Chapter 15: What The Hell Is This Surprise?
After everyone had recovered, Wu Xie discovered that one of his hands was still firmly grabbing that treasure box. Lin Yan saw his gaze shifting back and forth between the treasure box and the key on the ground, and could guess what he was thinking even with his toes. Wasn’t it just wanting to open the box but too lazy to move?
So he gave Wu Xie a disdainful glance, grabbed the key with one hand, and tossed it to him: “Catch!”
“Thanks, brother, nice aim!”
Fatty saw this and shuffled over: “Come on, come on, let Fatty Ye see what treasures are inside. But let’s agree upfront, finders keepers!”
Everyone was collectively speechless; this money-grubber was unmatched.
Wu Xie inserted the key into the lock hole on top, but after twisting it, he found it wouldn’t open.
Lin Yan saw him struggling for a long time without success and leaned over: “What’s wrong? Doesn’t fit? I told you, the key was right next to it; who would want someone to take it that badly! As expected, it’s not that easy.”
Disdaining Wu Xie’s weak strength, Fatty took over the box: “Not necessarily; maybe the little slim one is too weak. When it counts, it has to be Fatty Ye here!”
In the end, he couldn’t twist it either. Seeing him red-faced and thick-necked, everyone feared he’d snap the key inside, so they forcibly took it back after a few tries, no matter how Fatty protested.
“This box isn’t opened like that.”
At that moment, a woman’s voice came through, startling them. Fatty practically bounced up instantly, and Lin Yan’s eyes widened in amazement; turns out there really was such a nimble Fatty in the world! This was a two-hundred-plus-jin carp leaping upright! He really hadn’t seen anything like it!
“What the hell, what’s sneaking around? If you’ve got the guts, come out and talk!”
Having just gone through a collective hallucination, they were all a bit jumpy, seeing shadows everywhere. If it happened again, they might develop PTSD to other people’s voices once they got out. Damn it, popping up to scare people every now and then—who could handle that!
The surroundings were dead silent; they didn’t know where the voice came from, and their flashlights and mine lamps couldn’t reach any human shadow.
“Put down the box in your hands.”
“Why should we? If you’ve got the guts, come out and talk!” Wu Xie hugged the box tight and yelled toward where the voice might have come from.
“Fine, you called me out.”
The female voice became much clearer; this time, it came from behind them.
They turned their heads and saw a short-haired woman covered head to toe in bloodstains, limping toward them.
No kidding, even in that state, you could tell she had a pretty face and a hot figure. The only flaw was that she was holding a gun in her hand, the barrel pointed right at them: “Can you give me the box now?”
Lin Yan and Wu Xie swallowed hard, both a bit panicked, signaling each other with eye contact.
“Give it?”
“Can we not?”
“We’re all invalids here; no choice but to give!”
“Then you go give it?”
“What if she kills me after I do?”
“Nah, looks like she’s after the box; should be fine.”
“But what if?”
“Why’d you save her anyway? Trouble now, huh.”
“Didn’t you agree too? Does saying that now even matter?”
“Ask Fatty and Panzi? Maybe they’ve got a way.”
After the eye contact exchange ended, Lin Yan and Wu Xie looked at Fatty and Panzi respectively.
Panzi was staring tightly at A Ning, afraid she’d suddenly shoot, his whole body tensed up, ready to save someone at any moment, so only Fatty caught their looks.
“What’s up? Why look at me?” Fatty raised his eyebrows, lips moving slightly, asking them in an extremely low voice.
Seeing this, Wu Xie backed up a bit, hiding deeper into the shadows: “Do we give it or not? Will she kill us after?”
“Might makes right; what can we do but give?”
“Then who goes?”
“I’ll go; with your skinny frames, you’d get ambushed before you even get close.”
Forget anything else, just Fatty’s courage in volunteering to take the risk for them was enough to move them. As expected of brothers who’d been through thick and thin—gutsy!
But before they could be moved for two seconds, Fatty spoke again: “But it’s not just Fatty Ye going alone! You, the skinny guy holding the flashlight next to me, come with me!”
Lin Yan had a facepalm moment: “I have a name; I’m Lin Yan! Also, Fatty, didn’t you say we were dead weight?”
Fatty gave him a tiny disdainful glance: “Dead weight has its uses, okay? Later, I’ll hold the treasure box as I go up; you hold the flashlight in one hand and knife in the other. If she thinks about killing us to silence, you stab her cold from behind, and Fatty Ye follows with a kick! She’s already injured, not as agile as before. We take her down, grab these two, and run—she won’t catch up! Got it?”
Lin Yan was somewhat speechless: “She’ll just see me walking over holding a knife? You think she’s blind?”
Fatty got anxious: “Are you dumb? It’s so dark here; your flashlight’s pointing forward—how could she see behind you? She can’t even see your face!”
Lin Yan thought for a few seconds and nodded: “You’ve got a point; let’s do it!”
Fatty shouted to A Ning: “You can have the treasure box! But I can’t go alone; I need someone with me! Otherwise, mutual destruction!”
Hearing this, Wu Xie was a bit worried: “What if she wants mutual destruction?”
Fatty was full of confidence: “No way; she’s injured too. If it’s mutual destruction, we might have casualties, but she’s dead for sure! Anyone with brains wouldn’t do it—relax!”
Sure enough, a few seconds later, A Ning’s voice rang out: “Fine, come slowly; no tricks.”
Fatty grinned, signaling Lin Yan to follow while saying: “Hey, the way you put it—we’ve got the injured and the crippled here; what tricks could we pull?”
Watching their backs, Wu Xie fell into thought: Why could he and Lin Yan communicate with eye contact, but not with Fatty? That wasn’t scientific!
A Ning watched them inch closer cautiously and couldn’t help sneering: “Oh, really?”
When they were still two steps away, she aimed the gun barrel at Lin Yan’s head: “So, little handsome, what’s your hand doing behind your back?”
Lin Yan’s body hair stood on end all at once; the sensation of death enveloped him instantly, and his steps halted abruptly.
“Damn it, Fatty, you screwed me!” Fatty shot back an innocent look.
Seeing this, Lin Yan inwardly cursed Fatty’s lousy idea; if he went down, he’d haunt him as a ghost! Squeezing a smile onto his face, he casually pulled out the dagger still in its sheath, his voice shaking like Parkinson’s: “Surprise! Miss, I see you’ve only got a gun; you need a dagger for self-defense. How about this one of mine?”
A Ning raised an eyebrow: “Oh? Surprise?”
Lin Yan and Fatty exchanged a look; Fatty tossed the treasure box, Lin Yan drew the dagger, shifted his step sideways, and slashed toward A Ning’s gun hand. But A Ning was prepared, ignoring Fatty, moving her hand so the barrel stayed on Lin Yan.
“Bang!”
The crisp gunshot slammed into their eardrums; Wu Xie and Panzi heard it and hurried over. Lin Yan didn’t care about anything else; he only felt a searing heat graze his face. Not sure if it was from getting used to Panzi’s gun earlier, Lin Yan wasn’t that scared; instead, his body heated up, heart racing, adrenaline surging, making him even more agile.
He was originally just two steps from A Ning; seizing the moment after her shot, he stepped forward again, grabbing the still-hot barrel with his free hand and yanking it skyward.
“Bang!”
The second shot rang out; A Ning, injured and weak, tried to aim back at Lin Yan but couldn’t. Her face darkened; she ditched the gun, drew a dagger from her leg, and slashed at Lin Yan.
Couldn’t dodge!
Over there, Fatty caught the treasure box, set it down, drew his dagger, and joined the fray, but A Ning’s hand was too fast. The dagger was about to slice Lin Yan’s wrist; if it hit, the hand might be done for!
Lin Yan’s pupils contracted; he tried to retreat, but was a fraction too slow.
At that moment, a foot swept in from nowhere, kicking toward A Ning’s wrist.
“Ah!” A Ning let out a miserable scream; the dagger flew to the ground, and she clutched her wrist, staggering back.
Lin Yan and the others looked at the figure who landed, overjoyed.
“Xiaoge!” “Mute Bottle!” Panzi and Wu Xie arrived too; seeing it hopeless, A Ning retreated a few steps into the darkness, vanishing who-knows-where.
Lin Yan threw his head back laughing, boasting toward where A Ning disappeared: “Definitely a surprise! This damn thing, now that’s a damn surprise!”
