Chapter 2605 - 2669: Magis
In the room, the fat man named Magis was bare-chested, already tied to a chair, rolls of fat spilling out. His eyes, full of terror, stared at the robed man whose body was shrouded in darkness. The other man had grabbed him the moment he made a move... That wasn’t what truly terrified him; the key was that he couldn’t shout. No sound would come from his throat; every attempt was the same. That was why he was so afraid.
Then he saw the other man walk closer and say in a low, eerie voice, "Magis! Do you know why I’ve come to you?"
"I..." Magis swallowed, instinctively shook his head, and then realized he could speak again. He was just about to scream when he heard the other man say, "If you dare call out, I’ll kill you on the spot."
Threatened, Magis snapped his mouth shut, staring fearfully at Li Yifei. The fat on his body was trembling as he stammered, "I don’t know, what... what do you want?"
"Good. I ask, you answer, and your life won’t be a problem. Otherwise, you’ll end up like this gun." In Li Yifei’s hand was Magis’s pistol, a very pretty white Desert Eagle. Heavy enough, powerful enough, but in the end just for show, because Li Yifei pinched it one-handed, and the barrel bent out of shape.
Click, click... Magis’s teeth began to chatter. He knew exactly how solid that gun was, but seeing it with his own eyes turn into a toy in the other man’s hand, he didn’t even know how to describe it. The other man looked like he had only given it a light squeeze... and that sturdy barrel just warped. My God, how much strength did this guy have? Was he some god come down to earth?
Magis was one of the warlords here. The reason he was only "one of" was because he had partners and financial backers behind him. He was cruel and bloody; who knew how many lives his men had taken, and far more people had died indirectly because of him. It was as if those lives weren’t lives at all, just numbers. So he was a very cold-blooded person. But at the same time he was a devout believer, convinced there were all kinds of gods in this world. When he killed, he would raise high the banner of "divine will," so that killing wouldn’t weigh on his conscience.
Seeing the black‑robed man in front of him casually crush the barrel, a huge wave of fear surged from the depths of Magis’s heart. He immediately decided Li Yifei was not an ordinary man, might even be the incarnation of some deity. How would he dare struggle now? He bobbed his head up and down in a hurry and said, "Alright, alright, as long as you don’t kill me, I... I’ll tell you everything!"
"Very good." Li Yifei narrowed his eyes, tossed aside the pistol, clasped his hands behind his back, and flexed his fingers a little. That gun really was damn solid; to crush the barrel required an explosive burst of terrifying strength in an instant, otherwise it would be impossible. Even with his power flaring in that split second, he had almost failed to flatten it.
"What... do you want to ask?" Magis swallowed.
"You’re the one in charge here, right?"
"Y-yes... one of the people in charge. My authority isn’t that great."
"Say it again."
"Uh... my authority is alright, but there are still constraints. There are some things I can’t decide."
"What kind of business do you usually do?" Li Yifei asked bluntly.
Magis’s face changed. What they did was the sort of thing you could do but couldn’t talk about. The local government officials and the army had long since been paid off; they wouldn’t come looking for trouble. But they couldn’t act too blatantly either. What did this black‑robed man mean by this?
Was he here to investigate a case? If he was... how should I deal with this? Magis’s thoughts turned quickly and he said, "Sir, you’re trying to..."
"I’m asking you a question." Li Yifei’s tone hardened. Magis immediately thought of the crushed barrel. His whole body shuddered and he quickly said, "We... we do arms business, and sometimes we send out mercenaries, take on escort and protection jobs and such. And some small things, small jobs."
"Arms business? Spell it out."
"Um... you want to know about that?"
"If you say one extra word, I’ll kill you. If you don’t believe me, try it." Li Yifei’s voice suddenly turned cold, as if the air itself was filled with ice shards. Magis stared at him in terror, nodded hard, his lips working as he said, "We... we get weapons from Huaxia, from Pakistan, from India, even places like Europe, and bring them here to trade..."
"Wouldn’t it be better to ship these straight to the Middle East? Why bother going through all the trouble to come to Kashmir?" Li Yifei asked.
Magis shook his head again and again, the fat on his face wobbling, and said, "No, no, sir, it’s not the same. Weapons from Huaxia are very good and very cheap, but they’re hard to get out. Usually they have to go through Pakistan or come out through here. So our place has become a key hub, responsible for transshipment, consolidation, because sometimes the output volume of certain weapons in one batch is very small and has to be stockpiled. We have government protection, so naturally we don’t have to worry about offending the locals. Of course, this costs us a lot of money, but it’s worth it. With government protection, we avoid a lot, a lot of trouble."
"You’ve got a lot of Huaxia weapons too?" Li Yifei narrowed his eyes and asked.
Magis couldn’t see his expression; just from the voice, he was already too scared to judge anything. He quickly said, "Y-yes... we have some. If you need, sir, I can supply them, but it’ll take some time. You know, these things need time to move around."
"Heh, and what all do you have?" Li Yifei let out a cold laugh. Magis said, "Guns, shells, some heavy weapons, even missiles... all can be obtained. If it’s some very high‑end weaponry or intel, then the time needed is longer."
"From what you’re saying, there’s nothing you can’t get?"
"As long as there’s money, enough money. Huaxia People are very greedy. I used to think Indians were already greedy enough, but after I met Huaxia People I realized the greediest are them. They’re like insatiable whores who can never be satisfied, with nothing but money in their eyes!"
"As long as there’s money, they’ll sell anything?" Li Yifei asked.
"Yes, as long as there’s money, they’ll sell anything, including themselves. Haha, and who wouldn’t? If you gave me enough money, I’d do anything too, even kill my own mother!" Magis seemed a little less nervous now. But as soon as he finished this sentence, he suddenly felt a chill descend. The man across from him lifted the hood covering his head, revealing the face beneath. Magis’s heart gave a heavy thump and spasmed. The features were blurred, as if they couldn’t be seen clearly, but even through the blur you could make out some details—this was definitely not the face or skin tone of an Indian, but... an Easterner. Magis immediately assumed he was Huaxia.
He tensed up again, teeth chattering as he said, "I... you... you’re Huaxia? I wasn’t talking about you just now, I meant those people, they’re the greedy ones."
"Doesn’t matter. Keep talking," Li Yifei said.
Magis’s teeth clacked together. He cautiously glanced at Li Yifei and said, "You want to know... how the Huaxia People sell arms to us?"
"I want to know all of it," Li Yifei said.
All of it... Magis bit down hard. Some of what was involved here was secret, some wasn’t. The non‑secret stuff didn’t matter, but the secret parts... people would die if that got out...
Li Yifei probably knew more about arms smuggling than Magis did, and he knew quite a bit about Huaxia’s side of the arms smuggling as well.
In the Middle East, in Africa, in the surrounding countries, when it came to weapons from Huaxia... the hidden details Li Yifei knew were in no way fewer than Magis’s.
"Sir, it’s not that I don’t want to talk about these things... it’s just that they’re too... how should I put it, if I talk, I’m afraid I’ll lose my life," Magis said, looking troubled.
"You trying to bargain with me? I have countless ways to kill you. Your life and death are mine to decide."
"I believe you..." Magis pinched his own thigh, using the pain to clear his head, because just now he had suddenly felt confused, his mind slipping into some strange state. He figured he had fallen into some trick of the other man. Once he cleared up, he said, "You can guarantee you won’t kill me, but can you guarantee I’ll still be able to go on living?"
"I can guarantee you’ll be dead in the next second. You think you’re in a position to bargain with me?" Li Yifei said, voice dripping with menace.
Magis stared at him, then after a few seconds deflated like a punctured ball and said, "Alright, I’ll talk."
Li Yifei dragged over a chair and sat down facing him, and heard Magis say, "Ordinary goods from Huaxia aren’t that hard to get. Every year they have a lot of decommissioned weapons, scrapped weapons, or damaged ones. These things aren’t necessarily really unusable; in fact, for those who need them, most of them are extremely practical."
At this point, Magis glanced at Li Yifei and, seeing him nod, continued, "But some things are indeed very hard to get; chances like that are rare. These past few years Huaxia’s military industry has developed at a rapid pace, so some high‑precision, cutting‑edge weapons are in huge demand. Their price on the international market is extremely high. Whether it’s those Europe and America countries or the Middle East and Africa battlefields, the prices people offer are very, very high. One deal can be worth dozens of others."
"So that’s the part I’m very interested in. Keep going," Li Yifei said, lifting his chin slightly to emphasize the point.
Magis smiled bitterly to himself. So it really was like this. Bitter or not, to temporarily keep his life he still had to confess. He said, "In the last two years, a very powerful organization has popped up. They don’t have many people, but their combat power is extremely strong—indescribably strong. A lot of arms dealers I know have taken heavy losses at their hands, and not small ones. Last year there was a group of arms dealers from Iraq; that time, it’s said more than a hundred people died, the losses were catastrophic. Several leaders were strung up and burned, the scene was downright horrific."