Chapter 1049: A Ten Million Dollar Ransom

He Yuzhu lowered his voice, his tone carrying a ruthless edge that brooked no negotiation: "Where I get my arms from is not for you to speculate, and it is certainly not something at your level is qualified to ask about. If you really want to close this deal, take me to see your biggest Boss."

The officer sneered and shook his head, the contempt in his eyes almost overflowing: "You are nothing but a few merchants peddling goods; you want to see our General? You aren't qualified."

He Yuzhu laughed instead of getting angry, the corners of his mouth curling slightly: "You have the nerve to call yourselves a 'General' with a patch of land the size of a palm? I've seen real estate projects I've developed that are bigger than this place."

The officer's expression turned cold abruptly, his gaze slicing over like a knife: "No matter how small the territory, your lives are currently in our hands."

He Yuzhu's eyes sharpened, his tone dropping: "You are courting death."

The officer, however, was not the least bit flustered, saying with a cold laugh: "I brought an entire company with me; do you really think you can kill everyone?"

He Yuzhu calculated rapidly in his mind; he wanted to see what other tricks these people could pull.

He suppressed the anger in his heart, staring at the officer, his tone neither cold nor hot: "Fine, then how exactly do you intend to resolve this?"

The officer scanned the group and finally laid his cards on the table: "Bosses, to be honest with you, if you can't come up with ten million US dollars today, you will all die here tonight."

He Yuzhu leaned back in his chair, a cold sneer hanging on his lips: "Fine, then I won't give you a single cent. I want to see what you can do to me."

The officer turned to look at the others, his eyes full of threats: "You lot, do you have the same idea?"

Hu Bayi slammed the table and started cursing on the spot: "Nonsense! We already gave you one million; is this how you treat us? If we're going to die whether we pay or not, then we won't cough up another half-penny!"

Wang Pangzi spat: "Consider that first million as feeding the dogs; I'd rather die than take out another cent!"

Dajinya and Xu Damao looked at each other, their legs trembling with fear, yet they gritted their teeth and chimed in with shaky voices: "Th... that's right, no money! You are untrustworthy! We only wanted to see your big Boss to talk business; you won't even satisfy such a small request, so just go ahead and shoot us if you want!"

The officer glared at them, his face livid: "Fine, since you've said it like that, I'll have you all shot right now!"

As his voice fell, he raised his hand in a signal, and seven or eight dark-skinned soldiers rushed straight in, holding Submachine Guns.

He Yuzhu moved.

His speed was like lightning; his figure flickered, both hands reached out simultaneously, and in the blink of an eye, he snatched three guns, then lifted his feet to kick the remaining ones away.

In the briefest of moments, before the seven or eight soldiers could react, they were all knocked to the ground by him.

The officer was terrified; just as his hand reached for the holster at his waist, He Yuzhu kicked him hard in the back of the neck.

The officer groaned, his body going limp as he collapsed to the ground.

Xu Damao watched, dumbfounded, his heart pounding wildly, and he stammered a warning: "Zhu... Zhuzi... we can't offend him too badly; there's a whole crowd of people outside!"

He Yuzhu ignored him completely and, in a few quick motions, tied this bunch of people up tight.

He slapped the officer on the shoulder, and the officer gave a violent jolt, waking up.

Seeing his men all tied up upon opening his eyes, the officer instantly roared hysterically: "You dare tie me up? Do you not want to live anymore!"

He Yuzhu leaned down close to him and said, word for word: "You were planning to execute us, so why should I be polite to you? Hurry up and send someone to deliver a message; have your highest-ranking officer come see me. If you dare send a second-in-command to fool me, I'll blow your head off myself."

The officer gasped for air, his eyes flickering several times before he finally nudged one of his tied-up men: "Let him go and have him find General Milai."

He Yuzhu grabbed the man, swung his arms, and slapped him hard across the face repeatedly.

The man's cheeks swelled up like a pig's head, and blood seeped continuously from the corners of his mouth.

He Yuzhu grabbed him by the collar and warned him sternly, word for word: "Go back and tell your General that if he doesn't come here in person tonight, I will kill every single person here!"

The man was scared out of his wits; he didn't even bother to untie the Rope on his body, just took off running like a rabbit.

He Yuzhu turned around, his gaze falling back on the officer.

He slowly pulled a Dagger from his boot, spun it on his fingertip, and spoke in a tone as casual as chatting about daily life: "Tell me the truth, how much money do you actually want to let us go?"

The officer's throat bobbed, his voice trembling uncontrollably: "T... ten million US dollars."

He Yuzhu's eyes turned cold abruptly; with a swift motion, the Dagger plunged into the base of the officer's thigh with a *pfft*.

The officer let out a scream like a slaughtered pig.

He Yuzhu stared fixedly into his eyes: "I'll ask you one more time, how exactly do you intend to dispose of us?"

The young officer shook all over, stammering as he spoke: "Our big Boss has already sent people to check your background; the amount of the ransom depends entirely on your net worth!"

He Yuzhu continued to press: "How many times have you done this kind of kidnapping?"

The officer replied: "Too many times to count; the biggest single haul we ever got was over seventy million US dollars."

"Then which country's people do you mainly kidnap?" Dajinya asked.

"This... people from all over; we mostly go to casinos to scout for rich people," the officer replied.

After the interrogation, He Yuzhu and the others finally figured out the racket of this so-called General Milai: this guy had bought off a large number of thugs, with some staking out casinos to scout for targets, while others traveled the world, contacting wealthy people under the guise of selling jade, only to kidnap and extort them after luring them to Myanmar.

But the thugs had limited skills and found it hard to reach true top-tier billionaires, so most of the people they tricked were so-called rich people who were actually drowning in debt and obsessed with getting rich overnight.

Therefore, it was very difficult for them to catch a big fish, and this business was not going smoothly.

After hearing the confession, Hu Bayi said indignantly: "These people are truly wicked! They've killed over two hundred people in just two years. If we don't get rid of them, who knows how many more will suffer at their hands!"

Dajinya and Xu Damao had no heart for such things, their minds entirely occupied with how to escape safely.

He Yuzhu saw through their thoughts and offered them a reassurance: "Set your minds at ease; they're just a bunch of rabble, no need to be too afraid."

The two finally calmed down a little, asked He Yuzhu for two cigarettes, lay down on the ground, and stared at the dirty, mottled ceiling, smoking one puff after another.

More than three hours passed, and a sky full of yellow dust rose from the dirt road outside the estate as a dozen military trucks rumbled over, followed closely by several Humvees.

Hu Bayi peeked out from the window, his expression changing slightly: "Master He, looking at this formation, it seems the other side's big leader has come in person."

He Yuzhu stood in the center of the room, his expression unchanged, though his hands did not stop moving.

He distributed the guns he had just seized to Hu Bayi, Wang Pangzi, Dajinya, and Xu Damao: "Take these for self-defense. If I die outside, you kill the captives in this room."

Xu Damao's hands trembled as he gripped the gun, and he said in a panic: "Zhuzi, what exactly are you trying to do? There are hundreds of people outside, how could we possibly win!"

He Yuzhu frowned, his tone impatient: "If you want to live, shut your mouth."

The people in the vehicles outside quickly disembarked, and in an instant, they had surrounded the house three layers deep.