Chapter 329: Scarcity

In the northern part of Atlanta, as Li Mochen and his group entered the Red Sparrow Club hall through a secret passage, they happened to encounter Franks and his right-hand man Philip Luxembourg coming in from another passage.

"What a coincidence."

Franks gave Li Mochen a warm bear hug: "You're here for human resources, right? I've heard about your situation. To integrate the escort forces for five ships in such a short time is no easy task. The entire Atlanta human resources pool has been nearly swept clean by you, and there's not much left. Many of my friends are complaining."

"I do plan to check out the human resources market here, but that's not all. I'm also very interested in this auction."

Li Mochen, thinking of the rapidly expanding armed forces under his command, also felt a headache.

As Franks said, his Rising Sun Retail Company and the 'Rising Sun Security' (formerly Blood Hand Security) were recruiting heavily across the entire state of Georgia.

However, magic professionals above level nine were few in number, and even fewer had clean backgrounds that could pass the triple loyalty checks of Jeremy Burt, Li Tailai, and Eliza.

In this regard, Li Mochen would rather go without than settle for less, unwilling to let unreliable individuals in.

His situation was different from before; he was now simultaneously targeted by the Dragon Witch Cult, the Medici family, some members of the Wiltonshtain family, and some business competitors, so he had to be extremely cautious.

Thus, the Rising Sun Retail Company had only managed to form sixty-five defense groups and five Outlaw-level combat teams so far, but due to the lack of prestige of acting chief security officer Zhang Wei, it was in a state of complete disarray.

Then there was the force named 'Rising Sun Security,' which was actually his private army, and the escort forces also under 'Rising Sun Security.'

Among them, the three armed units led by Li Tailai, Sampson Brut, and Thompson Adams were in relatively good shape. These three teams had enough core members and only needed to fill in personnel. Currently, they had thirty-five combat groups and seven Outlaw-level teams.

The problem was the formation and recruitment of the escort forces, where Li Mochen had encountered great setbacks. In the past half month, he hadn't even hired a single Outlaw above level fifteen.

If this continued, even if Li Mochen transferred Li Tailai's team to the sea, he would still lack manpower.

According to standard configuration, five armed merchant ships required twenty Outlaw-level combat teams. So far, he had only completed six.

However, in terms of high-level Outlaws, Li Mochen could exceed the requirement. Li Tailai and the Lawrence brothers were currently above level seventeen, plus two that Alexandra Candela had agreed to lend.

But as the leader of the fleet, his overall strength should naturally surpass all members.

"Then you need to be careful, Andre. You're like a balloon about to burst."

"Of course, I'll be careful."

Li Mochen understood what Franks meant. But after speaking, he looked at the other with a strange expression: "Franks, you also come to the Red Sparrow Club?"

"Ha, just because I have the Laurel Street black market, I can't come?"

Franks laughed: "You know who's behind this Red Sparrow Club, right? So my Laurel Street can only ever deal in low-to-mid-tier equipment and magic materials. Things truly useful for our level can only be bought here. Andre, if you have time at nine o'clock, come check out the A7 auction hall on the second floor. There might be items you want."

Li Mochen's expression immediately turned serious as he replied earnestly, "I'll go take a look."

The Red Sparrow Club's A7 auction hall was usually dedicated to auctioning various magical artifacts, but what he needed most urgently now was manpower.

However, Li Mochen knew that this high-ranking member of the Teutonic Cross had deep roots in Atlanta, especially in underground transactions, with information channels that even the big families and major powers might not match.

This stirred a faint glimmer of anticipation in Li Mochen's heart. He decided to go take a look when the time came.

Li Mochen wasn't worried about spending money now; his only concern was that he couldn't spend it. If the A7 auction hall really had something he could use, he would not hesitate to pay a hefty sum.

"Anyway, get the personnel together as soon as possible."

Franks said, clapping Li Mochen heavily on the shoulder. "Work hard! My two ships are counting on you."

He didn't accompany Li Mochen; when the elevator descended to the sixth floor, he stepped out. Li Mochen led his group straight to the human resources market on the fourth floor.

Unfortunately, he was disappointed again. The resumes handed over by the Red Sparrow's HR manager overlapped nearly seventy percent with those recently submitted to Sunrise Retail and Sunrise Security. The difference was that these came with the Red Sparrow Club's guarantee, so reliability wasn't an issue, but Li Mochen would have to pay a substantial fee to the club for that.

Then, on the third floor's slave market, Li Mochen found nothing either.

There were quite a few outlaws here, but their cost-effectiveness was extremely low. It would take ten to twenty million gold shields to buy a slave with a thirteenth-level magical profession. But either their potential was exhausted, or they lacked willpower; cases like Isadora's were extremely rare.

Hazel, however, had her eyes opened wide, seeing many humanoid races that had shed their disguise magic. Besides the common elves, half-elves, and dwarves, there were even Medusas.

Behind them, Isadora Wickes, dressed as a maid, had a complicated expression. No active slave would have any fondness for such a place.

"My textbooks say that all races in this world should be friendly and equal."

When the group had only gone a third of the way through the slave market, a sarcastic smile curled on Hazel's lips. "There should be many humanoid slaves like this in America, right?"

"Hazel, are you being cynical?"

Eliza smiled. "Just think about how, thousands of years ago, our human ancestors were enslaved by various humanoids, even used as food, and you'll feel better. Even now, can ordinary people in America enjoy equality and friendship in front of those humanoids with high-level magical professions? In the end, it's just one side strong and the other weak—the so-called law of the jungle. The surface and the depths of this world operate by completely different rules."

Hazel was stunned, then fell into deep thought.

Li Mochen had intended to have a serious talk with Hazel, but after hearing Eliza's words, he decided not to interfere and walked on ahead.

It wasn't until they reached a magic materials shop on the first floor that Li Mochen made his first purchase at the Red Sparrow Club.

There were two specially made bottles, each containing a mass of blood.

"As per your request, ten drops of blood from a legendary Titan holy warrior, confirmed to be from the Hyperion lineage, and ten drops of young blue dragon blood. The total price is fourteen million gold shields."

The shop owner of this magic materials store emphasized to Li Mochen again, "We only accept cash or checks from the Red Sparrow Underground Bank."