A Mercenary's War

Chapter 42: Gains

Translated by: kevin1782

Edited by: Isalee

Grolev gleefully answered Gao Yang’s question.

“You gotta see how they use it. American bronze bullet sh.e.l.ls are the most expensive and are the most accurate. Good bullets need good guns to fire though. Those poorly manufactured AK-47s can’t adapt to this type of ‘fine grain’. We commonly say that the Russian’s iron sh.e.l.ls, and also your Chinese bullets, are excellent choices. Hmm, I think Chinese goods are the best.”

Hearing that Grolev say that his country’s bullets were the best, an inexplicable sense of pride rose from within Gao Yang. He asked with great interest, “Why is China’s the best?”

Grolev shrugged and replied, “Although the number of Chinese rounds I fired ain’t much, there were at least roughly twenty thousand of them, that time the batch of bullets we bought were all from China. That batch didn’t have any problem. Also, after three hundred meters Russian bullets would lose their accuracy. Chinese ones could still keep their accuracy even after three hundred and fifty meters. The crucial part is that Chinese bullets aren’t as expensive, and so are greatly sought after. But it isn’t always available in Africa, gotta depend on luck.”

Pausing for a moment, Grolev didn’t wait for Gao Yang to ask and continued, “As for other usable brands, that would include the East European countries’ products. Still okay. The other countries are Romania or Yugoslavia and other similar countries.”

Gao Yang’s thirst for knowledge rose, even though he understood a lot of knowledge on paper, it still couldn’t compare to the direct information coming from a veteran’s mouth. The knowledge from Grolev was more direct and more powerful since a person who had done it had more right to say.

“Guns, which country’s the best?”

Grolev pondered for a while before answering, “If we’re talking about guns, Russia’s the best. Chinese ones are also not bad, right after Russia. Reliable, but after long periods of shooting Chinese guns are more likely to redden and rust. But the quality’s guaranteed, no matter which year gun was manufactured.

“Then, Romania’s guns are pretty decent. Some of them are even better than Russia’s. However, the greatest problem is that the quality has been declining these past few years. You gotta find those before the 90s, those are the best. Of course, apart from Romania, it’s best to get the newest bullets made. Oh, except those engraved with Arabic. Don’t care new or old, be it a gun or ammo, just throw them away lest you lose your lives there.”

Gao Yang etched whatever Grolev said in his mind. Gao Yang threw away the grenade in his hand afterward and slapped his hands, saying, “Looks like I have a lot more things to learn again. Gotta seek your guidance when we get back. A pity we can’t waste time, let’s retreat.”

Grolev nodded and said, “Wait, although these bullets are trash, there’s still good stuff here. Look at this.”

After saying that, Grolev kicked open a crate and took out a mortar sh.e.l.l. He shook it in front of Gao Yang, laughing, “Look at this, Russia-made 82mm mortar sh.e.l.l. Seems like they were planning to use this as a bomb, we can use it like a grenade.”

The 82mm mortar sh.e.l.l seemed big. Gao Yang walked over and weighed one of them in his hand. He felt that it was at least three or four kilograms. His eyebrows furrowed and he said, “So heavy. Is it throwable? Will it explode on us?”

Grolev chuckled two huffs and displayed his biceps, chuckling, “I can throw it ten meters away, but the main thing is, won’t our enemies be in a house? So no need to throw it very far off.”

Gao Yang felt that it made a lot of sense. He excitedly said, “Great! There are four mortar sh.e.l.ls, take all of them. Let those bast*ds have a taste of their own medicine.”

Grolev carried the crate filled with those sh.e.l.ls. Gao Yang took his RPD for him. The two sped down to the first floor. Upon reaching the first floor, Gao Yang just straightaway gave the RPD to Tribo and let him carry it.

Gao Yang put on the NVD and looked outside. He didn’t find anybody coming over from the gunshots. The constant gunshots in the city covered their noises. After making sure that it was safe, just when Gao Yang was about to go, he saw Fedor and Malik’s cadavers. He felt he couldn’t leave just like that.

Gao Yang stopped and told Tribo, “We can’t just let Malik and Fedor hang like that. Even if we can’t carry them back, we at least gotta lay them down. Switch the light on.”

Switching the NVD off, Gao Yang asked Grolev to be on the lookout. Then he worked with Tribo to lay their corpses down. However, they couldn’t do much. There was no time to bury nor did they have the ability to take them away.

Gao Yang thought about it and sighed, “What about we burn their bodies so that they won’t be trampled on even after death? We can’t just leave those two here.”

Tribo shook his head and his voice sank, “The neighbors here actually very nice, they’ll probably bury the corpses for Old Ma and Fedor. Don’t burn them. Malik’s religion does not permit it.”

In regards to religion, Gao Yang also felt that they shouldn’t be cremated. Seeing Fedor and Malik’s distorted faces, Gao Yang felt heartbroken. He also loathed those killers.

He suddenly felt he should take something. He quickly trotted to the window and reached out to a short ax on the window.

The ax was supposed to have a leather sheath, but Gao Yang couldn’t see and was too lazy to find it. He took it altogether and hung it on his battle vest’s left chest area. There was a velcro strip there that was originally meant for knives, but while Gao Yang’s hunting knife wasn’t suitable for hanging there, the ax was when faced up. Taking out the ax was convenient too.

Seeing Tribo’s puzzled look, Gao Yang said, “Malik was using this ax in the afternoon. He placed it on the window sill. I felt that taking revenge with it is more meaningful this way. Also, in case we have a chance to use it, we can take it that Malik avenged himself.”

Tribo felt that made sense. He searched the shop once but didn’t find anything portable. He at last took a shovel. It wasn’t military shovel, just a normal one for gardens, but it was pretty handy to whack people with.

Tribo just inserted the shovel into the bag’s hanger and said, “Alright, let’s go, Old Ma’s shop was full of good stuff, all imported from Europe. Very expensive man.”

Gao Yang’s mood was terrible. After hearing that, he also wanted to find a conversation topic to alleviate the gloominess. He took a final glance at their corpses before switching off the shop’s light. He said as he walked along, “I know, the ax I took was a Sweden-made Gransfors ax [1], though it’s a farmer’s hatchet from Northern Europe, it’s really costly. This model is called the Wildlife hatchet and this brand’s stuff are normally handmade. You also know that anything handmade in Europe’s gonna be expensive, so just a small ax or hatchet like this sells for a hundred plus euros.”

Tribo was astonished. He said, “Bro Yang, I know you’re pretty knowledgeable about knives, but I didn’t know you were also the same with axes. A North European hatchet, you know its origins?”

Gao Yang laughed bitterly and said, “Did you forget that I’ve  always wanted to live in the mountains? Remember the video I sent you, yeah? The one on Ray Mears’[2] Northern Wilderness Series? He was using that brand’s hatchet and I wanted one when I saw it back then. I was shocked after checking the price. Including the shipping fees and whatnot, getting this hatchet in the mainland required a grand plus. I was reluctant to buy it. I didn’t expect to see one here. What Ray Mears used was called Small Forest and was slightly larger. I actually wanted a Small Forest too, but it’s just not that convenient to lug it around, not like a Wildlife hatchet which is perfect in length.”

Tribo indifferently replied, “I remember that video. That video was nice but it was completely in English and not understandable to me. I don’t know if there were Chinese subt.i.tles. Hey, I ain’t interested in hatchets, even more so for such expensive ones.”

Gao Yang’s voice sank. “I lived in the wilderness for three years plus, and I longed for a hatchet. Though I had enough of the wildlife, I am now even more interested in hatchets. What’s more is that I can use it to chop that Salim something dude into pieces.”

Tribo nodded and replied, “Yeah man, the number of chops they did to Malik, we gotta return that same number. Though, Bro Yang, are you able to do it?”

Gao Yang thought in detail on this question and finally dejectedly said, “I maybe could, if you couldn’t then let me do it. I gotta chop of those bast*rds’ heads off. Offer them as offerings to Malik and Fedor, then use them as soccer b.a.l.l.s. Fedor not so bad, but Malik’s still got a family of seven or eight. They were all dependent on Malik’s income. How is his family gonna live with his death? If the killers were me, how would I be able to do that to him, man?”

Even though Grolev didn’t understand what the duo was saying, he still lowered his voice, saying, “Both of you better shut up. You wanna discuss something? We got the time when we go back. But it’s best to keep quiet for now.”

Gao Yang knew what Grolev had said made a lot of sense. He also knew that it wasn’t appropriate to chat on the way. It’s just that he was feeling like h.e.l.l so he wanted to shift his attention by talking to Tribo. But after Grolev’s warning, he immediately asked Tribo to stop talking. He stopped talking to prevent any unnecessary troubles from coming up. The trio just went on in silence, closing in on their destination.

Translator’s note(s):