XG 23 - Why is your brother pointing his gun at you

As this was not their ride, they did not expect to see any familiar face, only to have that thought overturned.

“Brother?” Nurul Hanani confirmed that the man dressed in army uniform with a military gun in hand who stepped out of the helicopter was indeed her own brother.

Nurul Hanani has two elder brothers, and only her second brother chooses to enter the army instead of the police force like his elder brother and father.

Another man wearing a bulletproof vest stepped out of the helicopter’s pilot seat. He headed straight to Mr Ember and respectfully greeted him. This ride was obviously arranged for Mr Ember.

“Mr Ember, we are now working with the army for this rescue,” the pilot informed apologetically. “The Chief of Police and the Ambassador of Canada’s daughters are here.”

Mr Ember smiled. “It’s nothing to worry about.”

“Huh? Are we sharing a ride with them?” Low Lin Ya frowned and read the new message she received. “My dad told me to follow your brother. That’s obvious… but why is your brother pointing his gun at you?!”

The army had every man in their base familiarize themselves with the list of symptoms and have the order to shoot them down immediately. Hafiz’s sharp eye caught the Malay girl with a very thin frame that no humans could have. The most obvious telltale was the bandaged arm with traces of blood seeping out from it.

“Step away from that infected person!” Hafiz ordered, his gun pointed steadily at the target that was staring at him without moving.

Strange, why was this infected being so docile? All the infected he had seen were aggressive, especially around humans. Maybe because she had not completely turned yet?

“Infected?” Mr Kwan hissed in fright and quickly pulled Mr Ember far away from them, closer to the helicopter.

“Surely there is a misunderstanding?” Mr. Ember gazed at Nurul Hanani. “She clearly moves and speaks normally with us for quite some time.”

Even when facing the danger of being shot for disobedience, Low Lin Ya did not move away from Nurul Hanani, gripping her hand tensely. Wong Xue Guo stepped forward, half of her body hiding Nurul Hanani behind her. They were clearly protecting their friend.

"Hey-" Nurul Hanani started, but was immediately cut off.

“Move!” Hafiz yelled at the stupid girls when his shoulder was suddenly gripped tightly until it grew numb. His grip unconsciously loosens and the gun lowered, unable to resist the painful grip from a seemingly harmless woman with the appearance of one that grows up delicately in a birdcage.

“None of us here will become a monster anytime soon.” There was a hint of anger in Suzie Yap’s voice.

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How could she not get angry that this man had pointed his gun at her daughter? If things went wrong, her daughter could have been shot, and this second chance will be useless to her. Her anger had her grip on the soldier becoming heavier.

“Interfering with the army is a crime!” Hafiz warned and successfully threw off the heavy grip on his shoulder with a twist. But before he could adjust his grip, the gun in his hands was kicked away and fell into a young man’s hands.

Chen Yibo aimed the nuzzle at Hafiz without a beginner’s trembling grip, his posture was textbook correct. No one except for the person himself would know if he really could use the gun.

Wong Xue Guo stared wide-eyed at Chen Yibo. Fuck, aren’t you too brave, Yibo!

“Hani, your brother did not recognize you?” Low Lin Ya asked in disbelief tinged with fear.

“Hani obviously lost a lot of her weight. It’s not weird if her family member, especially this brother that hardly returns home, failed to recognize his own sister,” Wong Xue Guo said, not hiding her personal opinion.

“Brother!” Nurul Hanani yelled, adjusting her position to look at her brother. “It’s me, Hani! Darn you for not recognizing me! You blind bat!”

The familiar voice and the way of scolding were indeed the same as Hafiz’s sister in his memory. Hafiz’s habit was to look for any danger and deal with them first, so he did not search for his sister’s face among the group. Even if his father said their sister was bitten, he had low hope that his sister would survive, as there was a record of zero percent of survivors after being bitten. However, he still volunteered to come to save his sister’s friend and to confirm his sister’s status.

“Guo Guo, let Second Lieutenant Hafiz take a look at his sister,” Suzie Yap said and Wong Xue Guo stepped aside, tugging away Low Lin Ya as well.

Chen Yibo exchanged a look with Suzie Yap and then lowered the gun before passing it back to Hafiz, who took it back with a dark look. His pride took a great hit having two civilians overpowered him and even taking his gun away. What terrified Hafiz was knowing that he had been constantly in his guarded state, hyper-aware of his surroundings yet he could not sense the woman creeping up beside him.

If his superiors knew of his mistake, he would definitely be sent back to train again!

The rooftop was only lit up with dim lights, barely usable for Hafiz to look clearly at the girl’s features so he pulled out his torchlight from his vest and flashed it at the girl. His eyes shook in recognition the more he examined the girl’s features.

“...Hani? You… You are still alive after being infected? How?” Hafiz confirmed Nurul Hanani’s bandaged upper arm was a bite wound and verified the truth of the information given by Low Lin Ya.

Hafiz was the brother in Nurul Hanani’s mouth that always nagged at her for not exercising enough to build up muscles. He even went to the extent of calling her fat, which he got a head smack from his mother, but his nagging never worked to get his sister to exercise. But seeing his younger sister’s current state where a gust of wind could have knocked her down, he began to regret his poisonous mouth.

Why was he not satisfied with his sister and insisted on turning her into a perfect model that he would feel proud of? It was only at the moment when he saw her suffering did he finally woke up from the demanding expectations that could have driven his sister far away from him forever.

Under his helmet, Hafiz blinked his suspiciously wet eyes. “You should have followed me to exercise and learn some self-defence. You will not look this horrible if you do.”

“I will take up your offer.”

Nurul Hanani’s answer took his brother aback. After a moment of collecting his emotions in control, he nodded his head.

“Second Lieutenant Hafiz, you have the communication device connected to your father, don’t you?” Suzie Yap asked. Her question completely discarded the civilian identity from Suzie Yap in Hafiz’s mind.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Is it a private line without being bugged?”

Hafiz paused. “To my knowledge, yes. This is given to me by the Chief of Police himself.”

“May I speak to the Chief of Police and the Ambassador of Canada?”

“Please hold on a moment.” Hafiz went to the side and spoke to the communication device for a short time before returning. He passed the communication device to Suzie Yap, who then followed his previous actions by walking aside to avoid being eavesdropped on.

“May I confirm your identity?” A man’s voice came from the device. “I gave my word this line is private and no one has tapped on us. But my friend, Mr Andrew Low, is listening to us right now.”

The Chief of Police was having a video call right now with Low Lin Ya’s father, both having the same interest in saving their daughter from the Diamond shopping mall.

“Suzie Yap, mother of Wong Xue Guo, your daughter’s friend. My husband is Charles Wong, the Winter Fruit pharmacy’s owner.”

The man on the other line took a while to reply. “Can I know if Winter Fruit pharmacy has a hand with the virus’s outbreak?”