Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Black Snake was a nickname that Jonas Malone gave himself in Siberia, and Bryant was one of the many names he used.
It was easier to maintain a false identity this way, so the people would not show their real names to others, preferring to call each other by nicknames.
Because many ivory hunters were fugitives who had ended up in Siberia, they had closely guarded secret in their past, and the business was notoriously shady.
The young man looked at the picture again and said, “Yes, Black Snake, I know the man. What’s wrong? What do you want with him?”
Li Du said, “Nothing is wrong. I just wanted to make a fortune together with him.”
He snapped his fingers. Brother Wolf opened his suitcase and took out a bunch of green hundred-dollar bills. He put them on the table. The breath of the men around them became heavy when they saw the stack of bills on the table.
Li Du said, “Have you heard from him? If you tell me, the money is yours. It must be a true lead, of course.”
The young man licked his lips greedily. He thought for a while, shook his head, and said, “I’d like to get the money, but I can’t help you.”
Li Du snapped his fingers again and Brother Wolf took out another bunch of hundred-dollar bills.
By this time, everyone knew Li Du was seeking Jonas Malone for no good. They could see that from Li Du’s expression. He clearly did not care about money, so the excuse of trying to look for Jonas Malone to make a fortune was bullshit.
“Let’s be clear, guys. Telecommunication technology is now advanced. Not only do you know about the Black Snake, but others know too. If you don’t want to make money, someone else will…”
“No, you misunderstand me,” the young man with the scar on his face interrupted. “I never thought of covering up for him. I really want the money, but the Black Snake disappeared after leaving the Ice Tomahawk. If you had come a month ago, I probably could have given you useful information.”
Hearing this, Luo Qun gave Li Du a fierce look. She had wanted to come to Siberia two or three months ago.
Li Du held a sheaf of hundred-dollar bills, pulled out some at random and said, “Go and get some information for me. I will give you the remaining money after you get me the information.”
The young man with a scar was suddenly happy. He grabbed the money and said, “I will go to ask my friends for some information. By the way, here is a useful bit of knowledge for you. This guy does not look exactly the same now as he does in the photo you have.”
He asked the bartender for a pen and circled the left cheekbone of the man in the photo. “It’s frozen out here. He got frostbite, didn’t get help in time and lost this part of his face. If you want to find him, you might need to find a man with a mask or a veil.”
The money was well-spent. Li Du did not manage to get any information about this earlier.
Money always made things easier.
The day after they went to the bar, the young man with the scar contacted Li Du and said he got some information about Jonas Malone.
After meeting in the hotel lobby, the scarred young man raised his index and middle fingers and said, “Twenty thousand is not enough. I paid for this information, so the price should be double, forty thousand dollars. I need to pay my friend twenty thousand.”
“Is the information reliable?” Li Du probed.
The young man took out his mobile phone and showed Li Du a blurry picture of someone’s profile.
Luo Qun anxiously darted for a quick look, clenched her teeth and said, “It’s him!”
As a police officer, she had received professional photo ID training.
Li Du said, “If the information is true and useful, I will give you 40,000 dollars.”
The scarred young man was delighted. He immediately told them all he knew. “Black Snake Bryant, now renamed as Black Snake Omaha, left the Ice Tomahawk and started his own gang, called the Prayer.”
Speaking of which, the young man with the scar on his face laughed. “The prayer, is this guy crazy? Is he a very religious man? Whom do you pray to in this place? God has abandoned Siberia!”
Without interrupting, Li Du listened quietly to his speech.
After a few sarcastic remarks, the young man continued, “He is in Evenk District now, and his whereabouts are not clear, but he’s not far from the Podkamennaya Tunguska River, which was where he has photographed a week ago. He was in the Krasnoyarsk area.”
“How do you make sure your story is true?” asked Li Du.
The young man said, “My name is Balfour. I will go with you to look for him. If you find him, you pay me the forty thousand, if not, you don’t need to pay me anything. Is this a deal?”
Li Du nodded. This man sounds honest.
When he got the news, he called out to Steve and set off.
It was a long way from Irkutsk to Krasnoyarsk and they needed transportation.
He didn’t have to worry about that, however. Steve had it figured out.
When Li Du decided to leave, a motorcade appeared outside the city.
All the cars were the same. They were big and had big tires. They were a little like ATVs, puffing smoke from the exhaust pipe when they were started.
The cars’ tires were a meter and a half long, and the body was two and a half meters long.
At the sight of the cars, the scarred young man, Balfour, exclaimed, “Oh god, who are you? The unlucky Black Snake, who had he offended?”
These cars were not on the regular market. They were obviously made for Siberian terrain. No one, unless they were blind, could fail to guess that they belonged to rich people.
One had to be careful to leave the city and venture into the moors. No one knew what was waiting for them. Maybe beasts, maybe bad weather and maybe some ill-intentioned desperate people.
Li Du was prepared. Before he left, he took out several large boxes. After opening them, he found a full set of individual combat weapons.
Each set contained an LWH Marine corps lightweight helmet, a frog forehead, a frog combat suit, a CDJ soft-shell jacket, an OKC-3s bayonet, a backpack system, an M4a1 carbine, and an/LBEprc-152 single soldier.
In all, there were eight sets of equipment for them all, including Brother Wolf. Li Du had them change into this equipment to guard against possible trouble.
Several people whistled when they saw the equipment.
The Madman took an OKC-3s bayonet, tried the edge, and said, “Cool, with this stuff I feel like we could fight against the elite Russian army.”
Feminine said, “Bullshit, we have no intelligence forces, no fire support, and no logistics support. Even the local militia could beat us up, let alone elite troops.”
Madman laughed and said, “Of course I know. I’m just exaggerating a bit, but aren’t you too insecure? Why couldn’t we beat even the local militia troops?”
“The militia here have tanks and artillery,” said Big Ivan.
The Madman stopped talking.
