Chapter 836 - 780: The Price of Victory and Defeat
Mountain Eagle had no time to focus on the happenings over at the camp...
Since that plane was shot down, the initiative between the parties completely shifted hands.
General Sid, as a mercenary, was the first to choose surrender...
This one-eyed man really had no stance; he was simply working for money, and Alex Vincent offered him a big pay, so he not only helped the Sinaloa Group train over two hundred gunmen but also brought his core team into Alaska.
The team he brought included not just 80 combat personnel, but also more than twenty technical personnel, among them electronic experts responsible for electronic devices, and medical staff responsible for medical supplies and recording experimental progress.
When Mountain Eagle blew up the floor, some of them died, and the rest were scared witless!
General Sid took a gunshot to the wrist and knee; his injuries were somewhat severe, and after Chuck's final bargaining chip was confiscated by Mountain Eagle, he decisively chose to compromise and negotiate...
Looking at the overly confident Mountain Eagle, General Sid painfully moved his injured leg and said in a hoarse voice, "It seems we have no other choice. I can have my men surrender, but I and my men need reasonable treatment.
You know I'm a mercenary; our mission failed, we're not enemies anymore...
I know I still have quite a number of people alive, and they are the most loyal warriors..."
Mountain Eagle knew this guy was hinting that his men were still very valuable, and since those men were very loyal, they wouldn't mind fighting to the last for him...
However, Mountain Eagle had already given them a chance before, and General Sid himself had abandoned it, facing the softened words spoken now, Mountain Eagle laughed mockingly, "Brother, you should understand better than I do, the timing to choose to surrender is crucial...
You missed the best timing, so the cost and treatment you pay will be vastly different."
Speaking, Mountain Eagle watched General Sid with a look of willingness to hear more, and he chuckled, saying, "If your men are really as loyal as you say, then have them lay down their weapons and surrender, and I will send you to prison in El Salvador...
You're certainly not the boss; once you've arrived in El Salvador, I'll give you a chance to persuade your boss to come up with a price that satisfies me to pay for your actions!"
General Sid was a bit surprised and reluctantly said, "You're actually asking for money?"
Mountain Eagle laughed and said, "You're mistaken, I'm not simply asking for money, I'm asking for big money, the kind that would make both you and your boss feel it in your hearts!
Of course, he can choose not to pay, and as a consequence, you will be left in El Salvador for forced labor until you've compensated me for all my losses."
General Sid listened, turned his neck somewhat difficultly, glanced at the captured people beside him and the dozen corpses on the ground, and said with a bitter smile, "You're right, the winner should claim their losses and demand compensation from the loser.
But I must remind you, we're just mercenaries; do you think a shrewd businessman would be willing to pay for us?
How about you name a price, and I'll pay...
Things should end here, I'm willing to use all my assets to compensate for your losses.
But you have to give us reasonable treatment and let my men receive regular technical inspections, and supplement them with medicine."
Mountain Eagle didn't nod in agreement to General Sid's words, he tilted his head looking at this peculiarly straightforward guy and nodded, saying, "How much money do you have?"
General Sid seriously looked at Mountain Eagle and said, "How much do you want?"
Mountain Eagle sat on the ground a bit wearily, pondering as he stroked his chin, and said, "To deal with your potential attack, I've been preparing since half a year ago, spending a lot of money, and had my family take huge risks to come with me to Alaska to get through the winter.
So...
One hundred million dollars!
I think that's a reasonable amount of compensation!"
General Sid froze a bit, his eyes eerily said, "One hundred million dollars?
You're kidding, right?"
Mountain Eagle waved his hand and said, "Do I look like I'm kidding?
Do you know how much money I've invested in Brown Bear Camp to deal with your attack?
In the past few hours, Brown Bear Camp has launched nearly 40 Spring Knives, 80 missiles, and four Stinger missiles...
You're an industry insider; you should know how much it costs to digitally upgrade a camp?
Power, radar, communication networks, drone systems, automated weapon station defense systems, and most importantly, manpower...
If it were you, how much do you think it would cost to achieve all this I'm talking about?"
Mountain Eagle said these things, of course, as an exaggerated demand, because he didn't really spend any money on getting these things, the actual expenditure was on the construction of Brown Bear Camp and preliminary material preparations, which didn't exceed 2 million US dollars.
But General Sid didn't know these things. When Mountain Eagle revealed everything openly, he finally started to understand why he ended up on the losing side and why they were identified so quickly...
"Did you locate us through radio signals, right?"
As he spoke, General Sid looked at the silent Mountain Eagle, and with a complex expression, he said, "When we had to break radio silence because of Chuck's request to move the attack forward, you found us, didn't you?
Oh~ It seems Alex Vincent didn't realize at all what kind of person he had provoked...
I just don't quite understand, with this level of technological power, why would you take a passive beating?
You have so much money, why use just a small number of people?
Oh, I get it, Alaska was your predetermined battlefield, you were waiting for people like us, who think too highly of ourselves, to step in..."
Mountain Eagle shrugged slightly and said, "If I didn't do this, how would the outside world know I have such power?"
General Sid was a typical old fox, and he immediately understood Mountain Eagle's implication. He painfully shifted his body, shook his head, and said with a bitter smile, "You're not after money; you're simply using the humiliation to demonstrate your power to the entire underworld.
Fuck, I'm actually not important at all, am I...
You have so many spring knives, you could easily shoot through the roof and engulf the building in flames; you captured us just to grab a bunch of props to showcase your strength."
Mountain Eagle thought for a moment and honestly said, "Not exactly. If all of you were concentrated in the building, I might indeed have bombed it directly, but you had too many people on the perimeter...
If I focused the firepower on the building, I would end up being the besieged one.
Just like now, if it weren't for your presence, the people outside would've probably already set the building on fire."
General Sid, being the seasoned old gun, understood immediately. He nodded slightly to acknowledge Mountain Eagle's explanation. After all, there were only three of Mountain Eagle's team, and they weren't invincible; a bullet would kill them too.
Thinking about how he and Chuck considered their arrangements foolproof, but were played like fools because of their inferior technological capabilities, resulting in hundreds of valuable soldiers being driven to despair, he sighed deeply and said, utterly dejected, "I have a house in England, with 6 million British Pounds in the bank...
I'll give you all this money, I can even work for you, all I ask is that you don't use me as a tool to demonstrate your force..."
As he spoke, General Sid glanced at the deaf and mute Sinaloa representative Tiago and said, "He's a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Group and a confidant of Shorty Guzman. He's the kind of person you need.
Chuck isn't bad either. Not many people in the underworld know him, but most who know of the Edward Foundation have some status. Hanging him..."
"Fuck you..."
General Sid's words enraged Chuck to the extreme. This shameless one-eyed man not only surrendered but also intended to sell out his own companions while selling himself...
Having figured out Mountain Eagle's way of doing things, Chuck couldn't even imagine the consequences once Mountain Eagle sent footage of his capture to the Edward Foundation, or even if it went public...
The world will of course keep turning, but his future would be completely ruined, and the Edward Foundation would be pushed into an extremely awkward position.
One hundred million dollars in compensation...
The Edward Foundation definitely wouldn't pay that sum!
Because if they paid, it would mean they admitted defeat.
And once they admitted defeat, the consequences would be a chain reaction...
Just like the treaties countries signed after World War II, the compensation was the least significant part.
Once the Edward Foundation bows down, it signifies they acknowledge the rise of a new big boss in the underworld and would have to concede to this big boss in certain industries in the future.
They could, of course, choose not to keep their promise, but such dishonesty would only harm the interests of the Edward Foundation itself, making Mountain Eagle appear even more formidable and noble.
Mountain Eagle watched Chuck's face turn from white to green, and smiling, he found a radio from the ruins and handed it to General Sid, saying with a grin, "You're a smart man, so I'm giving you a little privilege, like blurring out your face...
Now have your people surrender, I hear they're all seriously drug-dependent, so loyalty is certainly undoubted..."
General Sid fiddled with the radio, then looked at Mountain Eagle and said in a pleading tone, "You're right, they are loyal soldiers...
This loyalty has a component of drugs, but I beg you to provide enough drugs to maintain their physical condition.
I'm a mercenary; I have no stance, no hatred...
I can work off my debt for you, but I ask to keep my research department!"
Mountain Eagle was momentarily taken aback and said with amusement, "So if I nodded in agreement, would you even ask for a research budget annually?
I'm not interested in these 'bottle warriors' at all..."