423: Chapter 420: The Little Informant 423: Chapter 420: The Little Informant Although they needed Lucica’s translation to proceed, Cui Bo and Lucas chatted happily.
Though Santo Onos was called a small town, in the eyes of Gao Yang and his companions, it didn’t even measure up to a village.
As far as the eye could see, all the buildings along the street were low-rise bungalows made not of brick, but almost entirely of wood planks, the most common type of housing in South America.
After entering the streets of the town and passing just two doorways, Lucas pointed to a yard without a gate and said, “This is my house.
You can wait inside.
My dad is at home.
As long as you give him some money, you can stay as long as you want.”
Gao Yang glanced into the yard.
It was large, over two hundred square meters, with a wall made of dirt and wood neither high nor imposing.
Standing on his tiptoes, Gao could peer over the wall to see the cluttered yard and the shabby, weather-beaten wooden house with its corrugated iron roof.
The glass in the windows was almost all broken.
Gao Yang stretched out two fingers, pointing towards the house.
Soon after, Jinfang and Sirte entered the yard, cautiously proceeding into the house.
Jinfang quickly reported back, “There’s only one person inside.
It’s safe.”
The sun was climbing higher, and people would soon appear on the streets.
They couldn’t stay on the street indefinitely.
Gao waved his hand and the group all entered the yard.
Once inside, Gao spoke in a grave tone, “Worker Bee and Big Dog stay on guard in the yard; everyone else, go inside the house.”
As they approached the doorway of the house, Lucas suddenly stopped.
He spat out a few loud words, and while Lucica was in the midst of translating, he turned around and ran.
After running a few steps, he stopped again, said a few words to Cui Bo, waved his hand, then ran off toward the gate.
“Lucas says his dad would beat him, and he doesn’t want to go home.
He’s off to play,” Lucica translated.
“He says if we give his dad some money, his dad would be pleased.
Also, he says, ‘See you later, Rabbit.’ If he sees the person we’re looking for come back, he’ll come and let you know.
And don’t forget to get him a gun,” she added.
Gao’s reflex was to have someone stop Lucas but, after hearing Lucica’s translation, he dismissed the idea.
As Cui Bo cheerfully waved goodbye to Lucas, Gao gestured to Glolov to let Lucas leave.
After Lucas had gone, Gao turned and entered the house, which was filthy and disordered, with hardly any furniture and a suffocating stench.
Passing through a small living room, Gao stepped into the bedroom.
It was even dirtier and messier, the floor littered with empty liquor bottles and chewed-up coca leaf residues, all enveloped in an indescribably foul stench that was even more unbearable than the living room’s.
Lee Jinfang pointed his gun at a man lying on the bed—Lucas’s dad.
Although the man had a gun aimed at his head, his expression was blank, and he lay still.
When he saw Gao and the others enter, he just glanced at Gao and offered no reaction.
Covering his nose, Gao said to Lucica behind him, “Tell him we’ll be staying here for a while.
He must not leave or make any noise, or we’ll kill him.”
As Lucica translated Gao’s words to Lucas’s dad, Gao Yang pulled a few bills from his pocket—seven hundred US dollars in total.
Gao took a couple of steps and held the money up to Lucas’s dad.
Gao’s gesture was clear, and a spark flickered in the dull eyes of Lucas’s dad.
He quickly snatched the money Gao offered, and with a swift movement, sat up, then began to speak very fast.
“He says we can stay as long as we want, and he’s going to leave now to buy liquor,” Lucica interpreted.
Immediately after Lucica’s translation, Gao sharply commanded, “Tell him he can’t go anywhere.
He must stay here until we leave and not step out of this room, or he’ll get killed.
Tell him we won’t be here long, so cooperate a little bit.
Also, ask him if he knows where Teodulo and his people are.”
After Lucica finished speaking, Lucas’s dad showed a face full of anger and helplessness.
Yet, eyeing the barrel of the gun, he mumbled a few words then audaciously yawned and lay back down, closing his eyes as if ready to sleep.
The psychological resilience of Lucas’s dad was astonishing.
A group of intruders had burst into his home, pointing a gun at his head, and yet he still managed to sleep.
Even Gao found it hard to believe.
Lucica, with a look of disgust said, “He claims he doesn’t know anything about Teodulo or his people.
And, he won’t kill Lucas, given the money we’ve given.
But we had best leave soon so he can go buy his liquor.”
Shaking his head, Gao waved dismissively and the group retreated back to the living room.
Although Lucas’s living room was filthy and disordered, it was quite spacious, accommodating the entrance of more than a dozen people without feeling too crowded.
After returning to the living room, Gao Yang said in a deep voice, “We can’t go directly to where Teodulo is hiding, but we definitely can’t just take a child’s word for it, we have to do some reconnaissance to confirm whether Teodulo really isn’t in the town or not.”
Cui Bo said, “Our characteristics are too distinctive, we’ll definitely be exposed if we go to investigate.
I think Lucas seems quite honest, maybe we can trust him?”
Gao Yang said with a mixture of annoyance and amusement, “Stop talking nonsense.
Would an honest child dare to make deals with people like us?
I think this kid is as sly as a monkey.
Lucica, do your people have a way to go investigate?”
After whispering with Kamp for a few moments, Kamp simply shook his head repeatedly.
After a little more discussion, Lucica shook her head at Gao Yang and said, “This town is too small, and our features are too distinctive.
The residents will recognize us as outsiders at a glance.
The danger is secondary; I’m more worried about alerting Teodulo’s people.”
Lucica was right; the town was too small.
Foreigners like Lucica’s people and Gao Yang’s group seemed no different when it came to reconnaissance, and Gao Yang didn’t have any solution to that.
On someone else’s turf, every move was hindered.
This was something they couldn’t simply avoid.
After pondering for a moment, Gao Yang also couldn’t think of any good solution, and in the end, he could only say helplessly, “It seems we can only hope for Rabbit’s young friend now.
Let’s hope he won’t let us down.”
Cui Bo chuckled and said, “Don’t worry, you can rely on Lucas.
There definitely won’t be a problem.”
Gao Yang could only shake his head helplessly and said, “Now we can only strengthen our vigilance.
Everyone takes turns resting, and we need to have at least four people on guard duty at all times.
I’ll go up to the roof to see how the view is.
Leave someone in the living room to watch Lucas’s dad, send a few people to check the other rooms, and let’s spread out to rest.
We’ll change shifts in two hours.”
Upon hearing Gao Yang’s orders, everyone went to check the other rooms and then found places to lie down for a nap in their clothes.
Gao Yang, meanwhile, went into the yard and climbed up to the roof using a ladder.
The tin roof wasn’t very sturdy, and Gao Yang, fearing that he would collapse it, crawled around and surveyed the area.
He found that the surrounding houses weren’t much different from Lucas’s house and that he had a far view from atop the roof, with a large open space behind Lucas’s house.
The open space was littered with domestic waste; perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it a dump.
At the end of the dump, there was a river flowing by, with a forest on the opposite bank and no other buildings.
The visibility from the V-shaped gable roof was good.
To avoid being cornered, it was necessary to set up an observation post on the roof.
After checking the area, Gao Yang felt that his attire stood out too much on the roof and needed a disguise.
Besides maintenance, no one would go on the tin gable roof.
Gao Yang lay on the side of the roof near the dump and used some miscellaneous items from the courtyard to make a simple arrangement around his body.
Gao Yang remained on the roof, monitoring the activity on the streets.
As the sun rose higher, the temperature had climbed considerably by 7:30 am, and the garbage dump behind Gao Yang began to emit an even stronger stench as it warmed.
By eight o’clock, Lee Jinfang, Sirte, and Frey came out of the house to relieve Gao Yang, Glolov, and Tommy of guard duty.
Having been tired for a whole day and night, Gao Yang finally had the opportunity to rest properly.
After entering the living room, Gao Yang didn’t bother to take off his backpack.
He scraped a clear spot on the ground with his foot and then lay down on his side, falling asleep within seconds.
“This is Test Tube.
Lucas has returned, a total of six children, all of them.”
In a dangerous situation, even in sleep, one must keep one eye open.
Just as Gao Yang was deep in sleep, he heard Bruce’s voice in his earpiece and almost simultaneously sat up as he opened his eyes.
After Gao Yang sat up, Bruce immediately said through the walkie-talkie, “Lucas has come back, just by himself, the other children stayed in the street.”
As soon as Bruce finished speaking, Gao Yang stood up, flashed to the back of the living room door, and took a quick look outside.
He saw Cui Bo and Lucica keeping watch behind the yard fence, while Lucas had already entered the yard and was talking to Cui Bo.
After squatting down and speaking a few words to Lucas, Cui Bo promptly said over the walkie-talkie, “Lucas says Teodulo’s people have come back, just now.
They look very tired, all went into the house, and probably won’t go out again today.
Besides, Teodulo’s men are scattered around, and the house where Teodulo lives is exactly the one Sirte mentioned.”
Right on time, Lucas had brought back the message, which greatly relieved Gao Yang.
Just as he was about to ask Cui Bo to bring Lucas inside for a more detailed conversation, Lucas turned and ran out of the yard.
After Lucas ran out of the yard, Cui Bo quickly said over the walkie-talkie again, “Lucas has gone to play, no need to mind him.
If there’s any new information, he’ll tell us.” (To be continued.
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