Once You're Here, Don't Leave

"You won't regret the choice you made today."

Chu Feng smiled and shook Efua's hand, then discussed the dock arrangements with him.

Efua kept his word as well. That very day, he withdrew all the dock guards, while Chu Feng's Guardian Robots took control of the port in an orderly manner.

This caused a huge uproar in Somalia. No one knew where this powerful outsider had come from, but he had somehow forced Efua, the local kingpin, to yield. Efua, however, said nothing.

When he saw that the incoming security personnel were all Black and spoke Somali even more fluently than he did, Efua felt somewhat reassured. Without some precautions, Efua would have been taken out long ago. After all, one should not forget how he had risen to power himself.

When 50 million Citibank Currency was transferred into Efua's account, he became completely devoted. At least for the time being, there was nothing left to doubt.

That night, in a luxury suite at a hotel in Mogadishu.

It was called a luxury suite, but its decor felt no better than an ordinary business room back home. As for what made it "luxurious," one only had to see the armed pickup trucks outside the hotel entrance to understand.

Ten guards inspected the room and found no cameras, listening devices, or anything similar. Chu Feng had them stand guard outside while he and Alita arranged their next steps inside.

Thanks to today's highly developed internet, finding a container ship was far too easy.

The shipping industry was in a slump, and the high-priced order was accepted almost immediately after being posted.

Mogadishu was the capital commercial port of Somalia in East Africa.

It was located in the southern part of the country, northeast of the port city, facing the Indian Ocean. It lay 1,122 nautical miles south of Aden Port and 1,129 nautical miles from Berbera, while Kismayo Port was 226 nautical miles to the south, Mombasa Port 499 nautical miles away, and Colombo Port 2,094 nautical miles to the east.

The original old port had a water depth of only a little over two meters, making it impossible for ordinary vessels to enter. They could only anchor about one kilometer offshore and use barges for loading and unloading, which made it unsuitable for developing trade. Mogadishu New Port was completed in 1977, with water depths of eight to twelve meters and two docks ten meters deep. It could berth five ten-thousand-ton cargo ships at once and had an annual throughput of 700,000 tons.

Chu Feng planned to deepen Mogadishu Port to more than twenty meters. But there was no way around it for now; he could only make do and use ten-thousand-ton ships to transport the equipment that needed laundering back to China.

Once they heard the destination was Somalia, the shipping company that took the order nearly cried. Fortunately, Chu Feng was understanding. He directly paid an additional twenty percent on top of the normal freight rate and promised to take full responsibility for any problems. Only then did the company eagerly dispatch a ship.

Chu Feng was making preparations as well. After clearing everyone out of Mogadishu Port, the Engineering Robots tirelessly loaded all the equipment to be shipped into containers under cover of night.

Before dawn, all the equipment was ready. They only had to wait for the ship to arrive.

Chu Feng was preparing to return as well. He had no choice but to go back. Lin Lin probably wanted to bite him to death by now. He had promised to be gone for only one day, yet this had delayed him another day. He would not get back until that night.

What Chu Feng did not know was that the Turkish company originally responsible for Mogadishu Port had actually been controlled by the USA all along.

The USA had never given up on infiltrating Somalia. Many of Somalia's minor Warlords were secretly backed by the USA. But those bastards were more enthusiastic than anyone when it came to asking for money and equipment, thumping their chests with grand promises. Yet once they got the money and gear, they played dead, always coming up with excuses for why they could not win. The CIA, having poured enormous funding into them, was left with a massive headache. Yet they had grown too entrenched to cut loose, leaving the agency helpless.

Karina Ferro had been in Somalia for three years. Publicly, she was a secretary at the USA Embassy in Somalia. Secretly, she was a member of the CIA North Africa Branch and the infamous Black Widow.

This Black Widow was not the one Scarlett Johansson played in films, but she was still a stunning beauty. Unfortunately, anyone who lusted after her rarely met a good end.

Karina had also noticed the activity in Mogadishu. According to the information she had gathered, a Chinese man intended to lease the port and establish a company in Mogadishu.

Honestly, Karina did not believe a single word of it. Someone dared to start a company in Somalia? Forget the safety issues—his equipment would probably be stolen the moment it arrived. Even if it was not stolen immediately, the first day it might still be there, but by the second day, not even a screw would be left for him.

These were the bitter, bloody lessons of those who had once dreamed of starting businesses in Somalia.

There had once been a Canadian who had set his sights on Somalia's resources. To ensure his company could be established, he recruited a local guard force of nearly three hundred men. Yet the day after he handed out the guns, those men took them and sold them.

There was no choice but to implement an equipment return system. They had to leave all their guns behind whenever they returned, and only then did things improve slightly.

After the Canadian painstakingly shipped in mining equipment, he had barely finished unloading it on the first day and had even specifically assigned people to guard it.

Yet when he arrived at the site the next day, both the equipment and the guards were gone. He eventually went bankrupt and could only return home in despair. The remaining recruits even robbed him on the way, and he nearly had to beg his way back to Canada.

And now someone was claiming he wanted to establish a company in Somalia. Karina would believe that when pigs flew. China had to be hiding some special secret.

Karina Ferro decided to sneak into the port that night and see what that Chinese man was really up to.

Somalia had just passed through the rainy season in July, and the air was beginning to turn dry. The weather was excellent that day, and moonlight illuminated the entire dock. It was not an ideal time for reconnaissance, but Karina did not care. She had heard that the Chinese man had recruited local Somalis. Apparently, he had not yet experienced true despair. Besides, could those guards really detect her?

After the painful lesson of Black Hawk Down, the USA had learned from its mistakes. A major reason for its earlier failure had been arrogance. They had believed their equipment was superior and rushed straight into urban combat, turning their tall, powerful Humvees into "living coffins," while Black Hawks became easy targets for RPG launchers.

So now, whenever they planned to capture a place, they first made sure to thoroughly understand the local terrain.

Having been in Mogadishu for three years, Karina Ferro had long since mapped out the entire city in detail, let alone such an important port.

The harbor area had a large breakwater extending northeastward, forming a harbor basin with the northwestern shore. Ships entered from the northeast. There were three berths along the inner side of the breakwater, with water depths of nine to ten meters. Berth No. 3 at the tip was a crude oil berth, while Berths No. 1 and No. 2 to its southwest were general-purpose berths. Berth No. 4 was at the western end of the harbor, while Berth No. 5 was along the northwestern shore. Its water depth was only 8.2 meters, and both were used for coastal trade. There was also an offshore buoy oil berth southwest of the port area, capable of mooring tankers with a draft of twelve meters.

She wore a short-sleeved shirt and hot pants, with her golden curls tied up, looking much like Lara from Tomb Raider.

Although it was an important Somali port, Mogadishu Port was truly too rundown. It was not even as good as a decent dock in China.

Karina easily climbed over the dilapidated fence and cautiously entered the port area.

What she did not know was that every one of her actions had been observed by the Guardian Robots. If Chu Feng had not wanted to capture her alive, Karina would already have been riddled with bullets.

The other Guardian Robots continued patrolling along their assigned routes, while only one kept its night-vision eyes fixed on the sneaky woman.

Under their surveillance, Karina's agile and practiced movements looked utterly ridiculous.

Karina, meanwhile, was still brimming with confidence in her own professionalism. Watching herself evade patrol after patrol, she grew even more contemptuous of the port's defenses. If she had known that Chu Feng had been watching every move she made from the moment she entered the port through the monitoring room, who knew how she would have felt.

Karina cautiously reached the dock's cargo storage area. There, she saw brand-new standard containers stacked at the pier, numbering around two hundred.

Seeing no movement nearby, Karina walked up to one of the containers.

"Let's see what you're really up to!"

All the containers were locked. Karina took out a lockpicking tool from her pocket and opened the lock after fiddling with it for only a few seconds.

"Heh heh, this little lady's quite the lockpicking expert. No more waiting. Since she's here, don't let her leave. Knock her out and bring her over."

Seeing the infiltrating woman open the lock, Chu Feng stopped enjoying the show and ordered the Guardian Robot watching her to capture her immediately.