Chapter 88: Terrifying Potential
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He narrowed his eyes.
Seeing Shi Junqiang standing right before him, Li Changjiang’s feelings were, without question, profoundly complicated.
Since returning to Benghazi from Tripoli, this was the first time in nearly two months that he had seen a Chinese person, one of his own countrymen, and seen him face to face at that; the earlier two, after all, could scarcely be called true face-to-face meetings.
If one had not personally endured the cruelty of war, and the loneliness of being adrift in a foreign land, then perhaps no one could truly understand what Li Changjiang was feeling now.
So, under the astonished gazes of the others, Li Changjiang stepped forward in a clumsy sort of rush and gave Shi Junqiang a deeply intimate, fervent, scorching embrace that practically crackled with brotherly zeal.
A sharp hiss escaped.
Only when Shi Junqiang could no longer help drawing in a breath through his teeth did Li Changjiang finally let go, looking embarrassed.
“Sorry. I got a little emotional. I haven’t seen a Chinese person in more than two months!”
“I understand.”
Being Chinese as well, and a young man too, and standing on the battlefield besides, Shi Junqiang could indeed understand Li Changjiang’s feelings. It was just that, in the crucible of war, he had long since become an old hand hardened by experience, and had long ago buried emotions like Li Changjiang’s deep in his heart, keeping them well concealed and never letting them show so easily. A pure-hearted mercenary like the one before him was probably a rare sight these days.
Still, could you damn well not slap so lightly? It hurts like hell!
“My name’s Li Changjiang! I’m from Southern River. And you?”
He had never been a talkative man, but at this moment Li Changjiang had somehow become a chatterbox.
“Shi Junqiang. From Northern Ridge. Was that you who hit me just now?”
At the question, Li Changjiang instantly became a little awkward. He finally understood what it had felt like for Shi Junqiang to be stared down by the Russian a moment ago.
He nodded helplessly.
“Never mind. It was my own skill that fell short. But your marksmanship really is excellent. Which unit did you serve with before?”
“Unit? I never served in the army.”
Shi Junqiang was instantly stunned.
He wanted to ask more, but Li Changjiang did not want to explain that matter in detail, so his gaze quickly fell on Elisa.
“Li!”
“What?”
“I think I should tell you some good news.”
Suddenly pinned by Elisa’s intense stare, Li Changjiang felt inexplicably baffled, but the moment he heard those words, his heart began to pound violently. He grew abruptly excited, and Shi Junqiang beside him, along with the Russian Nicholas, stared in some surprise at Li Changjiang, who seemed to have become a different man.
“Elisa, do you mean—?”
“Yes. We found those two Chinese people, and we also learned where your father is.”
Boom!
Elisa’s words detonated in his ears like a high explosive shell, leaving only a roaring, buzzing noise in his head that would not fade for a long time.
Scenes from the entire journey flashed through Li Changjiang’s mind at impossible speed.
Benghazi!
Tripoli!!
Misrata!!!
Each image seemed carved into his bones, and only when they finally overlapped with the scene before him did he slowly come back to himself. Then, suddenly agitated, he reached out and grabbed Elisa by the shoulder.
“Tell me. Where is he?”
“Bastard, let go of her first!”
Under the Russian’s startled gaze, Shi Junqiang suddenly rushed forward and yanked Li Changjiang away, then struck him hard across the side of the face with a fist. Blood immediately began to seep from the wound on his shoulder.
Struck full in the face, Li Changjiang seemed to realize something as well. Once the redness in his eyes gradually receded and his mind slowly cleared, he gave Shi Junqiang a cold look.
“Sorry, Elisa, I—”
“Your father isn’t dead! That’s all I’ve managed to learn!”
“Li, if your father is a middle-aged Chinese man with the surname Li, then perhaps I can tell you more.”
The Russian Nicholas’s voice suddenly fell into his ears.
Li Changjiang turned to look at him, only then remembering that the one who had first found those two Chinese people was the Russian, not Elisa. His gaze tightened at once.
“Your father is not dead, but I think you should understand this: the Americans will not give up looking for him.”
The Americans!
Why would it be the Americans?
Li Changjiang clenched his fists and fixed the Russian Nicholas with a hard stare.
“You’re saying the Americans are looking for my father? Why would that be?”
“Because he has information in his hands that the American military does not want made public. One of those two Chinese men was the security chief of the Dragon Build Construction Company; the other’s identity is still uncertain, though he is believed to be a reporter.
By accident, they obtained evidence that Sloane Allen, commander of the U.S. North Africa Command, was making deals with the Libyan rebels in Benghazi and helping to escalate the Libyan civil war. Your father merely happened to carry those things out of Benghazi, so I think you can understand the outcome.”
Li Changjiang was stunned.
If the Russian’s information was true, then his father was indeed in danger. The Americans would never allow his father to leave Libya carrying something so important.
“Then my dad—”
Li Changjiang immediately grew anxious.
“Don’t worry, Li. I have to say, your father was very fortunate. As far as I know, he was taken to Egypt by a group of American tourists, and barring mishap, he should already be back in China by now. I suspect the Americans would never have dreamed that their own people would be the ones to get your father out of that damned place in Benghazi.”
Hah...
He let out a long breath.
Just after the Russian finished speaking, the nerves that had been taut in Li Changjiang for so long suddenly seemed to slacken all at once. A fierce wave of dizziness surged up to his head, and without any awareness at all, he toppled to the ground.
“Li!”
“Li, what’s wrong?”
“Come help me! Damn it!”
“I’ll help you!”
Elisa quickly took Li Changjiang from Nicholas’s arms and laid him flat on the ground.
“Let me take a look!”
After saying that, Shi Junqiang crouched down, his face suddenly paling. That blow from Li Changjiang had not been light; if he had not dodged fast enough, he might have been killed outright.
He lifted Li Changjiang’s eyelids and felt the pulse in his neck.
“It’s fine! He just fainted. He’ll be all right after some rest!”
Night fell once more, and it seemed as though the whole city had suddenly gone quiet above them. Though sporadic gunfire still sounded from time to time, everyone seemed to have gone numb to it.
Inside an abandoned building, Elisa sat beside Li Changjiang, while Shi Junqiang and the Russian Nicholas leaned against the wall, resting with their eyes closed. The wounds on both men had stopped bleeding, and after half a day of rest their spirits had recovered somewhat.
But after several days without food, their energy was hardly good either. By contrast, Li Changjiang lay on the ground breathing with remarkable evenness. As a man, he did not even snore in his sleep; his breathing was quiet to the point of eeriness.
This guy is a natural assassin.
Nicholas the Russian had only glanced at Li Changjiang once before reaching that judgment in his heart.
He himself was an exceptionally fearsome sniper, but in this young Chinese man he saw even more terrifying potential.
Could it be that the Chinese would gain yet another legendary figure?
For the Russians, that hardly seemed like good news.
But for him, since he had already retired, it had nothing to do with him anymore. After all, money was what mattered most.
Damn it!
Just thinking of having to hand that money over to this damn Chinese guy made Nicholas feel a stab of pain.