Chapter 008: Money, Money, Money!

When decisive action is needed, hesitation leads to chaos.

Cyrus Greene knew he couldn't waste time arguing. He had to set aside Angie's situation for now, turning to Lena to say, "Let's go, we'll be quick."

Watching Cyrus Greene leave with the prostitute, Angie grew even more furious. She took a harsh gulp of whiskey, choking on the strong liquor. Cooper, beside her, immediately signaled the bartender to spike her drink.

Cyrus Greene temporarily left Angie behind and followed Lena down to the second basement level. Though there wasn't any loud music here, the shouting from the casino was still deafening.

The bouncer's rooms and the working girls' rooms were along the same hallway. As Cyrus Greene walked in with Lena on his arm, he saw many rooms with doors wide open, their occupants seemingly enjoying being watched.

A skinny Jamaican man who managed the girls leaned against the wall, yawning with boredom. Seeing Cyrus Greene enter, he said dismissively, "Room six is empty, you can use that one."

"He wants to try something special - room eight," Lena said, pulling Cyrus Greene further down the hallway. Room eight was for extreme entertainment, containing equipment only psychos would enjoy.

The Jamaican guard looked Cyrus up and down with amusement when hearing about room eight, joking, "Just don't kill the b*tch, or the boss will be angry."

"Don't worry," Cyrus Greene replied coolly as he entered room eight with Lena, immediately closing and locking the door behind them.

Once inside, Lena's demeanor changed completely. She rushed to the bed and said to Cyrus Greene, "Come on, help me move the bed."

When David Lawrence came for the Potaski brothers, he stormed in with a gun. But Cyrus Greene didn't have that option - he couldn't even pick the lock to their room.

However, there was another way. In this underground bar, rooms were separated by simple wooden walls. Room eight shared a wall with the Potaski brothers' room - if they could break through the wall, they could get in directly.

After moving the bed away from the wall, Cyrus Greene pulled out a crowbar from his clothes and thrust it into the wall. With a dull thud, it wedged between the wooden boards, and with one strong pull, he pried out the boards and nails.

While Cyrus worked, Lena screamed to cover the noise. Watching him easily break through the wall, she jumped excitedly on the bed, yelling even louder.

"Oh God! Please don't!"

"Ah... please stop punishing me!"

"You are my master, I'll always obey!"

Lena kept clapping her hands while screaming, making it sound like whips cracking, though she was delighted. Watching Cyrus Greene create a large hole in the wall in less than a minute, she shouted while whispering encouragement: "Hurry, hurry, this is great!"

American buildings commonly use wooden boards as construction material - easy to build, easy to dismantle. After breaking through two layers of boards, Cyrus Greene squeezed through into the adjacent room.

The room was pitch dark, and Cyrus didn't dare turn on the lights. Using Lena's phone as a flashlight, he examined the layout, trying to recall the scene from the movie.

"It should be behind a wooden panel, easy to open." Cyrus Greene approached a closet, pushing the heavy wooden wardrobe aside to reveal a visible sliding wall panel behind it.

Opening the panel, everything matched the movie scene perfectly - there was a safe inside. David Lawrence had tortured the Potaski brothers to get this safe combination. Cyrus Greene remembered the code clearly. Opening the safe, the first thing he grabbed wasn't money, but a gun.

A Colt M1911A1, a classic designed by firearms master Browning over a century ago. Known for its large caliber and power - Chinese soldiers during the resistance war called it the "Big Eye". Though the US military was now experimenting with electromagnetic weapons, gunpowder weapons remained popular.

The Colt M1911A1 was heavy. Cyrus Greene tucked it into his belt, then retrieved a magazine and a box of .45 caliber ammunition from a container. Finally, he pulled out rolls of cash.

With money in hand, there was no need to panic!

The large rolls were $10,000 each, the smaller ones $1,000. It took Cyrus Greene over a dozen grabs to empty the safe. A rough count suggested seventy to eighty thousand dollars.

"Fantastic! Fantastic!" Cyrus Greene could barely contain his excitement. Thanks to the Potaski brothers' habits of keeping large amounts of cash for black market deals, it all now belonged to him.

Haha! With this money, Cyrus Greene could comfortably execute his plans, greatly improving his survival chances when the great catastrophe arrived.

Putting the money in a small bag, Cyrus Greene turned to leave, crawling back through the hole to room eight. Lena was still enthusiastically screaming, and seeing Cyrus Greene's smile, she grinned expectantly too.

"Here's your twenty thousand, thanks for your help," Cyrus Greene handed Lena two large rolls of bills. "And I found this in there, you might need it."

Lena kissed the green bills excitedly when receiving the twenty thousand, repeatedly whispering, "I love Franklin, I love Franklin so much." When she saw what else Cyrus Greene handed her, she froze in shock.

"This is... my passport." Lena opened it, tears falling uncontrollably. She looked up at Cyrus Greene and suddenly rushed forward to embrace him tightly. "Thank you, thank you, you saved my life. You can't imagine how desperately I wanted to escape. With this passport, I can finally go home."

Lena was Bulgarian, smuggled into America by human traffickers. The Potaski brothers had kept her passport hidden, leaving her without identity, unable to return home even if she wanted to, and forced to live a life in darkness.

"There are other girls' passports here too. Maybe you can return them to their owners. But don't get too excited. We need to escape first. Our plan isn't complete yet." Cyrus Greene patted Lena's back, trying to calm her emotions.

"Yes, yes, we must leave immediately." Lena excitedly packed the money and passport into her small bag. After wiping her tears and adjusting her appearance, she asked, "How do I look?"

"Perfect. Stay calm and call that idiot outside in." Cyrus Greene pulled out his gun, pulled back the slide to chamber a round, released the safety, and then stood behind the door with a slight nod.

Lena took a deep breath, opened the door, and called to the Jamaican guard outside: "Hey! Come here for a moment. This guy's acting strange, come take a look."