CHAPTER 397: CHAPTER 378: BLUFFING

Mountain Eagle spent several hours explaining his plan in detail to a group of Arctic Foxes.

The plan was not actually complicated; it involved simplifying and systematizing the management of logistics using the relatively flat structure of the Arctic Foxes through an ERP system.

In fact, apart from financial matters, Mountain Eagle exaggerated other issues and successfully implanted an unknown anxiety into the minds of these loyal Arctic Foxes.

With this anxiety driving them, Mountain Eagle’s initial reforms could be smoothly implemented.

Arctic Foxes are human, and by using human-nature-aligned tactics, they can be led to comply with management.

These people are basically the superstars among mercenaries, but they are like those NBA or NFL stars, whose income is top-notch in the industry, yet have poor financial conditions due to a lack of ability to manage their own assets.

The gap was a bit larger than what Mountain Eagle had imagined!

The revenue of the Arctic Fox has been declining year by year, with an average annual revenue of only 12 million US Dollars over the past five years.

10% of the revenue goes to pension contributions, 40% to team management funds, leaving the other 50% to be distributed among 25 operatives, averaging 240,000 US Dollars per person per year.

The 10% pension needs no explanation; the 40% team management fund includes costs for accepting and undertaking missions, such as intelligence support, transportation, accommodation, ammunition supplies, daily training, injury and first aid treatment, and most importantly, money laundering.

The Arctic Fox team has been striving to protect the earnings of all members, ensuring that they can spend their earnings with peace of mind, but this also increased administrative costs.

Even when considering profitability alone, they sometimes may not perform as well as those temporarily assembled ragtag groups.

The latter earn ten thousand and distribute ten thousand, without considering other issues, therefore, there are no extra costs.

The situation for Arctic Fox is different; their commissions are high, but not high enough to ignore the costs, which is somewhat embarrassing in the eyes of Mountain Eagle.

Among the worst off are individuals like Shark from the United States and Silver Fox from France...

Their salaries are paid through shell companies in Panama, and although they have top-tier financial assistants like Mr. Poincaré, transferring money home still results in a heavy tax burden by various national tax offices.

Of course, even so, a salary of around 200,000 US Dollars is still a top-tier income in any country worldwide.

Adding on their pension, the Arctic Foxes have a status comparable to a top-income East University public servant, not only earning a lot but also with stability and security.

Unfortunately, these individuals lack financial management skills and have somewhat unusual spending habits...

For instance, Chickpea is a top-tier enthusiast of handmade rifles, and Ham runs a perpetually money-losing so-called Spanish cuisine restaurant...

Scorpion is a native from South America, and his family runs an outdoor survival school.

His family’s instructors are South American natives and have appeared on South American TV with a bit of fame. Unfortunately, the area in Colombia has frequent encounters with drug traffickers, resulting in poor business.

These are costly hobbies and businesses!

These Arctic Foxes are like those who claim to be upper-middle-class at East University, seemingly glamorous but lacking non-salary capital income, with no savings or habit of living within their means, leading to low risk tolerance.

Of course, they definitely would not collapse like those upper-middle-class once they lose their stable income due to various pressures...

And there are those like Camel who have a business sense, running their own businesses in their free time...

But at this point, Mountain Eagle was sure that most of the world’s top Arctic Fox mercenaries were not wealthy.

True wealth amounts to hundreds of millions, and there is no need to endanger oneself for money when the world is full of exciting things.

Like Mountain Eagle now, he would definitely not be a mercenary for the sake of a few hundred thousand dollars.

So when Mountain Eagle spoke to them with pensions as the entry point, he received very positive responses.

The pension of the Arctic Fox was their boldness in life, knowing whatever issues they faced, their pensions would provide a safety net.

Mountain Eagle easily found their common interests, triggered their anxiety, and then naturally completed his initial ideas.

Then he pulled out his salesmanship spirit, began to sell his financial plan to them, and prepared to try financing a part.

This was to help them accumulate wealth, and also ensure that in case they died, there would still be some savings to leave for their families...

The better the family situation of the Arctic Fox descendants, the less pressure there would be on their pension!

After the conversation clarified the income and family situations of these Arctic Foxes, Mountain Eagle found it quite unbelievable.

Who would have thought, with roughly the same income, Arctic Foxes in Asia live much better than those in Europe and America, with married ones having significantly more savings than the unmarried.

Everyone earns the same money, but where it’s spent makes a difference, manifesting in completely different purchasing powers.

In such a high-pressure industry, unmarried individuals simply can’t save money, whereas those with more children have thicker finances.

This phenomenon is particularly interesting...

For instance, Chickpea, a Swedish singleton shooter, happens to be the one with the worst financial situation in the entire Arctic Fox group.

On the contrary, the seemingly most unsophisticated Shark and Bull Head are the wealthiest!

One reason is that Shark is an Inuit native and married a fierce native woman, thus receiving a large piece of land in Alaska for free.

Furthermore, the Inuit society is a matrilineal society; following local laws, a woman after marriage can divide a piece of land, and men usually unite with women in a form of marriage by taking the wife’s family name.

Resulting in Shark having 4 daughters and 2 sons, his daughters could divide more land.

Bull Head is more impressive; he has many children, and even more cattle and sheep at home!

These two, both earthy and smelly, are the filthy rich among the few Arctic Fox families with assets exceeding seven figures.

Unfortunately, one of them has married into his wealth and the other is controlled by his fierce wife, so their wealth isn’t really at their disposal...

Mountain Eagle, in amidst dining and drinking, roughly figured out these people’s wealth. Initially, he thought he wouldn’t touch the Arctic Fox’s pension, but he considered raising some funds from the active members of Arctic Fox to expand his own pool of funds and to provide these people more security.

But he was greatly disappointed!

They are all loyal folks who don’t mind spending a few grand on food and drinks...

In true emergencies, they would tighten their belts and scrape together a million or two to help out in the world...

But when it came to investment, these people just shook their heads!

As Chickpea put it, one shouldn’t lower his quality of life for the sake of making money.

Mountain Eagle wanted to slap this guy upon hearing this, but seeing that most shared the same attitude, he realized this might just be the normal mindset of a Mercenary...

And it wouldn’t change just because Arctic Fox is number one in the world!

First, Camel sensed that Mountain Eagle seemed a bit disappointed, and this old man who was barely rich pulled Silver Fox to find Mountain Eagle...

"Mountain Eagle, I talked it over with Silver Fox, he can allocate 1.5 million US dollars from the Arctic Fox team funds for you to invest...

The past two years Arctic Fox hasn’t undertaken many high-paying tasks, so this part of the funds is idle..."

Mountain Eagle paused for a moment upon hearing this, then suddenly found it rather amusing and said, "I’m not a kid asking for a lollipop!

And you guys got a core issue wrong, and that is I am inviting you to join a guaranteed win investment project.

I am giving you an opportunity, not begging you for financing."

With that, Mountain Eagle looked at Silver Fox whose expression was a bit rigid and said with a smile, "I respect your person and acknowledge you as a qualified leader of Arctic Fox.

But until you understand some issues clearly, I won’t discuss any money-related matters with you.

I’m not upset, just that our views on handling issues are different..."

Silver Fox, frowning, asked, "What issue are you talking about?"

Mountain Eagle, holding his beer, spontaneously clinked glasses with Silver Fox, saying, "You need to shift your focus from these active Arctic Fox members and carefully observe the communication software and mutual assistance protocol I mentioned.

If you can spot even one potentially profitable project among them, then you’re qualified to discuss money matters with me."

Silver Fox was taken aback for a moment and said with a complex expression, "You actually want to profit through Arctic Fox’s internal mutual aid?"

Mountain Eagle, having anticipated Silver Fox’s attitude, spread his hands and said, "That’s why you could only be a leader of a small team, hence Arctic Fox, even with the world’s top warriors, will never make it to the top 500 worldwide!"

......

While Mountain Eagle was organizing a meeting with Arctic Fox members, Anna’s key negotiation also came to a successful conclusion!

Shares and various legal details of the trust company were settled, and signatures were finalized on the contract...

Regarding the handling of Cyprus assets, a crucial step was completed at this moment.

Then the celebration mode started on the yacht...

Anna mingled among the conglomerate representatives, warmly thanking some whose gains were small or nil...

The celebration continued into the late night...

When guests gradually started leaving, a gloomy-looking elderly man approached Anna...

"Miss Anna, I think we should talk about the shares..."

Anna, with a smile plastered on her face, said, "I’m sorry, but our negotiation has already concluded..."

Old Royce, upon hearing this and his face full of age spots, nodded regretfully, then pointing towards the stern of the yacht, said, "Would you mind walking me there, I’d like to talk to you about my grandson, Philip Royce’s problem...

He has some misunderstanding with the police in Ao Nan, and I heard you are well acquainted with Officer Yue Shan from Thailand..."

Upon hearing this, Anna, slightly troubled, shook her head and said, "Mr. Royce, I regret the issues concerning Philip...

But I will contact Yue Shan as soon as possible, Thailand is a country governed by law, Philip hasn’t done anything outrageously wrong, I assure you that he will be able to return home safely soon."

Old Royce, looking at Anna with his dim old eyes, then walking toward the stern said, "Philip is the only male of the third generation in the Royce family, so I came all the way from Germany hoping to resolve this problem.

Someone tried to assassinate Philip yesterday, and it was almost successful...

Please forgive an old man’s anxiety, I need your help..."

Anna, who just concluded the most important negotiation of her life today and had a lot of alcohol in the evening, did not notice the unusual tone in Old Royce’s voice...

She nodded somewhat perfunctorily and said, "Don’t worry, I’m willing to help, I’ll meet Officer Yue Shan in Kamui tomorrow morning..."

Saying this, Anna stood at the stern of the yacht, gestured to Old Royce, and said, "You go back by boat first, I will call you tomorrow afternoon..."

Old Royce, looking at Anna’s flushed cheeks, shook his head and said, "You don’t even know my phone number...

I’m sorry."

Anna paused...