691: Chapter Six Hundred Eighty-Three: Inside 691: Chapter Six Hundred Eighty-Three: Inside The people outside had gone completely mad, but Gao Yang was completely oblivious, as his ears had shifted from being completely deaf to experiencing intense tinnitus.
Gao Yang knew his eardrums must have been severely damaged.
His right ear was somewhat better, like it was stuffed with cotton, and he could hear an extremely faint gunshot when firing, but his left ear couldn’t hear anything at all, not even the slightest sound.
Basically unable to hear anything, Gao Yang couldn’t even use the unreliable method of shooting based on the sound of footsteps to determine positions.
After spraying two magazines of bullets, Gao Yang felt he couldn’t waste ammunition like this.
With the smoke growing thicker, anyone coming up with a night vision device could easily shoot him in the head.
Having no choice, he picked up the remaining submachine gun magazine, crawled back two steps, closed the door that was open, grabbed another magazine from another corpse, and continued crawling backward until he reached Grand Ivan’s bedside.
Gao Yang’s lower abdomen still hurt intensely after taking a full-force knee strike, and moving was extremely strenuous.
He dared not make any tactical movements and could only shuffle slowly.
He had no choice but to fall back inside for defense.
The safest spots were usually corners and behind doors, but after thinking, he chose to stay beside Grand Ivan’s hospital bed.
The hospital bed faced the door, and staying next to it wasn’t the safest spot.
Gao Yang didn’t know the situation outside.
If Ivan’s attack was swift enough and the CIA had decided to eliminate Grand Ivan as well, anyone bursting through the door would likely kill both him and Grand Ivan in a hail of bullets.
However, if the CIA hadn’t yet decided to kill Grand Ivan immediately or if the attackers hadn’t received orders to kill Grand Ivan, they would likely hesitate when shooting.
Gao Yang was using Grand Ivan as his cover.
If Grand Ivan was to be executed, he would die with him.
However, if the CIA wasn’t ready to kill Grand Ivan, that could buy him some precious time—even if it only delayed the attackers by half a second or even just a tenth of a second, it would be to Gao Yang’s advantage.
In such close-quarters combat, time couldn’t be counted in seconds anymore.
A second was enough for a lot to happen.
After closing the door, although smoke could drift into the room through the cracks, it wasn’t substantial.
Gao Yang finally wasn’t blind anymore, but he had absolutely no room to retreat.
To hold the door was to win, to lose the door was to die.
Gao Yang felt his body growing weaker, and his left side was soaked with blood, making him feel wet and sticky, which was very uncomfortable.
He touched his neck and found wounds at both ends, but neither was deep.
There were many blood vessels in the neck, and Gao Yang didn’t know which blood vessel he had damaged, but he knew it definitely wasn’t a major artery like the carotid.
If a major artery had been severed, the blood would’ve sprayed out like a fountain, and he would’ve died within two minutes.
Though the injured vessel wasn’t a major artery, it must not have been very small either, judged by the amount of blood lost.
Gao Yang was very anxious but helpless.
He couldn’t even perform basic first aid on himself.
Not only did he lack any means to stop the bleeding, even if he did, he had no time to attend to it.
The more urgent the situation, the calmer one must be.
Gao Yang held his gun, continuously aiming at the door with very steady hands.
Gao Yang firmly believed someone would come to rescue him.
As long as he could hold on, he would be saved, but if he panicked and failed to kill an attacking enemy with a single bullet, his death was certain.
At this moment, it was crucial to neutralize an enemy with each bullet as the only way to survive.
Gao Yang found it difficult to stand, so he sat on the floor, leaning against the right side of the bed.
Sitting on the floor virtually eliminated any possibility of movement, but Gao Yang didn’t need to move anymore.
In a room gunfight against a numerically superior enemy, there was neither the room nor the time to dodge; the first shot killing the enemy was the only correct strategy.
Gao Yang was completely focused on the door when he suddenly noticed out of the corner of his eye that the white blanket on the bed moved.
Under the blanket was Grand Ivan; when the blanket moved, it was Grand Ivan moving.
After Gao Yang sat down, his head was about the same level as Grand Ivan, who was lying down.
He slightly turned his head to glance and found that Grand Ivan had opened his eyes and was looking at him.
“Who are you?
Are you here to rescue me?”
Grand Ivan’s mouth opened and closed, and Gao Yang immediately turned his head back and shouted, “Lie still and don’t talk, don’t move.
I’m deaf from an explosion; I can’t hear you.
Stay put and don’t interfere.”
After hearing Gao Yang’s words, Grand Ivan obediently lay back down motionless; just looking around at the corpses littering the room, he understood that the man sitting by his bed had come to rescue him.
Waking up to such a scene was horrifying, yet Grand Ivan was truly relieved.
However, Grand Ivan was very curious about the identity of this white-haired old man sitting beside him, with his silvery hair and full of wrinkles.
Grand Ivan tried to remember, then suddenly felt that he had seen this man before.
As a heart patient, Grand Ivan quickly remembered that this was none other than Professor Barnard, whom he had seen several times at the Cape Town University Affiliated Hospital.
Grand Ivan was utterly astonished; just then, the door was suddenly kicked open.
Two men wielding guns burst in, and before Grand Ivan could comprehend what was happening, Professor Barnard fired two shots, and the two intruders spun around and fell to the ground.
The two men had fired as soon as they entered the door; they did not intend to leave Grand Ivan alive.
Rather than saying they wanted to kill Gao Yang, it would be more accurate to say they wanted Grand Ivan dead.
Although Gao Yang was not slow to react, one of them still managed to fire at least three bullets.
However, Grand Ivan only felt a pain in his body, and the two attackers fell to the ground.
Only when both intruders had fallen did Grand Ivan realize what had happened; he stared in shock, then saw Professor Barnard crawling toward the door.
The two intruders were wearing night vision devices and hats with face shields.
Nevertheless, one was dressed in a suit and the other was in black tactical gear; each had a bullet hole right between their eyebrows.
Gao Yang was nearly fainting, but seeing one of the attackers in a suit made him happy; if there had been no one else, it would have definitely been a special assault team dressed in tactical gear, not someone in a suit.
After waiting and seeing no one else entering, Gao Yang glanced aside but saw Grand Ivan grimacing in pain.
Gao Yang knew Grand Ivan must have been shot.
The man in tactical gear was clearly aiming at Grand Ivan on the bed; otherwise, it would have been difficult to say how things might have turned out, but he had no time to check Grand Ivan’s injuries.
Crawling to the body next to him, Gao Yang first grabbed a night vision device and strapped it to his own head.
Then he took down a face shield, but thinking about the time it would take to put it on, he ultimately didn’t wear it.
Scanning the body in tactical gear, he saw no grenades, which answered a question Gao Yang had; why hadn’t they thrown grenades first when they breached?
They had run out.
Now with night vision, he could continue to hold the corridor.
Gao Yang thought for a moment, didn’t swap his submachine gun for an M4 rifle from the bodies, and lay by the door, quickly peeking out.
Seeing no one in the hallway, Gao Yang couldn’t help but smile, feeling that his life was likely spared.
Gao Yang turned to look at Grand Ivan.
Because he was lying low, he couldn’t see Grand Ivan’s condition on the bed.
So he shouted, “How are you?”
Grand Ivan lying down, looked at his left arm; a bullet had passed through it, another had pierced a hole in the shirt at his armpit, and a cut had been made on the left side of his chest, but none of the injuries were serious.
Grand Ivan took a deep breath, let out a nervous laugh, and shouted loudly, “I’m fine, I won’t die.”
After saying this, Grand Ivan remembered that Professor Barnard had said he was deaf, so he raised his right arm and made an OK gesture.(To be continued.
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