Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Lunch was ready. Now that they have come upon the deserted island, they had plenty of supplies.
There were burdock soup, various barbecued meats, and grilled fish. Big Quinn had also prepared teppanyaki squid using a clean iron plate. They had harvested plenty of squid from the sea. Squid was generally not very tasty, and preparing it teppanyaki-style was the most popular.
The fresh squid was cooked and grilled to completion. Then, orange-red sauce was poured over it and sprinkled with some golden-yellowish sesame. Li Du took a bite of it and enjoyed the taste.
Outside the camp and next to the swamp, the villagers who were tied up were cold and hungry. They could only swallow their saliva.
At noon, the sun shone brightly, although the fog had yet to dissipate. However, the fog was no longer so dense. They were now able to see beyond several hundred meters.
Steve followed suit and picked up a piece of squid. Sipping his beer and eating grilled squid, Steve squatted in front of Andrey and asked in a muffled voice, “Buddy, you’re still not talking? If you don’t then you won’t get any food to eat.”
Andrey looked up and peered at him. He finally spoke up, “I know only a little. Besides, I can’t tell. If I do, I will be killed. I know you guys aren’t bad people. Please have mercy. Can you let me off? I will definitely do my best as a guide from now on!”
Hearing that, Li Du knew that Steve had won. Andrey would have to tell them everything he knew. He would not be able to keep his mouth shut anymore.
Steve grinned and said, “You guessed right. We are not bad people. We are law-abiding civilians. But we are law-abiding civilians with connections and money and power.”
“You got off the wrong foot from the start, buddy. Even if you succeed in your plans, you guys won’t have it easy. The people who stand behind us will look you guys up and torture you.”
Andrey turned pale. He believed Steve’s words. Trapped and surrounded by his people, who looked well-prepared to fight, Andrey knew that he was in deep trouble this time.
Steve continued, “Tell us whatever you know. We will deal with those who wanted us dead. Then you would be safe from them.”
Andrey was distraught. “What if you guys cannot deal with them?”
Steve laughed. “Then you’ll be dead. You’d better pray that we succeed and assist us in any way you can. Otherwise, before we look them up, we will kill you first.”
Li Du shot him a look and Big Quinn walked over and said nonchalantly, “Boss, why waste your energy on him? From what I see, this dude is no toughie. Let me and my men work on him. At most, we’d chop off his four limbs. By then, he will definitely spill the beans!”
Big Quinn had a scary look and when he acted like a gangster, it made him even more frightening.
Steve took another bite of the squid. He smiled and told Andrey, “We need to know what you know. If you won’t tell me, you can talk to my subordinates.”
Andrey looked up again, helplessly. He said, “I’ll speak. I’ll tell you guys whatever I know. However, I do not know much. Hope you guys believe me.”
“Go on.”
Andrey swallowed and said, “I’ve only interacted with them two days ago. They claimed to be scavengers picking stuff up on the island. I don’t know how they got your information, but they said that you guys are very rich and brought many things to the island.”
“They then ganged up with the villagers from the southern coast to rob you guys. The villagers looted the supplies while those guys took the money. If I joined them, they would give me a huge sum of money.”
“How much would that be?” Brother Wolf interrupted to ask.
Andrey replied, “At least twenty million rubles! I didn’t have a choice, gentlemen, please pity me. My daughter, Sasha, had contracted leukemia. It is chronic myeloid leukemia. This illness is so expensive to treat! I don’t have much money, I only wanted to be able to pay for my daughter’s treatment.”
Steve mocked him, “And you’re okay with any means of getting that money, even if it means you’ve got to kill people?”
Andrey protested, “No, we did not want to kill anyone. We only wanted to loot some stuff. You guys are foreigners and there is no police here, so you would have no choice but accept the loss after you found out. It’s true; we did not have the intention to kill anyone!”
Steve hummed, “You didn’t want to kill anyone, but what about those so-called scavengers? Ha!”
Li Du looked at Andrey with suspicion and said, “You only know this much?”
Andrey nodded hurriedly and said, “That’s right. No more than that.”
Li Du asked again, “And still you’re worried that you’ll be killed if they know you talked to?”
Andrey looked at them helplessly and he said, “That’s how they threatened me. Just like you guys, they also have guns and they looked like assassins. How would I have the gall to offend people like that?”
Li Du looked at Brother Wolf and asked softly, “Can we trust his words?”
Brother Wolf replied, “I think so. He sounds like an honest, pitiful man.”
In the past, Brother Wolf would never have pitied his enemies. However, after he delisted, he had become a father himself. Andrey’s position was similar to his and hence, Brother Wolf empathized with him.
Li Du went over to release Andrey from the ropes and threw him a piece of bread and a bottle of water. Andrey rushed to grab the food and then went to the back of the car silently to hide.
Li Du was stuck. What would he do with the villagers? He could not possibly kill them all. According to Andrey, the villagers had only wanted to loot his things and they had no intention to harm him.
Even if the villagers did mean to kill, Li Du could not bear to kill those people anyway.
Steve connected with the rest of the party, who had stayed behind in the village. They had rented some houses as a daily base and were worried that the villagers would attack those houses too.
The news Steve received was positive. The villagers did conduct themselves suspiciously but did not attack. The villagers had given those who stayed behind food, and it turned out that the food contained sleeping pills. Several bodyguards had been very vigilant and did not eat the food but fed it to dogs. As the villagers realized that their conspiracy had been revealed, they were all too afraid to leave their houses.
Young Ford spoke up, “We had better release them. In any case, we won’t kill them.”
“Release them? That sounds too soft. These b*stards would become arrogant,” his older brother said.
Steve said, “Or we can give them some pills to eat and tell them that it’s poison. They would run back in fright and rush to the village to look for a cure.”
Li Du thought for a moment before saying, “In that case, why don’t we just control them using drugs? We can get them to do work for us. Anyway, we are here to look for meteorites and still need to go after those guys who were behind all this. It will be easier if we have greater numbers.”
“But these people are not easy to control. First, they might not be stupid enough to believe our words. Even if they do, what if they cause trouble for us in the future?”
Li Du replied, “Let’s first go hunt for those scavengers and see these people’s performance. We can get them to deal with the scavengers. If there’s something suspicious, we can kill them and then use the scavengers as scapegoats. Wouldn’t that be perfect?”
Steve and the rest exchanged looks. “That’s ruthless enough! I like that!”
