A Mercenary's War Chapter 19 - A Hero's Return

Chapter 19 - A Hero's Return

Translated by: Spot

Edited by: Isalee

Gao Yang didn’t know which way to head at first. After driving several dozen meters, Gao Yang found a place to rest. The Morgans’ car was a couple hundred meters behind. The three switched off on night duty and got through the sleepless night. 

The second morning, long after dawn, Gao Yang took Morgan and the others to find the pool that Professor Buck and the others were resting at. When he called out into the walkie-talkie, Professor Buck and the others came out of hiding to greet them. 

The chief was like family to Gao Yang, and so when he saw him come back safely, he naturally swelled up with excitement and warmly embraced him. They started using A’Kuli and buzzed with conversation. The other people of course couldn’t join in, and once they started calming down, Professor Buck advanced forward to also hug Gao Yang. One hand was strongly patting Gao Yang’s shoulder as he excitedly said, “Thank you for your courage, you saved everyone’s lives. Thank you.” 

“Don’t say that Professor, I’m only doing what is right. As I’ve said before, my tribe and I would use all our power to protect your lives.”

The injured Evan, Daniel the cameraman, and a couple of the black people all came up one by one to thank Gao Yang. Finally, Kathleen walked up to Gao Yang, extended her right hand, and said, “As I’ve said before, the brave won’t die so easily. Seeing you once more makes me very excited.”

Gao Yang gripped Kathleen’s hand and lightly smiled: “ It doesn’t if there are evil dragons. I will always happily protect the beautiful princess as her knight. But Miss Kathleen, isn’t it now the moment where we hug?”

Kathleen smiled warmly. She didn’t hug Gao Yang, but she brought her charming face up forward and lightly kissed Gao Yang’s left cheek before laughing out, “This should be how the princess expresses her thanks to her brave knight.”

After serving in the army for a full three years, even a female pig would surpass Diao Chan* in terms of beauty. Even though Gao Yang wasn’t in the army and he wasn’t forbidden from seeing women, he’d see various paintings everyday of mostly of shirtless women in the tribe. Gao Yang and the circumstance of a soldier in the army for three years who hadn’t seen a woman were pretty much the same, and now Kathleen who was also an extremely beautiful woman was added into the equation. Right now there was a beauty who willingly gave him a light kiss, and this caused Gao Yang to feel dizzy; it really did pack a punch.

*TL Note: One of the Four legendary beauties. However she is the only one with no known evidence suggesting she ever existed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaochan

Unfortunately, it was not the time to flirt with girls right now. He cleansed his mind of all inappropriate intentions by using all his willpower as he giggled at Kathleen and reluctantly parted his hands from hers. Gao Yang then pointed at the Morgan father and son combo: “Let me introduce these people to everyone. This is Mr. Morgan Reeves, and this is Mr. Morgan’s son, Bob Reeves. You might not know of this, but while they were hunting beasts, they were ambushed. Additionally, they were the true targets of the terrorists.”

Mr. Morgan seemed to be about fifty years old as his hair was turning white and his eyes showed a lot of spirit. There was an overbearing feeling when he looked at other people. He had a thin face, yet his demeanor was still imposing. At this moment, Mr. Morgan’s face was actually serene. He walked up, bowed over, and said, “I’m very sorry, it was us who brought the misfortune to you. Please allow me to express my condolences and apologies to the unfortunate souls who have perished. Truly sorry.”

Professor Buck walked over to Mr. Morgan and shook his hand as he replied: “This isn’t your fault. There’s no need to apologize. Even though it was something that is unacceptable, it’s the terrorists’ fault. All of us feel awful, but this isn’t an excuse for us to take out our anger on you. Mr. Reeves, you don’t need to apologize.”

Mr. Morgan nodded his head and said to Professor Buck, “Thank you for your understanding and big heart, I’m very grateful for this. Professor, I think we need to consider what our steps are in leaving this place as danger is still present. What do you think?”

Professor Buck furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Gao Yang: “I also think we should leave immediately. I must find the team members’ bodies and contact the American Embassy to report this situation. Don’t tell me though, will the terrorists be coming back?”

Gao Yang nodded his head: “That’s right. I think they’ll be back. Except I can’t figure one thing out. How are they able to track our location in this vast and obscure savanna?”

Morgan took a moment to ponder, then said, “I only came out yesterday to go hunting. When we were leaving, I told a few people our location. Maybe there is somebody who leaked out our bearings.”

At this point, Professor Buck suddenly called out, “Mr. Morgan, is it possible for you to disclose something? What kind of people are trying to kill you, and why would they even want to kill you?”

Mr. Morgan took a moment to think it over. Then he shook his head and let out a sigh. He turned to Daniel who never put down his camera: “Please stop recording sir, what I’m about to say cannot be recorded.”

Daniel looked over to Professor Buck, and after obtaining approval, closed his camera. Thus, Morgan started solemnly telling the tale: “These occurrences, I really shouldn’t be saying this, but because it has already implicated you guys and brought you disaster, I think I shouldn’t conceal it. Gentlemen, considering that I have some connections with important figures in South Sudan, the U.S. government invited me to handle some tasks on behalf of the American government to gain some benefit from South Sudan becoming independent. At the same time, I personally will gain much benefit. However, my mission was exposed. It might be my rival, or it could be other countries. As they are not wishing for my success, they sent out people to kill me. Gentlemen, you must keep this a secret. For me, and for you.”

Professor Buck let out a deep sigh, then furiously said, “F*cking politics. Okay, we won’t expose this. But Mr. Morgan, we are definitely telling the American Embassy within Sudan about what you know, and also explain this to the NGC. I’m afraid there are some things I won’t be able to keep a secret.”

Morgan nodded and said, “I understand. We won’t need your protection once we reach the embassy. However, it is just the NGC. Please, try to keep this a secret. Of course, even if you were to say it, I will deny all the allegations, and no one else will confirm what you say.” 

After he said that, Morgan pointed at Gao Yang and solemnly said, “My fellow gentlemen, if you are grateful for everything that he has done for us, then please do not spread any photos that you have taken of him on the internet. Everything that he has done has inevitably angered a force that neither he nor you can deal with. I bet that once any of your pictures are sent out, he will die. No matter who it is, there will be someone after his life. Of course, the safest option would be to completely close your cameras.”

After hearing what Morgan had to say, everyone’s eyes rested on Danny. Danny had a very pained expression on his face. He looked over at Gao Yang, and then looked over at Professor Buck. He scratched his head, then finally clenched his teeth and stomped his foot. He pulled out a storage card. With a long face, he finally put it in his mouth. Ka! He bit it, splitting it in half, and then threw it into the distance. 

When the storage card was thrown out, Danny had a bitter expression. “All photos related to Gao Yang are saved on that storage card. It's now been destroyed. The current card has some proof against the terrorists and cannot be destroyed. I will make sure to delete all the pictures related to Gao Yang. I promise.” 

Professor Buck nodded. “I will personally make sure of that.” 

“Now, I think it's time for us to leave. We drove here from Malakal. Professor, what about you guys?” 

“We are the same. The closest city is Malakal. That is also the only place with an airport, which is where our plane is at.” 

Morgan nodded and said to Gao Yang, “Looks like our goal is the same. Let us journey together, Mr. Gao Yang.” 

Everyone’s focus was now on Gao Yang. Over this period of time, Gao Yang’s performance had been truly admirable. With Gao Yang there, everyone’s chances of survival would rise quite a bit. Now that he had the chance to leave, Gao Yang was conflicted.  

Gao Yang glanced back at the chief and the others. After spending the past three years with them, the A’Kuli tribe was like a second home to him, and the chief was like family. Gao Yang couldn’t just leave them. 

Seeing Gao Yang’s troubled expression, the chief realized something. He patted Gao Yang’s shoulder and warmly said, “Go, white child. Go back to your home. You do not belong here. Go back to your true home.” 

When he heard the chief’s words, Gao Yang couldn’t hold back his tears any longer. It wasn’t that Gao Yang was overly sensitive, but rather that Gao Yang knew that if he were to leave, there was a chance that he would never be able to see the chief in this lifetime again. 

Seeing Gao Yang’s tears, Big Ba’al, Little Ba’al, and Ku’Sto encircled Gao Yang and started dancing the tribal dance for a successful hunt, singing their farewell song. After both were finished, the tribal chief took off the necklace around his neck and placed it around Gao Yang’s. Then he softly said, “You’re the bravest warrior. You have the right to wear it. Wearing this necklace will let the A’Kuli tribe’s ancestors and gods protect you. Go, white child, return to your family.” 

Ku’Sto sobbed, “White child, you’ll come back to see us right? You must come back to see me. I’ll miss you.”

Gao Yang wiped away his tears. He wanted to say something, but simply didn’t know what to say. Just at this moment, he remembered something, and ran to the car he drove earlier.

Gao Yang brought the AK-47 out, then said to the confused crowd, “Help me take out all the magazines.”

After returning to the tribal chief with six rifles, Gao Yang took an AK and said to the chief, “I will be leaving, but I’m leaving these with you guys. Let me teach you how to use it. This way hunting will be much easier. We will be bringing you guys to a safe location so you’ll never have to worry about encountering those bad guys again.”

Furrowing his eyebrows, Professor Buck walked over and said, “Gao, what you’re doing will cause them to lose their fundamental survival skills and furthermore, lose their own culture.”

“Professor, I understand, but I feel that survival is much more important that preserving culture. If the tribal culture was more important, should we be living the same lifestyle as them? Professor, you’ve never seen the hardships of the A’Kuli tribe. When I return, I don’t want to discover that they died of famine. I won’t accept it. Also, I’ll will do my best to let them migrate to some safe location and live a modern human’s life. Therefore, whether or not they preserve their current survival skills is not important.”

Chapter end