Hidden Assassin

Chapter 8 – Exchange

TL: Milaryn

Edit: IlkonEbi

“Uncle… Can I please switch positions with them?”

With that one sentence, no matter if they were the bandits, hostages or bystanders, everyone stared at him incredulously. Both the scarred man and the triangular-eyed man smiled and scoffed at him, “Ha, today we met a real life Lei Feng^[1]! Look at this kid! He’s only this young and already knows what it means to be the hero rescuing the beauty. Stop moving!”

Jiaming stopped, then first pointed at Zhang Yahan, “It’s because she’s my sister, and she…” He pointed at Lingjing, paused, then quietly said while blushing, “She’s my girlfriend. I don’t want anything to happen to them, so please… Uncle, you want a hostage, I’ll switch with them. I’m begging you…”

‘Girlfriend’ was something he intentionally mumbled, but it was still clearly heard by everyone. Lingjing’s eyes shined brightly as she spoke in a choked voice, “J-jiaming don’t come over here…”

However, Jiaming continued to slowly shuffle towards them. The two robbers looked at each other, unable to make up their mind when Huang Haoyun suddenly rushed out and said, “W-wait, I am Huang family’s…”

“Don’t come over here! Did you want to die!?” A child approaching them was one thing, but an adult coming over was naturally another situation. When Huang Haoyun spoke up, the scarred man’s gun went up and aimed at him. It scared him so much he raised both hands in surrender and did not continue to say anything. While this happened, Jiaming had already walked close enough to them.

“Bro.” The triangular-eyed man tilted his head and said, “I say we should swap the one you have right now with the kid. It might be troublesome with an adult.”

“Hmph, what are you talking about?”

The scarred man looked at the woman he was holding and secretly hesitated. He actually had another reason for keeping her – this lady was the most beautiful out of all of them. The two of them had stolen a large quantity of money and expected to spend some time in the mountains until the situation calmed down. If they had a woman, their days would pass by better. He was still considering it when Zhang Yahan heard what they were discussing and objected, “No! I refuse to swap!”

“Shut up, you have no say!” The scarred man snapped at her, then pointing the gun at Jiaming’s head, he pushed Zhang Yahan away. Jiaming gently took Lingjing’s hand and quietly said, “Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.”

Lingjing nodded through her tears, “I’m not scared…”

“Holy sh*t, this is the first time I’ve seen such a hero and it’s a kid.”

The triangular-eyed man let out an emotional sigh and then the four of them headed off towards the mountain. At that moment, Liu Huaisha rushed out, “Let me swap with Lingjing!”

Before the two bandits could react, Jiaming yelled at her, “Shasha you stay there, call the police so they can rescue us.”

Hearing those words, the little girl stopped and started crying loudly. The scarred man patted Jiaming on the shoulder, “Huh, you really know what to say. Let me tell you, since we are able to do these things, naturally we’re not scared if you call the police. Go report it!”

The four of them had already moved around ten metres and were about to enter the forest when Zhang Yahan suddenly rushed out and ram towards them. The scarred man instantly turned his gun and aimed at her forehead, “What the f*ck are you doing! You really want to die? Don’t think I won’t shoot you!”

“I want to come with you!” She was trembling as she said this, but her eyes showed a fierce determination, “I cannot let two children go with you. Either swap them for me or bring me along!”

“Just what is happening today…” The scarred man could only stare disbelievingly, “Everyone wants to be a real life Lei Feng. If anyone else wants to come over, I’m going to shoot!”

“Then shoot.”

Zhang Yahan’s thoughts and feelings were clashing internally, but she lined herself up with the gun and fiercely said, “Kill me or take me with you, I will not allow the children to go with you…”

Jiaming looked at the gun pointing at Zhang Yahan, then glanced at the hunting knife on the scarred man’s belt. If he were to act right now, he calculated there would be around a 70% chance that he could dispatch the man before he fired the gun, but Lingjing was currently by his side and there were too many spectators… Thinking quickly, he loudly scolded, “Get lost, you smelly woman. Who needs your help? Get back to Huang Haoyun and warm his bed instead!”

With this verbal abuse, Zhang Yahan only glanced at him silently. There was a world of difference between killing someone and kidnapping, so the scarred man did not dare to shoot so easily. He retreated a couple of steps, looked briefly at the sky then gritted his teeth and said, “Fine. You want to come along right? Are those tents on the floor? Go bring two over!”

He was referring to the vacation bags on the ground that had tents in them. Zhang Yahan nodded, went over and took Jiaming and Lingjing’s bags. She whispered to the crying Liu Huaisha, “Remember to call the police.” When she was about to return to the bandits, Huang Haoyun grabbed her arm and anxiously said, “Yahan, you can’t go with them!”

“Let go!” Zhang Yahan shook him off, “You’re nothing compared to the children!”

With those words, she ran towards the four of them.

In the afternoon, the clouds started to gather in the sky and it looked like it would start raining at any moment.

The five of them entered the mountain’s woods. Yahan was wearing a backpack; behind her was the scarred man, then Jiaming carrying a vacation bag while holding Lingjing’s hand and pulling her along. The triangular-eyed man with the short barrel gun was the last person, walking behind Lingjing. Jiaming quietly gritted his teeth as they moved forward.

This stupid meddlesome self-sacrificial woman!

Originally he had planned that if it was just Lingjing and him, there would be many chances to handle the two bandits along the way. Because Lingjing was still young and they were so familiar with each other, if he showed his skills this one time, he was confident that it would be easy to have her keep it a secret. But now that an additional stranger was there, the bandits were definitely more alert. If he were to make a move, he would also have to somehow hide it from Zhang Yahan so it looked like he would only be able to act during night time for now.

On the other side, Lingjing’s inner thoughts were relatively chaotic with hints of sweetness. Even though she was only thirteen, she was at the age where the stirrings of love could begin. Every time she thought of Jiaming’s words, her hands and face would start feeling very hot even though the effect was reduced due to the current situation. When she thought of Jiaming’s calm and confident “Everything will be ok”, the little girl really felt that as long as she was with Jiaming, nothing would happen and she did not need to be afraid.

Of the five people, Zhang Yahan was the only one running out of energy and had to force herself to continue as the two robbers kept up a fast pace. Jiaming and Lingjing ran every morning for training, so their stamina was better than that of regular adults and they did not have any problems. Originally, if they wanted to be rescued, they should have slowed down and dragged out the travel time, however Jiaming personally did not place much hope on the police and just followed along meekly. Later on, the two bandits were fed up with him, because when he was asked questions, he would either look timid and afraid or stammer and tear up.

“Hmph, this guy is still just a kid.”

It was evening now, and the triangular-eyed man continued, “Even though he was afraid, he still came along. If my son had that much guts, I would be very satisfied. Relax, we’re only looking to get rich, as long as we successfully escape we won’t kill anyone.”

Jiaming thought to himself, ‘Hope you savor that satisfaction because your son is going to be an orphan soon.’He said instead, “If you guys want money, why didn’t you find sis Yahan? She’s part of Jianghai’s Zhang family and they’re very rich. Tens of thousands of kuai shouldn’t be anything to them.”

When he said that, the bandits suddenly stopped and Zhang Yahan paled as she turned her head to look at him. Jiaming waved his hands frantically while looking guilty about saying the wrong thing, “Ah! I… I… I was just joking… It’s… It’s not…”

“Ha, so we caught ourselves a big fish!”

The triangular-eyed man looked towards Zhang Yahan as his eyes flashed in delight. The scarred man nodded his head and said to Jiaming, “Based on what you just said, she’s not actually your sister then.”

Jiaming could only respond, “She’s my sworn sister.”

At that moment, thunder sounded loudly and the clouds burst open as large raindrops started pouring down.

[1] Lei Feng was a legendary communist soldier in China and a propaganda poster boy for selflessness, modesty and devotion to Mao – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lei_Feng for additional references.

Cue the rainstorm with lightning and thunder.

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