Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mbandaka, capital of Equateur Province.

As a city with a tropical rainforest climate, the weather here is very hot and humid during the dry season, and in the rainy season, the rain for months in a row always makes people feel damp and uncomfortable.

Just after the rainy season, the Congo River meanders through the city, and although there are many buildings in the area where it flows, the banks are still lush and green, and the scenery can be very intoxicating if the weather is good.

Rushing from Uganda, Yang Zi and they certainly worked the road for several days.

One is that the road is not very familiar, and the road conditions are relatively poor.

Another issue is the issue of visa recognition, which has been delayed for two days for some reason, and by the time they officially check in in Mbandaka, it is already the fifth day since they left Uganda.

After spending several days on the border between the two countries, and then running all the way down, everyone felt very tired.

In order not to affect the state, Yang Zi did not arrange a trip in the next few days, but chose a suitable hotel to live in, let his companions move freely, and began to prepare for the trip.

First of all, one thing to do is to reduce the load, because in the rainforest, the waterline of the boats that can pass through is generally shallow.

And everyone came down this way, not to mention the bits and pieces of souvenirs, there were a lot of clothes bought in Russia, and so many things were obviously not suitable for carrying on them.

In addition to these miscellaneous things, there is also a need to streamline fishing equipment and photographic equipment, as well as some camping equipment.

After discussing with my companions, a few people spent the morning counting things, except for the necessary equipment to bring, the rest were basically temporarily stored in the hotel.

As for the bits and pieces needed by the entourage, Yang Zi gave full authority to Wood and Sima to handle them, and he and Tan Ziqing went to a local tourist security office, ready to rent two rifles for protection.

Isn't it amazing that guns can still be rented!

In fact, in Africa, many countries are on the verge of turmoil, and Uganda where they went before was okay, the government strictly prohibits the use of firearms by civilians, so it is relatively safe.

In the Congo, however, firearms are loosely regulated, and although there are many armed groups and armies that own guns, although they are free to buy, sell and use all types of firearms as in the United States.

These people have caused a lot of chaos and casualties, and they are relatively well-known, and I believe that those who often follow the news should have heard of it.

When the Congolese prime minister left office, there was a confrontation between the armed forces and the security forces, and other small armed groups were involved in the fierce clashes.

In the end, because of the casualties, it turned directly into a confrontation between armed gangs and police, and ironically, the group organized by the guerrillas had the upper hand for a while.

Originally, these people only came forward in response to the call of the big warlords, but after discovering that the government army was no longer enough, the greed in their hearts began to explode, and the purpose from the beginning gradually changed to crazy robbery and plunder.

If it weren't for the fact that the government found the situation serious and hurriedly dispatched troops to suppress it with heavy firepower and force the assembled gangs to disband, it is really difficult to say how far the situation would have developed.

Since even the government dares to engage in it, then the usual style and habits of these people can be guessed.

Robbery and other things basically occur from time to time in areas where law and order are backward, and more often there are all kinds of shooting casualties, which make the government deeply disgusted but unable to rectify them.

In particular, incidents such as rape of women and children can really be said to be the kind of tragedy, and interested readers can search for relevant news, and the author will not describe it here.

But most importantly, Congo has the second largest tropical rainforest in the world, which is extremely rich in flora and fauna, so it attracts many scholars and tourists to visit and see it.

This was originally a good thing, which could well promote the development of the local economy, and the government was also happy to see it, and set up supporting facilities for this purpose.

But all of this was eventually disrupted by the armed forces roaming around the territory, and those gangs didn't care whether you were a foreigner or not, as long as you met them, it was basically the beginning of a nightmare for tourists.

If you're a man, if you're lucky, they might just snatch your valuables, tease you and let you go.

But if a female tourist encounters these people and is unfortunately caught, they will be doomed.

Some were shot and killed after being wantonly played and abused, some died directly in the process of humiliation, and some escaped by chance, but they also left a lifetime of indelible wounds.

Over time, after the notoriety spread, the local tourism industry, which had just picked up, was almost wiped out, and it fell into a cold winter in an instant.

In order to save their reputation, try to avoid such things, and also to ensure the safety of foreign tourists and provide them with a little protection, many local places have conveniently set up this kind of temporary gun rental.

As long as you provide legal identification details, be willing to comply with those rules, and spend a little more money, you can get a powerful firearm to defend yourself from.

Once you have weapons to defend yourself, although you can't fight those robbers and rapists, at least people have confidence in their hearts.

Like Yang Zi, they have to go deep into the rainforest for a few days, and if they have the help of firearms, the safety factor will increase significantly, and of course everyone can't miss such a good thing.

When they came to the security office, Yang Zi and Tan Ziqing handed over their passports and identity information to each other for verification, and obtained the rental qualification very smoothly.

Yang Zi didn't know much about the selection of guns later, so he made a phone call directly to Wood, and at the request of the other party, he chose two rifles that used 7.92 by 57 Mauser bullets.

By the way, the guns rented here are all pull-bolt type, and the most advanced is a carbine, which is completely automatic at all.

The two guns they chose, Yang Zi deliberately tried his vitality at the shooting range next to him, the huge gunfire and recoil were completely different from the small-caliber rifles they had in Uganda before.

According to the introduction of the security officer, this gun is used to shoot an oryx or something, and it is all a matter of one bullet, but unfortunately the other party has made it clear in the terms that rental guns are not allowed to be used for hunting.

Although there are many restrictions, after successfully getting the rifle, Yang Zi is in a very good mood.

They returned to the hotel and had a brief meeting with their partners.

Since the transportation and belongings of Wood and Sima had already been completed, after confirming that the things needed for this mission were not missing, everyone officially set the departure time for the next morning.