"Huh? What do you mean?"
Hearing Azalina's words, Jiang Hai looked at her in confusion.
"Don't want it?" he asked.
"I'm already by your side," Azalina said calmly, shrugging. "I don't need the money—let alone fifty million dollars. It's meaningless to me."
Her tone was flat, as if she were talking about something trivial.
The others fell silent.
Even Aler-Sara and the rest began thinking seriously.
They already received salaries every month—part from Jiang Hai, part from the company. Their annual income was close to three hundred thousand dollars.
Jiang Hai had bought them houses and cars. They had stable jobs, comfortable lives, and status.
So what would they even do with fifty million?
Retirement?
Jiang Hai would support them anyway.
Investment?
Aside from combat, none of them understood business.
They didn't have families to provide for. They weren't obsessed with luxury goods. And even if they wanted something—bags, coats, jewelry—they could simply ask Jiang Hai.
Now that he suddenly offered fifty million each…
They genuinely had no idea how to spend it.
And deep down, they were smart enough to realize something else.
Refusing the money might actually benefit them more than taking it.
"Then I don't want it either."
The first to speak was the cleverest one—Valerie Shelley.
Smiling, she walked over and hooked herself onto Jiang Hai's arm, leaning against him playfully.
"I'd rather stay with you."
Hearing her, the others nodded.
"Azalina's right," Aler-Sara said, tilting her head. "We don't really need this money."
"Exactly. You keep it," Valentina added seriously.
"I don't care," Belyak shrugged. "If I want something, I'll just ask you."
Relis Carter didn't say anything, but her expression made her stance obvious.
Jiang Hai couldn't help smiling helplessly.
They had placed all their trust in him.
"Alright," he said after a moment. "If you don't want cash, then we'll treat it as an investment in Teng Company."
He looked at each of them seriously.
"Five percent shares each. Forty percent total."
The girls' eyes lit up.
"That's even better," Valerie laughed. "Now we're shareholders."
Although Teng Company's assets were worth about 1.3 billion dollars, trading forty percent for four hundred million technically meant Jiang Hai was losing money.
But to him, it didn't matter.
The meat was still in the pot.
What difference did it make whose bowl it sat in?
"I don't want cash either," Qi Jie suddenly said, walking over. "Give me shares too. I already have shares in Qi's. I want shares in Tenglong as well."
Jiang Hai chuckled and nodded.
To keep things fair, he gave Qi Jie five percent too.
Just like that, forty-five percent of the company was distributed.
But he wasn't worried.
As long as they stayed by his side, those shares weren't going anywhere.
Amid laughter, the ownership of the gold was finally settled.
The next morning, after breakfast, they began transporting the gold.
The AMG65 had decent storage space. The gold bricks were stuffed under seats, behind backrests, and into every possible gap.
Thirteen tons of gold.
The car felt like it was carrying a small mountain.
If anyone had stopped them for inspection, they would have hit the jackpot.
The 5.5L V8 twin-turbo engine that had felt powerful before now struggled to go past thirty miles per hour.
It was simply too heavy.
Fortunately, gold's density meant it didn't take up much space. Otherwise, moving it would've been impossible.
Fully loaded, Jiang Hai slowly drove off.
They chose to return the same way they came. Nevada might have been closer, but the desert wasn't exactly safe. California wasn't perfect either, but at least crimes weren't so blatant.
The return trip took longer.
Three days to navigate back.
Five days before they finally reached home in Beverly Hills.
Once inside, everyone showered, took antibiotics as a precaution, and collapsed into bed.
After days surviving outdoors, exhaustion crushed them.
Even Jiang Hai, who usually couldn't resist teasing the girls, fell asleep instantly.
They slept for nearly thirteen hours straight.
When they woke, their bodies ached, but they felt alive again.
While the women discussed food, Jiang Hai handled the gold.
He already had a buyer—Dufamen.
Dubai was practically a kingdom of gold. Transactions there were tax-free, and gold circulated everywhere. Dufamen would take as much as Jiang Hai could supply.
Two days later, Dufamen's butler arrived.
After weighing and testing the bars—around 99.9% purity—the final value came out to $593 million.
Jiang Hai didn't bother arguing over the small change.
The gold was loaded onto trucks, then planes.
The money appeared directly in his American Express account.
With that done, Jiang Hai called Tarak.
Instead of giving cash, he told her to ask the tribe what they needed.
Building materials. Livestock. Seeds. Food. Clothes.
Goods were safer than money.
One hundred million dollars in supplies could sustain the tribe for decades.
Meanwhile, another matter had progressed.
The legal issue he'd left to Moses Adams had been resolved.
With enough connections and money, even stubborn cases could be overturned.
Lois-Knightly regained her freedom.
She chose to leave Los Angeles, unwilling to remain in that painful place.
Before she left, Jiang Hai handed her a Tenglong Company business card.
"If you ever have nowhere to go," he told her, "come find me."
She didn't answer—just accepted the card and walked away.
And with that—
Jiang Hai's affairs in Los Angeles finally came to an end.
He still wanted to head to Antarctica to investigate the place Bruce David had mentioned. The dragon emblem was too important to ignore.
But time…
was running out.
(To be continued.)