Chapter 65: 1000 dollars

"Who said it or me? I'll say it."

John was eager to try to bribe Mike with money, and Arthur had no objections initially, but then he suddenly remembered Danny's warning in his mind.

He couldn't listen to any suggestions, let alone let John open his mouth to deceive people, let alone let him recruit people. If John and Frank had any foresight and strength, they wouldn't have let the King's Defense hire a bunch of petty thieves on the payroll, only to go bankrupt and let themselves be acquired.

It's okay to try, but you can't just try blindly. Blind trials are easy to die.

It must be done step-by-step, must be done in an orderly manner to probe, this is the way.

Arthur grabbed John's arm and said in a low voice, "I'm the boss, of course, I'll do the talking. You watch him, this guy is really like a beast, and his mental state is unstable. If he tries to attack me, just shoot him."

John thought about it and said, "Okay, you go ahead."

Arthur shuffled up to Mike again, then suddenly put on a smile and put the gun away.

"Hello, Mike, are you bipolar?"

Mike paused and shook his head, "No, I'm not bipolar, I just lose control of my emotions when I encounter situations that make me angry."

"Is it a personality defect or a mental illness?"

Mike pursed his lips and said, "Why are you asking this?"

Arthur slowly raised the gun, and Mike immediately said, "Okay, okay, at least I'm not a sociopath, I just have some mental illness, it's bipolar disorder."

"Didn't you see a psychologist when you were on the team?"

Mike moved his hands behind his head, scratched his head, and said, "I did, but I didn't want to see a doctor and I didn't want to take medication, so the treatment wasn't very effective..."

"Oh, I see, so what about now?"

"Of course I'll take the medicine now, um, if I have the money to buy the medicine."

"What medicine are you taking?"

Mike immediately started listing the drug names without hesitation, but the drug names in English are one drug per word, so if he hasn't learned that word, he doesn't know what it means.

But seeing Mike's reaction, Arthur believes he's not lying, so he immediately says, "Hold on, let me look it up."

Fortunately, with the all-powerful internet, Arthur opened his phone and said, "Can you spell the drug name for me?"

Mike spelled out a word with great difficulty, and after Arthur entered it, he found that the drug was called Risperidone.

Arthur nodded, but John quickly shuffled over to his side and whispered, "What are you asking him all these questions for? Ask him if he's willing to sell his services for money! Don't waste time!"

Hmph, it seems you really can't listen to John's advice, Danny didn't deceive me.

Arthur said impatiently, "Are you stupid? If the medication can help him control his emotions, I'll dare to use him. If the medication doesn't work at all, do you think I'd dare put a bomb next to me?"

John paused and said, "Oh, that makes sense, go on."

John shuffled back, and Mike looked puzzled and said, "Use me? What do you mean?"

Arthur cleared his throat and said, "Uh, what's your family situation like? Are your parents doing well?"

Mike raised his eyebrows and said flatly, "I don't have a father, and I don't know who my father is. My mom died when I was in high school, so my mental state was especially unstable back then."

I see, no wonder, Arthur nodded and said, "Mmm, very good, ah no no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that, I mean... that's too bad, so you don't have any family left?"

Mike's expression remained unchanged as he said, "No."

"How old are you?"

"20."

Arthur thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "How much can you sell the bags you stole for?"

"A hundred dollars."

"That little? Aren't these bags usually very expensive? Why can you only sell them for a hundred dollars?"

Mike perked up a bit, loosened his hands a little, and pointed to the van, "Because the buyer only gives a hundred dollars, the reason is complicated, can I stand up and explain?"

Arthur hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Mike jumped up in a flash, startling both Arthur and John, but he made no other moves. He pointed to a bag and said, "This is an LV classic design, a classic pattern, this type of bag is very popular. If you have the original box, you can sell it for at least a thousand dollars, which is half the original price. But stores won't display the packaging, so this bag is just a sample on the counter, and without the box, the buyer can only pay three to five hundred dollars. Then the buyer will give the thieves two hundred dollars, but since I got these bags again from the thieves for free, the buyer only gives me a hundred dollars."

Arthur twisted his neck and said, "Sounds pretty professional."

Mike pointed to another bag and said, "This bag is made of python skin, it's a rare model and very expensive, at least $15,000 to $20,000, but the buyer still only gave me $100. Why? Because when I sell to the buyer, it's a fixed package price - something worth $2,000 also gets $100, and something worth $10,000 also gets $100. Even accessories worth $300-400, like a belt or a scarf, the buyer still only gives me $100."

Arthur nodded and said, "So no matter how good or bad, it's always $100."

Mike laughed and said, "But this python skin bag for sure I won't give to the buyer, I'll keep it, and if I get the chance I'll sell it myself, or give it to a woman, haha, you know what I mean?"

Arthur didn't want to hear about Mike's robbery business, he frowned and said, "So the things you steal are very valuable, but you only get a little money for them, is that right?"

Mike sighed and said, "Yes, the exploitation is too severe..."

"Pfft..."

If Arthur had water in his mouth, he would have sprayed it right in Mike's face. But since he didn't have any water, he almost coughed up blood.

"How dare you say the word 'exploitation'? You... never mind, let's continue, what's the most money you've ever gotten?"

Mike said very seriously, "A huge sum."

"How much!"

"$800!"

Arthur felt relieved in his heart, this was someone who had never seen real money, easy to fool, no, easy to handle.

"Before, you were a star American football player, didn't you make a lot of money?"

Mike's face immediately fell, and he said wearily, "Don't you know the rules? Student-athletes are strictly forbidden from accepting any endorsements or monetary support. I could only get a scholarship when I went to college, but I was expelled before I even got the scholarship, and I was banned from participating in any competitions, any at all..."

That was about it, Arthur felt he had asked enough. But just then, Mike suddenly said, "Let me go, all the bags belong to you, they're worth a lot of money! And I know why you're asking these questions, and I've already guessed the reason!"

Arthur was stunned, John was surprised, and Mike had a confident look on his face.

"You've guessed it?"

Mike smiled evilly and charmingly.

Describing it as "evil and charming" was quite accurate, because Mike gave Arthur a seductive wink, or at least something akin to it, along with his smile - it was a meaningful glance that, combined with his smile, did indeed seem very evil and charming.

"You guys are specialists in fencing stolen goods, don't pretend. What do you have to hide?"

Arthur opened his mouth, with a dazed expression.

Mike shook his head again and said, "You're Asian, there are most Asian buyers, you must think I'm doing well in this business and want to have long-term cooperation with me, right? No problem, just tell me what luxury brand you need, and I'll go buy it for you at zero cost right away. How about Hermès? Chanel? Just name the brand, and I'll go get it, buddy, I'm familiar with all the luxury stores in LA, I've studied them thoroughly."

"Uh, uh..." Arthur opened his mouth, then finally said, "Aren't you just a robber, not a store robber?"

Mike sighed deeply and said solemnly, "One has to submit to reality. If I keep insisting on my principles, I'll starve to death. There's no choice, to survive, I have to bow down to this evil world."

Arthur had nothing else to say. John was making frantic hand gestures behind Mike, so Arthur just organized his thoughts and said, "Actually, um, I'm not asking you to be a robber, I'm asking you to..."

"I know, zero-cost purchasing, zero-cost purchasing sounds good."

"Shut up!"

Arthur turned his head, unable to look at Mike's face anymore, and raised his left index finger, shaking it and saying, "I want to find you a proper job, one day..."

John immediately held up a hand, spreading out five fingers, indicating $500 a day, but then he curled three fingers back, leaving only two, indicating $200.

Arthur unhesitatingly said, "A legal job, I'll give you $1,000 a day, cash daily, are you interested?"

John was dumbfounded, a curse word slipped out, and then he quickly said anxiously, "Are you crazy? With his situation, $200 a day would be enough, why are you offering $1,000?"

"Shh, shh, listen to me." Stopping John's questioning, Arthur whispered, "Do you know why you and Captain went bankrupt?"

"I didn't go bankrupt... why?"

"Because you don't understand psychology?"

"What?"

"Psychology, you just don't know how to make a person quickly submit, quickly make them willing to be used by you. It's like dating, I can make people fall for me at first sight, but you can't, you can only do it through a long time, that's the difference between us."

John angrily said, "You don't even have a girlfriend, and what does this have to do with getting a girlfriend!"

Arthur said in a low voice, "Look at him, the biggest single income he's ever had in his life is eight hundred dollars. If we give him two hundred dollars a day, he'll probably agree to it. But think about it, what's so attractive about a daily wage of two hundred dollars? If he finds a better way to make money, won't he just run off right away?"

"But a thousand is too much, he's not worth it!"

"Let me finish. If this guy thinks the job is dispensable, then he might pull something nasty on us at any time. Do you think my build can withstand one of his punches? But if I give him a salary that's beyond his wildest dreams, one lump sum that knocks him out and makes him kneel and sing 'I'm Conquered', would he still try to pull something when I'm not looking? Unless he no longer wants the job."

"I understand the logic, but what does 'sing I'm Conquered' mean?"

"The logic is clear enough. Listen, you guys like to gradually increase the pay from low to high, but I'm different. I'll give the full amount right away because that's the effect I want - something that exceeds his expectations. Don't you think he now wants to kneel and call me boss?"

John looked at Mike, and despite his reservations, he couldn't help but nod.

But after a moment of thought, John suddenly erupted in anger again, "Even if you want to pay him to death, he has a serious tendency for violence and a criminal record. There's no way he can legally get a concealed carry permit. How are you going to make him work legally? The whole point of this task is to be legal, legal!"

After saying that, John pointed at Mike and angrily said, "You're spending a thousand dollars on a useless guy, aren't you an idiot!"

Arthur smiled slightly, full of confidence, and said, "Who says he can't work legally? I say he can work legally, so he can work legally."

John suddenly looked at Mike, and saw Mike eager and nervous, looking at him expectantly. He hesitated for a moment and said, "Now I believe you've knocked him out with a daily wage of a thousand dollars. Okay, now tell me, what can he do? What can he do legally?"