Chapter 21: The US Military Base

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  The car drove on until noon before seeing a circle of barbed wire and two sentry posts in the vast African wilderness.

  All the way, from the morning sunlight shining on this magical land, I have been lingering in the excitement of seeing Africa for the first time. Last night, I only took a flashlight to take a look, and it was not very real. Now I see clearly, and it's still very clear. The vastness and deep blue sky along the way are what I've never seen before. Various animals appear from time to time on the road, zebras, wild cows, elephants... even some lions and other dangerous animals. As someone who has always lived in the city, except for zoos and planned green spaces, when have I ever seen so many animals and truly real jungles? The beautiful and magical African land is deeply attractive to me.

  It's just that, no matter how amazing the scenery is, after looking at it for a long time, you start to feel numb. During this drive, we only rested once to refuel the car. Slowly but surely, the bumpy road and Africa's unique high temperatures started making me dizzy and my excitement slowly disappeared. Replacing it was a dazed feeling like heatstroke, I didn't even have the mood to try the military rations handed to me, just constantly drinking water, getting dizzy, sweating, and then drinking more water. In the end, I had already mentally given this place a big "X", it's too suffering...

  Now, apart from animals and jungle, I finally saw humans, with a dizzy head and not much spirit. After checking my identity, the car drove for another ten minutes before arriving at the entrance of the base. With the same strict inspection, the car was allowed to enter the base. As soon as we entered the gate, I saw various military jeeps, armored vehicles, and tanks parked on the open ground of the base, with helicopters taking off and landing continuously. A large number of fully armed American soldiers were walking around. An American flag hung from a flagpole in the middle of the open ground. This is one of the long-term large-scale military bases of the US Army in Africa!

  The car drove past some tents and military facilities, stopping in front of a three-story building. All three jumped out of the car, I shook my dizzy head and followed suit, but as soon as my feet touched the ground, they felt soft and I almost fell to the ground, luckily Bruce reacted quickly and held me up.

  I smiled wryly at Bruce, said thanks, and followed Black Bear and Chopper into the small building. We walked all the way to a third-floor office before stopping, knocked on the door, and went in. The room was a mess, with a big-bearded man sitting behind a cluttered desk drinking coffee; his insignia indicated he was a major general. I felt speechless - how could a major general's office be even more chaotic than our dorm? Compared to Admiral Reagan on the warship, also a general, the difference was really not trivial.

  After the military salute, the bearded general put down the cup in his hand and asked us to sit on a relatively clean sofa. Looking at the black, dirty and tattered sofa, I frowned and didn't dare to sit down.

  The black bear and the vegetable knife seemed to have gotten used to it already, without saying a word, they casually sat down on it. The vegetable knife even pulled out a women's magazine from under its butt and started reading with great interest. Helplessly, I had no choice but to sit down as well. To be honest, although I'm now dizzy and exhausted from the boat ride, I really didn't want to sit here.

  The mustachioed colonel read through the documents about me that had been passed on from the black bear's place, and before long he finished reading them. Then he looked me up and down: "This Chinese guy? Will he do?"

  I understood this sentence, and suddenly a surge of anger rose in my heart. My originally dizzy head instantly cleared up. This is absolutely an insult to me! The black bear pressed down on me who wanted to stand up and said coldly: "General, my answer is yes, he can beat the vegetable knife."

  The black bear was dissatisfied with what the big-bearded general said. This is not only an insult to me, but also an insult to their eyesight.

  "Oh?" The big bearded man looked me up and down with interest again, then said to Bruce beside him, "Take him to the Special Training Department to report, someone will attend to him!"

  "Yes, sir." Bruce saluted and turned around to make a beckoning gesture towards me.

  "Is that it?" I stood up and looked at the black bear and the vegetable knife beside me, feeling a bit reluctant: "Are we going to part ways?"

  The black bear and the vegetable knife also stood up, the vegetable knife punched me on the shoulder and said: "Kid, train hard, we'll come to pick you up in half a year. Hope you can pass the exam and fight with us together! Remember, we don't want to bring a bunch of trash into our mercenary group, it will kill us!"

  The black bear also threw a punch: "Kid, we've liked you these days, remember that the battlefield is not for fooling around, be sure to train well, and give us face as well as yourself!" After finishing, he winked at the big-bearded general.

  "Yes!" I stood at attention with a loud "click" and gave the first formal military salute of my life to the two, but they just waved their hands at me without returning the salute as I had imagined.

  I turned around and followed Bruce out of the office, suddenly remembering something, turned back into the office with a smile and waved my hand at the big-bearded general saying: "I × you banana bar!"

  The big-bearded middle-aged man also nodded and said goodbye seriously. The black bear and the vegetable knife were stunned for a moment, and then burst into a loud laugh.

  A small revenge, feeling much better! Sitting in Bruce's car, passing through barracks and training grounds, came to a closed large gate. This is a specially enclosed area, surrounded by high walls and iron wire, with no signs. The large electric shock sign on the iron wire silently increased the mystery of the military camp, with only one closed gate around, and four fully armed soldiers standing at the door.

  Bruce got off the bus and said a few words to me, unfortunately I didn't understand any of them. So I told him in fluent English: My English is very poor, please speak slowly.

  I've practiced this sentence many times at home, just to deal with situations like this, so it's not a problem for me to say it fluently. Bruce had a helpless look on his face, with an expression that clearly said "speechless". There was no way out, I had to use gestures and broken language to communicate for half a day before I finally understood what he meant. The general idea was that he couldn't go in, there would be someone inside to receive me, and if I had time, I should come out and find him to drink together.

  It seems that this month's intensive English training is still useful.

  I smiled hastily and shook hands with him, saying thank you, and walked towards the tightly closed door. Bruce behind me wiped the sweat on his head and took a deep breath.

  As I approached the gate, I looked at these few stern-faced door gods and unconsciously slowed down my pace, with some trepidation in my heart. Would they indiscriminately take me for a spy or someone who had trespassed into Heaven's Gate and shoot me dead with a burst of gunfire? No matter how skilled one was, it would be impossible to dodge the incoming bullets!

  Fortunately, it seems they have already received the notification inside. The big gate was opened silently. I had to swallow my saliva and walk in nervously. The big gate behind me closed with a clang, and a soldier wearing military uniform and earpiece stood up, saluted, and asked: "Xu Hui?"

  "Yes." I replied.

  "Please follow me."