coobybook Chapter 1050 The road ahead is long and arduous; it's better to turn back before it's too
Chapter 1050 The road ahead is long and arduous; it's better to turn back before it's too
Liu Yuncang suppressed his wildly beating heart and the excitement of surviving the ordeal, quickly adjusted his expression, removed the sharpness from his eyes, and pretended to be an ordinary overseas Chinese on his way. He lowered his head and hunched his shoulders, quickly blending into the slightly noisy crowd in the streets and alleys of Phnom Penh in the afternoon.
After walking nearly a hundred meters, turning two narrow street corners, and pretending to stop to buy a local snack, he repeatedly checked out of the corner of his eye to make sure there were no suspicious eyes behind him before daring to relax his tense nerves a little. He quickly slipped into a quiet alleyway, leaned against the cold, rough wall, and gasped for breath.
Sweat belatedly poured out, sliding down her forehead and cheeks, soaking through her close-fitting underwear, sticking stickily to her body, making her feel extremely uncomfortable.
"Heh... Heh..." He chuckled softly, his laughter tinged with the relief of surviving a close call, and a hint of pride and arrogance at his own abilities. "What copper walls and iron ramparts, what inescapable nets... In front of me, this 'pangolin,' they can just slip through and escape as they please... Uh?"
Before he could finish speaking, his laughter and mutterings abruptly stopped.
He subconsciously touched his body, his fingertips brushing against his empty pockets, and his heart sank – besides the simple crowbar hidden in his sleeve, a few inconspicuous metal pieces, and a few loose banknotes, he had nothing else.
The residence permit and the identity documents that had been secretly hidden were all left at the embassy. Even the gold watch that he had brought from Taiwan was lost when he climbed out of the window to escape.
They had originally planned to use the embassy's channels to expedite the procedures, allowing them to return to China openly and legitimately by plane, which would be both respectable and safe.
But now, not only is this path completely cut off, but he almost walked right into a trap.
The rest of the road...
All that remained was the original, most basic plan—to rely on his own two feet to climb over those five, six, seven, or eight mountains, cross the border, and return to his hometown in southern Yunnan.
As for returning to the original base and continuing the mission?
Liu Yuncang scoffed, his eyes full of disdain and contempt: "Heh, a bunch of incompetent teammates. That idiot Xiao Cheng can't even distinguish between detonators and electronic components. Who knows, one day the bomb might not even be installed before the detonator explodes prematurely due to its high sensitivity. He won't even know how he died."
Only a fool would go back!
Thinking of this, a smug smile appeared on his face again, and he thought to himself: What can a scumbag man, a scumbag woman, and this bunch of pig-like teammates accomplish?
Cutting your losses in time is the wisest choice!
"Never mind, there seems to be another safe house..." He frowned and thought for a moment, his eyes gradually brightening. "Let's go to the safe house to resupply, get some money and identification, and then slowly figure out a way to get over the mountain."
Having made up his mind, Liu Yuncang dared not delay. In order to get away from the embassy area as soon as possible, he subconsciously chose to walk quickly along a narrow path with few people and easy concealment.
But the further he went, the more unfamiliar the surroundings became, and the more dilapidated the buildings along the road became. In the end, he accidentally wandered into the depths of a slum that even locals rarely ventured into.
What's more troublesome is that the buildings in this area are haphazard and disorganized, with Khmer-style stilt houses crammed together crookedly, sewage flowing freely in the alleys, and tattered clothes hanging out to dry like strange flags blocking out the already dim light.
The air was filled with the mixed smell of rotting food and cheap tobacco.
Liu Yuncang stopped in his tracks, a sense of unease rising in his heart.
This place... I think I just passed by it?
He looked around, trying to find familiar landmarks, but all he could see were more disorganized shacks and side roads. The spire of the Phnom Penh temple in the distance reflected a faint light in the afternoon sun, but it did nothing to help him determine his location.
"Wait, what am I supposed to do with this?"
Liu Yuncang hurriedly pulled out a crumpled, simple map from his pocket and tried to decipher it in the dim light.
The more he looked, the colder his heart became, and a nameless anger surged up within him.
"Damn it! What a lousy map!"
This is hardly a detailed map; it's just a very basic schematic diagram of the main urban area.
There were only rough lines of a few main roads and a few landmark buildings marked on the map. As for this slum area, there were no markings at all, and not even a rough outline could be found.
On such a simple map with limited information, how can you possibly find a route through the slums?
That's absolutely wishful thinking, way too much!
Liu Yuncang didn't know that even if someone painstakingly surveyed and mapped this area in detail, creating a detailed map, it would probably be rendered useless within a few months.
Don't you know that the landscape in this kind of place is "alive"?
Today, a shed is erected here; tomorrow, a section of the road will be washed away by the rain. An alley that was passable last month may be blocked by mountains of garbage this month.
map?
Here, they're nowhere near as bright as a local kid.
Liu Yuncang crumpled the map into a ball, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it twice, his eyes filled with frustration and despair.
He thought again of the road that required traversing mountains and valleys, of the wild animals and bandits he might encounter in the desolate mountains, of the border defenses with checkpoints along the way, of the torrential rains and flash floods he might encounter while crossing the mountains, and of the risk of getting lost at any moment...
That was a path with a slim chance of survival!
In an instant, all the smugness and disdain on his face vanished, his smile completely collapsed, and was replaced by deep despair.
His legs gave way, and he slumped onto the cold stone steps at the alley entrance, clutching his hair tightly with both hands until his knuckles turned white. With a mournful face, he muttered to himself:
"What a disaster! What a disaster! If I had known this job would be so risky, I wouldn't have taken it even for a mountain of gold! Could it be... that I'm just being too paranoid? This embassy, which should be a safe place, feels like it's surrounded by secret agencies..."
He slid down to the floor against the cold, mottled wall, mechanically wiping the sweat and dust from his face, and muttered blankly, "Maybe... I'm just being paranoid? Scaring myself? Maybe the embassy is just a bit strict, the doors are sturdy... They really want to help me get back to China as soon as possible?"
"Have I been a 'pangolin' for too long that everything looks like a pit or a hole, and I have to dig a bit before I feel at ease? In the end... in the end, I dug up a perfectly good road and jumped into this cesspool..."
"How about we go back?"
Liu Yuncang was caught in a deep dilemma. One moment he felt that his vigilance was correct and that escape was the only way out.
Then, in despair, he wondered if he had overreacted, overestimated the other side's vigilance and efficiency, and had driven himself to the brink of disaster.
Just as he was hanging his head, tormented by self-doubt and despair...
A male voice with a slight northern accent suddenly rang out from very close behind him:
"It's good to go back."
"The road is quite difficult to travel, and the mountains are quite high."