Mercenary's War

His body was continually tossed up and then yanked back to the seat by the seatbelt; looking out the window, he could only see relentless lightning, and the only sounds he could hear were the torrential rain hammering on the fuselage and thunder. Moreover, the small plane he was on was at least a twenty-year-old piece of junk. These factors combined to make Gao Yang regret his decision to come to Africa for the first time.

The dilapidated plane caught in perilous weather had Gao Yang believe his twenty-three years of life might end right there.

Strangely, Gao Yang wasn't panicking much. Instead, he just wanted to figure out where they were, or rather, over which area they were flying. He now felt that even if he was going to die, he at least needed to know where he was dying.

Turning his head, Gao Yang intended to ask the guide sitting next to him if he knew where they were. However, he immediately dismissed the idea upon seeing his guide desperately crossing himself and praying strenuously. So Gao Yang thought it best not to disturb him.

The small plane, designed to carry twenty people, was now in complete disarray, with everyone descending into madness. The two hunting company employees who had been trying to comfort everyone at the beginning were now crying louder than anyone else.

At this point, Gao Yang was the calmest person in the cabin. But his calmness didn't last, as fear, despair, regret—various emotions—attacked him all at once, especially when he thought of his parents, which ultimately led him to start crying uncontrollably.

What Gao Yang feared most now was not the impending death, but the agony his parents would have to bear losing him after his death.

As death approached, time seemed to slow down tremendously, long enough to reminisce over one's life. At this moment, Gao Yang personally validated this notion as scenes from his twenty-three years of existence flashed through his mind like a movie.

While Gao Yang was reminiscing about his life with regret, the plane descended lower and lower, and finally, after a massive jolt, the aircraft nosedived.

When the cabin lights abruptly went out, Gao Yang curled up as much as possible, with his hands clasped behind his head.

After a terrifying crash, Gao Yang was violently flung against the seat in front of him, causing dizziness, with his shoulders and abdomen feeling as if they were being ripped apart by the seatbelt, almost making him pass out from the pain.

Gao Yang had his eyes closed, but after the intense pain, the coolness that engulfed him immediately made him realize that he was in water.

Instinctively, Gao Yang held his breath, and a moment later, he realized he wasn't dead. The plane had fallen into water, and what he needed to do now was get out of the plane and up to the surface.

Gao Yang opened his eyes, and although it was still very dark, flashes of lightning allowed him to vaguely make out the situation underwater.

The plane had broken into two pieces, and the crack was right above Gao Yang's head.

His first reaction was to unbuckle his seatbelt, but he couldn't open the clasp no matter how hard he tried. As time ticked by and Gao Yang was about to run out of breath, he suddenly remembered the knife hanging at the guide's waist.

Reaching out with his left hand, first he felt the guide's arm, then he fumbled around for a few moments before finally grasping the handle of the knife.

He pulled out the knife, cut through the seatbelt that confined him, and, resisting the urge to surface immediately, he reached out to cut the guide's seatbelt, but as soon as his first touch let him feel that the guide's head was only half there, Gao Yang immediately abandoned the attempt to save him. He reached underneath the seat, pulled out a life vest, kicked his feet, and surfaced.

Once he broke the surface, taking a deep breath, Gao Yang immediately put on the life vest. After pulling the string on the vest and feeling it inflate quickly, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

No one would have imagined that a plane flying over land would end up crashing into water, which is why nobody on the plane had put on a life vest.

Gao Yang was grateful he hadn't forgotten to grab the life vest at the last moment and that it was still intact, but he was somewhat at a loss about what to do next.

The surface of the water was still being ravaged by the storm, and despite it being daytime, it was as dark as night. The rain beating on the water made it impossible to see where the shore was, leaving Gao Yang clueless about which direction to swim toward to reach land.

Gao Yang started to panic and began swimming in a random direction. However, he soon realized that with every kick, his right knee throbbed with pain, and he didn't have the strength to swim any longer, even with the buoyancy provided by the life vest.

Having no choice, Gao Yang stopped trying to reach the shore and decided to float and rest for a while. It was then that he noticed he was being carried by a rapid current.

Since the water was flowing, it meant he was in a river rather than a lake, which eased Gao Yang somewhat. He figured he just needed to rest a bit and then drift down the river while angling toward the shore. With a little effort, he should be able to reach land.

This realization gave Gao Yang a bit of relief, and then he noticed he was still clutching the knife. Knowing the importance of a knife in the wild, he was unwilling to drop it, but holding the knife hindered his swimming. After a moment of hesitation, he risked being cut by the sharp blade and inserted the knife into his waistband, then tightened the belt firmly.

All Gao Yang could do now was rest for a bit and then try to make it to the shore. But he hadn't rested very long when he heard an ominous rumbling noise.

Gao Yang craned his neck to look and felt a surge of horror upon discovering a large mist rising not far ahead.

The presence of mist indicated a waterfall or rapids ahead, which were deadly to Gao Yang in his current state.

After uttering a curse, Gao Yang swam for his life, trying to reach the shore before danger struck, but his current strength was simply incapable of battling the increasingly swift river current.

Finally, Gao Yang was swept over a waterfall. Fortunately, it wasn't very high, and he only got slapped into the water, swallowing a few mouthfuls. But when he surfaced again, dazed and confused, he realized he could see both sides of the river.

Unfortunately, the fact that Gao Yang could now see the riverbank was not good news for him, because this meant that the river had suddenly narrowed, and the current had become much more rapid. The narrowed channel was filled with rocks, and the turbulent water splashing against the rocks filled the entire river with deadly obstacles.

At that moment, Gao Yang completely ignored the pain in his right knee. He used his hands and feet together, exerting all his strength to fight against the current, desperately trying to avoid the rocks. However, after managing to evade several times, his luck finally ran out. Gao Yang crashed heavily into a large rock and then everything went black as he passed out completely.

He did not know how long he had been unconscious, but when he finally opened his eyes, the excruciating pain throughout his body and the extreme weakness that came with it made Gao Yang feel like death would be a mercy.

When Gao Yang's consciousness cleared a little, he discovered that he was less than four or five meters away from the riverbank, which was gentle and looked easy to climb onto. But most importantly, he could feel the soft mud of the riverbed beneath his feet.

The instinct to survive gave Gao Yang strength from who knows where. With his hands and feet, he struggled and crawled to the edge of the bank. After his upper body was on the bank, he rested for at least half an hour before he finally climbed up completely.

After Gao Yang was completely on shore, he was as exhausted as a lump of mud. The key point was that he was not only tired but also very, very hungry.

Gao Yang knew that, although he had miraculously survived the air disaster, the danger was far from over. This was Africa, and in the African wilderness, if one were to be eaten by some wild animal, it wouldn't even make the news, as such things were all too common.

Gao Yang surveyed his surroundings and found that he was in a typical Sparse Tree Savanna, with vast grasslands dotted with tall trees. The sun was already close to the horizon, but Gao Yang could not distinguish the directions, so he was unable to tell from the position of the sun whether it was morning or afternoon.

After taking a cursory look, Gao Yang tried to move his body, then he found that his physical condition was not as bad as he had imagined. Although his right knee was still very painful, there were no broken bones; it seemed to be just a bruise. Apart from that, although there was a dull pain all over his body, there were no serious injuries.

As long as there were no serious injuries, things became much easier. After taking a deep breath of relief, Gao Yang began to check the things on his body. As a military fan and an experienced hiker, he had the habit of never being without his personal survival kit (PSK), and this habit now helped him enormously.

The so-called PSK is the abbreviation for personal survival kit. As a military enthusiast and a loyal fan of Bear Grylls' survival programs, Gao Yang wore his PSK pouch on his waist all year round. Although he had often been mocked as crazy, his persistence now paid off.

The only thing Gao Yang regretted was that his PSK pouch was a bit too small for convenience, but the items he had chosen before coming to Africa were all targeted, so everything in the pouch was now what he most urgently needed.

Two large bars of chocolate, a fire striker, a compass, a magnifying glass, ten meters of parachute cord, five fishhooks and ten meters of fishing line, a survival whistle, four condoms, and a medical kit—that was everything in Gao Yang's PSK.

Originally, Gao Yang's PSK had contained even more items, but because he had to take a commercial flight, he had to remove items like knives and lighters that weren't allowed on the plane. However, fortunately, Gao Yang had obtained a knife from the tour guide, which provided him with the most important tool for the outdoors.

As a high-calorie and high-energy emergency food essential for outdoor activities, the two large bars of chocolate were precisely what Gao Yang needed the most at the moment.

When he swallowed the chocolate in small bites, Gao Yang was so touched he wanted to cry.

Gao Yang didn't dare to eat all the chocolate, nor did he want to. He only ate a single piece. If it weren't for his extreme hunger, he would have only eaten a few small pieces. Before acquiring other food, these two large pieces of chocolate were lifesaving.

After eating, while waiting for his strength to recover, he took out the knife he had obtained from the guide to distract himself and calm his overly tense and excited emotions.

The craftsmanship of the knife was exquisite, clearly hand-made. The blade was about thirty-two centimeters long and five millimeters thick, with a drop point tip, and a flat grind. The guard was made of pure copper, and the handle was most likely made from Desert Ironwood Burls, attractive in both color and grain. The soul of the knife was the beautifully curved temper line on the blade, which not only added to its beauty but also indicated that it was a handmade carbon steel blade; most stainless steels can't achieve such a marvelous temper line and mass-produced goods from an assembly line wouldn't bother with tempering at all.

Gao Yang tested the edge; it was very sharp and could easily shave off hair. It was clear that the knife's previous owner had cherished it, which made Gao sigh heavily. The previous owner was a white South African, the guide or hunting guide for the hunting group Gao Yang had joined. On the plane, Gao had even chatted with him about the knife. He never imagined that, in the end, the knife would end up in his hands.

Thinking that he was the only survivor from the entire plane, Gao Yang felt sad. However, he also felt fortunate for his luck. The hunting company's plane that took people to the hunting field was too small. When everyone else was scrambling for seats, complaining about the discomfort at the tail of the plane, Gao had chosen the tail, which was relatively the safest spot. Apart from luck, this was the only reason he had survived the plane crash.

Gao Yang shook his head, no longer dwelling on such useless thoughts. He took out his compass to check the direction and to his surprise realized that the sun was in the west, meaning it was already afternoon. He boarded the plane around the same time, which meant he had been unconscious for a whole day and night.

Gao Yang didn't know how far he had floated down the river in a day and a night, but he did know the further he was from the site of the plane crash, the slimmer his chances of being rescued. Another pressing issue was that nightfall was approaching fast.

Thanks to documentaries like 'Animal World' and 'Man and Nature', Gao Yang knew how terrifying the nights in the African savanna could be. He couldn't afford to delay any longer; struggling to his feet, he sought shelter for himself—to at least get a fire going before darkness set in.

There were many driftwood branches on the riverbank, swept ashore by the water, easy to collect. Gao Yang first found a stick that was long and sturdy enough to serve as a walking stick and then began collecting as much dry wood as possible, preparing for his first night in the wilderness of Africa.

While working, Gao Yang didn't forget to stay alert to his surroundings. There were too many dangers he needed to be wary of. Now in the rainy season, the grass in the savanna grows tall and thick; to avoid being pounced on by a predator, he had to be constantly vigilant.

Gao Yang decided to camp a bit further from the riverbank to stay clear of predators that might come to drink, and also to guard against a sudden rise in the river level. During the rainy season, even if there was no rain locally, a downpour upstream could easily cause the water levels downstream to rise several meters overnight.

Gao's plan was to find a place nearby to rest for the night and then look for food in the vicinity once it was light the next day. Despite his impaired mobility, he had fishing lines and hooks, so his chances of catching fish were good.

As long as he had food, Gao Yang could hold out for a few days, sending out distress signals and waiting for rescue. Even if no one passed by during those days, once his ability to move improved, he could construct a raft and float downstream with the current. Gao firmly believed there would definitely be people living along the river; it was just a question of distance.

Having a few essential survival items in hand increased Gao Yang's confidence in living through this ordeal. Yet, as though fate was determined to challenge him, just as he was dragging a bundle of wood to his designated camping spot using parachute cord, he suddenly heard a gunshot. PS: Many people are curious as to why a knife could be brought on a plane, so I might as well explain here. As the book has made clear, the plane wasn't a commercial airliner but owned by the hunting company, and carrying knives and guns wasn't a problem.