Mercenary's War

Since the start of the Yemen civil war, most flight routes have been suspended, especially at Sanaa Airport controlled by the Houthis Armed Forces, with only a few domestic routes and an extremely limited number of international routes remaining.

However, if Satan wants to leave, there is still an international route available. Yemen Airways maintains its direct flight from Sanaa to Beirut, allowing Satan to take Yemen Airways to Beirut first and then travel to various places from Beirut.

Given Satan’s good relations with Syria, especially with the Syrian Military Intelligence Bureau, there are almost no security concerns when transiting through Beirut, Lebanon.

Satan’s entire group arrived at Sanaa, and Abdullah made time out of his busy schedule to meet with Gao Yang.

Salim informed Abdullah of Gao Yang’s departure, so while delivering the gifts prepared by Salim for Gao Yang, Abdullah added another gift himself, resulting in Gao Yang receiving two gift lists.

Yes, gift lists, because there were so many items that a list was necessary, and this was Gao Yang’s first time getting a gift list in his life.

Yemen specialties included six types of premium coffee totaling three hundred pounds, more than a hundred pieces of silverware, over a hundred pieces of copperware, and more than forty scimitars.

Indeed, they were all local specialties, but none were cheap. Whether it was the renowned handmade silverware or copperware, or the exquisitely crafted scimitars with gold-inlaid and jewel-embedded handles and sheaths, they were all substantial and expensive works of art.

Especially the coffee, like tea, is consumed by the masses as a daily beverage yet can also become an extremely expensive luxury item.

Now, Yemen has directly gone to war with Saudi Arabia, making it impossible to convert into cash the limited and highly-priced coffees previously exported mainly to the Shah Royal Family. So Abdullah simply gifted them to Gao Yang.

The reason why there are six types of coffee amounting to three hundred pounds is due to the severely restricted production of these particular coffee varieties.

The purpose of Abdullah’s generous gift to Gao Yang is to ensure he has enough gifts to distribute among colleagues upon returning to Russia, and at the same time, speak favorably of the Houthis Armed Forces. Sweetening the words with a reasonably precious local gift naturally makes them more impactful, doesn’t it?

After spending half a day in Sanaa, Gao Yang finally boarded the charter flight to Beirut along with the rest.

Upon arriving in Beirut, flights are available to destinations worldwide. Personal equipment was sent along separately by Little Donnie’s charter flight, while the personnel purchased their tickets. Since no weapons were carried, buying tickets home through regular channels sufficed.

Before boarding, Satan’s group distributed the silverware, copperware, and scimitars, choosing what they liked as gifts for their families, but the coffee couldn’t be entirely divided as Gao Yang needed to reserve some for significant use.

Gao Yang, along with Rebrov and Joseph, bought tickets for a flight to Greece since Beirut Airport does not offer direct flights to Ukraine; a transfer in Greece was necessary.

The journey was uneventful, first arriving in Greece, where they rested at the Greek airport for nearly a day, waiting for a flight to Kiev to continue their journey.

In the afternoon, the flight carrying Gao Yang finally landed at Kiev Airport.

As Gao Yang walked out of the arrival bridge, he was shocked by the impressive scene that greeted him: a large group of at least five or sixty burly men dressed in black clothes and black pants, making sure no one could mistake them for anything other than gangsters, standing solemnly and arrogantly on both sides scaring the arriving passengers.

Joseph became somewhat alert, feeling uneasy despite Gao Yang having already mentioned there would be someone picking them up in Kiev. As a bodyguard, Joseph naturally harbored mistrust towards this kind of loud and brazen display.

Among the men forming two columns, Shava stood in the middle eagerly waiting, and upon spotting Gao Yang, Shava immediately rushed forward with joy and embraced Gao Yang.

"Big brother, you finally arrived!"

In front of his numerous underlings, Shava didn’t bother worrying that his shout might undermine his authority. Perhaps he wanted Gao Yang to know he hadn’t changed and was still the White Shark Gang leader who respected Gao Yang.

Gao Yang gave Shava a brief hug, then whispered in Shava’s ear, "It’s too flashy, really too flashy, it’s unnecessary."

After whispering those few words, Gao Yang smiled, "How’s everything been lately?"

Shava laughed heartily and loudly replied, "Very good, I and everyone else are doing great; business is good, everything is excellent, big brother, this way please."

Gao Yang saw several familiar faces, all of whom fought with Shava back in the day; it seemed Shava indeed treated his old comrades well. After the White Shark Gang’s extensive expansion, Shava didn’t keep his old fighting partners as ordinary underlings; their looks indicated good lives, marked with some boss-like demeanor, no longer exuding any rustic aura from before.

Reconnecting with acquaintances naturally called for greetings, amid the lively and familiar chatter, Gao Yang followed the bustling crowd out of the airport.

When it came time to board a car, Gao Yang had already decided he would ride with Shava, who was in a brand new Rolls-Royce Phantom. However, the Phantom already had a chauffeur and one of Shava’s bodyguards inside.

Joseph quietly held the car door open for Gao Yang and then stood by the front passenger door without speaking, simply gesturing to Shava’s bodyguard to switch to another car.

From inside the car, Gao Yang called out loudly, "Porcupine, it’s okay; we’re all family here, go ahead and switch cars."

Originally, Gao Yang didn’t have bodyguards by his side; everyone with Satan was a brother, only playing the role of bodyguards when necessary rather than being true bodyguards. Shava was aware of this, but seeing Joseph’s distinctly different comportment, he immediately said, "Big brother, is this your bodyguard?"

"Yes, he is a professional bodyguard."

Shava immediately told his bodyguard, "Switch to another vehicle and let my big brother’s bodyguard in."

Joseph then got into the car, where Gao Yang shook his head and whispered to Shava, "It’s genuinely unnecessary to do this."

Gao Yang feared Shava might become overly inflated, losing his true self, and seeing Shava’s demeanor now, Gao Yang was more concerned about this possibility.

Laughing softly, Shava whispered to Gao Yang, "Your bodyguard looks very professional, let’s not inconvenience our brothers."

Gesture for the car to begin moving, Shava relaxed back first, then smiled at Gao Yang, "Big brother, ever since you left, the White Shark Gang has undergone significant changes."