Li Du did not take Sophie with him. Mozambique"s situation was worse than South

Africa"s, so Sophie and the four little ones stayed in Durban. Big Quinns and Big Ivan

remained with them and were responsible for their safety.

In order to ensure his own safety, Li Du put many things into the little bug"s black hole

s.p.a.ce before his departure: grenades, guns, crossbows and other weapons, spare

satellite phones, and a variety of drugs, including some powerful poisons and

tranquilizers that he bought through special channels.

On the way, Li Du asked, "What is the intention of General Remonin in trying to be

friends with me?"

The lion hunter chuckled and said, "What purpose can it serve? General Remonin is

very open and generous, and he likes to make friends."

Li Du laughed. "Why won"t you be honest?"

The lion hunter rubbed his chin moodily, and said, "He wants to make friends with

handsome young men like you, and besides, as far as I know, diamond mines had

recently been discovered in the general"s territory."

Isn"t honesty great? Now that Li Du knew what the general wanted, he felt more secure.

The other side knew his ident.i.ty and wanted to get him over to see if he could negotiate

a deal for the mined diamonds.

Li Du too rubbed his chin. "How is General Remonin"s temper? I won"t have any

problems there, will I?"

Brother Wolf, who was sitting in front of the co-pilot seat, said when they were boarding

the helicopter that if Li Du wanted to turn back midway, he could just say so and Brother

Wolf would deal with the pilot.

Although his pilot skills were not as good as Big Ivan"s, he could still deal with the

ordinary business helicopter.

The lion hunter raised his hand and said, "I swear by my business and my life that there

will be no danger. Besides, he"s not a warlord, he"s a tribal chief, though we call him

General."

Li Du also believed that there would likely be no problems. He was not just any ordinary

person and, if the lion hunter dared to put him into the fire pit, the Winston group would

not let it pa.s.s, and the lion hunter would hardly dare to take the risk of business

bankruptcy.

Diamond ore was found in Mozambique, which was still a relatively rare occurrence.

Mozambique was rich in resources, but diamonds were rare. The natural resources

mainly consisted of tantalum, coal, iron, copper, gold, t.i.tanium and natural gas.

The country had the world"s largest reserves of tantalum, about 7.5 million tons, most of

which had yet to be developed, with few people willing to step up to the task.

It didn"t take long for the helicopter to fly over. General Remonin"s territory was on the

border of South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

Mozambique"s terrain was rugged, with many plateaus and mountains, and less than

two fifths flat land.

In terms of topography, it was roughly divided into three steps from northwest to

southeast: the northwest is plateau and mountain, with an average alt.i.tude of 500-1000

meters. In the central part, the height was between 200 and 500 meters, with occasional

peaks. The southeastern coastal plain had an average elevation of 100 meters.

The border of the three countries was in the very southwest of Mozambique, with

stretches of mountains where General Remonin"s territory was naturally located.

These mountains were very desolate, some were barren mountains and sandy

mountains, with no human settlement apart from some tattered tents. Such territory had

no value, so no wonder the government was reluctant to regulate it.

Although the lion hunter a.s.sured him on the way there that the general was not a

warlord but a tribal chief, Li Du saw no difference between the two.

Since he was known as General, Remonin naturally had an army camp, which was

located at the border of the Three Kingdoms.

The reason for setting up the site at that particular location was most likely to prevent

the government forces from encircling and suppressing the camp. Remonin left himself

an escape route. If the government forces attacked, he could take his people to take

refuge in two other countries.

Judging from that, General Remonin"s power was not very terrible. Li Du relaxed and

carefully observed the situation of the camp.

From the helicopter, he saw that the camp was on a terraced hill. Instead of growing

crops, however, the people of the camp used the terraces to build houses.

Li Du counted about thirty houses, with the largest building probably being the general"s

mansion.

The terraces of the hill also served as a parking lot fora jumble of rusty pickup trucks,

military-green heavy trucks, motorcycles and more.

At the base of the hill, Li Du saw swarms of men looking no bigger than ants. They were

training.

From the bottom of the mountains by the terraced road that ran around them, there

were many checkpoints. The fence was spiked with bayonets and bordered with

sandbags. There was also a stand of machine guns.

Around the hilltop building, there were many anti-aircraft guns and machine gun

positions. When Li Du"s helicopter appeared, another helicopter flew into the barracks.

Li Du picked up his binoculars and looked through them. He thought it must be either an

armed combat helicopter or a civilian one like theirs.

When the door of the helicopter was moved aside, he saw black men sitting inside.

There were heavy machine guns on the floor of the helicopter.

They landed on a flat concrete pitch under the watchful eye of an army helicopter on a

large hill.

A group of men waited nearby, some with guns, others with trumpets and drums.

The burly black man at the head of the party had a red beret on his head, a pair of large

sungla.s.ses, a military uniform, and a medal on his chest.

"Is this General Remonin?" Asked Li Du. The lion hunter nodded.

The helicopter moving, they descended, and the general greeted them warmly.

Li Du looked at the black soldiers calmly, although they were a formidable force. They

had big arms and barrel-like chests, and carried Russian rifles.

Brother Wolf looked at him and smiled.

"What"s up?" Li Du asked in a low voice.

Brother Wolf said, "Just fancy, it wouldn"t be difficult to a.s.sa.s.sinate him if Big Ivan and I

joined hands."

Li Du wanted to ask more questions, but as the black general approached, he had to

give him his full attention.

"Ha ha ha, welcome to the VIP. It is a great honor for the democratic army to have such

distinguished guests come to my humble place!" Remonin laughed, showing two rows

of white teeth.

Democratic army? Li Du knew the flag of his army.

The lion hunter shook hands with Remonin, flattered him repeatedly, and introduced Li

Du.

Li Du, too, shook hands with Remonin amidst the sounds of horns, drumming, and

music. Now Li Du understood that the trumpets and drums he saw before they landed

were actually the general"s military band.

Although he was reluctant to come to a dangerous place like Mozambique, at this

moment he was very glad to have come.

General Remonin received him in a very flattering manner, complete with a military

orchestra. Li Du had never seen anyone but national leaders get this kind of treatment.

Not only did the military band play, but the soldiers with rifles gave them a goose-step.

Li Du stood beside the general, astonished to see this full-blown military parade.