Chapter 18: Finally Departing (Seeking collections, recommendation tickets, monthly tickets)
"Bell, come here," Nikita walked out of a room in the Government Army barracks.
Xu Chuan scrutinized her from head to toe, "I thought you'd come out covered in blood.
Are interrogations this civilized now?"
Xu Chuan didn't participate in the interrogation of the captured informant, not because of some pointless guilt, but because he was worried that his presence as an amateur would disrupt the professionals' work rhythm.
"You should read fewer strange books and watch fewer strange movies," Nikita naturally brushed her long hair with her hand, a charming smile playing on her lips.
Xu Chuan turned his head and shouted to Michael, who was organizing his equipment, "Michael, your girlfriend is flirting with me again."
Michael looked up, saw the playful smile on Xu Chuan's face, and forcefully threw the FAST tactical helmet he was holding at him, then gave Xu Chuan the middle finger.
"Bell," Nikita glared at him sideways.
"Alright, what's the news?" Xu Chuan stopped joking and followed Nikita into the makeshift interrogation room.
Contrary to his imagination, there was no blood or dismembered body parts on the floor.
The captured female informant sat intact in the chair, her hands secured to the table, and the bloodstains on her face had been cleaned.
Xu Chuan sat in the chair opposite her.
Nikita spoke first, "We might have caught the tail of a big fish.
Don't you think this woman looks familiar?"
Xu Chuan looked at the woman's sinister eyes opposite him, frowned, and thought for a moment, "I'm a little face-blind, and they all look pretty much the same with their headscarves."
Nikita rolled her eyes and pushed a stack of materials across the table.
"Aylai, Al-Qaeda's only publicly seen female high-ranking member, one of the masterminds behind a series of attacks in your country five years ago.
The Chinese government has a bounty of 5 million on her."
"Oh, wow, it's like picking up a wallet when you go out," Xu Chuan's eyes lit up.
He smiled at the woman opposite him, instinctively touching his left shoulder.
The woman finally spoke, saying something in a sharp voice.
Xu Chuan frowned and looked at Nikita beside him, "I understood that sentence; she's cursing me to hell."
"More accurately, 'infidel,'" Nikita added.
Xu Chuan leaned lazily back in his chair, his legs crossed and casually twitching.
Curiously, he asked in the local language, "I've never quite understood, if they get 72 up there, do you get 72 up there too?
So who serves whom then?"
"Heh," Nikita laughed, making a fist and punching Xu Chuan once.
The curses from the opposite side grew louder.
Xu Chuan leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head, watching the other party with relish, "I just love seeing them in such impotent rage.
It's very satisfying."
After listening for a while and realizing there were no new insults, he smiled and softly said, "Since there's nothing new, shut up, or I'll hand you over to the Government Army.
I don't need to tell you what those Yemeni soldiers, who haven't seen a woman in a long time, will do.
Believe me, you won't need to go up to have 72.
You shut up now, stay put obediently, and I'll cleanly kill you in a moment."
Speaking the most vicious words in the calmest tone, the woman opposite had fire in her eyes but closed her mouth.
"Alright, seriously, although she's a high-ranking member of Al-Qaeda, given the status of women here, she wouldn't have access to the organization's core.
The reason she's famous is because of Al-Qaeda's propaganda methods; women always have an inherent advantage."
Xu Chuan opened the file, "Her last few appearances were all by Ayman al-Zawahiri's side, and her appearance here this time is very telling."
"How's the call record from that phone coming along?" Xu Chuan remembered the phone on the woman.
"Coincidentally, the location of that number, after being pinpointed, is highly consistent with William Boson's location," Nikita continued.
"So I don't think it's necessary to work on her anymore.
At most, we'd get a few training camps or peripheral propagandists out of her.
You might as well hand her over to the Chinese government."
"Exactly, we're already going to Bassem, and if Ayman is really there, he's worth far more than her," Xu Chuan thought for a moment.
"I'll make a call," he took out his phone, took a close-up photo of the woman opposite him, and sent it out.
Then he dialed Luo Jialing's number, "Did you see that? I picked up a walking 5 million."
Luo Jialing was about to depart with the Jiaolong Commando Team when she suddenly received the photo from Xu Chuan.
Her surprise was practically overflowing.
"Big Brother, you absolutely must keep an eye on her.
I'll have someone come over right away."
Her excited and ingratiating tone made the members of the Jiaolong Commando Team extremely curious.
Xu Chuan asked, "Does this bitch deserve the death penalty?"
"I'm not a judge, how would I know?
If she provides a lot of information, she might get life imprisonment."
Xu Chuan on the other end of the phone paused, "Then don't bother."
Two gunshots rang out over the phone.
A bewildered Luo Jialing, as if some hormonal secretion had been interrupted, jumped up and shouted, "Big Brother, Old Master Xu (second tone), what the hell are you doing?
Don't be rash!"
"By the way, can you claim a bounty for a dead person?
Do you want me to send her head back to you?
I didn't shoot her in the head."
Luo Jialing knelt weakly on the deck, her phone dropping to the ground.
She angrily gritted her teeth and waved her fist at the phone, as if Xu Chuan were right in front of her.
She truly wanted to let out a long howl to the sky at that moment, but could only whisper, "If it weren't for the fact that I can't afford to offend you..."
"What did you say?" A questioning voice came from the other end.
"Nothing."
Since it was already done, what else could Luo Jialing do?
She spoke feebly, as if broken, "I'll have someone contact you to pick up the body.
Don't worry about the bounty; it will be issued after identity is confirmed."
Then she thought for a moment and, still uneasy, added, "Don't send the head to headquarters like you did with Kassim last time.
Two perfectly fine young girls were traumatized."
Luo Jialing hung up the phone.
Commando Tong Li pulled her up from the side, asking concernedly, "What happened?"
"The commendation I was about to get is just gone like that," Luo Jialing said, biting her molars, truly wanting to slap herself.
Xu Chuan hung up the phone and put away his gun, "Someone will come to deal with the body later."
Seeing Nikita's angry gaze, he carefully said, "Uh, sorry, I'll find someone to mop the floor."
He turned and cautiously ran out.
Before long, the fully armed Umbrella personnel and 10 Yemeni special forces soldiers, aboard two MH-6 Little Bird helicopters and two UH-1 helicopters, headed to Bassem, a small town north of Aden.
