As soon as the two sides met, Marven Ye was startled by the scar on his face.
This Dinka man has a hideous scar on his left face, which looks like an old wound, from the left side of his forehead to the mandible. The scar was pulled down from the middle of his left eye, but Kabu covered that eye with a black blindfold. Marven Ye couldn't see his left eye, but he expected that eye to be useless.
Besides, Marven Ye also noticed that when the man took the cigarette out of his mouth, he only had three fingers on his right hand.
Missing ring and little fingers.
"Noah told me, you want to go to Mount Kineti to find someone, who are you looking for?" Kabu flipped through his documents, and without being polite, he asked directly, "You can't enter there casually, and the most people in it are the army. And militants, what identity are you looking for?"
"It's my friend, um... a very close friend." Marven Ye said nonsense in a serious manner: "He is a freelance journalist, and he has not heard from me since he contacted me three days ago. He said at that time that he was in Mount Kineti, so I I want to look there."
Kabu looked at him suspiciously: "For the sake of friends, to do this?"
Marven Ye didn't change his face: "Very... close friend."
Kabu retracted his gaze and opened the rear door: "Okay, this reason is reluctantly accepted. Get in the car."
There were already two men and one woman in the car. The co-pilot was sturdy and slender. Because of the scorching sun in Juba, he wore a pair of sunglasses and looked quite rebellious.
The remaining two sat in the back row and looked very young. When Marven Ye sat in, they both gave him a friendly smile.
"Hi, my name is Tim, I'm a freelance journalist, nice to meet you." The young man sitting next to him stretched out his hand and said cheerfully, "You look like an Asian."
"Yes, I'm Tom Sirius, from China, it's a pleasure to meet." Marven Ye shook hands with him.
The red-haired girl on the other side smiled at him: "You can call me Jima, the one in front is my bodyguard Yulaiya."
Marven Ye nodded, he was about to exchange a few words, Kabu had already slammed the door, started the engine and stepped on the accelerator.
The jeep dashed out, swaying a cloud of dust, Kabu said with a cigarette in his mouth: "Grab the handrail, the road out of the city is uneven, I won't stop for a rest until noon, you must maintain your physical strength."
"Also," he looked in the rearview mirror at Tim, who was sitting in the middle: "Boy, I have to remind you that people here hate cameras. If you don't want to get caught out of the car and beaten up, you'd better turn off your phone. and the camera in the backpack."
"..." Tim held up the camera awkwardly, and after a long while, he quietly put the things back.
Jima lip-synched to them: He's the real murderer.
This obviously won Tim's favor.
Marven Ye didn't feel anything, but Kabu's cautious and serious attitude made him feel a lot at ease.
The guide's ability to observe and act is quite good. If he really encounters danger, he should be able to handle it properly.
The jeep drove quickly across the street and was out of town in a short while.
The road after leaving the city was indeed more bumpy. Marven Ye felt as if he was sitting on a tractor.
While driving, Cabo talked to them about the precautions in the itinerary.
"If someone throws stones at you, don't yell at you," he said, smoking a cigarette. "Don't pay attention to them, or give them some food, and those people will leave on their own."
"I heard that there was a shootout outside the city a few days ago. It was the government army and the rebels fighting each other." Tim couldn't help but ask: "Will we pass there?"
Kabu said lightly: "No, it's not safe there, let's take a detour."
"… oh, okay." Tim looked rather lost.
The journey was long and boring, Marven Ye chatted with them, and gradually found out the identities of these people in the car.
Tim is like a freelance reporter who introduced himself before, but there is a lot of water in it. He has just graduated less than a year ago and has not worked in any news organization. At best, he can only be regarded as an intern reporter.
I came here because I wanted to report some big news that attracted attention. In addition, the senior who used to have a good relationship was working as a war correspondent in a city in South Sudan. The other party and him briefly mentioned the working conditions in the war-torn area. The thought came up here.
"Personally, I think it's much better than reporting 'a large thundercloud has appeared all over the UK, and the expert analysis is a once-in-a-century scene' that no one is watching." He complained to his new partners on both sides: "If I have After working as a reporter in a war-torn area, it will be easier to find a job when I return to China.”
"..." Marven Ye covered his lips with one hand and coughed lightly twice.
Jima also introduced herself. She is a special doctor from the International Red Cross. She has worked in some relatively safe areas. This is the first time to come to South Sudan. The work place is not too far from Mount Kineti. Far away is a field hospital, in the largest UN peacekeeping camp in that area.
She has long burgundy hair, tied back in a ponytail, with baby fat on her face, looking lively and kind.
"Yulaiya is the bodyguard I hired. I heard that Eastern Equatoria is not very safe, and the militants generally don't embarrass the doctor. Man: "He doesn't like to talk to people, and he didn't say more than fifty sentences to me along the way."
Before she could finish her words, the man in the passenger seat uttered a long single syllable, as if expressing dissatisfaction with her words.
"My mission is only to send people to their destination completely, excluding chatting and talking nonsense, ma'am." Yulia turned her head to look at the three people in the back row with her sunglasses on, and hummed, "I have to be vigilant at all times, not to talk to others. You are just as common as you, good children living in a peaceful society, dare to come to war-torn areas without knowing the sky is high."
The people in the back row chatting suddenly stopped.
Jima: "Oh, Yuleia, I really don't agree with you."
However, after Yulaiya made a mockery of them, she turned her head back and didn't dump the three of them at all.
The three looked at each other, and Tim whispered, "Uh... your bodyguard..."
"Don't pay attention to him, he is always like this, hard-mouthed and soft-hearted." Jima rolled her eyes and changed the subject: "Before I came, my colleagues in the camp said that a plane crashed near Eastern Equatorial State a few days ago, listen to me Did you say it?"
Tim nodded: "I came here after doing research. I have read any news about South Sudan!"
Marven Ye's heart moved: "I saw it online, but I don't know the specifics, Jima, do your colleagues know something that the media didn't report?"
Jima smiled, revealing two small dimples: "This time I went to the Kurtuwei Peace Camp, which is quite close to the scene of the accident. My colleagues were all in the camp when the accident happened, and one of my colleagues was on the phone with me. , there was a sudden explosion, and it scared me to death at the time."
"Smoke came out of the Kineti Mountains soon, but there were troops exchanging fire there at that time. Later, the peacekeepers in the Kurtu camp went to check, and when they were halfway, they were ordered to come back." Jima He said mysteriously: "In the end, only the peacekeepers of China were allowed to pass again. It seems that the passenger plane of China fell. Oh, Tom, it's your country's."
Marven Ye controlled his facial expression and said curiously, "I really don't know about this, what happened later?"
Jima: "When those soldiers returned, they brought back a few bags, and the corpses in them were directly handed over to their own accompanying military doctor." After speaking, she came over: "It seems that the crash site has also been circled. Now, most people are not allowed to enter, not even journalists. But they may not be able to stop the anti-government people, and it is very close to a stronghold of the anti-government army.”
Marven Ye held his breath: "They didn't find any survivors?"
Jima spread her hands: "It shouldn't be. The chance of survival in this kind of accident is very slim."
Tim: "Is the crashed plane still there?"
"Of course." Jima said, "No one can bring back such a big passenger plane."
Tim couldn't sit still after hearing this: "Kineti Mountain... My destination is far from there, I really want to go and see... "
Yuria in the front row hummed loudly, as if mocking Tim's self-control.
After being laughed at many times, Tim finally couldn't help shouting loudly: "I said, there is something wrong with you, you have been weird since you came out in the morning, I have endured you for a long time!"
Yulaiya: "Ha, I have endured you for a long time, chatting all the way, why is there so much nonsense."
Tim: "Which bodyguard company are you from, I'm going to call to complain..."
Jima: "Hey, forget it..."
Cabo: "Shut up."
The jeep stopped by the side of the road without warning, and the black guide turned his head and stared at them with his only right eye.
"South Sudan is not a moderate country. There are wild beasts and artillery fire everywhere. People die every day. Only those who are vigilant can live." He put the cigarette butt on the steering wheel and warned his employer: "If you don't want me to kill you Throw it on the side of the road to fend for itself, you should learn to be quiet by yourself."
Yulaiya applauded: "Not like three elementary school students who are going on a field outing, ha!"
Cabo: "Shut up for me too, sir."
Yulaiya didn't refute him this time, only hooked the corner of his mouth.
Tim and Jima wilted, and Marven Ye felt that he was very innocent—he didn't say much at all, and was listening intently to what others had to say.
The jeep drove on the dirt road at an unhurried speed, passing several villages along the way. Kabu didn't stop, only saying that the tribal conflict in the vicinity was serious, and it was best not to step into other people's territory.
The physical problem was solved in the weeds by the roadside. At first, Jima was a little embarrassed as the only woman, but after a few hours, she began to gradually become numb.
"Kabu, how long will it take us to get there?" Jima asked weakly, holding her head.
"If you're asking about your destination, it will be tomorrow afternoon at the earliest." Kabu tapped Tim with his hand: "Where this boy is going, it will be there tomorrow morning."
Jima wailed: "Tomorrow..."
Marven Ye looked out the window and saw grasslands and trees. Occasionally, there were a few animals beside the river in the distance, and there was a smell of grass and trees in the air.
The sun is about to set.
"What are we going to do tonight, there doesn't seem to be a village here." He looked at the vast grassland outside and asked Kabu, "Are you going to travel overnight, or are you looking for a place to camp?"
Kabu looked at him: "It's hard to walk at night, drive an hour further, and there is a cave where people can live."
Jima groaned: "The cave."
Tim has a heart: "I thought... there is a bed anyway... "
Anticipating that the stay would not be very good, Marven Ye just sighed: "Okay, I see."
There was nothing to say that night, the group didn't sleep much, and when they got into the car the next day, except for Kabu and Yulia, everyone else had dark circles under their eyes.
This undoubtedly created a new opportunity for the white bodyguard to taunt.
This day's journey was not very smooth. When they were about to reach the city of Sierra, they accidentally broke into the war zone.
"It may be a tribal conflict, or it may be that the army is occupying a nearby town." Kabu put down his telescope and began to turn the front of the car: "This is the only way to Sierra, we can't detour."
Tim had never seen a war before. He shrunk in his seat, holding his bag blankly and said, "Then... what should we do now?"
Seeing him like that, Marven Ye shook his head secretly, and quietly took out his mobile phone and glanced at the time.
Kabu parked the car in the grass far away from the fighting area, opened the door and got out of the car, and said, "Wait until they finish."
Yulaiya turned her head and gave him a malicious smile: "Mr. reporter, ready-made news materials, do you want to go outside and take some pictures?"
Tim: "I… I'm not ready."
The author has something to say:
#### don't remember the title ####
Tim: "I don't want to report the heavy rain in the UK! No one is watching, and experts say it's a rare occurrence in a century, oh!"
Jima: "Yes, yes, unless there is a heavy rain in the desert, I don't believe what they say is a once-in-a-century."
Tim: "If it does, I'll eat the tire!"
Marven Ye snapped his fingers, and a thunder struck out of thin air in the desert.
Marven Ye: "Ah! Could this be a rare drought in a century!"
Tim & Gemma: "… "
Kabu: "Come on, I'll lend you a spare tire."