Mercenary’s War

After hanging up, Gao Yang was really all over the place mentally. Black Demon had been handed to him by Yarebin in a move that had absolutely no sense of ceremony, but those few short sentences from Yarebin still left Gao Yang unable to calm down.

Black Demon is a blade—old, but well maintained, still razor sharp.

Black Demon is still the most powerful unit in the world, even if there are only a few of them left.

Now Black Demon is completely Gao Yang’s private force, no longer an attachment to Satan, just Gao Yang’s personal armed unit, because what Yarebin has his eye on is Gao Yang, not Satan.

Gao Yang’s mood was complicated. Yarebin had ended his evaluation period and truly given Black Demon to him, but Gao Yang didn’t feel happy about it. He just felt huge pressure, because figuring out what to do with these old guys—who are confused as hell but insanely strong—made him feel just as lost.

When Black Demon was in Yarebin’s hands, that was Yarebin’s problem to think about. Now, and from here on out, it’s a problem Gao Yang has to think about.

It’s an incredibly handy blade, but also a major responsibility. Gao Yang knew clearly what taking over Black Demon meant. Thinking too far ahead right now was pointless; better to watch how things play out.

Gao Yang was about to stand up when something occurred to him, and he figured he should give Justin a call. He still wanted to know what had happened in Aden, and why the Saudi Arabia troops were reacting so damn slowly.

Satan had already gotten out of Aden and the mission was perfectly completed. If he kept asking, it would only be to satisfy his curiosity, not for operational needs, so the call wasn’t exactly urgent.

Just as Gao Yang was hesitating over whether to call, Justin dialed him directly. As soon as Gao Yang picked up, Justin said, "Buddy, I think you’d better start thinking about how you’re going to clean up this mess, because according to unconfirmed but highly credible reports, your missile strike destroyed Saudi Arabia’s command structure in Yemen. It’s still unclear who exactly died in the strike, but obviously the command system getting wiped out is what caused the Aden garrison’s sluggish reaction. That’s the situation."

"Destroyed Saudi Arabia’s command structure? Where—at the airport, in the barracks, or at a military base?"

"Military base. There’s no hard evidence yet, but a very credible report says some key officers of the Aden garrison were having a meeting at the base this afternoon. Which means it’s highly likely that one missile took out a lot of the primary commanders of different units in Aden. Otherwise, there’s no way the garrison would be this slow to respond."

That would explain it—why the Aden garrison reacted so sluggishly and moved so slowly. Turns out the first wave of missile strikes directly paralyzed Aden’s command system.

From a certain point of view, this was an extremely glorious achievement. The chaos they created to rescue Hammer had been almost too effective.

But Gao Yang didn’t feel much joy. The saying goes, "Man fears fame like pig fears fat." Glorious results are a blessing and a curse. If you shine too bright, the road ahead gets a lot harder.

After finishing the call with Justin, Gao Yang stood up, patted the sand off his ass, and headed back into the village.

The people from Satan were all gathered in front of the helicopter they’d flown back.

Seeing Gao Yang, Albert said excitedly, "Boss, this is a professional medical helicopter!"

They’d abandoned six self-propelled artillery pieces but gotten a helicopter and an armored vehicle in return. If you looked at it that way, Satan had come out ahead.

Because the helicopter and armored vehicle in their hands now belonged to Satan, while the guns they’d ditched belonged to Iran. Iran paid for them, and now that they’re gone, Iran still has to buy more.

"I know it’s a medical helicopter, but we can’t even use it."

He stepped into the cabin and took a quick look, eyed the complete set of emergency medical gear inside, then said regretfully, "Great piece of kit, but what can we do with just one aircraft? We don’t have a helipad, how are we supposed to use it?"

Without ground support, a single helicopter is worth jack shit. So even though it’s a lifesaving machine, in the end they’d either have to hand it over to the Houthis Armed Forces, or sell it. The better the gear, the more it made Gao Yang’s heart ache.

Albert blurted out anxiously, "Boss, Boss, how can you say we don’t have a base? Somalia, man! Repaint this bird, disguise it as a civilian S-70C, base it in Somalia. Think about it—even crossing the entire Gulf of Aden, it’s got the range. We can just fly it straight back!"

Gao Yang looked at Eileen. Eileen nodded and said, "We don’t have much fuel; it can’t make it all the way to Berbera. But as long as we can refuel it, that’s not a problem. I’d say finding some aviation kerosene shouldn’t be an issue, right?"

Gao Yang nodded and said, "Getting good-quality jet fuel won’t be a problem. But flying the helicopter across the Gulf of Aden carries plenty of risk. Saudi Arabia has absolute air superiority. You’re not worried about getting shot down?"

Eileen laughed, then gave Gao Yang a look of pure disdain and said, "You tell me. How much risk do you really think there is?"

Gao Yang could only give a helpless wry smile. "Fine. At this point, it’s hard to make you guys keep a healthy sense of respect for the Shah People. Then we’ll leave it. We’ll ship the helicopter to Berbera, and from now on we’ve got ourselves a medical helicopter. Honestly, that’s a pretty big asset to have."

The Gulf of Aden is narrow. With this helicopter, if they ever really needed it, they could fly straight from Berbera to Aden to pick up wounded. That’s a serious advantage.

Just then, Joseph climbed into the helicopter and said, "Boss, your phone."

When Gao Yang dealt with the Houthis Armed Forces, he used a dedicated satellite phone, and per his instructions Joseph had already powered it up.

The phone was still ringing. He took it, listened to the ringtone, and said helplessly, "It’s Salim. What a pain."

He answered, and Salim’s voice came on the line, full of enthusiasm and delight, sounding like he was about to crawl right out of the handset.

"My brother, congratulations. You’ve once again achieved an incredibly glorious victory! I offer you my congratulations."

Gao Yang replied very evenly, "Our victory is your victory too, isn’t it, my brother? This is our shared victory."

Salim was practically giddy. He shouted, "But you’ve accomplished a victory no one else could achieve! Abdullah is right here; he wants to congratulate you personally."

What could Abdullah say, aside from the usual congratulatory nonsense? Gao Yang was already sick of hearing it. After they’d traded a few perfunctory compliments, Gao Yang said, sounding genuinely pained, "This time the results were glorious, but the losses were heavy. We lost all of our self-propelled artillery. Fortunately, the artillery crews reacted in time and pulled out as soon as they realized they might be hit from the air, so we didn’t take too many casualties. But every gun was destroyed, the loss is huge."

"Said is here too. I think you should talk to him as well."

The person talking to Gao Yang switched to Said, who immediately started shouting impatiently, "A few guns are nothing! Compared to the results you achieved, the losses are negligible. Believe me, whatever you need, I’ll find a way to get it for you. I’ll handle it right away!"

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