Two weeks had quickly flown by since the military extortion. Over one thousand people now live in the town as Yezi resumed his rescue operations.
More people were being found in the other directions of Guangzhou's outskirts, much more than the southern direction that faced Luoping.
However, just as everything kept on sailing smoothly, Yezi encountered a group of people whom he didn't know what to do with.
It was a group of foreigners, ones that didn't look remotely similar to the international students from Africa they encountered in the past as zombies.
At first, the communication was difficult as Yezi's men knew only a few English words, barely able to communicate with one-word phrases.
Fortunately, Yezi eventually found Han Bang, the only college graduate who happened to know English well enough to piece a few sentences together.
---
"You tell me you rescued a bunch of foreigners, and one of them knows how to make guns?"
Yuqi asked, sitting right next to Xiaoyun as Yezi and Han Bang both stood in front of them, their rifles still strapped to their back.
"Yes... But we had to... It's hard to explain. Han Bang, you go explain the whole story to them."
As Yezi moved Han Bang up to the front, Xiaoyun was looking at the group of foreigners through the windows outside.
"We found them at a hotel near the embassy... Three of them are Russian, one of them is German, and one of them is American."
Han Bang paused for a second, then continued.
"The American is the main translator, and she saw us carrying an M16, so she thought we were a part of the American embassy."
"The American embassy? Isn't that like deep inside the city center?" Xiaoyun questioned, realizing something was a little off.
"Why are they here in Guangzhou?" Yuqi curiously asked.
"They are in the city because their plane was put on hold during the outbreak. They were planning to fly them from Russia to China, then to somewhere in Africa."
Han Bang's explanation only left the two with more questions as they still couldn't understand the logic behind it.
"Why didn't they just fly directly from the U.S or Europe? What a weird combo to have Russian and German together..." Xiaoyun murmured.
"Shut up, Xiaoyun, let him finish first. What did you say after they thought you were a part of the American embassy?"
As Yuqi stepped on Xiaoyun's foot under the table, he instantly closed his mouth before Han Bang continued answering her question.
"Um... All I told them was that we were from a rescue team to save them, and all of them looked relieved.
I think they might have mistaken us for Navy Seals or something... Sorry, Ma'am, I should have clarified it to them."
Han Bang apologized as his face looked a little nervous. It was clear he didn't clarify it for the sake of getting them to come with them.
"It's fine——"
"So who's the one who knows how to make the guns?" Yuqi asked, interrupting Xiaoyun once again as she looked out the window.
The three Russians are the former engineer at a Russian manufacturing plant that makes firearms.
At least that's what the American women said. The German woman, I'm not so sure about." Han Bang replied.
"I see... Can you bring all of them up here? We want to talk to them." Yuqi requested.
"Yes, ma'am."
As Han Bang and Yezi left the office, Yueyue, who had been sitting on the sofa the whole time, finally spoke up.
"How are we going to explain that we aren't a part of the American government?" Yueyue curiously asked.
"Han Bang never told them we're the American government. It's their own assumption, not ours... Besides, not like they have any other choices." Yuqi answered.
"It's been almost half a year since the outbreak. The fact that these foreigners aren't rescued means they are pretty much abandoned here anyway." Xiaoyun added.
"I guess..."
---
Three minutes later, the five foreigners were finally brought up to the main office.
"You're the American? What's your name?" Xiaoyun asked in English.
"Yes, I'm the translator for them. My name is Katherine, but you can call me Kate." The redhead woman answered in English as she walked up to the front.
"Okay, Kate, I'm here to tell you we aren't related to the American government in any way," Yuqi answered right away in perfect English.
"What? How's that possible? Everyone I see here is using an M16. No other people in these countries would have this gun," Kate questioned in confusion.
"Well, that's the truth, I don't know what else to tell you... We are just a civilian town after the outbreak."
As Yuqi shrugged her shoulder and didn't elaborate any further, Kate had no other choice but to accept it as fact.
She quickly turned around, speaking a different language to the three Russian men, then another language to the blonde German woman.
The three men seemed to have accepted the truth without any trouble, but the other seemed to be extremely angry as she started yelling back at Kate's face.
"Um, can I ask what she is saying?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"She's upset that you guys aren't the American government and that she wanted to go back to Germany," Kate explained.
"There's no way anyone can travel across the ocean to America, let alone go back to Germany. Tell her that it is simply not possible." Yuqi pointed out.
After Kate talked some sense to the German woman, she quickly calmed back down as if she had realized the situation she was in.
Suddenly, the three Russian men started talking to Kate, saying words that no one else could understand other than the four of them.
"Um... the three of them wanted to know if they can live here, they are willing to work for food." Kate translated.
"Of course, they can. We will offer them whatever they need as long as I can get their skills as gunsmiths."
The moment Kate translated Xiaoyun's words to the three of them, they looked towards him with a smile before saying something in Russian again.
"They want some food, a place to stay, and some vodka." Kate translated again.
"We can do that." Xiaoyun instantly answered.
"Tell them that we are currently building an arms factory. Can they teach others how to make guns and ammo for it?"
Yuqi finally asked the most important question everyone had been waiting for, as Kate turned around to translate both of their words to the three Russians.
After a short silence, three of them spoke up again before Kate translated it into English.
"They said they can do that, but you will have to provide all the equipment and materials."
"Don't worry, we had been getting machining tools from different hardware stores. We will provide the equipment and materials."
As Kate started translating to the three of them, Yueyue suddenly spoke up in English with a question of her own.
"Can I ask what kind of gun they can make?"
Kate quickly went back to translating before giving an answer that satisfied everyone in the room.
"They only know how to make um, I think some sort of AK. I am not sure how to translate this, sorry." Kate replied.
"That's good enough."
As Xiaoyun's hand reached down to his drawer, he quickly took out three bottles of vodka he had just created from thin air.
"Here you go, as a gift."
Despite not being able to understand each other, the faces of the three men were overjoyed as they excitedly walked up to Xiaoyun's desk.
"Thank you, my friend!" The three Russian men answered in English for once as Xiaoyun handed them the bottle one by one.
"No problem, my friend."
After shaking hands with each of them, Xiaoyun quickly directed Yezi to guide them outside for now.
"Now this German lady... Can I ask what her skill is? And what is her name?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"Her name is Anna, she's a gun designer," Kate replied without even turning around to ask this time.
"What does Anna want to work for us as a gun designer?" Yuqi asked.
Kate quickly turned around, translating between the two languages before she spoke up in English again.
"She wants her own workshop and for you to provide material for her to gun design and a lab for the bullet's powders? Um, chemist experiment?"
Kate paused for a second, then had a back-and-forth talk with Anna as if she had some sort of translation confusion.
"Okay, so she wants her own space to herself and all the material, as I mentioned earlier, and a car. But not just any car, but the car outside the building."
"Wait, isn't that car ours? Isn't it taken to be a part of Yezi's rescue missions?" Yueyue questioned as she saw the car outside.
"That's fine. She can have the car as long as she can work with the three Russians in designing guns and bullets." Yuqi answered instantly.
After Kate translated it back to Anna, her face immediately looked a little excited as she reached out for a handshake with Yuqi.
"Okay, then we have a deal, then?" Yuqi stretched out her hand.
"Deal."
Anna spoke in a single English word as the two of them shook hands, leaving only one other person in the room as Yezi guided her out.
"Miss Kate, can I ask if you really are just a translator? Bringing these four to Africa seems a little weird."
Xiaoyun asked, his face looking very suspicious towards her as he couldn't help but feel something was a little off about her.
"I can't tell you that," Kate answered.
"Miss Kate, the American Government has already fallen, just like every government in the world. There's no point in hiding it." Yuqi pointed out.
After a long silence, Kate finally spoke up again.
"I'm working for the CIA... The president wanted to help one of the African warlords to boost American interest.
But he knew Congress would never allow it, so he had the CIA recruit foreigners to send to them in secret."
"A redhead spy... doesn't that stand out a bit much——Ow!"
"Miss Kate, can we hire you as a full-time translator for these four people? We can give you whatever you need."
Yuqi asked as she stepped onto Xiaoyun's foot again, her face held up a smile as she looked towards Kate with a plea.
"That's fine with me... Not like I got other places to go anyway."
"Great... Yueyue, can you help them find a place for them to live for the day? Also, Kate, can you tell them the factory and workshop will be done by the end of the month?"
"Okay..."
As Yueyue headed out with Kate to meet up with the other three foreigners, both Xiaoyun and Yuqi let out a small sigh of relief.
Their one of the biggest concerns was seemingly to be on track to be resolved.