Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 118 A Very New Triangular Trade
Meanwhile, in a suburban area.

A group of Mexicans, dressed in tattered clothes, reeking of foul odors, and carrying replica Type 56 assault rifles, cautiously ventured into the jungle.

"A total of $700 million, $700 million!" A man looked around to make sure he was hidden, then exclaimed excitedly, "When have you ever seen Guzman so crazy?"

"It was $500 million before, but I don't know what Milton did, it suddenly increased by $200 million!"

“But such a high bounty means Milton must be very difficult to take down, right? Do we have a chance? In the past, we only got a maximum of $500 for killing a police officer! It's a pity Pablo is dead, so we won't be able to make that kind of money anymore.”

"Back then, when I killed a police officer, not only did I get the bounty, but I also got his wife arrested, hahaha!!!"

"I miss the old, stable way of making money..."

The other man scoffed, "David, you coward! No wonder you don't make big money. We're not going to attack Milton directly, we're going to rob his trade routes, understand?"

"He's very powerful, but can he protect his trade routes? We'll just rob and run, what can he do to us?"

The leader also said, "David, $700 million will attract more and more powerful people to attack Milton, and Milton will have to send more forces to protect himself. We'll take this opportunity to rob cars on the road and make a fortune!"

"Don't worry, it's very safe. How many people can a small town send to fight us?"

"My boss said that there's information from 'above,' so we can just take this road."

David finally relaxed and smiled, "Okay, hopefully we can snag some big stuff this time!"

"Believe me, I'm very lucky. I have a feeling that I'll definitely run into a big deal this time, a very valuable one, which will definitely earn me more than shooting a police officer."

They chatted and walked for quite some time before finally finding a small, well-hidden hill surrounded by trees.

David went up first, glanced down, and laughed, "This terrain is good. If a few of us crouch here, we can force a truck to stop with just a few shots."

"Great, let's wait here for the car to come. Everyone can take a rest first."

"How can we rest in this noisy place?"

"Yeah...why is it so noisy? Is there too many bugs?"

As the group was still marveling at the sight, a stick suddenly fell down beside them, burning fiercely and spewing bright yellow smoke into the sky.

David was a little confused: "What is this? Where did it fall from?"

"Heaven!"

The group subconsciously looked up, squinting and searching the sky for a long time before one of them finally spotted something.

He finally realized what the faint "beep beep beep" sound that had been in his ear was.

That wasn't the sound of insects chirping; it was the sound of a helicopter engine!

They had been followed by helicopter all the way, so there was no way they could hide.

"Holy crap! A helicopter! I see a helicopter!"

"Damn it, we've been spotted by a helicopter! Run!"

The leader stood at the highest point, firing his gun wildly into the sky, and yelled, "Run? How do you think you can outrun a helicopter? Shoot them down!"

"But I can't hit it..."

Before he could finish speaking, the leader, who was still frantically pulling the trigger, turned into a pile of minced meat in front of everyone—he exploded without any warning!
A cloud of dust rose from the ground, and mud mixed with blood splattered onto the bewildered faces of the others.

After a while, they heard a series of muffled "puff puff puff" sounds.

This is a supersonic projectile—those killed by it cannot hear its sound.

If you can hear its voice, then congratulations, you've survived, for now.

Following the sound, the robbers saw a steel monster with two twin-barreled anti-aircraft guns on its roof, emitting white smoke.

Everyone was terrified!
"Armored vehicle?!"

"Why are there armored vehicles here?"

"None of us brought RPGs!"

"Run!"

Just as they were about to abandon their weapons and run away, the sound of propellers in the sky suddenly became rapid.

Someone in the sky was holding a megaphone and shouting loudly to the people on the ground:

"Don't run! Don't run!"

"Anyone who runs will get hit by Mr. 'Hell Tax Collector's' cannonball. If you think your legs can outrun airplanes or armored vehicles, then keep running!"

"Those who want to live, drop your weapons immediately, expose your hands, and lie face down on the ground. The last one to surrender will be executed immediately!"

"Those who don't want to die, surrender now!"

The remaining dozen or so robbers looked at each other in bewilderment, and finally chose to drop their weapons, lie on the ground, and surrender.

"..."

Not far away, aboard an armored vehicle, Brandon exclaimed in disbelief, "That's it? That's it?!"

"I thought it was going to be a tough battle, but this is all? Twenty people, a full twenty people! Even if it were twenty pigs, we couldn't catch them that fast, could we?"

"What else?" Milton scoffed. "A gunfight between an AK and an anti-aircraft gun? Seriously?"

“This won’t do…” Brandon scratched his head. “I feel like my marksmanship is going to deteriorate if this continues.”

“Our equipment will get better and better in the future,” Milton said. “Don’t think about shooting anymore. What you need to do is learn how to drive armored vehicles, tanks, and artillery... and even how to fly airplanes.”

"Alright, let me see how good my goods are."

Flora drove over there and muttered, "Boss, you know what? You really sound like one of those villains from a movie right now. Do you think any good guy would say something like that?"

"Quiet down, I need to take this call." Just then, the cell phone rang. Milton stopped Flora from spouting nonsense and answered the phone, "Hello? 'Ghost Wolf'? Have you made the contact yet?"

The indistinct voice of "Ghost Wolf" came through: "'Godfather', I've made the contact, and, and I've even negotiated a good deal for you!"

No wonder she's a top salesperson... Is this even negotiable?

Milton inwardly sighed at the difference between "Ghost Wolf" and Flora, and asked, "What are the conditions? Tell me."

"They said that if you send over a living person, they can offer up to $5000 per person. If it's a complete body that died within 3 hours, they can offer up to $3000 per body. But if it's a body that's been dead for more than 3 hours, they can only offer $300."

Milton thought for a moment—he definitely couldn't give it to a living person, but there was something to it about a corpse.

Just sell it within three hours, it's that simple.

“The second option,” Milton said, “I will provide the time and place, and they can go to collect the goods then.”

"No problem... May I ask, uh, how much stock do you have in total? If it's too much, they might need some time to prepare the cash."

Milton, who had just killed one person and had a taste of military court proceedings, answered, "19."

Are they all fresh corpses?

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll contact them and call back when I have a result."

"Beep beep..."

After hanging up the phone, the armored vehicle and slave truck had already driven up to the dozen or so people.

Milton jumped out of the car and watched as the men were punched and kicked by the police, tied up, and stuffed into the cargo box of the slave transport vehicle without saying a word.

It wasn't that he didn't want to ask anything, but these people who came to do the job for a reward were just cannon fodder anyway; it would be a miracle if they knew anything.

However, just as the officers were stuffing the dozen or so people into the cargo container, one of them suddenly shouted out.

"Wait! I know a secret, I know a big secret! I have value, don't kill me!"

The officers immediately went up and punched him twice, but then stopped what they were doing, turned to look at Milton, and waited for the "Hell Tax Collector's" next order.

Milton raised his hand with interest, stopping the officers: "Oh? You know you were actually used as cannon fodder by those bounty hunters? What could cannon fodder like you possibly know?"

“My name is David, sir, could you please let go of me…”

In the past, the police officers might have hesitated, but now they didn't hesitate at all. When they heard the enemy start to make demands, they immediately went up and beat them up.

Milton sighed: "I'm already quite famous, so how come there are still idiots like you around? Spit out what you know right now, or you'll just make trouble for yourself."

David's jaw dropped as he said, "Sir, I know a place with lots of money, lots of money!"

"Oh?" Milton chuckled with interest. "I also know many wealthy places, such as Swiss banks, Citibank, and JPMorgan Chase. So, could you help me get some money from those places?"

“No, not those places.” David glanced cautiously at Milton and said, “Sir, sir, have you heard of Pablo?”

“I allow you to say my gear is bad, but I won’t allow you to insult my intelligence.” Milton kicked him. “What does this have to do with Pablo? Tell me.”

Pablo Escobar died in 1993, a year earlier.

He is also the world's biggest drug lord, bar none.

During his lifetime, his influence spanned across Latin America. Even the infamous Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico paled in comparison to Pablo's Medellín Cartel. Pablo's net worth ranked seventh in the world, and with immeasurable wealth, calling him one of the world's richest people wouldn't be an exaggeration!
He commanded a massive army of 40,000 men, perpetrated countless massacres, and even the prisons were his luxurious villas, which he could enter and leave at will.

He even dared to assassinate a presidential candidate!

"Pablo is dead, he died in Colombia."

“I know he’s dead.” Milton looked at him. “So I’m asking you, what does this have to do with me?”

"Sir, you may not know this, but Pablo is different from others. He doesn't like to keep too much money in the bank, nor does he like to invest in plantations or mining companies. He prefers cash, cash!"

"He left behind a treasure that could drive the whole world crazy!"

David's eyes lit up with a hint of fanaticism as he spoke: "Billions of dollars in cash that are missing!"

“Believe me, I’m absolutely not lying… Even last year, when he was at his lowest point and about to be shot, he could still casually pull out $200 million to burn for warmth!”

Milton finally understood: "So, you mean you know a place where Pablo hides his cash, is that right?"

Milton had indeed heard this rumor.

Not to mention in 1994, even 30 years later, only a small portion of Pablo's cash has been found.

$100 million would weigh about a ton, and billions of dollars... Pablo would obviously have to be stored separately.

"Yes, I know one place!"

Milton laughed: "What makes you think you know? If you really do know, why don't you just withdraw that money yourself?"

“Sir, I don’t have that ability yet, because the money is in the water, and I can’t take it away safely by myself.”

"Because I had previously helped the Medellin Group transport goods, I had the privilege of working for them and helping them build a lakeside villa... It was nighttime, and I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, only to see him secretly hoisting several large boxes into the lake!"

"Later, the villa was destroyed by the Americans. I went there once and saw that someone searched the bottom of the lake, but maybe because they didn't search very carefully, I don't think they found anything from the bottom of the lake."

"That means those big boxes are definitely still buried!"

David spoke with great enthusiasm.

However, the scene was not as exciting as he had imagined.

After he finished speaking, no one's expression changed, and Brandon even yawned.

"Hmm, a very good story."

Milton laughed too, patted David on the head, and gestured for the officers to throw him into the car.

“You should tell this story to your child before bedtime, not to me. It’s a very interesting story, but unfortunately, one story cannot prove your worth.”

"Drive, let's go."

David panicked upon hearing this and shouted, "Wait, I'm telling the truth, it's absolutely true!"

"In Colombia, at Lake Laguna de La Cocha! Believe me, believe me!"

Milton shook his head, turned and got into the armored vehicle—this was like luring someone to northern Myanmar with the promise of great wealth.

Who believes it?
However, just as Milton got into the car, a notification suddenly popped up on the dashboard.

[Host has discovered a clue to an ancient transnational drug smuggling case involving a huge sum of money. The current progress of the clue is 20%. Please continue to find more clues to unlock the purchase progress.]

Milton's eyes widened in surprise.

and many more……

Could it be that what that David guy said was true?!
I rely on!

If what David said is true, and that damn lake in Columbia is really rich, then it must be at least $1 million!

At least $1 million, at least 4 million red points...

If Milton had that kind of money, he might suddenly have a little bit of guts to attack America!

However, after a brief moment of excitement, Milton regained his composure and noticed something amiss.

Because David had already provided enough information, detailed enough, about the country, the lake, and the vicinity of the villa ruins.

Judging from the panel's track record, if this information is completely true, or still valid now, it will definitely allow the purchase directly.

Since purchasing is not yet allowed and more clues are needed to unlock it, it means that David's information is either fabricated or partially outdated.

“That’s one of Pablo’s villas. It must have been searched by countless people, including the bottom of the lake… Since they didn’t find it, it means things are definitely not that simple.”

"Besides, I'm too far from Colombia and I don't have any resources to launch an expedition. Even if I were to stumble upon this money by sheer luck, I wouldn't be able to bring it back."

Since no one has found those boxes for so long, it means they are well hidden and will not be found by others anytime soon.

Let's leave this clue here for now and see if we can find anything more when we have the chance later.

Several tens of minutes later, Milton's armored vehicle arrived at the checkpoint with the slave trucks and herded all 19 people into the checkpoint's makeshift prison.

"19 people, at $3000 each, that's $57000, not bad."

Brandon exclaimed, "Such fast arithmetic..."

“Stop using those tired old jokes,” Milton cursed. “That money could almost buy that MK19 grenade launcher.”

Flora secretly rubbed her hands together and said, "Boss, didn't we say we were going to save money to build the airport?"

“Don’t worry.” Milton waved his hand. “These days there are plenty of reckless fools in Mexico. This robbery on the trade route is just an appetizer. There will be more in the future.”

“We have specially arranged a slave-catching team, no… a special patrol team, equipped with armored vehicles, specifically to catch slaves, no, specifically to capture these gangsters who are trying to disrupt our trade routes.”

Brandon's lips twitched: "Boss, I think if you do it this way, these gang members won't come back for long... They may be stupid, but they won't keep coming to their deaths like this."

Milton frowned and criticized, "Your business acumen is on par with Flora's, how can you be so uncreative?"

Flora: "Hey?! How did you get involved in this? Tell me, what kind of idea is this? I want to see if my boss always has an inexhaustible supply of ideas."

“It’s simple. We’ll have Olya gather a team, take some photos, and fabricate some news stories. We’ll say that a gang robbed this trade route and became rich overnight, earning countless US dollars. They then successfully escaped the gang and smuggled themselves to America to pursue the American Dream. Wouldn’t that attract more people to come?”

Flora closed her eyes, muttered "shameless" under her breath, and then said, "What if other legitimate businessmen see this kind of news and are afraid to do business here?"

Milton was even more nonchalant: "Just add a line to the news saying that although these people who were robbed lost their goods, they were lucky that they had purchased premium cargo insurance in Malacan, so the insurance company would pay them in full after the robbery, wouldn't that solve the problem?"

“Perfect timing, the town can take this opportunity to sell a batch of insurance – the price doesn’t need to be too high, the coverage doesn’t need to be too large, just protect this one trade route, and if you are robbed on this trade route, you will get a full refund.”

"Anyway, it's definitely not going to get robbed. As long as someone buys insurance, it's pure profit."

"How about it?"

Flora and Brandon opened their mouths, as if to say something, but found that they couldn't say anything at all, and even felt like laughing.

When you're speechless to the extreme, you can actually laugh.

No wonder he's called the "Hell Tax Collector" and the "Godfather"—Lopez really had the worst luck in the world when he met Milton.

Just then, Milton's dashboard popped up with a message indicating that someone had sneaked into the town with a handgun.

Oh?
It seems they're planning an assassination, and they're after that high bounty.

This... at least another $3000 has arrived!
Milton immediately realized what "making a fortune" meant—if Lopez and Guzman continued to offer bounties like this, Milton would soon be able to build a fully mechanized army.

"Alright, stop talking, another customer! Come with me! Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

"$3000, it's a fool not to make it."

……

Two days later, at the southern checkpoint.

Station Master Lyman counted the money in his hand, looking at his subordinates with a strange sense of happiness and unreality: "Green, are you serious? A mysterious seller provided us with 35 people at once? And guaranteed there would be no legal risks?"

“Yes, we’ve hit the jackpot this time!” Green laughed excitedly. “It used to be so difficult for us to sell people. We had to either trick people into having surgery at hospitals in town, and that couldn’t be done too frequently, and the costs were too high… Not to mention other places. If we messed with gangsters or outlaws, we would lose several soldiers, and the costs would be even higher.”

“This seller is definitely not simple. To be able to send so many people over at once, they must be quite powerful.” Lyman nodded slightly. “Let’s not ask any questions and just do business normally.”

“If we preserve these bodies and sell them to the Americans, after deducting bribes, we’ll make at least $1000 in net profit!” Green exclaimed excitedly. “With that money, we can continue to offer a bounty on Milton and keep those gangsters harassing his trade routes!”

"Won't this create a positive cycle?"

Lyman grinned smugly: "Have you read the newspaper? Our bounty and raids have yielded impressive results. Several trucks have already been stolen by our hired men and bounty hunters. Milton had no choice but to pay the drivers out of his own pocket to keep the trade route afloat. Hahaha!"

"This has indeed kept the trade routes running, but how long can Milton hold out? I estimate that his funds will completely dry up in two months at most."

"Heh, the so-called 'Hell Tax Collector' is just a reckless brute who only knows how to shoot. We don't need to fight him head-on; we can make him miserable with a few tricks."

"I bet Malacan is in deep trouble right now, isn't it?"

"No, I have to report this good news to Congressman Lopez right away! I'll assure him that in three months at most, we'll suffocate Milton!"

Lyman was really happy. These past few days had been filled with good news, all of which were big wins and huge wins.

Lopez also provided him with a considerable amount of weapons!
(End of this chapter)