780: Chapter 771 Diamond Mine 780: Chapter 771 Diamond Mine Gao Yang’s ability to speak Arabic was quite, quite limited.
He could only say a few phrases like “Raise your hands” and “Surrender and you won’t be killed.” Watching as the soldier finally understood and raised his hands, Gao Yang loudly said to Bantuna, “Help me translate, I don’t know Arabic.”
Bantuna looked at Gao Yang with a helpless expression and replied, “I don’t know it either, I only know a few phrases.”
Gao Yang was completely at a loss and said to the soldier with his hands up, “Can you speak English?
Or what language do you speak?”
The soldier looked back with a blank face.
After Bantuna asked him several times in Amharic and other languages Gao Yang didn’t understand, he said with a helpless look, “No way, it seems this guy only understands Arabic.”
Gao Yang felt very unlucky.
No wonder these people were so brave.
It turned out they simply hadn’t understood what Gao Yang was saying.
With the language barrier, Gao Yang couldn’t ask anything.
After stewing for a while, he finally said helplessly, “How important it is to learn a foreign language.”
Bantuna looked at Gao Yang and remarked, “Many people at the checkpoint we hit before spoke English, but nobody in this place does.
It’s strange.”
After thinking for a moment, Gao Yang gestured with a wave of his hand, “I think this is Captain Sadiq’s doing on purpose.
He’s probably kept those who can’t speak English close to him so that many things he doesn’t want the soldiers to know won’t be easily leaked.”
Bantuna shrugged and said, “That’s probably it, boss.
Listen to my idea, we leave, we let him do whatever he wants.
You hope he can draw Captain Sadiq’s attention here.
Although we can’t communicate, if we leave without doing anything, I guess this guy will still inform Captain Sadiq, which should still achieve your goal.”
Bantuna’s idea was almost exactly the same as Gao Yang’s.
After giving Bantuna a thumbs-up, Gao Yang smiled and said, “Exactly, that’s what we’ll do.
Let’s go.”
Although they intended to give that soldier a chance to survive, Gao Yang and his group couldn’t simply turn around and leave, giving the soldier the opportunity to shoot them.
That would be too stupid.
They had to ensure their own safety first.
Gao Yang stared at the soldier with raised hands and waved the muzzle of his gun, then in Arabic he sternly shouted, “Go!
Go!”
There were too many guns in the room to gather up quickly, and Gao Yang’s intent was to drive the soldier outside where he couldn’t immediately get access to a weapon.
But after Gao Yang had shouted harshly twice, the soldier, who had his hands raised, moved slowly forward from the bed, and after planting his feet on the ground, suddenly reached under the pillow and pulled out a grenade.
Gao Yang regretfully fired his gun.
Before the soldier’s left hand could reach the pin of the grenade, his head was blown apart by Gao Yang’s shot.
A grenade going off in the room would be too dangerous.
Gao Yang, although he wanted to keep the soldier alive as it could have been useful, had no choice but to fire.
“F**k, I really wanted to let him live.”
After cursing frustratedly, Bantuna also sighed and said, “What is wrong with these people, they have such courage to fight to the end.
I haven’t seen such brave guys before.”
The plan had failed, and not a single prisoner remained.
Gao Yang said helplessly, “Let’s go, let’s look for their radio.
Since no one can help us make contact, we’ll just notify Sadiq ourselves.”
After searching through several rooms, Gao Yang and Bantuna found a shortwave military radio, but when they saw the radio on the table, Gao Yang had a bad feeling.
The radio was turned off, and such devices need to be on to be effective, to receive calls from others.
Bantuna picked up the radio’s microphone, flipped the switch on, and the radio turned on, appearing quite normal.
However, after the two of them fiddled with it in turns for a while, they finally had to confirm reluctantly that the radio couldn’t transmit or receive signals; it was broken.
After angrily smashing the microphone down on the radio, Gao Yang said with irritation, “Let’s go, there’s nothing we can do now.
We’re heading to the mine area.”
Was Gao Yang interested in the diamond mine?
Definitely.
But Gao Yang was more concerned about the Chieftain and his people.
The diamond mine wasn’t going anywhere; he could always visit it now that he knew the location.
But if the Chieftain and his people died, they could never come back to life.
Gao Yang still wanted to use the lure-the-tiger-away-from-the-mountain strategy to draw Sadiq back.
That would be faster than tracking Sadiq himself and would resolve the Chieftain’s crisis more quickly.
So, without knowing Sadiq’s location, rather than immediately searching for Sadiq, it was better to make Sadiq come to him.
Sadiq’s diamond mine was close to the checkpoint, and the mine area would not only likely have a radio but was also of great significance to Sadiq.
Hence, heading to the mine area became Gao Yang’s only choice.
Once they had made up their minds, they couldn’t delay any longer and quickly set out again, calling Jansen over before the three of them hit the road towards the mine.
The mine was only three kilometers away from the sentinel post and very easy to find.
All you needed to do was spot a small hill to locate the diamond mine, a detail Gao Yang remembered clearly from what Lendel had told him.
For Gao Yang, covering a distance of three kilometers at a jog was manageable, but Bantuna and Jansen slowed him down.
Gao wasn’t running particularly fast, but he had good stamina and could run or walk for long periods of time.
However, Bantuna, who was quick and fast with a strong burst of speed, didn’t have much stamina, not much more than Jansen, if at all.
After washing for a considerable distance, Gao still felt at ease, but Bantuna and Jansen gradually couldn’t keep up and began to slow down even more.
It took almost an hour and a half to cover the three kilometers, and seeing that Bantuna and Jansen could no longer keep up, Gao let them rest for half an hour before moving on at a slower pace, since they would certainly need to fight again upon reaching the mine.
The slower pace would help Bantuna and Jansen recover their strength.
Approaching the hill and feeling that the mine couldn’t be too far away, they proceeded cautiously to avoid detection by the sentinels guarding the mine.
After walking through the woods for some time, Bantuna suddenly stopped, gestured for Gao and Jansen to halt, and whispered, “I can hear singing.”
Gao listened intently but heard nothing.
Jansen also pricked up his ears for a while before shaking his head, saying, “I can’t hear anything.”
With a serious face, Bantuna insisted, “I can hear it, faint, but definitely there.
The singer can’t be too far from us; I estimate no more than three to four hundred meters away.”
Gao trusted Bantuna’s ears and whispered, “Can you pinpoint the direction?”
After listening with his head tilted for a while, Bantuna quietly said, “The forest is scattering the sound too much; it’s hard to determine the exact direction.
I’m not entirely sure, but I think it’s coming from over there.”
After Bantuna pointed in a direction, Gao turned to Jansen, “Could you scout ahead with the drone?
If we find the river, we can pinpoint the mine.”
Jansen looked at the canopy overhead and nodded, “Yes, the drone can fly out, and if it’s not too far away, even though we’re in the woods, controlling it and the video signal should be fine.”
Gao waved his hand, “Then let’s use the drone to check it out quickly.”
Jansen took his backpack off, produced the drone, and after ensuring the camera and screen were functioning properly, carefully maneuvered the drone through the gaps in the canopy above.
When the drone had flown out, Jansen let out a sigh and said, “Okay, it’s successfully launched.
We’ll have results soon.
Wait and see, now that I have money, I’m going to buy a better drone, with a better camera.”
Gao carefully watched the images sent back by the drone.
Just two minutes had passed when he exclaimed, “There’s a river!
The mine is there, Jansen, can you fly in closer to have a look?”
In the midst of the dense woods, there appeared a rather modest river which carved out a canopy-free gap among the trees, making it easily discernible.
Jansen lowered the drone a bit and zoomed in with the camera.
Bantuna, excited, pointed at the screen, “Look, there are people in the river, I was right, it’s over there!”
After Jansen flew the drone back and forth along the river a few times, Gao had a rough idea of what he wanted to know.
It wasn’t the rainy season yet, so the water in the river was shallow, and over the two-hundred-meter stretch of river, many people were stooped, performing actions similar to panning for gold using something like bamboo baskets.
However, Gao didn’t see anyone with guns; presumably, because those guarding the laborers were on both banks of the river, hidden by the shade of the trees, the drone couldn’t capture them.
Pointing at the screen, Jansen said, “The mine is 360 meters in a straight line from us, and the area being worked by these people stretches for about 150 meters along the river.”
After thinking it over for a moment, Gao softly said, “All right, bring the drone back.
Let’s head over now.
Radar, you keep point.
Jansen, follow us.
Everyone, be careful.
I think we might encounter enemy sentinels up ahead.”
Once Jansen had retrieved the drone and packed it away, the three carefully advanced toward the mine, with Bantuna taking the lead, meticulously making his way forward.
Then, Gao also began to hear the singing.
Bantuna never gave a warning signal, and the singing grew louder.
By the time Bantuna finally raised his left fist to signal them to stop, Gao could already see the river ahead and the people working in it.
And of course, the guards were there too, pacing back and forth by the river with guns slung across their bodies.
(To be continued.
If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for it, and your support will be my greatest motivation.
Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)