Hidden Assassin 99

The storm officially arrived on the deserted island on the afternoon of October 9th.

Pitch-black clouds obscured all light, and torrential rain poured down. The wind howled through the dense forest, making a strange and terrifying roar. Inside the small cave, the wind seeped in through every crack, threatening to tear away the canvas covering the entrance.

Of course, there was a fallen ancient tree pressing down on top, and the edge of the canvas was weighed down with rocks and mud, making it difficult to tear away. However, for safety, Jia Ming and the others covered the cave entrance, only opening a small gap to observe the situation outside through binoculars. Under such strong winds, the enemies on the opposite side of the island would be insane to come here for a sneak attack, but who could guarantee that they wouldn’t be crazy?

Inside the cave, firearms and grenades were piled high. The lights from the guns were removed and used for illumination. A fat man named Fu Yanjie sat at the very edge, occasionally observing the situation through binoculars. The Dongfang siblings were a little closer to the center, while Jia Ming and Ling Jing were in the back, fixing a bizarre-looking radio. It was a part of the radio that had been blown up on the boat, and they hadn’t finished repairing it before they brought it here. Jia Ming was dismantling a few walkie-talkies salvaged from the corpses and assembling them piece by piece, while also taking apart an assault rifle. Ling Jing put half of her blanket on Jia Ming, sitting beside him, saying she was helping, although there wasn’t much she could do except chat with him.

Their relationship was like a couple, yet also like childhood friends. At this moment, the other three didn’t have any deep thoughts about it. In this environment, they could only be grateful that they were still alive. They listened to the wind and rain outside, sitting idly, occasionally chatting and joking. Dongfang Wan worriedly asked about Mr. Yujinxia, who was still outside, and Ling Jing, smiling, gave a few perfunctory responses before glancing at Jia Ming with an ambiguous look. Fu Yanjie, the fat man, liked to tell jokes, often laughing himself before anyone else could.

Time passed in idle chatter and jokes. As dusk approached, the sky was as dark as night. Jia Ming replaced the fat man at the cave entrance. Ling Jing, wrapped in a blanket, went to sleep. She felt a bit regretful about having three extra people in the cave. If it were just her and Jia Ming, they could huddle together in this weather, and it wouldn’t be boring at all.

Soon after, Dongfang Wan took out a raincoat from the side of the cave and put it on. Then, she tied a rope around her waist. This was something they had discussed beforehand: if anyone needed to go out during the storm, they would do so like this, to avoid being swept away by the water flowing down from the mountain. She tied a beautiful bow knot around her waist and gave one end to her brother. Before she went out, Jia Ming pointed at the knot on her waist and frowned: “Uh, is that… securely tied?”

“Of course, it is.” Dongfang Wan responded coolly, still resentful about the fight from last time, before stepping out of the cave entrance. The storm raged outside, and it was pitch black. When she shone her flashlight, the water poured down from the mountain, splitting into two streams above the cave. Not far below, the low-lying area was almost flooded with water, forming a surging river. She was secretly surprised. She slowly made her way down the not-too-steep grassy slope, making sure that Jia Ming at the cave entrance couldn’t see her, before crouching down and removing her pants.

On the other hand, Dongfang Lu, holding the other end of the rope, sat beside Jia Ming and said with a smile, “Sorry, my sister seems to have some prejudice against you.”

“Yeah, I know.” Jia Ming shrugged. “It’s because of the fight last time.”

“Heh, that incident made her the laughingstock of her group of sisters. But my teacher thinks your tactics that time were very good. It was just the execution… heh…” They both shared a knowing smile. Dongfang Lu asked, “Jia Ming, you are very good at physics, aren’t you?”

“Heh, just an interest.” Pointing to the radio, Jia Ming chuckled. “I liked dismantling radios when I was little.”

“If you are so interested in this, why did you want to study medicine?”

“Uh, because…” Jia Ming shrugged, recalling the initial reason behind this goal. “Because a friend of mine used to like to fight and always got hurt.”

Dongfang Lu lowered his voice and laughed, “Was it your girlfriend?”

“Uh, kind of. But…”

Jia Ming didn’t think he needed to hide these things. After all, people could only be deceived with half-truths. However, before he could finish speaking, Dongfang Wan’s scream echoed through the wind and rain, and the rope suddenly tightened, then loosened abruptly. Dongfang Lu just wanted to get up, but Jia Ming pressed him down immediately. Then, he took the flashlight and rushed out, “You’re injured, hold onto the rope!”

In fact, Jia Ming wasn’t that worried about Dongfang Wan. If the rope had really loosened, it wouldn’t matter if Dongfang Lu went out. But the scream came first, and then the rope changed, indicating that Dongfang Wan must have been attacked first. Could it be that those guys were really insane and came to attack them? As he rushed out, he saw that Dongfang Wan’s flashlight had fallen down on the lower slope. Two figures were rolling down into the flooded river in the low-lying area.

Jia Ming’s eyes flashed with coldness. He held the rope, then quickly rushed down from above!

In fact, the attacker wasn’t specifically targeting them.

It was a mercenary. In last night’s battle, he had been shot twice and fainted on the spot. When Ruan Zonggan and the others retreated to the other side of the island, they left him there. When the rain began to fall today, he woke up from his faint and wanted to find somewhere to escape the storm. However, when the storm really came, the makeshift shelter he was hiding in was destroyed by the rain, and he was already in a lot of pain and groggy. He didn’t know how long he struggled in the storm, but when he was on the verge of death, he noticed a faint light coming from the slope on the side, so he crawled up the grass slope with all his might.

Visibility was already poor during this kind of sea storm, and the mercenary crawled up slowly. Dongfang Wan didn’t notice him either. Just as she had taken off her pants, a hand suddenly appeared in front of her. He didn’t grab the flashlight in her hand, but instead grabbed her pants. Dongfang Wan screamed in fright and lost her balance. Since the rope around her waist wasn’t very secure, she rolled down the slope with the mercenary.

The world was turned upside down. Dongfang Wan kicked her legs wildly, her forehead hitting a rock, causing her head to spin. She felt the water rushing in from all directions, pouring into her mouth and nose. She swallowed several mouthfuls of water. In the darkness, the outline of the man appeared in front of her, and he raised a dagger as if to stab her. Another figure suddenly passed in front of her.

The shadows crossed, and she seemed to see the figure again. The dagger pierced through the other person’s throat in an instant, and the enemy fell. Her consciousness went blank.

*******************************************************

The next day, Dongfang Wan looked at Jia Ming with a strange expression.

The storm was still raging outside the small cave. There was only one flashlight illuminating the dimly lit cave. Dongfang Wan was covered with a blanket. Her forehead was wrapped in a bandage, making it look like a hideous Arab. She had a bandage on her right leg as well. Her right ankle, which was dislocated and reset, was fixed with a few wooden boards, making her and Dongfang Lu the best embodiment of the idiom “难兄难妹” (nán xiōng nán mèi – literally “difficult brother, difficult sister,” meaning they both suffered the same misfortune).

The incident last night was finally confirmed to be caused by a heavily injured mercenary. Upon hearing from her brother about Jia Ming’s heroic actions, Dongfang Wan had mixed feelings. However, the fact that she was saved by a man she had always considered a coward wasn’t the main reason. There were more reasons behind it.

For example, her lower body was completely naked when he saved her. And because the rope wasn’t long enough, Jia Ming jumped into the current to save her, and they were swept away for dozens of meters before he managed to pull her to shore. They struggled in the storm for over twenty minutes before finally returning to the cave with the help of the others. Twenty minutes, which was enough time to give birth.

Having their first time under the roaring storm, this idea was actually quite romantic. Of course, Dongfang Wan didn’t think Jia Ming was that kind of pervert. Although the strong impact of the current did cause some pain… What troubled her more was the scene she saw before she fainted. According to her brother, Jia Ming simply said he pushed the injured mercenary away. However, she distinctly remembered seeing Mr. Yujinxia’s killing scene.

It was too dark to see people clearly, but the impact of that sight was indelible even in her unconscious state. She knew some basic martial arts. The power and speed of that strike were perfect. She could even see the tip of the blade piercing through the enemy’s throat from the other side—was it a hallucination? Or was he trying to hide his fear after killing someone? Or…

Just thinking about that possibility made her feel like she must have hit her head and gotten brain damage. It must have been a hallucination, because after she woke up, he had been acting completely normal, not at all like someone who had killed someone.

The whole day on the tenth, time passed by monotonously in the storm. Dongfang Wan had caught a cold from being soaked in the rain yesterday. She felt a little better after taking medicine and chatted with Ling Jing intermittently, but her conversation inevitably turned towards Jia Ming. She casually mentioned some funny stories about Jia Ming, herself, and Sha Sha from their childhood. Dongfang Lu listened on the side, occasionally chiming in. As they reminisced about these interesting things, Ling Jing felt a surge of excitement. She occasionally looked at Jia Ming, who was still adjusting the radio, and thought, “We’ve come through so many stories together.” Every single detail, every single moment, when recalled, would bring a sense of happiness.

That night, the radio was finally restored, and on the eleventh, the storm began to abate. Jia Ming and Dongfang Lu organized the guns in the cave. At noon, a red light suddenly lit up on the radio, and a set of international Morse code signals came through.

“This is… China… East China Sea Fleet… 104 Incident Special Rescue Team… approaching island location… east longitude ***.***, north latitude ***.***…”

The one who read out the signal was actually Fu, the fat man who had been hiding away and afraid to touch the guns. He shrank his neck when he saw everyone looking at him. “Uh, that… I’m interested in computers and electronics. I’m not good with hardware, but I know Morse code… heh…”

Jia Ming smiled faintly, took the radio, and began to send a message from their end.

*********************************************************

Although the storm had weakened, the waves were still crashing violently on the shore. The five of them emerged from the forest carrying the canvas that served as their tent. The sea wind was biting cold. On the other side of the sea, the clouds had parted, revealing a patch of sunlight, symbolizing the approaching end of the storm. On the sea, five warships of various sizes broke through the waves and anchored in the nearby waters. Following them were a number of small landing craft.

“By the way, are we really not waiting for Mr. Yujinxia?” Looking back towards the forest, Dongfang Lu asked. Jia Ming smiled faintly, “We can’t find him anyway. We left a message at the camp, and the army will be landing on the island to hunt down the remaining mercenaries. With such a grand show, he’ll know. ”

Dongfang Lu nodded, “If we tell them what happened, the army shouldn’t make things difficult for him. I really want to see this Mr. Yujinxia’s real face.”

Jia Ming and Ling Jing nodded vigorously. Dongfang Wan looked at Jia Ming’s rather silly nod and frowned, before turning back to look at the forest.

As they spoke, the first landing craft reached the shore, and fully armed soldiers jumped off under the leadership of Cui Guohua. Then came the second.

As the third landing craft reached the shore, the first figure to disembark was a young woman wearing a raincoat, but she was knocked over by a wave that suddenly surged forward. Then, she emerged from the water and ran towards them in a familiar pose to Jia Ming and Ling Jing. In an instant, Ling Jing’s tears streamed down her face as she rushed towards her, her voice choked with sobs, echoing in the sea wind.

“Sha Sha—”

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