After a moment, Abu twitched his mouth and muttered, "I can't imagine how two macho men could..."
"Stop talking!"
I couldn't take it anymore and made a throat-slitting gesture at him.
Abu was successfully intimidated and quickly shut his mouth, covering his neck with both hands.
"Ha ha ha! This is hilarious!" Ba Yi slapped his thigh and burst into laughter.
At that moment, Wrench added, "Laugh one more time and I'll turn you gay too!"
"Wu," Ba Yi immediately fell silent, covering his mouth tightly and looking at Wrench with fear.
"Ha ha ha, keep laughing!" I said, both exasperated and amused.
"Alright, that's enough. Pay attention as we enter the forest ahead," Wrench said, suddenly turning serious.
The military jeep sped along the rugged mountain road, its tires kicking up rocks with a "pa pa" sound. The jeep trailing us was almost engulfed by the dust.
"Bang!"
A gunshot rang out ahead. A black BMW was blocking our path at the turn.
Wrench slammed on the brakes. "Get out and prepare for combat."
He jumped out of the jeep, and we followed, guns at the ready, scanning the surroundings.
"This should be Boss Cai's Benz. Looks like they abandoned it," Wrench said, kicking the blown-out front tire.
"They must have fled into the woods on the right," Abu said, jumping down a small slope and testing the temperature of a bullet casing on the ground.
"You four go ahead and chase them. We'll go this way. Remember, don't kill them unless absolutely necessary," Wrench shouted at the four goons in the other jeep.
"Understood, Captain," the goons nodded and chased down the mountain road.
The four of us ran into the dense forest, the source of the earlier gunshot. The Burmese jungle was tough to navigate, filled with shrubs and thorns. It wasn't long before my new pants were shredded, looking like makeshift rags.
"Ah! Ah!" A terrified scream came from a nearby clump of tall grass.
"Careful, they're definitely over there," Wrench said, holding his AK low and signaling for us to split into two groups. We approached the source of the sound in a fan formation.
Wrench and I were one group, Ba Yi and Abu the other. As we neared the tall grass, Wrench signaled to halt.
"Thud," Ba Yi, not understanding the signal, stepped forward and fell into a pitfall trap, dragging Abu with him.
"Chase them!" Wrench, seeing we had alerted the enemy, rushed into the grass.
I followed, ignoring Ba Yi's plight. Suddenly, a bullet whizzed past my head.
"Damn it, shoot to kill on sight!" Wrench shouted back at me, seeing I was unharmed before continuing the chase.
I quickly caught up, adrenaline pumping, determined to catch the shooter. Soon, I saw a shadowy figure darting through the grass.
"Bang," I fired towards the dense forest where the figure fled, not aiming to hit but to intimidate.
Following the blood trail left by the injured shooter, I grew more confident. He was definitely hit and wouldn't last long.
"Come out and surrender, and you won't be harmed," I shouted, hiding behind a tree.
Silence.
"I'll count to three. If you don't come out, I'll shoot. My backup will be here in two minutes, and then you'll have no chance," I bluffed, loading my rifle loudly.
After a moment, I heard rustling.
"Hey, let's talk," a familiar voice came from the bushes. He sounded weak, likely from blood loss.
Talk? This had to be a fake Reung family descendant.
"Throw out your weapons first, show your sincerity, Mr. Peng," I said, keeping my body behind cover.
"Alright, I'm sincere," he said, tossing out his knife and gun.
"Mr. Peng, I didn't expect to see you again so soon," I said, cautiously emerging once I confirmed he was unarmed.
"Just call me Xiao Ming. We're from the same place, no need for formalities," Peng Xiaoming said, his arm bleeding, face pale, and forehead sweating.
I sneered, "We're not from the same place. You're a Reung family descendant. Causing trouble near our compound is a death wish."
Peng Xiaoming panicked and argued, "I'm not! I'm from the Yan family army in Shaoyang."
"Yan family army? Prove it!" I frowned, skeptical of his claim.
"It's true, I have no reason to lie now. If you let me go today, I'll repay you with my life," he said, holding out a jade pendant.
The jade was high-quality Burmese jade, with a "Yan" character carved on it, confirming his identity.
"You can find me in the Fourth Special Zone with this pendant. I'll grant you a wish, anything you need," he offered, voice weak and body trembling.
"Is your life worth just one wish?" I asked, holding the jade.
"Release me, and I'll be your sworn brother, I swear," he said, teeth gritted, clearly making a tough decision.