“What mine is it?”
Chen Xiaolian suddenly hit the brakes and the truck came to a sudden halt by the road.
Lin Leyan’s shout of surprise came from behind and Chen Xiaolian opened the window connecting to the cargo area behind and said in a low tone, “Nothing is wrong. There’s just some matters that I needed to sort out. We’ll stop here for a while.”
Lin Leyan’s face appeared beyond the window and she breathed a sigh of relief. “In that case, do I let them go down and rest for a bit?”
This clever woman had probably sensed that Chen Xiaolian might want to have a private conversation with Una.
“No need.” Chen Xiaolian thought about it and said, “You all continue staying inside the truck. We’ll get off.”
Una who was being held captive by Chen Xiaolian had no ability to resist. She was taken down the truck by Chen Xiaolian and led to the trees beside the road.
There was a clear look of panic on her face as she glanced at her surroundings… this was the wilderness of Africa. If she were to be killed here, there was no need to bury her corpse. Some wild animals would be attracted by the smell of blood and come over.
“Don’t, don’t kill me…” Una appeared to be on the verge of breaking down and she screamed sharply.
Chen Xiaolian looked at her with a frown and said, “I don’t intend to kill you here. So, shut your mouth up.”
Una bit down hard on her lips.
“Right now is your chance to talk. You had better use the most straightforward, honest and simple way to describe the issue regarding this ‘mine’ to me. If you try to hide anything from me once more, I assure you, you will die, instantly.”
After saying that, Chen Xiaolian checked his watch and said, “You have 10 minutes.”
Una’s body flinched.
She could tell that Chen Xiaolian was not joking around this time.
He was being very serious.
…
Zayad had used a coup to usurp power. In the years before and after he came to power, Kombia was a very small and poor country in Africa.
It had no mines, a small number of people and limited land… no matter how one looked at it, Kombia was a standard puny ass country.
The only aspects of it that could be developed were probably limited to trade of cultural goods, agriculture, animal husbandry etc…
However, Zayad was a warlord. Naturally, someone like him had no interest in doing things like agriculture or animal husbandry. Those things involve a huge initial investment, a long maturity period and a small income.
Additionally, Kombia had tribes of varying sizes and the relationships between them were very complex.
Most importantly, the Western powers also had no interest to come all the way here to invest in something like agriculture or animal husbandry.
The one thing that Zayad was hoping for all these time was mines.
The surrounding countries all have their own ore mines and they relied on those mines to stimulate their economy. At the very least, the heads of those countries could take that opportunity to earn a killing. That was what Zayad had in mind.
Zayad spent the few years after coming into power to fervently establish ties with several Western countries.
Simply put, he wanted to sell off his own country. First find mines in his country, then sell the mining rights to the foreign forces. All was well as long as he alone could benefit from it.
However, after completing a toilsome process of mineral exploration, Zayad came to discover a fact that made him frustrated. Even though he wanted to sell off his country, he could not.
Nobody wanted his country argh!
Several mining groups from the West came to survey Kombia but were unable to find any mineral deposits there. Copper, gold, rare metals, non-ferrous metals, nothing.
It was as though Kombia was a Godforsaken place.
The Creator had not left anything valuable within this piece of land.
Zayad who had lost his worth to them were no longer given any attention by those mining groups.
The downside of this was that there was no way for him to make a great deal of money for himself.
The upside was that he was exempt from the eyes of the Western countries. Even if here were to become a dictator, act like a tyrant, commit acts that would anger the Heavens, no country would care about him.
Let’s put it this way, America had gone to take down Saddam for the sake of oil. If he had no oil, no amount of brutal and dictatorial rule by Saddam could lead America to send her troops to fight in the name of justice in Iraq.
That was exactly the situation that Zayad was in. He became the dictator of a piss poor country joyfully because no one would come here to fight him for the sake of ‘justice’.
However, this situation changed somewhere around four years ago.
According to Una, it was roughly over four years ago that a group of people came to Kombia.
These people were very wealthy. After meeting Zayad, they expressed their interest to explore Kombia for mineral deposits.
For Zayad, he had already become numb to his. Several major Western countries had already come here and they had meticulously combed through every inch of Kombia’s land only to find nothing.
Zayad did not refuse these fellows who came to buy a pig in a poke. At any rate, they were allowed to explore as long as they paid money.
The two sides signed a confidentiality agreement. That party would pay Zayad several million US dollars. The agreement also stated that if any mineral deposits were found, that party would own mining rights of that mineral deposit for 50 years. As for Zayad, he would be paid a portion of the income from the mineral deposit. In the agreement, it was stated that Zayad would be paid 10 million US dollars per year.
Zayad simply did not care about the conditions in the contract. All he cared about was the several million US dollars deposit – in his opinion, the other party were simply people going to buy a pig in a poke.
Unexpectedly, that party actually succeeded!
They succeeded?
…
“Now that I think about it, that matter is very strange.”
Una spoke in a tangled tone, “Back then, the exploration members were all sent over by the other party. The team was very small and they did not bring much equipment with them. Back then, I had followed my father’s orders and went to be part of the exploration team – just to make sure father’s interest is kept. It was quite a cushy job. But most importantly, father wanted me to go see if I could get any benefits from that party.”
Chen Xiaolian remained silent.
Una continued, “In my opinion, those explorers did not appear to be conducting mineral exploration. They do not appear like someone who had spent years labouring out in the field. They appear… more like professional soldiers. There was nothing strange about that actually. Those Western mining groups that we’ve had contact with all these years would have a country backing them up. Thus, the security detail sent by the mining groups were mostly professional mercenaries. Some were even the country’s national soldiers. Even so, things were still very peculiar.”
When she reached that point, Una paused and considered it a moment. Then, after carefully considering her words, she said, “They… don’t seem to be looking for a mine. Rather, they were looking for a suitable terrain.”
“Mm? What do you mean by that?” Chen Xiaolian asked.
Una pondered the question before replying slowly, “Mineral exploration is a very specialized set of work which requires professionals. Specialized detectors are needed; also, they would need to survey the geological conditions of the place before examining the place. Only then could they look for minerals in a place that might have mineral deposits… however, these people were very strange. How should I put it… the feeling they gave me was… very casual.”
“Casual?”
“Yes, the feeling they gave off, it was as though they were simply on a tour. Their team travelled around Kombia, looking at the mountains, the rivers and terrains. But, they rarely stopped to conduct any mineral exploration.
“The weirdest part was… in the end, when we reached a mountain close to the southern border, those people simply pointed at it and said: This is it.”
Una recalled the incident and recounted it, “I feel like… they seemed to be very satisfied with the terrain of the mountain.”
Chen Xiaolian’s eyes lit up and he asked, “And the results? Is there really a mineral deposit up in the mountains?”
Una smiled wryly and said, “I thought that those people were simply joking around. However, we really did find a mineral deposit in the mountain. That fact shocked me.”
She then lowered her voice, “Truth be told, we had personally explored the mountain but there was nothing there. Two mining groups from the West had also explored that place before and found nothing.
“And yet, these fellows had found a mineral deposit there.”
Chen Xiaolian nodded his head. “Continue.”
…
What happened next was simple.
Zayad was an old rogue.
When he found that a mineral deposit had been found within his own country, the first thing he did was to tear up the agreement!
If the other party were some mining group from the West, he would naturally not have the guts to do so.
However, the other party did not appear to be that powerful. Thus, Zayad became greedy.
In his opinion, these lands that he was stepping on, all of them belonged to him.
The clause within that confidentiality agreement would only give him 10 million US dollars per year. That was too little, simply insufficient to whet Zayad’s appetite.
In his mind, now that he had this mineral deposit, he could use it to look for some Western countries and negotiate for a contract that would be far better and lucrative.
Thankfully, he did not choose to immediately do so. He had first decided to test this other party.
After the exploration team returned to Kabuka, Zayad immediately dispatched his soldiers to surround the hotel that the exploration team was staying at, putting them under house arrest.
He decided to force the other party to give in first. If that party could agree to conditions that could whet his appetite, their cooperation could continue. If they were unwilling, then… kill them. Then, go find some other Western countries to cooperate with.
Zayad’s heart was not something that could falter at the thought of doing something like that.
The exploration team did not resist. Even those with the aura of professional soldiers chose not to resist. They simply stayed in the hotel, eating and drinking whenever the need arose.
The next night, Zaid was given a scare!
Someone had given him a gift.
The gift was a head.
It was the head of the Kombian Minister of Mining.
His head had been directly decapitated and that blood stained head was stuffed into Zayad’s blanket!
It was only after morning came did the Mr President of Kombia wake up to find that thing inside his blanket.
He was so terrified, he practically peed his pants on the spot.
Zayad became furious!
He summarily executed the guards assigned to protect him and replaced the captain of security. He gave the executive order to have the presidential palace thoroughly investigated and had security raised to the highest level.
Zayad then sent his men to the hotel to meet up with the exploration team. His condition was simple, to have the amount given to him increased from 10 million US dollars to 30 million US dollars per year.
The other party smiled and replied that they would consider it.
On that very night, Zayad received another gift.
The next morning, someone found that the 20 guards responsible for guarding Zayad had all been decapitated!
Their heads were all piled together.
As for their Mr President, he was sound asleep in his own room. His subordinates had to use cold water to wake him up.
Zayad became utterly terrified!
This time, he did not become greatly incensed and execute his own security detail. Instead, he had stayed silently inside his own room for the entire morning.
In face of such a vicious opponent, this old rogue responded in a very frank manner.
He admitted defeat.
On that very night, Zayad personally rushed to the hotel to meet up with the leader of the exploration team. He happily signed the agreement that the other party redrafted – he had literally tore apart the earlier contract.
The other party had only given him two conditions: Firstly, secrecy. If any information regarding this mine were to be exposed, then Zayad will die. They even gave him a list, a list containing the names of everyone who knew about this mineral deposit in Kombia. The names in the list included staff members of the Kombian government and even Zayad’s own family members.
The first thing Zayad did after returning was to kill off everyone who knew about the mine!
The only one to be spared was Una.
The other party agreed to have her as Zayad’s representative, someone to ensure that Zayad’s interest was kept. She was given the right to enter the mining site for assessment purposes. Other than her however, no one else was allowed to enter that area.
The second condition forwarded by the other party was to stabilize the political situation within Kombia so that it will not affect their mining operations.
This request was a huge headache for Zayad.
Although he called himself the President, he did not in fact have full control of the country. Some tribes were constantly rebelling against his rule; thus, some battles, ranging from small to big, would occasionally happen.
The other party replied, “If you cannot do it, then we’ll help you.”
In merely three days, two of the relatively bigger tribes that had been constantly fighting against Zayad were utterly decimated! A huge fire burnt everything, leaving nothing behind!
If Zayad had just been terrified earlier, this time, he submitted completely.
The other party then told him, “Truth is, we could just kill you and replace you with someone obedient. But, that feels too time consuming.”
Within Kombia, only Zayad and a few high-ranking personnel would know of the existence of the mine, at least until now.
The tribes living near the mountains were all cleared.
Additionally, not even Zayad’s army would go near that place.
The only one who knew the most about this issue was Una.
Una was one of the smartest among all of Zayad’s children. She had gone abroad to study, received a Western education. She could be considered the elite among the smarter ones even among Zayad’s children.
Zayad gave the authority to manage his private assets to Una.
Una would go to the mining area four times per year to perform quarterly inspection of the mining operations’ harvest.
However, even someone like her was unable to venture into the real mining site. She was only allowed to look around from the surrounding vicinity.
According to Una, the other party did not even hire miners from Kombia – everyone there were likely brought there by the other party.
There were even more suspicious aspects.
When mining minerals, there would surely be a mineral processing plant, no?
There was none there.
If they did not process the ores, then would have to transport them out, no?
But in the four years that they were operating there, there were no evidence of any transport teams going in and out.
The place was a well-secluded place amid the mountains that no one knew about. Kombian government officials too, did not see any transport teams going there.
It was as though those people had simply taken possession of a piece of land there, not allowing anyone to go close to it. After that… no one knew of anything else regarding it.
Una had went there several times. But the impression she got from the place was not that of a mine. Indeed, she did not see any mines. Neither did she see the explosives needed for mining operations.
She did not even see anyone who looked like a miner there.
The ones who would meet her each time she went there were all dressed in impeccably clean leather suits.
…
“So, what mine is it? Coal? Iron? Copper? Gold? Diamond? You should at least know that, right?” asked Chen Xiaolian with a frown.
Una gaped as she replied, “I… I don’t know.”
Chen Xiaolian was stunned.
Una hesitated before speaking in a subdued tone, “For all outward purposes, it was supposed to be a gold mine. My father tried to test them and asked for some of the gold. The other party agreed, so I led some men to the mining site and the other party gave us a batch of gold. However… I had never actually laid my eyes on the mine itself. No one was allowed into the mining site. I’ve always had my misgivings on what type of mineral deposits were there. Because we had never actually seen it with our own eyes.”