Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 391 - 373: Not Enough?

Chapter 391: Chapter 373: Not Enough?

Everything for the Garden.

But Gao Yi didn’t have too much sentiment for the Garden, in comparison, he felt a stronger sense of belonging to the Warhammer Mercenary Group.

To Gao Yi, the biggest knot in his heart, which was also the biggest shadow in his life, was that he couldn’t accept the result where whoever showed him kindness would eventually be lost.

Gao Yi wasn’t afraid of anything, except for owing debts of gratitude.

Especially debts of gratitude that couldn’t be repaid.

But as for the Garden, honestly speaking, Gao Yi had pretty much settled his debts.

Sean wanted to revitalize the Garden, and Gao Yi had helped him do so; even though it was the Sky Garden that was now widely acclaimed, everyone knew that the Sky Garden was just a branch of the Garden.

Now that John said everything was for the Garden, it was time for him to show up for the Garden.

"Fantastic!"

Gao Yi firmly grasped John’s hand.

John didn’t want Gao Yi to hold his hand, but how could he possibly dodge it?

Gao Yi shook John’s hand up and down, then he looked at him sincerely and said, "I believe you can definitely make the Garden great again. You are the real Gardener. The Garden is in your hands, the Garden is given back to you. If you ever need help, just say the word, keep in touch."

John’s eyes widened; he stared blankly at Gao Yi, at a loss for what to do.

Chant slogans?

Gao Yi was annoyed by people who chanted slogans the most. Since John liked to chant slogans, he was no longer going to cater to him.

John probably hadn’t seen such a hard-to-fool young man before. In his view, young people were always passionate and impulsive and got excited with just one slogan. After that, it became much easier to manipulate them.

Confronted with someone like Gao Yi, John was a bit out of his depth.

Gao Yi released John’s hand, then he earnestly said, "There’s not much money in the Garden’s accounts, but the safe houses left behind and the network of connections are still there. I’ve hardly used them, so when you take over the Garden, you can immediately..."

"Wait! Wait!"

John finally pulled his hand back; he interrupted Gao Yi’s words impatiently and said in astonishment, "When did I ever say I wanted to take back the Garden? No, I mean—do you see any intention in me to resume the role of Gardener?"

"Everything for the Garden!"

Gao Yi nodded firmly and seriously said, "Since it’s all for the Garden, then it’s simple. You have the experience, you have the capability, of course, it’s you who should be the Gardener. Look at me; I can’t even do well as an Assassin. If I’m in charge of the Garden, who knows, it might vanish one day, or maybe, it’ll just turn into a mercenary group. So, for the Garden’s sake, you have to come back."

John watched Gao Yi, his mind racing incredibly fast.

Quickly assessing the situation, analyzing Gao Yi’s personality, John thought he had made some misjudgments before. Therefore, in the shortest amount of time, he chose his next stance.

Gao Yi didn’t play by the rules.

Gao Yi refused to be morally or emotionally blackmailed.

He hated chants, hated being led by the nose.

If you tried to play mind games with him, he wouldn’t engage. He’d simply leave you behind.

So, the previous method of gradually winning over a young man wouldn’t work.

John sighed softly and said, "I want to be the Gardener; I dream of taking back the Garden, returning to my role as Gardener, but I can’t—not that I don’t want to, but I can’t!"

"How can you not?" asked Gao Yi, spreading his hands.

"Because of my identity, I... I’ll start from the beginning for you."

John sat up a little straighter; then he spoke very seriously, "The Garden has been handed down for a long time, and the Gardener before me was my father! Please don’t misunderstand, the Gardener isn’t a hereditary position, and the Garden isn’t a tool for accumulating wealth or earning money. Of course, the Garden also isn’t any kind of vessel for great ideals; the Garden is merely an assassin organization, a famous one, renowned amongst the upper echelons of European nations, and of course, it indeed makes a lot of money."

Not knowing what John wanted to say, Gao Yi chose to listen attentively.

John spread his hands and said, "My father was Sir Danny Dyson, born in Brighton. Then, when he was young, he came to London and became a... small-time hoodlum. My father started as a hoodlum and worked his way up to become a core member of one of the three major gangs in London. Then came World War II. Life was tough after the war, and he ended up in prison. He was released at forty, and that’s when he encountered the Garden, which was also severely affected by the war. Oh, by the way, the people from the Garden came to the UK with de Gaulle but never went back to France."

Gao Yi was not clear about the detailed history of the Garden, but now that John wanted to talk, he let him continue.

John continued in a low voice, "I was born in 1953. At that time, my father had already joined the Garden, and he had the same role as Sean – a Bee, responsible for bringing in business for the Garden. But things were not optimistic. His income was poor and unstable, and our family went through a long period of poverty. However, when my father could truly decide on some matters in the Garden, the situation began to look up."

Scratching his head, John said with a bitter smile, "To cut a long story short, my father managed the Garden well and earned quite a bit of money. Then he used the money he earned from the Garden to do business. The business grew really big, and eventually, he became a well-known real estate developer and even earned a lifetime baronetcy from the royal family."

I did not know what John meant by starting with his father’s story.

John said seriously, "The Garden reached its peak at that time, accomplishing many tasks. But until 1970, I was still messing around on the streets, drinking, fighting, supporting Tottenham Hotspur, when suddenly one day, I was knocked out by a few people, bagged in a sack, and taken to my father."

Gao Yi’s eyes widened as he thought seriously about the relationship and said in a low voice, "You are... an illegitimate child?"

"Yes."

John did not smile; he spoke with gravity: "That was the first time I saw him. My father had people break both bones in my lower legs, then had the best orthopedic surgeon set them before he finally spoke to me. He said, ’You’re my son, and it’s time for you to go to school properly. You need to learn; you need to become somebody important. One day, I will give you a considerable fortune, but for now, stay here and heal. When your bones are healed, I’ll let you go.’"

Gao Yi said with a puzzled face, "Now I’m curious."

"At the time, all I felt was humiliation. I didn’t even know him, but I often saw him on TV. And thinking about the fortune he mentioned, I decided to endure it."

Shrugging, John said candidly, "Those were happy yet hard times because my father hired four people who took turns teaching me. It was all about reading, studying. I had to catch up on all the courses I had missed in the past two years within four months, then spend another four months learning new things. Even though I was in a wheelchair, I still had to study for sixteen hours every day."

Gao Yi’s mouth twitched and he said, "How could you possibly feel happiness during such times? Are you a masochist?"

"It was because beyond the four teachers, there were four beauties. I could replace any I didn’t like at any time, and the ones I liked stayed. As long as they didn’t get pregnant, anything went."

Gao Yi immediately opened his mouth wide in astonishment and said, "You were 17 that year?"

"Yes, 17."

Gao Yi drew a sharp breath as John went on indifferently, "I healed my legs, and in fact, I was quite smart. Then I got into the London School of Economics and Political Science, Politics and International Relations major. But I thought I was going to receive a large sum of money, which unfortunately did not happen. When I was kicked out of that comfortable nest, my father gave me not a single pound, just as if I had never seen him."

Having finished his story, John took a breath and said, "Then, in the year I graduated, Military Intelligence Sixth Department was recruiting new members. I signed up. I became an elite, an intelligence elite, and then I worked for Military Intelligence Sixth Department for ten years, until I was thirty-one. Suddenly I received a phone call saying my father wanted to see me."

Spreading his hands, John smiled and said, "The first time we met, he ordered my legs to be broken. The second time was almost eleven years later, by which time my father was already dying."

Gao Yi thought to say at least you saw your father before he died.

Looking at Gao Yi’s expressionless face, John continued, "In front of his sickbed, the father I had met only twice told me he was dying. Before he died, he left me an inheritance. I thought I would finally get a lot of money, but instead, he left me the Garden."

Spreading his hands, John gave a wry smile and said, "His eldest son inherited the real estate company, the second son inherited the newspaper group, his daughter got an estate, a racecourse, and about forty million pounds in cash, and me, I just took over a Garden with sixteen people."

It seemed reasonable for an illegitimate son to inherit something that couldn’t be brought to light.

John smiled and said, "Nobody knows that a junior analyst from the intelligence policy office of Military Intelligence Sixth Department is in charge of the Garden, which includes seven of the world’s top Assassins. And this Garden brings in more than ten million pounds in cash every year. Oh, by the way, ten million pounds in the eighties, that really was something."

"Do you hate your father, or are you grateful to him?"

Gao Yi suddenly asked an utterly unrelated question.

John thought for a moment and said, "I don’t hate him, nor am I thankful. My mother was just one of his many mistresses, discarded after he tired of her. At the age I should have hated him, I didn’t even know of his existence. By the time I knew him, I couldn’t bring myself to hate him. After all, he pulled me off a path to becoming a failure. But I’m not grateful either, because he didn’t fulfill most of the responsibilities a father should."

Gao Yi nodded and said, "So, you’re indifferent, neither loving nor hating, pretending he doesn’t exist."

"I can’t pretend he doesn’t exist because he had a huge influence on me."

John said with a smile, "I retired from the position of director of the action office of Military Intelligence Sixth Department. I was in charge of operations, not intelligence, because intelligence would undergo much stricter scrutiny, and I didn’t want to expose my identity as the Gardener. But in the end, how could I not deal with intelligence? That’s why the Andic Group sought me out – not only because they didn’t know I was the Gardener but also because of my position upon retirement and the accomplishments I had made while working."

Gao Yi said quietly, "Were you impressive? I mean, were you remarkable in Military Intelligence Sixth Department to the extent that the Andic Group knew about you and hired you as the head of their European Department?"

John sighed lightly and said, "I had Scorpion under my command."

He said it and then fell silent.

Gao Yi puzzledly said, "That’s it?"

John frowned and said, "That’s it? Isn’t it enough?"