Chapter 84: Fully Equipped with Level 4 Body Armor

Just after two in the afternoon, Xing Xiaolong, having taken his leave of Madam Su at the hospital, followed the Black Fox to the capital’s international airport and boarded a direct flight to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

He could not help admiring the Black Fox’s astounding connections; in less than half a day, she had even handled his visa.

The flight would take some time to reach its destination, and Xing Xiaolong seized the chance to ask about the mission. Though the Black Fox did not reveal the details of the operation, she gave him a thorough account of the place itself.

Their destination was a city called Dadaab, known locally as the Desert City.

It was a major border city in Kenya, lying to the east against Somalia, a land racked by endless war. That border also bore another name:

The Black Triangle.

Unlike the famed Golden Triangle, Golden Crescent, and White Triangle, the Black Triangle was a newly risen center of narcotics production, and also the largest such center in Africa.

Because it was this chaotic Black Triangle, and because it sat so close to war-torn Somalia, Dadaab had also become home to the world’s largest refugee camp.

The camp had originally been built for only ninety thousand refugees, but the number now exceeded four hundred and sixty thousand.

More than five times its intended capacity.

Four hundred and sixty thousand destitute refugees living together, with no income and no means of support, surviving only on outside international aid and their own desperate resourcefulness—one could imagine what kind of horrific scene that would be.

Uncontrollable sexual violence, drug trafficking visible at every turn, daily shootings, police forces meant to maintain order abusing their power at will, and various gangs and drug cartels vying for territory in ceaseless conflict.

Such things had become so common here as to be ordinary, a part of the refugees’ daily lives.

If a day passed without several gunfights, without dozens or even hundreds of deaths, without a few large-scale brawls, that would, in fact, be considered strange.

And yet this largest refugee camp in the world, a place where people died every day and order had been utterly lost, had not shrunk because of its violence and gun battles. On the contrary, its population continued to grow.

The main influx consisted of refugees fleeing across the border from war-torn Somalia.

When one spent every day fearing death by shellfire, the chaotic refugee camp was in fact safer. It had to be said: to be born in the third world was truly a sorrow.

And because this year had brought a drought not seen in sixty years, an international humanitarian relief shortage had erupted.

Dadaab was more chaotic than ever before.

Lacking sufficient food, the refugees were forced, in order to fill their stomachs, to join trafficking organizations and grow vast quantities of marijuana and opium under the control of the drug lords, causing the Black Triangle’s narcotics harvest to surge explosively that year.

The Black Triangle was a major production region for drugs, not a major consumption market.

Once produced, these narcotics had to be sold, and that inevitably brought them into direct contact with Mexico, the country with the largest volume of drug trade in the world.

And the drugs that entered Mexico would ultimately flow into the world’s greatest consumer of narcotics: the White Eagle.

Thus this mission came to be.

As for the other details, the plane was not the place to discuss them, so the Black Fox said nothing more, and Xing Xiaolong did not press the issue.

That night, the flight arrived in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. As soon as the Black Fox and Xing Xiaolong stepped out of the airport, two men in suits and sunglasses approached them and escorted them into a black sedan.

They went directly to the Nairobi United Nations office—

One of the two main administrative centers for the UN’s operations across Africa.

Only through the conversation between the Black Fox and the two men in black did Xing Xiaolong finally understand: the Black Fox’s identity was no longer that of a private military contractor, but had become that of a military adviser dispatched by the government of the White Eagle, and she even wore the rank of major.

The two men in black were from the FBI, and even they had to address her respectfully as “Chief.”

“So a change of identity? You can even play it like that?”

This strange shift in status left the rookie PMC, Xing Xiaolong, deeply curious about the hidden workings behind it all.

Unfortunately, once the car arrived at the Nairobi UN office, Xing Xiaolong was taken to a hotel by a staff member.

The Black Fox merely told him to wait for her call, then left with the two FBI agents, he did not know where.

This was the first time he had officially taken part in a mission as a PMC, and the agencies involved were all imposing heavyweights.

The United Nations, the FBI, and the government of the White Eagle—all formidable powers.

Xing Xiaolong was anxious and uneasy, yet at the same time thrilled in a way he could hardly suppress; alone in the hotel, he tossed and turned and could not sleep at all.

It was not until dawn was nearly breaking the next morning that, just as he was finally growing a little drowsy, a staff member knocked on his door and drove him to police headquarters in Nairobi.

There he met the Black Fox again after a night apart, and she then took Xing Xiaolong to the armory.

Black tactical vests, black body armor, black ballistic helmets, large black riot shields, a wide variety of police rifles, submachine guns, breach hammers, tear gas, and stun grenades...

At a glance, everything there was police gear, and more specifically, counterterrorism special-operations equipment.

For a small African country like Kenya to have a full set of special police equipment was something Xing Xiaolong had not expected.

But then again, with a place like Dadaab in such turmoil, and with so many drug traffickers one could not even count them all, the special police—the strongest force in the police service—would indeed have a hard time without some quality gear to back them up.

Police equipment tended toward portability and versatility, meaning it was suited for indoor combat.

The weapon one carried mattered very little in practice.

Xing Xiaolong himself already had his own fierce and massive weapon, so he was not particularly interested in the police gear. Moreover, what was in the armory was not top-tier equipment by any means, only ordinary second-rate goods, so he casually picked a set.

Only in choosing his body armor did he deliberately take a few extra ballistic plates.

The body armor in the CF store was only level three and did not include plates. If he wanted to withstand the frontal impact of rifle fire, he needed at least level four armor that could take plates.

Xing Xiaolong could do without a better gun, but his body armor absolutely had to be fully equipped.

He did not want to go down the moment he entered the trade.

Once all the Kenyan special police were fully armed, the Black Fox, who now appeared to be the operation commander, ordered everyone to load up and prepare to move out.

Xing Xiaolong hurried to stay by her side and climbed into the same armored personnel carrier with her.

Clinging tightly to her as his lucky talisman could not be wrong.

The more than twenty other Kenyan special police also seemed to have undergone highly professional training. In orderly fashion, they split into two armored personnel carriers and one lead police SUV, and together they set off toward Dadaab.