Darkstone Code-Chapter 885 - 883: Lin’s Arithmetic
"Wait a minute!"
If anyone were to ask Beret what he thinks of Lynch, he’d probably tell them, don’t ever damn talk to Lynch!
If he ever got the chance, he’d even write a book called "Don’t Talk to Lynch," if he could make it to that day.
Beret’s logical thinking ability was already in chaos at this point; to put it simply, he realized he seemed to have hit a dead end.
He needed funds to develop his small organization, or he needed the money for other things.
When there was no opportunity domestically, he set his sights on Every Moment’s yacht because there were countless tycoons aboard.
Tycoons equaled money. There was nothing wrong with this equation, except he overlooked another problem: he actually couldn’t get any money on this ship.
Every Moment Company covered all expenses throughout the trip; besides a small amount of cash used on board, most transactions were through checks and chips.
Yes, there were plenty of tycoons on the ship, but it was truly impossible to rob any money.
As he gradually calmed down and emerged from the battle state, Beret realized this problem. He thought only of plundering this ship full of tycoons, but neglected that these tycoons couldn’t possibly each carry hundreds of millions in cash.
He screwed up.
In other words, getting the "ransom" he dreamed of wasn’t an easy task.
And his time was running out.
Once Mariluo reacted, smuggling ships would spread across the sea. He knew the virtues of those big warlords; once discovered, he was doomed.
The only way to make this journey profitable now was to trust Lynch, to believe he could make it happen.
After making his decision, Beret leapt up, grabbing Lynch’s collar with both hands. Unfortunately, Lynch was taller than him, so he couldn’t manage that "lifting" posture, but could only get close to Lynch’s face and said viciously, "Don’t you damn disappoint me!"
Lynch gently pushed and let go of Beret, "This will be the best decision of your life. Next, I’ll need your men to cooperate with me a bit..."
Half a minute later, Beret walked toward the crowd with great strides, shooting into the sky as he went.
The crackling gunfire and the dark flames startled everyone. He scanned the group of people who had deceived him, then shouted loudly, "Send them back to their rooms. Anyone coming out without orders will be shot dead!"
The crowd immediately started moving. Soldiers and those managers who had changed sides were guiding all the guests back to their rooms, except for one, Lynch.
"You better do what you said!", Beret kept reminding Lynch.
Lynch nodded slightly, brushing some dust off his sleeve, "You need to learn to trust others..."
Not long after, Lynch appeared outside a cabin.
With Beret’s orders, the soldiers on the ship showed some respect to Lynch.
The soldier standing to Lynch’s left held his gun, stepped forward to knock on the door, then stepped back.
The door soon opened a crack; someone inside was looking at Lynch with a startled expression, making Lynch a bit embarrassed.
He unceremoniously pushed open the door and went inside, looking around while asking, "Sleeping?"
Meanwhile, Beret, with another group led by the female manager, arrived at Lynch’s cabin.
The whole ship was under his control now. He could go anywhere, including having the keys to every room.
"You said he had another companion?", Beret entered the room and looked around, as the female manager stood behind him trembling.
Trusting Lynch was not an easy thing; even if he were stupid, he knew he was the robber and Lynch was the one being robbed - they couldn’t possibly be on the same side.
So his trust in Lynch was limited. He noticed others were appearing on the deck in pairs, except for Lynch, who came alone.
He asked around and learned that Lynch brought a girl, and that girl wasn’t on the deck.
He found the female manager, who confessed the truth under less severe threat.
Lynch didn’t come alone; a woman came with him, and that woman was a big star from the Federation.
When Beret learned this, he didn’t show any displeasure at being deceived. He actually behaved somewhat unusually; while having someone watch over Lynch, he broke in here.
If he could catch Lynch’s companion, then Lynch could be trusted a little more!
He had hidden his companion, he must really like her, which was a very valuable bargaining chip!
He stood for a while, then suddenly walked to the wardrobe and opened it.
There was nothing but clothes hanging inside. Even if there was someone, they couldn’t be hidden.
"Could it be under the mattress?" He seemed to be talking to himself, or maybe speaking to someone, then walked to the bed and lifted the mattress.
There’s nothing underneath.
He frowned, walked to the bathroom, went through all the rooms, searched everywhere he could, but couldn’t find the woman the manager mentioned.
Making a round, they returned to the bedroom, and Beret gave a very displeased side-eye to the manager, "You didn’t lie to me?"
The manager shook her head quickly, "No, I really didn’t lie to you!"
What they didn’t know was that, at this very moment, Penny was watching them from above.
She felt anger for revealing her information to the manager, but also relief for the advance arrangements made by Lynch.
If Lynch were here, he would definitely tell her that anger was unnecessary, as everyone has the right to survive, and doing anything to stay alive is not surprising.
Just as she was brewing these grievances, suddenly Beret drew his gun and shot the manager in the head. With a pop, she fell back onto the mattress.
There was a small hole in her forehead, the back of her head completely blown open, splattering its contents and blood all over the bed.
Her body was still twitching subconsciously, possibly because the body’s cells had suddenly lost contact with the brain and were urgently trying to connect to it to understand what had happened.
Unfortunately, the command center had been destroyed, and these signals would receive no response.
Penny, in terror, watched everything unfold below, tightly covering her mouth to prevent any sound from escaping.
Beret holstered his handgun, adjusted his gear, spat on the ground, and said, as if talking to himself or explaining, "You’re a Mariluo, all Mariluos deserve to die!"
After speaking, he raised an eyebrow and glanced at the vent above. Nothing could be seen beyond the dark fan blades. He turned and left the room.
The hatred between the Mariluo people and the Malolos could never be resolved. As the locals put it, a group of Malolos ruled a country named after "Mariluo".
Once the seeds of racial animosity are sown, they’re difficult to dissolve. Now the Malolos and Mariluos remain relatively pure.
No one had followers of mixed races. Even in a city, the two groups clearly delineated themselves.
Even in slums, they wouldn’t mingle together.
Exiting the room, Beret had somehow come by a two-inch frontal photo of Penny. He handed the photo to a soldier beside him, "Have people search the entire ship and find this girl..."
She will become the key to controlling Lynch!
He glanced sidelong at the door not far away, guarded by soldiers, where a light was on and Lynch was inside.
"I’ve negotiated with their leader. He wants a billion in ransom, which we’ll split among ourselves..." Lynch fiddled with his million-dollar lighter, speaking unexpectedly.
The wealthy man conversing with Lynch appeared to be over fifty and seemed puzzled, "Mr. Lynch, why are you helping him?"
In his view, once they gave the robbers checks satisfying their greed, they would leave. They almost succeeded.
Lynch countered, "How can you guarantee that once we all give them checks, they won’t kill us?"
The wealthy man was visibly taken aback, "I... don’t know."
"You can’t assure that!" Lynch looked at him, shaking his head, "You gave too easily. Once they have those checks, they’d think you’re worthless."
"Keeping you around would only mean spending more money to hunt him down, serving no other purpose."
"Killing us and sinking the ship would be the most logical move..."
"This is the sea, sir. If this ship sinks with us into the depths, the Federation will never find us!"
The wealthy couple were stunned after hearing this. They assumed giving the robbers what they wanted would make them leave.
But they mistakenly equated "robbers" with "workers". Despite considering both as the lower strata of society and failures.
The working class is like this; when dissatisfied, they strike and protest, then sit down for talks with the help of the Workers’ Union, give them something they want, and they’ll return quietly to work.
But robbers are different. Once they get what they want, they don’t leave just like that. They must destroy every page connected to them during this time before they leave.
Betting that this group of robbers will just leave after taking the money?
It’s better to see if one can struggle to survive first.
The wealthy man sighed heavily, the confusion in his eyes replaced by gratitude. "Mr. Lynch, thank you so much for saving us!"
Lynch’s face broke into a genuine smile, "No need to be polite. It’s what I should do. I’m part of us, so naturally, we should stand together."
"If anyone ever misunderstands me in the future, you can help clarify it for me."
The wealthy man nodded, "So, what should we do now?"
"Could you write something for me...", Lynch placed prepared paper on the table, "I’ll speak, you write, and then draft a transfer check for a million for me."
