153 The Tuareg Tribe (1/2)

Chapter 153: The Tuareg Tribe

Translator: _Min_Editor: Yukira_

In the morning, the tranquil Sahara desert welcomed a group of strange guests.

Three Hummers galloped the vast endless expanse of sand, leaving three trails of dust behind the undisturbed desert.

”How much longer?” Jiang Chen asked in boredom while sitting in the back with his arms crossed.

Ayesha, who was sitting beside him, had the same emotionless expression, but from the dark, deep circles under her eyes, it was evident she didn't get enough sleep.

”It's just right ahead of us! But first, we need to greet the chiefs of the nearby tribes,” Robert yelled enthusiastically while driving.

”Why do I feel that you get really excited when you're in the desert?” Jiang Chen glanced at him.

”This feeling of freedom is something that you'll never understand!”

This guy is crazy.

Jiang Chen mulled things over while looking outside the window.

The other two Hummers sat ten veterans recruited as instructors; compared to the energy here, theirs was much quieter.

Soon the vehicle drove into small sand dunes with a harder surface.

When Jiang Chen's vision suddenly cleared, he saw rows and rows of small huts.

Primitive, ignorance, poverty.

These three words summed up his first impression.

Yellowish gray house and courtyard piled up from gravel. Withered branches were tied together and used as the gate of the courtyard, and the windows were covered with dyed cloths like an ancient Arabic town in the 12th century. Every household kept a camel. It was said that here a man's social status was measured by how many camels he possessed.

”I'm a bit confused. Perhaps you can explain to me our purpose of coming here?” Jiang Chen asked helplessly.

”Of course. Er, it might be a tad difficult to understand based from the modern perspective. Afterall, we already paid the money and purchased the land from the government of Niger. A portion of that money was also used to compensate them for taking up their ranch. As far as the contract is concerned, the 20 hectares of land not far from here are ours, but according to the local customs, our identity is still that of a ”guest”. So following their tradition, we must obtain their recognition first before we can ”settle” here,” Robert explained.

”That troublesome?” Jiang Chen's mouth twitched.

”In fact, it's only a formality since they are more or less secularized,” Robert shrugged and slowed down the speed of the car, ”Still, there are some benefits from respecting their local tradition. At the very least, we can harmoniously co-exist without worrying about them giving us trouble, and they may even stand by our side during critical moments.”

”I don't quite understand what you're saying. So who is the owner of this piece of land? Is it Niger? The Tuareg tribe?”

”Hmm, you can think of it as Niger as the king of the middle age, and Tuareg tribe as the lord of this piece of land.” Robertsrolled his eyes as he gave an unlikely metaphor.

”If we get into a conflict with them, which side would the Niger government be on?” Jiang Chen asked a dangerous question after listening to Robert's explanation.

A troubled smile appeared on Robert's face upon hearing Jiang Chen's question.

”The Niger government will be delighted if we could wipe them out, but that's kind of impossible. Tuareg men are scattered throughout the desert. And rumor says that they have some unusual relationship with extremist organizations like Al-Qaeda. The Tuareg guerrillas also fought alongside Al-Qaeda during a riot in Mali.”

Robert paused when he noticed Jiang Chen's unresponsiveness. For fear that Jiang Chen might do something harsh, he immediately added, ”Uh, I suggest we better not clash with them. The people here are quite tough, and despite being poor, every household has an AK lying around.”

”Don't be nervous, I was just asking,” Jiang Chen quipped.

When the car drove into the tribe, all natives cast the vehicles with a curious look. Due to the poor road condition, Robert rolled down the window and signaled the two vehicles behind to stay outside of the tribe.

It was not a big deal, following the local tradition shouldn't take long to complete.

”That's the food market over there, but I don't recommend you trying out the things they sell there.”

”What a coincidence, I'm also not interested.” Jiang Chen looked outside the window. A kid on a camel gave him a curious look, and his father, who was wearing a veil, led the camel out of the tribe.

Ayesha subtly glanced at the window and muttered one phrase: ”Heresy.”