Chapter 388: Expansion (Part II)

Bolivia, a landlocked country located in the central part of South America, is bordered by Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Paraguay. Its legal capital is Sucre, and the actual seat of government is La Paz.

After many countries are established, their territorial maps will undergo varying degrees of expansion or contraction as time passes.

Without a doubt, Bolivia belongs to the latter.

Bolivia was originally part of the Inca Empire. During the Age of Discovery, as the Inca Empire was conquered by Spanish colonists, Bolivia also fell and became a Spanish colony. The Spanish called it "Upper Peru," and it was subordinate to the Spanish Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata.

During the Latin American wars of independence, the liberator of South America, Simon Bolivar, liberated "Upper Peru." To thank this liberator of South America, the "Republic of Bolivia," named after him, was born.

At that time, Bolivia was still a major South American power with a territory of nearly 1.3 million square kilometers, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the west.

It is just a pity that in the subsequent "War of the Pacific" and "Chaco War," Bolivia was successively defeated by its neighbors Chile and Paraguay, and was forced to cede its only coastal province and nearly one-third of its territory, from then on completely falling into a thorough landlocked country.

"... What a country with truly terrible transportation!"

Stepping off the bus, Yuri, who had already been jolted for the entire journey, had a face full of undisguised exhaustion.

Perhaps it was because someone among the Bolivian military personnel he contacted had leaked the news; Bolivia's intelligence agencies had been visible everywhere like hounds in recent days. Although the assassination attempt on the president more than two months ago did not succeed, it did indeed frighten the new president of Bolivia.

The intelligence agency had undergone a near-total purge, and his confidants had subsequently moved into the country's intelligence apparatus.

Although Bolivia is only a small country, the power and will of any country, once mobilized, are still very troublesome.

Especially for someone like Yuri, an unidentified person who entered the country through special means, he naturally could not return to La Paz from Sucre via airplanes or trains, which were under strict scrutiny. He and his dozen or so confidants and followers chartered a black bus and wasted two full days before finally returning to La Paz.

The jolting along this journey had caused Yuri, who had been enjoying a luxurious life in Brazil for half a year, to suffer greatly.

Yet, although he was unhappy, he dared not truly show it.

The reason was none other than that Yuri had come to Brazil this time with an important Task.

If he succeeded, everything would be easy to handle.

Not only could he obtain money and power far exceeding what he had now, but he could even hide behind the scenes to manipulate the policy direction and fate of a country.

At the thought of this, Yuri felt the soreness, discomfort, and exhaustion brought to his body by the jolting journey all disappear.

Pulling himself together, he snapped his fingers. A subordinate beside him immediately understood and stepped forward, took out a premium Havana cigar that Yuri loved, handed it over, and did not forget to take out a lighter to help him light it.

"Hiss... Hu..."

He took a deep drag, holding the smoke in his mouth to carefully savor the unique sweet aroma of the premium Vuelta Abajo tobacco. Only after a good while did he exhale the smoke, his expression having turned cold and stern once again.

"Where are Colonel Numar's people? Surely he hasn't been exposed too, has he?"

A subordinate waiting on the side stepped forward and replied in a low voice: "Boss, there have indeed been some problems on the Colonel's side. A high-level police official in La Paz whom he had recruited was reported by his own subordinate. Just early this morning, that person was already taken into custody by the intelligence agency..."

"Fu*k!"

Yuri could not help but curse. The premium Havana cigar he had just lit and taken two or three puffs of was angrily flung heavily to the ground, and he even kicked it away, still feeling unsatisfied.

"Useless trash!"

He snorted heavily, his gaze becoming increasingly sinister. "The agreed-upon meeting place is no longer safe. You go, get two cars as soon as possible, and find a local to take us to find a hidden place to stay first. I need to determine Numar's current situation as soon as possible!"

"Yes!"

Brazil was once a Portuguese colony, and Portuguese is generally similar to Spanish. Moreover, Brazil also has many people of Spanish descent, so the subordinates Yuri recruited in Brazil could almost all speak some Spanish, and communication was not a problem.

The subordinate had only been gone for a dozen minutes before he returned with a local who had brownish-red skin and was clearly of Indian descent.

"Boss, the cars are ready. Tevez knows a very hidden place that won't be noticed. He is a local and also an employee of our Warehouse; it is absolutely safe!"

Yuri had originally been a bit worried, but upon hearing this introduction, although he still hadn't completely set his mind at ease, he still breathed a sigh of relief.

The so-called Warehouse was actually a series of shell companies registered by Base No. 2 through extremely cumbersome means in the three countries of Peru, Chile, and Bolivia, in order to cover the safe entry of materials it obtained from Russia and China into Brazil via the West Pacific.

Over the past half year, batch after batch of smart people who sensed that these companies were abnormal had all disappeared. Those who remained were either playing dumb for the sake of a high salary or were truly honest people.

Many companies under the Warehouse system had dealt with Yuri, so they naturally had already learned from Base No. 2 who the Warehouse was serving.

"Tevez, is it? Do a good job. In a few days, I'll have the Warehouse side give you an extra half-year's salary!"

The middle-aged Indian man with brownish-red skin was clearly an honest fellow. He had originally been a bit timid and uneasy, but upon hearing the translation of Yuri's promise from the subordinate, he couldn't help but be overjoyed and thanked him repeatedly: "Thank you, Boss! Thank you, Boss!"

Several cars soon carried Yuri and his group to a storage center near the La Paz Huochezhan.

After getting out of the car, Yuri raised an eyebrow. Just as he was about to lose his temper, he didn't expect that the Indian named Tevez would take the initiative to come over and explain ingratiatingly.

"Boss, this is our company's bulk metal reserve Warehouse. The company has already handled the relationships with the government side, so no one will be bored enough to come and look for trouble!"

This was actually not a lie. Back then, in order to ensure the safety of the material transport channels, Sun Cheng had personally dealt with some people who didn't know better. In just a few months, the number of people who died at his and the hands of the Transformers was no less than several hundred, including many high-ranking police and political officials and gang bosses from the three countries of Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. He used bloody means to completely suppress those who wanted to overstep their bounds and those who tried to investigate to the end.

Of course, the carrot still had to be given.

South America is one of the most politically corrupt regions in the world. Having both power and money here really allows one to do whatever one wants.

After using both soft and hard tactics, and going back and forth with a few sets of combination punches, the corpses of those who didn't know better were about to turn into white bones. Only then did the companies under the Warehouse system finally become a taboo in the three countries that no one dared to easily provoke.