Chapter 442: Congo River
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, a name many people have heard of.
Many people also know that this is one of the poorest places in the world.
But few people know that the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the second largest country in Africa and the twelfth in the world.
It has the world's second largest rainforest, the world's second largest hydropower resources, the world's second largest deep-water lake, and extremely rich mineral resources.
Although most of it is inland, it still has its own outlet to the sea, and its natural conditions are quite favorable.
With a population of nearly 100 million and so many resources, the country should have been able to develop.
But unfortunately, troublemakers from all sides have kept this region of Africa in turmoil. Especially since the Democratic Republic of the Congo is still a French-speaking area and has Gaul as its emperor, the two Congo wars directly destroyed all possibilities.
As far as Africa is concerned, even the former South Africa has been fooled and has fallen from a moderately developed country to this point.
Any African country that is making some progress is bound to have various problems.
It can be said that the Democratic Republic of the Congo has potential but has not been able to utilize it.
The whole country is in a state of severe poverty, and starvation is not a rare way to die here.
With a GDP of US$500 per capita, most people are struggling to survive.
In this case, the Congo River, a natural river, plays a vital role in transportation.
Ferries are the only means of transportation available to many Congolese people when travelling long distances.
Lao Pa is such a ferry captain, traveling back and forth on this dangerous river.
The big engine was spewing black smoke, and even the engine of the entire ferry was completely exposed to the outside for easy repair.
It is called a ferry, but it has been transformed into a weird floating object on the water with a punk and wasteland style.
It is unknown what the original hull looked like, but a lot of flat wooden planks were added to make the deck look extremely wide.
The entire deck was now crowded with people, making it extremely difficult to move around. Combined with some sheds, it looked like a refugee camp floating on the water.
In addition to the reinforcement of the hull itself, there are also some small wooden boats hanging on the side of the ship to take advantage of the wind.
This serious overloading and overload makes the ship's forward speed quite slow when going upstream.
This also makes the journey extremely long, at least more than a month, which is hard for outsiders to imagine in such an environment.
There was an indescribable stench throughout the ship .
There is no toilet on the boat, so if you want to use the toilet you have to go directly into the river.
Yes, even the big ones have to run to the stern and grab the railing to start fighting directly.
There have been cases where people failed to hold on tightly and fell down, and were smashed by the propellers.
Most of the food for a month was the dry rations they brought with them and some supplies when they stopped on the road, and the water was just scooped from the river with a cup.
This is unbelievable in the eyes of ordinary people, but for those who live here, it is the norm.
Even if you are so poor, you may still encounter "pirates" on the road.
Because many of those who choose to travel such a long distance through mountains and rivers are small merchants carrying some goods. At least these things are attractive enough to the "pirates" living here.
But fortunately, most of these pirates were just after money, and if there were not many of them, they couldn't take away much. So even though Lao Pa had encountered robberies more than a dozen times, he didn't care much about it.
He is their breadwinner and butter, so he would never worry about his own safety.
But today, on this waterway that he had traveled many times, Lao Pa always had a palpitation, as if something bad was going to happen. His intuition was always accurate...
Chirp~Chirp~
Suddenly, dense swarms of flying birds rushed out from the dense forest, flew across the river towards the other side, which seemed a little abnormal.
Not long after, Lao Pa saw a group of dishevelled figures with guns rushing out from the woods nearby.
Pushing a simple raft, he ran towards the water's edge.
He stepped in the mud with one foot deep and one foot shallow, but his movements were still very agile.
There were many footprints on the muddy river bank.
Six or seven men pushed the raft into the water and then climbed on.
And behind them there were three people holding guns with vigilant faces, looking into the depths of the dense forest and retreating continuously.
Seeing the appearance of this group of people, Lao Pa couldn't help but feel a shock in his heart.
Although they were all dirty, with a lot of mud and leaves mixed in, he could still see that their attire was completely different from that here!
And there were quite a few white people.
Da da da~
Suddenly, several people on the raft fired shots towards this side, hitting the water in front of the boat. At the same time, they were seen waving their arms and asking us to stop the boat.
This 'ferry', which had absolutely no protection and where everyone was in the open air, was at considerable risk even from ordinary firearms fire.
Lao Pa had no intention of gambling. Although he did not turn off the engine, he slowed down the already slow speed and moved towards them.
However, at this moment, suddenly, the three gunmen who were staring at the dense forest and retreating together entered the waist-high water and were about to turn over and climb onto the raft seemed to have discovered something.
Open fire directly at the dense forest that is beginning to shake.
Da da da~
As the gunfire began, the jungle became quiet for a moment, but when they turned around, it became chaotic again.
This made the three people who were already in waist-high water very anxious.
It started out as point-fire , but then it started to fire continuously, as if it was venting something madly.
When the water reached their chests, they no longer hesitated and began to turn over and climb the raft with all their might.
At this time, Lao Pa and everyone on the boat understood why they had such expressions!
Three incredibly large pythons emerged from the woods and swam quickly into the water!
The size of these snakes was something they had never seen before, even though they had lived here for many years. It caused a burst of exclamations and a panic-stricken commotion.
Three of the six people on the raft had guns in their hands, and when the big snake came out, they opened fire without hesitation.
But this time, the three giant pythons did not retreat at all.
Rushed into the water at the fastest speed.
There was a lot of blood on the muddy shore and on the water surface, obviously someone had been shot.
But they entered the water at the cost of injuries!
Even rifle bullets can only cause damage within a distance of one meter in water!
After the three big snakes entered the Congo River, they were as if they had been shot dead and did not cause any waves.
However, the people on the raft became nervous at this time. They stared at the water vigilantly and rowed their homemade oars faster and faster, trying to get closer to the ferry as quickly as possible.
"Hurry up! Hurry up! Damn it, their vitality is not dead yet!"
The professor had already taken off his protective suit and looked like a homeless person.
But as a civilian, the fact that he was able to follow all the way here is enough to show how strong his will is.
Among the researchers who had escorted them before, only he and two other young and strong ones were left.
There were only six combatants left.
However, none of the three snakes could be solved!
At this time, the golden retriever was also staring at the water coldly with a serious expression.
We have reached the last step. As long as we get through this difficult time and get on the ferry, the rest will be easy!
If they could get on that ferry, given the size of the ship, they could stay on board and fight a positional war. Moreover, with so many cannon fodder outside, the safety factor would be incomparable to what it is now!
Compared to the nervousness of Golden Retriever and the others, Antoine was completely different. Apart from guarding the professor, he looked as if nothing had happened.
The boss's presence is approaching...
