Part-time bodyguard

Chapter 448 Special Service Captain (Part )

Duanmu held the back of the chair with both hands and said, "Uncle Dolan, you gave me three choices. The first choice is that I become a puppet. The second choice is internal friction in the Knights. The third choice is to kill you."

Dolan nodded. “Although I disagree with some of your wording, it’s basically correct.”

Duanmu asked, "Uncle Dolan, how did the Knights come about?"

Without waiting for Duolan to answer, Duanmu said, "For decades, you have taught me, trained me, given me advice, and helped me develop a team. But do you remember what happened when we first met? You were on the blacklist, had nowhere to go, were monitored by the FBI, and finally settled in my manor. The question I want to ask now is: In this context, what kind of team is the Knights?"

Duanmu said: "It is obvious that whoever pays is the boss. Whether it is to establish the Knights, cultivate a talent team, or make money with money, the original capital is my money. Uncle Dolan, do you have any doubts about this?"

Dolan said, "No." It didn't feel good.

Duanmu continued, "However, with Uncle Dolan's contribution and hard work, I think it is enough to achieve the goal of technology investment. No one can deny your contribution. The current situation is like this. The two bosses of the Knights are facing differences in ideas. The trouble is that they do not have a clear equity ratio. Many people think that the boss is you, Uncle Dolan, and few people know that the original boss is me. Even these senior executives are lying with their eyes open."

Duanmu looked at Anthony, then at the phones of the two knights participating in the conference call.

Duo Lan asked: "Duanmu, what do you want to say?"

Duanmu said: "Before I say anything, let's take stock of the Knights Company."

Dolan asked, "Do you want to take inventory of your assets? It will take a few days, but I can give you a rough estimate of your assets."

Duanmu said: "No, we won't count the assets for now. Let's count other things, such as chips."

Dolan didn't quite understand: "Chips?" He didn't like Duanmu who was so confident in front of him. He liked his student Duanmu more.

Duanmu said: "One question: with the resumes of all the Knights, who can serve as the chief advisor for East Asian strategy? Sorry, only me. I come from a family of officials. Although I am an illegitimate child, my father's identity is great and glorious. He is both a capitalist and a politician. 95% of my assets are in the United States, and assets exceeding billion US dollars are the best credit collateral."

Duanmu said, "Uncle Dolan, are you qualified to be the general counsel? As a young talent, Ruth, are you qualified? Sorry, none of you are qualified, only I am. Your assets are either not visible to the public, not in the United States, or not comparable to mine. This is my first bargaining chip. If I turn the table over, you will be left with nothing. Forget about the Knights relying on Washington. If I make me unhappy, it is only a matter of time before the Knights are destroyed."

Duanmu made a deep voice and said, "Remember, an official is an official, even if he is an illegitimate child. A bandit is a bandit, even if he is a legendary figure."

Duanmu took out a coin from his pocket and flicked it. The coin spun wildly on the conference table. Under everyone's gaze, the coin slowly stopped.

Duanmu took out the second coin from his pocket: "For the second chip, I have to thank Uncle Dolan for his long-term planning, which has made me, the future political star, spotless. My finances are independent from the Knights, and my assets have no direct connection with the Knights. The most interesting point is that, except for a few people present and a few senior executives, no one knows that I am the leader of the Knights."

Duanmu said: "I think this is also your foresight, Uncle Dolan. But the current situation is very interesting. As the leader, I don't have to be responsible for any crimes of the Knights. And as the leader, I know very well what bad things the Knights have done."

Duanmu popped out the second coin, and as the coin spun, Duanmu concluded: "I have the ability to destroy the Knights."

Duanmu then took out the third coin. While playing with the coin, he said, "Uncle Dolan, you are willing to sacrifice your life to change my idealistic and liberal mindset. The idealism in that includes some of my actions, such as saving people who have fallen into hell and giving them a new life. Because of this, they are loyal to me. Note that they are loyal to me, not to the Knights."

Duanmu said: "This means that I have a force within the Knights. Although this force is very weak, it gives me a lot of room for maneuver. Uncle Dolan, the people you trained are loyal to the Knights. Now, people who are loyal to the leader of the Knights want to fight against people who are loyal to the Knights. What kind of situation will arise?"

Duanmu said, "I can't say that I will defeat those who are loyal to the Knights. After all, the key positions are all held by people who are loyal to you, Uncle Dolan. For example, Uncle Anthony. Uncle Anthony was once suspected of being a two-faced sword butterfly and was forced to retire. He was monitored by the FBI and was hunted by foreign forces. Did you, Uncle Dolan, settle everything? It seems so, but you asked my father to come forward as a guarantor and let Anthony join my manor before letting the FBI let him go. You negotiated with the foreign forces who were hunting Anthony on my behalf, and used my investment in a copper mine in Chile, in which I own 21% of the shares, as a bargaining chip to trade with the other party."

Duanmu leaned over to look at Dolan: "Uncle Dolan, it was discovered last year that the copper reserves you are trading account for 0.7% of the world's total. This investment has nothing to do with you, Uncle Dolan. I heard the news through the grapevine from my father's friends." Chile has 30% of the world's copper reserves.

Duanmu said: "As a result, Anthony is loyal to you, even though he knows that I am his benefactor."

Duanmu ejected the third coin: "Even if there is an internal conflict in the Knights, I can choose to eliminate your confidants through legal means. Maybe my people will also suffer losses, but they are willing to sacrifice their lives for me because I gave them a second life. Uncle Anthony, can you do it? For Dolan, are you willing to sacrifice your life?"

No one answered, so Duanmu took out the fourth coin: "Uncle Dolan, you are my butler, Anthony, you are the gardener of my estate, and Miss Ruth is the legal adviser of a certain company. If you cut off our personal relationship, you will find that my identity is far beyond your reach. Who am I now? I am the chief adviser for East Asian strategy appointed by Washington, and I even have the power to mobilize U.S. troops stationed in South Korea and Japan."

Duanmu flicked out the fourth coin and said, "What about the Knights? I have the final say, not Uncle Dolan. Since we have such a huge difference in philosophy, I suggest we split up. What do you think, Uncle Dolan?"

After Duanmu finished speaking, he looked at Duolan and added: "I will not be moved by your dedication, because the beneficiary of your plan may not be me."

As the sound of the coin turning stopped, the scene became silent. Only then did Duanmu pull out a chair and sit down.

Dolan was still thinking, and Anthony spoke first, asking: "Duanmu, what do you mean?"

Duanmu replied, "It's very simple. I have the final say on how the Knights are to be divided. Your first choice: Agree. You can retain more than half of the Knights' assets, and you can continue to operate the Knights. With Uncle Dolan's wisdom and his arrangements in American politics, I believe that sooner or later, the new Knights will be able to produce a US president."

Duanmu: "The second choice: Don't agree. Then we'll break up. A large amount of the Knights' assets will be confiscated, and you will either be imprisoned or destitute. You know my character, I don't care about these assets, because I am already a wealthy man."

Duanmu: "The third option is to imprison and control me. This is a gamble. Coincidentally, this is my home turf. You only have today as your chance. After today, I will make a backup plan. Even if you are imprisoned, kidnapped, or killed, the Knights will be dragged into hell by me."

Dolan then spoke up: "Duanmu, you are the boss of the Knights, why do you want to destroy the Knights?"

Duanmu replied: "What belongs to me is mine, and what does not belong to me is not mine. If I am really the leader of the Knights Templar, are you qualified to risk your life to force me to abdicate? Will the three Knights of the Round Table confront my reasonable proposal? Will Miss Ruth appear here?"

Duanmu said: "You know my original intention of establishing the Knights, that is to replicate Batman. Batman has an old butler who is loyal to him. I thought I did, until recently I found out that the old butler does not need Batman, he just needs an obedient bat. He hopes that the bat can realize his dream. As for what the bat is thinking and what he wants, he does not care."

Duanmu said: "Uncle Duolan, there is no need to say anything extra. I will give you half an hour and I will wait for your answer here. I suggest you choose to agree to the separation, so that you can find a more suitable obedient bat and realize your ambition in governance."

After saying that, Duanmu placed an expensive pocket watch on the table and started playing with his cigar.

Duolan took a deep breath and said, "Duanmu, you will destroy the Knights if you do this." Duanmu replied, "I am only destroying the part that does not belong to me. I don't want your life, your ideals, or your Knights."

Dolan asked: "Your growth is beyond my expectation."

Duanmu said: "You should have known."

Dolan said, "Without the help of the Knights, can you be competent as the chief counselor?"

Duanmu said: "Man proposes, God disposes. I am prepared to accept failure."

Dolan hesitated for a moment and said, "If I make the first choice, what do you want?"

Duanmu picked up the phone and made a call: "Gui Yi, go to Room 202 and bring up some side dishes."

Four minutes later, Xiaocai, wearing glasses, took a laptop and entered the conference room. He glanced at Duanmu, who nodded. Xiaocai connected the projection equipment to the laptop and projected the divided industries onto the screen.

"Thank you." Duanmu gestured, Xiaocai nodded to everyone, and left the small meeting room.

Duanmu said: "The Dome Project was my idea, and I was quite involved. I arranged for you, Uncle Dolan, to contact and keep in touch with the Seven Kills, but you, Uncle Dolan, infiltrated the Seven Kills and dug out the identity of the two-headed dog. I am very unhappy about this. Not only did you disrespect me, you also destroyed my future cooperation with the Seven Kills. You owe me this."

Duanmu said: "Assets 1-3 are part of the assets of the Dome Project. The reason why we only take part of the assets is because the Knights' funds are used to implement the plan."

Dolan squinted at the first three items and said, "These three assets have been cleaned and are the cleanest assets in the Dome Project. There is no need to worry about anything."

Duanmu replied: "Yes, I also proposed and formulated the Laundering Plan. Uncle Dolan makes most of the decisions of the Knights, but I have always been in charge of the Dome Plan. According to calculations, these three assets only account for 35% of the assets of the Dome Plan."

Dolan asked, "What if I don't agree?"

Duanmu replied: "You have two other choices." Duanmu meant that if Dolan disagreed, there would be no separation, which was equivalent to Dolan vetoing the first separation option.

Today, Duanmu was respectful, spoke forcefully, and did not give in. This was the confidence of having the bargaining chips.

Dolan: "Only five assets in total. It seems like you don't want much."

Duanmu sighed: "This is the clean assets that my people can find in a short period of time. For example, this island in Hawaii, the current market value is 200 million US dollars."

Dolan said: "There are runways, mountaintop villas and golf courses on the island. It is a sacred place for receiving important VIPs for recuperation. The market value is at least 15 billion US dollars."

Duanmu said: "Thank you for the appreciation. The fifth asset is a luxury house by the Forest Lake in Vancouver, worth 3 million US dollars."

Dolan reminded him, “This is your 70th birthday present to me.”

Duanmu replied: "Yes, if you don't want, I can cross this out."

Dolan asked, "Do you want to completely sever your ties with the Knights? You should know what the Knights have. We have companies, energy, mines, docks, and a large number of young talents."

Duanmu replied: "I have no interest in other people's things."

Duanmu glanced at his pocket watch and reminded him, "You still have 21 minutes. Oh, and there is one more condition. If the people whose names I call out voluntarily leave the Knights, I will take them away, and you are not allowed to stop me. They are actually small-time figures on the fringe."

Dolan said: "This is not a negotiation."

Duanmu: "Doesn't Uncle Duolan often praise me for my ability to learn? Yesterday you didn't negotiate, but forced me to make a decision. You even made a plan to treat me as a puppet."

Duolan folded his hands in front of him. He was considering the possibility of kidnapping Duanmu. Unfortunately, as Duanmu said, he couldn't take Duanmu down today, unless...

Dolan nodded to Ruth. Duanmu felt a little uneasy when he saw Ruth operating her cell phone.

Dolan stood up, took two steps, and picked up the pistol.

Duanmu asked in surprise: "Uncle Duolan, are you going to kill me?"

Duolan said: "I'm not that stupid." Killing Duanmu means losing everything.

Duanmu asked: "Are you going to kidnap me?"

Dolan replied: "You can't deny that this is the best way."

Duanmu smiled and said, "Uncle Duolan, have you forgotten? There are 25 Hancheng bodyguards here, including many of my trusted confidants, Cui Jian and Gui Yi. Even if Bai Qi is completely loyal to you, you only have 16 bodyguards plus 1 Bai Qi. Do you want them to fight?"

Dolan smiled and did not answer. Instead, he asked Duanmu a question: "Do you remember who encouraged you to create a fraternity? Do you remember who reviewed the people who joined the fraternity?"

Duanmu was shocked, it's bad!

(End of this chapter)