A few thousand meant a few thousand per man, not a few thousand in total.
Last time, participating in a single daytime skirmish had earned him a two-hundred-euro bonus, and thwarting an enemy night assault brought another six hundred. This battle had been on a vastly larger scale, with far greater accomplishments to show for it. Surely each man would walk away with at least two thousand euros, wouldn't they?
If it was two thousand euros a man, eight men made sixteen thousand. With Gao Fei taking half, that meant eight thousand for him.
Eight thousand euros was over fifty thousand yuan.
Making over fifty thousand in a single day beat working an ordinary job by miles.
Gao Fei couldn't help feeling a surge of excitement.
"This time, it has to be at least three thousand a man."
Sokholov's reply confirmed Gao Fei's hunch.
"We were the first to breach the enemy line, we took their key positions, directed artillery for precision strikes, repelled their counterattacking reinforcements, and finally blocked their escape route to wipe out every hostile in this sector. Oh, and on top of that, we captured their commanding officer..."
Counting off each feat on his fingers, Sokholov suddenly exclaimed, "Damn, brothers, we might actually be rich! Going by past bounty rates, we should pull in at least sixty thousand euros this time!"
Sixty thousand euros split among eight men—wouldn't that be nearly eight thousand each?
Yes, eight thousand per man. And if they really handed over half the bounty pool to Gao Fei, that was thirty thousand euros.
Thirty thousand euros came to more than two hundred thousand RMB.
They struck it rich!
Filthy rich!
What regular job could possibly pay more than two hundred thousand a day?
Sokholov surveyed the men around him and called out loudly, "Sixty thousand euros split up is a massive chunk of money, and our bounties should come through soon. You all agreed to give Rex half. I'm confirming it right now—any of you having second thoughts?"
"Not a chance!"
Russians understood the difference between a single full meal and having food on the table every day. If it were merely about money, they might have harbored selfish thoughts. But when survival was on the line, baseline greed gave way to the instinct to stay alive, making them surprisingly generous.
"Yeah, who'd dare back out? Having so few casualties today was entirely thanks to Rex. He can take as much as he wants, and I won't complain."
"Split half our fireteam's pay with him and let him join our group instead!"
Sokholov waved a hand dismissively. "Drop that nonsense. And don't go bragging to brother units either—keep your mouths shut tight. If Rex gets reassigned, we lose our shield."
A smaller group was easier to manage. Crucially, these men knew they would continue fighting alongside Gao Fei in the future, so they wouldn't blab.
With more people, control would slip away. Men who weren't fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with him would easily turn green with envy, and who knew what trouble that might brew?
Right then, Andrey's voice came shouting excitedly from nearby, "Squad Leader, Squad Leader, get over here quick!"
Sokholov frowned in confusion. Just as he started over to see what all the yelling was about, Parker remarked in an easy tone, "He definitely found cash."
Everyone turned to look at Parker.
Parker shrugged. "They knew today was going to be a major battle, so they handed out cash advances to a lot of troops. Foreign mercenaries got a thousand each, elite units five hundred. There should be money on every single corpse."
The men's eyes lit up instantly, and they could barely restrain themselves from rushing over to help Andrey.
Gao Fei looked at Parker, wondering: if the rank-and-file had that much cash, how much would an officer like Parker be carrying?
Never mind. Parker had performed so well that going through his pockets felt wrong. Besides, shouldn't his personal belongings be returned to him at some point?
Sokholov had already walked over, only to find his hunch was spot-on. Andrey held a fistful of cash, practically vibrating with excitement. "There's money on every single one of them! US dollars, on every body!"
Sokholov inhaled sharply, then turned back to the men and ordered in a low voice, "Go sweep the battlefield, move fast. Next door is D Company's territory. Don't cross the boundary, but watch out for them sneaking over to snatch cash from our side. Quick!"
Turning to Gao Fei, Sokholov added urgently, "You stay put. Just wait for your cut. Stay tucked away in the dugout—once the jamming clears, drones might show up."
Gao Fei obediently edged up beside a dugout. He didn't dive inside right away, but positioned himself so he could duck in at the first sign of trouble.
He couldn't afford to let celebration turn into tragedy. Dying right before dawn was out of the question.
Just then, a shout echoed from not far to the left: "Sea!"
"White!"
It was the platoon leader's voice. He was on his way over.
Sure enough, the platoon leader hurried into view with a runner trailing him. The moment he spotted Sokholov, he said urgently, "Comms are down, but we've basically secured the position. Company sent a messenger to brief me."
The platoon leader showed little sign of excitement. On the contrary, in the wake of this overwhelming victory, his face bore only exhaustion and pain.
Sokholov asked quietly, "The boys...?"
"Heavy casualties."
The platoon leader wasn't choking back tears; the words simply caught in his throat.
A heavy silence descended over them. After a moment, the platoon leader continued, "The company commander will be here shortly. Might be an on-the-spot commendation—no, definitely will be. You guys were the first to break their lines and seize the key position. The commander is coming out in person."
The company commander often visited the forward positions. He needed to survey the terrain firsthand and arrange dispositions to establish a defensive line before relief forces arrived to take over.
This was standard procedure that required no elaborate explanation. Sokholov nodded, then pointed at Parker. "Here's a prisoner we took."
"Shoot him."
The platoon leader was utterly drained. Without even bothering to ask who the prisoner was, his immediate answer was an execution.
Earlier, keeping Parker around in the suicide trio had served a purpose by drawing drone strikes. But with the fighting over, hostile drones wouldn't be loitering to bomb targets at random, rendering Parker useless.
Keeping him meant assigning men to guard him, which was a nuisance. Once he outlived his usefulness, putting a bullet in him was the natural conclusion.
Sokholov moved to make good on his promise, saying calmly, "Wait, he was their commander here."
"Oh? Then we can't shoot him."
"He's the one who gave us artillery support just now. He guided the fire, and he even joined the fight to cut down their routing troops. I promised I wouldn't kill him, so let's hand him over to the company commander."
The platoon leader stared at Parker in disbelief, genuinely stunned. "He's the one who directed the artillery? Then we definitely can't kill him. Absolutely not."
Parker smiled faintly. Turning toward Gao Fei, he made a subtle, discreet gesture with his hand—miming a telephone, or rather, a mobile phone.
Did Parker want his phone back, or was he asking Gao Fei to look after it?
Either way, it seemed Parker's mobile phone was extremely important.
Chapter 53