Liu Ziguang helped Ma Ligen straighten the collar of his shirt and said, "If you satisfy me, I will pay you double the price." ”

Mulligan took another sip and said, "Declare in advance, pay cash, don't pay CFA francs, only euros or dollars." ”

Liu Ziguang remained silent: "No problem, I will pay you to buy a ton of rum, but after arriving at San Juan Airport." ”

"That's for the best." Milligen shouted, greedily glanced at the watch on Liu Ziguang's wrist, it was a limited edition Ic pilot's watch, the market price was five thousand dollars, and the person who could wear this kind of watch would naturally not be a poor egg, which also invisibly endorsed Liu Ziguang's credit.

"We better hurry, you know, the situation in San Juan is not very stable." Liu Ziguang urged, took out a stack of large dollar bills from his wallet and handed them over: "These are advance payments, I think you are poor and probably can't afford to buy gasoline." ”

"Sir, it seems that you don't know old Mulligan, even if I can't drink rum myself, I won't let my baby Jenny go hungry, by the way, sir, I don't know what you call it."

"Bruce. Liu." Liu Ziguang casually pulled out an English name.

"Alright, Bruce, don't mind calling you by name, please wait a moment, I'll change my clothes." Mulligan walked into the room, and the black dog followed him, and after only a second Malegen came out, and the so-called change of clothes was just a shabby white large-brimmed hat and put it on his head, the cockade was golden, with the pattern of a crown and a propeller, and I don't know which country's air force military cap it was.

Mulligan made a gesture of waiting, walked into the workshop, lifted the green tarpaulin that was full of dust, and suddenly there was choking dust everywhere, under the tarpaulin was a dilapidated Land Rover open-top jeep, Mulligan jumped on it and moved for a while, the engine seemed to have asthma, coughing and coughing and not leaving.

"My father taught me that the best way to deal with a machine is to beat him up." Mulligan said, jumping out of the car and kicking the hood hard, but he didn't expect it to sound normal.

"Please, Bruce." Mulligan made a gesture of please, and then said to the black dog, "Reagan, come up!" ”

The black dog obediently jumped into the car, found a comfortable corner in the back and lay down, Liu Ziguang jumped into the co-pilot's seat, Maligan thought about it and got out of the car to take off the Winchester gun hanging on the wall and throw it into the car, and then stepped on the accelerator and left.

"I think I heard you shouting Reagan." Liu Ziguang asked casually.

"Yes, the dog's name is Reagan, and I have three dogs, all of whom are called by this son of a bitch." As he drove, Mulligan said that he was a good driver and that he was speeding through narrow dirt roads.

"I guess you're honoring someone, right?" Liu Ziguang said.

"yes, in honor of the President of the United States in the eighties, that was a long time ago, beware!" Turning the wheel, Mulligan whizzed past a black child, turned around and cursed in the Aboriginal language.

Liu Ziguang took out a cigar cigarette he bought at the airport duty-free shop and gestured, "Get one?" ”

"Thanks, but old Mulligan likes something a little more rushing." As he spoke, the old pilot let go of the steering wheel with both hands, took out a corncob pipe from his pocket, stuffed it with golden tobacco leaves, lit it on fire, and smoked it, and the Land Rover drove in a straight line towards the vast African wilderness.

After driving for about half an hour, I finally came to a deserted airport, the tower was empty, the barbed wire at the entrance was broken and rusty, a round iron sign was printed with a large sTop, the red paint was mottled, and the cracks in the concrete floor were overgrown with weeds.

Mulligan jumped out of the car, lifted the railing, and then drove to the hangar door, took out the key to open the huge iron lock, pushed the hangar door open, stood at the door and said triumphantly: "This is my old Jenny, I said she is the first beauty in Africa, I don't think you will object." ”

Liu Ziguang was stunned as he looked at the old propeller plane, a 1935 Douglas DC3 twin-piston short-haul airliner, typical of the 70s livery, red, blue and white, with a large area of paint peeling off on the fuselage to reveal the metallic primary color inside, and a golden girl in a bikini in a teasing posture was painted on the fuselage.

"Couldn't agree more." Liu Ziguang nodded and said.

Satisfied, Mulligan found a towing rope to attach to the car, pulled the old DC3 out of the hangar, parked it on the runway, removed the oil drum, held the still burning pipe, and refueled the plane with an old-fashioned air pump.

Liu Ziguang said: "Mr. Maligen, I think you must have been a soldier. ”

"Haha, you're right, I did military service in the South African army, I was a mercenary in the Congo, and I worked for those generals, who knew that they would steal the treasury as soon as they came to power."

Mulligan chattered and refueled for twenty minutes before he finished filling up the gasoline, put the car and the empty oil drum aside, threw the black dog into the hatch first, and then climbed in himself, despite the old man's age, he was quite agile.

"Bruce." Ma Ligen stretched out his hand, Liu Ziguang grabbed his hand, jumped up, DC3 There are more than 20 seats in it, because of the age, the sponge in the cushion is exposed, the cabin is full of oil smell, the cockpit is very simple, there is no modern equipment, Ma Ligen sat in the pilot's seat, skillfully turned on various switches, checked it, and then started the plane.

After the old plane taxied on the dirt runway for a distance, it finally flew into the sky, Liu Ziguang found a seat and sat down, looking at the endless African continent outside the porthole, it is now the dry season, the ground is yellow, but there are also large areas of green, after flying for a while, the blue sea fills the entire field of vision, Liu Ziguang understands that the closest route from Coto Nu to San Juan is to take the sea route.

It seemed that he had encountered a turbulence, the plane was a little bumpy, and his ears were full of the monotonous roar of motives, Liu Ziguang walked to the door of the cockpit and wanted to ask Milligen how many hours he could arrive, but he was surprised to see that this old guy was blowing with a bottle of rum.

"Mr. Mulligan, if I were you, I wouldn't drink so much when I'm on a plane." Liu Ziguang did not make a fuss, but said calmly.

"Oh, Bruce, you probably don't know that old Mulligan is only at his most sober when he's drinking, and he can hold the joystick."

Liu Ziguang shrugged his shoulders and sat in the co-pilot's seat, he didn't want to go into the sea to feed the fish in a daze.

"Can you fly?" Mulligan asked,

"Flew an Antonov biplane." Liu Ziguang replied.

"That's good, fly along the existing route and call me when you see the coastline." Mulligan took off his headphones and threw them away, and went to drink and sleep in the cockpit.

Liu Ziguang shook his head helplessly, and had no choice but to take over the joystick.

Some nameplates on the plane show that this is a military type of C47, which has been in service since World War II, and it is a miracle that it can last until now.

Three hours later, when he finally saw the coastline, Liu Ziguang shouted at the rear cabin: "Mr. Maligen, wake up." ”

Liu Ziguang pressed the control stick, and the plane swooped straight towards the sea, and Mulligan was planted on the cockpit wall, only then did he wake up, and flew into the cockpit, only now it was a false alarm, and Liu Ziguang had already pulled the plane up.

Mulligan took the lever and said meaningfully, "Young man, if you were born decades earlier, you must have been a good dive bomber pilot." ”

Liu Ziguang smiled and asked casually: "Mr. Mulligan, you must be flying a fighter in the South African Air Force." ”

"You're wrong, my Bruce, I serve in the South African Army and kill the troublesome black mongrels."

"So you're a racist?"

"Oh no, there are two kinds of people I hate the most in my life, the first is racist."

"What about the second one?"

"Blacks."

At this time, Liu Ziguang was completely speechless, so he had to smoke his cigar silently.

Under the wing is the capital of Western Sadamoa, the city of San Juan.

It's a seaside city, with a port and a few façade-adorning skyscrapers that are unique to African cities, but there are few decent ships in the harbor, and the main thing that makes up the city is a large area of tin houses and bungalows, with the view sweeping past the San Juan airport in front of it.

The so-called airport is just a simple terminal, the short runway cannot take off and land large passenger planes, and on the tarmac, there are a few old propeller planes lying alone, and Mulligan began to use the radio to contact the tower.

"San Juan Navigation Station, this is Jenny 757, request landing, over."

Soon came the answer: "Jenny 757, you can land, over." ”

The plane landed, in fact, the hardest part of controlling the plane was taking off and landing, and landing on a runway like San Juan Airport's harsh conditions was even more skillful, and it took a lot of effort for Mulligan to land his Jenny safely on the runway, and just after the plane slid into the tarmac, black smoke rose from the left engine.

"Poor old Jenny, it looks like I'm going to be in San Juan for a few days, it's enough." Mulligan complained.

"It's hard to find spare parts for this kind of old aircraft." Liu Ziguang asked sympathetically.

"That's not it, there's no good rum in a place like San Juan."

"Good luck, old fellow, this is your money, and if it's a coincidence, I hope to get back on your plane, goodbye." Mr. Liu used the dollars he exchanged at the airport bank to pay Mr. Maligan and jumped off the plane.

San Juan Airport was just a bare runway, a lonely tower, a two-story building in disrepair, customs officers in khaki uniforms sat expressionlessly under the pergola, and a few soldiers with crossbody rifles strolled leisurely, Liu Ziguang recognized that it was the old FnFa1, a high-powered automatic rifle made in Belgium, their barrels had been worn white, and the wooden butts were mottled and dull, and it seemed that they were not very well maintained.

The customs officer shouted at Liu Ziguang in a harsh tone, although he couldn't understand what he was saying, Liu Ziguang understood that he was asking for a passport, so he handed over his passport.

When the customs officer saw the large dollar bill in his passport, his eyes lit up, he picked up the stamp and covered it, and waved his hand to signal that Liu Ziguang could leave.