Fatal Strike: Mercenary Road of Gunfire Ranger
Chapter 175: The Key to Breaking the Game

Chapter 175: Chapter 175: The Key to Breaking the Game

Mountain Eagle detected from Blood Fox’s tone that the old man was leaning towards compromise...

Of course...

Whether to help his ex-wife or his own daughter...

It’s understandable to not ask for a payment from them, but skirting around the topic of Anna’s boss, Victor, behind the scenes was a bit puzzling.

Business is business!

It is difficult to conclusively identify the ultimate beneficiary of this matter, but Victor and Erin, representing Russia’s intelligence system, are definitely the big winners.

If you want me to do more, you must pay me more!

This payment doesn’t have to be money, but it can’t be nothing. Otherwise, Blood Fox will always be just a tool in the eyes of those people, and a tool that can be sacrificed at any time.

Even after the tool is sacrificed, there’s no need to pay the final installment!

Blood Fox must understand this better than Mountain Eagle, but he was wrapped up in family bonds and hence seemed less flexible than Mountain Eagle.

If Blood Fox were willing to relinquish command, then the situation would become entirely different.

Faced with Mountain Eagle’s aggressive demands, Blood Fox was silent for a long time before finally choosing between familial love and his value in life. He said wearily, "Then I’ll listen to you...

What are you planning to do?

If it’s about money, I advise you not to think too much, as Erin and Anna don’t have much."

Mountain Eagle sneered: "Snowden is in our hands, which means no matter what the outcome of Moscow’s political whirlwind, the core of that whirlwind is in our grasp.

Let me reconfirm with you, your mission is to protect Snowden’s safety and seek political asylum for him in Russia, correct?"

After hearing this, Blood Fox nodded and said, "That’s right!"

Mountain Eagle pondered for a few minutes and then said, "This means our task is already more than half complete because Snowden has already obtained temporary asylum for six months.

This was partly due to Erin’s efforts. So, if we just arrange for someone from the Belgar Lake Foundation to meet with Snowden, that would settle things with Erin, wouldn’t it?"

"More or less!"

Blood Fox’s answer was weary, but Mountain Eagle was very clear-headed...

"Old chap, don’t fob me off with ambiguous words. I need a precise answer."

Blood Fox was silent for a few seconds, then seriously said, "As long as the people from the Belgar Lake Foundation have finished their meeting with Snowden, I would have fulfilled my promise to Erin.

In exchange, she would push Russia to offer long-term asylum after the inevitable attack on Snowden.

Only then would our mission be considered truly complete!"

Mountain Eagle nodded and said, "Then let’s think again...

Who wants Snowden dead the most?

Or to put it another way, besides the United States Government, which companies had suffered massive blows from the exposure of the Prism Plan?"

Blood Fox froze for a few seconds, then said with a bitter smile, "How would I know?

I only know that many people want Snowden dead, and many are protecting him."

Mountain Eagle sighed and said, "The one hurt the most by Snowden isn’t the United States Government...

Because those politicians can always come up with various excuses like ’for national security’ to shirk their responsibilities.

But those Silicon Valley companies are different!

Ever since you’ve brought up the matter of Snowden to me, I’ve been doing my homework...

The surveillance programs exposed by Snowden included several giant corporations, like the famous Facebook...

These surveillance programs also had very detailed classifications and were contracted out to many Silicon Valley contractors.

Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, is an important investor in those contractors.

Once Snowden’s exposed material continues to ferment, if the United States Congress cannot withstand the pressure and decides to shut down those projects, then Peter Thiel stands to lose astronomical amounts of money.

That could be several billion dollars or even hundreds of billions of dollars!"

Blood Fox took a sharp intake of breath and said, "Don’t tell me you plan to use Snowden to extort those capitalists in Silicon Valley..."

Mountain Eagle said with a cold laugh, "I’m just a small fry, I don’t have that kind of clout. However, now we have Snowden...

Remember what you told me?

We shouldn’t simply see ourselves as mercenaries but as problem solvers.

We can’t solve everything with guns, but representing a desperate Snowden in negotiations with those people is possible...

Snowden has no way out. He should be clear that without protection and without someone to mediate critically, even if Russia promises him lifelong political asylum, he won’t be able to withstand the retaliation from those capitalists."

Blood Fox said incredulously after listening, "Do you really think you can be the middleman between Snowden and Silicon Valley capitalists?

Why do you think those people would listen to you?"

Mountain Eagle sneered, "Snowden wants to secure long-term asylum, he has to survive several rounds of dangerous attacks, right?

We just need to prove that we have the ability to protect Snowden, and we can force those capitalists to come to the negotiating table.

Because the secrets that Snowden has can cause their stocks and assets to shrink...

Those are gigantic fortunes counted in billions!"

Mountain Eagle rubbed his nose bridge and spoke in a deep voice, "What’s most interesting is that many people want to protect Snowden, and we can borrow a lot of power!

Actually, it’s clear to us that the biggest problem caused by Snowden is that he exposed the United States’s surveillance programs on allies’ leaders.

This can cause European countries, including Germany, to band together and leverage the issue to force the United States to take actions to stabilize their alliances.

The European Union needs enough political maneuvering room; otherwise, the Crimea issue may lead to a rift with Russia, jeopardizing their energy security.

Using the Snowden issue, they could secure enough political space to stabilize the situation in Crimea.

Isn’t this precisely what Russia wants as well?

Russia has already taken Crimea, and as long as there is significant progress in the Minsk Agreement, a satisfactory result for all can be reached in the end!

As long as the United States does not intervene, there is ample room to resolve the crisis between Russia and the European Union.

In such a situation, Snowden’s survival is very important!

As long as he exists, he tells the world that the United States is trying to control, even coerce, the politicians of the European Union through surveillance.

Once the United States can’t withstand the pressure and chooses to compensate its allies to resolve the issue...

Then if we can become the middleman to relay messages, we will also become very important!"

Blood Fox quickly grasped Mountain Eagle’s thoughts...

This young man stepped out of Russia’s constraints, pulled himself out of Russia’s political vortex, and while looking at the issue from a higher perspective, found a new point of interest.

Mountain Eagle’s core business philosophy was to ’identify the pain points,’ then sell ’solutions’ at a high price.

Targeting Silicon Valley capital as customers, he sought to utilize the importance of Snowden to establish his own authority.

Silicon Valley capital, in order to ensure their wealth does not shrink and to lower the costs of the problems caused by Snowden, would certainly be willing to write a big check.

The core of a middleman making money lies in information asymmetry...

And Mountain Eagle’s group had mastered the information asymmetry regarding Snowden!

Thinking back, Mountain Eagle had been complaining about the complexity of the situation minutes ago, but now he was trying to make it even more complex...

With some resignation, Blood Fox said, "Do you think the three of us can solve such a big problem?

I’m confident about convincing Snowden to cooperate with us, but I can’t see how you can persuade those Silicon Valley capitalists to believe in us."

Mountain Eagle confidently said, "Buddy, you might not have dealt much with those big corporations...

If you understood them more deeply, you’d realize, to maintain asset prices, these people are willing to make a lot of concessions.

If Snowden exposes content that is adverse to Silicon Valley companies, they might need to spend tens, maybe hundreds of millions on lobbying and PR to maintain their share prices.

If you were them, would you accept spending one-tenth of that money to avoid the issue?"

Mountain Eagle twisted his wrist and said solemnly, "However, all this is conditional because we first need to prove that mercenaries or assassins they hire cannot solve the problem...

We must show them that the cost of attacking us is not worth it!

By involving Erin, the assistant secretary of the Russian Security Conference, and Victor’s power, we can make them realize that the cost of attack would be inconceivably high."

After listening, Blood Fox took a deep breath and after thinking for a while, he said, "For such matters, Anna is preferable to Erin...

Though I hate to admit it, the reality is that Russia’s private intelligence companies have a broader range of intelligence sources than Russia’s intelligence agencies.

The oligarch Victor is not one of us, but his goal is also to keep Snowden alive, so he is an ally we can unite with."

Mountain Eagle thought of the carefree Anna and felt a headache coming on...

He hesitated for nearly a minute before saying, "I don’t want to work with Anna, your daughter has too much ambition, and her style is too high-profile, bringing her in is asking for trouble.

You need to mobilize your own connections, I don’t want to keep staying in the hotel..."

While Mountain Eagle was talking with Blood Fox, someone knocked on his room door...

Mountain Eagle hung up the call with Blood Fox, went to the door, peeked through the peephole, then opened the room door. Looking at the pale-faced Selena and the stern-faced Sergei, he said with a smile, "Have you made up your minds?"