"Wang Yu... how could he kill someone? He doesn't even dare to kill a chicken! In high school biology class, when we dissected frogs, he was so scared he ran out of the classroom to throw up! Have you all forgotten?"
Li Ming's voice grew louder and louder. Rather than refuting Zhou Tong, he was desperately trying to convince himself.
Qian Meng also nodded, a "gulp" sound escaping his throat as he swallowed.
"Right, right, right, Li Ming is right! That kid Wang Yu, his guts are smaller than a needle's tip! He... he must have been forced! Or... or maybe this is just a misunderstanding! Maybe... maybe it's a movie prop!"
"A prop?"
Zhou Tong sneered, her laughter filled with despair.
"Qian Meng, do you think I studied medicine for all these years for nothing? Go find it, go find it now! Go to the best special effects company in the world and see if they can make a prop this realistic!"
"I..."
Qian Meng was left speechless.
Only Wang Yu's resolute yet weary face on the phone screen silently watched them.
"How about... we give him a call and ask?"
Li Ming tentatively suggested, his voice faint.
"Are you crazy!"
Qian Meng immediately rejected the idea. He pointed at Wang Yu's gear in the video, lowering his voice and saying in terror,
"Look at him! Fully armed! He's clearly on some life-threatening mission!"
"If you call him now, and he's in the middle of a firefight, aren't you just putting him in danger?"
"Then what do we do? Just watch?"
Li Ming paced anxiously, "You all know Wang Yu's physical condition! Eight hundred meters can take half his life! Now, in a hellhole like South Sudan... he... he'll die! He really will die!"
"Call the police!"
Zhou Tong suddenly said, as if clutching at a last straw.
"Right! We'll call the police! Or... or tell Wang Yu's parents!"
"No!"
Li Ming yelled back without thinking.
He panted heavily, his eyes bloodshot.
"Call the police? How? Tell the police we have a classmate who became a mercenary and killed someone in South Sudan?"
"Don't you believe the police would be the first to arrest us as lunatics? Even if they believed us, for an international case, by the time they finish the procedures, Wang Yu's bones would be cold!"
"And, tell his parents? Don't even think about it!"
Li Ming's tone grew heavier.
"Uncle and Auntie only have Wang Yu as their son. If they knew what Wang Yu is doing now, and that he killed someone... they would go crazy!"
"Even if they rushed to South Sudan regardless of everything, do you think two ordinary people like them could survive there for a few days? That wouldn't be going to find their son, that would be going to their deaths!"
Li Ming's words plunged Zhou Tong and Qian Meng, who had just found a glimmer of hope, back into an icy abyss.
The four of them sat there blankly, no one speaking.
The melodious music in the cafe now sounded so jarring.
Outside the window, the bustling city with its endless traffic formed an incredibly ironic contrast to the war-torn, corpse-strewn world in the video...
Meanwhile, in distant South Sudan.
After posting on his Moments, Wang Yu casually tucked his phone into his pocket, leaned back in the bumpy pickup truck's rear seat, and closed his eyes.
In his mind, he silently opened his attribute panel.
A virtual screen, visible only to him, clearly appeared in his consciousness.
"【Name: Wang Yu】"
"【Profession Template: Student / Mercenary (Activated)】"
...
Looking at this panel, Wang Yu's mood was somewhat complex.
If not for the sudden awakening of this "get stronger by studying" system, his life trajectory would most likely have been to graduate, find a job, get married and have children, and live a peaceful life.
But now, everything was different.
"Firearms proficiency has also become intermediate..."
The pickup truck convoy sped along, kicking up a sky full of yellow dust.
Perhaps the ambush earlier was too fierce, as the rest of the journey was unusually smooth.
They did not encounter any more armed interceptions.
"Hey! Wang! You're a natural-born sharpshooter!"
Allen, the muscular black man driving, gave Wang Yu a thumbs up through the rearview mirror, his face full of admiration.
"Those few shots just now were so cool! Just like in a movie! Bang! Bang! Bang! You took out all those bastards! You definitely have to teach me sometime!"
The others in the car also chimed in, their words filled with respect and approval for Wang Yu.
In the world of mercenaries, strength was the only currency.
Wang Yu merely twitched the corner of his mouth, saying nothing more.
The convoy finally stopped at a remote, abandoned factory.
This was their delivery point.
The client for the mission, a well-mannered white fat man with gold-rimmed glasses, was already waiting there.
After a brief inspection and handover, the mission was successfully completed.
"Gentlemen, a pleasure doing business."
The white fat man clapped his hands with a smile, and his bodyguards brought over two heavy boxes.
"This is your payment. Considering you encountered some trouble on the way, the boss specifically asked me to bring a little extra. This is seven hundred thousand US dollars."
Hearing this number, Allen and the other mercenaries' eyes lit up.
This was a huge sum!
Enough for them to live lavishly for a long time.
According to the prior agreement, Wang Yu, as the vice-captain, received two hundred thousand US dollars alone.
This was war profiteering.
Money earned with their lives.
"【Ding!】"
"【Mission: Escort cargo completed.】"
"【Mission Evaluation: Perfect.】"
"【Mission Reward: Combat Skills Proficiency (Beginner) has been issued.】"
In his mind, the system's notification sound rang out again.
A warm current instantly surged through his entire body, and countless combat techniques, methods of exerting force, and practical experience flooded his brain like a data stream.
Wang Yu subconsciously clenched his fists.
He could feel that his body had grown stronger again.
After receiving the money, the mercenary group did not immediately return to their base.
They needed to find a place to refuel and rest first.
A gas station in South Sudan was less a station and more a crude shack built from corrugated iron and wooden planks.
The fuel pump stood there forlornly, with six local guards carrying AK47s and watchful eyes sitting nearby.
Here, gasoline was a strategic commodity more precious than gold.
There was no sense of security whatsoever.
After filling up the tank, the sky gradually darkened.
Allen decided not to continue traveling and found a relatively open and flat area nearby to set up camp.
The mercenaries took out cans of food and strong liquor, sitting around the bonfire, laughing loudly and celebrating their day's bounty.
Wang Yu sat alone in a corner, silently wiping his rifle.
He didn't like noisy occasions.
"Hey, my brother!"
A tall figure suddenly approached.
It was Allen.
His left hand was brazenly wrapped around a curvy, dark-skinned local woman.
The woman was clearly a little afraid of Allen, but she still obediently leaned into his arms.
"Sitting here alone is so boring, isn't it?"
Allen burped, kissed the dark-skinned woman on the face with a look of satisfaction, then winked at Wang Yu.
"Come, let me introduce you to some of our 'local specialties' from South Sudan. I guarantee they're potent! The taste is definitely better than anything you've seen back home!"
Wang Yu frowned, just about to refuse.
However, a sarcastic voice interrupted him from not far away.
"Oh, aren't these the trash from 'Chiyun'? What, you got lucky, picked up a loose end, and now you dare to hold a victory celebration here?"
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice.
They saw a burly white man with a fleshy face, carrying a bottle of brandy, drunkenly walking towards them.
His eyes were filled with undisguised contempt and provocation.
Behind him were several other equally burly mercenaries with mocking expressions.
All of them had the same tattoo on their arms.
A roaring Black Bear.
As one of the top mercenary groups in the area, they had always looked down on "trash mercenary groups" like Allen's, who only took on small, scattered jobs.
Seeing the newcomers, Allen's smile instantly froze, and his face darkened.
But he quickly forced out a smile uglier than a cry and stood up.
"Potter, are you drunk? We just... completed a small mission, and everyone is happy."
"Small mission?"
The burly man called Potter scoffed. He swayed over to the bonfire and looked down at Allen.
"I heard you guys took out a group of bandits called 'Desert Wolves' today."
"Chiyun is really making a name for itself, huh!"
The mercenaries behind him also burst into laughter.
Their laughter was full of insult and mockery.
Allen's fists quietly clenched at his sides, his knuckles turning white from the effort.
But he held back.
In terms of both strength and scale, "Chiyun" and "Black Bear" were completely in different leagues.
Here, the biggest fist made the rules.