Chapter 1348: Departure

7 a. m.

Yuhu Residential Area.

Zhonghailong took breakfast from the delivery guy's hands, tossed it on the table, and shouted for his two partners to get up and eat.

The two groaned as they got up, rubbed their eyes, glanced at the hostage, and sat down at the table.

The youngest, Wu Wei, while opening the breakfast bag, said: "We can't kill the hostage; it's safer to go out of town and negotiate with them."

Hearing his words, the teenager tied up and stuffed into a snakeskin bag on the ground struggled desperately.

"How do we get the gold if we go out of town? If we kill the hostage and the stench spreads, how do we deal with it?" The leader, Zhang Xindong, a veteran criminal with long prison experience, casually grabbed a youtiao, wolfed it down.

Wu Wei first downed a bowl of soy milk in one gulp, then ate the youtiao, saying: "Then we'll use Bitcoin; put the corpse in lime."

"Bitcoin? I don't get it; do you understand it?" Zhang Xindong said leisurely, not in a hurry, looking fierce and unbrushed, like discussing business details in a company.

Wu Wei wanted to say he understood, hesitated for a few seconds, but couldn't bring himself to say it.

He's only 30 this year; if he said he could understand a bit of Bitcoin, maybe, but if he said he could actually use it, especially for safe money conversion, Wu Wei wasn't sure either.

If it were just a little money, it'd be fine, but 10 million? No way; he wouldn't take even a bit of risk.

Likewise, the other two definitely wouldn't want to take risks either; they don't understand Bitcoin, couldn't operate accounts through Wu Wei, and what if he just ran off with everything?

"Forget it, let's just use gold." Melting gold is too easy; no matter what markings it has, just throw it in a high-temperature crucible, melt it, pour it out—worried about composition? Mix in some other metal, done; full tutorials are online, no hassle.

If even a few hundred yuan is too much to spend, just grab a hammer and repeatedly smash, fold and smash—same effect, can ruin the gold bar beyond recognition.

Whether it's Wu Wei or Zhang Xindong and the others, they don't even need to watch the video; they've long mastered this simple technique; what constrains them isn't technical difficulty, but where to get the gold.

Zhonghailong interjected at this point: "Killing isn't worth it; now kidnapping gets you ten years, just endure it and you'll come out—I did seven last time, fought with people in between, effectively no sentence reduction, and I didn't come out this way. Killing just brings trouble; we three are a gang, gang kidnapping and murder easily gets the death penalty—I've researched it."

"If we run, there's no problem." Wu Wei wanted to rebut again.

"Can't run." Veteran criminal Zhang Xindong said: "Best case is his dad doesn't report it, we take the gold and flee far and wide, hide our names. Next is his dad reports it; we just drive to the grasslands, run for a few years, get out, and it's over. Kill someone, and Yin Feisong will deadlock with us—given current surveillance, etc., things easily go wrong."

"Screw him!"

"Harmony brings wealth." As a kidnapper, Zhang Xindong soothed the youngster, then kicked the bag holding the boy with his foot, to stop him from constantly wriggling.

"Make a call?" Zhonghailong brought over the computer, opened the software inside. These are what they learned in prison; the three of them together invested 20 years in it, each gained a new perspective on life, and before release, made decisions to change their lives.

The idea of earning 50 kilograms of gold through kidnapping was once also the pillar that supported them through the last two years in prison.

Zhang Xindong stuck soy milk on youtiao, his hands covered in paste, mumbled: "Not urgent."

"Not urgent? It's already been a day; don't let the police find us." Zhonghailong was anxious.

"This is like training a hawk; when you've trained it enough, you succeed; if not, what's the use of calling?" Zhang Xindong had his own idea, glanced at the sky: "First eat and drink your fill; Yin Feisong probably didn't sleep well last night; we'll wait two more hours, then call, and lay out our demands in one go."

"Alright." Zhonghailong still decided to listen to Zhang Xindong. He's been to prison twice, Zhang Xindong three times, and supposedly he's done kidnapping cases, so he's truly experienced.

Zhang Xindong tore open another pack of pickles, ate them with youtiao, wolfing them down. In prison, this was what he most wanted; after release, he ate it for two years and still didn't get sick of it.

He downed three youtiao in one go, finished the pickle pack, then Zhang Xindong arranged: "Long, you'll test the car later; this stolen car isn't like your own—if it breaks down, we're all screwed, like last time, you did well, spotted the tire problem early; otherwise, a blowout on the road, we'd get laughed at even going to prison."

"That's right." Zhonghailong felt a bit proud; in prison he also learned auto repair, thought it'd be useful after release. But now society, taxis and ride-hails don't want ex-cons, repair shops don't want people, let alone private driving—only useful during kidnappings.

Zhang Xindong: "Old Three, don't rush; you're young, you know tech; when you make the call later, you watch the time and this route; if things look wrong, just cut it off; if it's countdown time, just remind me. When we call, we'll all listen to you."

"Don't worry." Wu Wei straightened his back: "Even if the Heavenly King and his old man came, they couldn't find us here."

"Good! That's the spirit." Zhang Xindong clapped: "At the agreed time to deliver the gold, I'll go ahead and ambush by the roadside; besides the gold transport vehicle, if another car comes from behind, the deal's off, Old Three here will cut off ears."

Zhang Xindong: "If everything goes smoothly, Long will go pick up the car, once he gets it he'll call me, I'll take Old Three together to the border crossing point. Old Three, Long's side—once it's triggered, you'll start a fire here, then bring the hostage over……"

This time he said it in even more detail than the three's prior plan, especially the border route, which Zhang Xindong alone planned and prepared; Zhonghailong and Wu Wei were pointing at it as their escape route, listening to Zhang Xindong's words, all nodded vigorously.

……

7 a. m.

Yuhu Residential Area.

Criminal police in urban management uniforms began dispersing breakfast stalls around the area.

Security was ordered to open the gate, then saw a convoy decked in red drive into the area, like a wedding procession, straight to a building below, though no one had yet gotten out of the vehicles.

Inside the vehicle, Liu Zhuangshi, captain of the Anwan City criminal police brigade, began pre-battle mobilization: "After confirmation by Captain Jiang Yuan of the Jiang team, we believe the main perpetrator of the gold kidnapping case is currently in Room 202, 2nd floor, Building 17 ahead; this is a four-bedroom, two-living-room apartment, facing the main street with two rooms and one bathroom, no protective nets installed, can directly jump down to the main street……this part is handled by the Second Brigade……"

Jiang Yuan lightly drew out a 9mm Beretta pistol. He came to Anwan City without a gun; when deployment was needed, he saw this gun in the Anwan City Bureau's armory, immediately applied for it.

After confirming the identity of one of the kidnappers, Zhonghailong, the investigative team only needed a few hours via software to lock onto his former position, then via surveillance relay, by dawn Jiang Yuan had found Zhonghailong's hideout.

At this point, the crux of the problem became the crucial bullet; attempting to resolve hostages via shouting or such doesn't match local criminal police's style—since it doesn't match local criminal police's style, it also doesn't match local kidnappers' style.

Only when the bullet appears in the crucial position can the crux of the problem be resolved.

Even for Jiang Yuan, his current maximum value is LV3 pistol shooting.

Of course, Mu Zhiyang and others have differing opinions, but under Jiang Yuan's insistence, everyone could only keep pressing bullets into the gun, inserting ceramic plates into bulletproof vests.

The public spaces of high-rise apartments are too narrow; shields affect firing angles, and this police operation isn't just a simple encirclement and suppression—more importantly, it's hostage rescue, so rapid, offensive advance is the only choice.

Of course, the real output isn't these gun-laden criminal police, but rather the six snipers and their observers in the other three vehicles.

Six snipers, distributed around the six directions of Building 17, hoping to achieve a state of two snipers per perpetrator, via thermal imaging etc., to simultaneously take down the three kidnappers.

This is naturally not easy, especially with concrete exterior walls present; the probability of simultaneous takedown isn't high; by then, only the assaulting police entering could still be effective.

"Countdown 30 seconds, everyone disembark simultaneously." Liu Zhuangshi checked the time.

Yuhu Residential Area is quite a distance from Anwan City Center, belonging to the position in the neighboring county closest to Anwan, so housing is cheap, attracting a batch of migrant workers and local herders.

Thus, personnel in Yuhu Residential Area are complex, numerous; Liu Zhuangshi couldn't possibly, nor does he have the ability, to clear such a large area.

He also doesn't know if the suspect noticed downstairs; he doesn't have that fine-grained ability to discriminate.

Liu Zhuangshi just stared intently at the stopwatch, and at the moment it returned to zero, issued the long-awaited command: "Move out!"