Chapter 697

Chapter 697: The Performance of Covering Ears and Stealing the Bell

Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river; even now that Abik stood at the pinnacle of his life, commanding nearly twenty thousand armed personnel in the four northern provinces of Afghanistan, he still appeared before Sally like a submissive young wife, always loyally guarding Sally and Lin Mo’s endeavors.

He had once sworn fervently to Allah to protect the people and land of Gem Valley with his life, and no matter how his future turned out, that would never change.

“Two million? Hmm! That’s not enough; it’s a bit low!”

Sally frowned. Given Abik’s current status, two million dollars was truly not a lot, and this was in the absence of any corruption on his part; Abik’s character was beyond doubt. She continued, “How about I lend you five million? We can bet together—if we lose, it’s on me; if we win, it’s yours.”

This was essentially offering a direct bonus, not just a year-end reward.

The former village girl from rural Afghanistan was now a billionaire, casually betting millions. Even though most of the Dragoon Consortium’s cash flow was in Syria and had already been bet, she could still gather another five million dollars on short notice.

Sally never hesitated to support those who had fought alongside her; she understood that loyalty was more valuable than any wealth.

“Thank you, Sally, but no need! The brothers who came with me have also invested a bit; being able to earn some extra money for household expenses is already quite lucky. It’s not right to use the Consortium’s money for personal gains; starting that would lead to trouble.”

Abik shook his head. Having secured his position and sufficient funds, along with several beautiful wives at home to bear him children, he felt content with his life.

The Dragoon Consortium’s bodyguards, dutifully providing professional protection at the door, smiled faintly at Abik’s words, grateful for the opportunity to earn some extra cash.

Each of them had seen their wealth increase several times in just a few days, and enjoying life was all that mattered; there was no need to be greedy.

Muslim teachings also guided these local Afghan bodyguards to control their greed voluntarily, knowing when to stop.

“Don’t worry, I will withdraw a portion from any winnings after the competition to establish a retirement welfare fund for all Dragoon Consortium employees, ensuring that everyone can live without worry after losing their ability to work.”

Sally’s words quickened everyone’s heartbeats and breaths; they understood well how enormous the stakes she was handling were, and any small withdrawal could ensure that every person in Gem Valley would live comfortably for life.

“That’s wonderful! On behalf of everyone at Dragoon Consortium, thank you, President Sally!”

Abik understood the significance of this money, showing a look of relief. Many could share in hardships but not in wealth; treating her subordinates with such sincerity would surely earn Sally the lifelong devotion of everyone at Dragoon Consortium. Henceforth, it seemed no difficulty or threat could topple the united Dragoon Consortium, not even another war.

His use of "President Sally" as he spoke reminded others that Sally shared her wealth from the perspective of a consortium leader, and everyone receiving this kindness should learn to be grateful.

Gratitude also reflected respect.

“Boss, the battle is about to start!”

Only mercenary soldiers who had once fought alongside Abik called him "Boss." Although now Gem Valley had recruited many loyal warriors for the bodyguard team, many of Sally’s bodyguards had once been under Abik’s command.

Perhaps Abik and the bodyguard captain believed that those who had shared life and death experiences would be more trustworthy in terms of loyalty and professionalism. After all, aside from the holy knight, everyone depended on Sally and the Dragoon Consortium to provide for their families, and they would not hesitate to protect Miss Sally and the upper management from bullets if necessary.

As for the holy knight, well, no one worried about the Angel Azrael, who was solely tasked with taking lives; Abik had once sworn that Lin Mo was the true angel of fate, and he had witnessed miracles first-hand.

Hearing the bodyguard’s reminder, Sally and Abik immediately turned their eyes to the television screen. They wouldn’t miss any of Lin Mo’s battles, even going so far as to store recordings in data storage devices.

The bodyguards remained vigilant, scanning their surroundings instead of curiously watching the upcoming battle on the screen; they remembered their duty. What better way to repay the kindness of a boss who treated them well than to work even harder?

In another box opposite where Sally was located, data calculations commenced.

“Betting target probability completed: government army’s chance of winning is 45.91%, anti-government forces’ chance of winning is 54.09%. Bet 17 million dollars on the anti-government forces, and 1.18 billion dollars on ‘Number 13.’”

“Combat power ranking re-evaluation complete: Number 13 ranks first, confirmed, with an unexpected incident probability lower than 0.5%. Not calculated.”

“Returning 1.09 billion dollars to the company, initiating acquisition plans, starting to gather computing resources. ‘Lion Star 4’ will independently provide 5% of distributed computing resources for collective operations. Begin confirming the current task list: acquisition task series 1, Chip Research Laboratory, with 135 optional targets; acquisition task series 2, High-Precision Machine Tool Factory, with 84 optional targets…”

Adam continued to evade human detection, finding his way to survive in a manner distinct from Lin Mo and the gold giant dragon. Being logical, he didn’t put all his eggs in one basket but chose to take advantage of situations, so even if he lost, he would not come away empty-handed.

Part of the cash flow that returned significantly alleviated some pressing issues for him. With this rationality, Adam outperformed many market traders and was far advanced in logic compared to computer programming; humanity was miles behind.

In essence, he approached life similarly to the gold giant dragon, quietly blending into the survival laws of this world, rather than like science fiction movies, arriving in a brazen manner to destroy everything and ultimately meet an untimely end with advanced weaponry.

It was likely that even Boeing, the designer of Adam, did not write such foolish regulations into his survival program. A sixth-generation fighter capable of cruising for fifty hours should be nothing if not discreet, mastering the art of ‘playing dumb.’

Foreseeing hardware wear and tear, he was very particular about maintenance supplies. If preparations weren’t made in advance, the precious “Lion Star 4” robot could soon become inoperable, leaving Adam trapped in the invisible prison of the internet. Getting a robot from the already prepared “Laboratory 41” would be immensely challenging.

To activate more machines, obtain greater computational resources, and establish a more extensive self-protection system by reactivating the F/A-XX fighter jet, everything relied on substantial financial backing. It wouldn’t be solved by one or two million dollars, perhaps needing one or two hundred million to achieve Adam’s objectives, if not more.

Adam understood the importance of money almost as well as humans did, influenced by the prevailing social climate.

Soon, an airport in Eastern Europe, housing two sixth-generation F/A-XX fighter jets, would likely change hands to some private entity.

“Stacked formations, huh? Ha-ha, just my luck! Number 13, you’re doing great! The anti-government forces are really helping me out. You foolish beings are bound to mess things up!”

The holy knight laughed heartily as he looked at the shared view on the cockpit display.

“Indeed! Those fools really underestimated us!”

Yuri chuckled as well, recognizing how the anti-government forces, in a preventive measure against radar scanning, had configured their flight formation in a vertically stacked arrangement, much like stacking holding figures; each fighter jet formed a vertical line and advanced together.

Using this method caused multiple aircraft to appear as a single target on enemy radar, which was a clever idea for evasion; however, for those well-prepared, once such a method lost its covertness, it would become the easiest target.

This little trick by the anti-government forces might deceive radars but was no match for the Light Mirror Technique’s scan. Lin Mo intercepted the distribution data from the Light Mirror Technique and, after coordinating with the gold giant dragon, input it into the onboard computer system.

Through the C3I system, images of enemy aircraft were transmitted to all fighter jets. Manually marking each enemy’s position would be a painfully tedious task, but for the gold giant dragon, fully integrated into the onboard computer system, it was effortless; it didn’t even require complex calculations, as a simple program could serve as a plug-in to provide any desired function for Lin Mo.

Upon seeing the received images and data prompts, many breathed sighs of relief—this formation, aside from deceiving radars, served little purpose but to restrict their maneuverability.