Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 104 - 94: The Great Harvest

Chapter 104: Chapter 94: The Great Harvest

Four people lifting an eighty-kilogram safe shouldn’t be too difficult.

But it wasn’t until they actually picked it up that they realized just how heavy eighty kilograms was, and the worst part was that the safe was compact yet heavy, which made it awkward for four people to handle.

As everyone knows, when moving heavy objects downstairs, the lower side bears more weight.

"Why is this so heavy, it’s definitely more than eighty kilograms."

Lin Xianghua could never let the boss exert too much effort, so when going downstairs, he and Richard voluntarily took the lower side.

Gao Yi, struggling with a corner of the safe, said, "The heavier, the better, are you stupid? The weight indicates there’s something inside!"

"Right!"

Lin Xianghua suddenly felt foolish, then the feeling of being unable to bear the weight quickly disappeared; he wasn’t exactly reinvigorated, but he certainly had no more complaints.

Making it to the first floor with difficulty, Gao Yi considerately said, "Do you want to switch hands...?"

"No need!"

Three people answered Gao Yi in unison, then they even quickened their pace, while Christopher quickly walked ahead, opened the trunk of the police car, pushed the stuff inside and said, "Put it in."

The placement of the safe made its weight even more apparent, but now, even if it crushed their hands, no one would probably complain.

After putting the safe in, the trunk lid wouldn’t close. Christopher glanced at it and said, "Watch the back, follow me, let’s go."

After finishing, Christopher grabbed the walkie-talkie on his shoulder and said, "Clear the scene, let’s move."

Christopher led the way in the car, driving a police vehicle with a safe in the trunk; the brazen nonchalance of it all felt exhilarating to watch.

"Assassins don’t do things like this; this isn’t an assassin, this is a robber, no, this is..."

Luca was a bit shocked today, as he was used to assassins discreetly taking care of business and vanishing immediately, almost wishing they could hide in the air itself.

For someone like Gao Yi to brazenly burst in, eliminate the target, and then casually cart out a safe, that’s not an assassin—that’s more like a mercenary than a robber.

Anyway, there are no suitable adjectives, because there’s no similar profession.

"The safe is full of money."

Gao Yi’s single sentence left Luca stunned for a moment, then suddenly he said, "This is way better than being an assassin... "

Christopher’s car stopped in an empty space with no one around, and then he got out of the car, went to the trunk to examine the safe.

The rest got out of the car again, gathering around the safe.

As the most experienced one, Christopher, everyone waited for him to speak.

Martin impatiently asked, "How do we open it?"

"Hmm, let me think, the fastest way would be to have someone send a set of oxy-acetylene torches to cut through it, but it might damage the money inside. Using a cutting machine would be too loud and take too long..."

After a pause, selling the suspense, Christopher suddenly smiled and said, "So I just made a call to a lock specialist, and he’s coming here to meet us."

Looking at his watch, Christopher said, "It’s been twenty minutes, he’ll be here in five more. If you don’t want to meet a stranger, you can wait in the car."

Richard and Martin turned to leave, but Christopher said with resignation, "But at least lift the safe out first. Do you expect me to move it by myself?"

Lin Xianghua and Richard lifted the safe, Gao Yi hesitated for a moment and then carefully asked, "Can I ask who it is?"

"A thief, a burglar."

Gao Yi was stunned for a moment and then it clicked.

It was normal for Christopher to know the best thief and lock specialist in Los Angeles, and it was even more normal for him to call someone to help with a task.

Even those from the lowest depths can be useful; being an assassin, should he get to know this lock specialist?

But it was just a thought; not knowing who the lock specialist was, it was better to let it be for now.

They didn’t have to wait long in the car before a vehicle with headlights blazing drove up and parked next to Christopher’s car. The person got out, nodded at Christopher, and then stood by the safe.

After a quick look, taking no more than three seconds, the lock specialist turned back to his car, grabbed a stethoscope, then knelt on one knee next to the safe, placed the stethoscope against it and started spinning the dial.

In no more than three minutes, the lock specialist suddenly reached out to turn the safe’s handle. Gao Yi clearly saw the handle turn, but rather than opening the safe’s door, the lock specialist stood up, nodded at Christopher again, quickly returned to his car and drove off with a u-turn.

Christopher signaled, and everyone got out of the car again.

An excited Richard couldn’t help but cheer, "Wow! We struck it rich, struck it rich!"

His voice trembling, he said, "There must be one million in there, right?"

Luca glanced inside and licked his lips, saying, "Two million, two million and ten thousand, it can fit double-layered, all hundred-dollar bills, all new!"

Unlike the money from the trash dog, the currency in Walter’s safe was neatly wrapped in bundles of US$ 100,000 in plastic, stacked orderly in the safe.

The bills filled the entire safe, and even the spare spaces were crammed with loose notes.

Martin whispered, "What luck!"

Christopher gently whistled and said, "Just in time."

Now, only Gao Yi and Lin Xianghua were out of the loop.

With a shrug, Gao Yi said, "Uh, explain please..."

In a low voice, Luca said, "Drug dealers usually get small bills, which take up several times more space than the same amount of large bills. And Walter is just a distributor for some Mexican drug lord in the United States, he needs to periodically send money back to Mexico, so he would find someone specializing in money laundering to exchange the change for whole notes, waiting for the Mexican to come take the money away."

This was another knowledge blind spot for Gao Yi, though he did know that some people preferred large bills while others wanted small coins, like counterfeiters who liked to exchange for loose change.

Counterfeit money.

Suddenly, Gao Yi said, "It’s not counterfeit, is it?"

Luca bent down to pick up a bill from the ground, sniffed it, flicked the note, and said, "Real money, drug cartels don’t use counterfeits."

Christopher smacked his lips and said, "Actually, I’d prefer smaller bills, but no more talk; let’s split the money."

No one needed to take the lead; instantly, Luca said, "You take half and we take half."

The ’we’ Luca mentioned did not just include himself and Gao Yi, but also Martin and Richard.

Then, squatting down, Luca began to arrange the money again.

First, they split the bundles one by one, then the stacks, and after that, Luca began picking up the scattered bills from the ground and from what was collected out of the safe.

The money had to be divided evenly, and looking at the thick stack of bills in Luca’s hand, Christopher suddenly said, "Right on the nose, impressive!"

Luca didn’t think there was anything difficult about it and said softly, "One for you, one for us."

Generously, Christopher waved his hand and said, "Just split it roughly, a few bills more or less doesn’t matter."

"That won’t do."

Luca still carefully placed money on both sides, then he said very seriously, "I have many ways to quickly count it, but then you wouldn’t see it directly, that’s not right."

Luca didn’t finish counting; holding the money would have to wait, and an impatient Richard protested, "It’s okay, it’s okay!"

"Absolutely not!"

Luca was firm, insisting, "We’re working together for the first time; how could it be okay to mess up the division of the loot? As a professional financial director, getting the accounts right is the least of my requirements."

He sped up the placement of the money, but Luca still refused to roughly divide a stack of cash into two.

Pointing at Luca, Christopher exclaimed, "Falke! I really appreciate your attitude. If our accountant were like you, he wouldn’t have been killed for embezzlement. From now on, you’re the one to divide the money, nobody else will do."

Unmoved, Luca persisted until he counted every last of the unorganized bills strewn about; two hundred bills, exactly twenty thousand, totaling precisely two million and ten thousand US dollars in the safe.

His previous estimate had been slightly off, but this time it was spot on.

Placing a stack of loose bills on top of Christopher’s pile, Luca exhaled and said, "Yours."

The remaining stack was placed on his pile, and a happy expression emerged on Luca’s face as he said softly, "Ours!"

Christopher noisily tossed the money into the car trunk and then stuffed the loose bills into his pocket, saying, "Goodbye, oh, until we collaborate again!"

He slammed the trunk door shut with a heft and was about to get into the car when he suddenly stopped, turned to Gao Yi, and asked, "Are you guys an assassin organization?"

"Yes."

"Doesn’t seem like it..."

After posing the random question and murmuring to himself, Christopher asked once more, "So do you only take jobs from the Dark Web?"

Luca looked at Gao Yi, who thought for a moment and said, "Not necessarily, if the price is right, we take jobs offline too."

Christopher nodded, then pointed at Gao Yi and said, "I might contact you if there’s a chance. If there’s trouble dealing with the police, call me, goodbye."

He got into the car and departed with flair, Christopher may have seemed decrepit, but he was decisive in his actions.

Watching Christopher’s taillights fade into the distance, Richard heaved a sigh and said, "Come on, it’s our turn to divide now."

Martin, however, sighed, "We should have asked him to help us sell our gold, that old man knows a lot of people. He’s most familiar with the entire Los Angeles Underworld and has channels for fencing goods."