Extra, Chapter 421: Toward the Other Side (1)

The same instant Kang Chan pulled the trigger, the truck lurched, and a clump of mud splashed against the window of the driver’s seat.

Bang!

Kang Chan continued to click the trigger.

Web-like cracks spread across the passenger-side window.

Creak! Screech! Clunk!

Amid the screeches, the truck’s lurches, and the enemies jumping out of their vehicle, Kang Chan couldn’t find any time to think.

If they came running, he and Enzo would be swiftly joining the pile of their comrades’ bodies on the side of the truck.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

With each pull of the trigger, enemy heads snapped back and splattered blood.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Kang Chan killed three more.

Du du du! Clang, clang! Thud! Clang! Du du du du! Pow pow pow pow!

At that moment, the enemy returned fire, hitting the burning truck and making the surrounding dirt splatter wildly.

Kang Chan quickly ducked down.

“

Argh

!”

Enzo pushed himself up on his elbows from his prone position.

“Give me a gun!”

Kang Chan supposed it wasn’t right to just let him die. He quickly handed Enzo one of the rifles that he had been keeping at his side.

“Watch out for their RPGs!” Enzo warned.

The truck did end up like this because of the RPG that their opponents had fired from the hillside.

Kang Chan turned to Enzo, who was gritting his teeth. His eyes were bloodshot.

“Let’s pull back,” Enzo stated.

“Where?” Kang Chan asked.

“They have no sniper! Let’s get back to the truck before the RPGs come flying at us again!”

Clatter!

Kang Chan jumped up and slung his rifle on his back. He then moved behind Enzo and stuck his hands under his armpits.

Clunk!

Enzo left a long trail of blood on their path as Kang Chan dragged him away. Nevertheless, he kept his rifle aimed at their enemies. By the time they were finally five meters away from the truck, countless flies had already stuck to his legs, buzzing as if to complain.

“Stop!” Enzo commanded, and Kang Chan followed.

They were in a pretty good location. After all, they weren’t directly visible from the hill or the oncoming truck anymore.

“This place stinks,” Enzo grumbled.

Shit!

Kang Chan had been smelling rotting corpses nonstop since they left the base. The burning rubber smell from their ruined truck only made it worse

“They’re sending just enough troops to wipe us out without the risk of casualties on their end. That will allow them to claim that they tried to offer us protection but we refused.”

The enemies weren’t budging from behind the truck.

Vrooom!

Soon, another truck came out of the hills. It was hard to tell from here, but there seemed to be a gap somewhere in the terrain that could hide two trucks—no, it had to be much wider than that.

Why aren’t they firing any RPGs, though?

As if reading Kang Chan’s mind, Enzo said, “They’re out for blood revenge, which means they’re determined to kill us by decapitation, whether it’s with a knife or a swift kill with a bayonet. Regardless, they’re going to use blades on us.”

Enzo made a throat-slitting motion with his hand, which made his explanation easier to understand. Kang Chan couldn’t help but think that this was an unexpectedly great learning environment.

Kang Chan smirked, and Enzo looked at him in disbelief.

“Can I smoke, sir?” Kang Chan asked.

“Well, we have time before they reach us,” Enzo replied.

Pulling out cigarettes from the left pocket of his shirt, Kang Chan put one in Enzo’s mouth first before lifting the pack to his mouth and biting one out.

Clunk! Hiss!

“You found oil to pour?” Enzo asked.

“The one from the tent,” Kang Chan explained.

Kang Chan lit Enzo’s cigarette first, then his own. For some reason, the enemy truck was approaching them at a walking pace.

“

Hoo

!”

The smoke from the two looked like it came from incense being prepared for an upcoming funeral. Still, the cigarette tasted good enough to make Kang Chan realize that all the cigarettes he’d smoked so far had been for nothing.

Kang Chan’s gaze fell on Enzo’s legs. There were so many flies clinging to them that he couldn’t see any blood. They were waiting for him to die.

Sly bastards.

While they wouldn’t come for the uninjured Kang Chan, Enzo had to keep swatting them away from his eyes and ears.

The truck was about two hundred meters away now.

Enzo laughed at the absurdity of the situation.

“

Hoo

!”

He shuddered to think about what this would have been like without cigarettes.

“What’s taking them so long?” Kang Chan wondered.

“They don’t have to rush. The way you shot at them might have convinced them that you’re a sniper, so they’re slowly pushing forward under cover.”

Kang Chan tilted his head, and Enzo pretended to push something in the air while explaining that they were probably pushing the truck.

This had to be the best crash course in French. Kang Chan could understand everything he said.

Enzo looked at Kang Chan with bloodshot eyes.

“It’s too late for me. I’ve lost too much blood. You should have another cigarette and get the hell out of here.”

Kang Chan wordlessly handed Enzo another cigarette and put another in his mouth.

Clunk. Hiss!

“

Hoo

!”

The two lit their cigarettes.

“Enzo,” Kang Chan began.

Enzo looked back at him in response.

“The both of us. Together. Tell me how we can both survive.”

The truck was a hundred and fifty meters ahead. It had slowed to a crawl as if they were really pushing the truck.

“If you can beat all those men coming, we can both live,” Enzo answered with a smirk.

“Fight with bayonets?”

“The approaching truck will join the remaining enemies,” Enzo pointed to the ground with his index finger, “and come here.”

He then turned his palm inward and made a pulling motion.

“I can understand that much,” Kang Chan replied.

This was the first time he had seen Enzo smile like that.

“You’re gonna have to defeat the whole bunch of them hiding behind the truck if they charge forward at the same time. Then we can both live. So stop with the nonsense and be on your way.”

“One hundred and fifty men?”

“I don’t think it’s that many now.”

Kang Chan nodded.

Bewildered, Enzo asked, “Aren’t you scared of dying?”

“I...”

Kang Chan looked Enzo straight in the eye.

“I’m most scared of ending up alone.”

A short silence enveloped their conversation.

“You poor thing,” Enzo commented.

“Do you wanna die?” Kang Chan responded immediately after.

Pft!

The two smirked. Afterward, Kang Chan asked, “So we’re safe from this distance even if they start shooting us with RPGs, right?”

“Right,” Enzo confirmed.

Leaving Enzo staring at him with a puzzled expression, Kang Chan lowered his stance and moved toward the truck, which was still belching black smoke.

Click!

Swinging his rifle forward, Kang Chan aimed at the wheels of the truck approaching from a distance.

Bang! Pow! Bang! Pow!

The truck’s front end sank.

You motherfuckers! I might as well see this shit through!

Kang Chan aimed at the truck that had gotten here first.

Bang! Thud! Bang! Thud! Baaang! Thud!

Since it was closer to their position, he found it easier to shoot. He took out three of its tires, making it sink to the ground at odd angles. Nevertheless, their enemies refused to return fire.

Kang Chan strapped two rifles and the magazines he’d gathered to his waist.

Oh, right! Since I have time...

He picked cigarettes from the dead men’s pockets and grabbed the medical bag he’d tossed aside earlier.

His comrades were covered in dust and dirt, but he could still see their faces, which were as pale as a sheet on the ground.

Why didn’t I try to get to know these guys better during training? Is it normal to see and touch their corpses without feeling anything?

Kang Chan crawled back to Enzo.

“Are you from the North Korean army?” Enzo asked.

“No,” Kang Chan curtly replied.

Enzo looked surprised.

“Yet you shot those tires with only a bullet each from this distance? How are you so accurate?”

Was that something to be so surprised about? Wasn’t Enzo a famed Foreign Legion veteran?

Kang Chan poured a bottle of disinfectant onto Enzo’s wounds, which were covered in flies.

“

Argh

!”

Next, he took out all the cigarettes he had collected, crushed them in his hands, and sprinkled them on the wounds to stop the bleeding. Fortunately, Kang Chan had tied Enzo’s thighs off so tightly that the bleeding had stopped somewhat.

The lazy sun hadn’t even reached the top of their heads yet.

Kang Chan found it hard to believe that their enemies were only a hundred and two hundred meters away from them. If it weren’t for the truck belching black smoke and the bodies lying around it, Kang Chan would have thought that he and Enzo had just gotten into a normal accident on a trip through Africa.

After bandaging Enzo’s legs up, Kang Chan wiped the blood from his hands onto the bandages.

“Cigarette?”

Enzo nodded and held out his hand.

Clunk. Hiss.

“

Hoo

.”

They smoked facing the truck and the hills.

This wasn’t bad—sitting with someone, facing the same direction.

“What about the next reinforcements?” Kang Chan asked.

“Coming in three days,” Enzo told him.

“So if those bastards stay there until then, we also have to stay here like this?”

Enzo exhaled a puff of smoke instead of replying.

The bandages were already stained red with blood, and the flies were swarming over them again. At this rate, Enzo would die. It didn’t take a medical genius to figure out that a man who had lost this much blood would die if left here for a day or so.

Scraping his cigarette on the floor, Kang Chan glared at the truck ahead.

They were obviously biding their time. After the sun passed over their heads, darkness would descend, and they would have plenty of time to take advantage of that.

Unlike them, Kang Chan and Enzo needed water and food. Above all, they needed blood.

Ha. I sound like Dracula.

Kang Chan remembered how baggy his first uniform had been and how everyone around him laughed when he had put it on. Now, he was wearing something that fit him so nicely that their enemies enemies probably thought he was a seasoned Foreign Legion soldier.

He looked back. It had taken them about twenty minutes to get here by truck.

This time, he turned to Enzo. Would Kang Chan be able to do it? No, hehad no other choice, did he?

“Think we can survive the trip back to the unit” Kang Chan asked.

Enzo looked at Kang Chan curiously.

“You said they’ll fight with bayonets. That means they won’t shoot at us, right?” Kang Chan added.

The look in Enzo’s eyes made it clear that he had guessed what Kang Chan was thinking.

“I’ll carry you on my back. If they shoot us, then we’re dead. If they insist on coming at us with bayonets, though...”

Click!

“We have guns,” Kang Chan finished.

“You’re crazy! Stop acting stupid and get lost already!” Enzo shouted.

“You’re going to die if you stay here.”

“At least you won’t have to.”

“What are the odds they’ll shoot?”

“They haven’t shot yet, so they’ll almost definitely come with bayonets.”

“Okay, then.”

Kang Chan picked up another rifle and slung it diagonally over his right shoulder.

“Let’s do this. Just put your leg here.”

He slung two rifles on his left and right waist, and another rifle around his neck.

“You crazy chick! You need to load off the weight!” Enzo rebuked.

“I need guns,” Kang Chan replied firmly.

Enzo smiled brightly, which was quite out of the blue.

“Chick.”

The French had such peculiar eye colors. Sometimes, they looked cruel, and other times, they looked very deep. Like Enzo’s now.

“I’m glad I met you before I die. Now, that’s enough. Go.”

“Enzo.”

Kang Chan leaned toward Enzo.

“I don’t know the way back.”

Enzo laughed like he was sobbing.

Kang Chan adjusted his rifle’s stock. Enzo’s smile showed his willingness to go with him, which delighted Kang Chan.

“Let’s go!”

Clunk, clunk.

Once Kang Chan had turned around, Enzo leaned over and put his arms around Kang Chan’s nape.

“

Argh

!”

Enzo tried to swallow his scream, but he couldn’t really stop the shout that came from deep in his throat.

Once Enzo had put his arms around Kang Chan’s neck, Kang Chan dropped to his stomach with his elbows on the floor. This allowed Enzo to get all the way onto his back. From far away, it probably looked like they were enjoying a last moment of love.

Kang Chan swung his left arm around and grabbed Enzo’s left leg, trapping it between the rifle and the hook.

“

Argh

!

Argh

!

Arrrgh

!”

Damn it! I should’ve given him morphine!

Enzo was unlucky.

They did the same for his right leg.

“

Ugh

!

Argh

!”

Sobs came between the pitiful screams, but this was still better than death.

“Hang onto my neck!”

With a gasp of pain, Enzo threw his arm around Kang Chan’s neck.

Clack!

Kang Chan raised his left foot.

“

Argh

!”

Then, his right.

“

Urrgh

!”

Afterward, he straightened his back.

Kang Chan wondered why he was going so far for Enzo. He didn’t act this way with his other comrades.

Click, click.

When Kang Chan turned around to face the way they had come, he heard people shouting behind him. He couldn’t pretend not to hear it.

Clunk!

Kang Chan spun around and saw the head of an enemy that had moved away from the cover of the truck.

Click!

Kang Chan slung his rifle from around his neck to his shoulder.

Baaaang

!

As he squeezed the trigger and the smell of gunpowder wafted out, the enemy’s head snapped back, spraying a light mist of blood.

He didn’t answer Enzo when he asked him if he was a sniper.

You motherfucker! Why would you hold your head out in front of a furious opponent?

Just shoot us instead. Kill Enzo first, or even kill us together!

Then I’ll run away with peace of mind or at least get to die!

Kang Chan gritted his teeth and turned to walk away.

Click, click.

He headed toward the other side, where the fucking lazy sun was.