Mercenary's War

Black Demon only had Tarta and the other two here, but what Black Demon did and the role they played was huge, so huge that without them Satan wouldn’t have been able to pull this off.

So Black Demon has to get a share, and just like Gao Yang said, those Black Demon guys don’t have much use for money anyway, so they’ll just get a smaller cut, which really isn’t just a polite line.

Hammer let out a whistle, but he didn’t look all that happy.

"A hundred million, over ten million for each person, what the hell are we going to do with that much money?"

Tarta scratched his head too, then said with a troubled face, "Money, sure, money’s a good thing, but what do we need it for? I just want to live the way I like, and the life I want is easy enough for me to get, so money really doesn’t mean that much to people like us."

Gao Yang waved his hand and laughed. "Do whatever you feel like, or just keep it as retirement money, whatever. How you deal with it is your problem, all I need to do is get you the money."

Tarta snapped his fingers and laughed. "Makes sense."

Gao Yang looked at the rest of Satan, spread his hands, and said, "We still have four hundred million left, everyone gets a piece, but the shares won’t be equal. Each of you will get your calculated cut, it’ll hit your accounts today. Congratulations, you’re all multi‑millionaires now."

Joseph kept opening and clenching his hand, over and over, frowning hard, no one knew what he was thinking.

Gao Yang found it a bit funny, so he said to Joseph, "You’re nervous. What are you nervous about?"

Joseph let out a breath and said, "I get a share too, right?"

Gao Yang laughed. "Of course."

Joseph looked a little tense and said quietly, "Then how much do I get?"

Joseph had come for the million‑a‑year salary. He never expected that not long after joining Satan he’d be getting a huge bonus on top, but every team has its own distribution model. Joseph was worried he wouldn’t even see the crumbs off that four hundred million, which would actually be normal.

Gao Yang thought for a moment and said, "I don’t actually know how much you get this time. We’ve got a complete distribution scheme—some get more, some get less. You just joined Satan, so you’re definitely in the ’least’ bracket, but I don’t know the exact number, the formula’s complicated. If you’re dying to know, I can ask for you."

Joseph nodded immediately. Gao Yang picked up the satphone and called Little Donnie, then smiled and said, "Buddy, do me a favor, how much does Joseph get? He can’t wait to know."

"Joseph, huh, let me see. I’m just about to send your transfers. Oh, Joseph gets eight million dollars. He’s in the same bracket as Phoenix, Yuri, Liang Dong, and Vervichesky, each one gets eight million dollars."

"Okay, got it."

Hanging up, Gao Yang looked at Joseph with a face full of regret and said, "Sorry, I just told you you’re a multi‑millionaire, I’m taking that back. You only get eight million dollars. Too bad, you joined too late, you’re not qualified yet to get the same profit share as the old hands."

Joseph ran a hand through his hair, looking completely out of it, and stammered, "Eight million, right? Eight million! Dollars! I’ve already been paid one million dollars, add this and that’s nine million dollars! Nine million!"

Joseph suddenly grabbed his hair with both hands and said in a shaking voice, "Nine million! I have that much money, what do I do? I made nine million this fast! That’s nine million, I’m going to lose my mind."

Gao Yang cleared his throat twice and said helplessly, "As a soon‑to‑be multi‑millionaire, you might not want to keep working as a mercenary, but too bad, buddy, even though you didn’t sign a contract with me, you’re still stuck working with Satan for at least a few more months."

Joseph’s eyes were bloodshot as he stared at Gao Yang. "Don’t want to work? Are you kidding me! I’ve only been here a few months and I’m about to be a multi‑millionaire. I’d quit now? Am I an idiot? Do I look like an idiot to you? Do you have any idea how hard it is to make money now? It’s insanely hard. My seniors would kill each other for a million‑a‑year job, and I’m about to be a multi‑millionaire. I’m going to be a multi‑millionaire! A multi‑millionaire! A multi‑millionaire!"

After repeating "multi‑millionaire" a bunch of times in a row, Joseph suddenly said viciously, "I don’t care about anyone else, but unless I’m dead, nobody is getting me out of Satan!"

Gao Yang had just been joking. People came and went freely in Satan, but no way someone had just joined and then turned around and quit as soon as they got a big payout. Nobody’s that dumb, and no matter how easygoing Gao Yang was, he wasn’t going to let that happen.

Besides, if you love money, how the hell do you walk away from Satan? And if you don’t care about money, like Phoenix with his own particular hobbies, then you’re even less likely to leave.

Gao Yang laughed silently. Just then his phone rang, and this time the call was from Yarebin himself.

Yarebin got through, then said slowly, "What you did over there has had a huge impact. No matter who wanted Fahad dead, in the end you’re the ones who killed a Saudi Arabia General. We won’t bother with the undercurrents below the surface, but they still have to put on a show on the surface. So Saudi Arabia is reacting strongly right now. You need to be careful, the reprisal operation should be coming very soon. Raise your alert level."

Gao Yang was already cautious, and with Yarebin personally warning him, his threat level jumped several notches on the spot.

"Anything unusual yet?"

Yarebin said in a low voice, "Nothing discovered for now. You should ask Justin, his intel network is better at penetrating the upper levels."

The intelligence network built by Black Demon is the type that works on the front line or deep among the populace, using all kinds of open‑source information and tiny clues to analyze and make judgments. Justin’s intel network, on the other hand, has infiltrated every corner of Saudi Arabia. The two complement each other, but Black Demon really can’t replace Justin. That’s the difference between what a full network can do and what a handful of people can do.

After saying a few more words with Yarebin, Gao Yang had just hung up when Yake leaned over and said quietly, "Abdullah called. The Saudi Arabia Ministry of Defense has summoned all the military contractors for a meeting!"

Gao Yang’s heart jolted and he said excitedly, "They’re going to deploy mercenaries on a large scale?"

Yake nodded. "Barring surprises, that’s what it looks like!"

They’d wiped out the Crown Forces and Fahad, forcing Saudi Arabia to use mercenaries on a large scale along the Northwest Border. That could only be called an unexpected windfall arriving early, but it still fit into their cleanup plan.

Before Gao Yang could comment, the phone rang again.

Calls coming in one after another meant something big was happening.

This one was important too, because it was Justin himself. As soon as Gao Yang picked up, Justin said urgently, "Just got the word: Saudi Arabia has decided to use mercenaries to launch a large‑scale retaliation along the Northwest Border. The Ministry of Defense has already assembled the military contractors to discuss this. Unless something dramatic happens, the decision is already made!"