Chapter 153: Slain in a Single Blow

Without a doubt, one of them would enter first, followed by two guarding the threshold with their weapons raised, while another pair kept their sights trained inside the room. It was standard tactical procedure, yet virtually flawless. As they were about to breach his room, Chen Cao considered taking out the first intruder and quickly slamming the door shut. However, dealing with the remaining five outside would require Flower Buddha to step in. If Flower Buddha wasn't a fool, he would surely rush over to provide suppressing fire the moment he heard gunfire. Yet, forcing Flower Buddha to take on five men alone—no matter how formidable his skills—would place immense pressure on him. Furthermore, these were well-trained mercenaries, every bit as capable as Chen Cao and Flower Buddha himself.

Time waited for no one. Soon, the door to his room creaked open. Guided by the beams of their weapon-mounted flashlights, the barrels of their guns crossed the threshold first. Chen Cao abruptly altered his mental plan, quietly shifting his body toward the corner near the door instead of ambushing the first man to step through as he had originally intended. Even so, the room was instantly illuminated. At this rate, Chen Cao would be exposed directly in their sights within seconds. Should the first man manage to cry out, a hail of bullets would instantly tear through the space.

Yet, at this critical juncture, Flower Buddha's voice rang out from nearby.

"Hey, you idiots, I'm over here!" Flower Buddha's tone dripped with mockery. The mercenaries outside immediately swung their weapons away, pivoting toward the source of the voice and pulling their triggers. Instantly, gunfire flashed in the darkness, and a deafening chorus of shots erupted. A sharp glint of realization flashed in Chen Cao's mind; he was not about to squander this opportunity. With a swift pivot, he locked his arm around the neck of the mercenary inside the room, drove his dagger deep into his throat, and slashed hard. A torrent of hot blood immediately gushed forth. Wasting no time, Chen Cao raised his pistol and fired blindly toward the doorway. At a distance this close, tactical refinement no longer mattered; he only needed to pump rounds directly into his targets.

The skirmish concluded swiftly. The mercenaries outside had never expected Chen Cao to hold his nerve so completely and strike them from behind. By the time Chen Cao emptied his pistol magazine, the corridor was littered with corpses. He rapidly slapped in a fresh magazine and immediately assessed the results of his efforts.

Flower Buddha was nowhere to be seen. Without hesitation, Chen Cao began inspecting the bodies one by one: one inside the room, four on the ground outside. Something was wrong—one of them was missing. *Damn it, the bald bastard got away.* The thought barely flickered across his mind before the sharp crack of a gunshot echoed near his ear.

It was the report of a sniper rifle. Chen Cao instinctively recognized it as Flower Buddha's fire. Though not entirely certain yet, he prudently chose to dive back into the room for cover.

Once the shot faded, absolute silence returned. As Chen Cao hesitated inside the room, Flower Buddha's voice finally called out: "Haha, Chen, my friend, it's all taken care of! Come on out!"

Chen Cao immediately pieced together what had happened. This bastard had used him as bait. Flower Buddha had been observing the situation the entire time, and after shouting that distraction, he had slipped into the shadows to let Chen Cao do the heavy lifting. A wave of irritation washed over him. Still, looking at the bigger picture, it worked out; that gunshot undoubtedly belonged to Flower Buddha, and his target was almost certainly the bald man. Moreover, Flower Buddha's tactic was unquestionably the most effective one with the highest chance of success, so Chen Cao chose not to hold a grudge.

Flower Buddha soon strolled up to the doorway of the room. Chen Cao pushed the door open and saw Flower Buddha rummaging through the gear on the corpses. "Did you get that bald bastard?" Chen Cao asked.

Flower Buddha straightened up with an air of absolute confidence, tossing the sniper rifle in his hand with a smug flourish. "A bullet straight through the skull! At a few dozen meters, how hard could it be?"

Chen Cao offered no further comment. He knelt down to search the bodies, though not for weapons; he was hoping to find some rations. Fortunately, he recovered several packs of beef jerky and two packs of cigarettes from their pockets and pouches, which would temporarily stave off their hunger.

After quickly rifling through the remaining corpses, Flower Buddha muttered in annoyance, "Damn it, damn it! These guys don't have any gems on them, and they only have a few hundred US dollars—not even enough for a plane ticket!"

Seeing Flower Buddha's avaricious expression, Chen Cao chuckled and teased, "Flower Buddha, did you expect them to be carrying a fortune like you? They look like organized mercenaries, not treasure hunters; they wouldn't walk around with too much wealth. Besides, they were just here to secure this warship."

"Is that so?" Flower Buddha's expression softened. He slapped the back of his head and exclaimed, "Whoa, Chen, we need to go check out our spoils of war first!"

Naturally, Chen Cao knew the spoils Flower Buddha referred to were the speedboats, but remembering that Stanley and the others were still hiding aboard, he called out, "Flower Buddha, you go check the mechanics first. I'll go get Stanley and the rest."

Sensing victory close at hand, Flower Buddha wore a look of eager excitement. Soon, they would be able to pilot the speedboat and escape this jungle. Once they cashed out the gems, he would net at least ten million US dollars—this trip had certainly been worth it. Without delay, he headed toward the speedboats to inspect them.

Stepping over the corpses, Chen Cao made his way toward the third-tier deck. To avoid startling them and triggering an accidental discharge, he stopped at a safe distance and called out, "It's Chen Cao! You can come out now."

A long silence followed, with no movement from the others. Unwilling to act rashly, Chen Cao raised his voice again toward the deck, "I'm Chen Cao! Stanley, come out!"

At last, Stanley's trembling voice drifted over. "B-Boss... is it over? Did we win?"

Facing Stanley's perpetual cowardice, Chen Cao sighed in resignation and replied, "Yes, everything is taken care of."

Hearing this, Stanley poked his head out from the side of the deck. He bobbed back and forth like a timid turtle, ducking in and retracting his head three or four times before finally confirming it was Chen Cao. Clutching his weapon, he hurried over and said, "Boss, thank goodness! I stayed right here protecting them the whole time!"

Watching Stanley's comical performance, Chen Cao smiled helplessly and asked, "Alright, where are the others?"

Standing at attention, Stanley answered, "Inside the cabin. I was keeping watch on the deck!"

Chen Cao knew full well that Stanley's position on the deck was merely a cowardly precaution to minimize his own target profile and reduce his chance of death to absolute zero while avoiding any real danger. Cutting straight to the point, Chen Cao remarked, "Stanley, standing out in the open like this on the deck—do you realize how easy it would be for a sniper to pick you off?"

Stanley's expression froze. He instantly realized Chen Cao had seen right through his ruse. His face flushed a mixture of red and white, leaving him momentarily speechless.

Without wasting any more breath, Chen Cao walked straight up to the cabin door and unlatched it. The moment the door swung open, Lu Tianming, seated nearest to the entrance, sprang to his feet with his weapon raised, his hands trembling as he aimed the barrel at Chen Cao. "Is... is that Chen?"

Chen Cao sidestepped, pushed the muzzle of Lu Tianming's gun downward, and said, "It's me, Old Lu. Time is short; we need to evacuate immediately."