Mercenaries, I Will Be King Chapter 1145 - 1023: One Billion US Dollar Bounty!

Libya, near Desert City, "Musician" Defense Command.

The air felt as heavy as if it were filled with lead.

The thick cigar smoke spiraled around indoors, yet it couldn't suppress the agitation and doubt that nearly burst from everyone's chest.

On the electronic sand table, the blue arrow representing the Libyan National Army (LNA) pointed coldly towards Sawinu, like the Sword of Damocles hanging over "Grey Wolf's" head.

Another glaring red magnet was firmly pinned sowhere in the diterranean, symbolizing the US military ammunition transport ship Marlin Fish, loaded with death and ready to be the straw that breaks the cal's back.

White Bear's thick fingers nearly crushed the cigar he was holding: "Boss! That's a ship flying the Stars and Stripes! It's a hornet's nest! Poke it, and the whole diterranean will explode! What do we have to deal with it? Paddle over in a washbasin and greet them with an RPG? That's fucking suicide!"

His voice buzzed in the confined space, carrying an almost despairing anger.

Hunter, holding his cold precision sniper rifle, spoke in a voice so cold it could freeze the air: "Boss, I've always looked up to you. But this ti... it's too crazy! The seas? Is that where we should be? Our guys are great at playing in the sand, crawling through alleys, scaling rocks, but we're not cut out for being fucking pirates!"

He paused, each word like an icy spike drilling into Song Heping's decision, "The ship? Where are the seasoned sailors? How do we get close to that iron tortoise studded with eyes? How do we escape after grabbing the goods? This plan has more holes than a sieve!"

Even "Queen," who was always silent like a shadow in etings, undeniably rejected, "Boss, technically it's infeasible. Even if we manage to assemble a ship and crew, the mont we get close, they could shoot a distress signal sky-high. Right now, in the Red Sea, the diterranean, and the Indian Ocean, Arican warships are like sharks slling blood. If a helicopter swoops in, we'll all beco fish food."

Her fingers quickly swiped across the tablet, the screen instantly simulating several glaring red alert trajectories pointing directly at the red dot in the diterranean.

Ferrari spread his hands wide, his gaze swept over everyone, finally fixing on Song Heping: "The most critical issue—VBSS (Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure)! Who here has professional mariti assault, board-and-search, or internal boat search training? Who understands it?" He spoke with a heavy tone, "No one, except you. But what can you do alone? Can you alone fight against a fully ard escort and potential instant aerial support?"

Questions like dense hailstones bombarded the silent figure by the sand table.

Jiang Feng, Collins, Klein, and Henry's faces, which monts ago reflected excitent, now turned grave.

Song Heping beca the center of the storm.

Yet Song Heping didn't imdiately retort.

He slowly paced to the window.

Outside, the Libyan desert twisted and stead in the noonday sun, the rolling dunes like lurking beasts roaring silently in the heat waves.

Under the dim yellow sky, the entire world appeared anxious and desperate.

Facing away from everyone, his silhouette seed sowhat blurred under the intense light. In the command room, only the sound of heavy breathing and the low hum of electronic devices remained.

"Everything you've said is true."

Song Heping finally spoke. His voice wasn't loud, yet it unusually and clearly pierced through the noise, carrying a heart-stopping calm.

He slowly turned around, his gaze like two bottomless cold pools, one by one sweeping across each face in the command room filled with complex emotions.

"The risk is terrifyingly high, the difficulties countless, and the hope of success..."

He pulled a very faint, very cold arc at the corner of his mouth, "Seems smaller than a cal going through the eye of a needle."

This near-mocking admission made the air in the command room freeze for a mont.

White Bear opened his mouth, wanting to say sothing, but was ruthlessly suppressed by Song Heping's suddenly raised voice.

"But!"

His voice bood like thunder, filled with a resolve to risk everything, his finger jabbing like an iron spike at the blue mark on the sand table representing the death noose of Sawinu.

"Tell , damn it! Other than cowering and waiting for the Aricans' bombs to drop! Or being worn out alive in Sawinu by the weapons we 'deliver' to Sayif! Is there another way to survive?!"

His finger suddenly turned with imnse force, stabbing at the red magnet representing the Marlin Fish! "Defend? We can't afford to! Attack? Even if we pile up lives to take down Sawinu, we'll be skinned alive three tis over! Just right for the Aricans' satellites and stealth bombers to have a ready-made, unprotected target! Retreat? Hand over the territory our brothers risked their lives for, the roots we painstakingly planted, just like that? Roll back to Northern Darfur?"

He sneered, "Do you think if we retreat, hide our heads, the Aricans, the British, those bastards like the Daishe Bird, will spare us? Will forget about 'Musician' Defense's existence? Dream on!"

The command room fell into deadly silence.

Only Song Heping's heavy breathing echoed.

Everyone was heavily struck by the naked despair and cruel reality in his words.

He picked up the laser pointer on the table, an intense red dot instantly shot out, precisely pinning on the Marlin Fish on the electronic sand table.

"Right here!"

Song Heping's voice was firm and decisive, carrying a sort of all-or-nothing madness, "We can only work on this! Cut off Vincent's lifeline! Let Sayif bleed out at Sawinu! Only then can we disrupt the Aricans' entire plan! Only then can we grasp that critical breathing room! Ti! With ti, we can find a way out! We can find a way to keep the 'Musician' alive!"

"As for how to do it..." Song Heping's gaze swept across faces filled with shock and uncertainty, emphasizing each word, "Who the hell said we have to confront them head-on ourselves?"

The red laser dot quivered slightly at the core of that gray area, like a bomb about to explode.

"I want to use a borrowed sword to kill."

"A borrowed sword?"

Ferrari's brows knit into a knot, unable to hold back his question, "Boss, whose sword do you plan to borrow? Who's got the guts, the capability, and is willing to stab this hornet's nest for us? Do you hope for Haftar? Or the Egyptians? They can't wait for us and the Aricans to fight to mutual destruction!"

"Exactly, old squad leader."

Jiang Feng scratched his hedgehog-like short hair, filled with confusion, "This sword isn't easy to borrow! Who's willing to be the fool and substitute?"

Song Heping's gaze slowly swept over everyone, finally settling on that red magnet, his voice low yet clear:

"Aren't there plenty of enemies of the Aricans? Especially on this land?"

"Plenty... of course, plenty!"

Ferrari instinctively replied, then his expression beca even more confused, "But who would risk their lives for us? Song, are you out of your mind?"

He couldn't help but laugh, thinking it was utterly ridiculous.

Song Heping ignored his laughter, his voice carrying a srizing power: "What if we offer a price they can't refuse?"

He paused, his gaze piercing, clearly stating that figure enough to make anyone's heart skip a beat:

"One billion dollars."

The ti in the command center seed to freeze instantly. One billion dollars! The term struck each person's eardrum like an invisible shockwave, crashing into their hearts!

The cigar in White Bear's hand dropped to the ground with a "plop," sparking a few flas he didn't notice, his mouth agape, eyes wide as if seeing this person for the first ti.

Hunter's muscles in his arms holding the sniper rifle visibly tensed, his icy eyes showing intense agitation for the first ti.

Queen's fingers holding the tablet curled slightly, and the map of flight paths on the screen seed to blur for a mont.

Jiang Feng drew a sharp breath, his mouth opening wide enough to fit a fist.

Collins and Klein exchanged a glance, each seeing disbelief and trembling shock in the other's eyes.

Henry's hand adjusting his glasses froze in mid-air.

Ferrari's mocking expression completely stiffened, turning into a dull blankness.

One billion dollars!

This number is a devil in itself, a force capable of shaking the entire dark world of the Middle East!

It can buy heaps of arms, can hire countless desperadoes, can make the weakest organizations instantly swell into giants, can push the most cautious heroes to take desperate risks!

In Libya, in Siria, in Wild Gate, in Illiguo, in every war-torn, perilous corner, what does one billion dollars signify?

It's countless lives, a power enough to overturn a small country, an oracle that can drive any organization or individual insane!

"Or its equivalent in arms."

Song Heping added, his voice coldly returning to controlling everything.

"Any organization, any gang, even any individual, no matter who they are, no matter how they achieve it—as long as they can sink the 'Marlin Fish,' one billion dollars, is theirs."

He picked up that red 'Marlin Fish' magnet, casually fiddling with it in his fingers, as if it wasn't a giant ship but an insignificant toy.

"We don't need a ship, we don't need to know VBSS, we don't need to penetrate the Arican firepower net."

Song Heping's voice carried a cold calculation, "We just need to spread this reward order like a plague throughout the Middle East's underground world. Let those organizations suffocated and grinding their teeth in hatred against the Aricans, let those who dare to do anything for money, let those crazy enough to possess odd skills... all start moving!"

He scanned the crowd, a cruel smile tugging at his mouth: "One billion dollars, enough to make the diterranean boil, to make all the jackals and hyenas in the Middle East bloodshot-eyed, pounce on this Arican ship. Vincent wants to exhaust us with arms? I'll use one billion dollars to buy chaos, chaos to make his logistical line completely collapse! If it's not enough, I'll add more! Problems solvable by money and arms aren't problems! We just sit and watch the tigers fight, let them tear each other apart! Whoever eventually succeeds, as long as the 'Marlin Fish' sinks, we're the winners! That's the difference!"