EM Chapter 15. Fierce Battle

Fu Shanming had thrown all his strength into that stab, and he had hit the same wounded spot. Song Feng’s left arm now flared with pain at the slightest movement, essentially out of commission.

The speedboat kept pace, closing in on the yacht. The ship loomed dark ahead, with only the cockpit glowing faintly, clearly prepared for a fight.

Xiao Mingxuan and Song Feng’s eyes had already adjusted to the darkness. With the help of that dim light, they could vaguely make out a few human figures.

Xiao Mingxuan held his gun and said, “I can see five. What about you?”

“Five,” Song Feng said, narrowing his eyes as he scanned the deck.

“Left three are mine. You take the two on the right. Anyone else, we improvise.”

Song Feng gave a short grunt of acknowledgment, eyes locked on their target. They both knew the pursuers would be delayed dealing with Fu Shanming and wouldn’t catch up just yet. The men on the yacht likely hadn’t spotted them. The sea here was vast and dark. If they wanted to flee, now was the time, but the traitor was on that boat. This was the best shot they had. If they missed, there might not be another.

They drew closer. The men above could now hear the speedboat approaching and began moving, preparing to strike.

Xiao Mingxuan took a breath. “Now!”

Both men opened fire. Gunshots rang out sharp and loud in the darkness, muzzle flashes flaring briefly with each pull of the trigger.

After a few rounds, Xiao Mingxuan had dropped two. Song Feng took down one and injured another. His calf was grazed by a stray bullet, but he could still move. He crouched lower and grinned.

“Hey, Boss. Not bad. Your aim’s solid.”

The men on the yacht, spooked by the sudden assault, didn’t dare expose themselves. They ducked out of sight and returned fire blindly into the sea.

Xiao Mingxuan kept the boat steady and drove straight toward the yacht.

“This is not the time for small talk.”

Song Feng ducked even lower, listening to bullets slap the water around them. “Come on, let me talk. What if I never get the chance again?”

“Don’t jinx it. Aside from the traitor and the one already injured, they’ve only got two men still able to fight. We can handle them.”

The night was murky, visibility no more than twenty meters. As the speedboat drew closer, the men on board began to see them more clearly. Their aim was much better now. Song Feng stood at the bow. His thigh and arm were soon grazed by stray bullets. He hissed a few times in pain and couldn’t help cursing. While firing back, he complained, “Why did you insist on grabbing that pistol back then?”

“Because there was nothing else,” Xiao Mingxuan replied calmly. He fired a quick shot and hit one man in the hand. The gun flew from the man’s grasp, and the impact jerked his body just enough to expose him. Song Feng spotted the opening and fired, a clean headshot. That side fell momentarily silent. He tossed his gun aside. “Out of bullets.”

“I’ve got three rounds left.” Xiao Mingxuan weighed the pistol in his hand. By now, they were almost parallel to the yacht. He stared upward. “There’s one left besides the traitor. Do you see a way to climb up? If you can get close, then—” His pupils suddenly contracted.

He twisted the wheel sharply, steering the speedboat straight at the yacht. Then he sprinted forward, grabbed Song Feng, and leapt into the sea.

In that flash of a moment, Song Feng caught sight of a grenade trailing thick smoke as it flew toward the boat. Thanks to Xiao Mingxuan’s last-second turn, the grenade hit the rear engine. A burst of fire exploded upward, then carried forward and slammed into the yacht with a heavy, deafening roar.

Water swallowed his vision. The explosion thundered across the surface just as he caught a glimpse of blinding flames, then a powerful shockwave dragged him under.

Fu Shanming’s lips trembled. Blood kept pouring from his left shoulder, and the cold was starting to seep in. His men gathered around him, faces tense with worry.

“Boss, maybe we should…”
Fu Shanming turned to look at him. His eyes gleamed cold and sharp in the dark. The man immediately went quiet.

“Faster. Catch up to them,” Fu Shanming ordered.

He couldn’t tell the men on the yacht to leave them alive. Doing so would only make them hesitate, giving those two the upper hand. But he had just asked one of his men, and confirmed there was a grenade launcher on board.

A few sporadic gunshots rang out from across the water. His gaze turned even more vicious.

“Faster. We absolutely cannot let them die like this. Absolutely not.”

He practically ground out the final words. His men shivered inwardly. If those two really did die tonight and left their boss with nowhere to vent the twisted urges burning in his chest, they might all end up paying the price.

Suddenly, the gunfire in the distance stopped. A flash of light burst across the sky.

They saw it clearly and gasped in unison. The speedboat had slammed into the yacht, and a second later, smoke erupted. The entire vessel exploded, lighting up half the sky in a blazing fireball.

The speedboat fell silent. No one dared look at Fu Shanming. His expression had twisted with rage.

“Search…” he started, but the final word never left his lips. The blood loss had drained him. His body gave out, and he blacked out on the spot.

His men panicked. With no time to check for survivors, they turned the boat around and rushed back to the pier to get him to a hospital.

Out on the water, debris floated everywhere. Pieces of the shattered hull were still burning.

Xiao Mingxuan grabbed hold of a section of deck and used it to drag Song Feng to the surface.

Song Feng coughed hard, clinging to Xiao Mingxuan’s arm.

“Shit, that hurts.”

“Quiet,” Xiao Mingxuan cut him off under his breath.

His chest was covered in lash wounds, and the seawater made it burn like hell. He clenched his teeth in silence and listened intently.

“It sounds like they haven’t caught up,” he murmured.

Song Feng quieted too, frowning. “That’s not right. Knowing Fu Shanming, unless he sees our corpses with his own eyes, he’d never pull back so easily.”

“I fired a shot before he jumped into the water,” Xiao Mingxuan said. “No idea where it landed.”

“I really hope he’s already dead…” Song Feng exhaled and glanced around, using the faint firelight for visibility. Not far off on the left, someone was clinging to a floating plank, gasping for breath. He narrowed his eyes. “Hey, my left arm’s useless. Can you still move?”

Xiao Mingxuan looked in that direction, gave a nod, and let go of the board to swim over. The man was still coughing and scanning the area warily. As expected, he spotted them and immediately tried to swim away. He appeared to be injured and wasn’t moving fast. Song Feng kept watching, eyes narrowed. He soon saw Xiao Mingxuan catch up. There was a splash of water, then everything gradually went still. Xiao Mingxuan surfaced a moment later. Song Feng shifted to a better angle and saw the man’s body floating where he had been, drowned by Xiao Mingxuan with his bare hands.

“He’s definitely dead,” Xiao Mingxuan said as he swam back. “Mission complete.”

“Finally, some good news…” Song Feng slumped over the board. “Don’t forget to pay me when we get back. And count in Fu Shanming’s drug money too. Add that to your tab.”

“You’ll need to make it back alive for that to matter.” Xiao Mingxuan looked around. There was no sign of the last remaining man, who had likely been killed in the explosion.

Song Feng muttered weakly, “Don’t have to tell me. I know this is the doldrums near the equator. Most days the sea’s calm and the current’s slow. We won’t drift far. If Fu Shanming survived and brings his men back in the morning, we won’t stand a chance. And if that happens, who knows, maybe we’ll both end up getting fucked by him.”

Xiao Mingxuan shivered. “Shut up.”

Song Feng imagined the scene and felt sick.

The last embers glowing from the debris faded. In the darkness, only vague outlines could be seen. Even though the temperature near the equator didn’t fluctuate much between day and night, staying soaked in seawater still brought a chill. He shivered involuntarily.

Xiao Mingxuan pulled him into his arms, pressing him against the warmth of his chest.

“Shame you’re not a hot woman… Not that I’m turning you down,” Song Feng muttered, and yanked him closer. “If I hadn’t saved your ass, I’d be in bed with a beauty right now. You owe me.”

Xiao Mingxuan glanced at him. “Don’t go blaming me when you’re the one who started it. If not for your report, I wouldn’t have come here in the first place.”

“That’s on you for being dumb,” Song Feng shot back. “You were a drug lord for two years and couldn’t even lie properly? All you had to do was say you didn’t know the guy was an undercover agent from Thailand.”

“I did,” Xiao Mingxuan said. “But he already had his suspicions. Then he noticed the men I brought looked like they had military training. I told him they were just recently discharged and I’d hired them, but that only made him more suspicious. Everything that happened in Myanmar was too convenient. He had plenty of reason to think I was with the Chinese government. Better to kill the wrong man than let the right one go. You should understand that.”

Song Feng gave a nod and didn’t press further. Things went quiet for a while. The salt in the water had started to numb his wounds. Both his legs were injured and the pain was becoming unbearable. Xiao Mingxuan was soaked to the chest, the saltwater burning across the lash marks. He glanced back. “How’s your shoulder?”

“Can’t even feel the pain anymore,”

Xiao Mingxuan sighed. “I’ve never been in such a miserable state.”

“Heh, this isn’t even my worst.” Song Feng paused, then shook his head. “Forget it. Doesn’t matter.”

Xiao Mingxuan asked suddenly, “Why’d you become a mercenary?”

“I like it.”

“That’s it?”

“What else? Life’s short. Might as well do what you enjoy. That way, when I kick the bucket, I won’t have any regrets.”

“Aren’t you afraid of dying before that?”

Song Feng clicked his tongue. “Isn’t that why I’m trying so hard to stay alive?”

Xiao Mingxuan listened in silence, responding only now and then. With someone to talk to, the long, cold night didn’t seem quite so unbearable. Several hours passed, and the sun finally rose again. The sky brightened, and a new round of suffering began.

Song Feng licked his cracked lips. “How hot do you think it is now?”

Xiao Mingxuan’s lips were pale. His voice came out hoarse. “This is the equator. What do you think?”

“I don’t want to die. Why isn’t there a boat in sight? I wouldn’t even care if I had to sleep with a psycho.”

“If he catches us, death would be a mercy,” Xiao Mingxuan said, his throat burning with every breath. “Save your strength. Don’t talk.”

He paused. “Wait. A boat?”

Song Feng turned his head, squinting into the distance. “It’s a private yacht. Judging from the direction, it looks like…”

He fell silent. His expression turned blank.

“Alor Setar,” Xiao Mingxuan finished.

Neither of them had the strength to move. All they could do was watch as the yacht approached, then slowed to a stop nearby. Song Feng looked up. A man stood on the deck, sharp-featured and composed, gazing down at him.

“I was gone for just one day. How did you manage to end up like this?”

Tears welled in Song Feng’s eyes. “Boss…”

Shao Xiujie told his men to pull them aboard. Then he turned away and took a phone call. After answering with a single word, he glanced back at them.

“Fu Shanming is coming.”