King Of War: Starting with Arms Dealer

Almost every impoverished African nation opens a part of its quotas each year, relying on hunting a portion of treasured animals to exchange for foreign currency.

Prices vary by region, and Joe Ga has not specifically inquired elsewhere, but in the national parks of Central Africa, a lion costs 20,000 US dollars, an elephant 18,000 US dollars, a hippopotamus 10,000, and an antelope 2,000...

If you shoot them, you can take them away, except for items like ivory that are on the prohibited trade list—you have to figure that out on your own, everything else comes with legal documentation.

The animal control department in the national parks of Central Africa has staff specifically to help with taxidermy.

It's said that this industry brings in at least two million dollars in revenue to the Central African government each year and supports thousands of people.

Joe Ga studied veterinary science, but he wasn't a passionate animal conservationist.

In his mind, everything had to give way to human survival, and only when humans had their affairs in order were they qualified to think about animal issues.

The openness of Central Africa to hunting quotas was, in his eyes, a good thing, otherwise, without it, guiding companies would just be poaching companies.

Joe Ga, Nis, Antar, Dorian, and Ayu, crowded into a small antelope plane, flew over the Central African grasslands.

As traces of humanity gradually receded, the grandeur of Central Africa's nature gave Joe Ga the ultimate shock.

Viewed from a high altitude, there wasn't the scene of a myriad of beasts galloping as one might imagine, but rather, scattered watering holes and dotted animals gave a serene feeling.

Without human influence, time here seemed to stop, yet life continued inexhaustibly!

Recognized by UNESCO as 'the last gem,' the landscape filled with green vitality swept through the helicopter windows into Joe Ga's heart like a stormy wind, as potent as strong liquor, intoxicating him even before the first sip.

The feeling was hard to describe, it's like the boundlessness felt when seeing the sea for the first time makes one feel extraordinarily minute, the endless grasslands instill an urge to run wild and scream with abandon.

Joe Ga deliberately lowered the small antelope plane and chased a group of grazing gazelles into running.

The agile forms of the gazelles, brimming with life, instantly animated the grasslands.

Having bothered the gazelles, Joe Ga manipulated the control stick to tease an elephant herd next.

Watching the huge patriarch elephant angrily flap its ears and trumpet at him, Joe Ga laughed heartily as he left the spot, heading toward 'N'Dele' in the northwest.

That was Joe Ga's destination for this trip, with the national park headquarters located there.

However, during the flight, Joe Ga saw a disharmonious scene on the green land below.

An elephant lay dead on the ground, its entire face peeled back, both tusks removed from the root.

Poaching wasn't Joe Ga's concern, but the presence of a newborn calf wandering near the elephant's body made Ayu, who was in the backseat, emit a heavy sigh.

Dorian felt Ayu's muscles tense on his arm and, hesitating, said to Joe Ga, "Boss, we—"

Joe Ga looked back, then nodded and said, "We're going down."

The helicopter soon landed on the grasslands. From the sky, all you could see was green, but once on the ground, you would realize the vegetation was lush beyond imagination.

This time Karman didn't come because he was responsible for supervising the industry chain distribution in Sangha Town while ensuring the safety of Xiao Huang and the old professors. Thus, the grassland operation was led by Ayu.

Since they had confirmed from the air that the poachers weren't nearby, Ayu rushed straight to the elephant's body as soon as they landed.

She wrapped the head of the clearly newborn calf in a red cloth, half-knelt on the ground, embraced the calf's neck, and continuously consoled it while stroking forcefully.

Once the calf calmed down a bit, Ayu pushed its neck to steer it in a different direction and walked into a thicket to prevent it from circling around the elephant's corpse again.

Joe Ga had seen poaching scenes before; in Ad-Damazin, he had seen similar scenarios, but the Dingka Militia there was even more vicious. He had used nets to set traps and drove herds into them, then massacred them to harvest the ivory.

Ivory was, in Joe Ga's view, the most uneconomical commodity he had encountered. Hunting such a large animal just for two teeth seemed utterly boring to him.

If you were to sell the whole thing, skin and bones included, Joe Ga might not see much issue, but just for two teeth... what's the point?

Even if ivory was as smooth as jade, it was still just two teeth!

Joe Ga, a man who had planned to monopolize Central Africa's wildlife mortality rates, had no moral ground to criticize the poachers; but when the lives of the animals here were bought out, those poachers became his enemies.

Watching the elephant's head, stripped of skin and flesh and swarmed by flies, Joe shook his head, stood up, and looked around, noticing that carnivores were approaching but were scared off by the helicopter's noise. They were now lingering nearby, ready to feast at any moment.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Ayu comforted the young elephant and handed it over to Nis for care, then walked to the side of the dead elephant. While circling the carcass, she pinched her fingers together against her chin and muttered to the sky in a language Joe couldn't understand.

After Ayu's "ritual" was done, she walked to the side of the elephant, touched its abdomen, and then drew her hunting knife, fiercely tearing open a wound.

Joe had thought Ayu wanted to retrieve something from the elephant and was about to ask Dorian to help her when Ayu stood up...

With both hands, he pulled out some slightly odorous viscera and devoutly scattered them around the elephant's carcass, finally ending her bizarre ritual with a few strange syllables.

When Ayu's actions ceased, Joe instantly sensed unrest on the surrounding grasslands.

The moment the first wild dog with huge, lewd-looking ears poked its head out of the bushes, Ayu waved her hand at the vigilant Joe and said, "Don't be afraid, they won't attack us, let's leave here."

Watching Ayu clean the blood off her hands with a water bottle with Antar's help, then leading Nis and the small elephant through a pack of wild dogs and a clan of hyenas, Joe glanced at the baffled Dorian and said, "What do you think King Kong is up to?"

Dorian watched a hyena the size of a calf stretch its front limbs and respectfully saw Ayu off, just like they would a king. He smacked his lips and followed along, hoping to enjoy some regal treatment of the grasslands himself, only to be scared off by a few snarling hyenas.

Faced with his boss's question, Dorian confidently said, "King Kong must be versed in the witchcraft of Africa; I've heard that the wizards here can communicate with animals. King Kong is definitely a wizard."

Joe had wanted to refute Dorian's nonsense but, seeing what was happening, he felt it reasonable in this magical land of Africa that Ayu might possess some mystical abilities.

Karman and Ayu were both very familiar with the grasslands, but their styles were completely different.

Karman had an amazing sense of direction that always let him know where he was.

Though Karman was ferocious in his actions, he moved through the grassland in a way that suggested live and let live; he would actively avoid or minimize contact with aggressive animals unless necessary, avoiding bloodshed where he could.

But Ayu was different; this woman with a divine physique had once lived alone on the grasslands for a long time and communicated with animals in a way most people couldn't comprehend.

Joe didn't understand, but from Ayu's recent actions, he could tell that Ayu held life in high regard but wouldn't lament over an animal's carcass like most people; rather, she chose to utilize the carcass to the fullest to nourish the surrounding animals.

The first to arrive were the 'grassland thieves' like the wild dogs, jackals, and foxes, followed by the hyenas and vultures. Joe wasn't sure if there would be a third wave, but he clearly saw the smaller creatures enjoy the elephant's viscera first; then, as the hyenas arrived, they took enough to fill their bellies and ran off.

The feeding process, while still grotesque, was unexpectedly orderly.

Joe couldn't grasp the specific logic, but he guessed it definitely had something to do with Ayu removing the elephant's viscera.

Without her intervention, those 'little guys' would have had a hard time tearing through the elephant's skin to reach the meat.

By the time the big guys of the grassland arrived, there wasn't much left for them.

Exactly how Ayu managed to keep the greedy hyenas in awe and collectively delay their feeding, Joe did not know.

But that's the fun of this world; there are always magical people doing magical things and sometimes digging deeper isn't necessary.

Keeping the mystery and leaving room for imagination is more interesting.

As the group gathered next to a small gazelle, watching carnivores approach from afar, Joe gave Ayu a thumbs up and then looking at the restless young elephant, said, "What about him? He won't fit in our plane."

As Joe took out the GPS and checked it, he said, "It's 40 kilometers to 'N'Dele' from here..."

Ayu touched the young elephant's back and said, "Boss, he's too hungry, he can't travel far..."

Nis, looking like she wanted to say more but hesitated, finally laughed and said, "Antar can now also drive the gazelle; let him and Dorian go on to 'N'Dele' first.

Then Antar can bring some milk and such first, and Dorian can come with the vehicles to pick you up."

Joe, seeing the rare initiative from Nis, nodded and then disdainfully glanced at the only special forces member in the team who couldn't pilot a helicopter, Dorian, and said, "Lenore's assistant is already waiting in 'N'Dele'; just get in touch with her when you arrive, and she'll arrange everything for you."

As Joe looked up at the sky and shook his head, he said, "Take the guns off the plane; nights on the grassland are generally not very peaceful, try to be quick!"

Dorian, eyeing Antar who was eager to learn and now branching into multifunctional logistics, sighed and said, "Actually, flying a plane isn't that hard; I'll give it a try when we get back..."