772: Chapter 763: The Big Secret 772: Chapter 763: The Big Secret Gao Yang was tired of repeatedly reminding his defeated men that they had already surrendered.
He slightly raised the barrel of his gun and fired a burst of bullets over the head of a white man who had just exited the building, who then got so scared that he sat down on the ground.
Gao Yang then shouted, “Everyone, come out now!”
The frightened white man who was sitting on the ground just trembled, but Gao Yang’s warning had been effective.
People began to emerge from three rooms with their hands raised.
Another white man, shirtless and trembling, came out from the room on the right.
First, he helped up the white man sitting on the ground, then both raised their hands and stood in the open space outside the building.
Based on the bodies on the ground and the number of people coming out, Gao Yang figured there were still more inside.
So he yelled again, “Everyone inside, come out now, don’t even think about hiding!”
A man dressed as a soldier shouted, “The others are all dead!”
Gao Yang could easily verify the truth so he bellowed, “Raise your hands higher and come over here, hurry up!”
Fifteen people remaining, including two white men, slowly walked towards Gao Yang.
Meanwhile, a few women who had just regained their freedom began trembling like sieves when they saw their captors approaching.
Just then, Jansen’s anxious voice came through Gao Yang’s radio: “The men on my side have all run over there, they can’t understand what I’m saying, they’ve all run over there!”
Gao Yang said to Bantuna, “I need to interrogate them peacefully, stop those men, don’t let them do anything rash.”
Bantuna swung his machine gun around and fired a burst over the heads of about ten people running in their direction.
He then shouted in Amharic, “Stop, walk over here slowly, listen to me, don’t move, or I’ll shoot you!”
After issuing the warning to the overly anxious victims, Gao Yang armed with his gun approached the surrendered men, who were slowly coming in.
He distinguished based on their clothing—four in military attire, nine in civilian clothes, and two white men.
As he approached the surrendering men, still a dozen meters away, Gao Yang commanded loudly, “Everyone, lie down on the ground, stretch your hands out in front front.
You two, come here.”
After ordering the two white men to come closer to him, Gao Yang shouted at Bantuna, “Watch them, shoot anyone who makes a move.”
The two white men approached Gao Yang, trembling.
One was in his forties and the other was barely in his twenties.
They looked out of place here.
The younger white man was shirtless, his white shirt now tied around his gun as a white flag, while the older man wore a long-sleeved white shirt and trousers, complete with leather shoes.
Once they reached Gao Yang, he gestured with his gun and said, “Sit down.
I ask, you answer.
I think you now understand your situation and must have no doubt that I will kill either of you at will if I’m dissatisfied with your answers, right?”
The older white man put on a pleading smile and said, “Sir, go ahead and ask.
I am happy to tell you everything I know.”
“First, tell me who you two are, and then, explain these women here.”
Gao Yang pointed to the still sobbing women, and the older white man replied with a helpless expression, “Here’s the thing, sir, we both are diamond merchants and came here purely to conduct business.
These kidnapped people have nothing to do with us.”
Gao Yang chuckled, his face painted in a way that made his smile not reassuring but more ferocious.
Certainly, Gao Yang’s smile was a sinister smirk.
“You think I’m a fool, right?
A smart man.
Looks like I need to change who I’m questioning.”
The older white man almost burst into tears, shouting, “Please listen to my explanation, I can explain!
It’s like this, we are gem dealers here to buy diamonds.
We weren’t supposed to come here, but our contact told us there was a problem with the meeting place we had agreed on, so he asked us to come here.
Then, someone connected with us and brought us along with those poor kidnapped people here.
Sir, we are just merchants, truly just merchants, and these poor people have nothing to do with us.”
Gao Yang frowned and asked, “You say you came here to buy diamonds?
Here?
Are there diamonds here?”
“Dead, yes!
Please listen to me, sir, it happened like this.
Please let me start from the beginning—after the independence of South Sudan, the border between North and South Sudan was not stable.
About a company of soldiers was deployed to this area.
There is a river near the Ethiopia border to the east.
Last year, soldiers at another outpost accidentally discovered diamonds in the river, and then, then this place became a new diamond mine area.
Sir, I swear everything I’m telling you is true.”
Gao Yang pondered for a moment, then frowned and said, “There are diamonds here too?”
The younger white man said urgently, “Sir, as long as the geological conditions are right, diamonds can be found anywhere—Congo-Kinshasa, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Australia, and even Russia.
It’s just that the diamond mine here was previously undiscovered, just like before that little girl in South Africa found a diamond on the riverbank, no one knew there were diamonds in the Kimberley River.”
Gao Yang pursed his lips and said, “Alright, tell me more about it.”
The older white man sighed and said, “It’s like this, those Sudanese soldiers discovered diamonds in the river, and the quality of these diamonds was very high, even better than those from the Kimberley Mine in South Africa.
The output of gem-grade diamonds is even greater, but most importantly, the size of the diamonds here is very large.”
Eager to prove himself, the young man chimed in, “The diamonds in the riverbed are secondary deposits, brought down by running water from what should be the mountains of Ethiopia.
However, thanks to the transport by flowing water, the diamonds that are found are of very high quality.”
Gao Yang frowned and said, “I see, the deposit needs people to mine it, so you attacked the villages to get slaves to help you mine the diamonds, right?”
The older white man said urgently, “No, that’s not it.
Please listen, the highest-ranking officer in charge here is a captain.
He discovered the diamonds and decided to get rich with his soldiers while keeping it a secret.
He sold the diamonds for huge profits, then shared them with his subordinates to keep the secret safe.
But all of this has nothing to do with us; we are just merchants buying the diamonds.”
Gao Yang said sternly, “Where are you two from, tell me your names.”
The younger white man hesitated for a moment and then said, “I’m South African, my name is Philip.”
The older white man whispered, “I’m Belgian, from Antwerp, but I’ve been doing the diamond business in South Africa.
My name is Lendel.”
Gao Yang wasn’t very familiar with diamonds, but he knew that Antwerp was the biggest diamond processing and trading center in the world.
After knowing their names, Gao Yang said sternly, “It seems you’ve found a new diamond mine.
So, what’s your relationship with those people—the ones over there?”
Gao Yang pointed at the people in civilian clothes; Lendel turned his head to look and then shook his head, saying, “I really have no connection with them; they are Captain Sadik’s men.
Oh, Captain Sadik is the one controlling this area, and he is our business contact.
These people are hired by Sadik to work for him.
Captain Sadik’s soldiers are stationed in the outpost, and some tasks are completed by these people he recruits, like mining and finding miners.”
Uncovering a major secret, although Gao Yang was more interested in finding the Akuri tribe, he could not ignore what he had discovered.
After pondering for a moment, Gao Yang said sternly, “Since you two are here to do business, where is your money?
Don’t tell me you came to buy diamonds empty-handed.”
Philip and Lendel looked at each other and both helplessly shook their heads.
Then Lendel spread his hands and said, “We didn’t bring money this time because we don’t want to trade with cash here.
We hoped to trade at a safer place.
Our main purpose this time was actually to find the diamond mine.
The river where the diamonds were found is neither big nor long, so we think the main mining area should be at the source of the river.
So, we were just trying to locate the potential site of the diamond mine.”
Philip also said urgently, “Just like in South Africa, people first found diamonds in the river of the Kimberley Mine area, and when no more diamonds could be found on the riverbanks, the main mining area was discovered under the loam—known as the famous Kimberley pipe.
We believe that the terrain here is similar to that of Kimberley, and perhaps we might also discover a large new mine.”
Gao Yang smiled again, saying, “Gentlemen, you have cooperated very well, but now tell me, when you got off the car, you were carrying a briefcase—where is that briefcase now?
And, please tell me, what’s inside the briefcase?
Exploration instruments?
Or some shiny green cash?”
A look of despair appeared on Lendel’s face, and Philip looked completely dejected.
After both men lowered their heads, Lendel sighed deeply and said, “Take it, all of it, just let us live.”
Philip then raised his head again and said solemnly to Gao Yang, “Sir, won’t you ask whom we represent?”
Gao Yang smiled and said, “I’m not interested in who is behind you, so that can wait a bit longer.
Now tell me, where was your previous trading place, and why did you change the trading location to here.”
Lendel listlessly said, “Captain Sadik said, someone attacked them, killed two men, so he had to find out who attacked them first, so he changed the trading place and brought a lot of people to hunt down the attackers.
He suspects someone wants to cut off his wealth.” (To be continued.
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