Chapter 327 — Running Into a Thief

Of course, Wei Zhao did not entirely trust the little boss's word — who knew whether the man harbored some sinister design? He did not go straight into the building the little boss had described to scout it out; what if it was a trap? Wei Zhao was not that careless.

Wei Zhao circled the building the little boss had named once, then quietly crouched by the entrance like any ordinary member of the Water Blue Gang.

After a while, a Water Blue Gang member came out of the building. Wei Zhao followed him directly, and once the man had walked a stretch of road, the sharp knife was at his throat again.

This time, however, before Wei Zhao could speak, the man beat him to it: "Brother, don't... don't kill me. I just slipped in hoping to see if I could snatch a little something for myself. How was I to know I took a wrong turn and ended up where the hostages are kept? I hadn't even made my move yet, hadn't stolen a thing. Search me if you don't believe me — I really didn't touch anything, I beg you, let me go..."

Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback, and could not help but be struck dumb. This fellow had slipped in the same way he had? And from the sound of it, he was a petty thief who had come to fish in troubled waters?

"Where did you get that cap?" Wei Zhao asked, half amused, half exasperated.

"Stole it..." The thief made no attempt to hide it. "I saw somebody leave it in a car, and the window wasn't shut, so I swiped it. I heard this is where the Water Blue Gang makes its money, so I figured I'd try my luck. Brother, this is really my first time here..."

"Oh? Then what did you see when you went in just now?" Wei Zhao asked.

"I... I didn't see anything, really, I won't breathe a word..." The thief was on the verge of tears.

"Tell the truth! What exactly did you see?" Wei Zhao demanded in exasperation. He had not expected the thief to mistake his meaning, thinking he was being told to keep his mouth shut.

"Brother, you're a sensible man, you know that's where you keep the hostages. But even though I saw it, I won't say a word, really, rest easy. This business will rot in my belly!" the thief said truthfully. "I'm no honest working man myself — there's no way I'd turn you in!"

From the thief's words, Wei Zhao knew he had misunderstood, but he did not bother to explain. It was enough now to be certain that this building really was where the hostages were held.

"You went in and nobody spotted you? There's no one of ours inside?" Wei Zhao asked.

"No... there's none of your people in there... just the hostages locked behind the iron bars." The thief still assumed Wei Zhao was merely making routine inquiries, and answered honestly. He had no time to wonder what Wei Zhao was really asking about — he was already drenched in a cold sweat from fright.

"If I just let you go like this and my superiors ask questions, I'm the one taking the risk!" Wei Zhao no longer felt like doing away with the thief; killing him would only make disposing of the body more trouble, so he might as well let the man walk away.

Still, he had to put on the proper show, lest he let the thief go too easily and rouse his suspicion.

"Brother," the thief said, fishing a wad of cash from his pocket, "this is what I made today. Take it and buy yourself some cigarettes..."

"Mm, you know how to play it smart. Get lost!" Wei Zhao took the money, stuffed it into his pocket with satisfaction, and put the knife away.

The thief fled in gratitude, not daring to look back, and hurried away from the spot. Most likely he would not dare linger; he was probably going to run straight out of the repair shop.

Having confirmed from the thief that there was no Water Blue Gang presence in the hostage building, Wei Zhao swaggered in.

The ground floor was a large hall, empty of everything. The second floor was sealed off — plainly used for storage.

Wei Zhao went straight down to the basement, and once inside, he did indeed see row upon row of cell-like rooms walled off with iron railings. In some of them people sat, in others none, but as Wei Zhao passed, hardly any of them raised their heads to look at him; each wore a look of dejection and despair.

These people, presumably, were all hostages the Water Blue Gang had seized on one pretext or another, waiting for their families and friends to bring money to ransom them back.

Still, the Water Blue Gang was brazen enough — openly running a business of extortion and ransom. It seemed the law and order here had decayed to a certain point.

"Xie Jinbiao?" Wei Zhao could not be bothered to search one by one and simply called out Xie Jinbiao's name.

"Here, over here!" A man in one of the cages rose excitedly to his feet, walked to the edge of the cage, and waved at Wei Zhao.

Wei Zhao nodded and walked quickly over. The other hostages held there had clearly grown used to such scenes; not one of them even looked up.

Whoever had money sent for them got their name called and was let out, while the rest could say what they liked and still never get out. So they took Wei Zhao's arrival with utter indifference.

"You're Xie Jinbiao?" Wei Zhao looked him over and found him very different from the photo Xie Guangbo had given him. In that photo Xie Jinbiao was strong and upright; the Xie Jinbiao before him looked like a sick man, thin as a monkey. Still, on closer look, one could tell it was the same person.

"Yes, that's me. Has my dad wired the money?" Xie Jinbiao was rather excited. He had thought he was as good as dead this time, never expecting his father to find a way after all.

Xie Jinbiao had a rough idea of how much his family was worth, but the debt this time was simply too large. He had reckoned that even if his father borrowed from everyone he knew, he could not raise that much money, so he had already given himself up to despair...

Wei Zhao picked the lock on the cage with a piece of wire and let Xie Jinbiao out: "Come with me."

Xie Jinbiao hurried to follow cautiously behind Wei Zhao. He was so overjoyed that he had not caught clearly how Wei Zhao opened the door with the wire, and assumed Wei Zhao really was a member of the Water Blue Gang.

Only when they had passed through the main door of the building did Xie Jinbiao, seeing that Wei Zhao said nothing, ask again: "Where's my dad? Can I go now?"

"Put this on and don't talk nonsense. Just follow me!" Wei Zhao put the baseball cap he had gotten from the underling earlier onto Xie Jinbiao's head. "If you don't want to die, don't ask so many questions!"

"Huh? You... who are you?" Xie Jinbiao was no fool. Seeing Wei Zhao put the cap on him, he had begun to sense faintly that something was off.