Mercenary's War

Berif possesses a rare decisiveness and efficiency for an Italian.

No one knows whether Tarta is bluffing or not, but Berif doesn’t dare to verify it. Since time cannot be dragged on, and it’s impossible to quickly verify whether the liquid inside the rocket is VX as Tarta claims, Berif immediately decides to strike an agreement with Tarta.

It’s impossible for Berif not to be angry; anyone being threatened like this would not feel good. But anger aside, Berif absolutely would not let Tarta feel offended in language or behavior, because that would not only be useless but could also lead to catastrophic consequences.

Tarta smiled slightly and said, "Very well, my demand is that from now on there must be no attacks on our people, no matter who the attack comes from. If attacked, we will launch the rocket."

Berif nodded and said, "Agreed, anything else?"

Tarta smiled and said, "Provide a helicopter, fully fueled, parked at the location I specify. Upon arrival, the people you escort can leave. I don’t need to say don’t play tricks, right?"

Berif shook his head and said, "You have chemical weapons, so you don’t need to worry about us playing tricks. No one can bear the consequence of tens of thousands of casualties, or even hundreds. Anything else?"

Tarta continued to smile and said, "Nothing else, just these demands. Complete them within the stipulated time, otherwise, we will launch the rocket."

Berif exhaled and said, "I need to contact my superiors immediately and inform them of your demands and all your deterrent measures."

Tarta gestured with his hand and said, "Please go ahead."

Berif raised his hand and waved it twice in the air, then shouted loudly, "Everyone, surveillance only. No action is allowed without orders. I repeat, no action is allowed without orders."

After speaking in front of Tarta, Berif hurried a few steps aside and hurriedly took out a phone, dialing it to start speaking.

Tarta occasionally glanced at his watch, while Berif’s call lasted a particularly long time, and Berif occasionally waved his arms excitedly and shouted loudly as if arguing with someone. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Five minutes passed, Berif hung up the phone, returned to Tarta, and said helplessly, "Overall, our higher-ups agree to your demands, but this still needs to convince several top individuals because your cohort has caused too much bloodshed so far. Some of our higher-ups believe he shouldn’t be let go just like that, but I’m in favor..."

Tarta raised his hand, casually saying, "Are you trying to say you agree to my demands but the higher-ups disagree, so you need a bit of time to convince them, and you’d best ask for a few minutes’ grace from me?"

Berif nodded and said, "Yes, but not a few minutes. We need half an hour, preferably an hour. You must understand, this isn’t something one person can decide with a word; this requires many people to research and discuss a result. There’s no other way, it must be like this."

Tarta laughed, "I understand, it surely must be like this, and it has to be like this."

After saying this, Tarta stepped forward and said in a low voice, "Berif, I know all your response methods. It takes at least half an hour to assay what’s in the rocket, right? So you need to delay a bit of time. If it is VX, then prepare to complete the agreement; if it’s not, then kill me here, then kill my cohort. The best outcome would be if you found those of my companions ready to fire the rocket, that would be best."

Berif wanted to explain something, but Tarta waved his hand and smiled, "No explanation needed, it’s meaningless. I said ten minutes, that means ten minutes. Whatever you do or say, once ten minutes passes, there will be a chemical rocket exploding over Rome."

After saying this, Tarta glanced at his watch and then laughed, "Time flies, now eight minutes have already passed. You need not worry about persuading anyone. In over a minute the entire world will know if I’m telling the truth or lying."

Berif bowed his head, contemplated briefly, then immediately said, "I’ll contact my superiors again, give me a minute."

Berif ran to the side to make another call, while Tarta waited calmly and leisurely.

Resolving determination is important, but demonstrating determination is even more critical.

From the moment Tarta gave the timeline, the four Black Demons must mentally prepare to truly use the rocket.

If Italy did not accept the negotiations, or if Gao Yang faced an attack after Tarta issued the final ultimatum, or if Gao Yang could not evacuate within the timeframe given by Tarta, then Yarebin and his team must use the rocket, regardless of how many would die, regardless of whether they would die, regardless of the consequences.

Even if launching the rocket immediately initiated World War III, they must use it immediately.

When Berif hung up the phone and walked back towards Tarta, Tarta was looking at his watch. When Berif arrived in front of him, Tarta regretfully said, "You wasted too much time, now there are less than thirty seconds left."

Berif said fiercely and urgently, "We agree to all your demands."

Tarta casually said, "Sorry, I haven’t received any notifications, and a unilateral announcement by you is invalid."

Berif angrily said, "You have already gotten everything you wanted, immediately inform your cohorts, if many people die, you and your cohorts will die too."

Tarta smiled, "No problem, we have plenty of rockets, firing one still leaves us with plenty to intimidate and threaten you."

Berif urgently said, "What exactly do you want? We are already doing as you asked!"

Tarta sighed softly and said, "I haven’t received any notifications, then it’s unfortunate. I gave the time, and you didn’t adhere to it. Italians have this problem, don’t you know punctuality is a virtue? Start the countdown, ten, nine, eight, seven..."

Berif pointed his gun at Tarta, shouting furiously, "Stop! Take your men and leave. It’s over."

Tarta simply turned around and loudly said, "Five, four, three..."

Just then, a sound suddenly came from Tarta’s always-open phone, Yarebin said in a low voice, "End the countdown, mission accomplished, start timing for the next period."

"Understood, start timing for the next period."

After replying to Yarebin, Tarta turned around, said to Berif, "Just two seconds short, really lucky, missing punctuality can cost lives, remember this."