Chapter 4 A Match Made in Heaven

Gao Yi finally found a way to make money that suited him perfectly, as if it were tailor-made for him.

If Gao Yi weren't so well-suited to be an assassin, then Luca wouldn't have risked losing a lot of money to save him.

Now that Gao Yi was alive, Luca's investment had a very promising return prospect.

This was a match made in heaven.

"You've made a very correct decision!"

Luca was obviously very pleased, the moment Gao Yi agreed to cooperate, he seemed to have already seen a lot of money.

For Gao Yi, now that he had decided to cooperate, he had to take the initiative.

First, Gao Yi wanted to know what the Dark Web was all about.

"Now that we have agreed to cooperate, could you please tell me what the Dark Web is."

Without hesitation, Luca said, "The Dark Web is a transaction platform, like the Amazon of the Underworld, except the items traded on the Dark Web include everything you can imagine, of course, all illegal."

"Including assassin services?"

"Not just assassin services, but also mercenaries, intelligence, human trafficking, all illegal goods transactions, the Dark Web has everything you need."

"Including emergency rescue services, like how you guys saved me?"

Luca became a bit more serious and shook his head, "Oh, that's slightly different. The emergency assistance service you chose is a perk offered by the Dark Web to platform partners or merchants."

"What do you mean by perk?"

"All transactions on the Dark Web incur at least a 10% service fee, whereas the emergency assistance is free of charge; that's the perk."

"Can anyone use it?"

"Only Dark Web registered merchants can use this feature; ordinary users don't get to enjoy this perk."

Gao Yi looked at the phone Luca had placed beside him and asked, "Is it a special phone? Or can ordinary phones access the Dark Web?"

"Ordinary phones can access the Dark Web. What you're holding is a Dark Web registered Scavenger's phone, the lowest level Scavenger. His phone doesn't have identification features, so you could use it to ask for help, but some higher-level merchants and high-tier clients have custom phones that can identify users and even self-destruct."

Gao Yi picked up the phone that he had taken from the Scavenger, pressed it, and it remained dark.

Luca shrugged, "Even if you could hack this phone, without the account name and password, you definitely can't access the Dark Web."

Gao Yi put down the phone with a wry smile, "Then why did you give me this phone?"

"The items you're holding, of course, need to be returned to you, that's basic professional courtesy in the service industry."

"Service industry..."

Well, an assassin is indeed in the service industry.

Gao Yi took a look at Luca and asked, "So, are you an assassin?"

"I'm registered as an assassin on the Dark Web, but I'm just a middleman, or an intermediary, you can call me a broker if you like, but I never take on assassin work personally."

Luca was quite forthright, and Gao Yi liked people who were honest.

"Then can I... register an account on the Dark Web?"

"You can register as an ordinary user at any time, but if you want to register as a service or supplier, there are only two ways: an invitation from the Dark Web or a recommendation by a high-tier registered user."

Luca spread his hands, "But I don't recommend you register, because there are many police officers from different countries fishing on the Dark Web, or intelligence agencies. Once you register, you're basically stuck in the Underworld."

That was a problem.

Gao Yi really did want to make a big score, but what he was thinking was to take the money home afterwards and enjoy it as a legal and public citizen.

After all, Gao Yi was a man born under the red flag, and so far, he had never actively wanted to do anything illegal, so entering the Underworld as a registered assassin was somewhat naturally repulsive to him.

If he didn't register, then he could only take jobs through Luca, but that wasn't a problem either.

Gao Yi owed Luca money and could only pay off the debt after making money through this cooperation; even if he wanted to register, Luca wouldn't agree, nor would he be likely to recommend him.

So whether to register or not could be decided after this mission was over.

"Okay, I think I get it. You take an assassination job from the Dark Web, and I carry it out. Then we split the commission, is that how it is?"

"Yes, but let me first explain, according to the rules of the trade, as a middleman, I can charge up to 30% of the service fee, but this time we are partners. I am not just responsible for taking on the job, but also for the initial intelligence work and the post-mission extraction, so splitting the commission is very reasonable and fair, do you agree?"

Luca only mentioned whether splitting was fair, but he didn't mention the fact that he had saved Gao Yi's life.

In Gao Yi's view, since Luca had saved his life and even fronted the money at risk, based on these, the two of them should split the commission.

"I agree, an even split is quite fair."

Luca nodded and smiled, "I had a feeling when I saw you that I had to save you. After saving you, I was sure to make a fortune!"

"Uh, actually, you didn't need to add that last part..."

Gao Yi was once again impressed by Luca's honesty, and then he reluctantly said, "Then tell me about the details of this mission."

"There's no rush on this; we can talk about it once you've fully recovered."

"But in my current state, I wouldn't be able to do anything for at least two months, right?"

"That's okay; this public job has a long deadline, and right now, I also need to collect information on the target, which takes some time. It coincides nicely with you recuperating."

Luca seemed reluctant to explain in detail, and Gao Yi felt he couldn't force the issue, he thought for a moment and suddenly asked, "What do you mean by a public job that anyone can take?"

"A public job means it's available to everyone; it's just posted on the assassin's trading platform. Whether it's one of those assassin organizations ranked at the top on the Dark Web, or a newcomer assassin like you, anyone can take on the job. There are no restrictions on methods or time; whoever completes it within the bounty period gets the money, that's it."

"Besides public jobs, are there any other types of jobs?"

"Of course, there are also custom jobs directly linked to assassin organizations; for example, the target must not be found to have died from murder, or the target must drown—things like that."

Gao Yi wanted to ask Luca if the job he wanted to take on was difficult, but he felt it was not appropriate to ask just after waking up.

What if Luca said the job was very dangerous, with a high likelihood of death? Should Gao Yi refuse or continue the partnership?

So it was best not to ask this question for now.

Gao Yi pondered for a while and then suddenly asked, "Public jobs can be taken by anyone; how do you verify who took down the target? How do you collect the bounty? Like those Scavengers, when they were going to kill me, they used a phone to record, is video verification needed?"

Luca smiled, "You're quite clever. Yes, some jobs do require Dark Web verification, and it's with the Dark Web's own recording feature. You can't just submit a video as evidence. As for photos, they're even less likely. There have been cases of deceiving employers and the Dark Web to pay with fake videos. Since then, photos and videos have both been disqualified as evidence."

It made sense; the employer wasn't going to personally verify if the target was truly dead, and nowadays, with powerful software, the person on the other end of a video call might be fake; naturally, a video or photo cannot be taken as evidence alone.

Gao Yi thought for a moment and said, "So, you're saying we have to live stream it to the Dark Web? Doesn't that mean it can only be done by two people acting simultaneously?"

Luca shook his head, "Not necessarily, there are many ways to do it, but most public jobs indeed have to be live-streamed, and then the Dark Web sends the saved video to the employer, guaranteeing its authenticity."

Gao Yi frowned, "So, I've got to record it, huh? That's evidence of the crime, right? Being an assassin is such a hassle."

"It's a hassle, but what money in this world is easy to make?"

Again, speechless.

After a moment's silence, Gao Yi finally said, "Alright, let's act once I'm healed. Um, if the target is taken down by someone else before I'm healed, there's no need to go, right?"

"If someone beats us to it, then we're just out of luck."

Luca looked at his watch, then with a look of resignation, said, "Alright, now I have to go and settle the final payment. If I delay any longer, people will start getting anxious. You rest up, this place is very safe, you don't have to worry about anything. I wish you a speedy recovery, goodbye."