Xiaomi Heavy Industry, its first entrepreneurial venture!

Chapter 264 Free and Democratic Peasants! (Third Update!)
North of Hilla, on bombed-out land, is the temporary outpost camp of America.

It's a new day. The sun rises in the east in early May, and its red sunlight shines on the ground, bringing a unique atmosphere to the earth.

Recruit Ryan emerged from the tent, stretched, and then leisurely headed to the toilet to relieve himself.

I had just come out of the restroom when I saw my colleague clutching his stomach and running towards it, heading straight for the cafeteria.

At that moment, he had a bad feeling and quickly called to his colleague:

"what happened?"

His colleague clutched his stomach and darted past him like the wind: "That damn English chef is showing off his traditional English cuisine again!"

Upon hearing this, Ryan immediately turned and headed towards his squad's tent.

Damn it, I don't know which bastard went crazy and actually hired a cook from England.

As is well known, English cuisine, like their morality and ethics, is not entirely nonexistent, but it would be better if it were nonexistent.

As he entered the tent, his fellow squad members were gradually getting up. Upon seeing him return, they all greeted him with smiles.
Good morning, what's served in the cafeteria today?

"You don't look too good. Please don't tell me that the English chef is cooking English food again!"

The team members started talking all at once, but then they saw Ryan's face getting darker and darker, so they shut up.

Just then, their captain, Barn, who was already dressed in his gear, walked over: "Let's go, it's our turn to patrol today!"

"Let's grab something to eat on the way!"

"I remember there was a good hand-pulled rice place in the electronics mall. The lamb was very tender and tasted great!"

After Barn's reminder, the group immediately remembered the mutton and carrot pilaf restaurant in the digital mall.

The taste was good, and the price was reasonable.

And it just so happened that they were on their patrol route.

The thought of mutton and carrot pilaf immediately energized the group. They packed up as quickly as possible, grabbed their gear, and left the camp.

After Barn received the supplies from the logistics officer and loaded them onto the truck, the group began their patrol for the day.

Their mission was to travel north along Highway 8 until they reached the northern part of Mahmudiya, at the intersection of Highway 1 and Highway 8, then travel south along Highway 1 to the intersection of Highway 1 and Highway 27, then turn north on Highway 27 and return to the camp.

The entire patrol route is approximately 270 kilometers, and at a patrol speed of 60 kilometers per hour, it will take about 5 hours.

Including rest stops along the way, the actual time spent is even longer.

The entire patrol convoy consisted of four Humvees, each carrying a small team of 24 people.

Ryan's squad was in the lead vehicle.

The convoy arrived at the camp gate, and Captain Barn completed the registration. Amidst the registrar's blessings, the convoy slowly drove forward along Highway 8, heading out of the city.

Ryan sat in the back seat, holding a camera and constantly taking pictures of both sides of the road.

Looking at the familiar scenes in the photos, he couldn't help but look up at the captain and ask:

"Captain, what's the point of us patrolling every day?"

"I feel like every photo I take is of the same people."

"Look at this, the shoe repairman, he's in the same spot every day, the cement under his butt has been discolored from sitting on it."

"And this, the owner of the clothing store, stands at the door every day, holding up clothes to attract customers. The only difference is that the styles of the clothes are different."

"And these few, they're taking their kids to school."

"I feel like they're no different from us!"

Ryan's words made Captain Barn turn around curiously, take the camera from him, look at it for a few minutes, and then throw it back to him:

"There's no difference to begin with!"

"If they tidy up their beards and put on the same equipment as us, you can't tell the difference at all unless you look closely."

"Strictly speaking, they are just ordinary people."

These words only deepened Ryan's confusion, and he quickly pressed for an answer: "Then why..."

“We’ve arrived at Digital City!” Barn didn’t respond to his words, but simply pointed to the right front.

To the right of the convoy was an intersection, where a huge billboard stood.

The person who made this billboard probably didn't have extra money for advertising, so they simply crammed rice cookers, washing machines, mobile phones, cameras, and all sorts of random electronic products together and pasted them all onto one billboard.

At the very top of this billboard is a very common name.

Alibaba Digital Advertising City

The convoy stopped, with three people staying behind in each vehicle, while the remaining three went to buy food.

When the owner of the mutton and carrot hand-grabbed rice shop saw them, he skillfully picked up a takeout container and filled it with 24 servings of rice, with an extra large piece of meat added to each serving.

He then handed the food to Ryan and the others with a fawning expression, and thanked them in broken English.

Ryan and the others carried the food back to the car, the vehicle started again, and the convoy continued forward.

Inside the hand-grabbed rice shop, after watching them leave, the owner took out his phone, found a number on it, and casually dialed it.

When the call connected, the owner of the hand-grabbed rice restaurant glanced at the time and said into the phone:

"8:32, past the electronics market!"

After saying that, he hung up the phone and turned back to greet the other customers.

Once outside the city, the number of houses along the roads gradually decreases, replaced by a continuous plain formed by the Euphrates River.

On the plains, there are endless fields of wheat.

By early May, the wheat had turned from bright green to light yellow and was beginning to ripen.

As the wind blows, the wheat bows its head, rippling out golden waves.

Seeing such a beautiful view, Ryan couldn't help but raise his camera and start snapping pictures of the wheat fields on the plain.

Looking at the photos, especially the busy people in them, he couldn't help but ask the captain again:
“I feel that these farmers who grow crops are no different from the farmers I’ve seen in Illinois.”

When asked these questions again, Barn couldn't help but roll his eyes and said:

"You must remember, we are here to give them democracy and freedom!"

“They may look no different from Illinois farmers, but there are big differences between them.”

"Illinois farmers are free and democratic farmers!"

"But the farmers here are not free and democratic farmers, so we must help them achieve freedom and democracy!"

"That's why we came here!"

"Also, don't ask these kinds of questions in public anymore, understand?"

After giving his instructions, Barn, still clutching his gun, shifted in his chair to find a comfortable position, closed his eyes, and fell asleep immediately.

In the back row, after listening to the captain's explanation, Ryan raised his camera again and took a few photos of the passersby.

Looking at the people in the photos, and their eyes, this young man, who had only recently enlisted, became curious for the first time about the differences between farmers in free and democratic Illinois and farmers in unfree and democratic Iraq. Meanwhile, about 15 kilometers ahead of them, at a seemingly ordinary intersection...

A truck with an extended cargo box was parked on the side of the road. At the rear of the truck were the removed tires, which were flat and looked like they had blown out.

At the left rear wheel of the truck, Hazari, disguised as a mechanic, was clumsily removing screws with a wrench.

Seeing his ridiculous appearance, his companion couldn't help but remind him:

"Why don't you rest over there?"

"Look at you, anyone can tell you're not a mechanic at a glance. If they find out, you'll be in trouble."

"I don't believe it! I'm going to fix this car today!" Hazari said stubbornly after being told this by his companion. He grabbed a wrench and was about to start his so-called car repair.

Fortunately, his companion quickly stopped him and told him to get the tire fixed.

The work was reassigned; Hazari went to fix a tire, while the other companions pretended to do car repairs.

After some simple adjustments, the group finally looked like a car mechanic.

They hadn't been busy for long when four desert-painted Hummers came from the south along the highway.

As they approached the truck being repaired, all four vehicles simultaneously slowed down and moved to the left side of the road.

At the same time, the left windows of the four Humvees were slightly lowered, and several gun barrels protruded from the windows, pointing to the left.

Ryan, in the co-driver's seat of the lead vehicle, held a walkie-talkie in his hand and kept his eyes fixed on the truck.

After the lead vehicle passed the truck, he stared at it again in the rearview mirror.

He waited until the last car passed by, and he was twenty or thirty meters away, so he could see the space on the right side of the truck in his rearview mirror and confirm that no one was hiding there, before speaking into the walkie-talkie:
"Safety!"

"Stay vigilant!"

Beside the broken-down truck, Hazari threw away the glue in his hand and whispered:
"Do it!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a bracket was erected in the truck bed, and an antenna was mounted on the bracket.

Immediately afterwards, a buzzing sound came from inside the truck bed.

A few seconds later, a full twelve drones took off and chased after the departing convoy.

The drone was very fast and caught up with the convoy in no time.

Inside the lead vehicle, the soldier in the driver's seat glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw the drone chasing from behind in the rearview mirror.

Subconsciously asked:
"Captain, look what's above us."

Alerted, Barn quickly looked in the rearview mirror, and the moment he did, the drone overhead crashed into them.

12 drones, 4 vehicles, with three drones assigned to each vehicle.

One drone can carry 7 kilograms of medicine.

Under the onslaught of 27 kilograms of explosives, AM General's armor, which was touted as being able to withstand 12.7 mm bullets, was completely ineffective.

In just one round, four Hummers were sent flying into the air, only to fall heavily back down.

Fortunately, the explosion occurred outside the vehicle and did not detonate the explosives carried by the team.

In addition, the Hummer uses diesel fuel. Although diesel fuel leaked at the moment of the explosion, it did not atomize. The high temperature generated by the explosion only lasted for a moment.

Therefore, the vehicle was only overturned by the explosion, and was not ignited.

The explosion startled people on both sides of the road.

Seeing the overturned Hummer, these people didn't hesitate at all and turned to run away.

Behind the convoy, Hazari, with about 20 men carrying heavy homemade iron shields and AK47s that had been used for who knows how long, slowly approached the overturned convoy.

"Check them first, see if they are carrying any maps or other valuable intelligence. If there are any alive, finish them off and make their departure quick."

As he spoke, his companions, in groups of three, slowly approached the vehicle.

Leading the way were people carrying homemade shields.

The shield looked like it had been used for a long time; it was covered in reddish-brown rust, making one wonder if it could even withstand bullets.

Inside the lead car, Ryan slowly regained consciousness, feeling the pain all over his body, and his mind gradually cleared.

At this moment, he finally understood why the veterans said that every patrol was like walking on the edge of a knife.

Before he could fully recover, heavy footsteps came from his side. He frantically tried to draw his gun, only to find it stuck in the middle of the seat. He tried to pull it off, but couldn't.

The next second, a dark gun barrel emerged from the broken car door and was pressed against his forehead: "Don't move!"

Feeling the coldness on his forehead, Ryan felt no fear whatsoever. He calmly raised his head and stared straight at what was in front of him…

The shield in front of me.

Looking at the rusty shield, he mustered all his strength and uttered his final question:

"We came here to liberate you and bring you freedom and democracy, so why are you treating us like this?"

He spoke these words with all his might; his hoarse voice pierced through the car and the shields, reaching the ears of the group outside with crystal clarity.

Hazari, who was busy looking for something, froze, then slowly walked to the front of the lead vehicle, told the man carrying the shield to move aside, and squatted down to face Ryan, who was half-dead inside the vehicle.

Judging from her appearance, she is probably around 20 years old.

very young.

His brown eyes were filled with seriousness and fearlessness.

He's a very good young man.

After mentally assessing the situation, Hazari calmly spoke:
"This is Iraq, you know that?"

“I know it’s Iraq. It’s because you’re not free and democratic here that I joined the army to liberate you!” Ryan spoke intermittently, spitting out blood every now and then. The explosion had already damaged his internal organs, and death was only a matter of time.

Seeing his appearance, Hazari said softly:
"This is Iraq. If there are problems, they should be solved by the Iraqi people themselves, not by you getting involved."

"You came uninvited; that's called an invasion!"

Upon hearing the word "invasion," Ryan became even more agitated, coughing up blood twice. He once again asked with all his might, "What are you doing to Kuwait? What are you doing to Iran?"

"Isn't that an invasion?"

"speak!"

Hearing the heart-wrenching question, Hazari fell silent, a rare occurrence for him.

Because these are all historical facts, he cannot refute them, nor is he able to refute them.

So he decided not to argue.

He took a cigarette out of his pocket, lit it, and then handed it to Ryan.

Ryan understood what the other person was thinking, opened his mouth, and naturally took the cigarette in his mouth.

Hazari stood up, dusted himself off, and said, "Shoot him, give him a quick death!"

(End of this chapter)