Chapter 13 The First Income

It was the dry season, and the Meisai River was shallow and narrow, turning crossing it by swimming into just a matter of willingness.

On regular days, the reason people from both countries went through customs was simply because it was easy.

Although it was a tropical zone, Meisai was mountainous, and wearing wet clothes in the night breeze was quite cold.

"I... I... I..."

Luca, half nervous and half frozen, stammered unable to speak clearly.

Gao Yi swiftly took off his wet clothes and pulled out a T-shirt and shorts from his bag to wear.

Even though he was in shorts and a tank top, dry clothes made it less cold. Gao Yi had just recovered from a serious injury and certainly didn't want to catch a cold again.

"Change clothes, then let's hurry. Do we wait here for others to catch up to us?"

Luca, who should have been experienced, was also speaking unclearly and seemed a bit confused, but that was understandable. He was usually just an agent and rarely involved directly in actions.

This time he actually participated in the action, then was chased by armed forces from Tachileik, had to abandon the car, run fiercely, and finally swim across a border river, so it was good that Luca could still talk at all.

"I've been in this field for ten years, and I've never seen anyone like you!"

Luca eventually managed to get his words out.

Half resentful and half relieved after speaking, Luca turned to check the riverbank behind him, then hurriedly took off the bag on his back and dug out his own clothes.

Gao Yi packed two small stones into his discarded wet clothes and threw them into the river, then he whispered urgently, "Hurry up, hurry up..."

After Luca clumsily changed clothes, the two climbed the riverbank. Although they were still wet and muddy, looking somewhat shabby, they no longer had to worry about a large-scale pursuit.

"Should we move overnight?"

Gao Yi asked quietly, to which Luca immediately nodded, "Yes, we're an obvious target, we definitely need to leave quickly, get moving, and then divide the money."

It was just the beginning of the night, and there were many people and vehicles on the street, finding a taxi wasn't difficult.

They weren't completely safe yet, and Gao Yi's biggest fear was being caught by the police, but apart from that, he really wasn't afraid of anything.

The taxi took them directly from Meisai County to Chiang Mai. The journey took about three hours. After that, they took a tuk-tuk for a loop, followed by a walk. After circulating a few times like this, they basically completed the entire escape.

And the time had just reached midnight, same day back and forth, very efficient.

It was not until they settled into the room and declared the mission completely over that Luca finally said with satisfaction, "It's over!"

He took out his phone, logged into the Dark Web to check, and then immediately a smile appeared on his face, "The reward has arrived, this really is the fastest mission ever. Two seconds to accept the mission, sixteen seconds to submit the evidence, the verification took only one minute, precisely fifty-four seconds, then the reward was deposited, wow, this feels great!"

Luca had always said he had never seen someone like Gao Yi, but he didn't say Gao Yi's method was wrong, so Gao Yi took Luca's words as compliments.

"The money arrived so quickly, that's great!"

Gao Yi couldn't help but rub his hands together, as he had been penniless for too long and really needed some money.

The only issue was whether Luca, the creditor, was willing to give him the money.

Gao Yi looked eagerly at Luca, but Luca was straightforward, "We agreed that I would cover the costs and planning, and you would execute; the commission is split equally, so you have ten thousand one hundred and fifty dollars."

"Alright, but how do I get the money? In cash?"

At this moment, Gao Yi suddenly realized another problem: he didn't have a bank card or an ID card to open a new one, so unless Luca gave him cash, he couldn't get the money.

"Of course not in cash, it's Bitcoin."

"Bitcoin? Assassins settle in Bitcoin!"

Bitcoin was beyond Gao Yi's knowledge. He had read about it online and knew it was a digital currency, but it was his first time learning that assassins received payments in Bitcoin.

"The whole Dark Web uses Bitcoin; it's the best choice, ensures safety, and after you get the Bitcoins, you can sell them on trading platforms to convert them into cash, thus bypassing the money laundering process, safe and efficient, with almost no transaction fees."

Gao Yi listened but didn't quite understand; he just knew Bitcoin was secure, saved money and trouble, and was virtually tailor-made for laundering money, but how was he supposed to receive the money?

"So how are you going to give it to me?"

"You register for a Bitcoin wallet app, hit receive, and there will be a QR code, I scan and send it to you. As for how you'll apply for a bank card or credit card, that'll be a matter for later."

Luca instructed Gao Yi on how to proceed, then emphasized repeatedly, "Make sure to set a password you can remember, make sure it's a password you can recall, and make sure it's a password that even if you lose your phone and change devices, you can still use."

"Why, have you had a bloody lesson?"

Luca's facial muscles started twitching, he paused a long time, eventually said, "I've got an account with thirteen point seven Bitcoins in it, but I only remember the account and forgot the randomly generated password…"

"Err, how much is that?"

"Todays price is two thousand forty dollars per coin, so that's twenty-seven thousand nine hundred forty-eight dollars lost."

"Err, your math is pretty good…"

Luca sighed, waved his hand, and said, "Bitcoin's prices are very volatile; there is a chance of appreciation, but my habit is to convert them into cash immediately after receiving them because I'm worried about the Bitcoin market crashing; converting to cash savings is still better."

Gao Yi thought the same; he instinctively rejected the idea of electronic money, feeling that money was safer in a bank than just a line of numbers online.

But Gao Yi had no card to deposit money, so he said helplessly, "But I don't have a card or a bank account, even if I did deposit it into my old domestic account, I... I can't remember the account number."

Luca shook his head, "Then you wait until you've got a card to sell off the Bitcoin, um, I'll pay you five Bitcoins first, worth ten thousand two hundred dollars, and you still need to give me fifty dollars, so deduct it from the cash."

Being an assassin, his first income felt somehow inappropriate.

Gao Yi thought maybe he should just repay the debt with the money, but also felt inconvenient without any cash on him at all, so he decided to owe it first and pay off a large sum later.

"I'll give you one more Bitcoin, and you give me two thousand dollars in cash, how about that?"

"1990 dollars."

An assassin and an agent, haggling over ten dollars right here, Gao Yi felt embarrassed.

"Give me 1900!"

Gao Yi, true to his generous nature when poor, really didn't mind parting with those extra dollars due to his ego and the impression it made.

Luca silently took out a stack of cash from his bag, counted nineteen notes, then put some small bills, and finally pushed some Thai Baht towards Gao Yi.

"1990 dollars, I don't want to take advantage of you; it should be exactly as much as it needs to be."

The money was accounted for, and Gao Yi pocketed the cash, even patted it in his pocket, then said, "The money I owe you, I'll pay it all back after the big job, now you can tell me about that big mission, right?"

Luca hesitated for a moment, but soon said, "Your personality is somewhat reckless. I worry that you—"

Gao Yi sternly said, "I am not reckless; I am trained in Kung Fu. Do you know what the essence of Kung Fu is? It's finding the opponent's weaknesses, striking those weaknesses, being patient if there is no opportunity, creating opportunities when none exist, and decisively seizing them when they do. I will advance if I can, and I will retreat immediately if I should. Do you understand?"

Luca paused for a while, then finally shook his head, "I can't argue with you. Well, let's discuss this task then, it's time to plan."