Middle Eastern tyrants

Chapter 1: Crossing the Middle East, Becoming a Deserter?

"Boom!"

Lu Lin was jolted off the vehicle, headfirst. When he got up, he saw the endless desert in front of him and felt somewhat lost.

In my memory, I was carrying out an exercise in the desert. Where did I end up in the blink of an eye?

The camel beside him seemed to sense its master's strange behavior. It turned its head and glanced back, chewing its food from side to side with its upper and lower jaws.

Their eyes met, and Lu Lin was completely dumbfounded.

Why is it a camel?

Where are my Dongfeng Mengshi?!
The camel, of course, had no idea what he was thinking at that moment, and stood still, waiting slowly.

Lu Lin looked around and the sounds around him gradually became clearer.

The cacophony of camel bells, the panting of the crowd, and the whispers of secrets filled the air.

He found himself in the middle of a long line of people in the desert, most of whom were dressed in rags and carrying large and small bags.

The women in the group led their children, their bodies wrapped tightly in white or black cloth, their bodies pressed close to the camels. The men kept a close watch on the road ahead, their faded scimitars at their waists, their eyes alert, their hands gripping the reins tightly, and occasionally feeding the animals a few salt cubes to replenish their strength.

Lu Lin noticed their highly distinctive appearances. The men generally had deep-set eyes, large eyes, high and straight noses, skin darker than wheat color, strong facial features, thick hair, and sideburns that connected their upper lip, chin, and cheeks into a beard circle.

"Arab?"

Lu Lin subconsciously touched his face, only to find that his head and face were completely covered, but he could still faintly feel the thick hair on his cheeks.

"Have I traveled through time?"

He was startled and began searching his body for anything that might reveal his identity.

He first felt a hard protrusion on his chest, then he unbuttoned his robe and found a military uniform underneath. It was sandy yellow, made of stiff fabric, and seemed to have been treated with some kind of oil. The stand-up collar had gold thread embroidery.

This uniform is clearly not something an ordinary soldier would wear, but I don't know which country it's from.

Lu Lin took out the pendant. The eagle emblem and silver star on the front represented the pendant's owner's rank of major. The pure silver material was engraved with the family crest. The Arabic inscription on the back made his eyelids twitch: "Directly under the Shuangzhi Royal Guard."
A bad feeling suddenly arose in Lu Lin's mind.

Remove military rank and conceal identity.
Could I be a deserter?
Seeing that Lu Lin had stopped, a man dressed similarly to him rode up on a camel and asked in a low voice:

"Are you alright, Amir? Shall we stop running?"

Lu Lin was taken aback at first, not expecting the other person to know him. Then he quickly realized that his name was Amir and asked in return:

"Run? Why should we run?"

The young man with sky-blue eyes had a look on his face that said, "Did you break your head?" He first checked his surroundings, then answered in a low voice:
"Didn't you tell me that it's not safe for us to stay on the Shuangzhi border?"

"what?"

The young man said, "The Zion army is coming! They're crushing everything in their path. Rahim's defenses are in complete disarray. The royal family is sending armored units to the front lines. You were terrified and dragged me along to run away with the refugees!"

Lu Lin felt his scalp tingle from listening.

I really was a deserter!

He cursed the original "Amir" in his heart, calling him a bastard who deserted his post and instigated other soldiers to run away with him. If he were sent to a military court, he would be executed twice!
"No, we have to go back now."

Before Lu Lin could finish speaking, a rumble of thunder came from the distant horizon, and a dark gray fighter jet swooped down at an extremely high speed, with a classic wasp-waisted fuselage and a tailless delta wing.

Lu Lin, with his sharp eyes, immediately recognized the model of the fighter jet.

Phantom III!
As a battalion-level officer in the army's armored forces, Lu Lin had analyzed this famous fighter jet more than once during military training sessions.

The Mirage III was developed by France and went into production in the 1960s, and was exported in large quantities to Middle Eastern countries. Its most famous battle was during the Six-Day War, when it destroyed the air defenses of Middle Eastern Arab countries in just two hours, paralyzing the air forces of Egypt, Jordan and other countries.

In Lu Lin's view, the Mirage III had missiles with red warheads mounted under its wings, and the pilot of the fighter jet lowered his body and swooped down towards the crowd below.

The refugee group instantly erupted into chaos, like frightened birds, panicking and falling to the ground in disarray.

Some elderly people remained motionless, staring intently at the approaching "Grim Reaper".

Lu Lin reacted a beat slower, but quickly jumped off the camel and lay down on the sand. "Where's the air force? Where are the air defense forces?!"

Lu Lin practically buried his entire face in the sand.

The deep noise of the plane seemed to pierce his chest, and the razor-sharp airflow scraped his back and neck, giving him a fright.

Fortunately, the pilot of the fighter jet seemed to only want to tease them and had no intention of firing. Lu Lin raised his head and saw the pilot making a "decapitation" gesture on his neck.

The pilot wobbled the wings very close to the ground, climbed again, circled a few times in the air, and then flew away.

As the plane disappeared into the clouds with a thunderous roar, the frightened refugees scrambled to their feet, their eyes blazing with barely suppressed anger.

"Those Zion scum!"

An old man muttered a curse.

A cacophony of curses erupted from the crowd, and some children stared in the direction where the Phantom III had vanished, their eyes filled with a hatred beyond their years.

Lu Lin was also a little startled, but his attention was drawn to a single word.

Zion?

He patted the sand off his body and face, automatically ignoring the minor issues of being able to understand and speak Arabic. Zion was the name he heard most often that day.

He had first heard the word Zion in The Matrix. Back then, he was so engrossed in the movie that he even looked up the origin of the word "Zion," which comes from the Bible and represents the "Promised Land" of the Jews.

"So Zion is Israel?"

The Mirage III we just saw also proves this point; the delta tail fin was painted with blue and white stripes, practically like the national flag was pasted on its face.

Then Lu Lin remembered the name engraved on his pendant—Double Will Royal Guard.

Based on the current situation, he roughly knows which country's soldier he is.

The good news is that the original owner's judgment was probably wrong, because according to the history of Lu Lin's previous world, there had never been a large-scale military conflict between the two countries. But the bad news is that he might be executed for desertion.

Lu Lin asked the man beside him:

"Tell me your rank and name, soldier."

"Eh, me?"

The soldier with sky-blue eyes paused for a moment, then coughed deliberately and replied:
"Reporting! Lieutenant Khalid bin Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki al-Saud, from the 3rd Regiment of the 1st Armored Division of the Shuangzhi Army! Reporting for duty!"

What a long name.

Turki al-Saud? It seems to be related to the royal family.

Lu Lin said, "Listen, Lieutenant, desertion of duty by an officer is a serious dereliction of duty. We must return to the barracks immediately, or we will be sent to a military court!"

"Uh, is it that serious? Just a few days ago you were out catching rabbits with your eagle on the dunes," Khalid asked, puzzled.

"Ok?"

Lu Lin never expected that he had an eagle.

“Ever since you bought that falcon from the Bedouin, you’ve been inseparable from it. You even let it sit in the passenger seat when you’re driving, while your adjutant has to squeeze into the back with the machine gun!” Khalid recounted.

Lu Lin's blood pressure soared upon hearing this. He put himself in the adjutant's shoes and probably even considered shooting his superior. So, he subconsciously added, "Yes, I do have an eagle. I'll apologize to my adjutant properly later."

Upon hearing his remarks, Lieutenant Khalid seemed hesitant to speak.

Seeing the other person's expression, Lu Lin's heart skipped a beat.

Mom!
I stepped on a landmine way too accurately!
Sure enough, Lieutenant Khalid pointed to himself and said:

"I am your adjutant."

(End of this chapter)