If there was a ranking of rotten countries in the world, El Salvador, with a land area of 21,000 square kilometers and a population of only 6.3 million, would definitely be on the list!

In fact, Central American countries like Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, which are located on the drug trafficking routes from South America to North America, are all pretty rotten!

But El Salvador stands out among these countries for its exceptional level of rottenness, beyond Mountain Eagle's comprehension.

The rampant gang violence in this rotten country reaches a level that Mountain Eagle cannot understand...

According to El Salvador's own statistics, nearly 3,000 people died due to homicide nationwide in 2014.

This number of deaths is even higher than the number of people who died in Iraq due to warfare during the same period!

And this is still from reported cases; the number of unreported deaths from gang vendettas or murders might be several times more.

Their country has only a little over six million people, but the total number of gang members has exceeded 100,000, meaning one in every sixty people is a gang member...

This is an unbelievable number!

Considering their population aged 15 to 55 is only about 3.5 million, if you subtract half of the females, it means there is approximately one gang member for every sixteen adult males.

The media reports on the rampant gangs in El Salvador, but in Mountain Eagle's eyes, this is essentially a warlord conflict!

If these gangs are seen as anti-government armed forces, then the gang leaders actually resemble warlords!

While they team up to fight against the government, they also compete and seize territory from each other, with the intensity of battles not inferior to current hotspots.

In the same period, Iraq has a population of 38 million, with 200,000 government troops and about 150,000 combined militia forces.

Even in such a terrorist-ridden social environment, the annual casualties from direct gunfights in Iraq haven't exceeded 2,000.

El Salvador's air, land, and sea forces combined have only 40,000 troops, while there are almost 100,000 gang members who can wield guns.

How the hell can this be good?

In the past, Mountain Eagle didn't pay much attention to these small Central American countries due to their lack of trade value, but after examining a series of data closely, Mountain Eagle suddenly discovered a peculiar phenomenon.

It's that not all governments can exert sovereignty over their own countries, even if the country is in a peaceful state.

This situation is extremely common in America...

Colombia has Gege Armed Forces, drug traffickers, guerrillas, and the government's orders simply cannot be enforced...

Brazil has slums everywhere, which is practically an autonomous state of anti-government forces, except the government keeps spending money to maintain peace, avoiding violent conflicts...

On the surface, El Salvador is simply run by gangs, but in fact, they are in a state of de facto warfare all the time!

A country of over 6 million people, yet it has prisons capable of accommodating 60,000, and in fact, about 100,000 people are incarcerated.

More than half of these 100,000 are gang-related!

Calling it a prison is essentially a POW concentration camp!

El Salvador sounds like hell, but the per capita GDP actually reaches around 3,800 US Dollars, and the average life expectancy is 74.5 years here.

Despite El Salvador's inability to guarantee basic medical services and rampant gang activity, it can only mean that its natural geographical conditions are extraordinarily favorable.

Coffee, cane sugar, palm oil, tobacco, cotton, light industry; every year, relying on exports, El Salvador can earn 7 billion US Dollars.

The median per capita monthly income here is around 400 US Dollars, and most essential items like food and clothing are produced domestically.

Judging by the data, this country doesn't seem too bad; one must know that concurrently, Easterners have a per capita GDP of only less than 8,000 US Dollars.

However, this unfortunate country still has over 40% of the population struggling below the poverty line, and 15% of the population living in abject poverty.

The huge disparity between the rich and the poor and not-so-low prices are truly alarming to Mountain Eagle...

This is a country filled with corruption and violence...

Trying to establish a foothold in such a country is very easy, yet very difficult...

The easy part is that here, politics can be driven by corruption; as long as you have Mori's help and some NGOs with US backgrounds, investing in a power plant in El Salvador is legally unobstructed.

The difficult part is that the security situation here is so dire that even God would shake his head and turn around...

Building a power plant there, and aiming for long-term maintenance, entails an extremely high safety cost!

Moreover, El Salvador has yet to establish diplomatic relations with Easterners at this stage, which means Mountain Eagle would need an extra transit step to ship essential raw materials from Easterners, not only causing delays but also significantly raising construction costs.

While reviewing the detailed information about El Salvador, Mountain Eagle scribbled and outlined the pros and cons of investing in power trucks and mining pools there...

Sealion, this black guy, had no clue what the boss was doing; he just thought his boss was very mysterious...

While the boss was thinking, he seemed to have a golden aura enveloping him, which made Sealion, this tough black guy, exceptionally admiring.

Sealion looked at the boss, eyes fixed on dense notes, grabbed Donkey's arm, and blinked, saying, "Donkey, now I know why we're all poor – successful businessmen are like this!"

Donkey, who counts as a highly educated talent, glanced at Sealion disdainfully and said, "The boss hasn't started doing business yet; he's making a decision...

"He was looking for and comparing the favorable and unfavorable conditions, and then deciding whether to invest."

As Donkey looked at Sealion like a die-hard fan, he smiled and said, "Buddy, the key to a person's success is 'choice'. Choice is greater than effort!

Think about your past failures in life. What were you thinking when you made those key choices?"

Sealion was taken aback, frowned, thought for a long time, and said, "I don't think I've seriously thought about that question. No, I don't think I've ever had a choice.

When I was young, I didn't want to go to school and wanted to sell drugs on the street to make money. It was my mom who chased me to school with a stick.

When I was in high school, I offended the gang and had to fake my age and identity to join the army."

Sealion looked at Donkey with a face full of horror and said, "FUCK, I seem to have never made a choice myself!"

Donkey originally wanted to educate Sealion, but looking at this Old Black's face full of horror and confusion, he suddenly sighed and said, "Actually, I haven't either. The only decision I ever made myself was to join the CCT, but you saw the result..."

Donkey glanced at Mountain Eagle, who was occasionally writing and drawing on the 'pros and cons list', and sighed, "It's hard for us in this life to make wise decisions on our own..."

Sealion took out his phone, secretly took a picture of his boss's profile, recorded the core key of 'choice', then grinned and said, "Why?

I'm definitely not as great as the boss, but how hard can it be to make a list?"

Donkey was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly nodded and laughed, saying, "That's right, getting used to making a list when we encounter things already puts us ahead of most people."

Sealion pretended to mimic the boss, tapping on his phone a few times, then squinted his eyes as if farsightedly looking at the screen, finally curiously saying, "How does the boss know where to find those materials?"

Sled, who had been lying on another sofa sleeping, was woken by Sealion's naivety. He sat up, displaying a mouthful of Yellow Teeth, and laughed, "How did you American black guys survive this long?

I've hardly ever used a computer in my life, but I know how to Google. A comrade once told me you can find anything you want to know on there."

Sealion glared angrily at Sled and cursed, "You son of a bitch, you racist, don't you believe I'll smash your head?"

Sled wasn't afraid at all of the strong Sealion. He laughed and said, "Is stupidity a race too?

Tell me, besides shooting and driving, what other impressive skills do you have? If you can name something I can't, I'll say sorry."

Sealion flipped Sled the middle finger and shouted, "I learned to steal cars when I was 14, can you do that?"

Sled was dumbfounded for a moment, then decisively gave a thumbs up and said, "Sorry..."

Seeing this guy, who always made his back shiver, back down, Sealion immediately became cheerful...

Just as he was about to speak and boast about his accomplishments, Daria approached Mountain Eagle with a strange expression holding a phone, and quietly said, "Boss, a call from Matthias..."

Mountain Eagle took the phone, put it to his ear, was about to speak, when he heard curses from the other side...

"Are you fucking crazy? I just finished the LA business a week ago and flew to El Salvador today.

What the hell do you fucking want?

I'm a fucking assassin, not a salesman, I'm not responsible for doing your business reconnaissance or scouting paths for you..."

Mountain Eagle moved the phone away a bit, listening to Matthias's angry shouts, he could imagine how funny this old brother looked now...

"Five hundred grand..."

Mountain Eagle, smiling with narrow eyes, said, "Go scare that money-laundering Embeli a bit, then have a good time there for a few months, and while you're at it, scout out the area for me.

It's simple, rent a nice house, commit some trivial crime, find a cop and connect with them, and you'll be able to find out where those politicians live.

I'll hire professional surveyors to go there; you just hire some security to escort them to locations with rich geothermal resources.

In just three to four months..."

As soon as Mountain Eagle finished speaking, Matthias shouted, "Are you fucking crazy?

Don't you know what I am?"

"One and a half million, no more..."

Mountain Eagle decisively interrupted Matthias's complaints, laughing, "Buddy, you're about to retire, don't keep talking about being an assassin.

This is a big money-making opportunity for you, the climate in El Salvador is great, it absolutely is a perfect place for retirement and pension.

You surely aren't afraid of those gangs, are you? If you're willing to establish a trading company there, I guarantee you can make a lot of money in the future."

With great gentlemanly grace, Matthias said angrily this time, "Have you ever been here?

Mountain Eagle, I've put up with you for a long time, if you keep disrespecting me, I'll..."

"Two million, euros!"

Matthias paused for a moment...

"Deal!"