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Chapter 358c
🕑 Added 2025-08-21 19:47:52 +0000 UTCChapter 358c
2-in-1-chapter
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“You know how troublesome it is to bring all these people with us?”
“What’s so troublesome about it? It’s not as if they need to walk—we have vehicles, don’t we?”
If the columns of refugees during World War II had fleets of trucks and armored transports, things would have turned out very differently. Entire villages would not have been forced to march on foot for days, chased down by advancing armies, collapsing along the roadside from exhaustion. Those forced retreats, where the weak and the young were always the first to be left behind, would never have happened if there had been enough vehicles to carry them. These civilians with us now may not have the stamina of soldiers, but it doesn’t matter. They don’t need to march through mud or climb mountains. As long as they have trucks to ride in, all they need to do is sit down and keep pace with the convoy.
“What if… what if they start making demands?”
“That’s simple. Whoever makes demands, we throw them out. I’m only taking them out of here, I’m not their babysitter.”
Seeing that Leo could not be persuaded otherwise, the arms dealer grit his teeth and held up five fingers.
“I’ll give you five hundred thousand—just the few of us. We leave now. We dump them and don’t look back.”
Leo immediately shook his head. “No.”
“Why? You wouldn’t take two million either?”
The arms dealer thought two million eurodollars was not a small amount. It was not even a fee for their service—just money to dump the so-called burdens. If Leo agreed, the money would be his. He could not understand why anyone would refuse such an offer.
He had assumed Leo was stalling only to raise the price. Now it seemed he wasn’t.
“I already gave them my word. I won’t break it. Besides, what are you panicking for?” Leo cast a glance at the arms dealer. “I told you already—they’re riding in vehicles, not walking. They won’t slow us down.”
The arms dealer raised both hands in mock surrender.
“Fine, you win. Do as you want. But when things go bad, I’m out. Don’t expect me to stick around protecting civilians.”
“That’s reasonable.”
Leo was not bothered. He had already secured the VR training equipment he needed. If something went wrong and he and the arms dealer went separate ways, there would be nothing strange about it. The arms dealer was not his subordinate; Leo could not expect loyalty from him. In fact, if they ran into overwhelming danger, not only the arms dealer—even Leo himself would retreat with V and Lucy.
He was willing to help within his ability, but if it endangered his own interests or his life, his priority would always be himself and his closest people.
Loading food supplies had consumed quite some time, but the effort was worthwhile.
The middle-aged representative of the International Humanitarian Relief Organization made an estimate and reported that the supplies were enough to last until they reached La Paz.
That meant they could head there at full speed, without wasting time searching for food along the way.
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They drove toward La Paz for hours, not daring to stop or even slow down. The sooner they entered government-controlled territory, the safer they would be. Everyone understood this, civilians included, so even though they were uncomfortable, none of them asked to stop.
Only when night fell did the convoy finally begin to decelerate.
“Why slow down? We’ve got enough people to take turns driving,” the arms dealer asked in puzzlement.
Leo pointed toward the civilians stumbling out of the vehicles, barely able to stand. “Look at them. If we keep driving through the night, tomorrow half of them will collapse.”
The arms dealer muttered, “I told you to ditch them. We’d be moving much faster.”
Leo shot him a glance. “Stop being stubborn. Even without them, we’d still need to rest. This is insurgent territory, and it’s still several days to La Paz. You don’t seriously believe we won’t run into hostile forces in all that time? We need proper rest at night to have the strength to keep our guard up during the day. Otherwise, we’ll drive right into a trap without realizing it.”
This time the arms dealer had nothing to say, because he knew Leo was right. The road to La Paz was not just about driving—it was about staying vigilant. And to maintain vigilance, they needed to rest at night.
They stopped their vehicles on the open plain.
The International Relief Organization began distributing food.
They did not light fires—too visible in such a vast wilderness.
Leo opened his vehicle and began taking out weapons, handing them to several members of the relief group. That way, he would not have to rely solely on the arms dealer and his three bodyguards.
He divided everyone carrying weapons into three shifts: one for immediate watch, one for the first half of the night, and one for the second half.
In each shift, he mixed his own people, the relief members, and one of the arms dealer’s bodyguards.
Leo could trust the relief workers, but not so much the arms dealer and his men. Out in the field, one should never intend harm, but always guard against betrayal.
The relief workers accepted the arrangement without objection. The arms dealer and his bodyguards also had no complaint. Though split apart, Leo’s arrangement was reasonable. Everyone except the civilians was assigned watch duty, so no one could slack. That was fair.
At that moment, the middle-aged man approached Leo with food and water.
“I noticed you’ve been busy the whole time and didn’t get any food, so I brought you some.”
Leo accepted the food and water with a nod. “Thanks.”
“No, it’s we who should thank you.” The man sat beside him, hesitating before continuing. “Mr. Leo, may I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
“Earlier today, you said you were with Aurora Private Military Company. Why are you here?”
Leo saw no need to hide it. “The insurgents who kidnapped you stole our equipment. That’s all.”
“Your company… it’s not just you and those two women, is it?”
“Of course not. We—” Leo began, but seeing the man’s eyes, he realized there was a reason behind the question. He changed his answer smoothly. “We only came here to retrieve our property. It doesn’t take many people.”
The man nodded, not noticing the evasion, and asked, “Do you take long-term protection contracts?”
Leo immediately understood his intent. “Long-term protection? You mean for your organization?”
The man touched his balding scalp awkwardly.
“Yes. We operate across Bolivian provinces. To be honest, we used to reject the idea of hiring PMCs. We saw ourselves as doctors, neutral, never enemies to any side. That meant we thought we had no need for weapons or private military protection.
“But after what happened today, I realized we were wrong. If you’re willing, I’d like to hire you to protect us long-term.”
Leo did not answer right away. He sat in thought.
“This… I’ll need to know first where your operations are primarily based. You understand, there are several factions active in Bolivia. For example, the anti-government guerrillas you ran into today are just one of them.
“If most of the time you’re within the government forces sphere of control, that’s manageable enough, since compared with the rest of Bolivia’s factions, the army is still one of the more stable powers.
“But if you intend to move deep into anti-government guerrilla or Shining Path territory, it’s not that it can’t be done, but the price of hiring us will rise significantly.
“You’ve already seen firsthand what the guerrillas are like. As for the Shining Path, I can tell you plainly: those people are worse than the guerrillas.
“Anyone who’s dealt with them will tell you they’re outright lunatics. Concepts like ethics or morality mean nothing to them. The only language they understand is bullets.
“So if you intend to operate in either of those two areas… it’s not impossible, but I have two conditions.”
Leo raised two fingers.
“First, when inside territory controlled by the guerrillas or the Shining Path, all actions must follow the command of our people. If my people judge a move too dangerous and order a retreat, then you will obey without exception.
“Second, the price goes up.”
The middle-aged foreigner fell silent.
He understood the reasoning behind Leo’s conditions. In plain terms, Leo wanted to ensure they didn’t rush off in some burst of self-sacrificing idealism, throwing their lives away to save everyone, no matter the cost.
They needed to do what was within their ability, nothing more.
The man understood Leo’s point, but he could not bring himself to agree.
“I cannot discriminate between the civilians of this country. All of them deserve our aid. That is the reason we came here, and we cannot betray that ideal.”
Leo nodded. “Your ideals are, of course, not wrong. But I hope you also understand this: if you are killed, or if you are injured, then you will no longer be able to help anyone—not even the people you could have saved otherwise.”
The man lowered his gaze, quiet, lost in thought. Leo smiled faintly and continued in a calm tone.
“Your organization is non-profit. Your numbers are few. You cannot save everyone. Let me say something you may not like.
“What you are doing is undoubtedly great, and it deserves my respect. I also believe that anyone who hears about your deeds will admire you deeply.
“But—listen closely, because I did say ‘but.’
“Your contributions are real and cannot be erased. Yet you also need to recognize one objective fact: what you are doing only treats the symptoms, not the cause.
“You help civilians, yes. Those acts are worthy of praise. But no matter how many civilians you save, more will still suffer and die in their place.”
