Chapter 1016: 1011. The Grand Finale

After a grand banquet, Zhang Ran left the United States and returned to Huaxia.

Time flew by, and the years passed like a shuttle.

In a remote small town in Africa, Zhang Xiaotao and several classmates looked at the armed thugs in front of them with nervous expressions.

They never imagined that they would encounter such a thing just by coming here for a graduation trip; they had actually been kidnapped.

Even less did they expect that things would be in such chaos here.

"Don't do anything rash. We can talk about what you want; please don't hurt us," Zhang Xiaotao said, swallowing his saliva.

Fearing that these people might not understand, Zhang Xiaotao even switched to several other common languages.

The other classmates had long been too scared to speak; they were just ordinary students.

Having come up with such a novel graduation trip on a whim, they never expected that the outside world would be so dangerous.

Fortunately, someone was able to understand their words; the person who came was a thin, small man, but his eyes were fierce.

"Do you have money? We only want money. If you don't, then don't blame us for taking the parts from your bodies to exchange for money," the thin, small man said.

As soon as these words were spoken, the classmates nearby shuddered in fear once again.

Zhang Xiaotao's face also turned pale. It was his first time encountering such a situation, but he was, after all, someone who had seen the world, so he was still able to remain calm.

"I have money. How much do you want to let us go?" Zhang Xiaotao said, barely maintaining his composure.

As for whether he would be ripped off, Zhang Xiaotao did not care; as long as everyone was safe, money was just an external possession.

Hearing his words, the thin, small man's eyes lit up slightly. Originally, he really hadn't planned on squeezing money out of these people who clearly looked like students.

Just as he had said earlier, he was only prepared to sell organs.

But now, there seemed to be extra income.

"One million US dollars per person!" the thin, small man said, holding up a finger.

The other students nearby were about to cry when they heard this. Where would they get so much money? One million US dollars was not a small amount.

Zhang Xiaotao, however, breathed a slight sigh of relief and signaled for the other classmates nearby not to worry. "Fine, but how can you guarantee that you will let us go?"

When the thin, small man heard this, he was stunned for a moment. Was he agreeing so readily?

"Kid, are you very rich?" the thin, small man asked in surprise.

There were eight people here, which meant eight million US dollars.

Judging from the meaning of Zhang Xiaotao's words just now, it was very obvious that he intended to pay it all himself.

In fact, even if the other classmates had money, Zhang Xiaotao would not have let them pay, because this graduation trip was his suggestion.

Although it was just a proposal at the time and he hadn't forced these people to come along, it was, after all, he who had spoken first, and everyone had followed him.

The other classmates were also looking at Zhang Xiaotao with some surprise at this moment; Zhang Xiaotao's past behavior did not look like that of someone so wealthy.

For this graduation trip, most of the funds came from the money they had earned from part-time jobs; it could be considered a budget trip.

This was also the reason why these thugs hadn't planned on asking for a ransom at the beginning.

Zhang Xiaotao said honestly: "I don't have money, but my family has money."

"Haha, could it be that you are the legendary rich second generation? Hearing you say that, I've changed my mind: ten million US dollars per person," the thin, small man immediately demanded greedily.

Zhang Xiaotao was completely calm by now. Before, it was because he had never seen such a scene, and no one knew if these people would open fire directly.

But now that it was time to bargain, and since these people had developed greed, everything could be negotiated.

Zhang Xiaotao said: "The money can be discussed, but you must guarantee to let us go."

"You can rest assured about that. As long as the money is paid, we will definitely release the people," the thin, small man said with a look of 'trust me.'

Zhang Xiaotao sneered in his heart, but he said aloud: "I am willing to trust you, but you must also show some sincerity.

Besides, I can make the decision on one million; I have some pocket money on hand, but ten million—that requires me to make a phone call to my family."

As soon as these words were spoken, the thin, small man's eyes flickered. He knew that someone who could produce so much money probably had some influence.

But these were clearly all Asians, and that didn't work here; no matter how rich they were, what could they do?

Moreover, this was simply too much money. They hadn't expected that by randomly kidnapping some people, they would actually have such a huge harvest.

"Fine, but you'd better not play any tricks," the thin, small man said after discussing it with the others.

Not long after, someone brought over a satellite phone. Zhang Xiaotao recited a number and dialed it.

"Who is this?" A deep voice came through.

"Grandpa, it's me, Taotao." Zhang Xiaotao's voice was a bit agitated, but he calmed down quickly.

Zhang Ran looked at the number, his eyes flickering, and then he said with a smile: "Is that Taotao? Why are you calling so late? Didn't you say you were going on a trip?"

Zhang Xiaotao recounted the situation. In order not to arouse the suspicion of these thugs, Zhang Xiaotao had been chatting in English the whole time.

They could all understand it, which indeed made these thugs feel much more at ease.

After listening, Zhang Ran's tone didn't seem to change; he just said: "Gentlemen, I can give you the money. Prepare an account, and I will transfer the money from my end; it should be completed in about a day.

But the premise is that you must guarantee the safety of these children. Not a single child can be in danger."

The thin, small man smiled and said: "Of course, doing business requires integrity. We can guarantee it."

Seeming to know that he had no way to negotiate with these people for the time being, Zhang Ran said: "Fine, since that's the case, I believe you. In one day, I will first transfer forty million US dollars to you. At that time, you release the others, and afterwards, I will transfer another forty million to you, and then you release my grandson. How about that?"

This seemed very sincere; after all, his own grandson was in their hands.

The thin, small man thought for a moment and said: "No problem."

Of course, he had no intention of actually letting these people go; he would just capture them again later, and perhaps he could earn another sum of money.

In the middle of the night, Zhang Xiaotao and the others were all leaning against each other; they couldn't sleep at this time. "Brother Tao, this..."

Someone wanted to say something, but in the end, they didn't know how to say it. They had also heard Zhang Ran's words earlier; he was going to let them go first and let Zhang Xiaotao face the greatest danger alone.

This made them feel both moved and worried.

Zhang Xiaotao was completely relaxed at this moment. "Don't worry, it'll be fine."

"But what if those people don't keep their promise?" someone asked worriedly.

Zhang Xiaotao lowered his head and smiled silently, as if waiting for something; soon, he seemed to hear some movement.

"My grandfather didn't expect them to keep their promise anyway." Zhang Xiaotao's voice was very soft, and several people didn't hear him clearly.

However, very quickly, they heard a burst of gunfire ring out inside; it didn't take long, three minutes at most, before it vanished.

Before the crowd could react, the main door was pushed open violently, and amidst everyone's fearful gazes, a guy who looked like someone not to be trifled with barged in.

Seeing the person who arrived, Zhang Xiaotao finally breathed a true sigh of relief: "Uncle Scorpion, I didn't expect it to be you who came."

The person who arrived was indeed Scorpion; Scorpion had ultimately returned to this place he was already familiar with and could never truly abandon.

Scorpion smiled and said: "It's not just me who came; Cheng and the others are here too, they're just waiting outside.

Look at you, why didn't you tell us when you came? Making such a scene—if something had gone wrong, I wouldn't have been able to answer to Mr. Zhang."

Zhang Xiaotao rubbed his head sheepishly and said: "I just thought it was a trip, there was no need to go to such trouble."

"Alright, you guys go ahead first; things outside have already been cleared up. When there's time, Uncle will find you for a drink," Scorpion said.

Zhang Xiaotao nodded, knowing this was not the time for idle chatter, and amidst the shocked gazes of his many classmates, they left this place.

At this moment, a group of fully armed men stood outside, and as for the people who had kidnapped them, not a single one was to be seen.

But the crowd seemed to understand something, and the looks they cast at Zhang Xiaotao unconsciously carried some fear.

Zhang Xiaotao noticed this and sighed slightly, but soon pretended as if nothing had happened.

Anyway, after this incident, he would also need to slowly take over the family business, and there would be much less time to gather with classmates in the future.

"Taotao, is your family some kind of..." one classmate really couldn't hold back.

Zhang Xiaotao said speechlessly: "What are you thinking? Our family are legitimate business people, it's just that the business is a little bit big, that's all."

The classmates were speechless; this is what you call legitimate business people? This is just "a little bit big."

After saying this, Zhang Xiaotao also turned his gaze toward the outside; he actually didn't know exactly how big his family's business was either, but now he had a vague sense of it.

(End of the book!)