Mercenary's War

"Is it just you by yourself?"

"Just me. How are those guys doing? They cost four hundred million dollars to save."

"They definitely won’t die. Some aftereffects are unavoidable, like someone won’t walk naturally in the future because his leg was shot, but overall, they’re still functional, if you get what I mean."

Gao Yang let out a long breath, patted Andy He on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "The four hundred million was worth it. So how long until they recover?"

"It varies, three to six months, up to half a year at most."

Gao Yang wore a floral T-shirt, floral shorts, and a big sun hat, looking like a pleasure-seeker, especially when he tilted his head to talk with Andy He.

This getup was because Gao Yang was in Matamoros, a border city in Mexico, separated from America’s Brownsville by just a wall. Like every other US-Mexico border city, on weekends or holidays, this place would be filled with American junkies and pleasure-seekers.

As for Andy He, he looked like a pimp, standing at the door of a two-story building that seemed quite old, surrounded by old men sitting on plastic chairs and kids running around in the dirty streets.

"Come in, this should be enough. How long can a pimp really talk to a client? I think it’s enough time to strike a deal now."

Andy He stepped aside from the door, and Gao Yang walked in. After Andy He closed and locked the door, the two began walking into the very dim and cluttered house.

"Why does the cleaner have to prepare a place like this? But I have to say, this place is not bad."

Looking at the dirty, cluttered room with an indescribable smell, Gao Yang frowned and said, "And you call this not bad?"

Andy He didn’t respond; he walked to a wall, knocked on it, and shouted, "Open up, the Boss is here."

Silently, a crack opened in a broken cabinet in front of Gao Yang and Andy He, and after taking two steps forward, Andy He pulled the cabinet open a bit more and said to Gao Yang, "Please enter."

Through the open secret door, the scene instantly changed completely: bright lights, extremely shiny floors, and no smell in the air, making one feel extraordinarily pleasant.

Li Jinfang was sitting on a chair that seemed to be in a corridor, holding a gun. When he saw Gao Yang, he stood up and nodded but didn’t speak, just indicating that the person was behind the door he was guarding.

Andy He pointed to four doors and said, "They are the weapon room, the rest room, the operating room, and a room that can be considered a ward, sterile, pretty cool, huh? Doesn’t it look just like a scene from a movie?"

Gao Yang pointed at the door, and Andy He laughed, "Don’t worry, the soundproofing is excellent."

Gao Yang took off his hat, brushed his hair with his hand, and said in surprise, "F**k, it really feels like being in a movie! The cleaner is so damn awesome. This is practically a safe room, and they prepared such a high-spec place in Matamoros, complete with an operating room and a ward, what the hell!"

Li Jinfang nodded and said, "I was shocked too when I first came."

Gao Yang wiped his face and loudly said, "We’ll explore later, let’s meet the people first."

Li Jinfang said solemnly, "They’re quite well-behaved, but while waiting for Karl, they haven’t said anything, you can meet them, but it’s better to be cautious."

Andy He reached out and knocked on a door, it opened, and Frey nodded at Gao Yang upon seeing him and then stepped aside.

The room wasn’t big, but with six beds inside, it felt cramped, and with curtains dividing the beds, it looked even more crowded.

Three beds had people lying on them, and Karl was lying leaning against one bed; he wasn’t injured at all, just looked somewhat bored.

Upon seeing Gao Yang, Karl immediately looked shocked, sat up from the bed, and shouted, "It’s you?"

"Yes, it’s me, nice to see you again, I think you’re even happier."

Karl stared at Gao Yang for a while, then frowned and said, "Why, why did you save us?"

Gao Yang stood in front of Karl, shrugged, and then said solemnly, "Buddy, when you meet your savior, the first thing you should say is thank you, and then ask questions."

Karl immediately said, "Thank you."

"You’re welcome."

"Why?"

Gao Yang scratched his head and then said somewhat awkwardly, "Uh, the answer is a bit complicated. First of all, I didn’t know why I wanted to save you guys either, but I just felt like I couldn’t let you die like that, it might be out of sympathy or righteous indignation. In short, I figured I should do something, so I started looking for a reason to save you, um, have a seat."

After motioning for Karl to sit down, Gao Yang himself pulled over the chair Frey was just sitting on and sat opposite Karl, then he said to Frey, "Buddy, get me something to drink, something cold."

Gao Yang looked back at Karl, smiled, and said, "I’m a businessman, but not a typical one. I make money, but I don’t make it my sole purpose, so after seeing what happened to you, I started thinking about what I should do and for what reason should I help you guys. After all, I’m still a businessman, and frankly, I have to restrain myself from doing things that are solely risky and offer no benefit, do you understand?"

Karl nodded and said solemnly, "I understand."

Gao Yang chuckled, then pointed to himself and said, "Who do you see me as? Apart from being a businessman."

Karl emotionlessly said, "Military man; I could tell from the first meeting."

Gao Yang laughed and said, "Yes and no, to be precise, I was a mercenary, used to be."

Karl kept a straight face, while Gao Yang smiled and said, "I’m very good at making money from fighting, or depending on combat to earn money. Once I made enough money, I abandoned the mercenary profession and turned to run my own private military company. After all, I am wealthy enough now; I can’t risk my life forever, although I do truly like the mercenary profession."

Karl’s expression finally changed slightly; he looked around the bright room and said solemnly, "So you want us to risk our lives for you?"

Gao Yang immediately waved his hand heavily and loudly said, "No! I just thought of a win-win possibility that could help you while earning me enough profit! Once I found this reason, even though the risks were still high, the rewards were sufficient, so I decided to step in and save you guys immediately."

Karl spread his hands and said, "What is it?"

Gao Yang smiled and said, "Assassinate Grand Ivan! You guys do the work, I take the money. Do you think it’s fair or not, reasonable or not? And then shouldn’t you thank me?"

Karl stood up, bowed slightly towards Gao Yang, and said solemnly, "Very fair, extremely reasonable, thank you, thank you very much!"