Chapter 36: An Unexpected Encounter with an Old Acquaintance in a Foreign Land!!

  Slowly getting up from the ground, looking at the woman in front of her, with a Chinese person's perspective, she should be considered tall and majestic, over 175 cm in height. With a warrior's perspective, she should be considered terrifying, holding an M249 machine gun with one hand, which ordinary men can't even hold steadily. With a man's perspective, she should be considered top-notch, her slender figure combined with two long beautiful legs, sexy curves all hinting at her beauty!

  She's just too fierce!!!!! Her eyes are like a hunter's, cold and secretly stirring, greedy and bloodthirsty! Just staring at me like that makes me feel a bit creepy.

  "Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you!" I nodded to the two "comrades" beside me. Then, slowly leaning towards the captain: "Captain, what's going on? I just heard gunshots up ahead, who did we encounter? Are there any casualties?"

  "That's right! We met the priest! I didn't expect it to be them! This trip we came was just in time! If we hadn't come, the government army would never have been able to get in!" The captain patted my shoulder, causing me to frown in pain.

  "What? You know each other?" I asked the captain while reorganizing my equipment, hearing from his tone that it wasn't their first encounter with the Divine Assassin.

  "Of course! The Divine Assassins are very famous! They're one of the most special teams in the mercenary circle. We've worked together before, the Godfather is a good person, we're friends! This mission is relatively easy! Let's go take a look and then come back!" The captain said lightly.

  "What's with the gunshot?" I gathered my belongings and stood beside the captain, deliberately avoiding eye contact with the healer and attendant who were tending to the wounded. Feeling a bit embarrassed!

  "No big deal, it's just that when we first met, a few of the government army's soldiers were caught off guard and panicked. You, on the other hand, did a great job! You didn't lose face for our wolf pack!" The captain patted me on the shoulder again.

  "Captain! You did that on purpose, didn't you?! How else could you slap right onto my wound?!" Two slaps in a row and I almost fainted from the pain.

  "Hey! You're in pain, I thought you weren't! Standing here and wasting time with me!" The captain raised his hand to scare me again, so I quickly ran forward.

  "Doctor! Doctor! Come and take a look at me, I've been shot!" I shouted as I ran to the middle of the troops.

  "Hey! It's you again, Xing Tian! How do you always get caught up in this?! Haha!" The doctor came running over with a smile. What a delightful disaster!

  "Never mind, how could I have fought with familiar people? I almost died with the three of them." I gritted my teeth and endured the doctor's torture.

  "It wasn't that group of government troops who messed things up, they said there was a medical station here, but didn't mention it was actually a church. If they had told us earlier, we would have walked in with confidence. What a waste of time, almost got ourselves killed! If our captain hadn't recognized the priest's beard, I don't know how many people would have died. You were having quite a battle at the back, who did you run into?" The medic was pressing down on me from the side while chatting with me to distract my attention.

  "Master, servant, REDBACK! What's REDBACK?" I still haven't figured out what that little girl's nickname means.

  "Brothers! We've picked up a treasure! He's encountered REDBACK!" Di Huo shouted loudly in all directions.

  "That little girl is quite something!!!!!", the devil shouted loudly from the front.

  "Hahaha!!! Hahaha!!!" A group of people burst out laughing.

  I couldn't help but burst out laughing: "That's great! They're just like a butcher!"

  "Damn it! You're just like that beastly guy! Are you looking for excitement?" The little girl caught up from behind and scolded me.

  "Avel! Mind your words, no profanity!" The priest immediately admonished beside him.

  "But he said I look like that butcher, that beast!" The little girl immediately became displeased.

  "Then you should reflect on whether you've done something to make others think you're heartless," the priest said, walking ahead. The little girl followed behind him with a scowl, and as she passed by me, she even deliberately bumped into the doctor, who was bandaging my wound at the time! As a result, he accidentally poked my wound again! Ahh!! I suddenly jumped up!! It hurt so much that I cried out in pain!! Unexpectedly, that little girl ran off with a smile on her face! Behind her, a group of unarmed civilians followed, and at the end of the procession were the injured monk and servant, who also passed us by to take the lead.

  "Haha!! Who made you provoke her! You're in trouble now!" Di Huo said with a hand covering his mouth, laughing.

  "How can you all say that she's really scary! Is she that formidable?" I was puzzled why no one stood up to speak a fair word for me.

  "We can't tell you too much, because REDBACK doesn't like people talking about her behind her back. All I can say is that her nickname is REDBACK, do you know what it means?" the doctor whispered mysteriously on the side.

  "I don't know!" I was very honest, this English word was heard for the first time.

  "The name Redback refers to the Redback Spider. The Redback Spider is a highly venomous spider native to Australia, ranked among the world's four most poisonous spiders. If bitten by it, one will experience severe pain throughout the body and die of convulsions within half an hour. Now you can imagine her methods!" said the doctor in a gloomy tone.

  "My butt! So vicious? It's really 'don't judge a book by its cover', looks like a sweet girl but is actually so 'poisonous'! Awesome! Awesome!" I exclaimed, but thinking back to the scene where she treated me with cold and ruthless threats, it was indeed worthy of being called "poisonous".

  "But why does this group of people look so strange? What's with the priest, servant, and monk? It sounds like it has a bit of a religious flavor to it?" I asked as we advanced with the team.

  "Because they are just mercenaries of the church! The priest is just a priest!" said the pastor in our team.

  "What? The church also has mercenaries? No way!! Isn't the church against killing?" I was shocked: "This is too unexpected! I really didn't think the church had this kind of priest. Pastor, you aren't from the church either, are you?"

  "I'm just a Christian apprentice pastor. They are Catholics! The church also needs to protect its own people, you know? The African unrest is largely due to religious issues, so there have been many cases of attacking churches, killing pastors, nuns and believers. So the church has absorbed the God's Stinger mercenaries to protect the churches in war-torn countries. The God's Stingers were originally spontaneous, but now they have become a recognized guardian of the church!" The pastor said with great pain: "Africans are too backward, too cruel, even God's servants won't let them off."

  "What are you doing on the battlefield? Aren't you a divine officer? Aren't divine officers supposed to guide people towards goodness? Why have you come to kill?" I was perplexed.

  "Actually, I wasn't a pastor originally. It was during one time on the battlefield when my good friend who fought alongside me was mortally wounded. He was a devout believer and wanted to confess before he died, but there were no clergy around, only me with a cross. I listened to his confession on behalf of God, forgave his sins on behalf of the Lord, and performed the last rites for him. Watching him leave with a smile, I realized that soldiers need the Lord's light and love even more than ordinary people do. It is my unshakeable responsibility to bring God's love to this cold hell on earth. That's why I applied to be a pastor. The priest is even greater; not only does he bring God's love to the soldiers, protect the temple of God and his children, but also takes in many children who have been displaced by war. I think he is a true saint!" The pastor spoke with reverence when talking about the priest.

  "But he also kills people!" I shouted back.

  "Everyone is killing! To protect the good and drive out evil is necessary!" The pastor said with a solemn face.

  I won't say any more, because if I continue, it will involve religious beliefs and that's not easy to clarify. It's better to stop here! There are all sorts of people who join mercenaries, some inherit the profession from their fathers, some do it for money, some are curious and playful, some have a killer instinct... and unexpectedly, there are even those who do it for their religious beliefs. I just wonder how many people like me are in this by mistake!!!

  We remained silent all the way, following the priest's guidance, and before dusk we walked out of the forest to a plain between two forests. There was a small village here, with a church in the center of the village, and in front of the church there was an open space where rows of white sheets and bandages were drying. No wonder they said this was a medical station, looking at the civilian houses filled with wounded people, it was clear that it was already overcrowded.

  As they walked to the front of the small church, the priest pointed to the empty space in front of the church and said: "Everyone set up camp here, there's nowhere else. All the other places are filled with wounded soldiers and refugees!" After finishing speaking, he led his people into the church.

  I walked up to the captain and asked: "Captain, since everyone here is familiar with each other, what are we still doing here?"

  "We've retreated, what if the government troops clash with the people inside? We can't leave now, we have to wait for the government troops to confirm that there's no one they want to pursue here and take them away! The government troops aren't good either, who knows, they might take advantage of the situation and sweep this place clean. We've destroyed the family's well and brought wolves here, can't just abandon them now! Let's wait a bit longer!" The captain said with great benevolence.

  "Oh!" I couldn't be irresponsible, could I?

  Leaning against the tree trunk, I stared at the people entering and exiting the church, not expecting to see many Asians here. I didn't know if they were Chinese or not, but thinking about it made me walk up the steps and grab an Asian nurse who was pouring water from the church and ask: "Miss, which country are you from?"

  She raised her head, and before she even opened her mouth, I knew where she was from - China! Because I recognized her! Zhao Wan'er! 19 years old, from Beijing, studying computer science and engineering control at Yunnan University of Technology. Although her face is covered in blood and sweat now, I recognized her at a glance. I really didn't expect to see her here, this is simply unbelievable!

  "Oh! I'm from A! What can I do for you?" The familiar voice rang in my ears, startling me out of my shock.

  It seems she didn't recognize me, probably because of the camouflage makeup on my face. I quickly lowered my head and said it was nothing before hastily retreating from the stage and running towards the tent that had been set up. In one breath, I rushed into the tent and sat down on the military blanket, covering my chest and panting for a long time without speaking. Before long, the devil and werewolf came running over, followed by the kitten and beauty.

  "Xing Tian, what's wrong? Did you see a lion? Why are you running so fast!" A group of people gathered around, asking questions left and right.

  "Nothing! Nothing!" I kept interrupting

  "You're not telling the truth, are you! We can ask ourselves, I clearly saw that you pulled over a nurse, and she's Asian. That's easy to find out!" The beauty threatened. A group of people nearby nodded in agreement!

  Damn it! A group of murderers, when did they become so nosy? But it seems I didn't say anything, this shameless gang actually dared to run over and ask people.

  "It's nothing, just a fellow Chinese! I'm a bit excited seeing relatives." I hope it will pass.

  "Oh, you're not excited about all the other Asians, but when you see her, you get excited? I heard what you said, just one sentence 'I'm from China' and you got so excited? No way, don't think we're fools, come clean quickly!" Little Cat is indeed a sharp intelligence gatherer.

  "It's nothing! Really!"

  "Alright, just tell us her surname! We won't ask any more questions! You must know her, don't deny it!" said the little cat with a wide smile. The others nodded in agreement.

  I took a look at a group of scoundrels, with their faces full of deadpan expressions. I knew that if I didn't leak some information, I wouldn't be able to get past this hurdle.

  "We just know each other, her surname is Zhao! I can only say that much, I don't want to say any more, I have the right to privacy!" I took out my legal weapon.

  "Zhao?!! Hmm... Zhao?!!" The little cat started muttering strangely, and suddenly shouted: "Zhao Wan'er. 19 years old, from Beijing, majoring in Computer Science and Engineering Control at Yunnan University of Technology, is Xing Tian's first love, of course, the kind that was rejected. Hahaha!!! I'm awesome! YEAH! Xing Tian, you told me there were no more secrets!!!"

  Stupidly watching the little cat and a group of people applauding in celebration, I am truly inexplicably mysterious, how did she know? Could it be...?

  "That's right, it was written in that little book. During the interrogation training session, haha, I memorized everything, I'm not forgetful!" Xiaoming proudly exclaimed: "I didn't expect such a coincidence to happen, a couple separated by tens of thousands of kilometers, rotating half the globe, and yet they met in Africa. Amazing, amazing! What's this called? This is fate! It's so romantic!" Xiaoming had already started daydreaming.

  A group of people started buzzing about this matter, and some have even begun to come up with plans. What if we sneak over tonight and have a wild African night... If not, then use force... The kind of woman who can resist Tian's brute strength is already...

  "Stop! Stop! Don't say anything more! This thing can't be let her know, and we aren't lovers, just I liked her before, she didn't like me! She also didn't recognize me, please everyone don't go bother her, okay?" I begged everyone.

  "Let me think about it!" The kitten straightened up and thought for a moment: "No way! I'm going now!" After finishing, he slipped out of the tent like the wind.

  I just stood up and wanted to intercept, but the beauty punched me in the face. I hadn't even gotten up yet, and was knocked down by the devil again. Ass! Interception shouldn't be done like this, it's killing me!! Before I could even get up, the kitten rushed back: "Xing Tian, she's calling you over!"

  Damn it! I got up and looked at a group of people staring with wide eyes, really helpless. Shaking my head, I acknowledged my bad luck and walked towards Wan'er who was airing the bandages.

  "Sorry! Wan'er! I didn't mean to ignore you, things are really complicated!" I finally couldn't help but speak up after staring at Wan'er's back for a long time.

  Wan'er's back suddenly shook, her face twisted in an expression of disbelief, and she turned around to see Wan'er's expression. As soon as I saw Wan'er's expression, I immediately understood - I had been tricked by the little cat! It turned out that she hadn't told Wan'er after all. What a fool I was!

  "Are you... are you Xing Tian? Is it really you?" Zhao Wan'er said in shock.

  "It's me!" I nodded helplessly, why am I so unlucky?

  Wan'er took two steps forward, just when I thought she was going to rush into my arms, she suddenly slammed on the brakes, stopped in front of me, twisted her fingers and lowered her head, softly asking: "Huh, you're okay, that's good!!"

  "What's wrong with me?" I wondered.

  "Old Ding said that you encountered a robbery at the department store, and many people died on the spot. You also went missing! Everyone thought you... were dead!" When she said the word "dead", Wan'er's head hung even lower, and she secretly glanced at me with a sideways glance.

  "Haha, I'm fine, didn't die! Was rescued by the special police. How did you end up here?" I don't want to say more about those helpless things.

  "I graduated! Everyone else applied for graduate school, but I didn't. Did you forget? Later, when I returned home, my family found me a job as a secretary to replace my younger uncle's assistant. My younger uncle was an observer who came to the Congo to observe the new government and see if there were any possibilities for diplomatic relations. So I followed him here." Wan'er spoke seriously about her work: "I didn't expect it would be like this, the people here are so pitiful."

  "I was asking you how you ended up in this place, what is an observer doing running the gauntlet? How can you even observe the exchange of fire?" I pointed to the west, where intense fighting was going on.

  "No! No! We came here because there are wounded Chinese here, a branch of our African aid team that didn't withdraw before the exchange of fire is now pinned down and many people are injured. My younger brother-in-law can be considered the highest-ranking official in China's Congo embassy now. So he has to take care of this matter. As a result, we sneaked over!" Wan'er said with a sad face.

  "How did so many people die?" I was concerned and didn't expect that there were Chinese casualties in the Congo war.

  "Yes! Three people were killed in the artillery fire, and nine others were seriously injured. A few days ago, two more died due to lack of medicine, and there are always troops coming to harass us. The guards we brought with us are not enough. After Father and the others arrived, the situation improved a lot, but these people must be evacuated immediately, otherwise... they will all die. The sanitary conditions here are too poor..." Wan'er still had a compassionate heart, and tears welled up in her eyes as she spoke about this, looking pitiful.

  "Don't worry! We're not going to let anything happen, our captain will think of something!" I comforted her.

  "You guys, how come our Chinese government has sent troops?" Wan Er's face was filled with excitement.

  "Hmm! ... No, I didn't come with the Chinese army... " I couldn't explain it clearly at once.

  "So how did you end up here? You said the special police saved you, I thought you joined the army afterwards! So you..." Wan'er looked me up and down in my military uniform.

  "Just as I was wondering how to introduce myself, a man's voice suddenly came from behind: 'They are DOGOFWAR!'"

  I turned around and saw a Chinese army major wearing a military uniform slowly walking over, staring at me coldly.

  "Sir!" I immediately stood at attention. Although not a military man, his rank was clearly higher than mine, because of the excellent completion of the sniper mission, I had just been promoted to second lieutenant in the Congo base. But he was three ranks above me!

  "Take a break!" He glanced at my shoulder and returned the courtesy. I didn't have any military insignia on me, mercenaries like us usually carried out covert missions, so we generally didn't wear any identification marks. In fact, it was rare for mercenary groups to award ranks like ours did, and even fewer people would recognize a mercenary group's ranking system.

  "Big Brother! What's a Dog of War?" Wan'er asked, holding onto that man's hand.

  "DOGOFWAR! They're mercenaries! Also known as war dogs, they sniff out gunpowder and chase after the flames of war, killing machines. Instigators of war! Bloodthirsty enjoyers!" The man's unfriendly face said a string of words that sounded very cool: "Wan'er! Your friend is quite formidable, eh? How do you know him?"

  "Xing Tian? He's my university classmate, and he's one of us Chinese people. A mercenary? Impossible! Xing Tian doesn't seem to know any foreigners at home, does he? Is that right, Xing Tian?" Wan Er is very familiar with me after all, we were once "best friends".

  "Hmm!! Wan'er! I'm indeed a mercenary now. But I have my own unavoidable reasons!" I didn't need to bring up the contradictions between me and Tufu in front of outsiders. Although Wan'er was once the girl I liked, I still felt that saying these things to a woman wouldn't be of much help.

  "Impossible! Xing Tian, you're a mercenary? Just a few months without seeing each other and you've become a hired soldier? How is that possible?" Wan Er's face was filled with incredulity.

  "It's probably not just that! Your friend should still be a fairly excellent mercenary. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been absorbed by the world's most famous wolf pack, which is the most ferocious DOG. They've fought in over a dozen countries and it's said that wherever they go, no one is left alive." The man said coldly.

  "Is that so?" Wan'er's expression on her face changed from doubt to accusation: "How can you be so cruel?"

  "This... Wan Er, there's no such thing. War! People are bound to die, not necessarily at our hands." I didn't know the Wolf Group was so notorious, no wonder the whole world is looking for us to do business, and even after splitting into two or three groups, we still can't finish all the tasks.

  "Do you know how the nickname 'Butcher' originated in their team? During the Chechen Civil War, the Russian government army was no match for the Chechen rebels. They invited them to join the battle, and at that time, they charged into the capital of Chechnya together with the government army. The Butcher single-handedly slaughtered 500 rebels and over 2,000 civilians, regardless of whether they had any ability to resist, and left no bodies intact. So he got the nickname 'The Butcher of Grozny'. His comrade-in-arms must know about this!" Wan'er almost vomited when she heard her cousin's account.

  To be honest, I really didn't know that the nickname "Butcher" came from this, I thought it was just because his interrogation method was a bit like a butcher's. Didn't expect there to be this kind of story. Seeing Wan'er's tears falling down, I panicked, I don't want to leave her with the impression of being a cruel person.

  "How can you be like this!" After finishing speaking, Wan Er turned around and rushed back into the church, without giving me any chance to explain.

  "Yan'er!!!!" I helplessly watched her rush into the church, and angrily looked at her older cousin: "What's wrong with you, hurting me in front of Yan'er? Have I offended you? I don't even know you! SIR!"

  "I just want Wan'er to re-recognize this 'good' friend of hers! Don't get led astray. You can call me by my name, I'm Yang Jian." He had an expression as if he was considering Wan'er's well-being.

  I stared at him for a while, then slowly opened my mouth: "You like Wan'er, so you want to destroy my image in her heart. But do you know? You're overdoing it. I once confessed to her, but she rejected me. We just met after a long time and wanted to chat, did you have to do this?"

  Yang Jian couldn't bear me staring at him, not daring to meet my gaze, and turned his head away, saying in a low voice: "I know, but have you ever seen a girl who would refuse a boy's confession and still be intimate with him? And she always talks about you in front of me, it's clear that she doesn't have you in her heart like you said. I admit my methods are not quite right. But the battlefield of love is also a war, if you have the ability, you can also harm me. I must get Wan'er, and you and I will be eternal enemies!" After finishing speaking, he turned his head to stare at me for a while before turning around and leaving.

  I stood on the square feeling a bit helpless, and now I have another inexplicable love rival. However, when I heard Wan'er wasn't completely indifferent to me, my heart was stirred for a while. Although I don't know why she rejected me back then, but maybe...

  Just as I was lost in thought, a voice suddenly came from behind me: "Meeting a romantic interest in a foreign land, and also meeting a love rival! Your life is really rich!" It startled me, and when I turned my head to look, it was REDBACK. The little girl had been drying the sheets on the side all along, and she had heard everything we said.

  "How can you eavesdrop on our conversation? That's so unethical!" I said with some indignation.

  "It's not like I wanted to listen, but the sound insisted on running into my ears. If you guys had spoken a bit softer, maybe I wouldn't have heard it!" REDBACK said with an expression of indifference.

  "......" Looking at this impudent guy, I had no way out, and I couldn't beat her up. Looking at this little demon, I smiled wryly and had to compromise: "Then don't tell others about our conversation, okay?"

  "Don't worry!!" She was quite relieved.

  "Thank you!" I said sincerely. Only then did I re-examine the fairy in front of me, and unexpectedly she was quite bold, wearing only a bra on her chest and camouflage pants, with combat boots running out. It wasn't until then that I discovered that there was a silver ring on her cute navel, looking very lovely.

  "Hmm!! Doesn't Father care about you?"

  "What?" She didn't realize what I said for a moment.

  I pointed at her clothes and belly button.

  "I killed people and he didn't have any opinion, how could he have opinions on these things? But he isn't in charge of many things, nagging like an old mother! Never mind, see you later, I still have a lot of bandages to dry!" REDBACK said and left.

  It's also true that priests have taken up guns and killed people, yet you still think they are so refined. As I slowly walked back to the camp, I first grabbed hold of the butcher.

  "You killed over 2,000 civilians?" I shouted

  "Which one?"

  "How many more times? How many more? I'm telling you, Grozny that one time!" Damn it, looks like there are still quite a few times.

  "Oh! That time, that was great, the Russians are really fierce, haha, I killed so many that my hands were numb! It was exhilarating! I was just getting into it and wanted to charge in further when the Russian guys thought they'd suffered too many casualties and started shelling the city. Good grief, they almost blasted me inside! Afterwards, Grozny had 150,000 civilians, but after the battle, only 70,000 were left, haha, that was exhilarating! That's where I met this sniper, he's a real pro, see this scar on my shoulder? He gave it to me."

  "Why didn't I kill you when I had the chance! There were too many people and my eyes got blurry, it was a mistake!" The slow machine said quietly on the side.

  "What? You're there too? Or are you with the enemy?" I exclaimed in surprise.

  "Yes, I wasn't part of the Wolf Pack back then. At that time, I was with another mercenary group. But after the Battle of Grozny, I never saw any of them again, probably they all died. Later, it was the captain who recruited me into the Wolf Pack, didn't expect the Butcher to be in the Wolf Pack too, and we even fought each other as soon as we met." Fast Knife said with a smile.

  I'm not talking anymore, it seems that the machine gun didn't kill fewer people that day. That war was a paradise for snipers, I remember the newspaper saying: Only the 131st Russian regiment that first entered the city center lost nearly 800 people and 20 tanks, 102 armored vehicles in just three days, and among the more than 15,000 casualties afterwards, 80% were done by snipers. Such a grand scene I have never seen!

  "What's it to you?" the butcher asked curiously.

  "It's nothing, I just happened to hear about it and was curious!!!" I couldn't say that I was accused by my first love because of this.

  "Xing Tian!! I heard that you were scolded by your first love because of the butcher's notorious name, and it was even your love rival who told on you... how pitiful you are......" Little Cat and Beautiful Woman rushed in from outside, chattering away.

  It's done! I didn't expect REDBACK to be an unreliable woman too!!!!!

  Click to view image link: MG36 (top) light machine gun and G36K short assault rifle (bottom)