48 Hours a Day

Panda Novel

The horse carriage entered Nassau at night, eventually stopping in front of Zhang Heng’s house. Zhang Heng and Billy then carried the slave into the house and placed him in Marvin’s empty room. As for Anne, she quickly went to look for a doctor.

Billy chatted with Zhang Heng for a while before he took his leave as it was getting late. After that, Zhang Heng went back to Marvin’s room. The slave’s eyes remained closed, and he was as still as a glass lake on a windless night. If not for his shallow breathing, most would have thought that he was dead. The blood smeared over his face had caked up, making him look even scarier than before.

“I have to say. You sure are good at pretending to be unconscious,” said Zhang Heng as he moved a chair to the side of the bed.

Unsurprisingly, he got no response. The man was still lying on the bed in the same position, unconscious.

“Aren’t you curious about how I knew you were still alive? When we were in the ballroom earlier, everyone had their attention focused on your fight. I was the only one looking around and observing the others. In the end, I noticed something really interesting. Whenever your opponent attacked you, I could see some of the female slaves cringing in fear. At first, I thought that they were worried about you. I also saw that they were relieved when you attacked your opponent.

“So, I figured that their concern for you must have been genuine. One interesting point, though. I noticed how happy they were when you managed to beat scarface. At the same time, it seemed as if they were expecting something as well. This reaction puzzled me. Until the very end, just when everyone thought that you were done for, you stood up and delivered a heavy blow to your opponent. To my surprise, they didn’t seem too shocked by your epic victory. This made me think of one thing. Maybe, just maybe, they knew exactly what would happen on the stage.

“Everything that happened tonight was directed by you. You wanted to escape the mansion, and so, you concealed your true ability on the stage. After suffering such severe injuries, you knew all too well that they would never hire a doctor to treat you. Instead, they were going to bury you alive. And the two slaves digging your grave were your people as well. That was why they panicked when I offered to buy you. They never expected this to happen.”

When Zhang Heng was done talking, the slave suddenly sprung from the bed and attempted to strangle him! All too soon, he stopped in his tracks as he saw a Zhang Heng pointing a gun at him.

“I have no ill intention towards you. On the contrary, you should feel lucky that you met me tonight. if you followed your original plan, you might be able to get away without your supervisor noticing you. However, you still can’t bypass the guards that are at the front entrance. Say you somehow managed to evade the guards without notice, you would still be surrounded by acres of plantations. You can’t possibly escape the area.”

“Is this what you mean by harboring no ill intention toward me? Here you are, pointing your gun.”

Zhang Heng was relieved when the slave talked to him in English. Compared to their female counterparts who were maids, black male fighters were not required to know too many English words. The less they knew, the better as all their masters needed them to do was to fight like wild beasts on the stage.

Almost every tribe in Africa had their own specific language. Most of the time, it was hard for one tribe to communicate with another due to the language barrier.

“I have seen what your arms can do. I don’t want to be strangled to death. Whether you believe it or not, me saving you tonight was just a coincidence. I don’t want anything from you. I’m planning to hire a doctor to treat your wounds, and you are allowed to leave whenever you want after you recover. I’m only worried that you might try to break the doctor’s neck. That’s why I thought of talking to you first.”

“Our country might be poor, but we are no beasts.”

The slave appeared to relax a little and was no longer hostile towards Zhang Heng.

“I’m sorry. Anyway, you have been freed. You can choose to let the doctor treat your wounds, or you can leave right now. My door is always open.”

Zhang Heng wasn’t lying when he said that it was merely a coincidence that he rescued the slave tonight. Though he knew that the slave was plotting to leave the mansion, this incident had nothing to do with him. Initially, he had no intention to interrupt his plan and only decided to act on it when he saw that a man was about to be buried alive.

Somehow, the slave was still doubtful of Zhang Heng. He stood up and walked to the doors. Naturally, Zhang Heng didn’t say a word and just watched him leave. A few minutes later, however, the black man returned to Zhang Heng’s house.

“Rakutua.”

“Oh? Is that your name?”

“No. That’s the name of the man that I killed today. He is the bravest warrior in my tribe, and he is my best friend as well.”

1“Was he supposed to escape with you?”

Zhang Heng was bewildered.

“Yes. The hardest part of the plan is to control your strength. He has to make sure that my injuries are severe but not to the point that it would kill me. It’s tough to achieve that. If my opponent were not Rakutua, I would have surely died tonight. There’s no way that I can turn the tide around just like that.”

“Just who the heck are you?”

Zhang Heng was curious about his background. He had managed to make the slaves worry about him and even convinced a warrior from his tribe to die for him. Every black slave around him was practically helping him to escape.

“My name is Laeli. I come from a big tribe, and my father is the chief. Those evil slave traders invaded my hometown and turned our lives upside down!”