Chapter 49

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Protagonist:

Milton

Mins

A young woman with a fairly average but not short build, wearing a slightly messy shoulder-length gray-white bob, her whole person exuding a capable style, walked to the front of the table and sat down, extending her right hand toward Milton.

"Flora."

Very decisive and swift...

Milton shook her hand: "Hello."

Flora was clearly a bit impatient; after a brief handshake, she opened her mouth intending to introduce herself: "Good afternoon, we are retired from North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries..."

Milton shook his head, looked up, and interrupted her: "Wait. Compared to that, I first have a question for you."

Flora respected the client's opinion very much; she immediately nodded: "Mhm, you ask."

"M4A1." Milton enunciated the gun name word by word, "As far as I know, this gun has only just been named now; you... how did you get this gun?"

If these people in front of him have connections, then no matter what, he must find a way to hire them, provided he first rules out the risk.

Flora was obviously stunned for a long time: "You, how do you know this gun is called M4A1? I only just got it recently... um, okay, I'll answer your question. As you can see, this is a selection trial gun."

Milton suppressed his excitement and continued asking with an unchanged expression: "Without a powerful background, it is impossible to get this gun... what necessity would someone who can get this gun have to come to this poor place and personally risk life and death?"

The meaning of this sentence was very obvious — that required Flora to explain clearly why they would appear in this kind of place.

If there was the slightest problem, if they really had direct involvement with the Pentagon, CIA, or Brussels, Milton would absolutely not hire these three people.

Flora clearly heard the immense wariness in Milton's words; she widened her eyes, completely unexpected that the prospective employer would be so knowledgeable and cautious to this degree.

No previous employer had ever looked for problems from this angle!

"Wait... you should be misunderstanding something." Flora hurriedly explained, "First, all our weapons go through legal channels; you can use any method to verify my words. Second, the reason I got this gun is not because I have some deep background."

"You should be able to tell, we are a legitimate PMC company (Private Military Contractor). Because the previous boss managed poorly, I took over and acquired it. And this previous boss once saved the life of a big shot from a certain European country during a mission; that big shot then used connections to get an M4A1 and gave it to the previous boss."

"The previous boss has retired and has no use for this kind of weapon. To repay me for the acquisition solving his funding problem, he gave this gun to me; it's that simple. I can even show you this gun's registration records, guaranteeing not a single false word."

"You know, guns sent for inspection are nominally randomly drawn from the production line, but in reality... this gun's quality is very good, it can greatly improve my combat capability, so I couldn't possibly not take it."

Hearing this explanation that didn't stumble at all and was extremely logical, Milton believed most of it, and while he breathed a sigh of relief, he couldn't help but feel some regret.

The good news is these 3 people really have no background; the regret is, they have no background thoroughly, so Milton couldn't hug their thighs through them.

However, their channel has only flamed out; restarting it later would be much easier than finding channels from scratch.

Milton nodded: "Alright... then I have one more question. Since you are a legitimate PMC registered in a North Atlantic Treaty Organization country, why would you, um, end up here, with only three team members left?"

A touch of embarrassment appeared on Flora's face, but she quickly recovered: "Because the previous boss left quite a bit of debt, and a civil war is happening here; where there is war, money needs to be spent, and security is needed."

After hesitating a moment, she added: "We are a legally registered legitimate company, so we must also operate according to legitimate procedures... for example, death benefits."

Milton understood: "You lost a teammate?"

"We ultimately completed the contract successfully." Flora emphasized, "It's just that the high medical expenses and the final death benefits paid out all the money we earned."

I see, that explains it.

Milton nodded: "Good, tell me your terms then."

It's them!

Milton was very satisfied with Flora's team.

As for loyalty, as for whether they might be CIA or USAID people, with the System Panel's real-time judgment on "teammates," as long as anyone betrays him, Milton will know immediately; he isn't particularly worried.

"Since you can recognize the M4A1, you should be an expert too." Flora tapped the table, "Then let's go by the default rules. The three of us, each with an annual salary of 250,000 US Dollars, totaling 750,000. Per month that's 62,500 US Dollars."

"This is just the salary the company pays employees; we have to buy insurance for employees, have combat allowances, high-temperature subsidies, operating costs... and so on. So even breaking even, hiring the three of us for a month costs at least 120,000 US Dollars."

"We need each person to have 1 day of fixed leave per month. Each month there will be 3 days where only 2 people's strength is online, but if an emergency occurs, the person on leave will immediately return to their post."

"Our team members' skills cover various light weapons, including the use of Mortars."

"All weapons, ammunition, armor... we bear ourselves, no need for any additional fees from you, while you only need to pay 120,000 US Dollars per month; it's very cost-effective, what do you think?"

Looking at Flora's expectant gaze, Milton's first feeling in his heart was: expensive.

But in fact, this price is indeed very conscientious... it can be seen that these three people are really short on cash flow.

Milton really wanted to agree, but he couldn't take out that much money all at once.

But, he could provide some things besides money.

That is painting big pies!

"120,000 US Dollars a month, very cost-effective, I can of course sign the contract directly." Milton first put on a posture of not lacking money, "But Flora, have you ever thought about a problem: why has your company always been in a state where income doesn't cover expenditure? You are clearly a very professional team, aren't you?"

Flora was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly: "Because we're too unlucky... what else can it be? Clearly wearing Heavy Body Armor and a Helmet, yet still got their head blown off by a stray bullet flying over."

And what affected the funds the most was that this team member didn't die on the spot, but died after failed resuscitation in the Hospital.

Flora also paid a sky-high Medical Bill for her "loyalty/righteousness".

"No." Milton calmly denied, "Because you are clearly 'Private Military Contractors', yet doing Hired Mercenary work, and this causes you to be unable to suppress costs at all. Your soldiers are too expensive, too expensive."

The later world-famous Blackwater hasn't even been established yet; at this time PMC restrictions are smaller, relevant legal clauses are chaotic, not yet effectively regulated, so legitimate companies doing some "mercenary-like" black operations is perfectly normal.

Flora listened in a bit of a daze; she seemed to have grasped something, yet hadn't fully understood.

Milton's voice carried a hint of temptation: "What you should truly do is undertake various military or security projects, take a budget, go maintain a certain defensive facility, provide logistical support, or protect a certain factory."

Risking your life for money can never make you rich; only eating the project budgets of those council lords is the only way out!

"You make it sound simple..." Flora smiled bitterly, "Nominally we have the qualifications to bid, but in reality government or semi-official projects simply never fall to us."

Speaking to this point, Flora suddenly raised her head, looking at Milton in shock.

Wait, could it be?!

"This is the second choice I offer you all," Milton said at an extremely slow pace, "forty thousand US Dollars a month, but from now on, your company will have the qualification to bid first on the projects I am responsible for, becoming a true 'Military Contractor.'"