CHAPTER 1404: CHAPTER 1328: DEPARTURE

7:00 AM.

Yuhu District.

Zhong Hailong took breakfast from the courier guy’s hands, tossed it on the table, and called his two accomplices to get up for food.

The two grumbled as they got up, rubbed their eyes, glanced at the hostage, then sat around the table.

The youngest, Wu Wei, while unwrapping the breakfast bag, said, "Why not just kill him? It’s safer to go somewhere else and deal with them there."

Hearing his words, the teenager tied up in the burlap sack on the floor struggled desperately.

"How can we take the gold if we go somewhere else? What do we do when the stink gets out if we kill him?" Zhang Xindong, the leader, an old hand at prison life, grabbed an oil stick and wolfed it down.

Wu Wei first downed a bowl of soy milk, then ate the oil stick, saying, "Then just take Bitcoin, put the body in lime."

"Bitcoin, I don’t get it, do you?" Zhang Xindong leisurely asked, not in a hurry, except for his fierce appearance and not brushing his teeth, as if discussing business details in a company.

Wu Wei wanted to say he understood, hesitated for a few seconds but didn’t say it.

He was only 30 years old this year, and he could understand a bit about Bitcoin, but using it, especially safely exchanging money, Wu Wei wasn’t very sure.

If it were just a little money, it would be okay, but not 10 million; he didn’t want to take even a small risk.

Similarly, the other two certainly didn’t want to take risks either. They didn’t understand Bitcoin or could control accounts through Wu Wei. What if he ran away with everything?

"Forget it, gold it is." Melting gold is very easy, no matter what mark it has. Put it in a high-temperature crucible, melt it, and pour it out. If there are any composition issues, mix a little other metal into it; full videos can be found online, it’s not a hassle.

If you don’t even want to spend a few hundred bucks, just take a hammer or something and smash it repeatedly, fold it and smash it. You can disfigure the gold bricks equally.

Neither Wu Wei nor Zhang Xindong and the others needed to watch videos; they had mastered this simple technique long ago, and what restricted them was not technical difficulty but where to obtain the gold.

At this time, Zhong Hailong mediated, saying, "Killing isn’t worth it. Now kidnapping gets you ten years, just endure it and you come out. I did seven years last time, fought with someone in the middle, so didn’t get any reduction in sentence, and lived through it. Killing is troublesome; we’re a gang, kidnapping and killing, easy to get a death sentence, I’ve researched this."

"Can’t we run and be fine?" Wu Wei tried to retort.

"You can’t run away." Old bandit Zhang Xindong said: "It’s best if his dad doesn’t report it; we get the gold and go far, hiding our names. Next is if his dad reports it, we just drive to the grasslands and run for a few years, it’s over. If we kill someone, Yin Feisong will fight us hard. Now with these monitors and everything, easy to get caught."

"Screw him!"

"Peace brings wealth." Zhang Xindong, as the kidnapper, soothed the young man, casually kicking the sack with the teenager inside so he’d stop wriggling.

"Call them?" Zhong Hailong fetched a computer, opened the software inside. They learned all this in prison; the three of them spent 20 years inside combined, each gaining a fresh understanding of life and deciding to change their lives before release.

Earning 50 kilos of gold through kidnapping, this idea supported them through the last two years in prison.

Zhang Xindong, with his hand all coated in soy milk, said, "No hurry."

"Not urgent, it’s been a day; don’t let the police find us." Zhong Hailong was anxious.

"It’s eagle patience; if done right, you’ll succeed. If not, what’s the point of calling?" Zhang Xindong had his own thoughts, glancing at the weather: "Eat and drink first, Yin Feisong probably didn’t sleep much last night; let’s wait two hours then call, propose our demands then."

"Alright." Zhong Hailong decided to listen to Zhang Xindong. He’d only been to jail twice; Zhang Xindong had been three times, and rumors said he’d done a kidnapping case, was truly experienced.

Zhang Xindong tore open a packet of pickles and wolfed it down with oil sticks. In prison, that’s what he craved most; after release, he ate them for two years without tiring.

Ate three oil sticks quickly and finished a packet of pickles, Zhang Xindong then arranged: "Hailong, later try checking the car again; this stolen car isn’t like our own. If problems arise, we’d be doomed. Like last time, you did great, spotting tire issues early; otherwise, a blowout on the road would be laughed at even in prison."

"That’s right." Zhong Hailong felt slightly proud; he learned auto repair in prison, thought it’d be useful afterward. But now society, cab and ride-share don’t hire people with records, repair shops aren’t hiring either, private driving is impossible, only kidnapped heists find it useful.

Zhang Xindong: "Old third, don’t rush, you’re young, know technology. When calling, you watch the time and this route; if something seems wrong, cut it off. When the countdown begins, remind me. When calling, we’ll all follow you."

"No worries." Wu Wei straightened his back: "Even if the emperor comes, he can’t find us here."

"Great! That’s the spirit." Zhang Xindong clapped his hands: "When the appointed time to deliver gold arrives, I’ll go ambush by the roadside; except for the gold transport car, if another car follows, the deal is off, old third here will sever ears."

Zhang Xindong: "If everything goes smoothly, Hailong will pick up the car; once he does, call me, I’ll take old third and head to the border location. Old third, once Hailong starts, you start the fire here, then bring the hostage over..."

This time, he described the plan more detailed than their previous plan, especially the border route, individually planned and prepared by Zhang Xindong. Both Zhong Hailong and Wu Wei were counting on escaping, listening to Zhang Xindong’s words, nodding repeatedly.

...

7:00 AM.

Yuhu District.

Criminal officers dressed in city management uniforms began dispersing breakfast stalls surrounding the district.

The security was asked to open the gate, and a convoy with red ribbons entered the district, resembling a wedding procession, directly arriving at a building, though no one stepped out yet.

Inside the vehicle, Liu Zhuangshi, captain of the Anwan City’s Criminal Police Brigade, began a pre-battle briefing: "After Captain Jiang Yuan’s confirmation, we believe the main criminal in the gold kidnapping case is currently in front of us, Room 202, Building 17 on the second floor. It’s a four-room two-lounge apartment, facing the main street with two rooms and a bathroom, none with protective nets that can directly jump to the main street... This part is handled by the Second Brigade..."

Jiang Yuan, riding in the same vehicle, gently pulled out a 9mm Beretta pistol. He didn’t bring a gun to Anwan City; when the operation was underway, he saw the gun in the Anwan City Bureau’s gun cabinet and immediately claimed it.

After identifying one of the kidnappers, Zhong Hailong, Image Investigation took mere hours using software to pinpoint his past location and tracked through surveillance until sunrise when Jiang Yuan found Zhong Hailong’s hideout.

At that point, the crucial issue was the critical bullet attempting to rescue the hostage through negotiations or such didn’t align with the local criminal police methods – since it didn’t conform to the local criminal police methods, it didn’t align with the local kidnappers’ methods either.

Only with bullets in key positions could the critical problem be resolved.

Even Jiang Yuan’s current greatest skill was Level 3 handgun shooting.

Of course, Mu Zhiyang and others had different opinions, but under Jiang Yuan’s persistence, they could only keep loading bullets into the guns and inserting ceramic plates into the bulletproof vests.

The public spaces in high-rise apartments were too narrow, shields affected shooting range, and the police’s action this time was not merely besieging; more importantly, it was rescuing, so assault and rapid attack were the only choice.

Of course, the actual output wasn’t these officers crammed in cars, but six snipers in three cars and their spotters.

Six snipers positioned around Building 17 hoped to take down a suspect with two snipers, using infrared imaging and other methods to simultaneously eliminate the three kidnappers.

That’s certainly challenging, especially with concrete outer walls, simultaneous elimination probability isn’t high, and by then the last ones that can make a difference would be the raiding officers.

"Countdown 30 seconds, simultaneous exit." Liu Zhuangshi kept the time.

Yuhu District was quite a distance from Anwan City’s center, adjacent to the nearby county but closest to Anwan, making housing prices cheap and attracting a bunch of working folks and local herders.

Thus, Yuhu District’s populace was diverse and numerous, Liu Zhuangshi couldn’t and didn’t have the ability to clear such a large district.

He didn’t know if the suspects noticed downstairs; he wasn’t detailed enough to discern it.

Liu Zhuangshi just tightly watched the stopwatch and at the zeroing moment, issued an order many had awaited for long: "Move out!"