Joe Ga and his team's drive away from Khartoum went smoothly.
The few checkpoints set up by the SD Security seemed merely for show and were utterly useless.
The security soldiers, with their pathetic-looking equipment, dreamt in vain of stopping the vicious terrorists, which they themselves knew, so they didn't really try.
The 'Jindawei' in Darfur was not some unknown underling; actually, finding him was not so difficult.
The main difficulty was that the SD army couldn't intervene, because any action by them would spark a backlash from the warlords and tribes inside Darfur, and the consequences of an actual conflict would be very severe.
However, this had no impact on Joe Ga—in fact, because the tribal warlords inside Darfur were closely monitoring the SD army's movements due to 'Jindawei's' actions, it gave Joe Ga ample room to maneuver.
As soon as they left Khartoum and entered Darfur, Nis entered coordinates into the GPS that Joe Ga provided, and then the three of them took turns driving wildly through the deserts of Darfur for nearly 20 hours before they finally approached their target.
Joe Ga and his team drove a pickup truck, utilizing its cargo bed to carry enough fuel and supplies.
Since their vehicle was very common, it didn't attract too much attention along the way.
Joe Ga was quite familiar with driving in the desert, but even he was a bit overwhelmed after more than 20 continuous hours of bumpy driving.
Once they reached the location Nis had entered into the GPS, Joe Ga couldn't wait to get out of the car. He completely ignored the scorching midday desert sun, stretched his body vigorously, and only felt relief after his bones made 'crack' sounds. Then, he grabbed a bottle of mineral water and gulped it down.
By the time Joe Ga had his fill, he noticed that Karman and Nis didn't seem very bothered, as if the long journey had no effect on them.
Joe Ga could understand Karman, an old hand, being able to endure hardship, but the delicate-looking Nis seeming indifferent surprised him and made him feel a bit ashamed.
He asked out of curiosity but regretted it immediately as Nis gave him a very strange look.
"Boss, didn't you get any sleep?"
Joe Ga rubbed his throbbing temples and shook his head, "How could I possibly sleep?"
Nis, who had removed her headscarf and tied her hair into a neat ponytail, wearing a desert camo combat uniform, shook her head and replied, "Then you might need some time to adjust. Extended traveling by vehicle is indeed painful, but if you can't ensure adequate rest, it will be dangerous when it comes time to fight."
Curious, Nis asked, "Don't the Chinese military train you for this?"
Joe Ga knew this girl meant no harm. He shook his head and said, "I don't know how the Chinese military trains because I have never been a soldier.
I think they are definitely better than me, but I always manage to adapt. It's just sleeping in a car, after all. When you are extremely tired, you naturally fall asleep."
Upon hearing this, Nis incredulously responded, "You've never been a soldier?"
Joe Ga spread his hands and replied, "I indeed have never been a soldier, but that doesn't stop me from being a pretty good shooter."
Karman, standing nearby, shook his head and said, "The boss isn't just 'a pretty good shooter'—he's a sharpshooter."
"The first time we cooperated, he took out eight enemies from about 800 meters, including a very skilled sniper, and he did it in less than three minutes."
After hearing this, a skeptical look crossed Nis' eyes as she said, "I saw you shooting with a pistol at the hotel. Ordinary people can't do that. Are you sure you're not some secret service retired soldier? If so, just pretend I didn't ask."
Joe Ga shook his head and said, "I've never been a soldier. Why do you care whether I've been one or not?"
Nis listened and she walked to the front of the vehicle, pointing at a distant mountain range, and said, "The weapons cache is in a valley over there, with many advanced weapons. If you've never served in the army, then..."
Joe Ga suddenly nodded and said, "Are you worried that I won't know how to use them?"
Without waiting for Nis to reply, Joe Ga shook his head with a smile and said, "I don't need to know how to use all of them. I just need to take what I can."
Nis, hearing this, shook her head disappointingly and said, "There are several well-preserved Mi-24 combat helicopters there. If someone knew how to operate them, things would be much simpler."
Joe Ga was stunned for a moment, then said incredulously, "Mi-24? Russia's Mi-24? Colonel Ka's secret weapons cache even has those? Do you know how much they're worth?"
Nis shook her head with a somewhat forlorn expression and said, "I don't know. I only know that my brother guarded this secret for many years, and aside from some small arms, he never dared to try taking the big stuff out.
Unfortunately, in the end, someone came looking for it…"
Joe Ga didn't notice Nis's expression; he quickly moved around and then got back into the vehicle, slapping the door as he called out, "Get in, get in; let's go take a look."
By this point, Joe Ga had been completely captivated by what Nis had told him about the weapons cache. He had initially thought that the cache might contain just tanks and armored vehicles, but he was surprised to find combat helicopters as well.
Regardless of whether he could use them or even sell them, just going to see and touch millions worth of heavy equipment was appealing enough.
This time, Nis was driving. She drove on the desert for about 40 minutes, then followed the mountain range south for about 5 kilometers before driving the vehicle into a concealed ravine.
The road inside the ravine was in very poor condition but passable for trucks on the rough, stony path.
The ravine was several kilometers from the nearest public road, and the barren desert and winding rugged mountain pass assured that no one would want to come here.
Nis drove through the valley for about 25 minutes. Just when Li Wei was starting to get impatient, the landscape suddenly opened up.
An area of about a thousand acres in the valley had been artificially leveled. Concrete warehouses had been constructed under the steep rocky cliffs around the valley, and their tops had been camouflaged.
In the center of the valley, numerous tanks and armored vehicles covered in camouflage canvases were parked, but they looked in disrepair and probably unusable; some of the tanks' barrels were even clogged with sand and dust.
Karman had never seen so many war weapons all at once in his life.
The old man excitedly pushed the door open, stepped out, and stared at the tanks incredulously, saying, "You just let these things sit here and rust?"
Joe Ga, not as interested in the big machines, patted Karman on the shoulder and laughed, "If you like them, pick one, and maybe someday we'll drive it back. I am a pretty good Mechanic; I should be able to fix it."
Karman shook his head and replied, "I don't need these things, but why can't we sell them? I've heard tanks and armored vehicles are quite valuable."
As Joe Ga walked along, he noticed a few armored vehicles that were equipped with very advanced 'automatic weapons stations.' He nodded and said, "They would certainly be valuable if intact, but unfortunately, they have been allowed to deteriorate. Fixing them wouldn't be easy."
"And once they start appearing on the market in large numbers, someone will surely come looking."
Following behind, Nis shook her head and said, "My brother once said that Gaddafi had dozens of secret bases, and several of them held over 200 tons of gold."
"The exact locations of these bases are kept by several individuals, one of whom was my brother's superior. But after he died, the locations were passed to my brother,
"Now the government of Eastern Liberia, France, and the United States are still chasing down these secret bases."
"If we're not absolutely sure, I advise against risking selling these tanks and armored vehicles because they are too conspicuous in Africa.
"Small arms are fine; we can check those warehouses, there's definitely something you need there."