Ultimate Firepower

To get in touch with Luca, he had to stay at the hotel.

Gao Yi had been sleeping in his own restaurant for two days. Aside from the unbearable heat and mosquitos that seemed intent on sucking a person dry, the biggest trouble was the lack of internet.

Gray Horace's rule had turned Suakoko into a primitive jungle.

Still, Gray Horace was polite to the Chinese, as they were the only ones willing to buy lumber, and selling lumber had become Gray's sole source of income.

The army relied on military aid from the United States, but the money from selling timber landed directly in Gray's pocket, which meant he could pocket at least several million US dollars a year, no matter how cheap the wood sold.

He heard all this through idle chit-chat at meals. After dinner, Gao Yi didn't need an excuse to follow the other bosses to the hotel naturally.

The hotel was less than a hundred meters away from the restaurant in a straight line, just a three-minute walk.

Local people were strictly forbidden from entering the hotel, but since Gao Yi was with a few other bosses, at least he could mooch some internet without issues.

However, upon returning to the hotel and sitting down with a few others in the lobby, only Lin Xianghua went back to his room, while Gao Yi sat there and sent out a message blatantly.

Casual chatting while messing with his phone seemed quite normal.

"Grand opening at ten in the morning tomorrow."

It was just one sentence, but Luca understood what it meant.

Luca hardly waited upon receiving the message before he immediately replied.

"So soon? Are you sure?"

"Sure, be there on time, and you can wait for me in the sky. When you see the signal, descend."

"Understood, I'll come to pick you up tomorrow."

Gao Yi hesitated for a moment before sending another message without thinking too much.

"There's a strange guy, of Chinese descent, I think he's in the same line of work."

"?"

"He looks kind of dumb, but he has passed a test..."

Gao Yi roughly described Lin Xianghua's situation, then put down his phone and continued to chat with others. After arriving at the hotel, these people would avoid sensitive topics, as the hotel was directly controlled by Gray Horace.

After some time, Gao Yi pretended to casually check his phone again and saw Luca's reply.

"Consumables."

The English phrase left him confused at first, as he didn't understand it. He took a moment before he used a translation app to clarify that it denoted consumables.

"What do you mean by consumables?"

"Consumables, we call them expendables. Mercenaries call them cannon fodder. The guy you're talking about is definitely new to the business, a consumable. If not a threat, no need to pay him any mind."

Thinking of Lin Xianghua, Gao Yi felt the term was quite fitting.

A greenhorn who didn't know his ass from his elbow, blundering in as if headed for certain death, he might just be someone sent to scout out the situation.

Suakoko was so peculiar, gathering intel wasn't easy. Since Luca had turned to him, it was possible that others turned to Lin Xianghua for the same purpose.

Considering this, Gao Yi suddenly worried whether he was just a consumable to Luca as well?

The more he thought about it, the truer it seemed.

Thankfully, he had some leverage over Luca, so Gao Yi wasn't worried about being abandoned. If things went south, Luca wouldn't see a penny, and would end up down by tens of thousands of dollars.

After ruminating a bit more, Gao Yi excused himself from the gathering and returned to his restaurant alone.

This time, although Lin Xianghua was present throughout, he didn't offer to work for Gao Yi again. It seemed like he might genuinely give up.

Of course, Lin Xianghua might have other plans, but that was no longer Gao Yi's concern.

After a good night's sleep, Gao Yi got up the next day, packed all his belongings into his bag, and placed it behind the door of the room where he slept. If it came down to a fight, he'd just grab it and go.

Gao Yi had just finished packing when he heard someone shouting outside, "Boss, boss! Come out!"

It was just past seven o'clock in the morning, and Sangbanda was back, this time with six subordinates, two of whom carried something like metal detectors.

"Good morning."

Sangbanda greeted Gao Yi politely before gesturing to his men, "Check thoroughly, but don't mess anything up."

Gao Yi was speechless at how strict the security was; it was just a warlord after all, did it need to be this professional?

Sangbanda took a seat and gestured for Gao Yi, "Sit down, wait, it won't take long."

Four men began sweeping the restaurant, which didn't have much to hide, but a soldier with a metal detector still scanned around diligently.

Gao Yi asked listlessly, knowing the answer, "What's that? A metal detector?"

Indulging his inquiries despite being obvious seemed the norm to Gao Yi.

Sangbanda didn't find anything wrong with Gao Yi's curiosity and proudly explained, "It detects not just metal but also explosives."

Gao Yi inwardly breathed a sigh of relief; he was glad he didn't rely on any weapons, or else it would have been tough to pass such a stringent check.

Before long, all six soldiers reported back to the restaurant. One of them announced, "Sir, no abnormalities, no weapons."

Sangbanda nodded, then pointed to Gao Yi.

Immediately, a soldier began scanning Gao Yi from head to toe, causing the metal detector to emit a sound.

Gao Yi stood up, placed his phone on a nearby table, opened his arms, and was scanned again.

The second time, there were no sounds, but as the soldier with the detector stepped away, Sangbanda stood up, indicated for Gao Yi to open his arms again, and started patting him down.

Sangbanda wasn't much taller than Gao Yi, just a bit over his stature, but he was very thickset. He didn't look so imposing from afar, but up close, his presence was notably oppressive.

Gao Yi felt a bit insecure.

Sangbanda was so robust; his ability to take a hit must be strong. If it came to a hand-to-hand fight, could he deliver a fatal blow without alerting Sangbanda?

And was it possible that the soldiers around Gray wore bullet-proof vests and helmets? If so, many deadly moves wouldn't be so deadly after all.

Gao Yi felt things were getting tricky.

After Sangbanda finished checking, he stepped back two paces and smiled, "All clear now, how long for your food to be ready?"

Gao Yi had no watch; he picked up the phone from the table, glanced at the time, and said, "Half-past seven, I have to rush. It should be ready by ten."

"Okay, go ahead."

Gao Yi turned to head to the backyard, but to his surprise, Sangbanda followed, along with two other soldiers.

All the way, even while he was cooking?

Gao Yi silently fetched a live chicken from the coop, placed its head on a chopping board, grabbed an axe, and with a swift chop, decapitated the chicken.

Sangbanda stood nearby, watching curiously as Gao Yi hustled around.

The hot water was ready; he plucked, gutted, and cleaned the chicken, then took the whole bird into the kitchen to chop it up.

He wasn't very adept at these tasks because, although he could cook, he had never killed a chicken before. This lack of expertise showed while he worked.

As he placed the chopped chicken into a bowl, Sangbanda suddenly asked, "You don't seem very familiar with this, are you really a chef?"

Gao Yi replied helplessly, "I've only used pre-slaughtered chicken before; we don't need to kill chickens where I'm from."

Sangbanda shrugged and commented, "Good excuse."

The rest of the cooking process appeared a lot smoother, making Gao Yi look halfway like a professional chef.

Three men watched him throughout, never taking their eyes off of him.

Even when Gao Yi needed to use the bathroom, a soldier watched him intently and never turned away.

But Gao Yi didn't need to prepare for anything else. His greatest advantage was the opportunity to act at any moment without revealing anything if he didn't make a move.

So, all Gao Yi had to do was cook; no other preparations were necessary.