901: Chapter Eight Hundred and Ninety-One Old Friends 901: Chapter Eight Hundred and Ninety-One Old Friends Salim kept smiling, as the saying goes, you don’t hit someone with a smile on their face.
Although Glolov felt that Salim was the epitome of a sleazy arms dealer, compared to the previous two who were not only deceitful but also had terrible attitudes, he could no longer find words to complain.
Glolov let out a sigh and shook his head at Gao Yang, making a wry smile as he said, “Well, it seems we can only do this.”
Gao Yang didn’t feel like haggling anymore and said to Salim, “Give us twelve pieces of Russian stock, and then twelve boxes of Huaxia bullets, give us a total discount.”
Bullets, those made in Huaxia were fifty years less advanced than the Russian ones, surely they’d use Huaxia stock, and although it’s more expensive, the benefits were big.
As for the guns, they had to use Russian stock.
Huaxia’s Type 56 wasn’t bad either, but because the AK barrels made in Huaxia had less rare metal than those made in Russia, the barrel would turn red after firing dozens of rounds and be more prone to rusting.
So, the guns had to be Russian.
At this moment, Li Jinfang said, “No, bring me a Type 56.”
Cui Bo laughed and said, “Get me a 56 too; I want to try out the feel.”
Gao Yang shrugged his shoulders and said to Salim, “Then make it three Type 56s and nine AKs, see how much that’ll cost.
Also, how much is each empty magazine?”
Salim, with a smile, replied, “One hundred dollars each, they are new.”
At that moment, Cui Bo, with a smile, said to Glolov, “Everyone always said Uriyangko was shady, but now I find that Uriyangko is truly a conscientious arms dealer.”
Gao Yang glared at Cui Bo, who realized he had misspoken and stuck out his tongue, then stepped back.
Salim was busy crunching numbers on a small calculator, showing no signs of irregularity.
After pressing the calculator keys, Salim raised his head and said with a smile, “Gentlemen, please wait a moment.
You’re buying quite a lot; I’ll go ask the boss.
Maybe he can give you some discount.”
After speaking, Salim stood up, nodded at Gao Yang and the others, then pulled open a door and went inside.
Gao Yang felt something was off because when Cui Bo mentioned Uriyangko, the hand that Salim used to operate the calculator seemed to pause just for a bit.
Although it was brief, it did not escape Gao Yang’s eyes.
Gao Yang didn’t speak, but he made a hand signal, and immediately everyone changed their positions.
At the same time, Gao Yang quickly drew his pistol, chambered a round, and after preparing to fire at any moment, he reholstered his gun.
The rifles were all in their bags; no one had taken them out.
There was no need indoors, and showing them off too early would seem too hostile, but just in case, the pistols had to be ready to fire at any moment.
Salim quickly reemerged, waving the calculator at Satan’s group and said with a smile, “Good news, our boss agreed to waive a part of the cost.
Consider it his treat for your drinks.”
After speaking, Salim put the calculator on the table and smiled, “The total comes to forty-six thousand five hundred.
Let’s make it a round figure; you only need to pay forty-five thousand dollars.”
Gao Yang snapped his fingers and said, “Give us one hundred empty magazines for a total of fifty thousand dollars.
If you agree, we will inspect the goods and pay immediately, deal?”
Salim shook his head and replied, “Sorry, no deal, fifty-five thousand, not a dollar less.”
Gao Yang spread his hands, looking helpless, since it was only a five thousand dollar difference, he decided to just pay up swiftly.
A thousand spare rounds per person wasn’t a small amount, but the accompanying magazines were too few; he must buy some more to have in reserve.
Preparing for these things was useless if not for war, but in the midst of fierce combat, having to refill magazines on the spot could be a death sentence.
Gao Yang was about to give in and prepare to be fleeced, but his gesture made Salim misunderstand, thinking the deal had gone sour.
Thus, Salim said with a face of regret, “Well, what a pity.
It seems you’ll have to try your luck elsewhere.
But you won’t find a better seller than me.”
Just then, someone from the room Salim had just gone into said, “Wait, let me do the talking.”
A person came out of the room, looking resigned.
He waved Salim off and said, “You go check our inventory in the warehouse.
I’ll talk with them.”
With Gao Yang and the others watching in surprise, Salim didn’t say a word and immediatenly headed out with his head down.
After Salim left, Gao Yang, surprised, said, “Hey, long time no see, Polovich.
How have you been?”
The person who came out was Polovich, Uriyangko’s former colleague, who was in charge of the entire Asia District for Grand Ivan.
Polovich stood at the doorway, silently shaking his head after a brief pause, “Obviously, things are not going well, or else I wouldn’t be here.”
Having not seen him for several months, Polovich had lost a great deal of weight, nearly unrecognizable to Gao Yang, who knew him well.
It wouldn’t make sense for Polovich to be doing well.
After Grand Ivan was taken, Uriyangko spared no effort to rescue him from the CIA’s grasp, yet Polovich had made no move.
For that alone, even if Grand Ivan didn’t kill him, he would never trust Polovich with any important tasks again.
In fact, Grand Ivan had already handed over the role of head of the Asia District to Uriyangko.
As for Polovich’s fate, Uriyangko did not say, and Gao Yang did not ask.
Meeting under such a complex network of relationships was a bit awkward for Gao Yang.
Polovich, however, was simply worn out.
He fished out a cigarette for himself, lit it up with one puff, coughed twice, then offered the pack to Gao Yang with a deep voice, “Want one?”
Gao Yang had quit smoking a long time ago, but he took a cigarette and placed it in his mouth.
Polovich lit it for him with a lighter, turned the pack in a circle—only Eileen also lit one, the others did not smoke.
Stuffing the crumpled pack back into his pocket, Polovich glanced at Andy He and Jansen, then smiled and said, “You’ve added more people.
I know you’ve been doing pretty well lately, congratulations.
Sit down, let’s talk.”
Polovich pulled up a chair, not far from where Gao Yang sat, and focused on smoking.
Gao Yang also smoked in silence.
As he was about to finish his cigarette, Polovich suddenly said, “If I hadn’t come out, that would be one thing.
Since I’m out, I can’t ask you guys for money—not for anything else, but because you saved Grand Ivan.”
Gao Yang cleared his throat, “So, what’s going on now?”
Polovich spread his hands, then casually said, “What else could it be?
I was kicked to the curb.
I worked for Grand Ivan for many years and he’s quite nostalgic; he didn’t want my life.
All he did was make a call and tell me that the Asia District was Uriyangko’s now, and then, I came here.”
After finishing, Polovich smiled self-deprecatingly, “Grand Ivan is indeed nostalgic.
He left the Green Zone to me, so here, no one but me dares to sell arms.
You know, after working in this business for so long, I don’t know how to do anything else.
Although I’m not lacking in money, I don’t want to retire so early, so I stayed.”
After a moment of silence, Gao Yang ventured, “But, Grand Ivan seems to have vanished recently.”
Polovich let out a laugh, “He’ll reappear soon.
Who is Grand Ivan?
Grand Ivan is Grand Ivan.
If the Americans didn’t kill him, it’s his turn to seek revenge.
But I haven’t heard any explosive news lately, so I think Grand Ivan must have made some deal with the Americans.
They’ve compromised; otherwise, America would have had big news already.”
After saying this, Polovich sighed deeply, “Just watch.
Grand Ivan will show up soon.”
Gao Yang did not know what to say.
His impression of Polovich wasn’t bad, so he bitterly smiled, “At that time you…”
He stopped halfway through, realizing he didn’t have such a close relationship with Polovich to continue.
Polovich bitterly smiled, “You want to ask why I didn’t use all my power to rescue Grand Ivan then?”
Gao Yang nodded slightly and Polovich let out another sigh, a look of helplessness on his face, “To put it plainly, I was deluded then.
I thought it was impossible to rescue Grand Ivan.”
With another long sigh and a shake of his head, Polovich gave a self-mocking smile, “If I had mobilized forces to rescue Grand Ivan, taking some losses wouldn’t matter.
But doing so would have made me a thorn in the side of the Americans.
I believed Grand Ivan was done for, and once he was dead, Asia would be at my command.
I didn’t want to confront the Americans directly and wanted to preserve my strength, so I did nothing.
But who could have anticipated, who knew that you would miraculously pull him out?”
Gao Yang didn’t know what to say.
Polovich’s downfall was indeed caused by him after all.
There was no way around it—who would’ve thought he would miraculously rescue Grand Ivan?
Had Grand Ivan died, Polovich would have gotten what he wanted, but with Grand Ivan alive, Polovich had no choice but to pack up and leave.
Not sure what else to say, Gao Yang chuckled, “So the three storefronts here really do share one owner, seems people’s guesses were right.”
Polovich waved his hand, “Just an insignificant business tactic.”
Gao Yang didn’t know how to continue and Polovich’s expression changed several times.
Finally, Polovich cautiously said, “Ram, have you, have you seen Grand Ivan or Uriyangko recently?”
Gao Yang shook his head, “No.”
After hesitating for quite some time and as if making up his mind, Polovich looked at Gao Yang with caution, whispering, “Ram, if you see Uriyangko, could you, could you talk to him and let me help him?
I’m familiar with the Asian market and could be of assistance to him.
I need a big stage.
I don’t want to wither away in this small Green Zone.”
Gao Yang bitterly said, “I don’t even know if I can see them again.”
Polovich waved his hand with determination, “You absolutely can.
Although Grand Ivan has gone into hiding, his market has always been very stable, and he’s still in control of the situation.
Believe me, it won’t take long for Grand Ivan and Uriyangko to appear, not long at all!”
(To be continued.
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