"I heard there's going to be a war soon. What if I enlist and it really happens?"
"You'll just have to tough it out," Alexei replied, turning to look at his eldest son. "When the time comes, it won't just be you; I'll be out there with a gun too. Remember, son, without a country, there’s no home. Think about your grandparents, and then think about your mother and your younger siblings."
The enemy has breached our borders and is advancing deep into our Motherland. When that happens, no one will be able to run away. In war, people die—there's no avoiding that. If it comes to that, if you don’t go and I don’t go, who do you expect to fight on the front lines?
Both of us will go to battle. On a smaller scale, it's to protect our family; on a larger scale, it's to defend our country. The nation comes before the home. We Slavic people never fear death. I, Alexei, do not want my child to be a coward or a traitor."
He grasped his son's head firmly, their foreheads touching as they locked eyes. "If one day war breaks out and you dare to run or betray us, I will personally put an end to you. If you sacrifice yourself, I’ll make sure to avenge you with every ounce of my strength."
With that, he left the house to arrange the training numbers for tomorrow. Sakhalov remained silent for a long while before returning to the storage room to continue punching the sandbags.
Meanwhile, Xu Li returned home and called his brother-in-law Boyka. "How have things been lately?"
Boyka was sitting in the living room with his wife Lina, watching television. "Things are about the same. What's up?"
"I need a batch of weapons."
Xu Li listed the quantity of weapons and ammunition he needed, causing Boyka's face to twitch in disbelief. "Are you planning on hunting wild boars or going to war?"
"Definitely hunting wild boars," Xu Li replied casually. "But I might as well keep some spare parts for replacements; we need live ammunition for training."
Boyka frowned slightly as he calculated in his mind. "You know Misha that individual weapons from Huaxia have always been expensive? Getting this many in a short time won't come cheap."
"Don't worry about the money; Peter helped me win a big sum recently."
"Alright then, I'll have someone deliver them directly to your place in Irkutsk."
Boyka paused for a moment before adding, "Make sure you have Ivan help you register this batch of weapons so there won’t be any trouble later on; it might even implicate me."
"Okay, arrange it as soon as possible; I need those firearms quickly."
"A week should be enough."
Xu Li hung up with a smile, flicked away his cigarette butt, and returned inside. He compiled a list of firearms for Boyka—just enough for his personal collection.
"Hahaha! Makarov! It’s been seven years since we last met; what are you still doing in this line of work?"
In a suburban villa in Irkutsk, Alexei embraced a burly man who had just stepped down from a van tightly, reluctant to let go. Xu Li stood by with a smile and raised an eyebrow at the newcomer named Makarov—a name strikingly similar to that of Huaxia's Wang Gang.
"You and I are both Makarov," the burly man said with a grin as he extended his hand towards Xu Li.
Xu Li shook his hand warmly and replied with a smile, "Well, I’m also called Makarov."
"Haha, that's really interesting."
The burly man was taken aback for a moment, then broke into a wide grin. The three of them stepped aside as the van drove in. Naturally, some villagers came forward to unload the goods, stacking them in a corner of the yard. Once one van was unloaded, another would arrive.
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