Pay and You Can Fly

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Fight.

Hostage.

Father...

In an instant, Kang De's body froze, an overwhelming chill engulfing him.

The dangers and sacrifices faced by Tina and even Goth had made him extremely anxious, so he returned to Earth to think of countermeasures and collect weapons and equipment, using the time difference between the two sides to buy himself more reaction time. But after returning to Earth, he heard this news.

A bolt from the blue, and I was consumed by rage.

A bucket of cold water was poured over his head, making him momentarily forget his anger.

"Kang De, Kang De?"

Seeing Kang De like this, Wang Xiaoman couldn't help but cry. She thought that as long as Kang De came back, everything could be resolved, but seeing her childhood sweetheart in this state, she vaguely realized that something terrible must have happened to Kang De as well.

Her voice choked with emotion as she said, "It's alright, it's alright. My dad is trying to find a way. He said that whether it's a coup or an invasion, they wouldn't dare kill China people; they'd just take them hostage for negotiations or extortion..."

"... Africa."

A moment later, Kang De's deep, cold voice rang out. "I'm going to Africa."

We cannot entrust the safety of our loved ones to the invading army or terrorists because they fear China or follow the rules.

He took out his phone, opened the flight booking app, and found that the route from China to Comora required one or two transfers, often taking twenty or thirty hours. He wanted to choose a better route... but even the connecting flights had all been canceled because of the war.

Kang De's eyes were ashen as he dialed Uncle Wang's number.

The user you are trying to reach is currently on another call.

Hold.

Kang De looked at Xiaoman: "Where is your father now?"

"Mountain Villa."

"Then let's go there now!"

The two rushed out, taking the elevator directly to the underground parking lot. As they walked, Kang De asked, "When did this happen?"

"... Yesterday afternoon, not long after you left, my dad called and told me to keep you calm for now." Xiaoman sniffled. "Then I found out, and managed to appease my dad for the time being..."

One can imagine how worried Xiaoman must have been at the time. She couldn't contact Kang De and had to keep it a secret from her father and others. She was in constant fear and anxiety, and the pressure she faced was unimaginable.

Kang De stopped and hugged her. "... It's alright, it's alright, I'm back."

However, his voice remained cold and stiff.

Xiaoman naturally put her arm around his waist and whispered, "It's okay, it's okay..."

With a deep roar, Xiaoman's sports car drove away from the underground parking lot. Kang De glanced at her and gently patted her shoulder. "Don't rush, don't drive too fast, don't be nervous."

"... Um."

Then Kang De took out his phone and searched for related news.

Comora is one of the smallest countries in Africa, with spices as its largest export. It naturally possesses the most common characteristics of Africa countries: poverty and backwardness, and reliance on international aid.

Due to its small land area, small population, and unfavorable geographical location, China people there mostly work on aid projects for their own countries, resulting in a very low profile.

The country that invaded it was Gambia.

He searched for the news online and found only a few headlines, focusing on the detained China company employees, showing no interest in the war taking place in southern Africa.

I went to the military forums again and saw more news about this inexplicable war.

Yesterday afternoon around 4 PM, Gambia officially declared war on Comora.

At the king's command, the entire Gambia Air Force was deployed.

A powerful attack formation consisting of a second-hand Su-25 ground attack aircraft and two light bombers converted from AT-802 piston-engine agricultural aircraft launched a devastating air strike against Comora.

The prelude to war was thus begun.

Immediately afterwards, the Gambia Navy also mobilized its entire force, with a total of seventy naval personnel traveling eastward along the Biagang Great River in six machine gun boats, advancing with unstoppable momentum wherever they went.

Under the cover of the navy and air force, in addition to the King's Guard, all of the army in Gambia also launched a full-scale attack, with a fierce army of six hundred men pressing in and heading straight into Comora territory.

The Komora National Development Army immediately organized a defense.

The command company, support company, two combat companies, and the King's Security Unit, a total of 520 Ministry of the Army, rushed to the battlefield, vowing to fight the powerful enemy to the end.

"..."

"..."

What the hell is this?

If his loved ones hadn't been trapped there, Kang De would probably have laughed out loud upon seeing this. This scale of integrated air-ground warfare is beyond what can be described as a mere skirmish.

However, this should be good news.

This kind of army, this kind of war... the difficulty of saving them should be quite small.

Kang De breathed a slight sigh of relief and swiped his finger down. No wonder the news had no interest in this, focusing only on the safety of their own citizens, while on military forums, this kind of "war" was a kind of carnival.

The country of Gambia has a lot of interesting stories.

One person replied in the post, "It's over, Comora is finished. The whole country is probably going to be reduced to dust and float into the sea—just think about it, back then, Gambia only sent four soldiers to surround the Soviet Union from the four directions, which led to the Soviet Union's complete collapse and disintegration in the political, economic, cultural, and technological fields. Now they've sent six hundred people! That's enough to fight one hundred and fifty Soviet Union!"

"Back then, Gambia wanted to send an expeditionary force to sweep across the Europe continent; thankfully, he was persuaded not to."

"After all, it's the world's number one superpower. Back when demonstrations broke out in Gambia, some protesters hid in the United States embassy. The awesome Gambia Sky Army stormed into the American Empire embassy and killed them all. American Empire officials tried to stop them, but they were beaten up too. When the United States imposed sanctions, Gambia simply said, 'Believe it or not, we'll send troops to sweep across the Americas.' The American Empire, which is invincible in the world, didn't dare utter a single utterance..."

"That's true. After all, this is a powerful nation that boasted to Brezhnev that it could wipe out the Soviet Union in three days. A few years later, it said the same thing to Gorbachev, and the two former leaders of the Soviet Union were so intimidated that they didn't dare to say a word..."

"The only country that has offended all five permanent members of the UN Security Council and is still able to cause trouble to this day. You have to admire them."

"Pronounced as Gambia, written as Wakanda."

"You Koreans are just having fun with the origin of the universe, for real awesomeness, you have to look to Gambia."

Everyone was having a blast in the comments and making up jokes. After all, it's the southern tip of Africa, a completely unrelated place, and one of the warring parties is such a powerful country, so of course everyone had to hype it up.

Basically, nobody took the war seriously, nor were they too worried about their fellow countrymen who had been detained. It wasn't that they didn't care, but rather... it seemed like there wasn't much to worry about.

These two weaklings are fighting amongst themselves; even if they had eight hundred times the courage, they wouldn't dare do anything to China person.

Kang De read through the replies page by page, then his gaze suddenly sharpened.

Amidst the jubilant and boastful replies, one comment stood out as rather odd.

"Brothers, something's not right about this war. Gambia won too quickly. I mean, Comora's naval and air defenses are all outsourced to Fr*nce. Their ground offensive is one thing, but Gambia's navy and air force are so weak, France, Belarus, Fr*nce could wipe them out with a single breath. Where did they get the guts? Where are the France?"

"Replying to post #144, you should surrender by now."

"... No, bro, Fr*nce is actually pretty tough."

"But they voted during World War II."

"Dude, stop with the jokes. France, Fr*nce have had the best win rate in Europe for decades."

"But they voted during World War II."

"... and even over several centuries, their war winning rate was the highest in Europe."

"But they voted during World War II."

"Check out Operation Serval, it's incredibly awesome."

"But they voted during World War II."

"Can we please stop talking about France's surrender in World War II?"

"Oh, China, an agricultural country, fought against an industrial country, losing vast territories and suffering tens of millions of casualties, yet it held out for fourteen years without surrendering. The United States fought back island by island, and the Soviet Union, despite losing two-thirds of its territory, still managed to push forward. United Kingdom sold its assets to fight on the Europe front, while France surrendered in three days. Belgium and Luxembourg were crushed but went into exile abroad to continue their resistance. France only had one has-been colonel with a dozen or so members of parliament sunbathing in Africa."

"Can we please stop talking about World War II?"

"Oh, very well, Louis IX, John II, Louis XI, Francis I, Napoleon III —your French monarchs have been captured more times on the battlefield than any other monarch in Europe, and have never captured an enemy monarch."

"... Hold!"

"Your country was defeated by the Nationalist army in Southeast Asia."

"..."

"And twice."

"... That's enough!"

The comments section once again became a sea of laughter, and everyone started a new round of mockery. As for the question that friend had raised earlier, no one cared anymore.

After all, it's just a bunch of weaklings from Africa fighting each other; using memes is the most important thing.

Only Kang De frowned.

Yes, why isn't Fr*nce moving?

Amidst their constant worry and contemplation, the two arrived at Xiaoman's villa in the lakeside scenic area of H City.

"... In short, this time there can be no mistakes! Last time was one thing, but this time it's a matter of life and death, the safety of my brother. You must save him at all costs! Money is no object! You must fight, or I'll find someone else!"

Inside the villa, Uncle Wang was making a phone call in the study.

He unbuttoned his shirt collar, his tone irritated.

"Boss, don't worry, I'll go personally this time, there won't be any problems."

The response over the phone was curt but sincere. "We'll definitely get your person out safely."

"That's good... I have something to do here, I'll call you back later."

Seeing his daughter's car pull up, Uncle Wang hung up the phone, muttered a curse, and went downstairs. Xiaoman opened the door, and Kang De walked in. Uncle Wang came down the stairs and said, "Don't worry! I've already found someone to try and rescue her. We'll spend money if we can, and if not, we'll find another way!"

Kang De said in a deep voice, "Uncle Wang, I need to go to Africa."

Uncle Wang raised his eyebrows. He was already worried and irritable, and upon hearing this, he angrily said, "Nonsense! What are you going to do?"

Looking at Kang De's gloomy expression, he snapped out of his reverie, let out a sigh of relief, and said, "Your going won't do any good. Let the professionals handle it. Your mother is still trapped in Egypt; don't let her worry about you anymore. Besides, your father is fine. Even if they had a hundred times the courage, they wouldn't dare to touch China person!"

Kang De said, "I cannot place my hopes on them being well-behaved and obedient..."

"So I've already found someone! Alright, what are you meddling in here for? Stay home and wait for good news! I'm busy right now, don't cause trouble! What are you looking at! Your parents aren't here, I'm your elder, you have to listen to me!" Uncle Wang shouted, "Wang Xiaoman, keep an eye on him!"

Wang Xiaoman glanced at Kang De, then hesitated, "Dad, actually..."

Kang De turned and left.

"Hey!" Xiaoman exclaimed in a panic, then glanced at her father and chased after him. Uncle Wang stood there, cursed again, and rushed back upstairs to continue making phone calls.

"Kang De!" Xiaoman called out to him, "Why didn't you tell my dad? At least tell him you have superpowers..."

"It's useless."

Kang De showed no anger. Uncle Wang meant well and genuinely treated him like a close nephew, so he wouldn't be upset. "Even if I showed him my superpowers, he wouldn't agree. No matter how powerful I am, in his eyes, I'm still the nephew he watched grow up. How could he let me go to the battlefield? If I told him I'm a ruthless killer, I couldn't prove it, and he wouldn't budge. Instead, he'd worry."

Xiaoman said softly, "Then what should we do..."

"If Uncle Wang won't arrange things for me, he'll find someone more capable than him."

Kang De said, "Go home first. You stay in the neighborhood. I'll find someone to help."

As the car drove away from the villa area, Kang De took out his phone and dialed Xie Liqian's number, saying succinctly, "I need to get to Comora, as fast as possible... Is there any way?"

Xie Liqian took a deep breath. "... Yes, after I heard about this, I started looking for a solution."

As expected of an old fox, he distanced himself from the situation during the earlier phone call and even began making arrangements.

"Thanks," Kang De asked, "What method?"

"I have some connections in Eastern Europe. I've pulled some strings and everything's been coordinated. My private jet can take off immediately. You can fly to Belgrade on my plane first..."

Where is that?

"The capital of Serbia."

"What are you going to do?"

"Serbia is a former Soviet Union republic, poor, but it has an arsenal left over from the Soviet Union. If they want to make some extra money, they lease out their aircraft, making them a prime target for arms dealers."

"Tonight Beijing, an An-12 will take off for a neighboring country of Comora to deliver goods to a sheikh who is terrified by the war. The countries it passes through are all small. Once enough bribes are made, the air force will open a green channel for it. Nobody cares what it's carrying... It can fly anywhere; as long as you pay, it can fly."

"I've already made arrangements to add one more person to the line, it'll just be a bit bumpy."

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PS1: 4,000 words! Unbelievable, right? This is the first update of the day!