Chapter 2435 — Highway Robbery

The masked man at the head of the group bellowed, "Nobody move! Get back inside — this is a robbery!"

With that, the masked man pulled a sleek black pistol from his waist, raised it above his head, and leveled it at the students who had been about to get off the bus.

"Ah!" The students at the door froze in terror and stumbled backward. One dropped straight to the floor; another, desperate to relieve himself, wet his pants on the spot.

The students on the bus were stunned. None of them had expected to run into highway robbers — and during a traffic jam, of all times! Such a thing was truly rare. But now, staring at the gleaming black pistol in the masked man's hand, they all fell silent as cicadas in winter, not daring to make a sound...

As for the students who had screamed a moment earlier, the ones about to get off, their faces had gone deathly pale — because they could see that the men who had boarded the bus were armed with clubs or daggers, each one more savage than the last!

"Listen up, you sons of bitches! If you don't want to die, hand over everything valuable and all your cash — otherwise I won't mind sending you all to the Western Paradise!" the lead man shouted, gripping his pistol.

"Ah..." The classmates were all startled by the masked man's vicious words.

"You want to rob us, is that it? I'll have the students hand over their valuables and cash. Just don't hurt anyone on this bus!" The team leader surnamed Bai was remarkably calm at this moment. He glanced at the lead man and spoke to him.

"Oh? You catch on fast." The lead man nodded in satisfaction, then turned to the three men behind him. "Second, Third, Fourth — go collect their things one by one. Anyone who refuses gets made an example of!"

"Yes, boss!" the three men behind him answered at once. They produced a woven sack from somewhere and said directly to the team leader surnamed Bai, "We'll start with you. Hand over everything valuable!"

The team leader surnamed Bai nodded without hesitation. He pulled out his wallet and drew all the cash from it, tossing it into the three men's sack. Then he fished out a phone. "Want this too? It's a knockoff — you won't get much selling it."

"Forget it." One of the men glanced at the cheap dual-SIM phone in the team leader's hand and shook his head. Brand new, it was worth maybe a hundred or two hundred yuan; the secondhand market might not even take it. When they robbed people of phones, they only took the pricier smartphones worth over a thousand yuan. This knockoff was so worthless it wasn't even worth the space it took up.

The team leader surnamed Bai nodded and put the phone away. In doing this, he was setting an example for the students. In his former prime, he might not have feared anything, but now, with all his meridians severed, he had no choice but to concede first — for the sake of keeping the students from being hurt.

Of course, although the team leader knew Wei Zhao was quite skilled, he didn't want to stir up trouble. The space inside the bus was simply too cramped. If Wei Zhao took down one of them, another could fire a casual shot, and the students on the bus would be in danger.

Wei Zhao would be doing well just to protect himself and a few friends like Wang Xinyan. The other students could only become cannon fodder. So what the team leader did was also a hint to Wei Zhao not to act rashly! He was a teacher, and he did not want any of his students to come to harm!

Money was nothing but an external thing, and the team leader had no shortage of it. Nor would these students on an outing be likely to carry much cash. The robbers only wanted cash and valuables and turned a blind eye to bank cards — which showed that these men were after money alone and would not risk demanding bank cards and passwords.

That said, it also showed that these robbers were professionals. As long as no one defied them, they generally would not resort to violence. What the team leader feared most was the rookie type, who came in swinging and slashing, then demanded the students' bank card passwords. And if they demanded passwords, many of the students would likely balk — and then things would spiral completely out of control.

These robbers knew that bank cards were useless anyway: withdrawing money would easily be noticed. Their methods were, in fact, quite professional.

"Yours!" Robber Third barked at the two students seated behind the team leader surnamed Bai.

Frightened as they were, the two students shakily pulled out their wallets and handed the cash inside to Robber Third.

"Damn, were you born a pauper or what? How are you this broke — only a hundred yuan?" Robber Third flew into a rage when he saw that one student's wallet held only a hundred yuan.

"Boss, my phone broke a few days ago and I just bought an iPhone — you can have it..." The student jumped in fright, then hurriedly, with a woebegone face, fished a latest-model iPhone from his pocket and handed it to Robber Third.

"Not bad, you catch on quick!" Robber Third took the phone with satisfaction, glanced at it, and tossed it into the woven sack. Then he turned to the other student. "Where's your phone? Hurry up!"

"Mine's nothing special — just a domestic Android. I got it free for topping up my phone credit..." The student pulled out his phone. "You don't want it, right?"

"Oh? That'll do too!" Robber Third glanced at it. It was a domestic Android, yes, but a new model — it could fetch three or four hundred on the secondhand market. Why wouldn't he want it?

"Huh? You want that too... Then can I take out the memory card first?" the student pleaded.

"What the hell is with all your fussing? You giving it or not?" Robber Third was furious at the student's dawdling. "A memory card is worth a few dozen yuan, tops. Why are you so damn stingy?"

"Uh... no, it's just that my card has photos of me and my girlfriend..." the student said meekly.

The student's words were rather comical, and the other students on the bus felt a sudden urge to laugh — though none dared to laugh at such a moment. Who knew if they might be next?

Reminded by this student, the others also began pulling out their phones. Those with something to hide started removing their memory cards, and those without any began wiping their phone data...

"Then hurry up and take it out!" Robber Third frowned, but he agreed to the student's request. It wasn't out of kindness — he was afraid that when they sold the phones, the buyers might discover something wrong. After all, they couldn't possibly wipe all the data thoroughly, and many phones they didn't even know how to use.

"Oh, right, right..." The student quickly removed the memory card from his phone and tossed the handset into Robber Third's woven sack.