800: Chapter 791: The Sound of Nature 800: Chapter 791: The Sound of Nature Gao Yang already had some diamonds on him, and even the smallest diamond given by the laborers was larger than those set in the eyes of the statue.
Gao Yang felt that taking the smaller diamonds was pointless, and he would rather not take them at all.
He had originally planned not to look at the diamonds again before leaving the cave, but after jumping down from the statue, Gao Yang couldn’t resist anymore.
He reached into his pocket and felt the largest diamond.
When he held the diamond up to his eyes, Gao Yang felt a choking sensation.
The lighting might have distorted the colors of the diamond; he couldn’t clearly tell whether it was pink or rose red.
However, Gao Yang knew he held in his hands the greatest wealth he had ever seen, a wealth he had never even imagined before.
Gao Yang compared the diamond to his thumb, and the red diamond was a fairly regular cylindrical shape.
It was thicker than his thumb, although slightly shorter.
Gao Yang wasn’t a greedy person, nor did he have any special affection for gems, but in front of a brilliantly shining diamond, he was enthralled like never before.
After swallowing hard, Gao Yang quickly returned the diamond to his pocket, daring not to look at it again.
The largest rough diamond in the world was the Cullinan, found in South Africa, weighing in at 3106 carats.
The largest stone cut from it, called the Star of Africa, weighed 530 carats and was set into the scepter of the King of the United Kingdom.
But that was a colorless diamond of the highest grade.
Gao Yang didn’t know how big the largest colored diamond was, but he knew he had made a fortune.
After swallowing again, he forced himself to calm down, repeatedly telling himself that no matter how valuable the object, if he died in this cave, it would just be a worthless stone.
Only if he lived and took the diamond out would it truly be a diamond.
With many diamonds in his pocket, Gao Yang struggled to remain calm, yet he started to feel anxious.
After carefully zipping up his pocket, he looked at the night vision device several dozen meters away and began to feel conflicted.
When he parted from Bantuna and Jansen, Gao Yang had told them that if he hadn’t contacted them since his departure, to have Catherine call Yelena, and then everyone in the Satan Mercenary Corps would know something had happened to him.
Of course, if he didn’t return, it would be best for Bantuna and Jansen to come back and look for him.
If he hadn’t considered Bantuna and Jansen as his most practical backup, why would Gao Yang have given them his two hundred thousand US dollars?
So, Gao Yang actually had reinforcements, only their arrival might take a long time.
Gao Yang started to weigh the pros and cons of taking risks and being cautious.
Taking a risk, needless to say, meant successfully getting the night vision device and forcibly fighting his way out, but that could also possibly fail; it was by no means a certainty.
Being cautious meant waiting for the enemy to leave or waiting for reinforcements to arrive.
With Bantuna’s skills, following the tracks to find him should be no problem, but it certainly would take a long time.
Gao Yang had a jug of water and a few packs of compressed biscuits.
If he relied on these, he had enough food, but water was a problem.
Gao Yang felt that it might last him at most seven days, and if it took too long, he might not die of thirst, but he would most likely go insane.
If he hadn’t gotten his hands on the diamonds, Gao Yang’s likelier choice would have been to take the risk.
However, after putting the diamonds into his pocket, he started to feel anxious.
After hesitating for a few minutes, Gao Yang gritted his teeth and decided to take the risk.
Retrieving the night vision device was very dangerous; he might be injured or even die, but Gao Yang was worried that he might not have such a good opportunity again.
Sometimes, once a lifesaving chance is lost, it becomes hard to encounter another.
Moreover, the longer he stayed in the cave, the more likely he would lose the courage to fight desperately.
Having made up his mind, Gao Yang turned off his headlamp, took down the camouflage he hadn’t had time to remove, jumped around barefoot on the ground to get a feel, and took a couple of quick silent steps to ensure he wouldn’t make any noise.
Then, with one hand holding the infrared camera that only had one battery bar left, and the other holding a gun, he watched the camera’s screen and slowly walked toward the body with the night vision device.
The body still had warmth, and Gao Yang could easily tell where his target was.
Forty meters seemed like a short distance, just a few steps away, but in the darkness, and with the need to remain silent, forty meters also required some time.
Gao Yang slowly walked forward, and when he had advanced ten meters, he spotted a red dot on the infrared camera.
The safe distance was only ten meters, and moving forward would expose him to enemy fire.
Moreover, Gao Yang didn’t know if the red dot was from someone holding the night vision device, watching out for him to burst out.
Whether to dash forward and grab the night vision device and run, to approach slowly, or to retreat—it was almost an instant decision for Gao Yang.
Gao Yang decided to retreat, for one reason only: his opponent had an Old Fox.
The Tuareg elder was not only not foolish but was also extremely cunning and shrewd.
Gao Yang would never allow the enemy to pick up a night vision device when he knew there was one close to the enemy.
For him, using the night vision device as bait was a strategy he could not abandon, and he believed the Old Fox wouldn’t miss this opportunity either.
If he dared to run over, he would undoubtedly be met with a barrage of gunfire.
Choosing to brazenly make a run for it, which would involve running thirty meters to pick up the night vision device and then at least forty meters more to reach safety, was not bravery but foolishness.
Gao Yang made a quick decision and immediately started retreating quickly backward.
As he retreated, someone shouted, and the red dot suddenly transformed into a human figure.
Gao Yang fired first.
With one hand controlling the gun, he had no idea where the bullets flew, but he managed to successfully deter the enemy’s attempt to charge out and spray bullets at him.
After retreating into the cave, Gao Yang quickly moved to the side of the entrance, caught his breath for a few moments, and extended the camera out to check that the enemy hadn’t pursued him, before he could relax.
Although somewhat regretful, Gao Yang was not too annoyed.
Given the situation, he could only wait for another opportunity.
Just as Gao Yang planned to pull back the camera and hide behind the statue again, intense gunshots sounded once more.
Gao Yang carefully looked at the camera screen but did not see anyone charging out to spray bullets at him.
While confused, Gao Yang realized the gunshots sounded different and were coming from a farther distance.
Gao Yang heard someone shouting, and then the gunfire intensified.
This time, Gao Yang confirmed that the people who were blocking him had opened fire.
Could it be an enemy’s trap?
It was Gao Yang’s first instinctive reaction, but after a brief wait, during a brief lull in the fierce gunshots, Gao Yang heard an incomplete shout, and then he immediately rushed out.
“White Child, you…”
He sprinted to the body, felt the dead man’s head but found no night vision device.
Without any hesitation, Gao Yang turned on his headlamp and then discovered that the rifle in the corpse’s hand was fitted with a night vision device, not the helmet-mounted type he had expected.
Tossing aside his own rifle and the camera, Gao Yang took the rifle with the night vision device from the corpse’s hand, then pulled a magazine from the ammo pouch on the corpse’s chest and charged back out again.
Gao Yang’s action of running out and switching weapons took less than ten seconds.
Before dropping the camera, he had already spotted seven or eight people firing fiercely behind him.
Gao Yang took a few steps and lifted his rifle, aiming at a person and fired a bullet.
After firing the shot, Gao Yang understood why an enemy equipped with a night vision scope didn’t perform a precise shot while he was asleep.
The scope was misaligned; hence, after he showed a shoulder and a hand outside the statue while sleeping, the enemy, unable to confidently hit with a single shot from a distance, had to get closer to shoot.
Just a glance told Gao Yang the rifle was an AK-74M, fitted with a night vision device not on a Picatinny rail but on a groove under the receiver.
Gao Yang was very familiar with this type of Russian equipment.
For a mercenary, not being familiar with one of the most numerous derivatives of the AK family would be a joke.
The bullets Gao Yang had couldn’t be used in the AK-74M, but he immediately opened fire nonetheless, firing two bursts.
While confirming the deviation of the bullet trajectory and aiming baseline, he hit one person.
Just as someone turned to shoot at him, Gao Yang had already roughly assessed the deviation and took down the person who turned to shoot with a single shot.
Having downed his foe and emptied more than half the magazine he had started with, Gao Yang replaced it with a full one.
Instead of advancing, he fired a long burst while stepping back.
By the time he had nearly all the enemies turning their muzzles towards him, only two were left able to shoot at him.
Barely mastering the unadjusted scope, Gao Yang couldn’t make precise shots with single or short bursts.
Instead, he compensated for the lack of accuracy with a long burst, and with continuous fire, he attracted all the gunfire towards him.
Firing a long burst while stepping back, by the time Gao Yang’s magazine was empty, he had already retreated to the side of the corpse.
Then, squatting down, he felt the body, pulled out another magazine, loaded it, and continued shooting at the two still firing at him.
With two more long bursts, no one shot back anymore.
Gao Yang paused; he could only hear gunshots in the distance.
Quickly turning on his headlamp to check, and after pulling the last magazine from the corpse, Gao Yang turned off the headlamp and briskly ran forward holding the magazine.
The gunfire soon ceased entirely, and then Gao Yang heard a familiar voice shouting in Akuri, “White Child, are you in there?” (To be continued.
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