East Africa.
The El Wag Region.
The terrain here was mountainous and elevated, with scarce freshwater resources. There were neither rich mineral deposits nor fertile arable soil, only endless poverty and backwardness.
Almost no one took any interest in this barren land apart from extremists, armed militias, and arms dealers large and small.
Even those who did take an interest rarely cared about the land itself. What interested them were the nearby cities, villages, and humanitarian convoy camps that still offered something worth plundering.
Though they routinely robbed and kidnapped people, they rarely took lives. The local government hated this persistent scourge but lacked the strength to excise the tumor. Neighboring countries had offered military assistance more than once, but fearing that invited forces would prove far harder to send away, the authorities naturally could not agree lightly.
And so, through a strange, unspoken understanding, this lawless region teeming with chaos and crime had maintained its balance for more than a decade, becoming a breeding ground for the plague of terror.
Recently, however, something unexpected had disrupted that balance.
Large numbers of military units began converging on the region. Police and militias from nearby towns set up checkpoints and guard posts along the main roads, encircling the entire area.
Even the wild mountain goats living nearby could smell the gunpowder tension gradually filling the air and began migrating east.
As though someone had tossed a match onto a pile of gasoline drums, the El Wag Region, stable for decades, erupted in an instant like a pot of water reaching a rolling boil.
"Why not just let this place rot?"
Standing beside General Katsuno, Colonel Abati narrowed his eyes at the fortifications in the distance. "The main ethnic group living here aren't our Somali people anyway. Why not let those foreign