"If there is a suitable task, we would certainly like to take it," he said.
Both Justin and Yang Yi exchanged a bit of polite nonsense, but it was necessary to say these things.
Justin glanced back at the car, then he said in a deep voice, "Time is limited, so I’ll keep it brief. The tasks I can offer are quite limited, mostly combat missions, nearer to mercenary tasks. However, I believe that with your abilities, such tasks would be very suitable for you."
Yang Yi hesitated a moment, but then he said, "Mercenary-type combat missions? Sorry, I’m not interested in such tasks at the moment. The Organization of Water mainly deals in intelligence work. For combat operations, you should find a professional Mercenary Group."
Justin waved his hand dismissively and said, "Good Mercenary Groups are too scarce, simply not enough to go around. There’s no shortage of cannon fodder groups, but how can high-value tasks be entrusted to them?"
Sighing, Justin said with disappointment, "You don’t want to consider doing it part-time? I have a few jobs on hand, all starting at ten million US Dollars for big tasks!"
Yang Yi smiled and shook his head, saying, "Sorry, I’m not interested in part-time work right now."
Justin shrugged regretfully and after a moment of thought, he spoke in a serious tone, "You mainly operate in the United Kingdom, right? There is indeed some high-demand intelligence you could try to gather. On January 23 this year, the Prime Minister Cameron promised something during a speech—if he wins the election in 2015, he will hold a referendum on the United Kingdom leaving the European Union."
Yang Yi nodded and said, "I’m aware of that, what about it?"
Justin gestured dismissively and said, "Cameron wouldn’t casually bring up such a major issue as Brexit. The fact that he’s made it public means that the Scottish Government is serious. The Scottish Government has a force that wants to break away from the European Union—it’s a big deal. The main countries are keeping a close watch on the Scottish Government’s actions. Spies from various countries have been working on this issue for a long time, but intelligence held by national intelligence agencies isn’t easily leaked. There’s also a considerable number of people who want to judge the United Kingdom’s determination on Brexit early so, in this regard, more intelligence could be gathered. As long as it can be confirmed as true, I’m buying all related intelligence. Of course, the unit price for such intelligence won’t be high, but there’s an abundance of related intelligence—you could easily gain high earnings by sheer quantity."
Yang Yi smiled and said, "Alright, I will pay attention to collecting such intelligence."
Justin continued, "The Scottish Government is very likely to launch a referendum on Brexit, but there is another referendum that is equally attention-grabbing—that is the Scottish independence referendum. On March 21 this year, the Scottish Government’s First Minister proposed to initiate an independence referendum next September. As it stands, the Scots are serious, but do the Scottish people really want independence? What kind of price is the Scottish Government willing to pay for independence? I want intelligence on this as well."
Yang Yi frowned and said, "That’s too general. It requires tedious collection and analysis work. The time and effort spent are too great, and the rewards too small, plus it’s not our area of expertise."
Justin shook his head and said, "No, you don’t need to do any sentiment collection and analysis work. I want to know who inside the Scottish Government is actively pushing for independence and who is against it. As a spy, if you don’t know which parts of these world-affecting events contain valuable intelligence that can be sold at a high price, I would seriously question your ability."
After pondering for a while, Yang Yi said, "I might be able to gather intelligence on the two referendums, but only if the price is right. If there’s a specific task and an appropriate offer, I would consider taking it."
Justin nodded and said, "Alright, I don’t have particularly suitable intelligence tasks at the moment, uh, would you consider assassination missions?"
Yang Yi smiled and asked, "Why not find a hitman for assassination missions?"
Justin smiled and asked back, "I’m asking you, would you consider taking assassination missions?"
After giving it some thought, Yang Yi said, "Of course, we would take assassination missions if the price is right."
Justin exhaled in relief and said, "Good, I’ll contact you if there are suitable tasks. Let’s leave it at that for today. I can’t keep the clients waiting too long. We can talk on the phone if there’s anything. Let’s end it here for today, farewell."
After shaking hands, Justin quickly turned and left, then he got into his car, waved at Yang Yi once more, and the two cars turned and left one after the other.
Watching Justin’s car drive away, Mike took a deep breath and said, "Justin is trying to build his own power base, so he can be trusted for now. From Justin’s attitude, it’s clear he’s eager for strong allies, so we should take on more tasks from him; his cut will be much smaller at least."
"He’s done nothing, yet he’s taking a twenty percent commission from us, isn’t that enough?"
Mike chuckled and said, "Is twenty percent a lot? Not really. The information broker’s commission starts at at least thirty percent. It’s even common to take fifty or sixty percent, so Justin has shown good faith."
After speaking, Mike said in a serious voice, "Get in the car, it’s time for us to head back."
Back in the car, Yang Yi started the vehicle but spoke in a somewhat dispirited tone, "Justin doesn’t have any suitable tasks, and the intelligence on the two referendums is too vague."
Mike laughed and said, "The bigger an event is about to happen, the more active the spies from all countries become. Justin is right, gathering intelligence related to the referendums now will be in high demand. As long as it’s valuable, it can even be sold to multiple buyers—France, Germany, the United States, Huaxia—all will pay a high price for valuable information."
Yang Yi hesitantly said, "Are you suggesting we really start collecting intelligence related to the referendums?"
Mike shook his head and said, "No, making money is secondary. The important thing is to quickly make a name for the Organization of Water, and these kinds of long-term tasks with no specific target are too troublesome and hardly the way to get famous."
"So what should we do now?"
Mike spoke gravely, "Take tasks from the Cicero Family, and also search the dark web for those public tasks. If we can complete a few that have hung around for a long time with no one able to complete them, it couldn’t be better. That’s the quickest way to fame."
Yang Yi said with interest, "The dark web, yes, we should start taking some tasks there, and do so under the name of the Organization of Water. The risk is greater, but for the sake of fame, I feel like it’s worth anything."