The platoon leader strode over, grasped Basel's hand, and said angrily, "Uncle Basel, tell who hurt you. Was it those beasts from IS, or the Kurds who have forgotten their own country?! Although there are not many young n from the Lure tribe, each one is a brave warrior, and we will make the other side pay the price!"
"It was an ordinary person from Baghdad..." Basel didn't have ti to explain anything to the platoon leader and struggled with effort to sit up halfway, "Who hurt is not important! I was following the orders of your father, the shaman Alayi, to co to the city to search for the Apostle of the Fire God!"
"What?! The Apostle of the Fire God has appeared in Baghdad? Did my father receive a divine oracle?" the platoon leader repeated, his expression a mix of shock and confusion.
"Amir, your father hasn't been able to communicate with the gods for many years, which is why he made the request to the governnt for those two rhinos. On the plane back to Baghdad..." Basel briefly told Amir, the platoon leader, what had happened on the plane and the events that followed.
"Amir, there's only one week left until the deadline IS gave us. We must find this Sou Min as quickly as possible and determine whether he truly is the Apostle of the Fire God. My legs are not in a condition to notify all the Lure people in Baghdad, so you must dispatch your n imdiately to take the ssage to the other Lure who are soldiers and businessn living in the city. Mobilize everyone to search for him," Basel said.
"Okay, I'll get right on it. Uncle Basel, does that Easterner have any distinctive features?" Amir instantly thought of the few Easterners he had encountered that afternoon at the zoo, wondering if it could possibly be such a coincidence.
"Oh, there were three of them, a middle-aged man, a young man, who might be the Sou Min, the Apostle of the Fire God... Yes, that's right, the flas on the plane didn't harm his skin but burned off much of his hair; he's shaved his head bald!"
"Did he shave off his eyebrows as well?" Amir asked in astonishnt.
"Yes! Ah!" Basel suddenly rose from the stretcher, the movent so large that it pulled at his wound, causing him to break out in sweat from the pain, and he grimaced as he asked, "How do you know?!"
"I... I just t him an hour ago at the Baghdad Zoo. But he was representing Huaxia and a mother bear from the Russian Moran Group was close at hand, protecting him."
"The Moran Group? That's going to be tricky," Basel furrowed his brow.
After pondering for a mont, a determined glint flashed in Amir's eyes, and he said, "Since this concerns the ssenger of the Fire God, we can't worry about the complications. Finding the man is what matters most!"
Having said this, he stood up, turned around, and walked out of the checkpoint.
His urgent yet orderly commands were soon heard from outside.
"Gather round! All troops assemble!
Deputy platoon leader, establish imdiate contact with all Lure warriors stationed in Baghdad, specifically including the 8th Infantry Division, 3rd Regint, 2nd Company, 3rd Platoon, 1st Motorized Brigade Logistics Departnt Chef Class, and the 3rd Mountain Regint Lure Platoon... All Lure warriors are to disengage from the governnt army's combat sequence imdiately, take all light and heavy weapons, and assemble at the east gate of Baghdad Zoo within thirty minutes!"
Outside the checkpoint, figures moved, and military orders rang clear.
…
Baghdad Zoo, Director's office.
Suming used to think his office was the lowest in grade among all the 'division-level officials' in the country, but now he realized there were even worse ones. The director's office in the Baghdad National Zoo was just a large, rough room with no air conditioning, and only a large electric fan that one would expect to see at a beef noodle stall in China, buzzing as it spun around.
Fortunately, the poorer the setting, the smoother the business negotiations went. In less than two hours, the two parties had already agreed on the purchase details.
In total, there were 225 animals, almost half the current number of animals in Baghdad Zoo. Among them were the giraffes, pythons, and crocodiles that Suming had wanted. All together, the price ca to $240,000 US Dollars. Additionally, two rhinoceroses, priced separately, were $20,000 US Dollars each.
If these animals were sold on the international black market, they could fetch several tis this price, but neither the position of a state-owned zoo leader nor his sincere religious beliefs would allow the old director to sell the animals on the black market.
And in Suming's view, this was too cheap, outrageously so. Including previous purchases at four private zoos, he had spent less than $350,000 US Dollars in total, which converted to just over two million Huaxia currency units. With that, he had bought an amount of animals equal to more than one-third of Yangchuan Zoo's current total, minus the birds. Many of these were rare animals and large predators from the Middle East, which are uncommon in Huaxia. This deal was incredibly good value.
It wasn't just about the money. Aside from the black market, he couldn't buy so many protected animals with money in other countries and regions. Suming's status also ruled out the possibility of buying on the black market.
The cheap price also had a historical reason. After the Aricans withdrew from Iraq, Baghdad Zoo was left with only a few dozen animals. The newly ford Iraqi Governnt, eager to display the country's flourishing state, heedlessly added several hundred animals to the zoo, creating a false impression of prosperity.
Little did they expect that within a few years, war would break out again, and the governnt would have no ti to care for the zoo. It had been half a year without governnt funding for the zoo, and they were unable to afford the cost of caring for the animals or pay the staff's salaries. There was an urgent need for cash. If a large number of animals weren't sold, even with governnt funding, the Baghdad Zoo would struggle to continue.
The old Arab director finally made a request based solely on mutual trust: if Iraq were to find peace again one day, he hoped that Suming would cooperate with Baghdad Zoo to help rebuild it.
"I must say, you are a wise old man, and this single request could potentially be worth far more than those hundreds of thousands of US Dollars in the future," Ludmila said to the old director of Baghdad Zoo.
"The trials of ti have given not just physical aging but also so insignificant wisdom. In this young man, I see a glimr of hope for the future," said the old director with a smile.
"Well, Mr. Director, let's leave the future matters to our future selves. Now we need to return to the hotel. Tomorrow morning, I'll have Adnan communicate with the Tourism Departnt and transport all the animals back ho. Miss Ludmila, I need Moran International to provide thirty of your best rcenaries tonight to guard the zoo and prevent accidents," Suming arranged.
"No problem," Ludmila nodded, taking out her phone and calling Moran International.
Just then, the sound of car engines roaring and the glare of intense searchlights shone on the office windows from outside.
"What's going on?!" Suming stepped out the door to look and saw seven or eight military trucks parked around them, with hundreds of ard Iraqi soldiers surrounding the office.
In the blinding light, the platoon leader who had left earlier stood at the forefront of the crowd. Beside him, two soldiers carried a stretcher with a mummy on it.
"Oh, it's him!" the mummy let out a loud yell.
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