"Thump, thump, thump…"
"Pat, pat, pat…"
Soon,
Javier and the others saw a pitch-black circular hole exposed in the white wall of the large dam structure. There were even traces of many wild animals having lived inside, which made them truly admire Manuela for daring to enter and exit through such a passage.
The inside of the passage was spacious but extremely dim and cool.
Following Manuela's footsteps, they quickly reached the end of the passage. There was a protective climbing ladder made of reinforced steel embedded in the wall. Looking up, a ladder about a hundred meters long appeared before their eyes.
Javier and the others stared blankly at the protective climbing ladder before them, like frogs at the bottom of a well, their gazes somewhat dazed. Was this the legendary secret passage?
Goodness…
They actually had to climb the ladder by hand to get up, and it was so high. They couldn't imagine how Manuela escaped back then. If she were to slip and fall, she would be shattered to pieces. This little girl was even more formidable than they imagined!
"Uh…"
"Actually, it's not that high; you can climb up quickly,"
Facing the gazes of Javier and the others, Manuela also explained with an embarrassed expression, then stepped forward to demonstrate. Her slender arms and fair feet quickly grasped the ladder, and she climbed up very lightly.
But as Manuela climbed higher, her thin pure white skirt almost failed to cover her, and Javier quickly covered his eyes and seriously reminded her:
"Alright, come down quickly!"
"You and Rebecca will climb last. We big men will climb first. Of course… if you don't mind us seeing everything, then go ahead, but come down quickly!"
Javier pointed at Manuela's thin skirt. Only then did Manuela realize what was happening. Her small face flushed, and she immediately climbed back down, looking at Javier with a hint of resentment. A reminder was fine, but would anyone be so blunt about it?
In response,
Javier nonchalantly cleared his throat and was the first to climb the protective ladder, quickly escaping the scene.
Behind him, Rebecca looked at Javier's back with great displeasure. That philandering man must be punished later, otherwise his womanizing nature would never be reined in.
The farce ended—
They quickly reached the top of the emergency passage and found a connected ventilation duct at the end. The ventilation grate on it had already been lifted, and there was a small stool of unknown origin placed underneath. This was undoubtedly a path for repeat offenders.
Seeing this,
Manuela couldn't help but feel embarrassed again, like a child whose secrets had all been discovered by adults.
Similarly,
They once again followed the previous method. To prevent their butts from hitting their heads, Javier and the other big men still crawled in front, bending their backs, with Manuela and Rebecca, the two ladies, behind. The entire ventilation duct was just wide enough for an adult to crawl through comfortably.
After all, in terms of ventilation,
it is also a key factor in measuring whether a large dam is up to standard, because a good ventilation environment can keep the dam's interior dry for a long time and avoid dampness. If the dam's interior is damp, it can easily be corroded, washed away, and collapse by river water, so ventilation is very crucial.
"Clang—!"
Seeing that they had reached the interior of the dam,
Through the gaps in the ventilation duct grate, Javier found no drug traffickers guarding below, so he carefully moved the grate and prepared to jump down.
"Thud…!"
A slight muffled sound,
Javier jumped down first, landing steadily on the ground. The environment inside was similar to the interior of a military base. The surroundings were solid concrete walls, faint lights flickered overhead, and there was no one around. The long corridor passage did not show any sign of a person, and several room doors were tightly closed nearby.
"No one, you can come down…"
After observing that there were no drug traffickers guarding the area, Javier finally told Manuela and the others above the ventilation opening to lower their guard, indicating that they could come down safely.
With a few more muffled thuds, all five of them, led by Manuela, successfully infiltrated the interior of the dam—
But…
Would things really go so smoothly?
"Pat, pat, pat—!!!"
"Pat, pat, pat—!!!"
Just as Javier and the others were about to investigate further, a rapid sound of footsteps quickly approached. By the time Javier and the others reacted, the surrounding room doors quickly opened, and a large number of drug traffickers poured out, all wearing camouflage military uniforms of poor quality, holding various types of assault rifles, and staring fiercely at Javier and the others.
And at the very front,
A middle-aged man with a white patterned short-sleeved shirt, a gold necklace, slicked-back black hair, dark sunglasses, a cigar in his mouth, and a snake-patterned pistol in his hand, walked out slowly with an extraordinary demeanor. But under his dark sunglasses, a cold gleam flickered—!
Chapter 15 Water Torture
"Damn it, we fell for it…"
Seeing the large number of soldiers suddenly emerge from all around, about thirty or forty of them, all holding various weapons, Javier knew they had fallen for a trap and were doomed. This posture… it wasn't a temporary reaction at all, but rather like they had been waiting for a long time for prey to come to them.
"Damn it!"
"This little girl lied to us—!"
At this moment,
Seeing so many drug traffickers surrounding them, even Krauser, a battle-hardened veteran, couldn't help but look grim. He cursed in a low voice at Manuela's back. This situation was already a death trap; it was impossible to reverse. It would be a miracle if they didn't die!
Subconsciously,
Krauser blamed Manuela, who had brought them here, as the culprit. After all, this girl was the daughter of the drug lord Javier Hidalgo. How could she not have any ulterior motives? Perhaps it was a play acted out by her and her father to lure them into the trap.
However,
Krauser overlooked one thing: even if his conjecture were true, the drug lord Javier Hidalgo wouldn't need to do this. As long as he knew the location of Krauser and the others,
There was no need for any trap. Given their familiarity with the Amazon Rainforest alone, they could easily round up Krauser and the others. There was no need for a so-called luring-the-enemy-deep trap.
"…"
"Who are you people? Americans? British? What is your true purpose in abducting my daughter? I thought it was those damn natives who cursed and bewitched my Manuela, but I didn't expect it to be you disgusting white monkeys. What did you give my daughter to make her willingly leave me!"
And just as Krauser was constantly wondering about Manuela's motive for luring them here, the distinguished middle-aged man at the very front finally spoke calmly, questioning them. That was Manuela's father, the great drug lord Javier Hidalgo—
Although there wasn't the expected rage, the anger contained in his words was undiminished. Hidalgo just didn't appear as furious.
Beneath the calmness lay an unimaginable raging inferno…
If the sharp gaze under those dark sunglasses could transform into sword light, Javier and the others might have already been sliced into hundreds of pieces of meat by this drug lord.
And the reason Hidalgo was able to catch Javier and the others here was because of Manuela's escape route. To find out how his daughter escaped from the heavily guarded dam, Hidalgo personally investigated the dam's surveillance system.
Finally, in a hidden blind spot of the surveillance,
He saw the back of his daughter Manuela's white skirt darting into the ventilation duct. So… Hidalgo knew that if his daughter Manuela were willing to come back, she would definitely continue to use this secret passage.
Therefore,
Hidalgo arranged for some drug trafficker subordinates to wait for prey there. Originally, it was just a slight attempt, but he didn't expect to actually hit the jackpot.
However, upon seeing the few Americans before him, and even an Asian with yellow skin mixed among them, Idalgo's brows immediately furrowed tightly. He didn't remember knowing these people. Since they were neither enemies nor acquaintances, which national organization had sent these people?
International anti-drug police—?
No, no, international anti-drug police didn't have the ability to cross the Amazon Rainforest to capture him, let alone do it alone. Furthermore, he was the one trafficking drugs; what did it mean to abduct his daughter?
To clarify the situation,
Idalgo temporarily spared Javier and the others, even though at this very moment he desperately wanted to tear apart the culprits who had tried to abduct his beloved daughter, Manuela. He had to first understand the situation before he could kill them.
Otherwise,
It was very likely that next time, people of unknown origin would continue to abduct his daughter, Manuela. Idalgo would not allow such a thing to happen a second time, so he had to be cautious.
"Father…?!"
And when Manuela saw her father before her,
Her expression immediately turned panicked and helpless. It seemed like things were truly over now. Running away from home had been discovered, and secretly bringing outsiders home had also been caught red-handed. Manuela was certain her father would not easily let Javier and the others go.
"…"
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Javier Hidalgo, leader of the Sacred Serpent organization, the Drug King. Coincidentally, my name is also Havier Li, an Asian, but not a white-skinned monkey, but a descendant of the dragon. Also, you've misunderstood something. We are not the culprits who abducted your beloved daughter; on the contrary, we are the benefactors who saved your daughter Manuela's life."
"The reason your daughter Manuela fled from your side was mainly because your frequent organ transplants for Manuela were discovered. Manuela learned that her life was sustained by sacrificing so many girls her age, and therefore, her kind nature could not tolerate such a discovery, which is why she voluntarily left."
"Furthermore, we found Manuela in the church of the downstream village. She had been fleeing in the rainforest for three days and three nights. When we found her, Manuela had already fainted, and her heart was close to stopping. Fortunately, our medic carried a defibrillator, which saved your daughter's life."
"And the reason we are here at the dam is mainly to investigate something. The downstream villages have frequently experienced various mutated monsters, the specific reason being water pollution, and upstream is the dam. So we highly suspect that you, Mr. Idalgo, are the cause of this disaster."
"Also, we are personnel hired by the World Health and Environmental Organization to investigate the ecological environment in the Amazon Rainforest, and naturally, we cannot ignore this!"
Again, with a serious demeanor,
Javier showed no fear facing the oppressive presence of this famous drug lord. He began to explain on his own, trying to make them appear harmless, and repeatedly emphasized that this incident was an accident, not a deliberate abduction of a minor girl.
Of course, while this method of communication was a bit absurd, it was at least much better than letting Krauser and this drug lord curse at each other.
If things really escalated, Javier truly wasn't confident he could escape. After all, there were over thirty drug traffickers on the other side, each armed with assault rifles. Even random spraying could turn Javier and the others into sieves!
So,
A simple conversation,
Could instead allow Javier and the others to buy some time to live.
Sure enough,
This drug lord, who loved his daughter more than his life, immediately changed his expression upon hearing that his daughter Manuela had almost died. He didn't care whether the story Javier had just told was true or not.
He only cared whether his daughter's life was in danger. It had only been less than a week since her last organ transplant, and now it was acting up again?!
This made Idalgo's heart tremble. Could it be that this organ transplant method was going to fail again? Or… was it because Manuela's three days and three nights of running in the rainforest had caused too much organ damage?
"…"
"World Environmental Health Organization… Heh heh, if I said I wasn't a drug dealer or a major drug lord, but a kind wealthy person who enjoys helping others and giving generously, would you believe me?"
"After all, I not only funded the surrounding poor villages but also built a large dam to resist floods, and even brought convenient facilities like electricity and machinery into this primitive jungle. Tell me… am I not a good person?"
While worrying about his daughter Manuela's physical condition and safety, Idalgo couldn't help but find Javier's words amusing. These Americans would say any lie to survive. Did he look like an idiot? So easy to fool!
However,
Idalgo, this drug lord, did not expect that Javier was even more straightforward than he had imagined.
"Of course,"
"Mr. Idalgo, in my opinion, you are indeed a kind wealthy person. After all, in such a corrupt country like Colombia, where the wealth gap is enormous, rich people generally don't bother with the life or death of the poor. Even when the government asks them for funding, they only grudgingly spare a little."
"Unlike you, who so earnestly and diligently considers the lives of the common people in Colombia. Although selling drugs and arms is indeed a shady business, these things have also supported quite a few people, haven't they?"
"The emergence of drugs has given most civilians in Colombia, and even Brazil, a glimmer of hope. However, if there's one flaw, it would be that your temper has been a bit too volatile recently, killing too many people, which has caused your subordinates to become subtly uneasy. If it weren't for you controlling their only lifeline, they would probably devour you alive like a pack of wolves right now!"
Facing the questioning of Idalgo, this drug lord,
Javier still answered glibly, but the last few sentences made Idalgo very displeased. His sharp eyes beneath his sunglasses swept across his drug trafficker subordinates, who then lowered their heads guiltily.
Undoubtedly,
Half of what Javier had just said was correct.
Recently, Idalgo's temper had become increasingly volatile and unpredictable. Coupled with the fact that many people had been used as experimental subjects for biochemical viruses, this had gradually caused his once loyal subordinates to waver. After all, no one wanted to die, right? Especially not such a meaningless death.
"Hmph!"
"Sharp-tongued fellow, how I discipline my subordinates is none of your business. Which one is the doctor who saved my daughter? Hmm… Open the floodgates. Besides my daughter and that short-haired woman, throw all the rest into the drainage outlet. Let them taste the flavor of being pulverized."
Finally,
Idalgo snorted coldly, completely disregarding Javier's divisive words. As a drug lord in Colombia, he had held a high position for many years, so how could he not be aware of the disloyalty among his subordinates? It was just that due to the critical juncture, he didn't have time to stabilize their morale.
Immediately,
Ignoring Javier's glib talk, Idalgo silently turned his gaze towards Rebecca in the crowd. He had originally wanted to confirm who the doctor was, but upon seeing Rebecca carrying a large medical kit, he instantly identified her.
He then ordered the other drug trafficker subordinates to take Rebecca and his daughter Manuela away, and then prepared to open the floodgates, throwing Javier and the others into the drainage outlet to be washed down from the hundreds of meters high dam!
This was Idalgo's punishment for Javier and the others—
Never underestimate the danger of high-altitude diving. Entering water from a height of hundreds of meters, even if the water has a buffering capacity, such a high altitude combined with the impact is essentially no different from someone hitting concrete. The moment they fall, Javier and the others' internal organs would be immediately shattered, leading to death.