Chapter 306: Annihilated
Under the dark night’s obscure moonlight, Tang Xiu quietly left as though a ghost and soon appeared at a dark secluded thicket. He took out a satellite phone and then called Wolf Head.
“The pirates are using hostages to threaten us. How can we get rid of all the pirates while ensuring the safety of the hostages?” Tang Xiu whispered.
“It’s very difficult to achieve, unless we wait and retreat.”
“Wait and retreat?” Tang Xiu was somewhat puzzled.
“As long as they are on the island and holding the captives, we can achieve nothing if we want to kill them as well as ensure the safety of the hostages. Unless they board the ship and set sail, only then can we sneak into their ship and assassinate them,” said Wolf Head.
“What you proposed is also a solution. But if they board the ship, it will be very hard for us to slip into the ship to assassinate them without us being spotted. Also, we gotta decimate the second leader of this Bloodfish Pirates as soon as possible. Otherwise, they will still have a backbone, greatly increasing the difficulty for us to assassinate them,” said Tang Xiu.
Wolf Head was silent for several seconds before he then slowly said, “Then, I’ll assassinate this Ingelund.”
“No. It’s very easy for me to kill him, but I fear those hostages will be killed if I rashly kill him,” said Tang Xiu.
“I have observed the remaining pirates. They have a total 61 people left now. If all of us were to coordinate and ambush them in a strategic terrain, shooting at them in a close distance, we should be able to kill more than half of their numbers. Also, we need to assign four of our people to stay on guard to especially observe those pirates. whoever amongst them shoots the hostages in the forefront, they must kill them in advance. However, I can’t guarantee that all the hostages will survive, though,” said Wolf Head.
Tang Xiu silently analyzed Wolf Head’s proposal in his mind. If he let those pirates leave, the remaining nine hostages would highly likely be killed. But if he carried on the killing and rescue on Nine Dragon Island, some of the hostages would probably die.
After measuring and weighing the whole situation, Tang Xiu made up his mind and said in a heavy voice, “We’ll do it according to your suggestion. Killing these pirates is a risky and dangerous act in itself and dying is but also a possibility. We’ll do our best even if those hostages are in a dangerous situations.”
After hanging up the phone, Tang Xiu watched the pirates’ advancing direction. He circled from the flank as though a fast wind or a electrical spark. After four to five minutes, he approached Wolf Head and the others’ hiding place.
"Have you informed Awen and Awu?” Tang Xiu took the binoculars handed by his man and whispered.
“They have been informed and should be here soon,” said Wolf Head.
Nodding in reply, Tang Xiu then used the binoculars to observe, finding that the pirates were holding the remaining nine hostages and walking toward this direction. At this time, they looked frightened and constantly moved their guns’ muzzles around.
“Boss, considering their speed, it should take about four minutes for them to arrive at our position. Are you thinking to make this spot as an ambush point?” asked Wolf Head in a whisper.
Looking at the surrounding, Tang Xiu assented with a nod, “Yes. Though we are in a disadvantageous position because of the inclination, our tracks are completely concealed. Unless they climb the boulders on both sides, they won’t be able find us. Also, we mustn’t open fire before they’ve arrived and we can’t accidentally hurt the hostages in the forefront. Hence, we must wait until they passed, shooting them in the back.”
“Boss, I think it’s not quite right. We should put a few people here while the rest circle to the back. But the four men staying here, their main purpose is to monitor those pirates who are very close to the hostages and can freely kill them. If they find that their muzzles are aimed at the hostages, they will shoot them immediately,” said Wolf Head.
“OK!” After thinking, Tang Xiu directly approved it.
He didn’t have knowledge about military tactics and devising battle plans. But Wolf Head was once the top ace of the country’s special forces and had undertaken numerous missions and devised numerous battle plans by himself. Thus, his opinion was worth employing.
Shortly after, the Mo brothers also quickly arrived and approved with a nod upon hearing Wolf Head’s idea.
“Awen, Awu; both of you, along with Wolf Head and Wang Ming, will team up. Your main purpose is to kill those pirates who are close to the hostages. I will kill Ingelund first while the rest will slay the other pirates as fast as you can. We must be fast, ruthless and accurate. If any pirates escape, you don’t need to chase them down, kill most of the pirates first instead,” said Tang Xiu.
"No problem!" Everyone nodded.
Time flew by.
Quickly, those pirates holding the hostages were about a hundred meters away from Awen, Awu, and the others’ ambush point. Behind them were Tang Xiu with five of his men, following along quietly. The distance was only 40-50 meters away from the pirates in the forefront.
“Keep yourselves concealed and approach them as close as you can,” Tang Xiu ordered in a whisper.
A minute after, Tang Xiu climbed up a big tree and looked through the branches and leaves. The pirates were about 20-30 meters away as his vision swept at them and then finally locked on Ingelund, aiming his muzzle at him.
“Bang…”
A gunshot was sound as a bloody hole was created on the back of Ingelund’s head. His eyes stared wide as he turned his head with difficulty to look at Tang Xiu’s direction. His vision turned blurred as he lost his consciousness and died on the spot.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
“Rat-tat-tat…”
Intense gunfire broke out as tongues of flames burst in and out.
Bullets poured out as though raindrops, aiming toward the pirates, while submachine guns’ shots also barked from both sides of the pirates.
“RUUUN! AAAAH!”
A pirate who was scared to death screamed sharply as he snowballed himself to avoid the bullets fired into the nearby thicket. Unfortunately, bad luck befell unto him as a bullet made a hole on his head and he finally dropped down on the thick patches of grass, motionless.
Of the more than 60 pirates, except for those who were shot dead, all fled to every direction. They didn’t have the capacity and reaction a regular army possessed, neither they possessed the loftiness to be valiant and fearless. They were pirates, hoodlums, and thugs who would even betray their souls for money and benefits. When they were powerful, they would ruthlessly bully and massacre others, but in the face of more powerful and vicious enemies, they would fall into fear and run away.
After half a minute, except for dead bodies everywhere, only seven or eight pirates who were lucky enough to quickly flee into the bushes by the side of the road were left. The rest all died a horrible death. But four among the nine hostages were shot and killed during the counterattack of the pirates, along with two injured.
Tang Xiu strode into the middle of the dead bodies and released his spiritual sense to cover the area.
“Bang, bang…”
As his fingers pulled the trigger, he directly shot and killed four or five severely wounded pirates who were not directly killed and pretending to be dead.
Retracting his spiritual sense, Tang Xiu looked at the frightened hostages on the ground and asked in a deep voice, “Tell me who you are!”
A white-haired Caucasian man with an injured leg who sat slumped on the ground answered, “We are the residents of the Southern Bird Island who got caught and held captives by them! Who are you guys?”
“I’m the owner of this island,” said Tang Xiu.
“You lie. The owner of this island is James—James Bond. I once helped him construct the buildings here. He’s a good rich man,” said the Caucasian man whilst shaking his head.
“Don’t tell me you don’t know that he’s sold this island? I’m the one who bought this island! Do remember later, my Chinese name is Tang Xiu and I’m the owner of this place,” said Tang Xiu lightly.
The man gulped down his saliva and said in a bit of awe, “I’ll remember your name.”
Tang Xiu nodded and then said to Wolf Head and his men around, “Two of you stay here and dress up their wounds. The rest will chase down and kill the rest of the pirates. Do remember to kill them completely or as many as possible. If they run too fast and you can’t find them, then let them be. In short, I don’t want any pirates on Nine Dragon Island before dawn.”
“Roger that, Boss!”
Wolf Head motioned two men as the rest then ran toward the forested hills around. But Mo Awen and Mo Awu entered the woods to chase down the pirates.
Then, Tang Xiu looked at the Southern Bird Island’s residents and calmly said, “You don’t have to be afraid. I’m the owner of this place and not one of these vicious pirates. Not only will I guarantee your safety, I’ll also ensure your safe departure of this island. For now, I’ll have to trouble you to return to the castle with us. Then I’ll send some people to escort you back to Southern Bird Island after you have a good rest tomorrow.”
“Thank you. Thank you very much!”
Upon hearing it, the five people immediately looked ecstatic.
****
Inside the castle, over a hundred residents from Southern Bird Island were tied and locked up in a spacious hall. Each and every one of them had panicked expressions on their faces and were desperately struggling. Of the more than 100 of them, only six were men and the rest were women, mostly pretty young women.
These women, many of them wore clothes that were unable to cover their figures and apparently had received severe abuse.
“Mayor Oshima, you gotta find a solution fast. If we can’t escape, we’ll all die here!” With panic filling her eyes, a slightly fat woman quickly spoke with a tone of anxiousness and restlessness.
In front of her was the mayor of Southern Bird Island, Kawasaki Oshima.
Southern Bird Island originally had a small area, and the highest point on the ground didn’t even exceed ten meters above the sea level. However, due to the earthquake a few years ago, leading to the increase of the surface level of the Southern Bird Island, the area also increased two or three times. From thereon, many immigrants had set up their home on this island.
The entire Southern Bird Island only had a small town with a total population of no more than 1,000 people. Because Kawasaki Oshima had a high status there, everyone voted him as the mayor. In actuality, he was a mayor under the jurisdiction of the Japan government. After all, several thousand kilometers around the Southern Bird Island and dozens of islands there were under Japan’s jurisdiction.
He was already over his 40s and it didn’t betray Kawasaki Oshima’s old state. He desperately struggled in an attempt to break the ropes on his body, but his futile efforts amounted to nothing. Those pirates’ skill in tying up and binding were truly excellent. He worked hard for half an hour, yet there was no sign of it loosening.