King Of War: Starting with Arms Dealer

When the morning sunlight shone into Nova City, the waking city operated as it always did.

Women carried cassava-processed pancakes and cooked beans on their heads, walking onto the streets to sell them to those who were about to head out for a day of hard labor.

But business was especially bad today. The restlessness of the past couple of days and the distant, intermittent explosion sounds from yesterday made many people in the city sense danger.

Given a choice, ordinary folks would have stayed home to see how things played out.

Setaka's soldiers guarded every entry and exit point of the city. They had always been listless, but today seemed different.

No one knew what information they received, but Setaka was particularly on edge today. By morning, he had already shot and killed 3 people, their bodies lying in his living room.

The sight of the corpses had all of Setaka's men on high alert. They didn't know what was happening, just that their boss was very angry.

There were still a hundred or so people in the temporary camp to the south of Nova City. They were the ones Setaka had arranged to distribute weapons to the mercenaries and rioters.

They had now received orders, and all the heavy weapons were gathered together. They set up a position on the main approach to Nova City.

Old rocket launchers, mortars, armored vehicles, and tanks provided by France were concentrated in one place.

Their combat effectiveness was unclear, but the display was certainly impressive enough...

Reporter Wallace, when he went to the hotel's restaurant for coffee, felt that the atmosphere was very different from the day before yesterday.

It was too quiet!

The reason for the quiet was not that Nova City had become too quiet, but that the south had become too quiet...

Despite being forty to fifty kilometers away, the sounds of explosions were barely audible anymore. Yesterday afternoon, a few smoke pillars were still visible, indicating that the fighting had started in the south, but soon there were no more updates.

The city's broadcasts fell into a silent state. The previously agitated Setaka, who stirred up everyone to join him in resisting the Central African tyranny, seemed to have disappeared. Even street corner gossip was absent.

In this information-rich age, the notion that thousands could go to war and there would be no news after a day and a night, despite mercenaries having cell phones and radios, was utterly incredible.

Experienced people knew that Nova City was under blockade!

But they couldn't imagine how it was accomplished.

The Frenchman who had won 800 US dollars from Wallace's bet yesterday came looking for him...

He gestured to the waiter to top up Wallace's coffee. The Frenchman looked at Wallace with a smile and said, "Buddy, I know you're a journalist. Do you have any news?"

Wallace looked at the Frenchman who had been so sure Central Africa was doomed this time, shook his head with a wry smile, and opened his notebook, connecting to the hotspot of his phone...

The Frenchman curiously looked at the computer screen and saw a corporate website.

"Powerful Strike Military Contracting Company"

The website did not have much text, but opened with a promotional video...

Lion King Namo, with the gold Eye of Horus on his forehead, surveyed his territory in the sunlight.

A young giraffe ran playfully around Namo, while herds of antelope and wildebeest in the plains raised their heads.

When the grazing animals saw it was Namo, they bowed their heads again.

Namo trotted up a hill, checked on a few lion cubs under an Acacia tree, chased a naughty Little Lion back to the den, then stepped out of the shade and into the sunlight, letting out a powerful roar facing the sun...

At that moment, a squadron of armed helicopters rose from the horizon. As the camera zoomed in, a line of armored vehicles appeared on the ground.

When the convoy halted, groups of fully-armed soldiers emerged from the armored vehicles, forming a neat square formation in front of the camera.

The grassland backdrop of the frame then blurred and was replaced by the image of Lion King Namo.

The majestic lion ran furiously into the square of soldiers, then suddenly shrank and was stamped onto the soldiers' arms.

At that point in the video appeared the 'Powerful Strike' lion emblem, followed by a bold line of text in English, French, and Arab...

"Honor" "Safety" "Protection" "Development"

"We're used to fighting demons. Give P·B a chance, and we'll give you a different future!

—P·B Company"

The Frenchman realized then that this was a promotional video for a mercenary company...

The laptop's volume was quite loud, and the people who were having breakfast and discussing the situation outside all gathered around.

Encouraged by those behind him, the Frenchman clicked on the 'Honor' option and discovered training scenes of P·B soldiers, with cinematic shots and edits that made these young soldiers who had only trained for about a year look more intimidating than America's SEALs.

The content of 'Safety,' 'Protection,' and 'Development' was similar, but these options consisted of real-life footage spliced together.

Regular security patrols relieved the local population of their worries and troubles.

They engaged in combat with jungle guerrilla fighters and drug traffickers, rescuing those who had been enslaved.

The promotion of Sangha Town's industrial development brought international charitable funding to the area, bringing smiles to the faces of the locals.

The appearance of the video on the website left everyone in silence; the Frenchman looked at the grinning Wallace and, furrowing his brow, said, "This is P·B's propaganda website, why are you showing us this?"

As he spoke, the Frenchman realized something. He looked at Wallace's phone and said, "Why is the internet connection on your phone so fast?"

Wallace took a sip of his coffee, then, looking at the curious Europeans and Americans, said with a smile, "Because I had someone help P·B make their promotional video, my phone gets great signal in Central Africa."

Wallace checked his phone, saw that it was already 8 o'clock, and with a smile, he clicked the refresh button on the computer. Then, pointing at the hundreds of videos that suddenly appeared on the website, he said, "You wanted to know what happened, right?

It's all here!"

The Frenchman looked at Wallace, thinking about the scene two days ago when he bet $800 on a P·B victory, and said incredulously, "You're with P·B?"

Wallace shook his head and said, "No, I'm a journalist, one who has deeply investigated the situation in Central Africa.

You've been up north for too long and probably have never seriously looked into this company, P·B.

It's not like any mercenary company you have in mind!"

As he spoke, Wallace clicked on a video. The shaky footage showed round after round of bombings and artillery fire.

The mercenaries, who had started their journey with high morale, were now like a startled herd of antelope, desperately fleeing across the vast wilderness.

The advanced-looking armored vehicles and armed pickups were left abandoned everywhere.

Then, P·B soldiers with their faces painted entered the scene onboard Little Bird helicopters.

They appeared wherever there was resistance...

There weren't many images of corpses in the video, but the rows of captured mercenaries and rioters fully demonstrated the outcome of the previous day's battle.

The video concluded with a P·B member named Little Lion speaking proficiently in Arabic, English, French, and Sango to the prisoners: "You are captured. Please stay in order, do not shout, and there are food, clothing, and rest areas inside.

If you feel unwell, we have doctors here to provide medical services for you..."

After watching the video, the Frenchman said in disbelief, "P·B actually won? They claimed to have only 600 people, how could they possibly..."

Wallace glanced at the visibly shaken Frenchman and shook his head, saying, "Indeed, they had just under 700 men, but this force is modernized and well-trained. Most importantly, they have a sense of honor.

If your information had been well-informed, you'd know that P·B's battle received almost worldwide support.

They're doing the right thing, how could such a P·B lose a war?"

As he spoke, Wallace gestured as if counting money and said with a laugh, "Buddy, at odds of 5 to 1, and I bet $800, it's time for you to make good on your promise."

The Frenchman, sensing the eyes on him, nodded with a gloomy expression and said, "OK, I admit I underestimated P·B, but our bet was on P·B defeating Setaka, and Setaka is still very much intact..."

Wallace, watching the Frenchman who was booed but still reluctant to admit defeat right away, said with a smile, "Then let's wait; P·B's people should be ready to enter the city now..."

As soon as Wallace's words fell, two huge explosions were heard outside Nova City...

The Frenchman's eyes widened in surprise as he turned and ran toward the hotel's 5th floor.

This hotel in Nova City, a place for receiving foreign businessmen, had one of the highest buildings in the city, from the rooftop of which one could overlook the entire city.

Everyone came to their senses and rushed to the rooftop terrace, wanting to see what exactly had happened.

If P·B had truly won, it would mean a huge change for the northern part of Central Africa, and this might not be such good news for these diamond company salespeople.

Wallace clearly knew what had happened, and he wasn't in a hurry. As he was packing up his laptop, his phone received a message.

After checking the content of the message, Wallace shook his head with amusement, then went to the hotel's office with his computer. After paying 100 US dollars, he used their printer to print out a stack of invitation flyers with a few lines of text.
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At the rooftop, looking at the dense smoke rising near the mercenaries' encampment in the wilderness outside the city...

The Setaka soldiers, who had relied on their armored weapons to try and hold key positions, were now in a sorry state, fleeing in all directions, closely resembling the earlier footage.

This completely dispelled any remaining doubts the skeptics had about the authenticity of the videos.

Wallace, like a salesman, handed out the invitation flyers to each person in turn…

Just as the Frenchman was about to ask him what this meant, a series of artillery fire fell around the encampment outside the city, enveloping all the fleeing soldiers within...

"Boom, boom, boom, boom..."