“I have a company in the UA, a massive one. I like what you do. If you want, you can come drive for me. Don’t worry about the green card either; the Senate is really close to me.” Robert was passionately bullsh*ting in the passenger seat, happily chatting with the driver who was wearing a red headscarf and holding a cigarette in his mouth.
Bang!
Spider web cracks had swept across the window pane before it shattered, scattering in like snowflakes.
“Sh*t!”
Robert quickly rolled underneath the seat and grabbed the steering wheel, resisting the pain from the cuts on his head as he pulled the truck to a stop.
The driver who previously had a bright smile on his face now had a gaping, bloody hole in his head.
－
The truck shook violently, the intense vibrations jostling the unprepared refugees to the ground. At the same time Jiang Chen grabbed the metal handle behind him, he grabbed onto Ayesha who was about to fall out and dragged her back into the truck.
The truck swung left and right on the desert sands before it came to a gradual stop without tipping over.
The back of the truck was chaos.
Women trembled and sobbed with their hands over their heads while the men who managed to regain their balance held onto their luggage with uncertainty, they had an overwhelming expression of fear on their faces.
Without question, it was IS.
This was the death sentence.
“What happened, d*mmit… Are you okay?” Jiang Chen caught his breath as he dragged Ayesha up.
Looking at Jiang Chen, Ayesha emotionlessly shook her head. Blood dripped out from the corner of her mouth, most likely from biting herself during the fall. Fortunately, she hadn’t been thrown out from the truck.
“IS’ slave catchers. They’re active in the desert and occasionally visit villages. Women will be forced to become sex slaves and men will either be killed or forced to join their group. Could you give me a bullet? If I save my virginity, I can go to heaven.”
“No.” Jiang Chen smiled.
That smile made Ayesha blank out for a moment.
“Then I’ll pray for you.” The girl looked down, hiding her eyes behind her greasy, black hair strands.
“Prepare to engage.” Nick leaned against the truck with his M27 already loaded and locked.
“I wonder how Robert is doing,” Jiang Chen murmured under his breath as he took out the 11 Tactical Pistol. Following Nick’s signal, he quickly leaned against the other side of the door.
The refugees in the truck stared at them with stark desperation. They moved out of the way and covered their heads as they prayed for safety and victory for the two strangers.
The sound of a machine gun firing rang out from a distance, but none of the bullets hit the truck.
A Toyota pickup truck equipped with a heavy machine gun slammed to stop beside the truck before several masked soldiers jumped out.
“I surrender!” Robert crawled out of the passenger seat with his hands on his head. He knew that with his ability, the best he could do was not hold the others back.
The IS soldier was ecstatic when he saw it was a white man. He turned around and spoke with his commander before he struck Robert in the face with his gun barrel, knocking him to the ground.
“Search the back, quick!” The commander stood before Robert with his AK, his face twisted into a grimace that flashed his white teeth.
With a face that seemed close to crying, Robert looked up and forced a smile, only to receive a boot in the face.
“Drag him to the car for ransom!” the commander ordered as the soldiers dragged him towards the Toyota pickup.
When he heard these words, Robert let out a sigh of relief. These people were likely from Hadithah. If these devils knew that he was an escapee, perhaps his limbs would have already been chopped off and the video uploaded online.
As long as he did not die, there were always opportunities.
Two soldiers with AK’s leisurely walked towards the back with smiles on their faces. They chatted as they lifted the blinds up.
It was a sweet job. Although the slaves they captured didn’t belong to them, they had the liberty to pick out one or two to “enjoy” first, and no one would punish them.
They fired two bullets into the air and grinned with satisfaction as they heard the screeching from inside the truck. The two men glanced at each other before the man on the right climbed into the truck first.
There was no better way to unleash his interest in brutality than taking in the frightened looks.
A grim smile appeared on the terrorist’s face.
Suddenly from the shadows, a giant hand reached out with polar bear-like strength and snapped the fragile neck. Jiang Chen straightforwardly swung his arm like a hammer and smashed the other terrorist’s head into the ground with his superhuman power.
“I’ll go to the front to save Robert. You try to catch their attention from here, and be careful of the machinegun.” Finished explaining, Nick quickly jumped out of the car.
Jiang Chen shook his slightly numb right hand. He was planning on using the pistol to smash the terrorist’s skull, but he accidentally hammered with his arm instead.
The result was the same regardless.
[Looks like I need to study some combat technique. Relying on pure strength is cutting it too close.]
Jiang Chen sighed as he grabbed the AK off the floor and lightly jumped out.
He turned the corner and opened fire at the pickup truck, catching the terrorists by surprise. Robert had yet to be dragged onto the pickup truck when the gunshots made the terrorist drop him and began firing back.
Without hesitation, a terrorist spun the machine gun to face Jiang Chen before unleashing a storm of bullets at Jiang Chen. In response, an explosive amount of nitrogen burst out from Jiang Chen’s right arm, blocking all of the bullets mid-air.
“What is that thing?!” The commander ducked behind the truck and craned his head around the corner to look at Jiang Chen with a look of horror.
“I don’t know! The bullets can’t penetrate it!” The machine gunner fired ferociously, but his desire to rip Jiang Chen apart with the bullets was futile.
Clank!
The bullets ran out.
The soldiers grabbed their AK’s to shoot at Jiang Chen, hoping to gain time for the machine gunner to reload. Despite their efforts, however, bullets from the other side began to accurately take all of them down.
It was Nick, who had begun his attack with the M27.
Since Jiang Chen’s nitrogen armor was reaching its limit, he started shooting under the cover of Nick’s surprise attack. Whether he hit anyone was another question entirely, but at least the recoil was nothing for his muscle strength.
“D*mn it! Use the white man as a hostage. Get up!” the commander yelled at a soldier. He could not leave cover with so many bullets suppressing his movements.
The soldier by the hill was also nervous. He couldn’t hit Nick who was hiding behind the truck’s engine, and his two companions were killed instead. But as he turned and reached for Robert, a gun was already pressed against his head.
“Fu*k you.” Robert pulled the trigger without hesitation. The gun was from a soldier who died from Nick’s bullets.
The commander saw Robert move and aimed his AK towards him. A sudden impact against his side, however, blew him ten meters away, breaking almost every single one of his ribs.
Jiang Chen retracted the overheated nitrogen armor and then looked at the half-dead machine gunner before he finished the deed with one more bullet.
“Boss, are you okay?” Nick walked up and helped Robert up.
“Sh*t, this fu*king hurts.” Robert covered his bruised face as he stood up cursing. He then turned to Jiang Chen and asked, “Is that guy dead?”
“His ribs are broken, so as good as dead.” Jiang Chen shrugged.
“Good job.” Robert raised his pistol and shot two more bullets. The commander on the ground didn’t even have the strength to scream.
“What do we do now?” Nick checked the pickup truck in the front. “The fuel is good for 200 kilometers, and we can head to Baghdad by ourselves.”
“Let’s do that.” Robert limped past the truck and grabbed the backup fuel tank and water tank that previously belonged to their old car.
“What about those refugees?” Jiang Chen looked at the truck and asked.
Robert and Nick stared at Jiang Chen with a look of disbelief.
“What?” Jiang Chen said with a bitter smile.
“Buddy,” Robert threw the supplies onto the pickup truck and patted Jiang Chen on the shoulder, “since the IS patrol team is already here, that means Tikrit is probably conquered. The United Nations can take care of the humanitarian stuff. We don’t belong here, and we don’t need to worry about them. With enough fuel, we can directly head to Baghdad. It’s enough to remind them of the danger ahead. If we go with them, we’ll be too big of a target.”
“I agree with the boss.” Nick took out a black marker and climbed onto the engine cover as he proceeded to draw some odd symbols on the roof.
“Fine.” Jiang Chen shrugged. Although he pitied the refugees, he knew that too much of it would only cost him his own life. “I’ll go tell them. What are you drawing?”
“UA symbol—to prevent the drones from blowing us up.” Nick wiped the sweat off of his forehead.
“Black can absorb heat, so the thermal detection device can detect the UA symbol on top of the roof. This way, we won’t get blown apart.”
The car belonged to IS after all.
－
Jiang Chen flipped open the blinds covering the back of the truck as many pairs of frightened eyes locked onto him.
“Tikrit is dangerous. IS may have occupied the place. Baghdad is safe. That’s all.” Jiang Chen took a deep breath and gave them the news, feeling uncomfortable in this atmosphere.
At least some of them had to know English as the refugees began to chat among themselves. They appeared to be even more frightened by the news.
He did his deed here, whether they liked it or not.
He sighed and was about to turn around and leave when a hand gently grabbed him.
“Hmm?”
Jiang Chen turned around and saw the dirty face of the girl from earlier.
Under the dry and greasy black hair strands were eyes filled with pleading and uncertainty. She said something in Arabic, but Jiang Chen couldn’t understand, so he shook his head in confusion. Perhaps the words were too complicated for the girl to express in English.
[Maybe she is hungry?]
After thinking for a moment, Jiang Chen took out a box of cookies and handed them to her.
The girl shook her head and after hesitating, she opened her mouth and said with a raw voice, “Please take me with you.”
Jiang Chen was shocked. He first smiled, ready to reject, but then he gazed into her eyes and saw the pleading look in them.
[No plan, head to refugee camp and receive humanitarian aid… and see if there is a Saudi or Turkish man that’s willing to buy me…]
For some strange reason, Jiang Chen remembered the words the girl spoke yesterday.
They had pierced his heart like nails.
He opened his mouth as he looked at the girl’s dirty face and couldn’t say a word.
He sighed.
This sympathy again.
“Follow me.” Jiang Chen exhaled as he jumped out of the car.
The girl’s rigid face finally displayed a flicker of joy. She prayed genuinely and immediately followed after him.
－
“You’re finally back. Let’s get on our way.” Robert noticed the girl behind Jiang Chen, and the way he looked at Jiang Chen suddenly became dubious as he lightly whistled.
Nick, who was usually expressionless, also glanced at Jiang Chen with a suspicious look.
“It’s not what you guys think.” Jiang Chen tried to defend himself.
“How are you going take care of her? Why don’t you come to the UA and work with me? Utah supports polygamy.” Robert patted Jiang Chen’s shoulder, who was sitting in the passenger seat.
“And get on the FBA wanted list with you?” Jiang Chen rolled his eyes.
“Ahem, won’t ever happen again. Since I escaped, a lot of things will be different.” Robert started the car, but not before Jiang Chen caught a glimpse of cunning that did not fit the young age of his face.
Jiang Chen leaned against the chair and didn’t respond.
“I mean, my brother, anyone has moments of highs and lows, especially for people like us who engage in dangerous businesses. If your business is not doing so well, come find me,” Robert said calmly, but Jiang Chen heard the sincerity in his voice.
“I am a good businessman now.” Jiang Chen laughed, but he remembered Robert’s words deep down.
“No way, you are bullsh*ting me.” Robert smiled as he gripped the steering wheel.
Nick and Ayesha sat mutely in the back. Nick had his shades on and was probably resting while Ayesha gazed at the back of Jiang Chen’s head with her mouth slightly open, but no words came out.
“Robert speaks Arabic,” Nick suddenly said. A smile appeared on his mustached face.
Ayesha hesitated for a moment as she shot a grateful look at Nick. After pondering, she rallied her courage and said the same words again.
Robert, who was chatting with Jiang Chen, suddenly stopped and gave Jiang Chen a dubious look again.
“What did she say?” Jiang Chen noticed Robert’s expression and asked.
“I pray to Allah that you are able to punish the devils that pretend to use his mercy. Then, even if you believe in heresy, I can still be the present from the desert and become your wife. I’ll be gentle like a camel and attend to you and your wife. As long as you give me a place… This is so corny. I had to translate into English and then into Han , so it might be a bit off, but that’s the meaning of it.”
Robert made fun of Jiang Chen, looking like he was about to burst from holding back his laughter.
“What the fu*k.” This was the only thing Jiang Chen could force out.
“Utah supports polygamy. Do you need a green card?” Robert laughed raucously.
“You can save that for yourself.”
He didn’t have plans to expand internationally.
“True, but it’s only paperwork after all. I know someone from Hong Kong who has ten wives, just not officially,” Robert replied.
“I don’t even have a wife yet.”
Robert looked at Jiang Chen full of surprise. “That’s impossible. You don’t have a woman with this much money? Hehe, how about when I get back to Los Santos, I’ll invite you to try some of the girls on the movie screens.”
“Next time, after I take care of the gold, I still have other things to figure out.” Jiang Chen stared out the window as he lit up a cigarette.
“Hehe, now that I think about it, all of the Middle-Eastern beauties come from Lebanon and Syria. The girl obsessed with you in the back is a little young, but once she grows up, she’ll probably be a beauty. I probably won’t come back to this god-forbidden place in a while, but before I leave, I’ll go to the Turkish border and bring a Syrian beauty back.” Robert narrowed his eyes into the endless desert.
Jiang Chen rolled his eyes at the pervert and ignored him.
As for how he was going to take care of Ayesha, he still had no idea.
He sighed and rubbed his temple.
[The first thing is to take her back home. As for the visa, it should be simplified with money.]
Since he had the funds, it was always good to do some good deeds.
Did he have other thoughts?
With the dry and greasy hair hanging around her dirty face, he really didn’t have any for now at least.