Farming Life Starting in Africa

After listening, Xia Nan's fragmented clues suddenly clicked together, like beads on a string. "Okay, that makes sense. I'll go ask the boss for funding right away, and we'll fly to Ivia to try and find out what's going on before he makes a move."

After saying that, she grabbed the documents Abu had given her and hurriedly headed towards the boss's office.

Xia Nan knocked twice on the door, and before anyone inside could say "come in," she pushed the door open and went inside. The owner, Abbott, was sitting behind the table smoking a pipe; the room was filled with smoke, which made Xia Nan cough twice.

Without wasting words, she slammed the file on the boss's desk. "I've found the key figure in the nuclear materials line. I need to fly to the Republic of Ivia immediately. Also, tomorrow morning, I'll have Abu publish a full-page exposé to leak this information and see if we can slow them down."

The boss, Abbott, leaned back in his chair, took a drag on his pipe, slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, and after several seconds spoke slowly: "Don't follow up on this matter anymore."

Xia Nan stood there, stunned, her eyes wide with disbelief. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

The boss waved his pipe dismissively, but his tone was still quite patient. "You know, terrorists these days are different from before. They won't hesitate to target journalists."

"So what?" Xia Nan said, her face showing displeasure and her voice stiff.

The boss was a bit exasperated by Xia Nan's stubbornness, but he patiently continued, "It's not a question of whether or not we should send someone to assassinate you, nor is it a question of whether you're afraid or not. If you do this, you'll drag the entire newspaper into this quagmire, and no one will be able to get out of it."

Xia Nan straightened up, took a deep breath, and her face was full of disappointment. "Abbott, you should know better than anyone why I resigned from those major newspapers. Wasn't it because they always selectively reported? In the end, they were always covering up the truth. And I remember when you came to see me, you told me yourself..."

The boss lost patience and interrupted her, "That's enough."

Xia Nan had no intention of stopping; her lips moved like a wound-up toy as she continued, "You said you needed someone who dared to approach the truth, so I came. What, now you think I'm getting too close?"

The boss interrupted again, raising his voice slightly, "That's enough! I admire your drive, but there's a limit to everything. You can risk your life, but don't drag the whole company down with you."

Xia Nan pointed impatiently at the posters on the wall, her finger almost poking the wall. "Have you forgotten what you once insisted on and believed in? Look at what you've put up on your wall!"

The poster on the wall is a black and white photograph of Robert Carter, with his famous quote printed below: "If your picture isn't good enough, you're not close enough."

The boss glanced at the poster, paused for a few seconds, sighed, and lowered his voice, "I absolutely cannot allow any more of my employees to be in danger. The last journalist who died in the line of duty had a daughter who was only three years old at his funeral. How am I supposed to explain this to his wife?"

Xia Nan stared stubbornly at her boss, her eyes slightly red, but her tone remained firm, "There are always things more important than life. Didn't you say that before?"

The two of them got into a heated argument, each saying something to the other, neither convincing the other. They parted on bad terms, and when Xia Nan slammed the door shut, it made the water glasses on the table rattle. Unfortunately, she didn't get a single penny of the funds.

But she wasn't going to let it go. Xia Nan returned to her workstation, silently packing her bags, preparing to go home first and then fly to Ivia with Abu at their own expense the next morning. Self-funded it wasn't like she hadn't done it before.

Just as she was carrying all her luggage downstairs, her boss, Abbott, stood at the second-floor window, watching Xia Nan's back as she carried two large bags. He shook his head helplessly and sighed.

That figure was thin but firm, like a rock. Their newspaper couldn't report everything, especially in this chaotic situation; they had to figure out what could and couldn't be said. The first to speak out was often the first to die. These were lessons learned in blood, and he didn't want Xia Nan to be next.

Xia Nan downstairs didn't even look up. She took out her car keys from a distance, pressed the unlock button, the headlights flashed twice, and a beep sounded.

She walked to the car and reached for the door handle when she suddenly felt something was missing from her left hand. Looking down, she realized her lucky bracelet was gone. It was a bracelet her mother had made for her, a red string with a small silver bead, which she always wore, even when showering. Her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly turned back to look.

Sure enough, it fell across the street. I guess when I was taking out my keys, the bracelet was accidentally snagged off by the bag strap.

Xia Nan took two quick steps back, squatted down to pick up the bracelet, and held it in her hand, feeling a little more at ease.

In that very instant, boom—

The car across the street behind her exploded.

The entire car was engulfed by a fireball, and shards of glass and debris flew far away. The heatwave knocked her to the ground, and her ears were ringing.

She sat squatting on the ground, completely dazed, as if she had no idea what had just happened.

But she still gripped the lucky bracelet tightly, her knuckles turning white.

In the distance, someone was shouting, and an alarm was sounding as it approached.

For two days, Uller seemed to have returned to calm. The Red Turban Army only attacked military camps and government buildings, without causing much harm to civilians. Only Rosen's junkyard was targeted, after which the entire force withdrew.

Meanwhile, at the Red Turban Army's temporary encampment, Old Man Da watched the television next to him, which was showing a video of the St. Francis Chinese Hospital. He ignored the doctor who was bandaging the wound on his left hand, which had been scraped by jumping off the vehicle.

When the video showed Rosen firing without hesitation at Leng Feng and the burly white man who were already embracing, the bullet pierced the white man's arm but failed to penetrate Leng Feng's body.

He immediately became interested in Leng Feng's clothes; the bulletproof vests at the Mainland Hotel weren't exactly public knowledge. Their mercenary circle was different from the assassin circle; a lot of information didn't circulate there.

Suddenly, a black man in military uniform stormed in, demanding, "Did you kill a Chinese person at the St. Francis Chinese Hospital? Where is Dr. Chen?"

The old man merely glanced at him sideways before returning his gaze to the video recording.

"We're in big trouble! Why are you killing Chinese people?!"