Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 92 - 82 Recruiting People

Chapter 92: Chapter 82 Recruiting People

Returning to Los Angeles was actually quite convenient. The Garden didn’t have a safe house in Los Angeles, but Gao Yi had rented a house there.

Before departing, he used the safe house’s 3D printer to make a few dozen sets of fingerprint stickers. The passport Gao Yi used had fake fingerprints; he would always need to use fake fingerprints to enter and exit the United States, as it would have been inconvenient to seek such fingerprints without a 3D printer once in the US.

Buying the plane tickets did cause him some discomfort, though.

He had grown accustomed to luxury, flying in private jets or at least first class when with Sean, but Luca insisted on flying economy class.

Even though Gao Yi was paying, not Luca, Luca firmly believed that flying first class was an extravagant and meaningless act, and such waste of money was to invite divine punishment.

Fortunately, Gao Yi had not had money for long, so he followed Luca’s advice and flew economy class back to Los Angeles.

Things had changed.

Sean had helped fill the house in Los Angeles with Warhammers, but Sean would never return.

It was actually quite sad, even though he hadn’t known Sean for long.

Perhaps this was the power of money. Life had been too comfortable with the wealthy and extravagant Sean, to the point that frugally-minded Luca, despite his intentions to save Gao Yi money, was hard to warm up to.

Gao Yi picked out the hammer that fit best in his hand and wielded it comfortably. He weighed it in his hand for a moment and then tossed and caught it in midair with a heavy-hearted expression, "Destroy the rest of the hammers."

Unnecessary and useless things must be destroyed, keeping them only presented a risk.

Luca nodded and said, "Okay."

"No, keep the long-handle hammer, destroy the rest. And I mean completely destroyed."

"Got it, I understand."

Luca opened his phone, glanced at a message from the Dark Web, and said, "The client says twenty-two thousand dollars is the highest they will go. They mentioned that people would be willing to do it for twenty thousand dollars, but they are offering twenty-two thousand purely because they want to smash the target’s head in."

Gao Yi stashed the hammer up his sleeve, let it slide down, grabbed the handle, and swung it falsely again.

This custom hammer just felt so right in his hands.

"What’s the background of the target, how difficult is it?"

"The target is simple, a branch leader of the Limp Gang who controls drug trafficking in an entire Black District, with about thirty to fifty people under him. His name is... Trash Dog."

Gao Yi looked abruptly at Luca, who just shrugged and said, "That’s the name, we don’t know the real name, nor do we need to."

Gao Yi asked for the phone, which showed a picture of a Black man throwing a gang sign with both hands, cocking a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball cap sideways, wearing a blue short-sleeve baseball shirt, smiling wide to show gold teeth, wearing baggy shorts, knee-high white socks, and white shoes.

Gao Yi frowned and remarked, "This facial feature is not clear at all."

"They all look pretty much the same."

Gao Yi pondered and said, "They gather in groups, and they all deserve to die?"

"They deal drugs, they deal in cocaine, and these days they don’t do much of robbery or any other..."

"Drug dealers deserve to die, being a drug dealer is reason enough, nothing else matters."

Once the thought process was clear, regardless of what Americans thought, in Gao Yi’s mind drug dealers deserved to die, plain and simple.

He lightly tapped the hammer on his palm, it still hurt a bit, and he quickly lifted his hand and shook it, asking, "Any time constraints from the client?"

"Within a week, the task must be completed within five days."

"That’s plenty of time. You know the exact address of the target, right?"

"I don’t know, because the target often changes whereabouts, but there are several places he frequently visits, so we at least have an approximate area."

Gao Yi nodded and said, "Alright, you find where the target settles down. I’ll rest up. If we can make a move tonight, we’ll go through with it."

With Sean around, it would definitely be met with no problem.

But with Luca, it was different.

"I can’t do reconnaissance. First off, I’m not familiar with Los Angeles; I don’t even know where the target is, and considering it’s dangerous for a caucasian to walk alone in the Black District, not to mention it’s already four in the afternoon and we just had a long flight. Now you’re asking me to locate the target and make a move tonight..."

Luca spread his hands, "It’s not appropriate for me as the financial director to do these things. Please, I’m not a Gardener, nor am I a Bee. Though I am an assistant, I’m not omnipotent."

Right, the subordinate had limited abilities, he couldn’t expect everyone to be an omnipotent warrior.

Gao Yi was silent for a while and eventually said with a hint of helplessness, "Sean sort of explained surveillance to me, but I don’t quite get it..."

Luca looked annoyed and said, "Then why didn’t you learn properly?"

"Big brother! I’ve only been in the business for a few days. I’ve been either killing people or on my way to kill. I need time! And what I have to learn is mainly makeup. Surveillance is supposed to be someone else’s job. Who knew you would be so... useless."

Luca sighed softly, "I think we should find someone good at this as soon as possible."

"Yes, but I only know two suitable people, one is Xianghua, and the other... Berserker."

Gao Yi also knew that the people he knew were unreliable, so he said quickly, "Do you know someone suitable?"

"As a middleman, I should be paying attention to potential assassins. Why look for an assistant with the same functions? So if you need an assassin, I can get two, but finding an experienced and capable auxiliary assistant, sorry, they’d ignore me."

"So now two rookies are trying to rebuild the Garden, right?"

After pondering for a moment, Luca said, "At least you’re a great assassin, and I’m at the very least an extremely good financial director."

"Let’s leave finding people for later, now let’s focus on the task."

Gao Yi thought for a bit and said, "So it means I have to do the reconnaissance myself."

"I can help you drive, provide cover, backup, or whatever..."

After casting a disdainful look at Luca, Gao Yi continued, "With your current level, how much do you think you should be paid?"

Luca looked slightly abashed, and Gao Yi added, "I have a lot to learn, so why not you? The Garden doesn’t support idlers, you should find some true assistants to learn from. I’m not asking for much, just to reach Sean’s level would be about right."

Luca immediately said, "Sean was a Bee; he took care of contacts, attracted business, accepted tasks, Bee was the Gardener, providing all necessary support to his assassins, intelligence, equipment, collaboration, he also handled payments, he could even accompany an assassin throughout a mission. Now I’m not saying you should be the Gardener, but if I could be like Sean, how much would you pay me for each commission?"

Gao Yi had nothing to say in response.

Annoyed, Luca added, "You are the Gardener, remember your role. Reconnaissance is your responsibility. As the financial director, it’s already generous of me to help."

"Alright, let’s rest first, I’m too tired now. We’ll start reconnaissance tomorrow morning."

Gao Yi was anxious, but if he had to handle everything himself, maintaining good physical condition was the bare minimum. So rather than rushing to do reconnaissance, he decided to get some decent rest first.

With assistance, these matters would be handled soon enough, without it, it’s just a waste of time.

Gao Yi sat back down, while Luca lazily found a spot on the sofa.

After exchanging glances, Luca suddenly said, "Xianghua would actually be okay, though not an assassin, he could be a qualified auxiliary."

Gao Yi frowned, "Xianghua is a mercenary, how could he help?"

"Backup, he’s your cover. A mature assassin team must have basic combat support. Given our circumstances, we might need military support even more than other assassin organizations."

Luca leaned forward, serious, "The Garden used to take on high-end tasks, the kind that were utterly discreet, taking out targets unnoticed, so the Garden did not have much need for pure combat type assistants. But you’re different; you’re the type to take out targets openly, loudly, with a big commotion, it’s almost impossible to retreat safely, isn’t it vital to have someone to cover you then?"

"That makes sense. Xianghua has good gun skills, and he fights fiercely. Most importantly, he’s reliable, though he doesn’t seem very smart."

"Exactly, that’s precisely the type of person we need. He knew he was betrayed but still covered for you, protecting you and Little Hei to get away first, which is rare among mercenaries. The key thing is that he’s not bright!"

Luca spread his hands, "Think about it, not afraid to die, responsible, and a bit dumb means easy to deceive... no, I mean easy to control. If you’re really in danger and being chased by many, isn’t this kind of fool the most reliable?"

"That makes sense, let’s have him come. But let’s not tell him it’s the Garden, just invite him to join the Busan Team."

"Yes, contact him."

Gao Yi thought for a moment and then said, "Contacting him is fine, but how much to pay him?"

Luca pondered a moment and replied, "We must differentiate, the Garden and the Busan Team are two concepts. If it’s for the Busan Team, we must pay a percentage commission; ten percent to start is fair, with a floating mechanism. Don’t worry about it, I’m responsible for how much to pay; it’s what a financial director does."

Gao Yi nodded, "Good, then I’ll contact him."

"Aren’t there also a Berserker? Where is he, contact him too, it’s obviously too little if Xianghua is the only cover."

Gao Yi shook his head helplessly and said with a wry smile, "I can contact Xianghua, but let’s forget the Berserker for now, it’s complicated, we’ll talk about it later."