King Of War: Starting with Arms Dealer

The Minister of 'Environment, Sustainable Development, Forestry, Rivers, Hunting and Fisheries' of Central Africa, Ale DuBelle, met with Joe Ga in the conference room of the rescue center, accompanied by her daughter Linda.

A hunting quota of 2 million for the entire year was written on a piece of paper, stamped with the official seal, and handed over to Joe Ga.

Joe Ga shared his Diamond Park project idea with the minister, and the minister, who had an air of a scholar about her, was stunned...

It wasn't that Joe Ga's plan was bad, but rather that it was too good, so good that it made Ale DuBelle feel it was unrealistic. It was so good that it made her feel as though Joe Ga was the one who truly had the best interests of Central Africa at heart, whereas she, the minister...

Compared to her mother's shock, Linda was very excited!

Since the Battle of Sangha Mountain, Joe Ga had become Linda's idol.

Linda envied Lenore, who was kidnapped to be an assistant, envied her power, envied her status as a highly respected dominant woman in Sangha Town because of her association with Joe Ga.

The Diamond Park project presented Linda with an opportunity; compared to staying in Sangha Town as Lenore's subordinate, Linda, who came from a better background, felt that Ndele could be the place where she could showcase her abilities.

The roads had all been planned, and given the current situation in Central Africa, which seemed to have no room left for a downward breakthrough, if things couldn't change, Linda thought she might as well return home to get married.

Joe Ga was indifferent to Linda's political ambitions; he was only concerned with whether his business could last.

New arms deals had already arrived. Projects in Congo could be registered under the name of P.B., but the orders from Niger and Mali would have to go through other channels.

Always using Eric's money laundering channels wasn't great either. The hunting company still needed to get moving in order to play its part.

The tourism company in Ad-Damazin was still more of a spur-of-the-moment affair, but Joe Ga wanted to create a real pilot project in Central Africa, which would require full cooperation from the local government.

The two sides hit it off instantly. Joe Ga provided a small amount of funding to refurbish the infrastructure of Ndele, and then people could be found to enter the savanna and start building the resorts.

Linda and her mother were responsible for finding domestic and international media to hype up the incident of the textile magnate killed by a lion, then when people's attention was captured, they would bring up the black diamond above Namo's head to stir interest.

So capturing Namo would have to be postponed; before everything was ready, a team was needed to patrol the savannah to prevent anyone from targeting Namo.

John, who had been listening on the side, took on this task voluntarily and brought over a tall, lean, middle-aged black man with murky eyes to Joe Ga.

Joe Ga frowned at the somewhat lifeless black man in front of him and said, "Are you Manlo?"

The black man looked up at Joe Ga, squeezed out a timid smile, and said, "Yes, that's me!"

Joe Ga curiously sized up the man, wondering if it was just his impression, but he felt a hint of despair from Manlo, the kind that signified no matter how hard one tried, one couldn't escape fate—a despair and weariness.

It was known that Manlo didn't even have a gun and yet had charged into the savanna and killed an elephant on his own, an occurrence even more bizarre than Ayu taking down a lion with his bare hands.

Glancing at the silent John beside him, Joe Ga fell quiet for a moment and finally couldn't resist his curiosity, asking, "How did you do it?"

Manlo paused, then pulled out a short stick about 50 centimeters long from behind him...

The short stick, with a diameter of only about 4 centimeters, had two large nuts fitted on the slightly thicker end, forming the most lethal part.

The dark red rust on the nuts, whether due to bloodstains or mere oxidation, looked somewhat unsettling.

Resembling the mace-like hammers from China's history, the highly resilient short stick, coupled with the weighted end, could cause severe damage, if not death, to any creature's skull with enough swing force.

Still, for a single person to kill an elephant with this thing was exaggerated. What kind of courage did it take to face an elephant's charge?

Seeing Joe Ga curiously fiddling with the short stick, Manlo managed to smile and said, "Thank you, sir, you saved the lives of my wife and children."

Manlo always spoke with a tired and desperate tone. Even with a smile on his face, he made Joe Ga uncomfortable.

Joe Ga had felt this sensation with his own father. As his father's health deteriorated, he dared not stop working because the whole family depended on him. The hopeless feeling of no end in sight exhausted him more and more, until he was diagnosed with silicosis and finally collapsed.

This was the stark reality of the poor, seemingly no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't escape a life that seemed to run into a dead end.

Joe Ga disliked this feeling; he averted his gaze from Manlo's dim eyes and looked at John, saying, "Have you talked to him about it yet?"

John glanced at the minister lady, then spoke to Joe Ga, "I've talked with Ms. DuBelle, and my rescue center can organize an anti-poaching team on its own. The Central African Government can sponsor us a little and provide us with legal support.

I want Manlo to lead this team. The monthly salary is set at 300 US dollars for now. Not only will this cover his wife and children's medical expenses, but it will also motivate the other team members who are paid 200 dollars a month, as their salary theoretically has room to increase."

After listening, Joe Ga looked at Manlo, whose eyes were filled with pleading and hope. After a few minutes of silence, he said, "Let's do it this way then. I will have someone come to train them for a while.

"They should all know how to use guns, and I will have someone send over uniforms and equipment..."

As he spoke, Joe Ga looked at Manlo with a gleam of excitement in his eyes; he suddenly waved his hand with a hint of impatience and said, "That's enough, get everyone together. I will have their instructor come over tomorrow."

John saw the look of shock on Manlo's face due to Joe Ga's attitude and, shaking his head, walked up, put his arm around Manlo's shoulders, and escorted him out.

John understood Joe Ga's state of mind the most. This boss, who appeared somewhat domineering in his actions, actually possessed empathy far beyond that of ordinary people.

The seemingly endless weariness radiating from Manlo was like a negative energy field that could affect those around him.

And the stronger one's empathy, the deeper they feel!

Driving Manlo away wasn't out of dislike, but out of sympathy, as well as disgust for the unfortunate state of affairs in Central Africa.

What John didn't know was that Joe Ga's impatience and aversion stemmed more from a reluctance to get too close to Manlo. He could tolerate someone like Karman, an old killer, but he couldn't accept Manlo's deep despair because that too was a part of him that was etched into his bones.

Who wouldn't want to be in a good mood?

If money could solve the problem, then he would use money to deal with it. Before that, Joe Ga didn't want to be near Manlo.

He watched as Manlo left, managed a few words with Madam Dubelle in his sour mood, and then returned to his room.

He called Karman and had him send the half-nosed jungle veteran 'Rhino' to the national park.
Enjoy new adventures at empire

Then he informed 'Wrench' to arrange for a Mi-8 helicopter to deliver some supplies tomorrow.

Danbao the baby elephant seemed to sense Joe Ga's foul mood. It rested its big head on the edge of the bed, curled its trunk around Joe Ga's hand, and within minutes, the little guy had fallen asleep himself.

The little thing's wet nose and its endearing figure significantly brightened Joe Ga's mood.

Just as Joe Ga was about to fall asleep, his phone suddenly rang.

He picked up quickly, careful not to wake the sleeping Danbao; Joe Ga heard Sanderson's voice on the line...

"Boss, sorry to disturb you so late, but there's something I think I should inform you about."

Joe Ga frowned and said, "What's up? Is there a problem in Bangassou?"

Upon hearing this, Sanderson hurriedly responded, "No, no, no, it's not Bangassou, the situations in Sangha Town are good. The issue is at the China-Congo border.

While we were fighting drug traffickers at the border, we intercepted a shipment of arms via water and captured some people. Then we received news that's not too good."

Having heard this, Joe Ga roughly understood where the problem lay. His own side had been fighting too fiercely, cutting off drug channels was bound to lead to a backlash, so he nodded and said, "Is someone supplying arms to the drug traffickers and those guerrilla troops? Have the captives confessed whose people they are?"

There was a peculiar tone in Sanderson's voice as he said, "Apparently not, they say the arms were for the diamond warlord 'Zetaka' in central Central Africa. I'm not sure if we have the authority to confiscate these things.

Among those arms there are rocket launchers, mortars, and heavy machine guns; they are preparing for war. Boss, I have a bad feeling, but..."

Joe Ga had a hard-to-describe feeling too. He had done his homework and was familiar with some of the anti-government warlords in Central Africa.

'Zetaka' was one of the most powerful among them. He controlled several towns and a few diamond mines, using the profits from smuggling diamonds to buy arms to stand off against the Central African government for many years.

A few years back, this guy even led his troops into the Capital Bangui. If not for UN mediation, it's doubtful President Mary Aenola's brother could have taken office smoothly.

Now, he was suddenly buying 'heavy weapons'; it couldn't be because he had too much money to spend.

Prime Minister Minam from Congo had hinted to Joe Ga that he'd been targeted by Uganda's anti-government guerrilla group 'God's Armed Organization.' Now with 'Zetaka' starting to buy weapons, Joe Ga felt there might be a connection.

The most terrifying speculation was that someone intended to simply overthrow the current Central African government and then remove the thorn in their side, P.B.

Lacking intelligence sources, Joe Ga could not integrate the current situation, but he habitually evaluated the situation according to the worst possible scenario.

So, he said to Sanderson on the other end of the line, "Report to the Central African Ministry of Defense that we're confiscating the goods.

And, by the way, 'ask' those captives who their boss is.

No one does arms smuggling in Central Africa without my permission—nobody!"