SES Chapter 167 Part 1

Chapter 167

Compared to other parts of Medan, the jungle was actually the safest place. The terrain was complicated and easy to hide in.

They counted their people: one dead, two injured, and one extra.

Luo Ren ground his teeth in hatred.

They lay low for the time being. No one went out. News trickled in from outside: the Empire Hotel had suffered heavy losses and was badly weakened. The owner had transferred the business, and the new owner was unknown, but all signs pointed to Leopard — a chilling thought.

This woman could not be underestimated. If kidnapping didn’t work, she turned around and wiped out her competitors, then took over the hotel in one smooth move, expanding her business empire yet again — always rising higher with the tide.

They tried to gather more information about Leopard. As expected, she was not Filipino. It was said her ancestors were Chinese who went south by sea generations ago. No one knew why, but by her generation, she had risen like a rocket. Kidnapping, extortion, arms trading, gambling dens, fight clubs, human smuggling, human trafficking — there was nothing she didn’t touch.

There were also rumors that twenty-two hostage bodies had been carried out of the Empire Hotel. When his men reported this, Leopard smiled faintly, pressed a still-lit cigarette butt onto the back of the man’s hand, and asked, “Why is one missing?”

That was an ominous sign.

So Luo Ren temporarily left Tasha in the jungle to recover from her injuries.

That was a brief gap between blood and blood — peaceful days filled with the fresh scent of trees.

Although Tasha had suffered a gunshot wound that passed diagonally through her body, it had likely been from a spent stray bullet. Her bones and tendons were unharmed, and she was soon able to get out of bed.

There were no women in the forest — only cold-faced men of various skin colors. Tasha was scared of this one, scared of that one, and every day she followed Luo Ren around like an inseparable little tail. When he walked, she walked. When he stopped, she stopped.

There were no toilets in the jungle. When he went off into the woods to relieve himself, she followed. Luo Ren got annoyed: “You’re even following me for this? If you stand there staring, how am I supposed to pee?”

She drooped her head, clutching a bush leaf, looking as wronged as if she’d suffered a great injustice.

With no other choice, he trained her to “stand guard” — hands covering her ears, turn around, stand straight, stare into the distance.

The most spectacular scene was when Yuris and the others all went together — more than a dozen grown men lined up to relieve themselves. Luo Ren ordered, “Tasha, stand guard!”

The little girl stiffened, spun around, covered her ears, and didn’t move a muscle.

When they were done, Yuris came over and tugged her little braid. “Advance!”

And so the guard duty was lifted.

Speaking of braids — Tasha’s slightly curly blonde hair hadn’t been braided before. No one knew which bored man started it in the forest, but one braid turned into a popular game. Everyone rushed in: “Leave me a strand, leave me one too.”

At its peak, Tasha’s head had more than twenty little braids sticking out, some even decorated with flowers — these men’s aesthetic sense was truly a disaster.

Yet Tasha was completely unaware, shaking her bouquet-like head and teaching a group of grown men to sing nursery rhymes.

— “The violin and the little cat!”

They all looked at each other and then awkwardly followed Aoki, who was hugging a ukulele, and recited unevenly, “The violin and the little cat.”

— “The cow jumped over the moon!”

They kept chanting, “The cow jumped over the moon.”

— “The little dog laughs when it sees it!”

They couldn’t continue. They bumped into each other, laughing in a mess.

Only Tasha insisted on finishing: “Exercise is truly wonderful!”

…

At first, Tasha always called Luo Ren “Uncle.” Once, maybe because she missed her father, she misspoke and called him, “Daddy.”

Luo Ren snapped at her, “Don’t call me Daddy.”

Yuris went against him and pulled Tasha over, telling her to call him Daddy on purpose.

With a child’s nature and unable to resist the teasing, Tasha started chasing him around, calling him “Daddy.” After calling, she would run away, giggling and watching him lose his temper.

After she’d called him that enough times, Luo Ren stopped caring. Whatever. Call him whatever she wanted.

Sometimes Aoki teased her: “He’s your Daddy, so who are you to him?”

“I’m Daddy’s little daughter.”

“A daughter is a daughter. Why ‘little daughter’?”

Tasha’s face turned red as she said shyly, “Because kings and queens love their youngest daughter the most.”

Luo Ren was annoyed, thinking: She’s read too many fairy tales. No saving her.

…

Even so, Luo Ren never gave up on the idea of sending Tasha back. Staying in the jungle was not a long-term solution. After things eased up a little, he kept asking around about whether Tasha had any relatives in Australia.

One night, sitting on the wooden porch outside the cabin and talking about it with Aoki again, after Aoki went back inside, Luo Ren turned his head and saw Tasha hiding behind the door, only her forehead and eyes showing. She had been listening the whole time.

He waved at her. She ran over and threw her arms around his neck.

Holding her in his arms, Luo Ren asked, “Do you miss home?”

Tasha’s eyes turned red, and she nodded.

The surroundings were extremely quiet. Cicadas chirred faintly. A moon hung over the treetops. Tasha curled up in his arms, growing drowsy. The campfire crackled in the distance as Luo Ren gently brushed away mosquitoes for her.

He said, “Soon, Daddy will find a way to send you back.”

Tasha asked softly, “Then… will I still get to see Daddy in the future?”

Luo Ren stayed silent for a long time before saying, “Yes. Daddy will go see you in the future.”

After he said that, she didn’t answer. When he looked down, she was already asleep.

…

Mu Dai asked, “What happened later? Did you manage to send Tasha away?”

He did. After many turns, they contacted Tasha’s uncle in Australia, a fat, middle-aged white man. As arranged, he hired a speedboat and came by water, waiting at the dock.

But the road to sending her away was not peaceful, because Leopard had already put a bounty on Tasha.

Mu Dai didn’t understand: “Why would Leopard go after a child like that?”

Luo Ren laughed. “You don’t understand Leopard. She wasn’t going after a child. She didn’t even know whether Tasha was a boy or a girl.”

“What she wanted was her reputation. Her authority in a place like Medan, where she could command anything at a young age. The kind of power where if she wanted someone dead, that person couldn’t even breathe.”

From start to finish, maybe she only said one sentence: “Why is one missing?”

After that, people naturally ran around in fear. And once the bounty was out, people who smelled money naturally followed close behind.

That journey — he didn’t want to revisit it. Feints, decoys, misdirection. In the end, he and Aoki fulfilled their mission and sent Tasha to the dock.

At midnight, a half-moon hung over the dark waves. The speedboat’s bow knocked against the rocks of the pier. Tasha, crying her eyes out, hugged his neck and refused to let go. Luo Ren crouched down and said, “Be good. Daddy has a gift for you.”

He clipped a rainbow-colored hair clip into her hair. It was actually pretty tacky, but in his haste, in a general store outside the jungle, he really couldn’t find anything more delicate.

In the end, Tasha held her uncle’s hand and boarded the speedboat, sobbing. The engine started, and the departing boat bounced across the waves, filled with moonlight.

Mu Dai let out a long breath.

It was already midnight. Other than the occasional sound of passing cars, it was so quiet outside the car that it almost didn’t feel real.

Mu Dai said, “I can tell you really liked Tasha. If I ever get the chance, I’d like to go to Australia to see her too.”

Luo Ren didn’t reply. His chest suddenly heaved violently. The hand gripping the steering wheel trembled slightly. After a while, he said, “There’s still a long way to go, Mu Dai. You should sleep for a while.”

That was fine. Talking about this was exhausting for him. If she slept, maybe he could rest too.