Mercenaries, I Will Be King Chapter 173 - 153 Alibaba's Treasure2

"..."

Samir was completely speechless.

It took him a while to regain his senses.

"Boss, where did you learn all these from?"

"Self-taught."

Of course, Samir wouldn't believe Song Heping's answer.

His boss was too incredible.

He had never seen anyone like him.

He was a returnee from England and used to think highly of himself.

But now, he felt his own intelligence was inadequate in front of Song Heping.

They quickly arrived at Yijibai Village.

As expected, there were ard personnel guarding the entrance of the village.

In the current Illiguo, it was common for every tribal village to have their own ard forces for self-protection.

Their SUV was stopped.

The young man who ca to deliver the ssage in the morning was also there.

But when he stepped forward and saw the C4 on Song Heping's body, his face changed.

After so discussion,

they indeed refused to allow Song Heping to enter the village wearing a tactical vest bristling with C4 and asked him to hand over all weapons before he could go in to see their tribal chief elder.

Song Heping said to Samir, "Tell him, if they want to take off this tactical vest, then we'll turn around and leave, and the eting is off."

Samir babbled away in the local Illiguo dialect as he started to explain.

The young man and two ard villagers were also there, jabbering away, arguing.

After talking for a while, Song Heping said to Samir, "Tell him, instead of arguing with us here, it might be better to go inside and ask their tribal chief whether they would allow to enter as I am."

Samir conveyed the ssage, the young man was taken aback for a mont, then asked the two to wait and turned to enter the village.

About ten minutes later, the young man reappeared.

"The chief invites you in."

Seeing that they were allowed to pass, Song Heping felt relieved.

It seed the tribal chief was indeed in a hurry.

The two followed the young man into the village.

The village was built on a gentle slope, and they walked up an uphill road flanked by houses.

There weren't many people beside the houses; it seed they had been told to stay inside, possibly because of Song Heping's bomb-laden vest, so no one dared co out.

He saw a child peeking from behind the low wall in front of a house, who was quickly pulled back by a large hand and disappeared from sight.

The tribal chief's house was large and located in the center of the village.

The center of the village was a relatively flat small square, with the white-robed tribal chief's house on the west side of the square.

When Song Heping arrived, the other party was already standing at his doorway to welco them.

Song Heping was already familiar with the eting customs of Illiguo.

After a simple exchange of greetings, the tribal chief led him and Samir into his courtyard.

The courtyard was laid with carpets and food was placed on top.

There were a few strong n with guns standing by, and the tribal chief waved his hand, seemingly having them leave.

Once his bodyguards left, the old man then spoke in English, "Mr. Song, it's a pleasure to have you visit Yijibai Village to see this old man."

"It's my honor."

Song Heping assessed the elderly man before him.

The chief looked to be over seventy, still vigorous, with a white beard and long eyebrows that had also turned white.

What surprised Song Heping the most was that the man could speak English.

He had thought the chief was an old man confined to his village, but it turned out he was an elder with quite a scholarly air.

"You speak English?"

"Learned it many years ago..." The chief said with a smile, "When you live long enough, you pick up a thing or two."

He poured tea for Song Heping.

Song Heping said thank you.

The old man began introducing himself, "My na is Haymour, the chieftain of this tribe. Our Yijibai tribe is large, with three other villages nearby that are our branches."

As he spoke, he made a welcoming gesture.

"If Mr. Song doesn't mind, you may eat so of our local food."

Song Heping glanced at the food, picked up a piece of naan bread, tore off a strip, scooped up a spoonful of lamb, rolled it in the naan, and began eating.

Here, eating food provided by the host is a sign of respect.

Haymour watched Song Heping eat the food, obviously very pleased, nodding repeatedly, and his gaze fell upon Song Heping's tactical vest.

"Mr. Song is indeed a courageous man. I've heard of many of your previous actions, including the eradication of the Freedom Army. Your company has risen in the ranks of the Illigo rcenaries in just a few short months, which is greatly linked to your courage."

"You flatter , sir." After finishing the naan, Song Heping took a big sip of tea and then said, "You have even greater courage, daring to et with while I'm wearing this vest."

Haymour let out a wry smile, then nodded slightly, "I know you are testing my sincerity."

Song Heping said nothing, just tore off another piece of naan and continued eating.

He didn't need to say much.

The old man would speak.

It was him who was in a hurry, more than Song Heping.

From the mont the village guard agreed to let him enter to see Haymour wearing a bomb vest, Song Heping could tell.

Moreover, the old man was quite familiar with his situation; it seed he had checked up on him.

This tribal leader from the northwest part of Illiguo even had his own intelligence network.

This matter was indeed very interesting.

"Mr. Song."

As expected, Haymour continued speaking himself since Song Heping didn't take the bait.

"I heard that last night you directly took down the headquarters of the Salafi Ard?"

Song Heping finally responded, counter-asking, "Old man, are you acquainted with them?"

"Acquainted," Haymour didn't dodge the question, "But it's not a deep relationship, rely an acquaintance."

He paused, then added, "I heard that all the firearms and ammunition belonging to the Salafi Ard mbers were taken by you, are they with you now?"

Song Heping's heart stirred slightly, and he asked with a smile, "Old man, are you looking to buy so arms?"

He was only slightly teasing.

To his surprise, the old man actually nodded: "Yes, I want to buy."

Then, he changed the subject abruptly, "But I have no money."

This ti it was Song Heping's turn to be stunned.

Wants to buy arms, but without money?

Could he be planning to rob them?

He couldn't be considering taking himself as a hostage, could he?

"Those arms were seized by and my brothers at the risk of our lives, and two of my n lost their lives last night for it. Old man, I'm afraid I can't offer credit on my arms."

Haymour burst into laughter upon hearing this.

After laughing, he said, "I don't want them for free, I'll give you a treasure, but whether you can get it depends on your skills, and after you obtain it, you must promise to give two-tenths of whatever you find, apart from the batch of firearms you'll give ."

He held up two fingers and waved them in front of Song Heping.

"I'm not greedy, I only want two-tenths."

"Treasure?" Song Heping asked curiously, "You an Alibaba's treasure?"

Haymour nodded: "Similar, I suppose, in nature it's really quite similar."

His words completely hooked Song Heping's curiosity.

The old man had investigated him.

Then, out of the blue, he had summoned him here to offer a treasure?

Pies don't just fall from the sky.

And even if they do, they aren't for free.

"Let's hear it," Song Heping said, "What is this Alibaba's treasure you're offering ?"

Haymour glanced at Samir.

Song Heping got the hint: "You can trust him."

Only then did Haymour speak: "Gold. Sadam's gold."

Song Heping was inwardly shaken.

Gold again? How much gold did Sadam have?

Avanti from Persia was looking.

And so was the CIA's SAD.

"How much?" Song Heping asked.

"Fifty tons," Haymour said, "a full fifty tons, all in gold bullion."

Song Heping frowned.

Why did this sound so unreliable?

A tribal elder knew the whereabouts of gold?

If he truly knew, why wouldn't he just take people to get it? Why go to the trouble of calling him here to hand over such a prodigious fortune to him?

Could it be possible?

Countless question marks appeared in Song Heping's mind.

"What's the matter?" Seeing Song Heping's confusion, Haymour counter-questioned, "Don't you believe ?"

Speaking frankly, Song Heping said, "Indeed, I don't believe."

At that mont, he even suspected whether the old man knew about his dealings with the Persians.

The captive Hassan, whom Avanti wanted him to fetch from the Chicken Country, was rumored to know the whereabouts of Sadam's gold.

The old man was also talking about gold.

Theoretically, Avanti should have extracted the clue to the gold's location from Hassan's mouth after obtaining him and would have already sent his own people to Illiguo to take it.

And on the SAD side, with their powerful intelligence network, having recently captured Sadam, they would surely manage to dig out the location of the gold from him.

With these two national-level intelligence agencies tracking the matter, how could it fall into the hands of a tribal elder?

Wasn't that nonsense?

"Sadam has already been captured; if he's hidden gold, the CIA will dig it out. How could you possibly know its whereabouts?"

Song Heping deliberately did not ntion the Persians.

After all, that was a highly confidential matter.

Haymour took up his tea, looking suprely confident as he said, "Because even Sadam himself doesn't know where those fifty tons of gold are. Do you understand what I'm saying?"