Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 101 - 91: Dividing the Spoils

Chapter 101: Chapter 91: Dividing the Spoils

kilograms is 52 jin. Just imagine how big and heavy a 50-jin bag of flour is, and you’ll know how astonishing this amount is.

A black carry-on bag was quite a struggle for Richard to carry; he had to shift it from one hand to shoulder as he went upstairs.

Martin was slightly excited, Richard extremely so, and by the time they reached the second floor, Gao Yi was already waiting at the door of the recording studio.

"This way."

As the two approached, Gao Yi spoke indifferently, "From what we squeezed out of Trash Dog, there’s a safe in the recording studio with money in it."

Richard shifted the bag to his left hand and whispered, "Then let’s hurry and find it."

The recording studio could hardly be called professional. It had a microphone and a sound system capable of recording, but the equipment wasn’t of particularly high quality. A rap artist might have crafted a piece here on the spur of inspiration, but for real recording work, one would definitely need a professional studio.

Gao Yi and Lin Xianghua didn’t rush to find and open the safe. They wanted to wait for the partners entitled to a share of the loot to witness the opening—doing things meticulously was the way to ensure a long-term operation.

The studio wasn’t large, so there weren’t many places to hide a safe. Martin only took a glance before walking over to a needless cabinet at the big desk and flung open its door, revealing the safe.

"Here."

Martin looked at Gao Yi, who immediately said, "The code is 12345678."

It was an electronic keypad lock. Martin crouched down and began pressing buttons; without any fuss, he entered the code and the safe immediately opened.

"Wow!"

Lin Xianghua exclaimed, then immediately lowered his head somewhat shamefully.

"WTF!"

Martin couldn’t help but exclaim—the sight before him shocked him even more than Lin Xianghua; he was so stunned that his body tightened up.

Cash began spilling out of the safe, simply because there was too much of it.

Richard drew in a breath of cold air, then his voice trembled, "Must be a million there, right?"

Martin reached in and swept out bundles of bills, but it wasn’t until the rolls of ten and twenty dollars started to fall out that they realized not all the money was in large denominations.

Of course, there were plenty of hundred-dollar bill bundles.

Luca, grinding his teeth, said, "Trash Dog mainly ran a retail operation—looks to be about 650,000 USD!"

After Martin swept out all the money, he found yet another stack of bills inside, quite fresh though fewer in number.

But no matter what, it was all a rough estimate—nobody could look at it once and immediately give an accurate count.

Everyone looked at Luca, who gestured with his hands and said, "Hurry up, don’t dawdle; I’ll split the money."

Luca knelt on one knee on the ground, his mind extraordinarily sharp.

"Put the flour in the safe, and free up the bag—quick!"

Richard unzipped the black bag, which contained bags of white powder. As he threw two packs into the safe, he said, "You guys don’t touch anything. The fingerprints are all set up, I got this!"

One kilogram per bag, the white powder was stacked into the safe. Meanwhile, Luca picked up a bundle of hundred-dollar bills and placed it in front of himself, saying, "One bundle for us, one for you, one for us, one for you..."

Half of the bills were hundred-dollar denominations, followed by tens, then twenties, with fifty-dollar bills being the least common.

First, they divided up the hundreds—a stack was ten thousand, but a bundle only had ten in it, which meant one thousand. Then came the tens—a hundred per bundle.

Luca split the money at a rapid pace. Soon the cash was divided into two piles, and Martin and Richard watched every move without a word of protest.

When it was done, Luca called out urgently, "The total is 647,000 USD—this one thousand..."

Luca held an old roll of hundred-dollar bills, snapped off the rubber band, rapidly counted out five bills, and placed them atop the pile of money in front of Martin, saying, "Done!"

Martin, in utter disbelief, asked Luca, "How did you do it?"

Luca extended his fingers, pointing to his own eyes, and said, "With the eyes!"

Richard began to stuff the cash into the bag with both hands when Gao Yi said softly, "Wait."

Everyone looked at Gao Yi, who whispered, "Each of us should leave 50,000 USD for the cops who’ll search later."

Martin said urgently, "No, they have to turn on their body cameras when they come in; anything left can’t be taken. We’ll cover what’s for them. Let’s take the money and go."

With a single bag, Luca got up, searched around the room for a moment, then came back with a shopping bag. Gao Yi and he frantically started throwing money into the bag.

Lin Xianghua, covetously watching the pile of money, kept his gun at the ready, watchful of every corner in the room, only sneaking glances at the money occasionally.

Once the money was packed, Gao Yi nodded, "Here."

The four men followed quickly, Luca carrying the money bag, Richard hauling his black bag. Before they left, Richard didn’t forget to close the safe and wipe it down with gloved hands before rising to follow Gao Yi to the bedroom where Trash Dog had been killed.

Gao Yi pulled open a couple of cabinets, and when one closet door swung open, it was as if they had stumbled upon a small gold shop.

For a West Coast gangster rap artist, although not yet famous, Trash Dog was rich. How could he lack big gold chains and diamond-studded watches?

It was likely that Trash Dog had spent the majority of his wealth on these items.

"Damn!"

"Falke!"

Gold chains were strewn in the drawers, along with diamond bracelets, and particularly a golden chain with a huge dollar sign was conspicuously attention-grabbing.

Richard glanced at the chain, then in a low voice said, "According to the rules, this chain... is yours!"

It was painful to admit, but it was said resolutely. Luca stepped forward to grab a handful of chains and pointed them at Richard, saying, "Keep them on you, we’ll split them equally outside!"

Richard was taken aback, then opened the zipper again. Luca stuffed everything inside it, then said gravely, "Twenty-three golden chains, roughly four kilograms, diamonds incalculable—just like that. Anything else we need to do?"

Martin took a long sigh, then urgently beckoned, "Give me the handgun, the handgun."

Gao Yi passed the gun in his hand to Martin, and Lin Xianghua also drew out his unused handgun, reversing the grip to hand it over as he said, "This one hasn’t been fired."

Martin took Lin Xianghua’s gun, aimed at the wall, and fired twice. Then he turned to a dead body, shot twice more, walked outside, sprayed bullets randomly until the magazine was empty, collected the empty gun, and announced, "We’re good, let’s go!"

Martin led the way out. Before exiting, he paused and asked, "We’re coming out. What’s it like outside?"

Gao Yi heard the reply through his earpiece.

"Be careful; someone might shoot at you from inside a house, but the streets are clear now. If you encounter someone armed, you shoot first. Over."

Martin nodded, then looked at Lin Xianghua, who quickly approached the door, peering outside before saying, "Wait for my signal."

Lin Xianghua dashed out, bending low to descend the steps and kneeling behind a car for cover, he looked around then whispered, "Go! Go go go! Don’t stop. I’ve got you covered!"

Martin rushed to their car, Gao Yi and Luca got into the back, the car had been left running, and while Lin Xianghua was on the lookout, Luca made a U-turn. Once Luca drove away, Lin Xianghua dashed a few steps and hopped into the back seat.

The car door remained open, braced by a foot as Lin Xianghua shouted, "Hurry, go!"

The two cars drove off, one following the other, and as they approached the street corner, they encountered two police cars. The four officers who alighted started shooting at Gao Yi and his party.

Gao Yi was extremely tense in that moment; if they truly fired at their car, things would get complicated.

However, not a single bullet hit the windshield, and Martin, through the walkie-talkie, said, "Don’t be scared; they will shoot at our car’s engine and trunk. Your car will be undamaged; don’t fight back."

As Gao Yi’s car passed between the two police cars, indeed, all four officers fired their guns half aimed at the sky.

It was worrisome, but it caused no harm.

After both cars sped by, they returned to their starting point; the police car was still parked in the same spot.

Martin’s car stopped, no one got out, but the windows in both vehicles rolled down. Then Gao Yi watched bundles of cash being thrown into the other car window.

This was an extra benefit; the main goal was money to share. So, how much or how little depended on Martin’s good faith.

Gao Yi saw three stacks of ten-thousand-dollar bills tossed over, suggesting Martin had given at least thirty thousand USD.

Then Martin’s car drove off again, with Gao Yi’s car trailing behind. After a few hundred meters, they could see the police lights still flashing behind them.

The car stopped again, and this time, when Martin got out, his face was all smiles—uncontainable joy.

"How do you feel—pretty good, huh?"

Gao Yi nodded, "Yes, feels great."

Martin glanced at his watch and said, "Shall we split the goods before we switch locations?"

"Good."

Gao Yi and Luca got out of the car, Richard with his black bag came out, starting to pull out gold chains, while Luca unhesitatingly stepped forward to split the loot. With him there, Gao Yi didn’t have to worry about anything.

Martin opened the trunk and took out two handguns, exclaiming, "We’ll use these two this time, buddy—are we raking it in or what?"

Martin was ecstatic. Gao Yi accepted the two handguns and whistled softly, "There’s still another job to do. Let’s not waste time."