At 3: 30 in the early morning of July 9, 2013, on a beach near Ras Grai, Somalia, 36 hours after Taotao and Yunjie were kidnapped.
The stars were shining in the night sky, and the sea was quiet. The sound of waves was gentle and comfortable.
Although it was the beach of the Pirate Country, which was famous in the world, it was no different from the beaches in other places in the world.
If it was in a more developed country, such a beach might be developed into a resort. But here, it was so barren that there was only the breath of nature.
A small yacht came to the beach from the other side of the quiet sea. There was a small light on the yacht, like a ghost fire floating on the sea. As the yacht approached, the light became bigger and bigger.
The sea breeze was moaning. There were some trees and some reefs on the beach. A small black figure trotted over from the woods. He stared at the yacht, and then he moved from the tree to the back of the reefs.
Someone disembarked from the boat. His stature wasn't tall, and he wore casual attire that wasn't commonly seen in Somalia. Under the night sky, his silhouette could be seen. His upper body was wrapped in a small cloak, probably used to block the wind. This figure fixed the small yacht by the beach, and turned his head, directly gazing towards Reef. Just like that, he tilted his head and stared for a long time.
Then, the dark, skinny, and small figure gradually moved out from behind the reef. That person approached them. Under the starlight, standing beside the reef was a skinny black girl who was only about 1.5 meters tall. Her clothes were tattered and thin. She just stared at the person in front of her. Her hand seemed to be holding something behind her back. When the person in front of her tilted his head and looked at her with interest, she turned her hand in front of her. It was a rather shabby mobile phone.
"Er, er …" The black girl stuttered. She spoke in English, but not fluent English. Although English and Italian were also spoken in Somalia, the main languages were Somali and Arabic. Most people still didn't understand English. "Hello … Welcome … Welcome to Somalia."
Her English was stiff, which meant that her English was not good. But it was estimated that her teacher had taught her this sentence many times. Jiaming laughed, "Are you the contact person?"
"Yes, I am."
The small black thin girl nodded and said slowly in English, "Are you from Saudi Arabia?
China? "
"I am."
Although the dark-skinned girl in front of him looked a little ridiculous, the meeting was completed. Then, the dark-skinned girl led him away from the beach and towards the city.
He was thinking about Taotao and Yunjie in his heart. After making sure that the black girl was not a scam, he calmed down and meditated on the next action. For him, he was a master of deceiving people before. After the outbreak of his superpower, he was more sensitive to this aspect. In the face of the situation, basically no one could fool him.
From the black girl's broken English, Jiaming probably knew that the temporary contact person found by Dim Heavenly Harp was not a trained agent. She knew nothing about the purpose of his visit this time. When Jiaming mentioned that he wanted her to help find Samuel, Dim Heavenly Harp's English was not fluent.
When Hassan appeared, the other party was obviously shocked.
"Are, are you alone?"
"Yes."
"But … he is a warlord, a bad guy, very cruel …" The black girl didn't have many English words. At this time, she tried her best to express that Samuel was unpardonable. Then she seemed to realize something. Suddenly, she was a little depressed, "You … Do you want to … cooperate with him?"
Jiaming looked at her with a faint smile. After a while, he asked, "Why do you have that mobile phone?"
"The mobile phone … was left by my teacher …"
"Where is your teacher?"
"He is dead. He was killed by those warlords …"
The black girl held the old mobile phone in her hands, "I know … My teacher was doing something very important for our country … But he is dead … When he was caught, I helped him hide the mobile phone. The mobile phone was about to break down … It was difficult for me to charge it … It didn't ring often … I only received two calls … Yesterday … It was difficult for me to understand … The mobile phone was about to break down …"
Jiaming nodded his head and said, "I understand."
Simply put, the black girl's former teacher was probably an agent from Dark Heavenly Zither. Later, he was killed. Dark Heavenly Zither made contact with him for the first time only to discover that the goods were not the same. Naturally, they cut off contact. Later on, there was probably an investigation and they must have sent a new agent here. After confirming her identity, they could not take in a little girl like her. Thus, they temporarily gave up on this place. This time, due to Jiaming's visit, they decided to find a local.
Oh, what an imaginative choice …
Chen Xiaolian sighed and said, "I am here to trouble Samuel."
"But … you are alone."
"Yes." Jiaming smiled and said, "Alone."
At around four o 'clock, the two of them arrived at Dallas Gray. Although it was a town, it was in fact a simple slum. The black girl led Jiaming to her place of residence. It was just a small wooden shed of a few square metres with a tattered quilt. The black girl appeared very uneasy. It appeared that she wanted to arrange a place for Jiaming to stay first.
"Are you … like our teacher, are you here to help us?"
"Sorry, I am afraid I am not that great of a person."
Jiaming smiled. Then, he asked her to take him to Samuel's place. The black girl immediately became anxious and said, "Really, they, there are a lot of them!
You're the only one. "
"It is all right, just take me there."
"But … there are over 300 of them, over 300 of them!"
The black girl gestured with the number 300 and emphasized it. She even wrote the number '300' on the ground for Jiaming to see. Jiaming shook his head and said, "I still need to get there as soon as possible."
"It will take a long time …"
"That is why we need to move now."
"But really … really … we will die …"
It was quite difficult for the black girl to say those words. She held onto the old mobile phone. Perhaps she was thinking about her teacher and her tone became mournful.
Jiaming sat there and thought for a while. After a while, he stretched out his hand and said, "Show me the mobile phone."
The black girl struggled for a long time before she handed the mobile phone to Jiaming. There was no electricity nearby, but Dongfang had already shown the light of dawn. Jiaming took out a small flashlight and turned it on. He began to dismantle the mobile phone one by one. After checking it and wiping the damp part slightly, he began to assemble it again. It turned on normally, but there was only a little bit of power left.
It could be imagined that since she got the mobile phone from her teacher, she must have kept it on all the time. Therefore, she could immediately receive the call from the Dark Heavenly Zither. But in such a place, if the previous charger was gone, he didn't know how she could keep the mobile phone charged.
Jiaming was not a soft-hearted person. He had seen a lot of homeless people in his previous life. However, although the black girl was estimated to be seventeen or eighteen years old or even older, she looked almost the same as Taotao, and she was thinner. As a girl, Taotao was slim but not thin.
He thought of Taotao more or less, so he returned the mobile phone to her and nodded, "It will ring again."
"Uh …" The black girl held the mobile phone. She didn't understand what he meant.
"Let's go. If we are going to go far, we should set off earlier."
Jiaming stood up and made the decision. Seeing that he was determined, the black girl had to start to leave. But she still emphasized the danger there again and again.
In the early morning, the sun gradually shone on the land of Lasgray. Jiaming walked with the black girl one after the other. He asked casually, "What happened to your face?"
Last night, he noticed that the black girl's English was not good. Another reason why she couldn't speak fluently was that her cheek was swollen, like a small bun. The black girl turned back and touched her cheek with her hand, "It's painful … I have a toothache."
With the living and hygienic conditions here, although there was not much sugar to eat, tooth decay was inevitable. It seemed that she had been used to the pain.
After a while, they walked to the street of Lasgray. Jiaming also knew that Samuel Hasan's base was very small.
But the small town of Lasgray was basically under his control. She said that there were more than three hundred people in the base, but he didn't know if it was accurate.
Lasgray was not big. There were only two main streets in the settlement area, and there were not many shops. Jiaming, a Chinese, seemed to walk here alone. This had always been a strange thing. Because of some people's eyes, the black girl didn't dare to lead Jiaming blatantly. Jiaming also understood this. They were a little far apart from each other.
When she noticed a small truck parked on the side of the road ahead, the girl in front of him turned to another street.
After walking a long distance away from Lasgray, the black girl dared to talk to him. Jiaming asked about the small truck. She lowered her head and said, "That's Samuel's soldier …"
"Oh." Jiaming nodded and suddenly understood.
After walking for a while, Jiaming asked her to wait on the side of the secluded road. "I'm hungry. I'm going to buy some breakfast. Don't worry, I have money and I know how to speak here." He said and returned to Lasgray.
Twenty minutes later, the loud truck came up. The black girl, who was hiding behind a tree, was more careful. In fact, soldiers wouldn't suddenly treat her as an enemy. It was just a subconscious act of fear.
However, the truck stopped on the side of the road and didn't move for a long time. When she poked her head out to take a look, she found that the door was open. The man from China was sitting in the driver's seat. He didn't look at her and just waved gently.
She looked around, then trotted up and climbed up.
"Close the door," Jiaming said. When she closed the door, he said, "Open your mouth." He took out a pair of medical tweezers.
When he returned to Ras Gray earlier, he walked into the only small clinic in town and spent a large dollar bill to buy some simple medical equipment and a few painkillers.
Not long after, a scream came from the truck. "Ah!"
Jiaming helped her pull out her decayed teeth, then handed her the painkillers and a piece of cake he bought and started the truck.
The black girl's endurance was quite strong. Although her teeth were simply pulled out, she still wolfed down the food in the car when she saw it.
After she finished eating, she came to her senses and spoke hesitantly.
"A car … Why is there a car?"
Jiaming tilted his head and didn't want to explain. The friendly negotiation didn't work. Naturally, a few more bodies were found on the streets of Lasgray at this time.
The black girl probably didn't have many opportunities to ride in a car. Perhaps she had never done so before. Sitting in the passenger seat, she was sometimes curious and sometimes nervous.
"Is China a good country?"
"Hmm?"
"My teacher said before that he came to teach us to read and to teach us things … At that time, there were other people who came to help us … But later, my teacher died, and other people stopped coming. The Red Cross also stopped coming … Many people became pirates, and no one came to help us. Those warlords only knew how to fight. The less people came, the more they wanted to be pirates. The more they fought, the less people came. The more pirates there were, the less people came. My teacher said that Somalia became like this …"
As the black girl spoke, she began to cry.
After a long time, Jiaming said, "China is a good country now, but there were times when it was similar."
"Your China … How did it become good?"
"I don't know, but it's probably because … At that time, someone began to think the same thing as you and cried …"
"… Somalia will also become a good country."
After a long time, the black girl said those words.
Jiaming did not answer.
The road was winding and bumpy. The truck was unable to drive very fast. However, at around eight o 'clock in the morning, the outline of the base that the black girl had mentioned could be seen from afar.
Jiaming drove the truck into the nearby forest.
"There is no way to send you back. It is very dangerous to stay here. Can you walk back by yourself?"
Jiaming pointed at the road and said. However, the black girl was very determined this time. She pulled Jiaming and did not allow him to go. After all, he would die. There were guns and cannons inside. Perhaps there were more than three hundred people. Jiaming was too lazy to say anything more. He pushed her away and walked a few steps. Then, he turned around and looked at her coldly. "How do you know there are more than three hundred people?
Have you counted them before? "
"I, I …"
"Three hundred people is indeed difficult to count." Jiaming nodded. "The next time you come, it should be easier to count."
After saying that, he walked toward the base.
A moment later, he disappeared from their field of vision.
*****
Samuel Base was a military base with good professionalism.
Although in the eyes of the outside world, Somalia was a very poor and backward place. Over the years, the fleets and armies of various countries spared no effort to block this cheap pirate processing factory. However, since it was 2013, as long as there was a way to come into contact with the international level, there was no need to be an uncivilized black monkey.
Looking from afar, the base was about three hundred to five hundred people. There were barbed wire walls and observation towers. The military base was roughly divided into three main parts. The most heavily guarded part was probably Samuel Base.
Hassan's family and high-ranking officials lived in a villa. There was even a small pond that was used as a swimming pool. On the other side, there was a black castle-like building. It was about four stories high. The outer wall was solid. It was estimated that even bombs could not destroy it. This should be the main body of the base.
Around the side of the castle, there was a small group of simple houses. It looked neat. It should be the living quarters of the people who could not live in the castle. In addition, there was a simple exercise area. There was a square for gathering. There were shooting targets nearby. All kinds of vehicles were parked in the southeast area of the camp.
The soldiers here had relatively neat military uniforms. This meant that they were considered a regular army and not a gathering of pirates.
Samuel Base?
Hassan should be one of the more knowledgeable Somalis. He had joined the Rahanwen resistance army before. Later, he probably felt that there was no future in working with others, or he was not optimistic about the future of the resistance army. After accumulating some experience, he decided to work for himself. If he was not a relatively outstanding person, he would not have taken advantage of the civil strife in Yemen to open a route to Saudi Arabia. No matter what kind of business he did, compared to Somalia, Saudi Arabia was the two poles of the world in terms of wealth.
In his previous life, Jiaming did not do any big missions in the Middle East or Somalia. In fact, going to Europe was going against the Dim Lyra. The Middle East and Somalia were always in war. If you wanted to kill someone, there was no lack of desperadoes. Professional assassins were not popular.
In a relatively stable place, professionalism was the most important thing to do. In a chaotic area where there was war, the most important thing to be a desperado was actually luck.
After Jiaming came over, due to a series of events, the world situation had changed a lot, but it seemed that things here had not been affected too much. If it were not for Jiaming, Samuel's route would not have attracted the attention of others for several years. He might have become one of the influential warlords in Somalia. He had many connections and did everything to make money. The most important thing was that he specialized in dealing with Asians. He was quite skilled in this aspect. In the end, he was killed because he was too greedy.
This was also why Natalie's side was not very clear that he kidnapped people through the Yemen route.
At Jiaming's current level, there were many ways to infiltrate such a military base, but none of them did not require time. As long as he had time to investigate, even if it was the White House, the Pentagon, or some secret nuclear weapons base, he was confident that he could come and go. But in the current situation, he did not have much time to delay and investigate.
If there was no time to prepare, there would be problems in such a place eventually.
If he wanted to sneak in silently, find the place where Taotao and Yunjie were locked up, and then take them out silently, this plan was not reliable. But if he just wanted to go in and have a look, it was not a big problem.
He walked around the base in the distance, and spent about one and a half hours to observe. It was ten o 'clock in the morning, and the summer sun rose very high.
Jiaming squinted and looked up at the sunlight. From one side of his vision, he saw two soldiers who did not seem to be patrolling coming towards him. Jiaming turned around and walked over.
At 10: 40, Jiaming walked into the black "castle" in the military camp, observing the things around.
This four-story fortress-like building was mainly used for the settlement of the soldiers here. Most of them were the dormitories of the soldiers. The interior seemed to be made of solid black stones, and the walls were very thick. There would not be anything good in the military camp. There were all kinds of noises, but the transparency was good. Naturally, there were no glass windows, so the light and wind could be seen from all sides. In such a summer, it was cool.
The people in Somalia were basically black, so were the soldiers. Jiaming's dress was not delicate. Although he knew how to not be noticed, it was difficult to say how long he could walk in such an environment.
He just walked as quietly as possible, and did not go to the too sensitive places. When there were more people in the corridor ahead, he naturally found a place to hide.
In this way, he looked for some needed clues and signals quietly.
Time passed by like this. At noon, these soldiers ate in batches one after another. Until 1: 20 in the afternoon, Jiaming finally found the signal he needed.
It looked like a high-ranking military officer with a red scar on his forehead.
Jiaming followed him through the building for about 15 minutes, watching him greet everyone from afar. From the vague greetings and laughter, he summarized the needed information. Then he was finally able to confirm that this person had indeed just returned from Saudi Arabia today and brought the mission target here. His name was Klan Evel.
Eiffel, and the muscular black man beside him, was similar to the description of the Saudi gangsters.
Finally, the information was connected one by one.
Although he had followed them all the way here and had confirmed that the kidnappers were indeed ahead of him on the beach near Yemeni Irgai, he still had to make sure that these people were not delayed by anything. Otherwise, if he were to lose his temper here and the children were still on the way, things would be very embarrassing.
Klan?
Evel and the others walked into a room on the third floor.
This was probably a large room used as a place for soldiers to rest and train. Of course, there were all kinds of training equipment, such as weightlifting and sandbags. At this time, there were more than 10 people in the room. They took off their clothes and were shirtless. They all looked fierce. There was wind blowing in from the window, and it was unusually cool. They could see the scenery outside. These people were sitting around and relaxing, wiping their guns, playing with their sabers, bragging to others, showing off their scars and so on. Klan was obviously a celebrity. After entering, he stood in the middle with two Nepalese Gurkha sabers and posed. Nobody knew what he was talking to, but his body moved nimbly. Obviously, he was an expert in combat.
Jiaming stood at the door and looked at him for a few seconds. That was Klan?
Evel also turned around and was still talking to the people beside him. Then Jiaming walked into the room and took off his hat. "Klan?
Evel? "
"You've been with me for a long time. Who are you?
Are you new? "
"I just want to confirm your identity first."
Jiaming said lightly. His Dongfang appearance had obviously aroused everyone's vigilance. However, there were not only pistols here, but also submachine guns. For a moment, they did not directly point their guns at him.
Jiaming put down his hat and picked up the saber beside a strong black man who was wiping his gun. The black man stared at Jiaming, but Jiaming did not show any expression. He just held the saber in his left hand and flicked the blade with his right hand. Then, he walked towards Klan.
His following intentions were already obvious.
Klan held the saber with both hands and even laughed ridiculously — although he still did not understand where this Dongfang guy came from.
The rest of the people were interested and some even applauded.
Klan was about 1.9 meters tall and could be considered a well-tested and ruthless outlaw. The two curved sabers were more than 40 centimeters long. This Dongfang guy was only 1.7 meters tall and did not look very strong. He looked like an honest person who deserved to be bullied. The blade of the saber in his hand was only about 20 centimeters long. Although it was a saber, it could also be seen as a dagger. There were more than 10 people around him and all kinds of guns. Who would think that he would be able to play any tricks?
At this time, when they saw that he wanted to take revenge on Klan, they were all in the mood to watch a show.
Jiaming walked over and closed the distance between them. He touched the blade of the saber with his finger and looked down. He was not looking at Klan, but at the saber in his hand.
Klan swung the saber in his hand and put on a defensive posture. He did not underestimate his opponent. As the distance between them closed, the saber flashed and Jiaming looked up.
He switched the saber to his right hand and raised his hand to meet the saber.
Pu pu pu pu pu hua hua hua hua hua — —
The sound that rang out in the blink of an eye was not the sound of metal clashing. Instead, it was the sound of a blade cutting into flesh, breaking bones, and scattering flesh and blood.
In an instant, Jiaming slashed out more than ten times. The slashes extended from Klan's head all the way down, crisscrossing each other. The slashes were more than ten centimeters deep. The two slashes on his face almost completely split his skull, then extended to his neck, shoulders, hands, chest, and lower abdomen. In just over a second, Klan's hands fell to the ground. His right hand had even been split into three parts. His stomach was like a smashed soccer ball. Blood and internal organs were gushing to the ground.
His entire body was torn apart just like that.
The corpse fell to the ground in a ghastly sight. The group of people were still in shock. Some of them had already begun to raise their guns and shout out words.
Jiaming raised his dagger and looked into the distance outside the window. As the wind blew, the sunlight became even more intense and dazzling.
*****
The tanned, small, and skinny girl was still wandering in the distance of the military camp, holding her phone.
Although that person had told her to leave, she was still worried. In fact, she was already in despair. A person said that he was going to cause trouble for more than three hundred people, and he was going to go directly. What would the result be? What was there to think about?
She knew that gunshots would be heard soon. In fact, she could almost foresee the outcome from the beginning. It was just that there was a little hope in her heart that made her stay here.
She was actually an ordinary girl. In the past, her teacher had come to teach her in school. She admired him very much. Later, before her teacher was killed, she vaguely knew that her teacher was not just a simple teacher. He was doing something very important.
Although she did not know what it was, through some of the things her teacher said in class, she felt that her teacher was definitely saving Somalia.
When her teacher was captured and killed, she was nearby. In the end, she got her teacher's phone. Her teacher had asked her to keep it before he died. She felt that her teacher was a member of a great organization that wanted to save Somalia. Then, she felt that she was also a member because she had heard her teacher talk about this before.
But for a long time, there was no contact.
She had been secretly and carefully keeping the phone. There was no charger. It was really difficult to charge it secretly. Once, she was almost caught as a thief and beaten to death, but there was still hope.
Finally, the phone rang. She thought that perhaps someone like her teacher had come and felt that he had a mission. Although that person did not admit that he was here to save Somalia, it was the same if he was here to cause trouble for a bad person like Samuel.
But even if he wanted to look for trouble, he had to be skillful. He couldn't go alone.
She could not understand this. After the other party left in the morning, she wandered nearby. This kind of action was very dangerous, but she also wanted to see something from afar, but there was no movement there.
There was no movement after ten o 'clock, and there was no movement at noon. She thought that perhaps that person was lying to her. Perhaps he was really here to do business or cooperate with the warlords. In short, she did not know what Teacher Xu was doing. Perhaps Teacher Xu was not here to save Somalia, even if it was just to save Ras Gray.
Therefore, she was troubled by these emotions and wondered if he was a good person or a bad person.
However, when it was almost two o 'clock in the afternoon, gunshots suddenly came from the base. Not long after, there were even rumbling explosions.
She widened her eyes and looked in that direction. At the same time, she felt relieved and worried.
That was just one person. He really went to find trouble with Samuel. He really made a move!
However, she did not know when the gunshots would stop. She listened and began to fear that the gunshots would suddenly stop.
That was because they were soldiers from a military camp. With hundreds of people fighting against one person, the gunfire would eventually stop. Once it stopped …
Five minutes passed, but the gunfire did not stop.
Ten minutes passed, but the gunfire did not stop.
The sound of gunfire and chaos kept ringing, ringing, ringing, ringing …
Under the bright sunlight, this was the strangest afternoon in the entire Samuel Base …