Chapter 158: From Heaven Above

Time always flies by quickly; day turns to night with the fall of dusk.

On the vast African savannah after days of heavy rain, the ground, baked by a single day of blistering sun, has become significantly harder in many places.

In the wilderness of South Sudan, as night falls, there is not the array of entertainment activities like in the cities.

Even lighting is a luxury.

Tonight, as clouds obscure the sky, the moonlight is prevented from breaking through and illuminating the land.

About 280 kilometers northeast of Bor, a small village of just over a hundred people stands on the savannah.

This place is only a dozen kilometers from the border with Ethiopia.

Currently, there is not a single light in the village; it seems everyone is deep in slumber.

However, around the village, several bonfires are burning, almost forming a circle around it, as if laying siege.

Near one of the fires, several pickup trucks and an off-road truck are parked, the fire having dimmed, clearly not tended with fresh wood for a while.

Sitting beside the fire is a man with a headscarf, unexpectedly dressed in an Arab’s long robe.

As the fire flickers slightly, casting light on his face, the long scar on his cheek leaves one with a chilling sensation.

Opposite him, a camouflaged man picks up some sticks and throws them into the fire, brightening it considerably.

“Ikar Khan, you said the Americans would deliver arms to us, so exactly how long do we have to wait here?”

After tossing in the wood, the black man asks with a slightly anxious tone.

Ikar Khan remains calm, “Rudin, don’t be impatient. Just wait here comfortably, the arms will come.”

“But if it takes too long, I’m worried it’ll affect the governor’s plan. The governor said we cannot fail again this time,” Rudin, the black man, still voiced his concerns.

“Those Tang Country people, your men better keep a close eye on them. If there’s any slip-up, there definitely won’t be any arms,” Ikar Khan didn’t address Rudin’s anxiety but instead gave a slightly threatening reminder before standing up and walking away from the fire.

“Hey, what exactly are you waiting for?”

Without turning back, Ikar Khan disappeared into the darkness, leaving behind a wind-carried sentence.

“I’m waiting for my enemy.”

Rudin, irritated, spits and mutters, “Nothing but a dog that’s lost its home, what are you trying to act like a wolf for? If it wasn’t for the Americans, would I even bother with you?”

Suddenly, a knife flashes by, pinning a dagger into the ground in front of Rudin, its blade reflecting the fire’s light.

Rudin’s body breaks out in a cold sweat.

“Next time if your mouth isn’t clean, the knife won’t be in the ground; it will be in your chest,” Ikar Khan’s icy voice carries from within the darkness.

A shiver of fear flashes in Rudin’s eyes as he slowly moves away from the planted knife, then gets up.

“You…” he begins, but then clams up.

Rudin glances around; his subordinates are nowhere in sight. He takes a few steps and picks up his AK assault rifle.

The feel of the steel gun reassures him greatly.

But he doesn’t dare to confront Ikar Khan; after all, this man can bring arms to the militia group he belongs to.

Shouldering his rifle, Rudin leaves the fire and heads toward another fire not too far away; that’s a guard post.

Hearing Rudin’s footsteps, someone from the fire immediately challenges, “Who goes there?”

“Don’t be nervous, it’s me, Rudin.”

“It’s the captain, eh? Coming for inspection so late?”

“You know better, so why all the noise?”

“Captain, those are just unarmed villagers, and that group from Tang Country is locked up and guarded by Taka and his men. Are you worried they’ll escape?”

“You know nothing – your gun should be facing outward. Don’t you know there are peacekeeping forces from Tang Country around here? What if they come to rescue the hostages?”

“Aren’t they still far off in Zhupa? They couldn’t get here that quickly.”

Rudin reflexively slaps the guard on the head, “Be vigilant, got it? Didn’t I say ‘what if’?”

The slap seems to make him feel better.

Swinging his body, he moves to the next fire.

Technically, guard posts shouldn’t have a bonfire, but Rudin doesn’t really believe the peacekeeping forces from Tang Country could trace them here.

After hijacking the Tang Country medical team, they retreated and made twists and turns over two days to this agreed-upon location.

Rudin recalls that when they left Bor, it was raining heavily and the roads were tough to navigate. It would’ve taken the Tang Country peacekeeping forces some time to get from Zhupa to Bor.

After another day of circling, Rudin’s squad shouldn’t leave any traces for the opposition to follow.

They are not far from the border now and can comfortably wait here.

Rudin quickly circles the village, checks all the guard posts, and then heads toward a mud house in the village center.

This mud house, the largest in the village, appears to be used for village rituals and sits right in the middle with hundreds of square meters of flat ground in front.

Inside the house are the kidnapped members from the Tang Country medical team, a total of 29 people, including 4 women.

Rudin thinks two of the women are really beautiful, but Ikar Khan seems interested in the older one and forbids anyone to touch her.

He couldn’t understand why Ikar Khan would prefer someone older.

Rudin likes the younger one, and since they have to wait here, he needs to do something to pass the time.

Taka is guarding the place with two subordinates, and seeming cautious, he doesn’t light a fire but hides beside the mud house.

As soon as Rudin steps onto the open ground, Taka’s voice challenges.

“Who goes there?”

“It’s me, Rudin.”

“Captain, eh? Still not sleeping this late? Could it be you intend to…” Taka implies, his voice trailing into a lewd chuckle.

In fact, ever since they captured these people and began retreating in circles, some in the team have been itching with desire.

But since captain Rudin hadn’t given the word, everyone had to bide their time, and those who couldn’t wait were already seeking relief from the women in the village tonight.

Now with Rudin finally coming, Taka is naturally overjoyed.

When the captain feeds, he’s sure he can sip some soup. After all, it’s not for nothing that he snatched up tonight’s guard duty.

Rudin approaches Taka and notes the other two guards gather around.

“Captain, does this mean we’re free to move now?”

“All of you not sleeping, huh? You were just waiting for me to show up?” Rudin jests with a laugh.

“Hehe, these are women from Tang Country.”

Rudin is about to head toward the mud house when he suddenly stops and turns back, “Did any of you hear that?”

Taka, a tall Dinka man standing 1.82 meters, is good at hunting across the savannah and has keen hearing.

Heeding Rudin’s question, Taka immediately perks up his ears to listen.

The other two look around saying, “Don’t hear anything.”

“Shut your mouths!” Taka hisses, raising his right hand to his ear in an attempt to listen more intently.

One of the guards instinctively looks up.

In the night sky, several meteors streak by…

Huh, why are there so many shoots stars? This one is actually heading straight for us?

As such thoughts pass, Taka suddenly yells, “It’s an attack—!”

As Taka shouts, he already instinctively dives to the ground.

But by then, the meteor, with its roaring whoosh, has already struck.

With a “boom,” a tremendous explosion erupts; the four men had been standing at the edge of the open ground in front of the mud house, some thirty to forty meters away.

After the explosion, a crater is left and the men are obliterated.

Following this explosion, the village’s tranquility is shattered as a series of blasts and incessant gunfire erupts throughout the area.

The mud house holding the medical team collapses with a thunderous crash!

Although the explosion was a distance from the mud house, given that such a structure probably didn’t have a foundation, it couldn’t withstand the blast’s shock and tremors, naturally collapsing.

Luckily the mud house’s roof of thatching and dirt wasn’t heavy enough to cause fatalities, but injuries were inevitable.

Against the backdrop of distant flames and rising clouds of dust, some groan in pain, others seek to escape faster…

Then, amidst the darkness, a female voice rings out, “Everyone stay calm, find cover on the spot and keep low; there’s still a firefight outside – we’ll overcome with stillness.”

Following her call, the members of the medical team slowly quiet down.

If one were to look from above, vehicles are seen stealthily charging into the village’s outskirts.

They don’t use headlights, but they are not hindered by obstacles and do not collide with any of the village’s mud houses or thatched cottages. Instead, they move swiftly through the village streets.

Simultaneously, flames sporadically burst from the vehicles, eliminating hidden militants within the village.