577: Chapter 572: Unlucky Kid Rafael 577: Chapter 572: Unlucky Kid Rafael Feeling the heat of the air, Gao Yang, who had just arrived in Djibouti from the cold of New York, took off his coat as soon as he disembarked from the plane.
Apart from Li Jinfang and Tommy, all members of Satan’s crew had already gathered.
When they left the airport, they quickly saw Li Jinfang waiting outside the airport.
Li Jinfang, having just reunited with his best brothers, had a happy smile on his face.
After seeing Gao Yang and the others, he waved his hand, greeted them, and officially rejoined the group.
Tommy had arrived even earlier; he had been there for two days.
He was now on the transfer ship.
As soon as Gao Yang and the others boarded, the Satan Mercenary Corps would be complete.
However, before Gao Yang and his group left for the transfer ship, they still had one more person to join them, and that was Rafael.
After leaving the airport, Gao Yang took out his phone and dialed the number Rafael had left him.
Before departing, Gao Yang had already informed Rafael about their arrival time.
If Rafael was waiting there, he would go with them to the transfer ship.
If not, there was no need to say anything further; Gao Yang wouldn’t give him a second chance.
The call connected after just a few rings, and Gao Yang saw someone coming toward him with a ringing mobile phone.
He ended the call, and the man’s phone went silent as well.
A man in his twenties stood in front of Gao Yang and, after nodding his head, said in a low voice, “Hello, are you Mr.
Ram?”
Gao Yang nodded with a smile, “That’s me, and you must be Rafael.”
“Yes, sir, I’m Rafael.
It’s a great pleasure to meet you and everyone.
I am really happy to see you all,” he said.
Rafael had a tall and thin physique, similar in height to Gao Yang at about 1.8 meters.
His long, curly black hair looked quite elegant.
He had a very prominent nose that, while large, appeared somewhat comical in proportion to his other facial features, giving him a spirited, though not exactly handsome appearance.
So, the man before him was indeed Rafael.
Gao Yang nodded and said, “Well, I now believe what you said.
You did go to the hospital, and you were beaten pretty badly, weren’t you?”
Gao Yang asked this because Rafael’s nose was not only large but also swollen, clearly having been broken recently and not yet fully healed.
There was also a cut, not yet completely healed and scabbed over, near his eye that looked like it had required four or five stitches.
Rafael touched his swollen nose with a bitter smile and said, “I’m very sorry, sir.
I really didn’t want to miss our meeting, but as you see, I was beaten quite badly.
Most of my time was spent in the hospital, and I almost missed a good job opportunity.
I truly appreciate the chance you’ve given me, and I assure you, I won’t let you down.”
Gao Yang nodded, but at that moment, Eileen said eagerly, “Hey, Italian, why were you beaten up?
It must hurt a lot to have your nose broken.”
Rafael looked seriously at Eileen and said, “I am Sicilian, not Italian.”
Eileen shrugged and corrected herself, “Okay, Sicilian, why were you beaten up?
It must hurt a lot to have your nose broken, right?”
A pained look crossed Rafael’s face as he shook his head helplessly.
After a moment of silence, he sighed and said, “The situation in Palermo is pretty bad, unable to escape the relegation zone.
When I went back to Sicily, I happened to catch a match between Palermo and Lazio, so I flew directly to Rome to watch the game.
Unfortunately, Palermo lost, and then, some of us got into a severe fight with the Lazio fans.
You know, being the away team, we were outnumbered.
The team lost, and we didn’t win the fight either.
I got hit in the nose with a beer bottle and nearly lost an eye.”
“Soccer hooligan,” was the first thought that crossed Gao Yang’s mind.
After speaking, Rafael clenched his fist and swung it down fiercely, grinding his teeth and saying, “Those Lazio soccer hooligans…
when they come to Palermo, the Sicilians will show them.”
Having said that, Rafael’s demeanor turned gloomy as he murmured dejectedly, “But I don’t know when that chance will come.
Palermo is likely to be relegated, and we’ve already played against Lazio for the season.
I don’t know when I’ll get my chance for revenge, all I can hope for is a miracle that Palermo stays up.”
Eileen sighed and said, “I feel for you, buddy.
It’s sad when the team you support is facing relegation.
Luckily, our team’s doing well, which makes me feel quite content.”
Rafael nodded and said, “German, I guess you are, you have a typical German beauty’s face.
So, which team do you support?”
Eileen laughed happily and replied, “Dortmund.”
“Oh, a Dortmund fan.
You must feel very happy, then.
Dortmund has been performing quite well in the past two years, really well, in fact.
They just beat Zenit in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16.
Did you watch that match?
I think Dortmund has a good chance to make it to the semifinals, or even the finals, this year.”
Eileen shook her head repeatedly, saying, “No, no, I firmly believe we’ll win the championship this year.
The current Dortmund roster is too strong.
We have Lewandowski; I like him so much, and also…”
Gao Yang could no longer stand by watching as the two fans veered further and further off topic, delving into a discussion about football.
Seeing that Eileen was about to recite the entire Dortmund family tree, he immediately coughed loudly twice and said, “Football, you can talk about that after we arrive at our destination.
For now, let’s get going.”
Eileen stuck out her tongue, a gesture which made Gao Yang feel quite uncomfortable considering her physique and appearance.
Meanwhile, Rafael respectfully replied, “Yes, sir.”
Before Rafael joined the Satan Mercenary Corps, Gao Yang didn’t want to introduce all the members to him, so, as they were in the rental car parking area, Gao Yang couldn’t help but ask the clearly excited Rafael, “Hey Rafael, were you hospitalized because you got into a fight over a lost football game?
Um, what I want to know is, does this happen to you often?”
Rafael shrugged and responded, “Sir, I’m not a football hooligan, although I often participate in brawls.
In Palermo, they fight in the stadium, we fight outside of it.
However, I’ve been abroad these years, so I rarely had the chance to watch the games live, which means I haven’t had many opportunities to fight.
But please believe me, sir, in the street fights I’ve been involved in, this time was a rare accident.
Whether home or away, I am usually on the winning side.
And this hospitalization wasn’t because of those Lazio scumbags, sir.
The sissies from Lazio are still incapable of putting me in a hospital.”
Gao Yang shook his head and said, “Well, I guess you really are a football hooligan after all.
Also, you mean you weren’t hospitalized because of a fight?
Then why?
Do you have any serious illness or physical problems?”
Rafael shook his head, then with a look of distress, he explained, “Sir, I was indeed hospitalized because of a beating, but certainly not by Lazio fans.
In fact, it happened after I returned to Sicily.
Um, to be precise, I was beaten by the Mafia.
After teaching me a harsh lesson, those who beat me sent me to the hospital to make sure I didn’t die.”
Sicily being the homeland of the Mafia, its presence there is hardly a surprise, but the fact that Rafael had been beaten by the Mafia to the point of hospitalization was shocking to everyone, including Gao Yang.
Gao Yang asked in astonishment, “Beaten by the Mafia?
Why?”
Rafael let out a wry smile and said, “Well, being beaten by the Mafia isn’t something to be ashamed of, really.
As a Sicilian, I’ve grown accustomed to it.
The thing is, my father took out a high-interest loan and sold everything in the house but still couldn’t pay it back.
So, it fell on me to earn the money.
I took too long to pay it back this time, so those Mafia guys decided to teach me a lesson, to make sure I have enough motivation to earn money.”
Glolov frowned and commented, “I thought the Sicilian Mafia had moved on to higher-level activities?
In recent years, you hardly hear about the Mafia being active on Sicily anymore.”
Rafael sighed and replied, “The Mafia only hides but never disappears, especially in Sicily.
They seldom act openly now, mainly because they’re only interested in big money.
The kind of protection rackets they used to run are indeed rare to see now.
Unfortunately, the money my family owes is a large amount, a very large amount.
That’s why they have plenty of reason to keep reminding me to pay.
And this, this is why I’m so eager to join Satan and make big money.”
Curious, Gao Yang asked, “How much do you owe, no, how much does your father owe them?”
Rafael made a helpless gesture and whispered, “One million six hundred thousand euros.”
One million six hundred thousand euros, that’s over ten million Renminbi—a truly large sum of money.
Gao Yang had a painful personal experience with high-interest loans; his father had also been in debt due to them.
Of course, he had been set up, but it was exactly for this reason that he had to flee immediately after returning home and has since been unable to reunite with his family.
Sharing a similar ordeal, Gao Yang’s perception of Rafael changed instantly.
He sighed and remarked, “That certainly is a lot of money, and it’s very hard to pay off a high-interest loan.
If I may ask, how did your father get into so much debt?”
Rafael shrugged and explained, “Football betting.
But initially, he didn’t owe this much, just two hundred thousand euros.
However, he couldn’t pay it back, and with the accumulating interest, it eventually grew to one million six hundred thousand euros.
Now, I’m just trying to earn enough to cover the interest and keep the amount from growing further.”
(To be continued.
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