Chapter 69 Fatal Counterattack
The technician, his voice hoarse, announced the "death sentence" for the cassette tapes and ledgers.
Several plainclothes police officers standing nearby looked ashen-faced. One of the younger officers couldn't help but mutter, "Fuck! That's too ruthless!"
"Bang!"
With a loud bang, Lu Jingyan's bloodshot eyes blazed with fury as he slammed his fist into the concrete wall beside him!
The plaster fell off the wall, and the knuckles of his hand instantly became a bloody mess.
Fresh blood dripped from between his fingers, falling drop by drop onto the dusty ground.
"damn it!"
Lu Jingyan's chest heaved violently, and the blood vessels in his eyes were almost bursting. The overwhelming anger and frustration gushing from his chest almost set his entire being on fire.
All the efforts came to naught at the last moment.
Hope is to be elevated to the clouds, and then smashed into the mud.
Such a disparity is enough to break even the toughest man.
In the midst of this despairing silence, Su Wantang's clear, cold voice rang out, awakening everyone.
"The more he acts like this, the more it shows that he's afraid."
Everyone turned to look at her.
Su Wantang stood there, her begonia-red cheongsam hugging her exquisite figure, her waist and hips perfectly defined, her curves breathtaking.
But on her excessively beautiful face, there was not a trace of panic, only an almost cruel calmness.
She stepped forward, glanced at Lu Jingyan's bloodied and mangled hand, without even frowning, and her gaze fell on the ruined cassette tape.
“The tapes and ledgers are things that can be destroyed. The fact that he went to such lengths, even resorting to poison, to destroy them proves that there is one thing he can never destroy.”
Lu Jingyan suddenly looked up, his eyes flashing with a fierce light as he turned to her, his voice hoarse: "What?"
“The ‘Candle Dragon’ itself.”
Su Wantang's red lips gently uttered four words.
“Evidence can be forged and destroyed. But such a large batch of military supplies, especially the national treasure codenamed ‘Candle Dragon,’ is not a cassette tape or an account book; it cannot simply disappear into thin air!”
"As long as we can find it, it will be the last nail that nails Lu Wenbo to the coffin!"
Her words were like a bolt of lightning, cleaving through the dark clouds that had hung over everyone's hearts.
Yes! They're getting stuck on one thing!
They only thought about witnesses and physical evidence, but forgot about the most fundamental thing: the stolen goods!
Lu Wenbo can kill people to silence them and destroy evidence, but he can't take away the batch of smuggled military supplies!
The rage in Lu Jingyan's eyes was gradually replaced by a deeper, colder intensity.
Just then—
"Ring ring—ring ring—"
The old rotary telephone in the corner of the warehouse suddenly emitted a piercing scream, sending a shiver down one's spine in the deathly silence.
Li Hu rushed over, answered the phone, and after only a few seconds, his face turned deathly pale.
"Boss!" His hand holding the microphone was shaking, and his voice was distorted.
"It's...it's Qin Zheng from Beijing! Something's happened!"
Lu Jingyan's heart sank suddenly. He strode over and snatched the phone from his hand.
"explain!"
On the other end of the phone, Qin Zheng's voice, almost broken, came through, suppressing immense pain and self-blame.
"Commander Lu... I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry, Miss..."
His voice choked up, as if he had been severely beaten.
"Miss Zheng... Zheng Xiaorou... was... kidnapped by someone at Tangdi Pavilion half an hour ago!"
"boom!"
Something seemed to explode in Lu Jingyan's mind.
Zheng Xiaorou was their only bargaining chip to get Zheng Kai to talk!
Lu Jingyan's forehead veins bulged as he growled into the microphone.
"What's going on! Are all those people in Tangdixuan dead?!"
"The other party...the other party is a professional!"
Qin Zheng's voice was filled with shame and endless regret.
"There are three main people, all speaking with a strong Anhui accent, and they are incredibly agile! They also have dozens of other people assisting them!"
“Our people… were taken down in one fell swoop! They… they seemed to know which room Xiaorou was in all along, broke down the door, and just carried her away!”
"They left a message saying that Xiao Rou's 'family in northern Anhui' had come to take her back!"
"When I led my men to chase them, they got into a dark green GAZ-95 without license plates and sped out of the alley... I couldn't catch up..."
"I'm useless... I'm a fucking piece of trash!"
Lu Wenbo!
The name instantly popped into Lu Jingyan and Su Wantang's minds.
What a brilliant move to undermine their strength! What a desperate last-ditch effort!
They had just obtained Zheng Kai's confession when he immediately seized their only weakness!
"Qin Zheng! Listen to me!"
Su Wantang snatched the phone from Lu Jingyan's hand, her beautiful face now as cold as ice.
"Go find Gao Jianjun right now, immediately!"
Her voice was fast and urgent, yet carried an undeniable sense of command.
"Have him use his connections to block all major roads leading out of Beijing! Remember, it must be a covert investigation, only check that dark green GAZ jeep. Don't make a sound, and don't arrest anyone! Even if you find the car, don't alert them, just follow it from a distance! Understand?!"
"I...I understand..." Qin Zheng replied quickly, as if he had found his pillar of support.
Su Wantang hung up the phone and turned around, only to meet Lu Jingyan's eyes, which were burning with raging anger.
"Are you crazy?"
Lu Jingyan grabbed her wrist.
"That's a human life! What do you mean by 'don't alert the enemy'? I'm mobilizing the military right now to impose martial law on the entire city! I'll dig three feet into the ground if I have to, I'll find him!"
In his view, any conspiracy or trickery is worthless in the face of an innocent life!
He is a soldier, and protecting the people is his duty!
She tried to shake off his hand, but he gripped it even tighter.
"Lu Jingyan!"
For the first time, Su Wantang stopped him with an almost screaming voice, her full breasts, tightly wrapped in her cheongsam, heaving violently with excitement.
She tried to shake off his hand, but he gripped it even tighter.
"You dare to move a muscle!"
She stared intently at him, her beautiful eyes filled with icy rage.
"This is a trap! Can't you see it?! You send troops the moment you arrive, and they'll kill the hostage the next minute!"
"Then they turned around and blamed us, saying that we kidnapped hostages and tortured him to extract a confession in order to frame him!"
"By then, the person will be dead, and we'll be left with a mess! The evidence will be gone, and the only witness will be insane! Tell me, how are we supposed to fight them?!"
"You think you're saving her? No! You're killing her with your own hands!"
Su Wantang's words were like the sharpest knife, each word piercing Lu Jingyan's heart.
"I don't care!"
Lu Jingyan's reason had been completely consumed by rage.
"All I know is that she was lost on our turf! I have to find her! Even if I get a disciplinary action, I'll accept it!"
"You admit it? What makes you think you can admit it!"
Su Wantang's voice suddenly rose in pitch, becoming shrill and piercing.
"Are you willing to risk your future or the reputation of the Lu family? Do you think this is child's play? This is a life-or-death struggle!"
The two were at loggerheads.
It represents the unwavering bottom line and principles of soldiers.
A ruthless balancing act representing the capitalists' cold-blooded pursuit of profit.
This was the first time such a fierce conflict about fundamental beliefs had erupted between them.
The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder.
Just then—
"Ring ring—"
Inside the warehouse, another telephone, which they had temporarily set up for security, rang again at an inopportune time.
This time, all eyes were on it.
Su Wantang took a deep breath, shook off Lu Jingyan's hand, walked over, and answered the phone.
There was no background noise on the other end of the phone.
A processed, androgynous electronic voice coldly and deliberately uttered each word.
"Miss Su."
"Use Zheng Kai to exchange for his sister."
"Tomorrow at midnight, at the Shiliupu Wharf."
"You came alone."
"If you're even a minute late, you might as well prepare to... collect her corpse."
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