The name Nikola Ivanov sounds like a genuine Russian, and he was indeed a true-blue Russian, or more precisely, he was a Soviet citizen. His father was a division commander in the former Soviet Union's Kyiv Military District in Ukraine, so he grew up under the red flag. If the Soviet Union hadn't disintegrated, he would have lived his life according to his father's arrangements: attending university, joining the army, gaining experience in the military, and with his father's protection, his future would have been bright. At worst, he would have secured a minor official position within the Soviet Union's complex bureaucracy, becoming one of its corrupt members.
However, after 1991, that ceased to exist. The iron alliance disbanded. When the military's ownership was finally divided, his father's unit was assigned to the German Armed Forces. But his father was one of those quick-thinking individuals. Taking advantage of the national division and governmental chaos, his father used his power to resell equipment and state assets left behind by the former government, even gold from banks. He then led his entire family to immigrate to the United States before the Ukrainian government discovered him. In that chaotic era, many people amassed great wealth through such means.
After immigrating to the United States, the family began a prosperous and stable life. Nikola Ivanov, like any other child, went through elementary school, high school, and university. After completing his medical studies, Nikola initially wanted to become an artist, but one day his father took him back to Russia to meet his uncle, whom he hadn't seen in years.
Nikola's uncle, like his father, was a division commander in the former Soviet army. The only difference was that after the dissolution, he was assigned to the Russian army and had held important positions within the military ever since. It was then that Nikola learned his father had maintained close contact with his uncle even after immigrating to the United States, because they had been trafficking arms. He had originally thought his family remained wealthy because his father dealt in gold and other precious metals, but secretly, he had been in contact with his uncle in Russia, engaging in arms trade.
“There are few governments in this world that are clean; they do the dirtiest things behind the scenes. We are just doing their bidding.” This is what his uncle told him when they met that year. From then on, Nikola began his life as an arms dealer. However, one cannot walk by the river often without getting their shoes wet. The International Criminal Police had come knocking several times, and the CIA had also summoned him for talks multiple times, questioning whether he was getting too close to Russia. “These Americans just love to be pretentious. Half of Nikola’s business is with Americans.” Realizing that continuing in this line of work would likely not end well, Nikola had long since faked his own death, transferred his funds, and planned to live a carefree life hidden in a Third World country, though he occasionally engaged in some gold trading.
However, despite all his calculations, word still leaked out. Tonight, a group of people launched a surprise attack on Nikola’s modified freighter under the cover of darkness. Although Nikola had employed a large number of bodyguards for years after going into seclusion, they were still caught off guard, and the attackers boarded the freighter. After a fierce battle, all of Nikola’s bodyguards were killed, and Nikola himself became their captive.
The moment the hood was placed over his head, Nikola accepted his fate. He had offended many people in his early years of arms dealing. Many rivals wanted him gone quickly. However, perhaps the Buddhist scriptures he had been chanting in Southeast Asia for the past few years worked, or perhaps it was his ancestors' accumulated virtue, but just as he was about to be executed, Nikola encountered Feng Jun, who was lost at sea. The mercenaries who attacked Nikola thought Feng Jun was reinforcements called by Nikola and originally intended to dispatch a team to eliminate Feng Jun directly. They didn’t expect to hit a brick wall, which saved Nikola’s life.
Feng Jun didn't expect this foreigner to speak Chinese, which saved a lot of trouble.
“Are you Russian?” Feng Jun asked.
“I used to be, but that was many years ago. I am now a poor man with no nationality,” Nikola said with a smile, trying his best to put on a very kind face, fearing that the gentleman in front of him would be displeased.
“A stateless person?” Feng Jun scrutinized Nikola from head to toe. Bald, with a face full of flesh, and a large red beard swaying on his face, he indeed looked like an ordinary white man. “How could mercenaries attack an ordinary stateless person? And looking at his hands, you can tell he often holds a gun.”
Seeing Feng Jun's puzzled look, Nikola knew that this person was definitely not one of his rivals or someone sent by the American government. As for his uncle's family in Russia, that was even more impossible, as his homeland was still busy fighting with their separated brothers; they couldn't possibly send someone to rescue him.
“Don’t pretend to be innocent with me. Why would mercenaries attack an ordinary stateless person?” Feng Jun raised an eyebrow. This old Russian tried to play dumb with him, but Feng Jun was not in the mood to ramble. How to deal with Nikola was a dilemma for him. Should he just kill him? But he hadn't asked for the way back yet.
“Can you drive a boat?” Feng Jun pointed to the driver’s seat.
“A little. Sometimes I often drive a boat around the nearby sea with beautiful women for a swim,” Nikola quickly said.
“Then you drive the boat and take me to the nearest Harbor from here.” Feng Jun untied the ropes binding Nikola’s back, intending to have this foreigner drive him back to near land.
“Okay, my dear Chinese friend,” Nikola said, stretching his limbs.
Feng Jun sat at the stern of the boat and, hearing Nikola say he was Chinese, asked with interest, “How do you know I’m Chinese? Not only Chinese people speak Chinese in this sea area.”
“That’s too easy for me. I’ve been to your northern regions, and that’s when I learned my Mandarin. And a powerful warrior like you could only be cultivated by the mysterious and ancient Huaguo.” Nikola’s voice unconsciously grew louder as he spoke. He was a true China enthusiast. Although he had kept a low profile and hidden his whereabouts for years, he had not neglected his study of Chinese culture. Once he started talking about China, he opened up and began to speak voluminously.
“Why did those people attack your freighter? Did you provoke any enemies?” Feng Jun interrupted him and began to ask Nikola why he was attacked.
“Perhaps they were jealous of my good looks. But it’s more likely the arms dealing I did when I was younger, or perhaps trouble caused by my father. I’ve been retired for many years, and now I only occasionally do some gold business.” Nikola reached up and stroked his large beard, which was a treasure he meticulously maintained. However, he knew none of this would fool Feng Jun, because from the moment he saw Feng Jun, he had felt like he was being watched by a beast, like a mouse meeting a cat. Although the other party hadn’t killed him yet, Nikola could still feel the killing intent from Feng Jun. However, Nikola dared not show a hint of fear or threat. He had no doubt that if he made even the slightest threatening move, Feng Jun could easily twist off his head, so he simply told the truth.
By this time, it was already dawn, and Feng Jun could vaguely see land in the distance. He had originally planned to deal with Nikola before landing, putting the body into his storage space and disposing of it casually after returning to Doomsday. However, upon hearing Nikola say that he used to be an arms dealer and still dealt in gold, Feng Jun changed his mind. Keeping this person to help him with business was not a bad idea, and it would save him the trouble of finding someone to sell gold.
“That’s quite a coincidence then. I happen to have a batch of gold to sell. If possible, we could cooperate,” Feng Jun temporarily abandoned the idea of killing Nikola and instead discussed the gold with him.
“You mean you have a batch of gold to sell? My goodness! Then we truly are destined. Once we get ashore, I must treat you to a good drink before we talk further.” Hearing that Feng Jun had a batch of gold to sell, Nikola felt relieved. This was something he could help Feng Jun with, and most importantly, the feeling of being watched by a beast finally disappeared.
The speedboat quickly docked at a pier on the shore. After a day and a night of drifting, Feng Jun finally returned to land.
After docking, Nikola used a public phone on the beach to make a call. Soon after, someone drove a stretched limousine to the beach to pick up Nikola.
“This is not the place to talk. Let’s go to my villa. I want to properly thank you for saving my life,” Nikola said to Feng Jun.
“I’m in a bit of a hurry. Let’s go directly to my warehouse,” Feng Jun said with a slight smile as he got into Nikola’s car.
Sitting in the car, Nikola opened a bottle of vodka and poured a glass for Feng Jun, then raised his own glass and clinked it with Feng Jun's.
“To you, my friend, thank you for saving me in the vast sea,” Nikola said, raising his glass.
“This must be fate. Actually, it’s my first time out at sea, and I got lost,” Feng Jun said, also raising his glass.
Nikola, as expected of someone from Russia, drank more than half a glass of vodka in one gulp.
“How much gold do you plan to sell? The international gold price has risen quite a bit in the past few days, so selling now would be a great opportunity to make a fortune,” Nikola began to ask Feng Jun how much gold he had.
“Uh, not much, about three tons,” Feng Jun said casually.
Pfft~ Hearing Feng Jun mention three tons of gold, Nikola immediately spat out the vodka he had just drunk. But after realizing he hadn't misheard, Nikola's expression became even more shocked.
“Oh my God, that’s three tons of gold! If converted to US dollars, that’s over 200 million dollars. I can’t handle this business alone. I originally thought the other party would sell a few hundred kilograms at most. I didn’t expect him to say three tons right off the bat.” Nikola found Feng Jun increasingly mysterious, and in his eyes, he had already started associating Feng Jun with the Huaguo government.