God's chessboard

Tonle Sap Lake is the largest lake in Cambodia and the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. The water from the Mekong River is continuously poured into this wetland, and the Khmer people have been living on this land for generations.Among them, the people living on the Tonle Sap Lake are the most peculiar family. Their houses are transformed boats, floating on the water forever. In addition, there are also schools and churches that are also composed of boat houses. These people are like this I have spent my whole life on the lake.

Wang Yao and Al sat in a small boat and sailed slowly towards the center of the lake. The driver was a ten-year-old local boy. The boy's appearance had typical Khmer features, with dark complexion and big and beautiful eyes.Like many Cambodians, he understands English and speaks fluent, accented English and even a few words in Chinese.

The boat drove very slowly, first passing the narrow lake, a row of dilapidated fishing boats parked on the lake bank, and many houses half on the water and half on the lake bank, these houses will also be in the lake during the rainy season when the lake is the largest. is entirely on the water.From here, you can see the life of the local people. There are shirtless fishermen standing in the water and casting nets, black and thin women hanging dried fish outside the window of the boat house, and several naked children playing in the water. The murky water kept pricking fiercely.

"Those are endemic monkeys." The boy who drove the boat explained.

Those shiny black children really look like monkeys.

"It's hard to imagine that there are people in the world who live like this." Wang Yao looked at the residents on the lake and sighed.

"There are always things beyond our imagination." Al said.

From time to time, other cruise ships passed by their boat, and those cruise ships were full of tour groups. The tourists looked at them curiously, and talked about why the two could charter a boat alone.

The water area in front gradually widened, becoming like an ocean where the shore could not be seen.

"How far is it?" Wang Yao narrowed his eyes and looked at the sparkling lake.

"It's almost there." Said the boy who was driving the boat.

Wang Yao fell into deep thought.

When he first boarded the ship, Al had already told him what he had concealed in the most succinct way.Wang Yao couldn't help being angry, but he knew that there was no time left for his own emotions.There are still many doubts about the death of Wanwan's twin sister, and the new master he has never met, which make the situation even more confusing. Besides these, what role did Fankata play? What he found, he couldn't put them into a single strand.

"Al, why do you think that 'new master' hired Thayer to kill Wanwan's sister?" Wang Yao asked.

"The new master may have wanted to kill the girl for personal reasons, but he didn't need to hire Thayer to do it." Al said, "I'm almost sure that the original purpose of the new master was just to goug the girl's eyes. Hiring a top hitman shortly thereafter to kill a dying girl who was blind was clearly unreasonable."

Wang Yao frowned slightly: "Maybe he has some new reason, he must let the girl die, and he must let Thayer do it."

"That's exactly what I think," Al said. "For some important reason, the new master or someone must let Thayer kill."

The two were silent again, and the atmosphere became awkward, only the noise of motors and the sound of waves generated by the boat's passing across the water remained.

A few minutes later, Al spoke first: "Hey, Yao, will you hate me?"

"Of course not," Wang Yao said, "but it's hard for me not to be angry with you."

"I know." Al said.

On the invisible lake, the boat they took passed through a community on the lake. There was an elementary school in a row of three boathouses, and a flagpole was erected on the roof of the boathouse in the middle, flying the Cambodian flag. .

Wang Yao rested his arms on the railing of the boat, squinting his eyes in the refreshing wind. The boathouses were quiet, as if they were inhabited, but the occasional figures swaying in the dark windows proved that they were not ruins.

The boat sailed towards a larger boat house, which was a floating store. Before getting close to it, there was a strong smell of fishy smell, which made people want to cover their noses.Rows of dried meat hung under the canopy that was open on three sides, all of which were crocodile and snake meat. There were also some on the shelves, and swarms of flies were buzzing around the dried meat, and they would even hit people's faces. Hit.

As soon as Wang Yao and Al boarded the boathouse, several four or five-year-old children rowed a big bathtub to ask for money. They yelled fiercely, their voices were childish, and they lost their kindness prematurely.

"What are we doing here?" Wang Yao asked, "Aren't we going back now?"

"I still can't fully trust Wang Jialong's group," Al said. "Although the water community is not a neutral place, it is not within the sphere of influence of Wang Jialong or Fankata. We are safe here."

"But we can't stay here forever, we can't do anything now." Wang Yao pointed out the problem.

"We can wait," Al said.

"Waiting for what?" Wang Yao asked.

"We will know when the time comes, but now we have to wait." Al said and sat down on a polished rattan recliner.

The children begging for money climbed into the boathouse, surrounded Al and Wang Yao, and shouted for money. Al gave them a few dollars, but Wang Yao firmly refused to give the money. One child kicked Wang Yao angrily. kick.

"It hurts! This damned little bastard!" Wang Yao cursed angrily.

Al laughed out loud: "Beware of these children, they are not only robbers, but also thieves!"

Wang Yao stood in front of Al, and asked word by word: "Al, what are we doing here?"

Al looked up at him and found that Wang Yao's eyes had changed: "So what do you think?"

"What else are you hiding from me?" Wang Yao stared at him.

Al smiled indifferently: "I'm about to tell you." After that, he stood up and walked to the edge of the wide platform of the boat house.

Wang Yao looked at him quietly, waiting for him to speak.

Al suppressed his smile: "This is indeed not a safe house, I just want to completely get away from Wang Jialong's eyeliner."

"For what?" Wang Yao asked.

"For this." Al spread out his palm, letting Wang Yao see a note in his palm.

Wang Yao took the note and opened it to read, but he couldn't understand a single word.

"This is a code written in Filipino, a note from the new master," Al explained, "it was given to me by those begging kids just now."

Wang Yao rolled his eyes: "What agreement did you reach with that new master?"

"He wants to provide me with a clue in return for not arresting him," Arjo said a little proudly.

"Clues? About..." Wang Yao tilted his head and asked.

"About the man who pulled the puppet's string—the answer we want to know." Al stuffed the note into his pocket.

"Then what's the answer? He wrote it on the note." Wang Yao asked.

"Written on the note is a place name: Great Angkor." Al said.

"Damn! There are as many tourists as ants in that place!" Wang Yao doubted the authenticity of the clue.

"Anyway, this is the only news we have now, let's go to Angkor." Al decided.

The two immediately left Tonle Sap Lake by boat and headed for Angkor.Not long after they landed, the Cambodian boy who was driving the boat also left the boat, got on a motorcycle and sped away.

Great Angkor, also known as Angkor Thom, was once the capital of the Angkor Kingdom, but now there are only stone ruins left.The gates of Angkor Thom are narrow stone gates, which cannot be passed by wider vehicles. These gates were quite magnificent in ancient times, and there would be elephants pulling the king's car to pass through.On both sides of the stone bridge in front of the gate are two rows of stone statues resembling tug-of-war, which represent the story in Hindu mythology that the gods and Asura "stirred the sea of ​​milk" with the snake king Posuji as a rope.

The ruins of Angkor are all stone statues and stone buildings. After the collapse, they became piles of huge stones.Among these buildings, the largest and best preserved is the Bayon Temple. There are 49 four-faced Buddha statues in the temple, which add up to 196 faces. It is said that they are all built according to the appearance of the Khmer king Jayavarman VII.

"My God, what a narcissistic person would put his face everywhere!" Wang Yao felt that these big faces were as dazzling as a maze.

Tourists are like ants. Although temple regulations prohibit wearing too short clothes, and there are a few photos of Chinese tourists in cool clothes posted outside the scenic area, European, American and Korean tourists still wear miniskirts, hot pants, and camisoles. The timid and obedient Chinese tourists wear long skirts and trousers.A Cambodian young man took pictures of Chinese female tourists with a smirk on his mobile phone, and then slipped away; some tourists climbed up and down, posing in stone window frames and door frames, thinking they were in the painting; Local poor people who speak the language earn tips for taking pictures of tourists.The whole scenic spot is so lively that it is easy to get lost in this kind of place.

"Here we are, now?" Wang Yao searched for the target in the crowd, but found no suspicious person, "Have you seen the new master?" Wang Yao didn't know what the new master looked like, so he could only ask Al.

"He's not here, so he probably won't come in person." Al analyzed.

The famous "Khmer Smile" is surrounded by tourists with three floors in front and three floors outside. Al and Wang Yao squeezed past the side with difficulty, came to the less crowded place behind the stone statue, and climbed to a high place to overlook.The colorful crowd below looked like a bunch of little dolls in the taupe stone building.

The accident happened suddenly, a bullet fell among the crowd, and white smoke instantly filled the entire Bayon Temple, covering everyone underneath.The strong irritating smell pierced people's brains, and the wailing of the crowd was endless.Wang Yao and Al hurriedly covered their mouths and noses with their clothes, and climbed to a higher place.

In an instant, Wang Yao's keen intuition made him feel that danger was coming. He turned his head and saw a figure wearing a gas mask rushing out of the thick smoke, and that man had a gun in his hand.

"Get down!" Wang Yao pushed Al down.

The bullet hit the stone behind Wang Yao.

The two hurriedly got up and ran towards the thick smoke. The people behind them fired a few more shots, but they failed to hit them because of too many obstacles. The two escaped from the Bayon Temple fortunately.

As soon as they left the scenic spot, the two immediately jumped on a tourist bus that had not yet had time to drive away.

"Hey! You are not from our group!" the tour guide protested, "Get down!"

"Something happened inside! Don't worry about the group!" Al called the tour guide.

"I can't let you come up!" The tour guide insisted that they get off the car.

Wang Yao couldn't help but grab the dark and skinny tour guide and throw him out of the car, and then grabbed the bloated driver from the driver's seat and pushed him off. He shouted at the car of tourists who had been stunned for a long time: "Get out! Get off!"

Tourists rushed to get off the bus like frightened birds.

Wang Yao sat in the driver's seat, stepped on the accelerator, and the minibus rushed up the narrow road.

In the rearview mirror, the gunman appeared again, still wearing a gas mask.Al took out his pistol and aimed back. He saw the gunman walk a few steps behind their car with his gun raised.Seeing this, Wang Yao deliberately drove the car in a Z-shape on the road, making it difficult for the gunman to aim.The gunman neither chased nor fired again, and quietly disappeared behind tall tropical trees.

"It's me he wants to kill." Wang Yao said while driving.

"Then he isn't with the barista who wanted to kill me this morning?" Al guessed.

"I don't know." Wang Yao couldn't decide.

"At least we can be sure that someone wants you dead, and someone wants me dead." Al pouted, grabbed a pack of snacks and started eating.

"What is this?" Wang Yao asked with a frown.

"Dried cranberries," Al said, grabbing a few small red candied fruits and throwing them into his mouth, "Would you like some?"

"Why do you have that thing?" Wang Yao expressed his dissatisfaction with Al being in the mood to eat in such a tense situation.

"It must have been left behind by a tourist. You frightened them." Al said and grabbed a few packs of snacks: "Look, there is still a lot of food and drinks, enough for us to drive to Vietnam."

"I want to throw you into the Mekong River!" Wang Yao said firmly.

Just as I was talking, another scenic spot suddenly appeared in front of me. It was a pair of twin temples. There was a large car of tourists visiting there, and the road was full of people.

"Brake!" Al yelled.

As soon as Wang Yao stepped on the brakes, he turned the steering wheel to the left and narrowly avoided a little boy eating a popsicle.

"I hate tour groups!" Wang Yao exclaimed, "Most of the time!"

"Uh... I think it's even more infuriating to snatch a tour bus and then drive wildly on the sightseeing route." Al shrugged.

A group of cursing tourists behind were thrown away by Wang Yao.

After ten minutes, Wang Yao felt something was wrong.

"We seem to be lost." Wang Yao had to tell Al.

"It looks like we're still in Angkor Thom, we just need to find a door." Al looked around.

At this time they came to the famous Elephant Fighting Terrace. Opposite the Elephant Fighting Terrace was a large open lawn with a dilapidated tower of the twelve zodiac signs.There's no one here now, they're the first tour bus to arrive.

"I'll ask the way." Wang Yao stopped the car and opened the door.

"Be careful." Al held the gun in front of Wang Yao.

"No need, I'll be right back." Wang Yao said as he walked towards the snack vendor not far away.

When Wang Yao came to the peddler's cart, just as he was about to ask, the peddler suddenly pulled out a pistol that had been added to it from under the booth and shot Wang Yao.

Wang Yao dodged subconsciously the moment the peddler drew his gun, but the other party moved quickly, and he couldn't dodge the bullet. The bullet grazed his shoulder and tore apart the flesh.The pain made Wang Yao's movements sluggish for a moment, and the other party was using this short gap to shoot again.This time the gunshots were abnormally loud. When Wang Yao felt the pain of tearing and burning from his waist, he saw the enemy's body lose support and fell towards him, hitting him heavily. The two of them lost their balance and fell on the ground together. land.Wang Yao desperately pushed him away, only to find that the man had died, and the back of his head was blown away by the spinning bullet.

"Wang Yao!" Al ran over, holding a loaded gun in his hand.

"Al! Run!" Wang Yao waved Al to run, ignoring that he was still sitting on the ground.

"Why..." Al's surprised expression quickly turned into vigilance, and he quickly raised his gun, "Who?"

The man who was walking towards them said with a sneer, "I wouldn't do this if I were you, please put away the gun, Agent Jones." Al recognized the man as Van Kata.

"I don't mean to be racist, but I hate English with an Indian accent." Al held his gun steadily.

"Let me kindly remind you: your life is in my hands, and I advise you not to waste it in vain." Fankata said calmly.

Al was about to continue the stalemate when he heard Wang Yao say in a low voice, "Al, put down the gun."

Only then did Al realize that a gunman was aiming at his head not far behind him, and there were at least five or six people with guns hidden around them.He had to throw away the gun and stand there empty-handed.Wang Yao got up clutching the wound on his waist, and stood beside Al unsteadily.All the hidden people around showed up and slowly surrounded them.Vankata walked towards them step by step, his eyes flashed with a complex light of happiness and anger.

The gunman behind Al also circled in front of them, and it turned out to be a boy sailing on the Tonle Sap Lake.

"You? Cashew nuts?" Al stared at the young man, "I thought you were working for the new master."

"He's working for me, Agent Jones." A familiar voice.

Al turned his head and saw that the new master had already come from the direction of the elephant stand.

"So you are allies." Al's gaze shifted from the new master to Fankata.

"It wasn't originally," Xin Ye explained, "but after you found me in Hong Kong, I had to form an alliance with Fankata. After all, we have a common goal."

"Is the common purpose to kill both of us?" Al raised his voice.

"No, no, no, of course not," Vankata smiled and waved his hands. "We need you alive, Agent Jones."

The new master continued: "I sent cashew nuts to kill the man who wanted to poison you."

Al looked at the Cambodian boy nicknamed Cashew Nut, and asked the new master, "Then why didn't you show up at Tonle Sap Lake? What did you bring us here for?"

"Because I want you to get rid of Wang Jialong's people," Xin Ye said, "you still had your tails when you got to Tonle Sap Lake."

"And then?" Al asked.

"Then we can kill Wang Yao without leaving a trace." Fankata said coldly.

Wang Yao stared at Fankata viciously, and gritted his teeth sourly.

"Yao is your target?" Al stepped forward to block in front of Wang Yao, this action made Cashew pointed his gun at him again, uttering a silent threat.

"This lowly killer is not a target, he's just a nuisance that needs to be removed from your side," Vankata said sternly, "You should thank me, Agent Jones, this damn Chinese is the one who set you free." The culprit in danger." After he finished speaking, he waved his hand, and two Indians stepped forward to drag the corpse away from the ground, and dragged them into the dense tropical rainforest.

"Thank you for solving this useless thing for me, Agent Jones," Vinkata slowly drew out his gun, "I don't want to kill people on the tourist route, and this dead monkey shot against my orders !"

"Don't try to show off!" Al raised his hand to stop Fankata, and said word by word.

"Let's wait and see, Agent Jones." Vankata sneered.

Wang Yao pressed Al's arm in front of him: "Al."

Al had to slowly lower his arm, but his eyes were fixed on Fankata.Fan Kata signaled to his subordinates, and someone immediately stepped forward to take Wang Yao away.

"Go away, bastard! I'll go by myself!" Wang Yao shook off the hands that were roughly grabbing him, but was quickly caught again.

"I can't believe you, Killer Angel," Vinkata didn't even bother to look at Wang Yao, "although you'll be a dead man soon." He turned to Al: "Please, Agent Jones, I don't want to shoot you I want you, but there is no better way right now."

Al moved his steps, followed those who escorted Wang Yao, and walked towards the rainforest hundreds of meters away.

tbc

☆、Chapter 17