Mercenaries, I Will Be King Chapter 364 - 312: New Liaison

Everything went very smoothly.

The next morning, after enjoying a Moroccan breakfast prepared by Sanji's wife for everyone, the group set off on their journey.

First, they picked up three containers at the dock. Four trucks, hired by the smuggling group and in excellent condition, were loaded with the containers, and then they headed non-stop towards Algeria.

It was about 1,200 kiloters from Casablanca east to a southern national park in Algeria.

The roads within Morocco were very navigable as they were all highways, but visibly, the scenery outside the vehicle beca increasingly barren. Two days later, when the convoy reached the Moroccan border, one could already see the yellow exposed hillsides and desert from the windows.

Initially, when leaving Casablanca, one could frequently see people and vehicles by the roadside, but slowly both the vehicles and people seed to disappear, leaving only sand and wind, and the lonely calgrass.

The desert is a terrifying place.

Nobody likes it here.

Fortunately, Sanji was very familiar with this place.

Actually, before hiring him, Ferrari had conducted a background check.

Sanji was experienced, and most importantly, his travel agency was very small and inconspicuous, attracting no attention at all.

It was August at the ti, the hottest period.

The convoy slowly advanced through the vast expanse of the Sahara Desert, surrounded by endless golden sand dunes undulating like waves, extending to the horizon.

The sun hung high, and the scorching sun baked the desert hot, filling the air with a dry and scorching aura.

The surface of every vehicle was covered with a layer of fine yellow sand, and the tires left deep marks in the sandy terrain, like the footprints of explorers in the desert.

They were not too inflated to avoid the high temperatures causing the gas inside the tires to expand excessively and lead to a blowout.

To lower the coolant temperature, the cabs had to turn off the air conditioning, replaced instead by a fan hanging over the dashboard. To allow air circulation for cooling, the windows were also left open.

With sand blowing in, a light pinch on anyone's clothes would reveal sand dust as fine as powder.

Song Heping and the others were dressed in UV-protective clothing, with field scarves wrapped around their necks and covering their mouths and noses, and also wore sunglasses and hats to protect against the harsh desert heat.

About a hundred kiloters into the journey, the convoy had to stop to check the condition of the vehicles, looking at the tires and checking if radiators were clogged with sand, ensuring everything was in optimum condition, ready to deal with any potential difficulties and challenges.

Everyone felt most reassured because the rear of the convoy had a truck filled with supplies. The truck was loaded with water, food, fuel, and dical supplies, providing essential support for the convoy's long trek.

In the high temperatures of the desert, supplies beca exceptionally precious and were key to the survival of the convoy.

(This photo was taken by my cell phone when I entered the Sahara Desert in North Africa back in the day, haha, usually moving along the edge of the desert, local guides know how to navigate it, don't go into the hinterlands, it will kill people)

Finally, the convoy arrived at the border at dusk on the second day, near a place called Bedaquiline from the Dela Plateau.

This border point was rarely traversed because crossing it led to an even broader desert area, and one had to cross a vast expanse of desert to reach the national park.

Hence, very few scientific groups actually entered from here, and the excuse Song Heping found was to see if they could find the Sahara fox in the desert and conduct a research study and record so footage of them.

Actually, the reason why Song Heping chose to enter Algeria via Bedaquiline was that the border checkpoint in such remote areas was fairly slack.

In West Africa, many crossing points are typically just small military posts. They don't need to station many people, usually just a squad or at most a platoon.

These soldiers, stationed year-round at the border checkpoint on the edge of the desert, even seeing few living souls in a month, lonely and without much to do, were easy to deal with.

Before entering the Algerian border checkpoint, the convoy was stopped.

Song Heping got out of the vehicle, took out his docunts and the already arranged transit paperwork, and approached the Algerian soldiers standing by the checkpoint.

The desert under the setting sun looked exceptionally spectacular. The distant sunset coated the desert with a layer of gold, and the mountains in the distance appeared so lonely and quiet, evoking a feeling of desolation.

"Are you going to the national park?"

The highest-ranking Algerian soldier glanced at the paperwork but seed not very interested in it.

"Yes," said Song Heping, "we are going to do a research project in the southern national park."

What exact military rank the lead soldier had, Song Heping did not know.

But it seed that he was similar to the other two soldiers, probably sothing like a squad leader or another minor role.

However, this squad leader didn't harbor any suspicions about these individuals—firstly, no one wants to smuggle themselves from Morocco to Algeria; secondly, especially if the leader was an Arican.

However, his gaze fell on the containers.

"What's inside there?" he asked, holding the paperwork and striding towards the truck.

"A support vehicle, it's all filled with food and water, and the other boxes contain research equipnt," said Song Heping.

"Research equipnt?" the squad leader raised an eyebrow. "What kind of research equipnt?"

He had been eagerly awaiting a mont to exercise his authority, and he obviously wasn't going to let this opportunity slip by.

Seeing his intent to inspect the contents, Jiang Feng casually positioned himself near the two soldiers standing behind the squad leader.

All three were carrying Type 81 automatic rifles.

Indeed, the Type 81 automatic rifles, probably exported here from their own country years ago, but modified only with the type of steel folding stock used in the Type 56 submachine gun.

If these three dared to forcefully inspect the contents, Jiang Feng had a small butterfly knife in his pocket ready to slit their throats in the shortest ti possible.

As for the squad leader, he would be handled by Song Heping.

Dealing with these few people was too easy.

Seeing that he wanted to inspect the contents, Song Heping frowned and said, "Officer, it's getting dark, and we still have to hurry to the next town down the road. You know how unsafe the desert is at night, so we are really pressed for ti. Can you perhaps cut us so slack?"

After speaking, he suddenly lightly touched his pocket and said, "Oh, I also have another piece of paperwork. Look at my mory; I almost forgot to show it to you."

He reached into his pocket, and under the suspicious gaze of the squad leader, he pulled out a folded piece of white paper and handed it to him.

"Take a look, this is a special pass permit."

"A special pass permit?"

The squad leader looked at Song Heping, then back at the two soldiers behind him, and finally turned back, full of doubts, and unfolded the white paper.

The white paper was just that, completely blank, not a single word on it.

However, it concealed a stack of US Dollars.

The squad leader's eyes widened imdiately, and he awkwardly rubbed the stack of money.

All were hundred dollar bills, a total of ten.

At that mont, the squad leader's mind was filled with flying money, and he quickly calculated how many he should take for himself, how many the two green recruits should get…

Eventually, he seed to realize his lapse and suddenly coughed twice, folding the white paper back up.

"Cough, cough—indeed, it is a pass exempt from inspection. Alright, considering your long journey and the approaching night, I won't check the crate, go ahead!"

Finishing his statent, he waved his hand, clearing the way, and told his two soldiers, "Lift the barrier and let them through!"

The two green recruits were confused, but since the squad leader had ordered, they just did it!

They ran clumsily to the checkpoint and raised the barrier that signified border inspection.

Song Heping nodded and smiled, "Thank you, officer."

After speaking, he gestured for everyone to get on the vehicle.

Jiang Feng pulled his hand from his pocket, smiled at the two recruits, and climbed into the vehicle as well.

The two young recruits had no idea that they had just skirted very close to danger.

The convoy crossed the border and finally entered Algerian territory.

After spending the night in a village near Bedaquiline, early next morning, the convoy turned southward, heading towards the southernmost tip of Algeria.

After three days of traveling through the desert, the convoy finally reached the southern town of Fergasi.

"Sanji, we've already reached the edge of the national park. Starting tomorrow, we'll enter the park to start our scientific project. We'll be here for a month. My friend, let's part ways for now. You can head back to Morocco. In a month, co back here to pick us up."

By then, Song Heping had achieved his objective.

Fergasi was only 70 kiloters from Mali. According to the plan, after replenishing water and food in Fergasi, they would set off at night, crossing the border into Mali and then contacting the personnel of the Salafi Ard to conduct the transaction.

"Alright, then I'll head back to Casablanca first and wait there for your ssage." Sanji was also quite willing to do so.

After all, staying here with a scientific team and animals like wild buffalo for a month wasn't as good as running his hostel in Casablanca and picking up so short-term jobs. It wouldn't delay his money-making at all.

"Then, let's part ways here."

Song Heping opened his arms and embraced Sanji, following local customs.

Of course, he knew that he and Sanji were unlikely to et again.

However, he wouldn't shortchange the guide for this trip.

Soon, Ferrari would transfer the money into Sanji's account.

In less than a month, maybe just a few days, this bewildered guide would receive a ssage—the scientific team had left early and no longer required his services.

Then, Sanji would probably be thrilled.

Because in just a few days, he had made 8000 US dollars, which was even higher than catering to wealthy tourists in Morocco.

Of course, he also didn't know that he had actually taken a great risk. If there had been even a slight mishap with the contents of those three containers, he would have been an accomplice to arms dealers and ended up in prison.

He was even less aware that, although 8000 US dollars seed like a lot, it was but a drop in the bucket compared to the profit Song Heping made from selling those three SA-9 systems.

After seeing Sanji off, Song Heping didn't delay a mont and called the new contact person, "Is this Mr. Dunbar? I am Song Heping. We have now reached Fergasi. The day after tomorrow night, we'll et outside of Hamra. How does that sound?"

"Mr. Song, you disappeared for so many days, we thought you had died!"

The new contact, Dunbar, was quite surprised.

After all, Song Heping had vanished like a ghost for many days.

Even his boss had been stomping his feet and cursing for days, thinking that the Aricans had stood them up again.

After all, there had been two failed transactions before, which made one doubt the Arican's reliability.

"I'm tough to kill," said Song Heping. "Is the final paynt ready?"

"Don't worry, as long as your goods check out, the paynt will be imdiate."

It sounded like the Salafi Ard were not short of money at all.

"Good, see you the day after tomorrow night."

"We look forward to your arrival."

After ending the call, Jiang Feng approached Song Heping and asked, "If they want to inspect the goods, how will they inspect them? Where can we find an airplane for them to test?"

Song Heping shook his head, "I don't know, dealing with these people, you can never be sure. Just follow my orders when the ti cos, any problems must be dealt with according to my commands."

This was Jiang Feng's first ti dealing arms, his first transaction with an ard organization, and actually, none of the four guys had any experience.

What issues they might encounter the night after next, no one knew.

Jiang Feng even worried that they might be silenced.