"All clear now," we said as we tried our best not to puke.
Clement then ushered us into the last chamber.
"This is the chamber where the map is hidden," Amy Lee said.
Clement nodded and said, "Everyone look for the map. You have half an hour.
"After that, for every ten minutes gone, one of you will die if you don't find it."
The hell with him.
This Clement is a sadistic bastard.
I cursed him silently but time is of essence.
Me and the rest of the team then hurriedly searched for the map.
I pretended to look anxious, like a lost deer in bright headlights.
"Huh, look at him, boss, as if he'll burst out crying anytime," Small Lawrence said.
The rest of Clement's team burst out laughing at my plight.
Of course, I was trying to look lost and dull their awareness.
"You sick fucks!" Bobby wanted to lash out at them.
I pulled him back.
"Sam, these fuckers—" Before he could continue, I shook my head vigorously.
"Time is ticking, just search for the map," I tried to calm him down.
He gave out a frustrated cry and carried on.
After a few moments, I looked at the stone statues in the chamber.
I pretended to be in deep thought.
Then came close to one of the stone statues and looked at it intensely.
Suddenly, I slapped my forehead, then loudly exclaimed, "I figured it out! The map must be hidden under the statues!"
Wrapping my arms around the statue, I tried as hard as I could to move the stone statue, but it wouldn't move even an inch.
"Come help me move this statue," I looked at the Lawrence brothers, asking them to help me.
Clement nodded and they came forward.
He looked at us, focused on my direction, in case I was playing punk.
"Use all your strength, 1…2…3…." I cried out loud.
In the meantime, Kurnawan went to the coffin, out came his Karembits.
With a swift motion, he slit the stomach of the corpse open.
He dug into the stomach, then after a while, he pulled out his hand.
This time with a scroll of the map in his hand.
Seeing that no one noticed, he quickly hid it in his shirt.
"Damn you, there's nothing underneath the statue," Big Lawrence cursed at me.
The stone statue had nothing underneath.
I apologized profusely.
All the while, thinking to myself, "Perfect, we have the map and now we just have to wait."
Just as I thought everything was going fine, the air smelled different.
The musty smell of mold in the chamber was now filled with the smell of spices.
Damn.
The special condiments used to preserve the corpse had an overpowering smell.
Clement was no fool; he raised his pistol and pointed it in the direction of Kurnawan.
"Stop moving! What did you do!"
"I did nothing," Kurnawan said, showing his now empty hands and giving Clement his usual smile.
Clement walked slowly towards the coffin.
The Lawrence brothers kept their eyes on the rest of us.
Then it happened, a blow dart appeared at the back of Clement's neck.
Clement felt the dart, pulled it out, and looked at it.
He looked up, tried to open his mouth, but he blacked out and fell to the ground.
The Lawrence brothers turned around, fired a round of suppressive fire.
All the shots missed; the Dayak man immediately ran.
When they turned back to us, Sea Snake Fang suddenly slid out from the dark.
His two palms went at the Lawrence brothers' heads.
The Lawrence brothers raised their hands and blocked the palm strike.
Kurnawan rolled towards them and knelt, swiping at their Achilles tendons with his Karembits.
They jumped back, and Amy Lee threw a packet of red-colored powder at them.
Big Lawrence swatted at the packet.
"Puff" red-colored powder enveloped the air around them.
Their eyelids slowly closed, but just as their eyes closed completely,
They took out syringes and injected them into each other's spines.
"Argh," both howled out as if in huge pain.
Then they started panting and growling like some beast.
Sea Snake Fang sidestepped and gave another palm strike at Big Lawrence.
Big Lawrence punched at Sea Snake Fang; it was so fast that it sounded like a whip, cracking through the air.
Unfortunately, Sea Snake Fang couldn't block it; he flew across to the end of the chamber, tumbling along the way.
All I could think to myself was, Monsters!
These Lawrence brothers are monsters.
Kurnawan went over to check on Sea Snake Fang; he was still alive.
Amy Lee threw another packet of red-colored powder again.
They growled and swatted it away.
It was enough to buy time for Kurnawan to carry Sea Snake Fang.
"Everyone, take cover!" Firecracker Tan shouted out loud.
I saw the glass jar in his hand; I quickly ducked down, covered my ears, and raised my body away from the floor.
Small Lawrence howled and took a swat at the glass jar as if it was nothing.
"Boom!"
The glass jar exploded; glass shrapnel flew in all directions.
I caught some of it all over my body.
The Lawrence brothers took most of the impact, both now unconscious from the shockwave.
"Everyone, get out!" Amy Lee shouted.
"Bobby, are you ok?" I shouted.
"I'm ok, let's go!"
I was so relieved that he was all right.
When we got out of the tomb, Crystal Siti was in a trance; the Dayak man had taken care of her.
"Where do we go now?" I asked.
"I have a safe house. Follow my lead," Amy Lee replied, and we got into the Jeep and took off.
It was an empty warehouse, vacant for years.
There were no other buildings nearby, making it easy to spot anyone approaching.
After we entered the warehouse and settled down, Amy Lee took out a First-aid kit and proceeded to attend to all of us.
She first cleaned any open wound with a cotton bud and alcohol.
Then she took out the glass shrapnel slowly with tweezers.
Sea Snake Fang was conscious after a while; after checking on him, some of his ribcage bone were fractured.
He will have to be out of action for at least a few weeks.
"Sam, you have to be responsible," Bobby cried out in jest.
"Responsible for what?"
"My face is disfigured; how do I find a wife now?"
I looked at the small cut on his cheek and rolled my eyes.
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Amy gave out a sigh, lit up a cigarette, and said, "Now we are on our own. Anyone who wants to leave can do so."
Sea Snake Fang nodded quietly.
Firecracker Tan listened as he kept checking his backpack.
Kurnawan stood smiling, keeping an eye out through the window.
Bobby and I were just puffing along.
There was a silent pause.
Everyone was taking it in, thinking about what it meant.
Currently, we have Clement and his party after us.
Also, we are now on the opposite side of Huang Bao Kun.
With his resources and ruthlessness, it will be much more difficult.
However, no one decided to leave.
We are so close now.
"What about your father's rare Chinese medicine?" I asked Amy Lee.
She exhaled a puff of cigarette smoke, looked at me, and said, "I have other leads, but first I need to have the money to do so."
Speaking of money, that reminded me of why we were here.
"Kurnawan, let's have a look at the map."
Kurnawan took out the scroll of the map, placed it on the table, and we gathered around.
I unrolled the scroll slowly; if it weren't preserved, the silk and linen would have already decomposed.
Then there it was, the map of west Kalimantan unfolded.
On the bottom right, there was the inscription "蘭芳大统制共和國" (Lan Fang Republic).
Next to it was a stamp in red color, the seal of the Lan Fang Republic.
At the middle of the map, written in Chinese, marked twenty kilometers north of Mandor, in the rainforest, next to a river, an 'X' was marked on it.
I pointed my index finger on the spot and said, "This is it. We've got to prepare for the jungle."
Sea Snake Fang frowned, crossed his arms across his chest, and said, "We will have to stock up on supplies, if not we won't survive in the jungle."
I agreed with what he said; the jungle eats up the toughest and spits them out.
It's a constant battle with the humid air, insects buzzing at you, animal calls, and the fatigue bashing through the thick vegetation.
Bobby raised his hands into the air like a student, looked at everyone, and said, "But to stock up in town, we might bump into Clement and his party."
He held his head up, as if waiting for the teacher's approval.
I rolled my eyes at him again.
"I have a plan. Kurnawan, can you arrange for a meeting with The Chef?" I lit up another cigarette, waiting for his reply.
"Sure, The Chef can help, but it will cost us. But he only deals with information."
"Good, I can pay for it." I grinned, thinking of getting revenge for Amy.
I then went on and briefed the team on my plans.
…
The next day, Bobby, Kurnawan, and I went off to execute my plan.
We went to "Hock Kee" to meet with The Chef.
We ordered our meal, then the same thing happened.
Kurnawan wrote my message on a piece of paper.
It was for The Chef to inform Hamood that Clement murdered Snookey in cold blood.
They'd encountered each other while raiding a tomb in Mandor.
The Chef will inform Hamood of Clement's whereabouts when we activate him to do so.
The reply from The Chef was affirmative.
A huge sum for the service rendered was tagged onto the bill.
With that settled, we then drove to the hotel we stayed at.
We sat across the street, ordered some food, and watched out for Clement.
"Sam, this Rawon is good, have some," Bobby said and took a huge gulp of the soup.
I smirked, envying his ability to live in the moment.
A kid then came up to us, big round eyes looking at us, offering to sell us flowers.
"Can you help me buy some flowers?"
"Get out! Don't disturb my customers," the boss screamed at the kid.
I motioned to the boss that it's ok and ordered Rawon for the kid.
The kid went at the Rawon, slurping up everything.
"Hey kid, I need you to help me later. I will pay for the help." I took out IDR 1 million and passed it to him.
He nodded and took the cash.
…
After half an hour, Clement and his party made their way back to the hotel.
Big Lawrence carried Small Lawrence; I could see Small Lawrence had his hand bandaged.
We could hear Small Lawrence cursing out loud when every little movement made him feel pain.
Clement looked back at the Lawrence brothers, cussed out in French.
Crystal Siti kept her head low, not wanting to get involved.
With them back in the hotel, everything was set to go.
Kurnawan messaged The Chef the location of the hotel.
And we waited.
After some time, we could hear the roaring engines of the Flaming Wheels announcing their arrival.
I turned to the kid, gave him Snookey's wallet, and said: "Do as I've instructed."
He took the wallet, ran over to the hotel, and shouted for Clement.
"Clement!"
"Clement!"
"Clement!"
The kid with his head tilted up, hands by the side of his mouth to amplify his voice, shouted at the top of his lungs.
Clement, hearing all the ruckus, came out of the hotel and approached the kid.
Before he could say anything, the kid passed him Snookey's wallet and ran away as fast as he could.
Clement didn't give chase, looked at the wallet wondering what it was all about.
Hamood and his gang arrived just in time.
He had a build like a Mongolian wrestler, not too muscular but you could sense the strength in the muscles.
When he saw Clement holding Snookey's wallet, he roared into the sky, his face immediately turning red, fueled with all the rage he cursed and lunged at Clement.
Clement sidestepped elegantly like a ballet dancer, but he was seriously outnumbered.
Other gang members went at him with their parangs (machetes).
Clement was able to dodge a few but took a few slashes to his arm.
Then Big Lawrence came smashing through the front door of the hotel, joining in the brawl.
Now that both sides drew blood, I knew that the truth wouldn't matter anymore.
I took a huge puff, stubbed out my cigarette, and said, "Come, let's continue on our expedition."
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