Chapter 25 A One-Time Deal

The time reached 9:50 pm. At this moment, Sangbanda, who had been keeping surveillance on Gao Yi, suddenly got up and left the backyard.

Gao Yi lifted the lid of the pot. Holding a basin, he patted the cassava dough into the shape of pancakes, sticking them one by one onto the rim of the pot.

But today, Gao Yi had spaced the pancakes on the pot's rim much wider apart.

The iron pot was originally small to begin with. When filled up, it could only accommodate twelve pancakes, and after deliberately sticking fewer, Gao Yi managed to attach only eight.

They didn't smell as good as yesterday, and the color wasn't quite right, but Gao Yi wasn't panicked inside.

In any case, it was a one-off deal; he didn't expect any repeat customers.

At that moment, Sangbanda came back. He addressed Gao Yi, "The General has arrived. Listen, I talked you up a lot yesterday. Today, you'd better not let the General down. Now, serve the food."

The courtyard was small, with the kitchen on one side and the dining area on the other. Sangbanda stood at the doorstep of the dining area, a good five or six meters away from Gao Yi.

Less than two meters behind Gao Yi stood a soldier watching him intently, and to his right, separated by a pot, stood another soldier.

The distance was too far.

The two soldiers would be easy to deal with, but Sangbanda was too distant.

Moreover, Gao Yi didn't even know how many people were guarding Gray Horace, nor how many soldiers were outside the restaurant.

It seemed it wasn't time to make a move.

Gao Yi took two wet cloths, placed them on the handles, and carried the pot down. Then, with soldiers on either side, Sangbanda stepped into the dining room first.

"Here we come!"

Gao Yi called out, and then he carried the iron pot over and saw three people sitting around a round table.

A plump black man looked at the iron pot in Gao Yi's hands with full anticipation. Yes, it was him, Gray Horace.

The other two had come yesterday, one Caucasian and one black. At this moment, they sat on either side of Gray.

The two people from the CIA had come as well.

Gao Yi's heart tightened, but fortunately, he wasn't yet panicking.

There were also four soldiers, all in bullet-proof vests, with helmets, but they stood behind the door on either side, about three or four meters away from Gray.

Together with Sangbanda, there were eight people in the dining room, and there were two soldiers in the backyard.

Glancing out the window, Gao Yi didn't spot any additional soldiers.

The security measures were already tight, and Gray, eating a meal, wasn't likely to really bring dozens of people with him. There probably weren't more people outside, and even if there were, there shouldn't be too many.

So there was no need to be scared; at worst, this opportunity would just be given up.

Gao Yi put down the pot and earnestly said, "Be careful of the steam, please make way."

He removed the lid, letting steam emerge.

Gao Yi stepped aside with the lid, and Sangbanda, now standing behind the target, seriously warned, "General, be careful of the heat."

Gray Horace peered into the pot and said curiously, "It looks good."

After speaking, Gray turned to Gao Yi and smiled, "I've heard your cooking is exceptionally delicious. I'm looking forward to it."

The two Americans showed no sign of expectation. They glanced at Gao Yi together, and then the Caucasian picked up a pair of chopsticks.

Gray Horace also picked up a pair of chopsticks and, happily, said, "Please."

Gray Horace took a piece of chicken thigh, while the Caucasian picked a piece of chicken breast.

Gray Horace put the chicken thigh into his mouth, closed his lips, savored it for a moment, and suddenly said, "It's a bit salty, the spiciness is just right, and a longer stewing time would have been better. Not bad."

Gao Yi felt that Gray had good taste.

Using his chopsticks, Gray eagerly went to take a pancake that was stuck on the rim of the pot. It seemed Sangbanda had strongly recommended it to him.

"General, use the spatula."

Gao Yi didn't approach. He simply made a motion of scooping with the spatula, and at this moment, Sangbanda stepped forward and took the small spatula laid on the table.

Gray signaled with a hand, telling Gao Yi, "You do it."

Gao Yi advanced and took the spatula, as if he could feel the gaze of Sangbanda on his neck.

Right next to Gray, Gao Yi had no thoughts of making a move. He scooped out a pancake and placed it on Gray's plate, saying, "This is a plain pancake, without sugar, it's very tasty soaked in soup. This one has sugar in it."

After placing pancakes on the plates in front of all three men, Gao Yi put down the spatula and stepped back, slightly nervous, "If the pancakes aren't enough, I can make more anytime. It's quick."

Gray nodded in satisfaction. He wasn't eating quickly, but he was very focused.

It was getting hot. In addition to a pot full of hot steam, even though there was no fire inside, the two Americans were quickly breaking a sweat.

After a while, Gray, having eaten three pancakes, suddenly said, "The sweet ones are good."

The American black man beside him nodded too, saying, "Yes."

Gray tilted his head, and right away, Sangbanda leaned in, "General."

Gray pointed at Gao Yi and said, "Give him a generator, plus a hundred liters of diesel fuel. Next time I come to eat, there should be air conditioning."

"Yes, General."

Sangbanda looked at Gao Yi, who hastened to say, "Thank you, General."

Gray smiled and said, "Do well, I'll come here often. Can you still make these pancakes?"

Gao Yi immediately nodded, "Right away, very fast, ten minutes."

Gray waved his hand, and Gao Yi immediately turned and went to the backyard.

Sangbanda wanted to follow, but Gray stretched out a hand, and so Sangbanda stopped, whispering, "General."

"I like this place, the flavor is good. How do you two find it?"

The Caucasian just shrugged and said, "Seems fine."

Gray smiled and asked, "I meant how does it taste, will you come with me in the future?"

The Caucasian hesitated for a moment, then said, "The taste... But the environment has improved a lot, at least it looks much cleaner. We could come more often."

"I like these little sweet pancakes. I will come often."

Gray laughed heartily and turned to Sangbanda, "So we need air conditioning here. Send the engine and diesel over. Let's see if his air conditioning works. If it doesn't, bring an air conditioner over. Set up a small room especially for it."

Gray stopped Sangbanda to instruct him, which conveniently freed up Gao Yi.

Gao Yi returned to the backyard. He added some wood to the stove first, waited a moment to make sure Sangbanda hadn't followed, then his mind raced as he decided what he needed to do next.

To hell with it, if there was an opportunity now, then go for it.

The key was, making pancakes required a fire, and when Gao Yi said that the pancakes would be ready in ten minutes, that was clearly unrealistic. Based on that alone, he had to act.

So it was from the moment he observed the situation outside that Gao Yi had decided to take action.

Gao Yi brought out the basin full of cassava dough, and pretending to toss some wood in the stove, he glanced back to check the positions of the two soldiers.

One was directly behind him, and another less than two meters to his left.

Glancing at the door to the dining area from the backyard, there was nobody there.

It was time to act.

Gao Yi stood up, and then suddenly stepped back. Without turning around, he clenched his right fist with just the middle knuckle protruding and struck the soldier to his right in the back of the head with swift speed but seemingly little force.

Stepping back, standing up with a hammering blow, and then swinging his left arm out, he struck the left side soldier in the back of the head with the edge of his palm.

He reached out, his right arm embracing one, his left arm dragging the first fallen soldier.

There was no choice; force was hard to gauge when striking the back of the head, and he carefully laid down the two soldiers who had turned into corpses.

Holding the basin with one hand, he walked two steps forward, casually picking up the axe he had used to chop off chicken heads and placed it in the cassava dough basin, covering it with the lid.

A weapon was necessary because Gao Yi lacked confidence in instantly killing Sangbanda unarmed, so he chose the axe.

The axe's handle was not long, only about thirty centimeters. It had been used for a long time, its wooden handle greasy, and the axe head poorly made, but it didn't matter. The size of the axe was suitable, and it was heavy enough.

Gao Yi carried the basin to the dining room. Everyone was still chatting and laughing. Gao Yi put on a sycophantic smile and placed the basin on the table. With his left hand, he lifted the lid, blocking the view, while his right hand gripped the handle of the axe.

Sangbanda didn't pay much attention since Gao Yi and Gray were separated by an American black man.

"Eh?"

Gao Yi suddenly let out a surprised low voice as he looked towards the pot, and, just as Sangbanda couldn't help but look at the pot as well, Gao Yi suddenly stepped back and, driving force through his right leg and crossing over with his left foot, swung his right hand in a circle, bringing the axe down with a crash.

The Eight Trigram Steps were all about the element of surprise, cryptic and unpredictable.

Circling past the American black man, sparing the sole target, Gray, Gao Yi's first target was Sangbanda.

With the most unexpected first strike, it had to be on the toughest opponent.

Gao Yi paid special attention to Sangbanda, so his first blow was especially for him.

The hammer head crashed directly into the spot just behind Sangbanda's ear.

The hammer head smashed into Sangbanda's skull. Gao Yi pulled back the axe, and his left fist hammered down hard on the back of Gray's head.

Killing Gray was just that simple: unanticipated, one sudden strike, and it was over.

The axe pulled back in his right hand came down on the temple of the American black man to the right, and then, Gao Yi stepped over the fallen Sangbanda, swung the axe held in his right hand as the white man tried to back away in a hurry, and crashed the axe down, embedding it deep into the man's brow.

Quick as a falcon swooping for its prey, in an instant, Gao Yi had hammered four men to death without anyone emitting a sound.

Turning around, Gao Yi lunged at the four soldiers behind the door.

"Ah..."

One soldier opened his mouth to shout, another aimed a gun at Gao Yi, and a third directly swung his rifle to bash Gao Yi's face with the butt.

Ducking and darting to the side, Gao Yi threw a punch with his left hand at the throat of the soldier who was about to scream, and his right hand wielding the axe crashed down on the forehead of the soldier aiming the gun at him. Dodging the rifle butt aimed at his face, he forcefully smashed the axe down on the back of the fourth soldier's head, then turned around and brought the axe down on the soldier swinging the rifle butt.

No need to use the blade of the axe, a smash would do just fine.

Having a weapon in hand was a good thing; it allowed for a higher margin of error. In just a few seconds, all eight people in the room were taken out, and hardly any noise was made.

Gao Yi pulled out his phone and started recording. He approached Gray, pulled the slumped over Gray back to reveal his face, shot a close-up, and then fiercely chopped the axe on Gray's neck.

"The target is dead, mission accomplished, it was me!"

Speaking during the recording could serve as evidence. Once the video was done, Gao Yi turned and left.

Now, it was time to escape.