Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 89 - 79 Rivals on the Same Path

Chapter 89: Chapter 79 Rivals on the Same Path

Rebuilding the Garden was a lengthy process that couldn’t be rushed.

But understanding the reasons for the Garden’s destruction was urgent. Quite simply, if Gao Yi didn’t know why the Garden had been wiped out, what would he do if history repeated itself?

"Now tell me how much money the Garden has."

"Now tell me why the Garden was..."

Gao Yi’s question came too late, and too slowly. Before he had finished speaking, Luca, unable to contain his urgency, had already asked his most pressing question.

Gao Yi didn’t want to dampen Luca’s enthusiasm, but trust, once lost, could not be rebuilt.

From his pocket, he pulled out a piece of paper and laid it in front of Luca. These were the assets Gao Yi had organized over the past couple of days.

"What’s this?"

"Safe houses, client contact info."

Luca looked at it for a while, and then his eyes widened in surprise. With a look of bewilderment, he gazed at Gao Yi, "No money?"

Gao Yi said earnestly, "That’s right, no money. Sean gave me a lot of things, but money wasn’t one of them."

There were many safe houses, and many things were hidden within them, but there was indeed no money.

Luca was to manage these safe houses, which may or may not be considered fixed assets. Gao Yi definitely didn’t understand or want to deal with them, but he wondered if Luca would be willing.

He didn’t know if Luca would ask to quit, but to Gao Yi’s surprise, Luca began to review the content of the list seriously.

"There are actually twenty-six safe houses!"

Luca exclaimed in admiration, then he sincerely said, "To have so many; I really didn’t expect this. Even if it’s just the properties themselves, their combined value is a huge sum!"

Gao Yi managed a wry smile, "The first-class safe houses have complete weapons and equipment, the second-class ones have equipment but no weapons, and the third-class ones have no equipment, only basic living and concealment functions."

"Eight of the first class, sixteen of the second class, two of the third class."

Luca nodded continuously, satisfied, "Very nice, very nice..."

"All the houses are rented, under various false names."

Luca raised an eyebrow, "Rented? Eh, that’s a problem. I noticed that all the safe houses are in major cities, but this brings up an issue: the rent is very high."

Gao Yi couldn’t help but say, "Aren’t you disappointed? Knowing that these houses are just rented, doesn’t that disappoint you?"

"Why should I be disappointed?"

Luca gestured with his hand, "Whether as a professional manager or an accountant, one manages other people’s wealth, other people’s enterprises. The Garden is a historically renowned and highly reputable assassin organization. To be able to manage the Garden’s finances, to reorganize the Garden’s asset allocation, I consider it a great honor."

After that, Luca added sincerely, "Right now, the Garden has only the two of us. So what’s important is to reorganize the assets quickly. The rent for these safe houses is a huge expense, and since we lack the funds to continue maintaining and operating the safe houses, we must quickly cut those that are unnecessary to save on costs."

Gao Yi blinked and responded, "Okay."

"There are four safe houses in London, indicating that the Garden was very active in London and needed many safe houses. But now..."

After thinking for a moment, Luca looked at Gao Yi, "Let’s keep one."

"Okay."

"There are two safe houses in Paris. Did you use them this time? We should prioritize cutting the ones that have been used, since they might have been exposed."

"No."

"Then let’s keep the one with the lower rent."

Luca, looking at the list, murmured under his breath, "Lyon, Marseille, there’s no shortage of safe houses in France, indeed. It’s an assassin organization born in Paris, with the deepest roots in France. If you ask me... cut them all."

"Alright, you decide."

"Rome, Berlin, Frankfurt..."

Luca continued muttering, then spread his hands, "All in Europe, all concentrated in Western Europe. But are you familiar with the assassin business in Western Europe?"

"I’m not familiar with it."

"I’m not familiar either, so we’re only keeping a few of the first-level safe houses and chopping the rest since the first-level safe houses have weapons, and weapons are always the hardest to come by, so these can be kept for now."

"Okay, you’re in charge of this, but forget about it for now, I have something very important to ask you."

Luca put down the catalog, looking serious, "Ask away."

Gao Yi said sternly, "Why does Andic Group insist on wiping out the Garden!"

Luca showed a troubled look and replied, "No one knows why, but what I do know is that about ten years ago, the Garden took on a job to kill a Russian living in the UK. During this not-so-difficult mission, they ran into the Andic Group."

"Hold on, at that time, had the Garden already entered the Dark Web platform?"

"It had, but it was a different Dark Web."

"A different Dark Web?"

Gao Yi was surprised but soon calmed down. The Dark Web is always one after another; when one gets knocked down, someone builds a new one, so it’s already been through several rounds—actually quite normal.

After a moment of thought, Gao Yi raised his hand, "Continue."

"Then the two assassin organizations became opponents because, in that mission, the Garden lost Rose, a very outstanding assassin, and the Andic Group lost three people, probably equally important. After that, Andic Group clung to the Garden like a mad dog."

Luca sighed, "Assassins shouldn’t have such petty vendettas, but once the war had started, it was impossible to stop. The Garden tried to sabotage Andic Group’s tasks at every turn, killing off their assassins, and of course, Andic Group did the same. So, under these circumstances, the Garden’s effort to build the European Dark Web failed."

Gao Yi was taken aback, "Wait a minute, European Dark Web? The Garden tried to build the European Dark Web!"

"It failed."

Luca spread his hands, "Forget it, I’ll start from the beginning. The Garden is an assassin organization with a long history; it always used to work through intermediaries, meaning a few intermediaries were publicly listed in a small circle. Anyone who needed an assassin would contact the Garden through these intermediaries. That’s how everyone used to operate."

"Hmm, I see."

"But with the appearance of the Dark Web, this traditional way of doing business was greatly impacted because the traditional method required the employer to first hand over half the deposit to the intermediaries. The Garden would dispatch an assassin and wait for the mission to finish before collecting the remaining half of the fee. This model was lengthy and very risky.

But with the Dark Web, everything changed. Employers, under the premise of absolute secrecy, didn’t even have to contact the assassin organization directly. They could place orders on the Dark Web, pay into the Dark Web account, and upon completion of the task, just agree to transfer the money."

Luca took a breath, "At that time, there were several Dark Webs, and all assassin organizations were registered on each. The Garden took the job on the European Dark Web, Andic Group apparently took theirs on some other platform—it was chaotic. After the war with Andic, the Garden suffered heavy losses. They killed many of Andic’s assassins, but the Andic Group covers everything from high to low-end, whereas the Garden only took high-end tasks, so their losses were even greater."

"And then?"

"Then, almost all the Dark Webs in the world were knocked out. Americans found the backdoor to the Dark Web systems, and several countries worked together—destroying the three largest Dark Webs at the time. I’m not too sure about the exact timeline, but not a single influential Dark Web remained."

Luca spread his hands, "This was before Bitcoin, but after the birth of Bitcoin in 2009, the unregulated Bitcoin, outside the control of central banks and any financial institutions, quickly became the currency of choice for the Dark Web. In 2010, the first Dark Web platform to adopt Bitcoin transactions, which is the current Dark Web, began to develop rapidly. The Garden and Andic Group met again on this platform, and then the Andic Group continued to target the Garden, resulting in the current situation."

Gao Yi frowned, "Before the emergence of Bitcoin, the Garden tried to build a European Dark Web and ultimately failed."

"Everything failed, all those Dark Webs were finished."

Gao Yi gestured dismissively, "Wait a minute, hasn’t the Garden ever considered that it was targeted by the Andic Group for encroaching on the Dark Web’s territory?"

"Of course, they suspected it—it’s so obvious. But the problem is, the Garden was also very active on the Dark Web and completed many tasks. If the Dark Web really wanted to completely annihilate the Garden, they wouldn’t have waited until now."

True, if the Dark Web really wanted to take down the Garden, then Sean’s location wouldn’t be a secret, and the Andic Group would have eliminated him long ago.

But after all, professionals can be each other’s worst enemies.

If it were only that the Garden and the Andic Group were enemies, it would be one thing, but if the Garden tried to create its own Dark Web—even if not the full platform, just an assassin-exclusive Dark Web—then they would be a competitor to the Dark Web.

Seeing Gao Yi still deep in thought, Luca said, "Analyze this—if it were truly the Dark Web wanting to kill the Garden, things wouldn’t be the way they are now. It would be..."

Gao Yi shook his head, "I don’t care about that. I’m convinced that professionals are each other’s worst enemies, so the Dark Web will always be a suspect."

Luca fell silent.

Gao Yi sighed, "Sean died, and he left a number on his phone. I called it and spoke to someone who sounded like an old man. This person told me how to accept the Garden’s offer. So, do you know who he is?"

"It should be the previous Gardener, and Sean was Bee. The previous Gardener felt he couldn’t adapt to the impact of the digital age, so he passed the Gardener role to Sean. I’ve never met the previous Gardener, and I’m not too clear on the specifics."

The previous Gardener must be right; otherwise, that man who kept saying ’oh oh oh’ wouldn’t be so familiar with the Garden.

After much contemplation, Gao Yi finally muttered to himself, "Professionals are the true enemies, the old Gardener, the impact of the digital age... Luca, our situation, it’s not looking good."