195: Chapter 195 Recruiting Soldiers

In the southern suburbs of Kyoto, the New Martial Arts Special Strategy Department.

Lin Fan sat behind a large desk, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the tabletop.

Opposite him, Qin Feng wore a bitter expression, holding a thick stack of printed paper in his hands.

"Brother Fan, are we really going to recruit people like this?"

Qin Feng looked at the recruitment brochure in his hand, the corners of his mouth twitching uncontrollably. "Aren't these conditions a bit... a bit too much?"

Lin Fan picked up his teacup and took a sip, his expression nonchalant.

"Too much? Too blatant? Or too perverted?"

Qin Feng sighed and read out the core clauses of the brochure.

"Recruiting peripheral action personnel, requirements are as follows:"

"First, greedy for money. Those with an extreme desire for money are prioritized; those who treat money like dirt can get lost."

"Second, afraid of death. Those who are cautious in their actions and know how to survive in this cruel world are prioritized; hot-headed youths who want to drag the enemy down with them at the drop of a hat are not wanted."

"Third, lustful... or having other bad habits. Whether you like beautiful women, fine wine, or collecting strange things, as long as you have desires, you are acceptable."

After reading these three points, Qin Feng slapped the paper onto the table.

"Brother Fan, this isn't recruiting employees for a national department, this is practically recruiting a gang of thugs. If Old Ye or those old fogeys in the military department see this, won't they tear this place down?"

Lin Fan put down his teacup, leaned forward slightly, the playfulness in his eyes fading, replaced by a bottomless calmness.

"Qin Feng, what do you think loyalty is?"

Qin Feng was stunned for a moment and answered subconsciously: "Of course it's faith, it's the determination to sacrifice one's life for the country..."

"Wrong."

Lin Fan shook a finger. "For a department like ours, which has just been established, has unstable foundations, and may offend the major families at any time, faith is the most unreliable thing."

"Faith can collapse, and determination can waver."

"But desires do not."

Lin Fan stood up, walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, and watched the endless stream of vehicles outside.

"For those who are greedy for money, as long as I give them enough money, they will be my sharpest blades."

"For those afraid of death, in order to survive, they will be more acutely aware of danger than anyone else, and they will follow orders more obediently than anyone else, because they know that only by following me can they live."

"As for those with desires..."

Lin Fan turned around, a cold arc curling at the corner of his mouth. "If there are desires, there are weaknesses. If there are weaknesses, they are easy to control."

"I am going to Jianghai City to handle a major matter; it is a quagmire right now. What I need is a pack of wolves, a pack of wolves that will dare to bite a tiger to death as long as they are fed meat."

Qin Feng felt a chill run down his spine.

He suddenly realized that this man, who was even younger than him, had an insight into human nature that had reached a hair-raising level.

This wasn't recruiting employees at all; this was raising Gu.

"Alright, stop dawdling, send out the recruitment notice."

Lin Fan waved his hand. "Send it out in the underground black markets of Kyoto, mercenary bars, and the gathering places of those down-and-out rogue cultivators. Wages are paid daily, benefits are excellent, and those who perform well will have the opportunity to obtain the right to purchase internal blind boxes from the Myriad Treasures Pavilion."

"For this last point, bold it with a red pen."

...

Once the recruitment notice was sent out, the entire underground world of Kyoto instantly boiled over.

The New Martial Arts Special Strategy Department?

That mysterious department rumored to be overseen by a Major General, inscribed by a Martial Saint, and daring enough to blackmail even the four major families?

If it were an official recruitment channel, those rogue cultivators and mercenaries mixing at the bottom would definitely not dare to go, as most of them did not have clean records and could not pass a political background check.

But the recruitment conditions this time were practically tailor-made for them.

At two in the afternoon, the interviews officially began.

The first-floor hall of the base was temporarily converted into an interview area.

Lin Fan sat in the interviewer's seat, with Qin Feng, who was responsible for recording, sitting next to him, along with Lin Xiaoya, who had been forcibly dragged in to act as a lie detector.

The first to come in was a burly man with a face full of flab, carrying a giant axe on his back.

"My name is Iron Ox, a three-star Martial Master!"

The burly man roared at the top of his lungs as soon as he entered, "I'm not afraid of death, I'm the most loyal! As long as you give me a bite to eat, my life belongs to the officer."

Lin Fan looked at him with an expressionless face.

"Next."

The burly man was stunned: "Why? My strength is high!"

"I don't recruit people who want to die."

Lin Fan said calmly, "And people like you tend to ruin things when your heads get hot. Turn left when you go out; the City Guard is short on suicide squads, you're suitable for that."

The burly man was forcibly carried out by several mechanical guards.

Immediately after, the second, the third...

All sorts of weirdos appeared.

Some came up and kowtowed to Lin Fan to show their loyalty, some boasted that they were the reincarnation of some great power, and there was even a female assassin who tried to seduce Lin Fan on the spot, only to be scared into a mental breakdown by a single look from Lin Xiaoya.

Until the fifteenth interviewee walked in.

This was a scrawny, shifty-eyed man wearing a washed-out old jacket. After entering, his eyes darted around, looking somewhat wretched.

"Name." Lin Fan didn't even look up.

"Hou San. Everyone calls me Monkey." The man rubbed his hands and chuckled.

"Specialty."

"I run fast, have a keen nose, can pick locks, can dig holes, and also... hehe, have some petty skills in pilfering."

After finishing, Hou San looked at Lin Fan with some trepidation.

In the past, when he went for interviews, whenever he mentioned these specialties, he would basically be kicked out immediately.

"Shortcomings." Lin Fan finally looked up.

"Um... greedy for money, a gambler, and... and afraid of death."

Hou San shrank his neck. "Officer, I have an eighty-year-old mother..."

"Stop, hold it, don't play the pity card."

Lin Fan interrupted him. "If I give you one million, let you go steal an enemy's intelligence, but there is a fifty percent chance you will die, will you do it or not?"

Hou San's eyes rolled around, and he swallowed his saliva.

"One million... paid in cash on the spot?"

"On the spot."

"Then... can I take five hundred thousand as a settlement fee first? In case I die, my old mother..."

"Deal."

Lin Fan directly threw a card out from the drawer. "Here is a one-hundred-thousand deposit. Go over there and sign the contract."

Hou San held the card, completely stunned.

He was just... hired?

And hired by a national department?

"Brother Fan, this person..." Qin Feng said in a low voice on the side, "Isn't this just a thief? Strength is only five-star Martial Artist, he's just cannon fodder."

"You don't know shit."

Lin Fan watched Hou San's back as he happily went to sign the contract, a flash of brilliance passing through his eyes. "This kind of person is cannon fodder on a regular battlefield. But in a chaotic situation, he is the best scout and shit-stirrer."

"Besides, his first reaction just now was to ask if it could be paid on the spot, which shows he is truly greedy for money. His second reaction was the settlement fee, which shows that although he is afraid of death, he has a bottom line."

"That's enough."

In the next two hours, Lin Fan successively hired a few more people.

One was a down-and-out formation master who was expelled from his sect for lustfulness; although this guy's character was lacking, his ability to set up maze formations was superb.

One was a black-market doctor being hunted down for owing usury; as long as he was paid, he dared to use any forbidden drug and treat any injury.

Another was an old sniper who had retired for many years, kicked out of his unit because of his reclusive personality and chronic alcoholism, but as long as he had wine to drink, his hand was steadier than anyone's.

Looking at this group of misfits standing in the hall, Qin Feng only felt a headache.

This was not a Special Strategy Department at all; it was clearly a concentration camp of "all-villain" members.

"Alright, stop making a bitter face."

Lin Fan stretched. "Take them down, let Qian Duoduo arrange accommodation for them. By the way, tell them the rules of the Myriad Treasures Pavilion."

"Do a good job, and you'll eat well and live well, and might even be able to change your fate against the heavens."

"Do a bad job, or if you bite the hand that feeds you..."

Lin Fan's finger lightly brushed across the desktop, leaving a deep scorched mark.

"Face the consequences yourself."

Qin Feng looked at the scorched mark, felt a shiver in his heart, and quickly nodded to go make arrangements.

Only Lin Fan and Lin Xiaoya remained in the hall.

"Brother, do you really trust these people?"

Lin Xiaoya tilted her head, holding a bag of potato chips in her hand, munching on them crunchily.

"Trust?"

Lin Fan chuckled and rubbed his little sister's head. "Silly girl, business people never talk about trust, only about binding interests."

"As long as I am still the boss of the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, as long as I can still bring out blind boxes that make them crazy, they will be my most loyal dogs."

"However..."

Lin Fan's tone suddenly shifted, his gaze fixed on the doorway.

There, a new interviewee walked in.

"Some people might not even be able to be dogs."

Lin Fan's eyes narrowed slightly, and his Eye of True Sight quietly activated.