132: Diamond Pit

According to the original plan, Jiang Yuan intended to take Lin Xia to photograph a hidden waterfall located at the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola.

On the satellite map, it was marked as an "Unexplored Area," but in the Eternal Star City database, it was known as "Angel's Tears," featuring a massive cascading waterfall with scenery enough to stun the soul.

To save time, Jiang Yuan did not take the long way around on the national highway, but instead cut directly onto an abandoned mining trail.

As the wheels delved deeper into this red land, the surrounding scenery began to feel somewhat off.

The lush primeval jungle gradually thinned out, replaced by vast stretches of scorched wasteland and exposed red rock.

The air was no longer filled with the fresh scent of vegetation, but instead permeated with a burnt odor and a faint smell of gunpowder.

The villages along the road had also become deathly silent.

They passed through two villages where most of the houses had been burned into broken walls and ruins, the walls riddled with dense bullet holes.

There was no cooking smoke, no sound of chickens or dogs, and not even any corpses to be seen—evidently, they had already been cleared away or dragged off by wild beasts.

"Jiang Yuan..."

Lin Xia, sitting in the passenger seat, put down her camera, her face turning pale.

As a former war correspondent, she was all too familiar with this kind of scene.

"The atmosphere here is wrong," Lin Xia's voice was somewhat tense. "Did the navigation take us the wrong way? This area should be under government control, but this scene... it looks like it was just ransacked."

Jiang Yuan kept one hand on the steering wheel, his expression remaining calm, though a flash of coldness flickered in his eyes.

"The navigation is fine; the map is outdated."

He glanced at the vehicle's radar screen. It showed that five kilometers ahead, there was a large concentration of people, accompanied by high-intensity metal signals—that meant weapons.

"There's a checkpoint ahead," Jiang Yuan said calmly. "It looks like we've stumbled into someone else's territory."

"Turn around!" Lin Xia said urgently. "The armed factions in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are complex; many private warlords are completely unreasonable, and killing people for their goods is the norm."

"It's too late."

Jiang Yuan stepped on the brake.

At a mountain pass ahead, several felled trees lay across the road, blocking their path.

And behind the trees, a dozen dark figures stood up sluggishly.

When the headlights illuminated the group blocking the road, Lin Xia gasped and covered her mouth.

They were not adult soldiers.

They were a group of children.

The oldest appeared to be no more than fourteen or fifteen, and the youngest only seven or eight, their height not even reaching that of the AK47 rifles in their hands.

They wore ill-fitting camouflage uniforms stained with grease and blood; some didn't even have shoes, standing barefoot on the scorching gravel ground.

But what was most terrifying were their eyes.

Those were not eyes that children should have. They were murky, numb, bloodshot, with dilated pupils and no focus whatsoever.

Clearly, they had been fed some kind of low-quality stimulant or drug to eliminate fear and pain, turning them into killing machines that only knew how to pull the trigger.

"Child soldiers..." Lin Xia's voice trembled.

This was the ugliest, most cruel scar on the African continent.

"Get out! Get out!"

The leader, a teenager who looked slightly older than the rest, roared at the Land Rover while brandishing his gun, smashing the hood with the butt of his rifle.

The other children gathered around, their dark gun barrels pointed at the car windows, their fingers hovering over the triggers, ready to fire at any moment.

Jiang Yuan patted Lin Xia's trembling hand to reassure her.

"Don't panic, just stay in the car."

He pushed the door open and stepped out.

His black nano-suit took on a matte texture under the sunlight. Facing a dozen rifles that could spit fire at any moment, Jiang Yuan looked as if he were seeing mischievous children holding water guns, his face devoid of any ripple.

"This is the toll."

Jiang Yuan casually pulled a roll of US dollars from his pocket—the "hard currency" he had specifically prepared for such situations—and tossed it directly to the teenage leader.

The boy took the money and greedily counted it; the fierce light in his eyes softened slightly, but he still showed no intention of letting them pass.

He glanced at the expensive-looking off-road vehicle, then at Lin Xia, who was sitting in the passenger seat—terrified but still beautiful—and a cruel smile curled the corners of his mouth.

"Leave the car, and the people come with us."

The boy said in broken English, pressing the muzzle of his gun against Jiang Yuan's chest.

"The General wants to see you."

Jiang Yuan looked down at the gun barrel pressed against his chest, then at this group of children who were like walking corpses.

He did not make a move.

It would be easy to kill these children, but he wanted to see what kind of thing this "General" behind them really was.

"Fine."

Jiang Yuan raised his hands, a playful smile hanging on the corners of his mouth.

"Lead the way."

...

The convoy did not drive far.

After crossing two dirt hills, the scene before them left Lin Xia completely stunned.

This was no military camp; this was clearly a living hell.

It was a massive open-pit diamond mine.

The river valley, once lush and green, had been completely torn apart, turned into a giant, deep pit flowing with reddish-brown mud.

Thousands of ragged, emaciated local civilians were standing barefoot in knee-deep mud, using primitive sieves to wash the sand and soil over and over again.

Under the scorching sun, with venomous insects swarming everywhere.

At the edge of the pit stood dozens of armed overseers. They held whips and rifles, and if they noticed anyone slowing down or attempting to hide something, it was an immediate, brutal beating.

The air was filled with the stench of sweat, excrement, and rotting corpses.

Under a dead tree in the corner of the pit, a few corpses of people who had just died lay piled up; no one buried them, leaving them to be bitten by flies.

"This... this is blood diamond..."

Lin Xia sat in the car, watching the cruel scene outside the window, feeling as if her breath had frozen.

She had only seen such scenes in the movie "Blood Diamond" before, but when it was all happening for real right in front of her, the impact was something no camera could ever express.

Behind every sparkling diamond in a display case, there might be the blood of the innocent from this land.

The car stopped in front of a simple command post in the center of the mining area.

Jiang Yuan and Lin Xia were "invited" out of the car.

Just then, a commotion suddenly erupted in the mud pit not far away.

"He's stealing! He's stealing!"

An overseer shouted loudly, dragging a thin, middle-aged man out of the mud.

The man was clutching a raw diamond he had just found, only the size of a soybean, his eyes filled with despair and terror. He had wanted to swallow it to take it back and trade it for some food for his daughter, who was nearly starving to death.

"No! I didn't! I found it!" The man cried, begging for mercy.

"Rules are rules."

A burly black man wearing military boots and sunglasses—clearly the foreman here—walked over slowly.

He pulled out a rusty machete from his waist.

"Do you want long sleeves, or short sleeves?"

The foreman asked with a sinister grin.

Upon hearing this, the man was so terrified that he lost control of his bladder, frantically kowtowing in the mud: "Please! Please! I still have to work! I still have to support my family!"

So-called "long sleeves" meant cutting off the hands at the wrists. "Short sleeves" meant cutting off the arms at the elbows.

This was the most heinous punishment in this war-torn land. Those laborers who lost their hands could only wait for death in this place.

"Since you won't choose, I'll choose for you."

The foreman's eyes turned cold, and he raised the blade.

"Ah!!!"

Lin Xia screamed, instinctively wanting to rush over to stop it, but was held back by two guns pressed firmly against her.

*Slash.*

The blade fell.

Blood sprayed out, staining the diamond that had fallen to the ground.

The man's screams echoed throughout the entire mining pit, but the numb laborers around them didn't even dare to lift their heads, continuing to mechanically sift the mud.

Jiang Yuan stood in place, watching the scene.

His sunglasses hid his eyes, and no one could see his expression.

Only the nano-battle suit that was always attached to his body seemed to sense the sudden drop in its master's body temperature, a layer of extremely faint, black ripples like deep-sea whirlpools appearing on its surface.

"Welcome to my kingdom, guests from afar."

Just then, the tent flap of the command post was lifted.

A warlord leader wearing a flashy white suit, sporting gold chains, and chewing on a cigar walked out, surrounded by a group of bodyguards.

He glanced at the man screaming on the ground, frowned in disgust, and waved his hand for someone to drag him away to be fed to the dogs.

Then, his greedy eyes landed on Jiang Yuan's pristine Land Rover and Lin Xia's delicate, oriental face.

"I am the 'Blood General'."

He exhaled a smoke ring, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

"Looks like my luck is good today; God has sent me two fat sheep."