Alchemists do not need self-cultivation

Isaac took the card; it was a business card with the Chinese characters for "Da Xing Hai Company" written on it. The owner of the card seemed to be a man named Chen Guoming.

“A friend of mine, you can ask him for help if you encounter difficulties.”

Chapter 509: Actually, it wasn't discovered

"Dad, you really have a lot of friends." Isaac looked at the business card in his hand and asked curiously, "Who is this Chen Guoming?"

“I had a friend in China before. He joined the army, while I went abroad to work,” my father said. “We only got in touch in the last few years. I heard that he runs an import and export company that does financial investment and development in Africa. It seems that he came to the United States recently for some business.”

"I have a general understanding."

Isaac put the business card into his pocket, then pulled out a card with a dense array of irregularly arranged small holes.

"Here, take this."

"What?"

“I made this last night; it’s for future communication,” Isaac explained.

Although he didn't know what the card was for, the father still put it in his pocket.

Are you sure you're okay with dropping me off here?

"That's fine, I'll handle the rest."

"Alright." The father didn't say much more, got into the car, and before driving away, looked at Isaac and said, "Although you are very capable now, you still need to be careful. Keep in touch when you have time."

"Ah."

The car started moving and left the motel.

Watching the car drive away, Isaac smiled. Now he could finally start making his plans.

He walked to the motel and knocked on the door of one of the rooms marked 105.

"Who?"

"Your boss."

The door to the room opened, and inside was George.

"You guys came really fast," Isaac laughed. "I told you last night, but you arrived so early this morning."

“Yeah, we sped here and almost got caught by the police,” George laughed.

His beat-up secondhand car probably won't last more than a few years in his hands.

"Has Wilson arrived?"

"Not yet. There's another arms deal in Manhattan that needs to be completed today, so I can't come over for now." George silently lit a cigarette for himself. "I'm the only one who came today."

Isaac took a cigarette from George, lit it, and after a while exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Our mission can't just stay here; we need to go abroad."

"Going abroad? Boss, where are you going?"

Isaac took out a world map from his bag and drew several circles on it with a pen.

“Romania is in a period of regime change, so it’s the first hotspot. Colombia is also in a period of instability, so there’s money to be made there,” Isaac said. “Once we make money there, we can buy weapons from the countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union.”

"Was it really that smooth?"

George greatly admired his young boss, but felt that his thinking was too unconventional.

They haven't even finished their business in the US yet, and they're already thinking about doing business overseas, especially in high-risk areas with frequent conflicts. It's terrifying to even think about.

Although he was a Vietnam War veteran and a member of the Rangers, the war had taught him that such places were generally very dangerous.

Moreover, back then, the entire country's logistics were guaranteed, but now, just a few of them going to the war zone alone is basically suicide.

"Boss, you'll have my back then."

"How can you, a former soldier, say something like that?"

"What's there to be embarrassed about? Boss, you're so amazing that you're like nothing even after being shot. We're all made of flesh and blood."

"...Never mind, there are only three of us including you right now, which is indeed not enough to do business with people across war zones."

If it were just Isaac alone, he could leisurely walk towards his destination even amidst a hail of bullets, taking out enemies along the way, but his subordinates couldn't.

Although George is considered very strong among ordinary people, he alone is not enough to constitute a fighting force.

"By the way, didn't you say you knew a few people who had retired from the Vietnam War?"

"Yes, we have this."

George took a notebook out of his pocket, which was filled with names and personal information.

"Now there are several comrades who have retired at home. They were new recruits back then. They were trained for half a year and then sent to the battlefield. Those who survived were basically elites."

George's expression was slightly bitter as he said this.

The fighting in Vietnam was already brutal, and these soldiers, who barely survived, were treated as criminals by anti-war activists in their own country and couldn't even find jobs.

"Which military units did the people you know serve in before?"

George glanced at the notebook: "It's mostly Marines, with some engineers too."

"They're alright. Do you know where they live?"

“I know, but they’re all from different states, so it’ll take some effort to find them,” George said. “But luckily, there’s one person in this state right now. Boss, are you going to call him?”

"Of course, take me there now."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Isaac's father drove back to Testarossa's house once again.

Now the family is packing their things and planning to move away from here to find a safer place.

"Has Extraordinary been sent away yet?" Isaac's mother came over and asked.

“Yes, send it to an old friend of mine,” the father said.

Isaac had previously agreed with his father that his investigations could only be known to his father, and that he must publicly announce that he had gone to the homes of relatives and friends, including Chika and his mother.

"It's so hard on that child, having to go through such hardship at such a young age," the mother said, distressed. "If only he weren't the 'listener'."

What she didn't know was that her son was having a blast.

"Okay, Feifan promised to come back during the holidays."

"I hope so," the mother sighed. "I miss him terribly when he's not around."

hum~

Just then, Isaac's father's phone rang, and he saw that the number was his subordinate, Da Lai.

"Hey?"

"Major General Yao, we've extracted some information from those two bastards you brought back earlier," a voice came from the phone.

"So, what organization are they from?"

“The organization still doesn’t know; they seem to be hired,” the voice on the phone said. “We found photos in their pockets of two silver-haired children.”

Judging from the description, it should be Tessa and Leonard. This group of people are indeed after the 'Listener'.

The voice on the phone continued, "According to them, their mission is to arrest the two people in the photo."

"What?" the father asked hurriedly, "They only have two targets?"

"Yes, that's what they say."

Upon hearing this, the father slowly put down his phone, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

Her own son hadn't been discovered to be a 'listener' at all; he was actually still safe...

Chapter 510: Recruiting Employees

George drove towards his destination.

Next to Portsmouth is Manchester, another city in the state. A few kilometers away from the city, there is a large, desolate open space next to the highway, where a dilapidated house stands. George parked his car there.

"Boss, we've arrived."

"Oh."

The two got out of the car and walked to the door. Just as they were about to knock, George suddenly said, "Let me tell you beforehand, this friend of mine had a bad temper when he was in the army. Please forgive him if he offends you."

If it were an ordinary person, George would tell him to be careful, but considering that his boss was a monster like Isaac, he could only tell him not to kill the other party in a fit of anger.

I'll try my best.

George nodded and knocked on the door.

dong dong dong.

"Who?"

“Benson, it’s me, George,” George called from the doorway.

After a while, the door opened, and the moment it opened, Isaac smelled a pungent odor of alcohol.

A drunken, burly man appeared in front of the two men. He glanced at George, then looked at Isaac beside him, and laughed, "Old man, who's this Chinese kid next to you?"

"Let's go inside and talk," George said, and the two walked straight into the rented room.

The room was filled with empty bottles, all of them cheap liquor, and there was trash everywhere. The mess was so bad that the two of them couldn't even find a place to stand.

After finally getting inside, Isaac and George found two chairs next to the dining table.

"It's been almost a decade or so since we last met," the burly man named Benson joked. "Judging by your clothes, you must be doing quite well since you retired."

"It's really good. Now that I have a good boss, I make a lot of money every week."

"Oh~ then you'll have to introduce me to that boss." Benson laughed, picking up the remaining wine on the table and continuing to chug it down.

"You want to get rich?"

"Who wouldn't want this? America may be a free country, but it's not a free country," Benson laughed, his eyes sharpening. "They started the war on their own, we fought bloody battles, and now we're in this mess, utter garbage!"

As he spoke, he smashed the bottle heavily on the ground.

George felt a pang of sadness looking at his former comrade-in-arms, who was now down on his luck. However, this was the general situation for their generation, and only a very small number of them were doing well.

"That's perfect, the boss came with me today."