Chapter 2682 - 2656: Reluctant to Leave

"We’re retiring, yes, we’re definitely retiring."

With a gloomy sip of his drink, Glolov exhaled a long breath, raised his cup of water a bit towards the others in front of him, and said in a deep voice, "Drink up, we’re all leaving here soon, might as well finish all the booze since we’re leaving anyway."

Peter took a big gulp, exhaled, bit into a tomato, and said in a glum voice, "Mouse got wounded; that’s a heavy loss. Leaving here, at least we can eat what we want. But hey, pairing a tomato with drinks isn’t bad, what do you guys think?"

Cui Bo bit into an onion and casually said, "As long as I don’t have to eat meat, anything with drinks is good. Cheers!"

After pouring a bottle of vodka for Cui Bo, Glolov sighed and asked softly, "Eileen went to be a model, Frey went to play baseball, what are you going to do after you retire, Rabbit? What’s your plan?"

"Me? How should I know what to do after retiring, retire first, and then do whatever you feel like. Now I’m a rich man, do you understand rich people? Rich people do whatever they want!"

Glolov, looking downcast, took a sip and said bitterly, "Yeah, we’re all wealthy now. But I really don’t know what to do after retiring. I feel like I’m not old yet, but I really don’t know what to do."

Peter said, "Why don’t you go help Gao? He’s so busy, you should help him."

Glolov pointed at his own nose, "Me? Help out at the company?"

"Yeah."

"Haha, that’s a good joke. Look at me, what can I do? I’m just an old mercenary, besides fighting, I know nothing else. Do you think Gao would let me take a team back to the battlefield?"

Peter laughed, "Buddy, you’re Gao’s father-in-law."

Glolov, looking glum, said, "That’s the crux of the issue. My wife won’t agree, my daughter won’t agree, and if my daughter doesn’t agree, do you think Gao would let me go back to the battlefield?"

Andy He, unapologetically, said, "Boss is totally a pushover in dealing with emotional issues; he listens to whatever women say, utterly unmanly!"

Rafael nodded, "Absolutely, a total pushover; can you believe he agreed to retire and marry Yelena right after graduation? What’s that all about."

Glolov angrily said, "Hey! Watch your words, Yelena is my daughter!"

Rafael shrugged, "Sorry then, I wish you a pleasant retirement life."

A very angry Glolov then deflated and said, "I have to admit, Gao handled this situation way too hastily, not a bit of Russian fortitude in him; a man, how can he listen to women about everything?"

Everyone burst into laughter, Peter nudged Glolov with his elbow and laughed, "Then why don’t you tell Yelena to convince our boss not to rush into marriage, that way our boss comes back, and we Satan can continue fighting."

Glolov, demoralized, said, "Get lost, I don’t want my wife to kill me."

The group laughed again, and Glolov sighed, "I hate war, really, I really hate war. I hate the desert, I hate this damn place in Yemen. But thinking this might be where I bid goodbye to the battlefield forever, I’m actually, I’m actually reluctant to leave..."

The people fell silent, Jansen scratched his head and softly said, "But we’re wealthy now. My family’s brewery is doing pretty well, you know, my father keeps asking me to go back and run it, is fighting meaningful?"

Andy He, looking troubled, said, "Yeah, is there any meaning in fighting?"

Albert dismissively said, "You guys are just used to this lifestyle; soon you’ll change your mind once you go back to enjoy the high life."

Glolov looked at Peter and said, "What will you do after you retire?"

Peter smiled, "Retire? No, I’m just changing the way I work; I’m going to help out at the company. I’m pretty good at training people; I’m going to train the new recruits at the company."

Andy He sighed, "I might go back to Brazil, continue being a doctor? Probably not, it’s not thrilling enough; although I also don’t know what to do next."

Taylor, looking frustrated, said, "I can’t go back to the States; the boss rejected my request, so I haven’t figured out what to do yet."

Cui Bo curiously asked, "What did you request?"

"To lead a team in Somalia and continue operations; the boss rejected it and told me to find a nice place to enjoy myself in Europe instead. What’s there to enjoy? Tommy, are you going back to get married?"

Tommy laughed and nodded, "Getting married as soon as I go back; fighting was genuinely for the money. Now that I’ve earned enough and have shares in the company sufficient to live well without doing anything, having money is truly nice. So guys, I’m really looking forward to the retirement life."

Glolov sighed, "Tommy, you’ve got your wish. We definitely have to retire. Senior Gao went back to set things up for our future steps, and now that he’s almost done, we surely have to leave too. There’s no way around it; retirement is a done deal. Folks, let’s get ready to leave."

Phoenix, who had been sitting quietly without speaking or drinking, suddenly said, "Since you’re all retiring, and it’s happening soon, why don’t we go for one last battle?"

Glolov hesitantly said, "There’s really no need for war. If Gao finds out we’re causing trouble for no reason, he’ll definitely be mad."

"Come on, just treat it as a farewell ceremony to the battlefield; surely we can’t leave without any ceremony?"

"That’s right; let’s go have a battle, marking the end of our mercenary career. Yesterday, the Houthis attacked an enemy outpost and suffered heavy losses; why not take it down as a parting gift?"

"Great idea! Big Dog, we’ll go!"

Everyone chimed in one after another, making Glolov tempted. Thinking of saying a complete farewell to the battlefield and going to live a life he isn’t familiar with or fond of, he suddenly felt that he should indeed have a good battle to say goodbye to his mercenary life.

"Alright then, let’s have a battle. But not right now, everyone’s been drinking. We’ll wait until evening, and..."

"Don’t even think about it!"

Glolov’s words were cut off; everyone looked up toward the tent entrance and then saw someone lift the tent flaps and walk in.

"Well, hiding away to drink, you guys are overdoing it. Folks, aren’t you going to pour me a drink?"

As they saw Gao Yang walk in, smiling, Glolov stammered, "You-you’re here!"

Gao Yang extended his hand and pointed at the people in the tent, smiling, "Because if I didn’t come, you guys wouldn’t leave, to avoid anything unexpected and prevent you from doing anything stupid, here I am."