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2.65% My life as a Tomb Raider in Nanyang / Chapter 3: Faisal and Ramdan

Chapter 3: Faisal and Ramdan

"Who's calling?" Bobby asked.

"You must be Bobby. I'm Amy Lee, just calling you to notify you that I'm aware of what you were up to. Pass the phone call to Sam, please. I believe you know by now, I'm not a patient woman."

Bobby looked at me, signaling to ask if I wanted to take the phone call.

I nodded and took the phone from him.

After all, this is Singapore; what's the worst she can do to me?

"Sam, I assure you I mean you no harm. Just pass the message to Groundhog Liu and don't try anything funny like what you did."

"I tried, and my Shifu is uncontactable. He left a note telling me to take his place instead."

"Uncontactable? Well, that complicates things."

She mumbled to herself a bit and then said, "You will have to make do. I'll be at the shop tomorrow. Don't try to run, or this will happen in your sleep."

"What will happen?"

When I finished my question, a loud "Clank" and the window got smashed.

A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the living room.

The cloth and newspapers lying around caught fire instantly.

"Get a bucket! Fill it with water!" I shouted to Bobby.

He quickly went into the bathroom and filled up the bathing bucket.

I cleared inflammable items surrounding the fire area, stopping the fire from spreading rapidly.

Then I went into the bathroom to help him and carried the bucket to the living room.

"On count of 3..2..1.." Right on cue, we lifted the heavy bucket of water and poured it over the flames.

Luckily for us, it was enough to extinguish the fire.

I went to the broken window and looked around.

No assailant was in sight.

Out on the street, everyone was minding their own business.

It might have been thrown from across the street or from a moving vehicle.

Too late to find out now.

"I'm so sorry, Bobby. I shouldn't have dragged you into this."

Bobby was half bent, with his hands holding his hips, huffing and puffing from the intense action earlier.

He then caught his breath and started laughing, "Huh… dragged into this? I haven't had such an adrenaline rush for a long time!

"Please don't leave me out of whatever expedition you are going on."

"Wait, you mean it?" I was confused and wanted to clarify.

"Of course I mean it. It's suffocating living here, no other choice but to join the rat race. Bills, bills, and bills. I need to feel alive again, Sam."

Deep inside, I could empathize with what he was saying.

This mechanical island only needs cogs in the machine.

If you don't fit in the mold, this island has no use for you.

"Glad if you can join. I need someone to watch my back. I don't trust her."

I decided to rope Bobby in; it's too risky for me to go alone without any trusted companion.

Speaking of trust, Bobby has business to deal with.

Whoever gave the information about Amy Lee to Bobby double-crossed him.

I, for one, do not like traitorous people to go unpunished.

"Bobby, who did you approach for Amy Lee's information? We can't deal with Amy, but we can deal with him."

"Thanks for the reminder. Damn Ramdan, to think he has the balls to do this to me."

We opened a few cans of Tiger beer, gulped it all down to bolster our guts.

Bobby took a knife from the kitchen and hid it inside his backpack.

You never know what might happen, so it's best to have one just in case, and then we left the shophouse.

Ramdan was not far away; he was behind a counter selling second-hand mobile phones.

Upon seeing us approaching, he stumbled out of his counter and fled into the alleys behind.

"Stop running, you coward!"

We shouted and gave chase.

He ran across a few streets before being caught up by us.

Or to put it correctly, he stopped for us.

Then we realized why: brawny men came out of the nearby houses and gathered around Ramdan.

We slowly walked a few steps back, but we bumped into a few men coming from behind.

They pushed us forward, and we nearly fell onto the ground.

A bald man with tattoos all over his body came forward and said: "I am Faisal, this is my brother Ramdan. You two finding trouble with my brother?"

"No, we are…"

Before Bobby could finish his sentence, I nudged him to stop.

Since Amy Lee wants me to work for her, it's time she protects her 'employee'.

I believe she has someone monitoring us and will keep us out of harm's way.

"Yes, we are. That Ramdan over there betrayed us, and we want to teach him a lesson." I replied loudly to Faisal.

Bobby couldn't believe what I'd said and looked at me with eyes wide open in shock.

I gave him a reassuring look, telling him that everything is under my control.

"You guys heard him. Let's show him what happens when someone wants to bully one of us."

Faisal lifted his hand as a signal to get ready; those men surrounding us grinned and started to swing their arms as if they were warming up.

"Hey Sam, so what's your plan?"

"Trust me, just wait. There will be help."

"Help from who?"

Before I could reply, Faisal flagged down his hand, and the men came towards us.

I pulled Bobby towards me, and he nearly missed a punch.

Bobby then kicked the attacker in the groin and punched the guy behind him.

I lashed out and traded punches, but we were heavily outnumbered.

Someone then came in hard at my back with a flying kick.

Bobby tried to pull out his knife from his backpack, but one of the men grabbed a chair from the coffee shop nearby and whacked the knife out of his hand.

"Bobby!"

I went crazy and lunged at the men; we fell and tumbled across the road.

He tried to push me off him, but I went in and took a bite into his ear.

"Damn you! Get off me!"

The man cried out in pain, but I didn't relent.

Other men came and hit me on my back.

I ignored the pain, and then it stopped.

"Stop and don't move!" I turned and looked up; there were men lying on the ground unconscious, and there he was, the pale and thin man that was with Amy Lee.


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
ShinyZebra ShinyZebra

Collect this book to your library so you can find it again. Any comments is greatly appreciated.

Chapter 4: Sea Snake Fang

The pale and thin man looked at me and shook his head.

He gave me the vibe of "what the hell were you thinking?"

But I didn't fucking care; you wanted me to 'help' you?

You better work for it.

"Who the hell is this? Boys, let's show him what we can do."

Faisal, seeing how his men were floored so swiftly, rallied the rest to concentrate on the pale and thin man.

They went at him, but his movements were smooth and swift like a snake.

With a slight twist, he elegantly dodged all the punches.

When his palm, which looked harmless, made contact, it caused the victim to moan in pain, slowly kneel, and lose consciousness.

Soon it was only Ramdan and Faisal left standing.

The pale and thin man stopped, looked at me, and said: "So, how do you want to end this?"

Before I could say anything, Bobby picked up his knife lying on the ground.

He walked up to Ramdan and plunged the knife into Ramdan's thigh.

"Ouch… you piece of shit!"

Hearing the swearing, Bobby twisted the knife to exact more pain out of Ramdan.

Ramdan couldn't bear the pain and cried out.

Faisal wanted to move, but the pale and thin man lifted his finger and pointed at him.

Warning him not to be foolish.

"Now we are even," Bobby said as he moved his hands off the knife.

The pale and thin man was impressed with what Bobby did.

He then proceeded to say: "You two be prepared for tomorrow." And then he left.

I went up to Faisal, took out some $100 dollar bills in one hand.

"My name is Sam. Since we are now even, take the money and pay for the medical bills of those injured.

"I hope we get to work together."

I reached out my other hand for a handshake.

I've always believed in keeping more friends and having fewer enemies.

Right now, I need Ramdan's skillset in information gathering.

Faisal took the cash and then shook my hand.

"Nice to meet you. How do we work together?"

"Ramdan, what's your email address? I need you to find out where my Shifu is."

After I took down his email address, I immediately sent a picture of Shifu and information of his last known whereabouts to Ramdan.

"I will let you know when I find out… ouch…" Ramdan replied as he groaned from the pain of his injury.

Bobby and I then went back to his place.

"Phew, I thought we were going to die. How did you know that pale and thin man would come to our rescue?"

"I didn't; it was just a hunch."

"You what…"

I then went on and explained my thinking.

This Amy Lee had eyes on us; if not, the Molotov cocktail wouldn't have struck at such a perfect moment.

For her to want my Shifu or me to go on their expedition, we had some skills or knowledge she desperately needed.

That's why I was confident to take a bet.

"Ha, I knew it. You were always much smarter than me during school days."

Bobby gave me a thumbs up.

This was also why I'm comfortable with him going on the expedition with me.

Even if I made any risky move, he would stand by me without questioning.

"It was a rough day; you want to go and have some fun in the alleys?"

"What fun?" I acted innocently and replied.

No way I was going to lose my important virginity to some stranger in the alleys.

"You haven't tried before?"

"Have you?" I sheepishly asked and threw the question back at him.

"I'm tired; let's sleep for the night."

Bobby avoided the question, and I let him off with it.

It was a long day; I needed the sleep to prepare for what's coming.

...

The next day came very soon.

Bobby and I made our way to my Shifu's antique shop.

Bobby had an eye-opener with all the antiques in the shop.

"Sam, what's this?"

"That's a rare Ming dynasty flower vase. Be careful with it; it costs around $5,000."

"What? Do you know how many fake sex pills I must sell to get the same amount?" Bobby slowly put the flower vase down.

"It's considered a low price; rare and sought-after pieces can go up to millions in an auction," I replied.

Before I could continue, the door opened, and Amy Lee's perfume smell rapidly swarmed the air.

Bobby had the same reaction I had when he saw her.

He looked at her with lust but stopped when he saw the pale and thin man.

How the pale and thin man had taken on ten-over thugs was still vivid in our memory.

"Hi Sam, here's my offer. Join us on our expedition, and you will get a share of the profit."

"How much are we talking about?" I asked Amy.

"The gold ingots might total up to a tonne. If it's pure gold price, not much, $50 million.

"But with the historical significance of the gold ingots as an artifact of the first republic in Southeast Asia, I can get up to $200 million for it. Don't worry about the selling part; I will take care of it.

"Your job is to help me find the gold." Amy replied and took out a cigarette for me to light up again.

$200 million?

It's an amount of money I never could imagine making in my lifetime.

My hands holding my lighter were trembling with excitement.

After the cigarette was lit successfully, I gave her my answer, "I'm in. But my friend here, Bobby, will have to be part of it too."

Amy took a puff and looked at Bobby. "You sure? That means he will take a share of your profit. I assure you that buddies and friends have backstabbed each other to keep everything for themselves; you sure you can trust him?"

"I'm sure." I looked at Bobby confidently, and he too gave me an assuring look.

"All right, welcome to the team. First, let me introduce to you our team leader for this expedition, Mr. Fang."

She waved, and the pale and thin man stepped forward.

He smiled, somehow giving me the feeling of a snake, and greeted us, "You can call me Sea Snake Fang."


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
ShinyZebra ShinyZebra

Collect this book to your library so you can find it again. Any comments is greatly appreciated.

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