanted to do was figure out where he was and whether the others were safe.
He could hear the thumping of a diesel engine and feel his body jostle occasionally, all of which suggested to Gao Yang that he had been taken off the Cloldylin.
Coupled with the fishy smell in his nose, it was highly likely that he was on a fishing boat.
Both Gao Yang’s hands and feet were bound, but his mouth wasn’t gagged.
He tried to move, changing from lying on his side to lying prone on the ground.
As he flipped over, he felt himself press against someone else, which made him realize he wasn’t the only one being held captive.
Gao Yang kicked at the person he had bumped into with his bound feet, but there was no response.
He used his head to nudge around and explore the person next to him until he found their head.
After pressing his ear close and hearing steady breathing, Gao Yang finally let out a sigh of relief—at least he could be sure that the rest were still alive.
Gao Yang didn’t know how long he had been unconscious, but he figured it couldn’t have been too long.
He remembered Bruce injecting something into his leg when everyone started to collapse.
It seemed Bruce’s injection had worked, allowing him to wake up before the others.
Gao Yang tried to fiercely kick the person lying next to him, but it was no use.
No matter how hard he kicked, the person beside him didn’t react at all.
Gao Yang then tried to maneuver his bound hands to the front, but he realized reality wasn’t like in the movies; real kidnappers don’t tie knots just so you can wriggle out.
He couldn’t get his hands to the front at all.
Out of options, Gao Yang attempted to break the rope binding him but, despite using all his strength, he couldn’t break the ropes around his wrists.
By feel of it, these were synthetic mooring lines, the kind unlikely to be broken by human strength.
Moreover, seafarers were adept at tying knots.
There were probably dozens of ways they made their knots, and it was probably more realistic to hope to abrade through the rope than to loosen the knots.
Gao Yang managed to roll over again and sat up with effort; then, he tried to bite at the rope tied on his legs.
But the rope went from his ankles to his knees, and with Gao Yang’s flexibility, he couldn’t reach it with his mouth to bite through.
The rope was out of reach, and by feeling around, he knew that his tactical vest was gone.
There was no point in thinking about weapons—they would have definitely been looted.
With everyone else unconscious, Gao Yang truly didn’t know how he could escape.
Forcing himself to stay calm, Gao Yang began desperately thinking about possible ways to free himself.
That’s when he started to envy Li Jinfang’s habit.
Li Jinfang always kept a hidden boot knife tucked at the top of his combat boot, and with his hands bound as they were, Gao Yang figured he could reach his calf.
Gao Yang hadn’t been frustrated for long when he suddenly felt that Li Jinfang must be here too.
Although he had no idea where exactly, it was better to try to find Li Jinfang than to sit idly by and wait for death.
Even though he couldn’t see anything, Gao Yang had a way to identify Li Jinfang in the dark—by his hair.
Li Jinfang had a very close-cropped haircut, just short stubble, while everyone else’s hair was longer and easy to distinguish.
Gao Yang began to crawl on the ground, feeling around, and whenever he encountered someone, he would turn his body so he could feel for their head with his bound hands.
When Gao Yang reached the fourth person, he finally felt a head with prickly hair.
Praying that the knife in Li Jinfang’s boot had not been removed, Gao Yang moved down to Li Jinfang’s feet, felt around the inside of the left leg, and after touching something hard against the calf, he nearly cheered with excitement.
With his hands taped together, Gao Yang managed to pull out Li Jinfang’s boot knife after much difficulty.
Suppressing his excitement, he reversed the knife and, using his fingers, began to slowly saw at the ropes binding his wrists.
After a few slices, he felt his wrists loosen.
With a tug, the ropes that had bound him fell to the ground.
Now that his hands were free, the rest was easy.
He cut the ropes on his legs and immediately set about severing the ropes on everyone he could reach.
However, Gao Yang only cut the ropes without actually removing them, leaving them to appear as if they were still bound.
Gao Yang counted seven people locked up with him, figuring the extra one must be Captain Fernando.
And from feeling their combat boots, all six of his companions were there, a discovery that brought him considerable relief.
What came next was their escape, but as Gao Yang felt around the walls, he found no door handles or anything of the sort.
Moreover, the place where they were being held was devoid of obstacles, leaving the space feeling empty.
He figured that the place where they were confined was either the fish hold or a space specifically cleared out to hold people.
All he could hear was the puttering of the diesel engine, and no other sounds were audible.
Yet, as Gao Yang patiently searched for a door, he suddenly heard people talking.
The voices were speaking in Somali, a language Gao Yang didn’t understand at all.
He stopped all his movements and carefully tried to discern the direction of the voices.
There seemed to be quite a few people conversing, several of them talking at once and making quite a ruckus.
It sounded as though they were just beyond the wall on the other side.
Gao Yang tiptoed stealthily, doing his utmost not to make a noise, and after moving to the other side, he pressed himself against the wall.
As Gao Yang strained to listen, he suddenly heard the crackle of a radio, followed by a voice accompanied by more crackling.
“Is everything taken care of?”
The voice coming through the radio was speaking English.
Although it was accompanied by severe background noise, Gao Yang immediately recognized the speaker as the first mate.
The person on the other side of the wall responded in English, “Taken care of what?”
“Damn it, we had an agreement.
Take care of my problem!
Don’t play dumb with me; I don’t want to spell it out too clearly—this is a radio, and I don’t want our conversation overheard.”
“No one should be listening in on our frequency.”
“Regardless, don’t leave me hanging.
I’ve been exposed, and you can’t let them leave.”
“We want money, not lives, mate.
Ransom is one thing, but murder is another.
My boss has told me, if it’s not necessary, don’t kill.
He doesn’t want the military dropping bombs on our camp.
If you want to resolve your own issue, fine.
Once my boss gets the ransom, you can do it yourself, or you convince my boss to tell me.
If he agrees to your request, I’ll kill them.”
“Don’t discuss these things over the radio!
Damn it, we didn’t say anything about killing, but we had an agreement, and your boss needs to ensure I’m not implicated.
If those people get away, then I’m done!
Understand?
I’m done!
Is this how you treat your partners?”
After a moment of silence, the person outside the cell sighed and said, “Alright, I’ll have to call my boss and see what he wants.”
After waiting a while, the English-speaking person began to mutter on the phone in Somali.
It wasn’t long before he started speaking in English again, “As you wish, they will be fed to the sharks.”
Gao Yang shuddered inside, knowing that the people outside were about to take action.
Following a round of shouting in Somali, the sound of chains clinking sounded not far from Gao Yang.
Unable to wait any longer, Gao Yang immediately moved to the source of the sound, pressed against the wall, and gripped a short knife in his hand.
The boot knife Li Jinfang had given him was only twenty-two centimeters long.
Using such a small knife against an unknown number of enemies outside the door, armed with unknown weapons, seemed like a fool’s errand, but Gao Yang had no other choice.
At this point, he was just grateful he hadn’t been thrown overboard while unconscious and that he even had a chance to resist—a stroke of enormous luck.
After waiting for the sound of the chains to pass, a crack suddenly appeared in the wall, and a sliver of light finally penetrated the pitch-dark cell.
The light was faint, but Gao Yang squinted tightly, staring fixedly at the glimmer through the door gap so his eyes, adjusted to the dark, could adapt to the light as soon as possible.
The gap was right in front of Gao Yang, and it was quickly pushed completely open.
Gao Yang then pressed his body against the wall, waiting for someone to push the door open and enter the cell.
However, he didn’t act hastily; just as he needed to adapt to the light, the person who had just entered from the light also needed a moment to adjust to the darkness.
The one who entered the cell was a black man; he was facing away from Gao, completely unaware of the deadly threat behind him.
Gao saw that the man had a pistol tucked into the back of his waist.
Judging from the shape of the handle, it appeared to be a Glock, though he couldn’t tell the specific model.
It was night, and although the ship’s lights shone into the cell, it remained dimly lit.
The enemy didn’t immediately detect Gao, nor did he notice the ropes cut on the floor.
Gao transferred the knife to his left hand and then, in a swift motion, slit the throat of the pirate in front of him while reaching forward with his right hand to pull the Glock from the pirate’s waist.