Farming Life Starting in Africa

Unable to bear the smell any longer, Rosen rolled down the side window, letting in a rush of cool air that slightly diluted the odor. He glanced at Miao Feng beside him and complained with obvious disgust, "Damn, you smell awful! Did you fall into the toilet and roll around in it before you came out?"

Miao Feng seemed completely oblivious to the awkwardness and hurriedly said, "Let's find a secluded place to stop right away. I need to go to the bathroom! Damn it, they've been tying my hands and feet up for days, and I've been holding it in for days."

Rosen couldn't take it anymore. He slammed on the brakes, bringing the Jeep to a stop on the roadside wasteland. He frowned and waved, urging, "Get out and take care of it quickly, don't actually drag the car into it."

Miao Feng quickly looked around. All around were barren Gobi slopes, deserted and uninhabited. Although the car hadn't gone very far, it was relatively safe.

He reached into the glove compartment of the passenger seat, grabbed a whole pack of tissues, stuffed it in his pocket, pushed open the car door, jumped out hastily, and ran a short distance away.

Rosen waited in the car for quite a while before Miao Feng finally came back, looking guilty and embarrassed, and his smell was even stronger than before.

Seeing this, Rosen didn't bother with any more words. He climbed into the back of the pickup truck, rummaged through the cargo bed, pulled out a large bottle of purified water, a clean towel, and a set of spare clothes, and tossed them over from a distance.

"Here, just rinse it off quickly and dry yourself off. Hurry up and change out of these dirty clothes." Rosen's tone was full of disgust. "The way you smell now, I really want you to walk back by yourself."

Miao Feng took the things, his face full of frustration, and complained in a low voice, "It's really not my fault! Those people tied me up so tightly that they restricted my food and drink, and didn't even give me a chance to go to the toilet. The fact that I didn't poop on myself is a testament to how little I've eaten and how well I've held on these past few days."

"Shut up, hurry up!"

Miao Feng quickly stripped off his work clothes and tossed them into the pile of weeds. He turned on a bottle of purified water, poured it onto a towel, wet it, and quickly wiped himself down to remove most of the odor. Then he neatly changed into the clean clothes that Rosen had given him.

The moment he changed into clean clothes, he felt completely relaxed and finally regained a comfortable state.

After getting everything ready, the two vehicles restarted and continued on their way.

Miao Feng leaned back in his seat, opened the French bread that Lawson had placed in the storage compartment, and while taking small bites, asked in confusion, "Hey? This isn't the right route. Why aren't we going back to Uller?"

Rosen gripped the steering wheel, staring straight ahead. He glanced at him sideways and sighed softly, "Why are you in such a hurry to go back? We still have to rescue that unlucky bastard Ma Xiao."

Miao Feng paused in his bite of bread, his face filled with astonishment: "Holy crap? Ma Xiao's in trouble? He's been kidnapped too?"

"Yes, things are quite complicated, and it can't be explained in just a few words," Rosen replied casually.

The car drove steadily on the bumpy dirt road, with barren Gobi desert stretching out along the way, and yellow sand floating slightly in the wind.

During a break in their journey, Rosen recounted the events of the past few days to Miao Feng in fits and starts.

The situation changed too quickly, beyond everyone's expectations. Uller has already carried out a full evacuation of its citizens, and Ivia, which is adjacent to the north, is estimated to not be able to hold out for long and will soon follow suit with its own evacuation.

Their group is in Uller, so they probably won't receive the evacuation notification from the Ivia embassy.

After crossing the Pamanto Bridge, the road conditions visibly deteriorated. The smooth road surface disappeared completely, replaced by a bumpy dirt road full of pebbles and potholes of varying sizes.

To save time by taking a shortcut, Rosen turned on his GPS and sped straight to the target mine.

Both vehicles were specially modified off-road models with top-notch off-road performance and extremely strong adaptability. This kind of bad road was nothing to them, so the group didn't take it to heart and continued to drive forward at a decent speed.

Just as everyone relaxed their vigilance, a dull bang came from the left front of Lawson's car, making a huge noise.

Rosen clearly felt the car body suddenly shake violently, as if the left front wheel had suddenly hit a raised embankment, or as if it had been suddenly lifted up by something, instantly taking off into the air.

A strong feeling of weightlessness and jolts over him. Rosen's pupils contracted, and he reacted with lightning speed, slamming on the brakes without hesitation. The tires screeched against the gravel road before finally coming to a stop.

"Holy crap, a landmine!"

The pickup truck following closely behind immediately noticed the anomaly, quickly slowed down, and came to a steady stop not far behind. The two vehicles fell into a deathly silence.

Rosen didn't get out of the car rashly. He reached for the walkie-talkie beside him and said in a low voice, "Damn it, looks like we've entered a minefield. I'll get out and check the car first. If there's nothing wrong with it, we'll reverse a bit and take the riverbed next to us as a detour."

As soon as he finished speaking, he reached for the car door. Seeing this, Miao Feng's heart leaped into his throat. He quickly grabbed his arm tightly, his voice filled with panic: "There are landmines everywhere down there! You're going down like that? Are you crazy?"

Rosen smirked. "Don't worry, these are just cheap mines planted by the government forces. They're very stingy; they don't want to plant mines in clusters. It's not that easy for them to explode in a chain reaction."

That being said, Rosen remained cautious. He leaned to the back seat, pulled several spare magazines from his tactical vest, and forcefully threw them one by one onto the ground around the vehicle through the gap in the window.

The mines deployed in the field are mostly pressure-triggered infantry mines, which only require a few kilograms of pressure to detonate. They are nothing like the pressure-triggered mines in movies that you have to step on to detonate them.

Those landmines are basically used to make traps; they're never used for field defense.

After several soft, muffled thuds, nothing unusual happened on the surrounding ground. Miao Feng was terrified. "The government forces actually planted mines in this desolate wilderness?"

"Otherwise what?" Rosen explained casually, "Those rebels are dirt poor, they don't have the resources to lay mines everywhere. The mines in this area were basically laid by the government army."

As soon as he finished speaking, he slowly pushed open the car door, placing his foot firmly on the magazine he had just thrown, using it to steady himself. He then bent down and carefully inspected the damage to the left front wheel, suspension, and crossarm.

Fortunately, it was just a small infantry mine with limited power. In addition, his vehicle had thick, run-flat tires, which pressed completely against the mine, absorbing most of the impact. Only a few small fragments of shrapnel got stuck in the tire tread, without completely puncturing the tire or damaging the internal structure.