"Funding!" Ren Lei emphasized again, "We don't have enough funding! Chen Yang! You need to understand this. These aircraft were collected from various sources of scrapped military equipment after a lot of effort... It's already quite an achievement to have done this in such a short time."
"But...they're all military aircraft!" I took a breath.
"Nonsense!" Ren Lei finally glared at him. "Where am I supposed to buy civilian aircraft? How many civilian airlines are there in all of Africa? How many civilian aircraft are there in all of Africa? How much money do we have? Do you expect me to buy a few Boeing 747s or 757s?" He sighed and said in a low voice, "Besides, in some economically underdeveloped areas, it's common practice in many parts of the world to use retired military transport aircraft as civilian aircraft. It's fine."
I finally nodded.
Then I casually walked over to a plane...
It must be said that Ren Lei and his team were quite responsible. The condition of these planes was truly appalling. Some had rust on the fuselage that almost corroded the cabin, and there were multiple perforations, along with blue and green rust... If others saw planes like this, they might think that East Africa United Airlines was on the verge of bankruptcy!
Staff members were also seen carefully painting various paints and coatings on the surfaces of several aircraft... They even put our "East Africa United Airlines" logo and lettering on the fuselages of two of the planes!
Everything was done in a very proper and orderly manner...
But what happened next completely enraged me!
I circled a C-130 for ages. Suddenly, I discovered a very serious problem!
Because judging from the engine room... this aircraft doesn't seem to have an engine or any other mechanical components!
“Indeed, there isn’t.” Ren Lei said calmly, “None of the planes have engines, internal machinery, or even fuel tanks! Even the exposed propellers were something I had to find and match later.”
"...No engines? No machinery?" I swallowed hard. "Then...that means these planes are all fake? All of them..."
"How can it be fake?" Ren Lei said firmly, "It's real! They're all real airplanes."
“But these are all models!” I raised my eyebrows. “Can these things even fly? They’re just a bunch of sheet metal!”
"Of course it can't fly." Ren Lei gave me a strange look: "Have you ever seen a plane without an engine fly?"
"So... they're just piled up on the track... they can't even move an inch on the track. They can't even run two laps!"
“Of course not!” Ren Lei thought for a moment: “Unless we use a tow truck to tow it.”
Seeing my puzzled look, Ren Lei added, "Besides, even if I were willing to spend a fortune to install internal machinery on these planes, they still wouldn't be able to fly... Well, take this C130 for example. When we found it, it had already been dismantled into seven pieces and was lying in the junkyard of war-damaged military equipment. It took us nine tow trucks to haul it here, and then we spent a whole night piecing it back together... It was all temporarily welded on with electric welding. Some parts were so badly damaged that welding was impossible, so we just added two pieces of sheet metal and used rivets to temporarily secure it... Let alone fly. A slight shaking or movement would probably cause it to fall apart! I even suspect that it looks like a complete commercial aircraft now..."
Disrespectful to him, before he could finish speaking, the Flying Fox transport plane not far from us, which was being slowly towed by a trailer, suddenly had a loud bang, and its entire left wing fell off. This caused the workers to scramble to get a crane to reinstall it...
Ren Lei pretended not to see the scene, but continued, "Anyway, as long as it looks similar, that's fine!"
“A few real aircraft models…” I said in a desperate tone, “You don’t expect me to fool the American investigators with these things, do you?”
"Why not?" Ren Lei glanced at me quickly: "They're not going to ask you to take off the plane for them to see."
"That's technology!" I said, frustrated. "They always want to see our technology! They want to see our technical department, even our equipment, but we're just an empty shell right now. What technology are we supposed to see?"
“They won’t.” Ren Lei thought for a moment. “There’s a limit to causing trouble. If they go too far, it’ll be like tearing off all ties. But they won’t turn against us now, nor will they back down. This is just causing trouble once. Everyone’s just stalling. It’s a matter of who stalls better.”
I pointed at the planes: "And what about these guys? Once someone gets close and opens the cabin, they'll find that all your treasures are just a pile of scrap metal!"
“It’s very simple.” Ren Lei smiled.
Soon, people set up cordon tape around the planes and put up prominent "Do Not Approach" signs.
"What are you doing?" I frowned.
“A great excuse,” Ren Lei laughed. “Don’t you think the paint and coating on the plane are very new? We can just say that our plane has just undergone maintenance and was sprayed with new paint, which needs to evaporate, so people are not allowed to get close… What a great excuse!”
Ren Lei made it sound so easy, but what followed was something that gave me a real headache.
"Chen Yang!" Just after the "airport" construction was completed, Ren Lei's convoy began to retreat. He said to me, "This is all we can do. Look. Now we have the airport, the aircraft hangar, the runway, and even the planes... The other side was just putting on a show during the inspection, and our documents are all airtight... The rest depends on you. After all, this company is nominally yours and the G country's government, so our people won't show their faces to avoid giving the Americans any leverage. So, my work ends here."
"But I still need a company." I smiled wryly. "An airline can't just have airports and airplanes, can it? I need another company!"
“It’s very simple,” Ren Lei said calmly. “Rent an office building, get a bunch of desks, a few old computers, hang up a company sign, set up a few rows of filing cabinets, and arrange for a group of people to pretend to be company employees… It shouldn’t be difficult to fool them for a few hours and put on a show… You said it yourself.”
"Have you prepared all of these for me?"
"No..." Ren Lei shook his head and sighed. Then he suddenly complained to me, "Brother! I've used up all my resources to build this airport for you! Our budget is limited! I've spent three years' worth of funds in Africa on this airport! All my energy has been put into it; I simply don't have the resources to set up a company for you..."
"Alright. I'll take care of all that." I gritted my teeth, thinking to myself: It's just a few desks, a few computers, and a few rows of filing cabinets! I'll just gather a bunch of people, put on a good show when the other side comes to inspect the premises.
Watching Ren Lei get into the car and drive away, waving goodbye to him, I took one last, utterly desperate look at this "airport" that had been erected overnight.
There are also a few precious airplanes...
I really felt like banging my head against a wall and dying.
Feeling utterly frustrated, I left by car, leaving only a team of engineers left behind by Ren Lei to continue guarding and maintaining the airport. I returned to the city, quickly gathered everyone, and then urgently assigned tasks.
Buy office supplies, office furniture, and office appliances!
Rent an office space and decorate it in the simplest way possible...
"Fifth Brother..." one of the brothers assigned the task said with a bitter face, "You said renting an office building, I don't think it's difficult... but the renovation... a normal renovation can't be completed in less than one or two months!"
"No way! I'm only giving you a day and a half! Just a day and a half!" I thought for a moment and then gritted my teeth and said, "It's all just a charade anyway! I estimate those American investigators will only be in the company for about an hour at most. I only ask that the building doesn't collapse and the ceiling doesn't fall down within that hour! As for the rest, you can do whatever you want! In short, I just need to get through that hour-long inspection!"
Part Three: The Pinnacle, Chapter Forty-One: The Second "Thank You, Boss" Operation
Just then, Qiaoqiao came up with an idea: "In that case, you don't need to find any decoration company at all! Don't you have a film company in Hollywood? According to you, it's just a temporary company to put on a show, so isn't it just like a set in a movie? You can call your company and have them airfreight a batch of materials over immediately, and then send a few set design professionals over. Wouldn't that be better?"
I immediately adopted this suggestion. Although airfreighting the goods would cost an extra two hundred thousand dollars... I couldn't care less about that at the moment; I didn't care about such a small amount of money.
After I sent everyone down, Qiaoqiao rested her chin on her hand and thought for a long time, then her eyes suddenly lit up!
"Xiao Wu... I suddenly realized we've missed a crucial step!"
"What?"
"People!" Qiaoqiao looked at me. "A company needs employees, right?"
"Got it!" I said quickly. "At the airport, Ren Lei and his team left an engineering team. Those workers can impersonate company airport staff... Hmm, as for the company office, didn't I bring more than a dozen people? With you and me, we can just grab any citizen on the street... Hmm, a hundred dollars an hour. People would fight tooth and nail for something this good!"
“None of these are difficult.” Qiaoqiao looked at me and said casually, “Then… what about flight attendants? Can an airline not have flight attendants?”
"..." My eyes widened immediately.
...
Flight attendant... Flight attendant...
Where the hell am I supposed to find a bunch of flight attendants?!
Flight attendants aren't just any random group of African girls you can pick off the street! Flight attendants don't necessarily have to be beautiful, but they should at least have regular facial features!
Most importantly... flight attendants have to wear uniforms! Uniforms!!!
The biggest problem is... I still can't get Hollywood film studios to provide me with actors to play flight attendants!
Why?
This is Africa! The flight attendants I need must be Black! An all-Black girl lineup!
Even the flight attendants' uniforms...
Sigh, the movie company's prop room must have flight attendant uniforms, but they're all American Airlines uniforms!
“Damn it, flight attendant uniforms are just a light blue business suit with a row of buttons and a company logo! Maybe each flight attendant wears a scarf around their neck! That's about it!” I scratched my head. “We need about… a hundred flight attendants… which means a hundred sets of flight attendant uniforms…”
Qiaoqiao asked, "How much time is left?"
"A day and a half." I shook my head helplessly: "To produce a hundred flight attendant uniforms in a day and a half... This is East Africa, an East Africa surrounded by war, there are no clothing factories that can take on this kind of work! And where am I supposed to find a hundred pretty black girls?"
"I have an idea... Have you forgotten what happened back in China last time?"
"Which one?" I asked, looking at Qiaoqiao.
Qiao Qiao smiled slightly, then uttered four words:
"Thank you, boss."
My eyes lit up!
...
I immediately redistributed the personnel, drawing out Hammer and two other subordinates, and finally, I had to personally take on the task with Qiaoqiao and me.
Our mission is to search all large-scale entertainment and special service establishments in the city.
This is, after all, a major city in East Africa, and only in major cities can there be a thriving sex industry!
"Our mission is to find girls! High-class girls! I need a hundred, and bring them here! I'll allow you to spend up to a million! An average budget of ten thousand dollars per girl—I know that's astronomical. I'm not afraid to waste money, nor am I afraid to spend it, but the only requirement is speed! It has to be fast!! And all I need is for them to come here. They'll walk around here a couple of times in their flight attendant uniforms, stand for a little while! Such simple work, and such high pay! I think many people would be willing to do it!"
“No, a hundred isn’t enough.” Qiaoqiao rejected my suggestion: “We need at least a hundred and fifty! A hundred to play flight attendants, and fifty to play office ladies!” Then she looked at me: “That way, you won’t even need to find additional company staff! And the people you randomly pick from outside might not have the professional attire of office ladies, while those high-class ladies’ clothing is much more professional!”
"That's right!" I slapped my thigh, then with a flourish of my pen, I transferred another 500,000 to them.
It's so much easier to hire a prostitute!
Why?
It's very simple. Just bring back these high-class ladies, and not only will the manpower problem be solved... we can even solve the clothing problem on the side!
Because... many sex industries offer similar "uniform fetish" services, specifically designed to satisfy the sexual fantasies of their clients. Based on these clients' needs, the women must wear various uniforms to serve them.
The most common types are: flight attendant uniforms, school uniforms, office lady attire, nurse uniforms... Of course, there are also some with more unique and unconventional tastes, and even some uniforms with a more perverse flavor: police uniforms, military uniforms, Superman costumes, Spider-Man costumes... and so on.
My task is to have them find brothels that offer "uniform fetish" services, and then bring back all the high-class women there, uniforms and all!
*************
This day is probably an unforgettable, historic day for the entire sex industry in the capital city of this small East African country!
I took Qiaoqiao with me, and Hammer took two of his men along the way. We began our "sweep" of various special service establishments in the city!
Even years later, the city's pimps still told us our stories.
"These guys are just burning money! My God... Normally, I'd give a girl five hundred dollars at most and that's considered high-end, but that day, those Asians were like they were snatching her away. They just walked in and threw out a wad of dollars. Then they made all the girls in the room come out in uniforms for them to see... Hmm, looks like Asians really like the uniform thing... Hmm, but they seem to only like flight attendant uniforms and office lady uniforms."
...
This is the third brothel that Jojo and I, along with our two subordinates, have visited... Although this small African country is economically underdeveloped, wherever there are people, there is a gap between rich and poor, and prostitution is one of the oldest professions in the world, existing everywhere.
Although many of these brothels only operate at night, after I threw out a wad of dollars, the pimps swarmed around me like flies to rotten meat, making phone calls to summon all sorts of girls they had on hand for "interviews."
This day shook almost the entire sex industry in the city. Every pimp knew that several wealthy Easterners had arrived.
Looking at the row of girls of different heights and weights standing in front of us, Qiaoqiao and I very selectively chose those whose height and weight were just right, and then had them change into flight attendant uniforms and office lady suits one by one.
This saved a lot of time, because these sex establishments often have uniforms readily available to meet the needs of their customers. We selected nearly two hundred women in total. Each of them brought two sets of clothes: a flight attendant uniform and an office lady suit. Then, we brought in two large trucks from the airport construction team and transported the women to the rented office building.
We rented three entire floors of a commercial building, quite far from the city center… In this small East African country, commerce is not well-developed, so many buildings are vacant. Renting the space went smoothly; the US dollars paved the way, and the road was paved very easily…