Was five hundred thousand Eurodollars considered a big contract in the Lazarus Group's line of work?
Naturally, it did not rank among the very top tier.
The Group's highest-level contracts often involved mobilizing an entire combat legion, sometimes numbering in the thousands or tens of thousands. By comparison, dividing five hundred thousand among that many people was like tossing a pebble into a pond—at most, it would stir up a few limited ripples before leaving no further trace.
However, if it were only being used to hire an elite squad, then five hundred thousand was more than enough—almost excessively generous.
For ordinary mercenaries, five hundred thousand Eurodollars was enough to let them wash their hands of the business after this one job.
At Night City Megabuilding rental rates of around a thousand a month, that money could cover five hundred months—more than forty years. In this city where tomorrow was never guaranteed, that was practically a lifetime.
Even after food and living expenses, it would still be enough for a mercenary to retire in comfort for decades. And that was for mercenaries with some standards of living. For nomads outside the city or families crammed into ordinary suburban apartments, they probably could not spend it all in a lifetime.
A standard Lazarus combat squad usually had no more than ten members. In Night City's tangled urban environment, ten people was the ideal number for balancing firepower and mobility. Split evenly, five hundred thousand came to fifty thousand per person.
Even after the Lazarus Group took its cut, according to its usual practice of rewarding good work with bonuses, an outstanding completion would bring additional dividends. In the end, each member would still receive no less than thirty thousand Eurodollars—a fortune tempting enough to move anyone.
This was not only a