0122 Imparting Knowledge

It was Little Camel!

Hou Rui, who had not seen the boy for over a week, found it strange. Why would this unfortunate kid come out here all by himself to practice before the break of dawn?

"Little Camel." Hou Rui eventually decided to approach, calling out the boy's name in English.

Upon hearing the voice, Little Camel spun around instantly. However, the look in the boy’s eyes made Hou Rui feel like a stranger; it was as if Little Camel had forgotten who he was. His gaze was filled with such wariness and suspicion that it seemed the wooden stick in his hand would swing toward Hou Rui at the slightest provocation.

"I’m Douglas. We met in the village, and I gave you a sweet drink, remember?" To help him recall, Hou Rui began to recount the scene of their first meeting.

"I remember you," Little Camel finally replied after a moment of silence.

"Good. What are you doing here?"

"Practicing. The Brave Selection is coming up soon. I have to join the reserve soldiers this time."

"Why do you want to join the reserve soldiers?"

"Becoming a reserve soldier means getting more of the 'divine medicine,' and a larger share of food. If I eat enough, I’ll become strong, and no one will ever beat me with a stick again." Little Camel’s answer was so direct, so blunt, that Hou Rui found himself speechless.

"Do you think you can handle a rifle now?" Hou Rui paused, then asked from a different angle.

"I don't know, but I will try my best." As he spoke, his face was set with a stubbornness and determination, displaying a shocking maturity that no eight-year-old child should possess.

After a moment of silence, Hou Rui suddenly made a decision. He decided to help this child. While he could not restore the boy to a normal life or a normal childhood, he felt he could at least try to help him survive in this chaotic hell and perhaps make his life a little easier.

"How about this, Little Camel? Come here to meet me at this same time tomorrow. Remember, come alone, and I will teach you how to use a rifle." Once the decision was made, Hou Rui immediately told the boy.

"Really?" Little Camel could hardly believe such good fortune had fallen upon him.

"Really. As long as you don't let anyone else know, I will teach you how to shoot and how to hit your target as accurately as possible. I am a sergeant in the Alliance; I won't lie to you." Hou Rui nodded firmly.

From that day on, the small hill behind the child soldier encampment became a training ground for Hou Rui and Little Camel. Before dawn every day, Hou Rui would carve out an hour or two while Captain Mulu and the others were drunk or fast asleep to teach the boy how to handle weapons and train his body.

The techniques and methods Hou Rui taught were those the Organization had researched and summarized through immense investment of manpower and resources; naturally, their effectiveness was far beyond the clumsy efforts of Sergeant Kun. In just half a month, Little Camel’s physical condition began to improve, and even his posture while holding a weapon started to take shape.

One morning, just before dawn, Hou Rui was correcting Little Camel’s habitual errors with an AK-47.

"No, that's wrong again. I told you, your arm strength is not enough to hold it steady. If you hold the rifle like that to shoot, the muzzle will jump and the bullets will fly God knows where. How can you hit the target? You should do it this way: place your hand over the top of the barrel and hold it down. Don't let the muzzle jump around. Remember, when you shoot, use three-round bursts; don't spray continuously. That is the only way to truly control this assault rifle and hit your chosen target."

As Hou Rui explained, he took action, moving Little Camel’s small hand from under the AK-47 barrel and forcing it onto the top. He then shifted the rifle down, making the boy’s grip more natural and less awkward, allowing him to use the strength of his entire body to brace against the rifle’s heavy recoil.

Through Hou Rui’s repeated coaching, Little Camel finally memorized the stance. After repeating the movement hundreds of times, the next time he took the AK-47 from his shoulder to practice, he had already adopted the posture and technique Hou Rui had taught him.

"Alright, that’s enough for today!" Seeing this, Hou Rui nodded with satisfaction. He told Little Camel to put down the heavy rifle, and they sat down side-by-side under a tree to rest.

The sky was beginning to brighten; it was time for Little Camel to return to the camp. Just as the boy was about to return the rifle, Hou Rui suddenly handed him something: a can of soda, a rare luxury in the Alliance-controlled zone.

Children will always be children. At the sight of the sweet drink, Little Camel’s eyes lit up. "This... this... is this for me?"

"Yes, drink it quickly. The Brave Selection is tonight. I hope you can successfully join the reserve soldiers." That was all Hou Rui could do.

"Pop! Gulp, gulp... *cough, cough!*" Impatient, Little Camel cracked the tab and chugged it as if afraid someone would snatch it away, causing him to choke and cough incessantly.

"Slow down, slow down. It’s all yours, drink slowly! There’s still time." Watching the boy’s pathetic state, Hou Rui felt a pang of heartache. Yet, there was nothing he could do to change the status quo. Perhaps giving the child a bit of hope and a drink was the best he could manage.

A minute later, Little Camel finished the soda and hurried off the hill. Hou Rui stood up, slung the AK-47 over his shoulder, and slowly returned to town with nothing to do.

During the time Hou Rui had been secretly tutoring Little Camel, the representatives sent by the Liberation Alliance had reached the UN headquarters in New York. The Alliance delegation had made initial contact with observers from the UN Security Council and were currently negotiating details. In other words, they had met and were now engaged in endless bickering. Thus, the Alliance’s primary objective had been achieved: the Somali government forces would not be able to launch a new offensive in the short term.

Since the government forces were dormant, the shortsighted and disorganized Liberation Alliance was even less likely to take the initiative to attack. This period became a rare moment of leisure for Hou Rui since joining the Alliance, as the full-scale war he feared most would likely not break out.

However, trapped at Captain Mulu’s side, though Hou Rui lived a life of relative ease, he was still enduring daily agony.

Hou Rui could not stop Captain Mulu from donning that dress and going off to chop off hands. He could not stop Sergeant Kun from feeding the child soldiers with human flesh, turning little children into insane killing machines. And when Hou Rui looked at the massive mass grave outside the town, where new corpses were piled up every day, he could not stop the slaughter happening everywhere.

Unwilling to watch the cycle of tragedy, the only thing left for Hou Rui to do was drink. He used large amounts of hard liquor to numb himself so he wouldn't have to see the atrocities, and he used Judy’s body to numb himself so he could force himself into a difficult sleep.

Just as Hou Rui thought these days would last forever and that he would eventually go mad, news arrived. Lieutenant Colonel Timo, who had long promised to visit Captain Mulu’s territory, had finally arrived.

Hou Rui had just returned the AK-47 to a soldier when an excited Judy came running over and threw herself into his arms. Since Hou Rui had let his guard down and started sleeping with her, their relationship had grown increasingly intimate. Although Hou Rui couldn't define his true feelings for her, Judy’s embrace remained a rare calm harbor for him within the Alliance.

"Sergeant, Captain Mulu wants you over immediately. Lieutenant Colonel Timo’s convoy is not far from town." Judy seemed very happy about the news; to the ordinary personnel of the Alliance, seeing a Lieutenant Colonel in person was as rare as seeing a Vice President.

*Finally, he's here. I must seize this opportunity! I need to get into the core circle of the Liberation Alliance in one go. Only then will I have a chance to see Garcia himself, kill him, and complete this damn mission.*

Hou Rui felt a surge of joy, but his face remained expressionless. He gently pushed Judy away and said, "Bring me my uniform. I want to look sharp when I meet the Lieutenant Colonel."

Ten minutes later, Captain Mulu, Sergeant Kun, Hou Rui, and a dozen other regional officers gathered before the fortress gate in the center of town. It was clear that everyone had prepared meticulously; they had all changed into brand-new uniforms, waiting respectfully for the Lieutenant Colonel’s arrival.

Finally, behind a lead BS-1 half-track armored vehicle, a convoy consisting of four pickup trucks and three off-road vehicles appeared. Lieutenant Colonel Timo, whom Hou Rui had been waiting for with such longing, had finally reached the town.

In the Organization’s mission briefing, aside from General Garcia, among the four powerful Lieutenant Colonels of the Liberation Alliance, only one was a well-known international spokesperson. The other three were shrouded in layers of mystery. Hou Rui needed to use this opportunity to learn as much as he could about Lieutenant Colonel Timo—his appearance, his personality, his aides, and his security detail. Only then could Hou Rui find his chance to ultimately complete the mission.