A Mercenary's War Chapter 101: Not All Good News

Chapter 101: Not All Good News

Translated by: kevin1782

Edited by: Isalee

Tribo wasn't even clear and he was stammering. He blurted his words with much chagrin, “T-Then why did y'all still let me go to the range when you guys knew that I was reverse-raped?”

Gao Yang shrugged and said, “Well, for AIDS, it’s a one-shot and you will get it type of thing. Two or three or more times, and it’ll be the same. I just felt that since you can’t escape from it, you might as well be happy for a few times more. Even if you really got it, you did it many times before dying. At least it’s better than being finished just after one time when this gets out, right?”

Gao Yang just quipped in a sentence like that. But Jin’s face was full of sorrow. He patted Tribo’s shoulders and said, “You have my commiseration, please overcome your melancholy man.”

Grolev also patted Tribo’s shoulders and said, “Rest assured Hare, we won’t discriminate against you. We will accompany you and walk you through the last of your life’s journey without worry.”

Tribo’s face was totally blanched and was void of color, showing his fear. He pondered for a long while with his head lowered. He finally looked up and said, “I better go to the hospital now, which one of you is coming with me? I feel that something isn’t right these days. If I really, really got it…”

It was as if Tribo’s tongue was knotted — he couldn’t even speak half-eloquently. Gao Yang felt guilty when his original intentions were only to scare Tribo a little. He really scared Tribo too much. But as Gao Yang continued on with his teasing, he also became frightened himself.

Seeing Tribo’s current status, Gao Yang incredulously said, “Hare, don’t tell me that… don’t you have safety precautions when you’re having fun?”

Seeing Tribo nod soundlessly, Grolev sighed in great anguish. He covered his face and said, “F*ck, are you really an idjit Hare? Don’t you know that it’s dangerous no matter if you’re laying people or getting laid? Are you still in a daze or what? Get to the hospital man!”

In Africa, contracting AIDS was really common and not newsworthy. Gao Yang and the rest were just chatting here and there originally so as to tease Tribo. Instead, the outcome was that they were shocked and frightened by this not-so-funny joke.

The four men anxiously prepared their belongings to go to the hospital. Gao Yang took the satellite phone at the bedhead. He then grabbed a handful of cash and hurried out of the hours. At this moment, there wasn’t time to consider if hospitals did check-ups at night. They could only get there first.

At Johannesburg’s greatest hospital, he found the doctor in charge of night emergencies. Gao Yang asked if they could do an HIV check immediately. Fortunately, Gao Yang received an affirmative reply. Because of the high rate of AIDS in South Africa, many symptoms had to be checked with an HIV test to confirm the treatment solutions thereafter. Hence, the big hospitals in Johannesburg could be considered as one of the world's quickest hospitals in terms of HIV tests. 

It took some time for the examination results to come out after drawing blood. Gao Yang and the rest sat on the long benches in the corridor and waited. Time slowly ticked to midnight. The hospital seemed somewhat empty with only a few people around. It was fear instilling. Gao Yang couldn't bear it, but he spoke after looking at Tribo's pallid face that was getting paler by the second, “You have so little courage. It's only at this point and here you are, scared like this already.”

Tribo reached down and scratched a few times, his expression full of tears. “Always felt a little itchy. I was thinking about it these few days whether I should check it out or not. Then it became like this. Bro Yang, I’m probably not gonna make it. I don't have the face to go back home. If I die, just bury me in South Africa. I don't want anything else, just help me prepare and bury my M700, MP5 and my P226 with me. I wanted to buy a big sniper rifle at first, but I relinquished the thought after deliberation. Give the money to Old Ruski, he’s got a family to feed. I don't lack money back home, so no need to send money there.”

Gao Yang was very angry but he also wanted to laugh. He growled, “Idiot, how do you know if that’s definitely AIDS? Even if you got AIDS, the development period is still many years away. As long as it doesn’t attack, you can’t die within eight to ten years. Even if there are attacks you can also drag it out for eight to ten years. Forget it, I don’t understand it that much, but in conclusion, you still got many years to live, so excited for f*ck man.”

After hearing Gao Yang’s words, Tribo was stupefied. “Eh? Isn’t AIDS deadly for sure? How come people can live so long with it? If it’s really like what you said, I can die on the battlefield man. F*ck, why am I acting like a chicken with its head cut off? As long as I don’t die from AIDS, I ain’t afraid of any other type of death.”

Seeing Tribo sit on the bench almost paralyzed, Grolev sighed and spoke, “Hare, you better remember: if you got nothing after the test results come out, you'll be in a wretched state, I promise.”

“I also guarantee that you'll be really miserable.”

“Agreed.”

Knowing that he wouldn’t die immediately, Tribo seemed to have dropped his mental burdens. He ignored the three who threatened him. He found a long bench and started snoring on it after lying down. He ignored Gao Yang and the other two while they were still staring at each other in surprise.

A carefree attitude towards the world was really blissful ignorance. Seeing Tribo snoring, Gao Yang gritted his teeth and said, “If Hare really is okay, your old man’s gonna torture him to death. Nobody is allowed to stop me later.”

Jin also said with his teeth gritted, “Stop you for what? I’ll give him a trashing myself! But what if Hare really got AIDS? What do we do?”

Jin was apparently stunned, and then his face became cold. With much killing intent he said, “If Hare really got AIDS, I’d go to the range and ice that black gal and bury her with Tribo. I don’t care if she’s a woman or not. Since she destroyed Hare, I’ll ice her whole family!”

Even though Gao Yang would scold and hit Tribo whenever he was speaking or conversing with him, it was just their interaction method between the two of them. Tribo easily did stupid stuff and thus Gao Yang would be so triggered that he would hit and scold Tribo. However, it definitely didn’t mean that Gao Yang took him lightly or didn’t care about him.

With just the brotherhood between him and Tribo, if Hare really got AIDS, Gao Yang would surely kill the girl’s entire family.

“You caused my bro to die, then I’ll kill your whole family as revenge. That’s my rule.”

It was such a ferocious statement. Gao Yang’s face was full of killing intent as well. Jin nodded and said, “Sure, kill her whole family.”

Grolev and Jin did not know Tribo as long as Gao Yang did but their brotherhood wasn’t that much shallower at all. Especially Grolev. Tribo was the one who carried and pushed his best to save his life in Benghazi. 

Grolev’s expression was calm. “I’ve already been a mercenary for so many years. Selling my life for money — I’ve done everything before. Even if killing someone’s family and their elderlies and kids, it’s just a little unsettling for the conscience. Let me do this. I have more experience than all of you. However, Tribo hasn’t been given the final death sentence yet, right? Isn’t it a little early for both of you to become so agitated?”

As if supporting Grolev's words purposely, a man in a white coat walked over with a few pages in his hand. He loudly called, “Who's Robbit [1] Cui? The test results are out.”

Gao Yang and the rest of them stood up straight away and scared the black man in the white coat. The three said in unison, “How did it go?”

“The HIV test result is negative, so we can basically remove the possibilities of an HIV infection. To ensure that he’s definitely alright, he could check ninety days later after the day of risky activity.”

Hearing that the results were negative, three of them shifted their eyes on the still-snoring Tribo. Gao Yang didn’t have the patience to continue listening. He stepped forward with two quick steps and sat on Tribo’s stomach with a puff.

Tribo screamed in agony and was about to push Gao Yang away. But Jin and Grolev both arrived before he could do so. Grolev pressed his legs down and sat on his legs right away. Jin, however, growled fiercely, “a***hole Hare, I’ll slam and sit my butt on you till you’re dead!”

After Jin was finished, he forcefully held Tribo’s hands down and sat on his chest. Half of Tribo’s face was being pressed on by Jin.

After treating Tribo like a human cushion, Gao Yang smiled and told the black doctor, “Sorry, this is how we celebrate, thank you for your good news, much gratitude.”

Tribo anxiously spoke while still being sat on by three people, “What are y’all doing, let me go quickly, get up, I can’t breathe!”

The black doctor shrugged and said, “Alright, I understand your sentiments, but this is the hospital, so please keep quiet. Also, I’m very sorry to tell you all that it’s not all good news.”

After hearing the doctor words, the joyful ambiance immediately froze as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over them. Tribo also stopped his struggling, only to hear the doctor slowly say, “Although Mr. Robbit is HIV negative, he has gonorrhea and needs to receive immediate treatment. He needs a lot of antibodies and the therapy lasts for a week. Luckily, he will recover quickly if we start the treatment now. It wouldn’t become chronic gonorrhea. However, injecting and administering the Ceftriaxone antibodies can only be started tomorrow morning. Also, just as a reminder, gonorrhea is highly infectious.”

After hearing the doctor reveal Tribo’s state of illness only then, Grolev and Gao Yang leaped up in a flash. It was as if their bottoms had rocket installed in them. Only Jin’s English wasn’t that good, so he didn’t understand what the doctor meant. He frightenedly looked at Gao Yang and asked, “What happened? What happened? What did the doc say?”

Gao Yang repeated what the doctor said in Mandarin. Jin’s expression was as if he had just eaten a fly. The speed at which he jumped up was definitely as fast as Superman. Only Tribo was still lying on the bench, all sulky and tearing up. “I Ci-Ao, I still got it in the end!”

Tribo still had to be treated tomorrow morning anyways, and it was already two in the morning. Gao Yang and the rest did not go back. The figured that they might as well stay. They just slept on the bench for a night. But before sleeping, they were very ‘ethical’ and didn’t cause a ruckus in the hospital. They dragged Tribo outside to the yard and found a secluded place. The three took turns to reward Tribo with fists to vent their anger and rage.

The next morning, Gao Yang was woken up by a phone call, pulling him out of his sweet dreams. After taking Ulyanko’s call, he continued sleeping. But not long after, his phone rang again.

Gao Yang impatiently fished out his phone and said, “Didn’t you just call, what’s the matter now?”

“Hi, did I disturb your sleep? Apologies, my plan was pushed in advance. I’m planning to go to South Africa in a week, do you have time?”

Ulyanko wasn’t the caller. It was Kathleen, whom he had long been anticipating. He immediately garnered all his energy and loudly said, “I have time, lots of it!”

Translator's notes:

Chapter end