Global Mercenaries: Starting from the Russia-Ukraine War

Chapter 20 Black Market

"Lu! The captain is waiting for you!" Lu Ye, who was deep in thought, heard Alexei's voice.

Lu Ye took a deep breath, turned around and followed Alexei toward the tent where Captain Dmitry was.

As soon as I reached the door, I saw Dmitry squatting on the ground, a half-burnt cigarette between his fingers. At his feet lay Seryozha's body, along with his identification tag and a few personal belongings.

"Captain," Lu Ye said in a deep voice.

Dmitry looked up at Lu Ye, took a deep drag on his cigarette, stubbed it out in the mud, and stood up. "Anton, explain the situation!"

Anton nodded and glanced at everyone: "As of now, we still haven't made contact with the temporary camp. However, there's good news: I overheard the soldiers talking about a black market trading place in this camp."

"The black market?" Alexei asked rhetorically.

"That's right, which means we can exchange our spoils for cash!" Anton immediately waved to stop the excited Alexei. "But there's bad news! I heard the black market's commission is extremely high!"

"Have you found out the location of the black market?" Lu Ye asked.

"Of course, it's in a partially collapsed underground air-raid shelter behind this camp," Anton said confidently.

Dmitry continued, "I called you here to discuss whether you want to exchange your currency here directly, or return to the temporary camp after receiving notification!"

"If we go back to the camp to exchange for the money, there's another problem! The disposal of Seryozha's remains also requires a certain amount of money."

After Dmitry finished speaking, everyone fell silent. Lu Ye spoke first, saying, "I choose to handle this here!"

He had no choice but to quickly convert his spoils into money or supplies and send them back to his family back home. If he could convert any remaining spoils into combat power, that would be even better.

"Captain! You know I don't have much money!" Alexei said hesitantly. "I also agree to handle it at this camp!"

"We also agree that we should deal with it immediately! To avoid any unforeseen problems!" Maxim and Victor exchanged a glance and echoed each other.

"Since you all agree to deal with it immediately, then bring out all the odds and ends you found on the road yesterday." Dmitry didn't waste any words and pointed directly to an empty ammunition box in front of him.

Without the slightest hesitation, everyone pulled out their spoils from their pockets.

A tactical watch with a shattered screen, two gold necklaces, a dagger with a silver trim, and some bloodstained US dollars and local currency.

Lu Ye silently stepped forward and emptied everything from his pockets onto the surface.

"In this godforsaken place, I can't even sleep peacefully with all this stuff." Dmitri's rough, calloused hand fiddled with the spoils, his voice hoarse. "Lu, come with me. Exchange all this for money. The rest of you, stay put!"

"I want to go too, Captain!" Alexei muttered to himself.

"What good will it do you go! Lu is from China, he's been learning math since he was born!" Dmitri said, then walked out of the tent and gestured for Lu Ye to follow.

Upon hearing this, Lu Ye broke out in a cold sweat. Who spread this rumor? It was so bizarre. At the same time, he turned around, shrugged, glanced helplessly at Alexei, and quickly followed.

The two left the squad's camp one after the other and headed towards the back of the camp.

The closer you get to the air-raid shelter, the more eerie the atmosphere becomes.

The cannon fodder who used to lie in the mud and wail are gone, replaced by a group of ruthless characters with wary eyes and full armor.

Although some of them wore miscellaneous military uniforms and others wore civilian clothes, without exception, they all wore bulletproof vests and their fingers were loosely resting on the trigger guards.

Just as Lu Ye and Dmitri were about to step through the rusty iron door of the air-raid shelter, a series of steady footsteps came from inside.

In the blink of an eye, a group of five people slowly walked out of the dimly lit passage.

The moment Lu Ye saw these people clearly, he instinctively stopped in his tracks, and all the muscles in his body tensed up instantly.

The leader was extremely tall, resembling an upright polar bear.

He was wearing a full set of multi-terrain camouflage combat uniform, with a heavy bulletproof vest over it, and a heavy helmet with a face mask on his head.

What's even more striking are the weapons they have.

This group of people were all equipped with heavily tactically modified AK-12 assault rifles, fitted with suppressors, holographic sights and laser pointers, with Glock pistols slung over their thighs, and their tactical vests were full of flashbangs and fragmentation grenades.

Lu Ye's gaze fell upon an armband on the left arm of the leading burly man.

A jet-black skull against a background of crossed scythes and a sniper rifle, with the words "The Undertaker" embroidered in blood-red Russian below.

"Hey, isn't this our hero captain Dmitry?"

The burly man at the head stopped and looked down at Dmitry with a mocking smirk.

His voice was unusually hoarse: "What, you brought your... Boy Scout? Came to a rat hole to scavenge for scraps?"

"The Rat Hole" is the black market trading place that Anton mentioned.

Dmitry's face instantly darkened. The rifle that had been casually slung over his shoulder was now in his hand, and his thumb subtly flicked the safety off.

"Yuri, your mouth is still as foul as ever." Dmitri looked at him coldly. "What I bring my men here for is none of my business, and I don't need to report to a bunch of money-grubbing lackeys."

The burly man known as Yuri was not angry; instead, he let out a low, maniacal laugh.

"Lackey? Hahaha! Dmitri, you're still so naive, so pathetic!" Yuri suddenly stopped smiling, his eyes becoming as sharp as knives.

"How many of your laughable acts of brotherhood and patriotism did they actually save? I heard your team lost a sniper yesterday?"

After saying that, he glanced at Lu Ye, who was holding an SVD sniper rifle: "What, are you just grabbing some random greenhorn to make up the numbers now?"

Yuri's cold gaze swept over Lu Ye, his eyes full of disdain.

Faced with this provocation, Lu Ye remained silent, but his right hand had already quietly rested on the butt of the SVD, his eyes fixed on the burly man named Yuri.

He can't back down now; he must firmly cling to Dmitry's coattails.

Seemingly sensing the faint killing intent emanating from Lu Ye, the four armed men behind Yuri reacted instantly, raising all four rifles in unison, their muzzles subtly aimed at Lu Ye and Dmitry.

"Put down your guns!" Dmitry stepped forward, blocking Lu Ye half a body length behind him. "Yuri, don't think that just because you Undertaker are riding high right now, you can swagger around in front of me. If it really comes to a fight, even if you're better equipped, I can drag both of you down with me!"