Darkstone Code

Chapter 1044 - 1042: Quietly Winning People Over

"Senior Soldier, a question..."

The Senior Soldier nodded, indicating that he was ready.

Lynch smiled and asked, "If you lost this job, what would you do?"

"Lost?", his expression flickered for a moment, then he forced a smile, the smile was somewhat strained, "It’s just a question, right?"

He was a bit nervous, and he had to be nervous, his wife was already pregnant and about to give birth, his child was about to come into this world.

This is indeed a happy moment, filled with joyful anticipation, but it also means that his family expenses will skyrocket.

The community would deliver fresh milk daily to families with children—it’s not that it was just squeezed and delivered, but processed.

A group of workers start bustling for the wealthy of Bupen at four or five o’clock. In just over an hour, through a dozen procedures, the milk is ensured to be suitable for direct consumption.

This is a privilege of the wealthy, but it is not a sorrow for the poor, because the poor rely on this job to feed themselves and their families.

This is a gift!

Even though the milk they brought was good, the Senior Soldier clearly wanted to use another kind of milk powder, of a better brand, which was said to contain a variety of infant developmental-promoting nutrients, each can costing dozens of dollars.

The salary of an ordinary worker in a month can roughly only... afford this milk powder.

In addition to these, there are extra costs for a servant, his wife needs care, and the child needs someone to take care of them twenty-four hours a day.

With all sorts of miscellaneous things, they have made ample preparations. Once this child is born, he/she would add about six to seven hundred dollars to the family bill each month.

And as he/she gets older, the number of bills will only increase.

Including other bills, the Senior Soldier needs to come up with at least twelve hundred dollars a month to cover these bills.

If... he lost his job.

He fell silent, that would definitely not be good news, he pretended to be calm, looking at Lynch.

Lynch nodded, "Of course, it’s just a question, discussing this question, that’s all."

The Senior Soldier breathed a sigh of relief, then started to think and responded.

"Maybe I would ruin all the life plans I made with my wife before, then take her out of that community, sell the house, so I wouldn’t need to continue repaying the mortgage."

"Then I might rent a house in a relatively less downtown mid-to-low class community."

"No servant, no extra spending plans, both my wife and I would need a job, maybe..."

He hesitated, thinking about what kind of work he could do.

In Bupen, the most profitable ones are always related to politics and economy.

Those brokers loitering outside Congress play with the friendships in their hands, easily earning tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands in commissions.

Those tycoons, stockbrokers, just need to wag their tongues to achieve incomes that many people look up to.

But what could he do?

He didn’t know because besides the things from the army, besides killing and protecting certain people, he knew nothing else.

Including the current management, he is exploring while learning.

"...Maybe I will become a Security Guard, or go back to being a bodyguard."

Lynch nodded, a clear self-assessment, he didn’t say that he could return to the Ministry of Defense as a General, which shows that the Senior Soldier’s thinking is already very normal.

"Maybe you could go to the Ministry of Defense, they might be interested in your experience."

The Senior Soldier shook his head, "The military has no precedent for re-hiring lower-level officers, at least to field officer level, you know, although many people outside can’t meddle in the military’s affairs, they can watch, they can talk."

"The military wouldn’t want me, I have nowhere to go."

Lynch released his casually clasped hands, "See, that’s the reason, I am not afraid of those things happening, as long as people think normally, the first thing they would consider is themselves."

"You don’t need to worry about these..."

The Ministry of Defense has always been wary of Lynch currying favor with people, until now, he has never shown such behavior.

Including this company’s institutional reform, although Lynch’s power has relatively increased after the reform, he still hasn’t shown any moves to win people’s hearts.

Just so simply and straightforwardly, all the people arranged by the Ministry of Defense are still placed in important positions, as if he doesn’t know these people are from the Ministry of Defense.

The investigation report on Lynch often contains some incredible exclamations, as if Lynch doesn’t care about personal interests, as if he’s the President, always thinking for this country and its people.

Well, the Senior Soldier finally understood, it’s not that Lynch doesn’t want to bribe, it’s that he already did, it’s just that people haven’t seen it yet.

The officers and those in charge that the Ministry of Defense arranged around him, now every one of their lives has changed.

They moved into big houses with swimming pools, some even have basketball courts or tennis courts.

When they rest, they travel either domestically or abroad, even if the holidays are short, and they can’t go very far, they’ll play golf or bowl to pass the time.

Or three or five of them would agree to go together, dragging a newly bought small boat, finding a tranquil lake, rowing on the lake, and enjoying the pleasure of fishing...

Behind every "happy moment" of houses, cars, and money, there’s actually a huge net encompassing them.

It’s just that this net is so big that they don’t know they’re in it until they touch it!

The Senior Soldier touched the net just now, he felt that uncomfortable sensation, the net pressing against him, making it hard for him to breathe.

Now, the more happiness he had when being tightly wrapped, the more pain he feels.

Unknowingly, these people have become inseparable from Lynch, inseparable from Darkstone Security.

No one but Lynch can accomplish this, not even if someone else runs this company.

People wouldn’t do business with the Ministry of Defense so easily, those rich people, politicians abroad, wouldn’t possibly hire a Federation Ministry of Defense enterprise to protect their safety, isn’t that a joke?

Hiring a bunch of people who might turn on you at any moment to protect yourself and even pay them for it, any fool knows that kind of person has a problem with their mind.

Therefore, Lynch doesn’t need to do anything. Whenever someone inadvertently suggests "get rid of Lynch" or "ruin Darkstone Security," all supervisors immediately realize that anyone can disappear, but not Lynch, not Darkstone Security.

Lynch clapped his hands lightly together, "See, that’s why you don’t need to worry, your job is much simpler than you think."

"The middle and upper levels are all our people, though they don’t appear to be, but they are."

"Your work is at the middle and lower levels, not discovering who is selling our intelligence, we are not afraid of others getting our intelligence."

"What you need to find out is who is engaged in corruption."

"The company’s accounts show that about two to three billion Federation Sols of funds go through every year, and I need to ensure they are used where they should be effective."

"And not end up in someone’s pocket, or in someone’s account, turning into a swing on the golf course in the afternoon, do you understand what I mean?"

The Senior Soldier nodded seriously, this was completely different from his initial understanding of his job, and his current role, it was only then he realized he’s far from being able to scheme or calculate against others.

Seeing the Senior Soldier understand what he has to do, and not constantly pondering "who is our person?", "who am I in league with?", "where are our people?", Lynch gave him some tasks.

"We have some equipment procurement projects this time, about forty-five million or so, you need to keep an eye on this deal."

"I don’t accept any long-term stock goods, or products beyond our list!"

This isn’t a small amount of money, even for a defense contractor, if it were selling bullets, they could clear out a batch from a warehouse.

Wherever there’s profit, someone will have crooked thoughts, it’s quite normal, if someone else, even Lynch, were in that position, they would have such thoughts.

After all, the forty-five million defense procurement fund isn’t his, nor is the bought stuff his, since it doesn’t matter whom to buy from, why not take the opportunity to profit a little?

Of course, his approach would align with high-level demands, making himself wealthy without changing the actual outcome, but some are definitely not as smart, harming the company’s interests.

After discussing work, Lynch soon turned to some personal matters.

"When is the child due?"

The Senior Soldier’s emotions heightened at this, he scratched his head, seemingly a bit embarrassed, "The doctor says end of December or early January."

"Sounds a bit early?" Lynch was a bit puzzled.

The Senior Soldier’s face also turned red, "Just right."

"When that day comes, you must let me know, we can welcome the new life together." He paused, "Perhaps your child might soon have a godfather, if you don’t mind."

The Senior Soldier was stunned, after a few seconds he quickly said, "Of course, no, I mean of course not against it, that’s great, she’ll definitely be very happy when she knows!"

Godfather and godchild, in the Federation’s environment, sometimes their bond is stronger than blood father and son—sometimes, not always.

Moreover, with Lynch as a godfather, the Senior Soldier’s child can be said to be starting at the baseline.

Even if Lynch does nothing for him, just being the child’s godfather, the child’s future is a clear path.

The Senior Soldier initially hoped for a girl, but now, he hopes it’s a boy!