Searching for someone in northern Myanmar, and you call that earning tuition fees?

Blood Axe pointed his gun at Su Ming, while a dozen mercenaries behind him pressed their fingers on the triggers.

Li Changfeng's right hand muscles tensed up suddenly, and he took a half step back with his left foot, ready to draw his gun and launch a powerful attack.

Su Ming didn't look at the Blood Axe, but suddenly sighed, his face full of sympathy.

"Brother Li, Uncle Zhao, let's go." Su Ming turned around, not even glancing at Blood Axe again. "He's determined to die, we can't stop him. Let's respect local customs and give him some privacy."

Li Changfeng's tense muscles immediately relaxed. He looked at Su Ming's back, his gaze sharpened, and without questioning, he simply confirmed the instruction with his eyes.

Old Zhao, holding his thermos, stood frozen in place. Go? There were anti-aircraft machine guns everywhere; where could he go?

"Old Li, connect on the phone." Su Ming pointed to the tactical communicator on Li Changfeng's shoulder. "Notify headquarters back home. Negotiations failed. These thirty-three infrastructure workers are all classified as non-performing assets and will be disposed of on-site. Nominally, they will be reported as martyrs. The compensation will go through a special approval channel and will be deposited into the families' accounts tonight."

Li Changfeng loosened his grip on the gun, flicked his wrist, and pressed his thumb against the communicator on his shoulder, his voice steady: "Received. Operation codename 'Discarded Pawn,' initiate the destruction process."

Holy crap!

A distorted scream came from inside the warehouse's iron gate. Old Gao jumped up as if his butt was on fire. He grabbed the iron bars with both hands, pressing his greasy face between the iron pillars.

"Bullshit!" Old Gao cursed. "I've been building this bridge for thirty years, and it hasn't collapsed. You want me to collapse first? I've been eating sand and getting bitten by African mosquitoes every day on the construction site, and I've finally made it to the end of the project! And you just open your mouth and send me straight to the martyrs' cemetery?"

The engineers behind them also went wild, and the iron fence was shaken so loudly it made a deafening noise.

"I've been burning ashes for three days and three nights and haven't been paid yet. You want to just put me in an urn?"

Old Gao shook the iron bars frantically, making the iron gate bang loudly: "What kind of negotiation expert do you think you are! Is this how you negotiate? Are you trying to swindle our project payment?"

Blood Axe stood frozen in place, gun in hand, his face twitching violently twice.

That's not how the script was written!

He kidnapped the hostages to extort money from the Dragon Kingdom. The usual tactic is for the other side to either plead desperately or send a large army to the border.

The other party didn't even try to negotiate the price; they just wrote it off as bad debt on the spot? How the hell are we supposed to negotiate now?!

"Halt!" Blood Axe roared, his scarred face trembling. "Don't you dare play mind games with me! You really think I won't shoot? I, Blood Axe, have been in Black Earth Country for ten years. I have soldiers and guns! Who dares to touch me!"

Su Ming stopped, turned around, and looked at him calmly.

"Five hundred million RMB, which is more than seventy million USD." Su Ming said calmly, his hands in his pockets. "This is the final payment for the infrastructure project. Since you detained the people, this money is stuck in the account."

"So what?" Blood Axe sneered.

"This means you now hold the biggest bounty in all of Africa." Su Ming pointed to Lao Gao and the others in the warehouse. "You think you've taken hostages. You've actually taken a seventy million dollar wanted poster."

Blood Axe's brows furrowed tightly.

Old Zhao cleared his throat, unscrewed his thermos, took a slow sip of water, and chimed in.

"Five hundred million." Old Zhao clicked his tongue and shook his head repeatedly. "I saw too much of that when I was in the peacekeeping force. Two tribes of black guys would fight tooth and nail over two boxes of expired luncheon meat. Seventy million US dollars could bring half of the desperate criminals in the country to be your father."

Su Ming nodded, his gaze fixed on Blood Axe.

"The news of your detention of the Chinese engineer will spread throughout the entire African mercenary market by tomorrow morning." Su Ming's speech suddenly quickened, each word piercing the heart. "Your mortal enemies, the surrounding warlords, even the regular army. They will use the banners of 'anti-terrorism' and 'justice' to destroy your fortress. As long as they rescue the people, or even just seize a corpse, they can use this to claim a reward from the investors."

Blood Axe's grip on his gun tightened noticeably. He was a warlord, and he understood all too well the survival rules of this land—there were no allies, only interests.

"If even one of these engineers dies," Su Ming's voice suddenly rose, "that would be a transnational terrorist attack. Are you sure you can withstand the wrath of the Chinese government? Then what comes won't be negotiators, but precision-guided missiles."

Blood Axe gritted his teeth, cold sweat beading on his forehead, still stubbornly insisting, "My brothers will fight me to the last man!"

"There's one thing you need to understand." Su Ming raised a finger and pointed heavily in the direction of Blood Axe, "This 70 million US dollar bounty is only for you, Blood Axe, and only one person."

Su Ming's gaze swept past Blood Axe and slowly landed on his adjutant behind him, as well as the dozen or so mercenaries carrying rifles and machine guns.

"Whoever kills you gets to take this seventy million US dollars," Su Ming said slowly, looking at his adjutant. "Do you think your men will try to kill you while you're sleeping tonight?"

Blood Axe felt a chill run down his spine and turned his head.

The adjutant was holding an assault rifle, and due to his position, the muzzle was originally pointed at Su Ming. But Blood Axe turned around and the back of his head was directly pressed against the adjutant's rifle barrel.

Their eyes met.

The adjutant trembled with fear, his hand shook, and the rifle in his hand fell to the ground.

"Boss!" The adjutant knelt on the ground with a thud, shouting with a mournful face, "You know me! I've had brain problems since I was a child! I've never passed math!"

A henchman carrying a light machine gun quickly pointed it to the sky and urgently pledged his loyalty: "Boss, I get dizzy just looking at numbers above three! I would never betray you! I can't even figure out how many zeros are in seventy million!"

The dozen or so henchmen panicked and quickly moved their guns away, some even taking two steps back, afraid of causing their boss to misunderstand.

Blood Axe swallowed hard, looking at his underlings, a chill creeping up his spine.

He now understands that these five hundred men are not his soldiers, but five hundred reserve millionaires who are ready to betray him at any time!

With seventy million US dollars right there, even blood brothers can turn against each other, let alone these worthless sweet potatoes who risk their lives for a few hundred dollars.

Blood Axe turned back and looked at the pistol in his hand.

This isn't a weapon; it's a deadly problem. Holding it could lead to infighting, being killed by your own colleagues, or being blown up by a missile—it's a dead end no matter how you look at it.

Old Gao, inside the warehouse, realized the situation had changed. He gripped the iron bars and peered out.

"Young man," Old Gao's tone softened, becoming somewhat ingratiating, "can't we stop being martyrs? I really think I can still be saved. I can go and tie steel bars first thing tomorrow morning."

"Gao, why don't you take a break?" Su Ming waved his hand. "I'm discussing business right now."

Blood Axe slowly lowered his pistol. He bowed his head and forcefully wiped the cold sweat from his face. In his ten years as a warlord, this was the first time he had felt such a profound sense of powerlessness. He dared not fight, and he could not defend himself.

"What do you want?" Blood Axe's voice had completely changed, revealing a deep weariness.

"It's simple." Su Ming stepped forward. "Hand over the camp management. I'll help you deal with this bad asset."

"Give it to you?" Blood Axe abruptly raised his head, his eyes full of wariness. "What would I gain from giving it to you? If I release the people, I won't get any money, and I'll still be dead if I go out! My men will be the first to tear me apart!"

"Who said you have no money?" Su Ming crossed his arms and looked straight at Blood Axe.

"I not only have a way to help you out of this deadlock," Su Ming paused for a moment.

The night wind blew through the camp, causing the distant campfire to flicker.

"I can also make you the first warlord in Africa to ring the Nasdaq bell."