Spy-x-War Showdown
Chapter 785 - 790: Wisdom

Chapter 785: Chapter 790: Wisdom

Yang Yi had a good memory, but that certainly wasn’t easy for others to notice unless he deliberately showed off or flaunted his memorization skills, which, for a spy, was a talent far too precious to reveal.

Then, Yang Yi’s combat skills were actually quite impressive, especially with a knife in hand, his close-quarters combat ability was indeed formidable. However, he had tendencies akin to the Throat-Slitting Maniac, but he couldn’t possibly go around slitting people’s throats all day.

All things considered, none of Yang Yi’s skills were suitable for showing off, so he had to be someone with inner grace.

Yang Yi was very envious of Gong Yang, envious of what? He truly envied Gong Yang’s shooting skills, the ability to wield a gun and wreak havoc was just too impressive.

Thus, the only perceptible advantage Yang Yi had was his good looks, at least in his own opinion.

Being handsome had its benefits; a good-looking guy could more easily get others to listen when he spoke. Although this mostly worked better with women, it had a certain effect on men too.

At least speaking with a man who was easy on the eyes compared to someone with a shifty appearance gave a totally different feeling.

And Yang Yi’s smile was also very sincere.

Jethro watched Yang Yi for a while, then smiled and said, "Do you think I’m a child, or some love-struck fool swayed by a handsome face?"

Yang Yi, stunned, said, "Of course not."

Jethro, looking indignant, said, "Then can you stop smiling at me? A man smiling like that makes me feel sick!"

Was that the wrong smile template?

Yang Yi couldn’t look at himself in the mirror, but he gave his smile some thought and found nothing wrong—just a sincere and friendly smile, the standard for negotiations, certainly not the ambiguous kind meant for flirting with women. No mistake there.

Yang Yi, taken aback, straightened his face, and then Jethro said fiercely, "Enough! Stop trying to bewitch me; I’m not an idiot!"

Yang Yi understood. It wasn’t that there was something wrong with his smile; it was that Jethro didn’t trust a single word he said anymore, was on guard against him, and found him disagreeable.

When someone finds you disagreeable, your smile, no matter how charming, is useless.

Yang Yi became serious, then took a breath and said, "I understand your feelings and your concerns, but Jethro, since I’ve asked you here to discuss this, I certainly don’t mean to insult your intelligence. If I planned to use you as a puppet or dispose of you after you’ve outlived your usefulness, I wouldn’t be negotiating with you like this."

Jethro still looked disdainful, but Yang Yi straightened his face and said in a stern voice, "We are not arms dealers; we don’t understand the intricacies of the arms trade, but you do, so you’re irreplaceable."

Jethro sneered and said, "Irreplaceable, huh? Maybe at the beginning, but not necessarily later on."

"That’s right, irreplaceable at the start. Once we get a handle on the operations of the arms market and gain control of Deyo’s arms group, you’ll become redundant, ready to be cast aside, or even eliminated."

Beating around the bush is meaningless—better to just speak frankly.

Yang Yi was very straightforward with his words, and Jethro’s expression became less ugly.

"Jethro, do you know why you’re in your current predicament? It’s because you don’t have any people, you don’t have your own strength. But what if you did? What if you had power like Deyo has now? Would you still need to worry about being used up by us and then killed?" Yang Yi said with a serious face.

Jethro looked at Yang Yi uncertainly, and Yang Yi continued sincerely, "What is partnership? It must be mutually beneficial. I don’t want to be an arms dealer—I want money and status. But I don’t need to run the arms group myself. So the arms group is yours, you take 70 percent of the profits—and I’m talking about the profits. Then you’re in charge of operating the arms group, managing everything. What about us? We will take care of clearing all the obstacles!"

Jethro began to ponder deeply, and Yang Yi, seizing the moment, added, "We don’t understand arms trading, nor do we intend to operate it personally. We know everything you do, know your whereabouts, and we are hidden, so we’re not afraid you’ll turn on us once you build up your own power. On the contrary, we could take you out at any time, which means, at least for us, you pose no threat, are preventable, and if I may be unpleasantly candid... also controllable."

With "controllable" said out loud, what more could Jethro say?

To say he’s not a puppet, but isn’t this just about the same?

Without giving Jethro the chance to raise objections, Yang Yi smiled again, saying, "But we won’t control you, because we will never interfere with your decisions, no one will nag you, no one will order you to do something specific. It’s all up to you. You arrange the manpower. We only need to send someone to oversee the finances. Is that fair? I think that’s a very sincere offer of partnership, right?"

Now Jethro didn’t find Yang Yi’s smile so annoying or unappealing.

After pondering for a moment, Jethro said in a heavy voice, "But Nicholas has a very close relationship with the Americans..."

"We’ll handle that. If we can’t, of course, all this talk is for nothing."

Jethro took a deep breath and said, "If that’s the case, I’m not against the partnership, but me taking 70 percent of the profit..."

Yang Yi felt slightly displeased inside. Offering Jethro 70 percent was already his limit.

If it were not for Zhang Yong’s advice, Yang Yi would have indeed planned to absorb Jethro into the Organization of Water to be a subordinate. But after Zhang Yong’s words, Yang Yi believed that to succeed, he had to show the utmost sincerity and offer Jethro the greatest benefits. Only then could there be a chance for a successful partnership.

But if Jethro wasn’t even satisfied with 70 percent of the benefits, then there really would be no further discussion of partnership. Even if they temporarily cooperated, there would eventually be a falling out. All of that was for the future, however. For now, even if Jethro truly was insatiable, and was ready to fight over benefits that weren’t even in hand yet, Yang Yi would just have to bear with it for the time being.

"What, are you not satisfied with 70 percent of the profits?" he asked.

Jethro hesitated, then shook his head, "Seventy percent is too much. It would be better for me to take thirty, and you seventy."

Yang Yi was taken aback. He had seen people who pushed benefits outwards, but it was really rare to see someone wanting to reverse the bigger and smaller shares.

Jethro, looking at the somewhat astonished Yang Yi, said solemnly, "The profit margins in the arms business are very high, astonishingly so. If I were to take 70 percent, I’m afraid it won’t be long before you would have to kill me. Therefore, thirty percent is enough for me. More than that, and I’m afraid I wouldn’t live to enjoy it."

Yang Yi was stunned for quite a while, then said, "You don’t need to worry about that."

Jethro responded very seriously, "If I don’t worry now, it will be too late later. So I will absolutely not take seventy percent. I really don’t dare."

Yang Yi looked Jethro up and down, then smiled and said, "Alright, let’s split it fifty-fifty, half each. This should be an acceptable proposal for both parties, otherwise... to be honest, I’m also afraid you might become dissatisfied later. No, if we go with thirty for you and seventy for me, it’s a sign we will definitely fall out in the future. So a fifty-fifty split is a good choice."