Chapter Sixty: Mercenary Mission

  Arriving at the designated hotel, Xie Xiaoshuai left the Desert Fox team in the car and entered the hotel himself, going to the room written on the information and knocking on the door.

  A strange voice sounded, asking in English, "Who's there?"

  "The sun shines on the earth, and light drives away darkness." Xie Xiaoshuai says the password in Mandarin.

  "Ah." The door opened and a Chinese man appeared before Xie Xiaoshuai: "Come in first."

  After entering the house, Xie Xiaoshuai saw another black man inside. He only knew one black man here, that Colonel Kael, but in his impression, all black men looked similar and he couldn't tell this person's age at all.

  As the newcomer saw Xie Xiaoshuai, he stood up to show respect. The person who opened the door closed it and walked to the chair, pointing at the bed and saying to Xie Xiaoshuai: "Please sit down, let me introduce myself. I am An Longen, a military officer of the embassy. In the mine defense battle, your performance was excellent. The leader of that country contacted our national leaders, hoping that your Sand Fox team could help them quell the internal unrest. After careful consideration, our leaders agreed to their request and approved your participation in the war. However, there is one thing: you must appear as mercenaries. I'm afraid you don't know this? You are very famous in the mercenary world now, so as long as the official announcement of your identity is made, everything else will be fine. This is an order from headquarters, take a look."

  Xie Xiaoshuai had just sat down and took over the red-headed document handed over by An Longen, and the content on it was indeed as An Longen said. Xie Xiaoshuai felt a severe headache, he really did not want to get involved in this trouble, but military orders were like mountains, he had to obey.

  "Alright, I accept the order, but we don't take orders from anyone in their country, we just assist." Xie Xiaoshuai stated his own principle.

  "This is alright, discuss the details with him, this is Andrejev, Saharsand and General Jef of that country, from now on he will be your only contact person, you can't trust anyone else. My task is completed, I'll leave first." Anlongen ordered to retrieve the command, put it in a briefcase and walked out of the room.

  Xie Xiao Shuai's name alone gave him a headache. He didn't know why people in this country had such long names, nor did he know how to address the general in front of him.

  General Jeff broke his silence and surprisingly spoke to Xie Xiao-shuai in poor Mandarin: "Hello, you can call me Jeff, welcome to our team."

  "General Jeff, hello, you can call me Xie. What do you need me to do?"

  "Not for the time being, I need to resolve your identity issue first, and then you can appear openly. General Jeff switched to fluent English, which was much more pleasant to listen to. "You stay here now, and I'll bring the documents over tomorrow. Remember, you can't trust anyone."

  After seeing off General Jeff, the desert foxes settled down in the hotel. General Jeff was quite reliable in handling things and had booked all the rooms for the desert fox team in advance. That night, several groups of people claiming to be government officials came to visit Xie Xiaoshuai and his men, but they were all sent away by Xie Xiaoshuai and his men, which made them feel annoyed.

  The next morning, General Jeff sent over their ID cards. When Xie Xiaoshuai told him about the events of last night, he didn't seem surprised at all: "There are traitors within our government, and we can't pinpoint the target yet, so your first task is to help us find the traitor. From now on, you'll be living in the government office building, come with me."

  Xie Xiaoshuai and several others put on their equipment and got into the cars brought by General Jeff, two Mercedes-Benz S350 sedans from the 1990s. Even the best cars can't withstand the ravages of time, and these two vehicles were already showing signs of fatigue, with creaking noises coming from inside as soon as they started moving. The reception car provided by the government was in such a state of disrepair, it's imaginable how backward this country's economy has become. No wonder the government of that country would seek help from our country, they really want to quickly quell the internal unrest and develop their economy.

  Upon arriving at the government office, the sand fox team got a glimpse of the country's poverty. The office was an old-style villa, covering an area of about one or two acres, with a large fountain outside that had long been out of water and overgrown with weeds. Several cars of unknown brands were parked beside it, covered in dust to the point where their colors could no longer be seen. Part of the outer wall had collapsed but hadn't been repaired; instead, several soldiers stood guard there, armed with guns. The soldiers on sentry duty wore ordinary camouflage uniforms commonly seen, holding AK-47s that should have been standard equipment for the country's troops, except they only had a cartridge bag on their backs and lacked everything else - grenades, daggers, canteens, etc.

  As I walked into the villa's hall, a crystal chandelier above my head was swaying in the wind, making a sound that made me worry it might fall at any moment. The light bulbs inside were quite dim, with only a few small-wattage lamps lit up sporadically, was it to save electricity?

  Xie Xiaoshuai and Duan Ge followed General Jeff to his office, while the others continued to visit the villa. As soon as they entered, they were shocked by the simple interior: a worn-out desk with a national flag behind it, and two sofas with torn leather, this was the treatment of a general.

  "Thanks, I guess I made a fool of myself." General Jeff looked around his office with some embarrassment as he saw Xie Xiaoshuai come in.

  Xie Xiaoshuai just smiled and responded, without saying a word.

  "Now you've seen it for yourself, this country has indeed been ravaged by war and its people are living in suffering. The anti-government forces have always wanted to overthrow the government's leadership, but even if they were to gain power, what then? What ability do those bastards have to let the people live a good life? He just wants to satisfy his own desires and turn this country into his own backyard." General Jeff slammed his fist on the table in anger, and Xiao Shuai was worried that the table might collapse.

  "So I'm counting on you, please help us quell the internal unrest as soon as possible. The government will be very grateful to you, and your country will become our most steadfast ally in the future." General Jeff stood up and saluted Commander Xie with a bow.

  "General Jeff, there's no need for that. I've received orders from my superiors to come and assist you, it's our duty to help you quell the rebellion." Xie Xiao-shuai hastily stood up.

  "Alright, I've arranged your accommodation, now it's up to you, I trust that you won't let me down."

  General Jeff finished speaking and took Xie Xiaoshuai to the accommodation arranged for the Sha Hu Xiao team. This was a reception house in the villa area, although it was a bit old, but there were special people taking care of it, making it look quite clean.

  After settling in, Yin Zhilin began to install the listening device. The result was disappointing: there were no electrical appliances here except for the light bulb. Even the phone had to be dialed to a manual service center and then transferred, let alone mobile phones, which made Yin Zhilin complain to Xie Xiaoshuai about what kind of place this was.

  Xie Xiaoshuai was quite optimistic, without modern electrical appliances, the way for spies to send intelligence outside would be much less. At this time, government personnel had finished work and were preparing to go home, Xie Xiaoshuai saw through the window that when those personnel left the building, each person had to be strictly checked by the sentry at the door, it was obviously impossible to bring out related things.