In the evening, a Jeep Wrangler soared across a dark plain. A dust dragon spanning more than ten meters long trailed behind it while its diesel engine produced a roaring rumble which echoed across the plains.
Chen Chen sat in the back seat of the jeep. He silently gazed at the fading afterglow of the evening sky, the scenery reminded him of a slowly extinguishing bonfire.
Due to the long meeting with the person in charge of the Rössing Uranium Mine, the day had turned dark by the time he wanted to return to Walvis Bay.
Apart from Chen Chen, there were three people in the car which included Cheng Cao the driver, Qian Wenhuan, and Wang Liang.
The jeep was not particularly fast due to the lack of streetlights on the Namibia highways. If it were not for the Rössing Uranium Mine located nearby, there might not even be a proper paved asphalt road here.
Wang Liang, who sat in the passenger seat in front, took out a pack of Furong Wang cigarettes from his pocket. He stuck one into Cheng Cao’s mouth, who was driving beside him and took another one for himself.
“Click!”
The sound of a lighter. Wang Liang lit the cigarette between his lips, then directed the ember in front of Cheng Cao.
In an instant, the interior of the car was illuminated by the glow of the lighter, the scenery outside the window became less visible than it already was.
Chen Chen instinctively turned around. From outside the window, he spotted several flickering orange beams scattered across the side of the road.
At the same time, there was a sharp sound of an engine screech coming from behind them. It seemed to be vehicles with high-caliber engines advancing toward them.
“Turn ninety degrees to the left.”
Chen Chen spoke suddenly.
Qian Wenhuan along with Wang Liang who was helping Cheng Cao lighting his cigarette were both slightly startled. Cheng Cao, on the other hand, barely had a moment of hesitation. The moment Chen Chen gave the order, he turned the steering wheel to the left!
“Screech–!”
The momentum caused by the sudden turn flung all of the passengers on board to the right. Chen Chen used this chance to look out the window. He saw that the wheels of the car nearly skimmed directly over a row of a pitch-black object!
Traffic spikes!
At the same time, Chen Chen could hear a mix of grumbling. It was a strange pronunciation of inhaled breathing and clicking of the tongue.
“Zulu?” Chen Chen quickly looked behind them. He could faintly see seven to eight different figures. If not for the cigarette butt in their hands, they would have nearly completely melded in the blackness of the night.
He felt the jolt of violent turbulence.
Even though they had managed to avoid the traffic spikes, the jeep had strayed off-road and they were now driving on the plain fields full of bumps and the occasional potholes.
At the same time, a pickup was slowly approaching from behind them.
“Get back on the main road, otherwise, we’ll get lost!” Chen Chen reminded.
“Got it!” Cheng Cao paid no mind to the pickup closing the gap between them. With another abrupt turn, he directed the car back toward the direction of the main road.
“Boss, what’s going on?”
It was only then when Wang Liang finally regained his composure, the maneuvers of Chen Chen and Cheng Cao earlier had left him in a daze.
“Are they robbers?” Qian Wenhuan managed to keep his cool somewhat, apart from the fact that he kept stealing glances behind them. “They’re driving so fast. Aren’t they worried about overturning their cars?”
“They’re not robbers, they’re coming for us.”
Chen Chen drew the gun strapped to his waist. He aimed at the driver seat of the approaching pickup from his rear view window.
“Bo, boss...” Qian Wenhuan was shocked. The moment reminded him of the time when they were in the shooting range in Switzerland...
“Bang!”
As expected, there was a sudden thunderous explosion in his ears. Qian Wenhuan immediately covered his ears. He felt like everything in the world was spinning!
At the same time, a bloody mist suddenly erupted on the windscreen of the pickup trailing behind them. The entire vehicle spun around in the air several times like an acrobat before violently slamming onto the ground!
“Thump!”
“...”
Everything happened in a flash. Qian Wenhuan was utterly stunned by what he was witnessing. Cheng Cao was the only one who kept his cool and continued driving. Other than sparing a glance into the rearview mirror, his expression remained ever so stoic.
After that, the jeep returned onto the main road. Throughout the entire sequence, the vehicle had hardly slowed down, if at all.
Inside the car, there was nothing but a wave of silence.
Chen Chen reloaded the gun and put the safety back on in a practiced manner as if nothing had happened. It was just the broken rear windscreen and the harsh bellowing of the roaring wind.
“Uh, boss...” after some time, Wang Liang, who sat on the passenger seat, asked a question, “Are we not going to call the police?”
“What happens after that?” Chen Chen shot a glance at Wang Liang without a change of expression.
For some reason unbeknownst to him, Wang Liang suddenly felt a pang of chill in his heart as if he had been stung by something. Before he had even realized it, he had swallowed the words he was going to say.
“The Glock 18C is a fully automatic weapon, it’s going to be very troublesome if we call the police.”
Cheng Cao, who had been focusing on driving the entire time, chimed in suddenly. “Also, if this is about what the boss did, there’s not going to be much use calling the police.”
“I, I see...” Wang Liang chuckled awkwardly.
“They spoke Zulu, which belongs to the Bantu branch of the Congo dialect. There’s a very tiny portion of people in Namibia who use this language,” Chen Chen explained dully.
“Ah?” Qian Wenhuan was still massaging his ears. “Boss, how did you know it was Zulu?”
“I found the time to read several books on African languages while I was on the flight on the way here,” Chen Chen answered.
Qian Wenhuan fell silent.
“The reason I made the sharp turn just now was because I noticed the traffic spikes on the road.”
Cheng Cao went on. “Since they weren’t Namibian natives and had gone through the effort of setting up traffic spikes, it goes without saying that they bore hostile intentions. The boss made a right call firing at them just now.”
“Besides, this isn’t Mainland China.”
With this explanation, Wang Liang, who originally thought that Chen Chen went overboard, was left completely speechless.
Fortunately, there were no unforeseen accidents for the rest of their journey as the four of them successfully returned to Walvis Bay.
When they got out of the car, Chen Chen instructed Qian Wenhuan, “Report this to the Namibian officials. Spare the unnecessary details, just tell them we were ambushed by forces on the other side of the border. Have them dispatch troops to protect me.”
“Ok,” Qian Wenhuan answered promptly.
“Also, due to this incident, I will not be leaving the hotel for the time being. From now on, you’ll be the one who’ll meet them for further discussions.” Chen Chen added.
“Understood.” Qian Wenhuan solemnly nodded. “I know what to do.”
When Chen Chen had returned to the room, the first thing he did was perform a sweep on the room and all of the windows. After ensuring there were no issues, he pulled up the curtain, laid back on the couch, and began thinking.
One detail he had left out in the car today was that Zulu was the primary language of the Rainbow Nation.
As one of the neighbors of Namibia, the two countries shared a rich history. Back then, Namibia was founded by separating itself from the Rainbow Nation as a separate, independent entity.
It would seem that certain forces could no longer hold their silence when they saw he was going to build a nuclear power plant in Namibia.
The Rainbow Nation was certainly not very enthusiastic about seeing a neighboring force growing stronger, not even if it was just the early signs of a sprout. Especially not when they were weakening by the day.
In the ’90s, the Rainbow Nation was one of the leading countries of the African Continent. On top of their economic and military strength, they had even possessed nuclear weapons at one point. Those days were long behind them and they were now merely a shadow of their former selves.
Arriving at this thought, Chen Chen’s eyes became cold. He took his phone and selected the application to connect to Little X.
“X, infiltrate the Rainbow Nation Ministry of Defense and look for every information related to me.”
After further consideration, Chen Chen added. “One more thing, source all of the calls made today to the Rainbow Nation by the Namibian officials. Compile a list of their official positions sorted from the highest to lowest and send it to me.”
“Understood, Father!”
...