Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 330 - 314: Moth

Chapter 330: Chapter 314: Moth

By eliminating the middleman’s profit margin, it was possible to directly channel benefits to Panetta.

It was uncertain whether 50 million dollars would satisfy him, but if not, Gao Yi could add more.

How much more depended on how much Shaman was willing to offer.

Currently, Shaman had authorized Abdulla to utilize 500 million USD; if that was not enough, Shaman could add more.

Given Shaman’s financial power, there was no upper limit on the amount; according to Shaman’s will, there was still no upper limit.

Thus, rounding up, one could conclude that as long as Panetta dared to ask, Gao Yi dared to give.

He truly didn’t believe Panetta could resist this temptation.

If Panetta had no personal motives and everything he did was for the country and the public good, then Gao Yi wouldn’t have much confidence. But since Panetta had engaged with Gao Yi out of self-interest from the start, there was nothing to worry about; nothing mattered.

To take down the gigantic CIA.

That was the situation, but he definitely couldn’t put it that way.

Gao Yi had to adopt a tone of gratitude and say, "At your command!"

Gao Yi now indeed seemed somewhat obsequious, giving off a rather contemptible vibe.

When he had first faced Harold, the Number One Master, Gao Yi hadn’t behaved so subserviently; after latching onto the thick golden leg of Shaman, Gao Yi had played the role of a hero admiring another hero, not forming a partnership without conflict.

Why, then, did he need to grovel before Panetta? The reason was too simple.

Gao Yi set two traps, two massive pitfall traps: one filled with spikes, the other brimming with gold.

Which to jump into?

The point was, after jumping in, Gao Yi could cover it.

The wild beast would fall straight into the spike-filled trap and die immediately.

Humans would always choose the one filled with gold.

But the wise would simply sidestep it.

Now, Gao Yi wanted to push Panetta into the trap filled with gold. First, he had to call out a few times to lure him to the edge of the gold-filled pit.

If Panetta, dumb as a beast, died outright, or if he, like Crawford, jumped straight into the gold-filled trap, that would save Gao Yi a lot of trouble.

But if Panetta was too clever, Gao Yi had to first pull him to the edge of the pit to peer inside. If Panetta wasn’t impressed by the gold in the pit, then Gao Yi would have to add a bit more.

Until Panetta was willing to jump in.

"Now, the focus of completing the plan is on ensuring you are discovered by the CIA, ideally by Freedom Wind, rather than us providing the information proactively."

Gao Yi responded confidently, "Yes, you are right."

"Dealing with Freedom Wind, we only get one chance, and currently, only three people in the CIA, plus you, are aware of Freedom Wind’s intentions."

Panetta was clearly defining the circle of those in the know, warning Gao Yi that if the news were to leak, they could all be as good as dead, as eliminating a mere three-person connection wouldn’t be hard.

Gao Yi considered it, then said, "There’s no chance of a leak from my end, if you can assure there’s no breach in the intermediaries, then there will be no issues."

Panetta sighed and said, "What I mean is to not let any unnecessary people interfere in this matter, just you and Joelson can handle the entire process."

Gao Yi expressed surprise, "Just the two of us? Sir, that could be... difficult."

Panetta continued in a low voice, "Use public channels; just by acting, given the CIA’s current focus on you, Freedom Wind will naturally notice you."

Gao Yi frowned, "You mean you want me to act in the name of Sky Garden? Impossible, the name Sky Garden is too dangerous. If I suddenly start using that name now, it would seem too deliberate."

"It’s not about using Sky Garden, nor Garden."

Panetta paused briefly, then spoke again, "Now, almost everyone knows that Sky Garden is an extension of Garden, thus both codenames are under heavy surveillance by the Dark Web, which has a strong desire to completely eliminate them. So, the moment you show up, the Dark Web will inform the CIA of your whereabouts, and Freedom Wind is also monitoring the Dark Web. Thus, your track will naturally be relayed to Freedom Wind."

By using his already exposed old code name to appear, it would attract the Dark Web’s attention, which is controlled by Panetta’s faction. As long as Panetta allows it, Freedom Wind could get the information provided by the Dark Web.

Gao Yi considered for a moment, feeling that doing so might seem a bit too conspicuous.

"Sir, the code names I used before, whether it’s Garden or Sky Garden, as well as my personal code name, have all been exposed on the Dark Web. If I still use an old code name at this time, isn’t the intention of exposing myself too obvious?"

Panetta smiled and then he spoke softly, "Actually, the code name ’Busan’ isn’t very obvious, and it’s quite normal for people in the underworld to use only one nickname."

Indeed, the nickname Busan had already been grasped by the Dark Web, although Gao Yi had only used it briefly.

Panetta continued, "But the nickname ’Busan’ is too strange, not catchy enough. Forcibly using this nickname would indeed seem rather odd. However, there are two code names strongly related to Garden that have not been exposed but have long been held by the Dark Web. As long as someone uses them, they will definitely draw the Dark Web’s attention."

Gao Yi asked curiously, "What code names?"

"Has your cell phone logged into the Dark Web?"

"The one I’m using for this call hasn’t, but I have another one that has logged into the Dark Web."

"Take out all cell phones that have logged into the Dark Web, put them away, do you have a fridge? Put the phones in the fridge."

Gao Yi took out a cell phone from his pocket, and then Luca and Joelson also took out their phones and put them together into the fridge.

After doing all this, Gao Yi then said on the phone, "I’ve put the phones in the fridge."

"Good, the two code names are ’Sun’ and ’Moth’."

Luca looked puzzled as he had never heard these names before.

Gao Yi could only say, "I haven’t heard these names."

"These two names have existed since the inception of the Dark Web. ’Sun’ is a code name that the Gardener never made public, and ’Moth’ is a code name for the Bee. The role of the Bee is to pollinate flowers, and so does the Moth, only it’s at night."

Gao Yi pondered for a while then spoke softly, "I don’t know."

Panetta smiled and said, "Garden is on the brink of extinction, because everything about them is controlled by the Dark Web. You took over the Garden from the previous Gardener, who originally was the Bee of the Garden, right?"

This statement was a bit convoluted, but the meaning was correct. Sean was originally the Garden’s Bee, responsible for intelligence and such. Even though Sean later took over the entire Garden and became the Gardener, he still habitually referred to himself as the Bee.

Now, Panetta had given two new code names that had never been activated before by the Garden or, rather, were only secretly used internally, yet they had still been captured by the Dark Web. Moreover, it seemed from Panetta’s attitude that the Garden didn’t even know these two code names had been exposed.

Thus, abandoning codes like Busan, Bee, Seagull, and Gardener, which had long been exposed, there was still a code name that would draw the Dark Web’s attention when called out.

It was clear now, but how could just mentioning it attract the Dark Web’s attention? Could it be that the Dark Web had expanded its intelligence network to every corner of the world, monitoring every illicit transaction?

That seemed unlikely. If the Dark Web had such strength, it would have united the world long ago.

Gao Yi thought for a long time before finally saying, "Yes, the previous Gardener was the Garden’s Bee, and he referred to himself as the Bee more often."

Panetta spoke softly, "That’s a secret held by very few people. That secret should have lost its relevance with the destruction of the Garden, but the rise of the Sky Garden in the Middle East and the completion of several super missions have made ’Sun’ and ’Moth,’ these dormant code names, once again come under intense scrutiny by the Dark Web."

Did Panetta hold their operations in the Middle East in such high regard to describe them as super missions?

Panetta spoke solemnly, "So what needs to be done next is simple. Use the ’Moth’ code name, make a financial transaction in Yemen, it must be ’Moth,’ it must involve money. In other words, the ’Moth’ code name must be linked to money."

Gao Yi replied softly, "Understood, Moth, money, these two points are linked, but what are the conditions for using this code name?"

Panetta spoke gravely, "Extremely simple. Log into the Dark Web with a cellphone, it doesn’t matter which account, just log in. Then, with the phone that logged into the Dark Web, simply say the word ’Moth.’ Because the backend of the Dark Web has listed ’Moth’ and ’Sun’ as high-priority trigger words."

Gao Yi was shocked, saying, "That can trigger monitoring? What about ’Sky Garden’ then?"

Gao Yi rarely accessed the Dark Web now, and when he did, he used the account ’Wind Knight.’ But if just logging into the Dark Web could install a trojan, if it could open a backdoor and lead to monitoring, then he had leaked many secrets.

"There’s nothing wrong with the Sky Garden, Garden doesn’t have any issues, even ’Sun’ is no problem because these words are triggered too frequently. Even if they can trigger keywords, the amount of audio that needs to be analyzed is astronomical, so now they have simply blocked these sensitive words. But since the word ’Moth’ is rarely mentioned by anyone, it remains in the Dark Web’s automatic monitoring database."

Panetta briefly explained, then spoke softly, "So, if you want the CIA to take notice of you, the simplest method is to have a phone that has logged into the Dark Web, say the word ’Moth.’ Under the monitoring of the Dark Web, your location will immediately be exposed. Then mention a few words related to money, as the ’Moth’ code name is closely associated with financial transactions. With these conditions, setting a trap shouldn’t be difficult, right?"

Gao Yi thought for a moment and replied, "It’s not difficult, indeed not difficult, but is the Dark Web that powerful?"

Panetta exhaled softly and said, "The Dark Web has gained the NSA’s technical support, and the NSA leads the PRISM program. So, achieving this isn’t difficult for them, that’s how it is."