Chapter 109 Fang Che Faces Jiang Tianqi Alone
Late at night, at the attic of Temple Street.
Fang Che lay on the bed, and Li Hanzhou massaged his lower back.
"Brother Li, you didn't see Jiang Tianqi's face..." Fang Che laughed so hard his shoulders shook, "Three hundred and fifty million, how much heroin would he have to sell to cover it?"
"Don't be too happy yet." Li Hanzhou tightened his grip. "He recognized you today, and he'll go even crazier from here on out."
"I know." Fang Che turned over and looked at Li Hanzhou. "Brother Li, is Xi Rong really safe?"
“Lu Che is protecting her,” Li Hanzhou said, “but Jiang Tianqi’s men are already searching the entire city. We can’t stay in the stronghold any longer; we need to move as soon as possible.”
"To where?"
Li Hanzhou remained silent for a moment, then gave an address.
Fang Che froze: "There? Isn't that..."
“The most dangerous place is the safest,” Li Hanzhou said. “Jiang Tianqi never expected that.”
As the two were talking, they heard the sound of screeching brakes coming from downstairs.
Li Hanzhou immediately stood up, walked to the window, and looked down.
It's Ah Gui's car; there are new bullet holes in the body.
Ah Gui stumbled upstairs, his face pale, blood seeping from the bandage on his arm.
"Brother Li!" he gasped, "Something's happened..."
"Tell me slowly," Li Hanzhou said, supporting him.
"Xi Rong...Xi Rong has been tied up!"
Fang Che sat up abruptly: "What?!"
"On the way to transfer her, Lu Che was ambushed." A Gui's voice trembled. "There were at least twenty of them, and they were armed. Lu Che protected her as they broke through, but... that girl, to cover the children in the squad, ran back and got caught..."
He took out his pager; the screen displayed an encrypted text message.
"Tomorrow night at midnight, Sai Kung Pier. Fang Che must come alone, or we'll kill him."
Fang Che froze.
Then, he slowly stood up and tore off the bandage around his waist.
“A-Che—” Li Hanzhou tried to pull him.
Fang Che shook off his hand, his eyes bloodshot.
"I'm not pretending anymore." He said each word clearly, his voice as cold as ice. "Brother Li, give me the gun."
What are you going to do?
"Save people." Fang Che turned around and looked at the Hong Kong night view outside the window. The neon lights reflected in his eyes were like burning fire.
"Didn't Jiang Tianqi want to see me?"
He laughed, a laugh filled with ruthlessness.
"I'll let him see me."
Li Hanzhou watched his retreating figure, remained silent for a few seconds, and then pulled a long box out from under the bed.
Inside, there were two modified submachine guns, bullets, and a bulletproof vest.
He picked one up, checked the bolt, and cocked it.
"I'll go with you."
"No." Fang Che turned around. "The text message said I can go alone."
“Then let him think you’re alone.” Li Hanzhou handed him the gun. “A-Che, remember, you’re not alone.”
Fang Che looked at him, her eyes reddening.
He took the gun and gripped it tightly.
"good."
Li Hanzhou stood behind him, looking at the boy's straight back!
No nonsense, no arguments.
They all knew that Xi Rong couldn't wait any longer.
At 11:50 p.m. the next night, at Saigon Pier.
The abandoned warehouse rattled in the sea breeze.
Only a few rays of moonlight pierced through, illuminating the rust and oil stains spreading on the ground.
Fang Che was wearing a floral shirt he'd swiped from Temple Street. The bright pink shirt stood out against the gray and black background like a flower blooming in the wrong place.
He walked towards the warehouse door step by step, empty-handed.
His back injury was still painful, so he walked slowly.
"Jiang Tianqi!" he shouted, his Northeastern accent carrying on the sea breeze, "Your brother Che is here! What kind of skill is it to kidnap a little girl? Come out and have a chat!"
Laughter came from deep within the warehouse.
The lights suddenly blazed on, making Fang Che squint.
Jiang Tianqi stood on a high platform made of stacked shipping containers, dressed in a white suit.
Beside him, Xi Rong was tied to a chair, her mouth gagged with a cloth, her face bruised, her eyes wide open, and she was shaking her head desperately.
“Fang Che,” Jiang Tianqi looked down at him, his smile gentle, “You really dared to come. Alone?”
"Otherwise what?" Fang Che shrugged. "Didn't your message say that you'd come alone, or else they'd kill the hostage?"
"Interesting." Jiang Tianqi clapped his hands. "What about Li Hanzhou? Is he willing to let you die alone?"
"Death?" Fang Che raised an eyebrow. "Young Master Jiang, you chose a good spot, facing the sea, with good feng shui. But as my burial ground... it's a bit unworthy."
He spoke as he walked forward, his eyes scanning the surroundings.
The warehouse was large, filled with discarded shipping containers and rusty machinery.
There were at least a dozen people hiding in the shadows.
There were reflections from sniper scopes at high altitudes, and not just in one place.
Li Hanzhou and his group should have already infiltrated.
Ah Gui will take the waterway, Cheng Tie Niu will go around from behind, and Li Han Zhou will use the ventilation duct... This is the plan that we rehearsed several times last night on the sand table in the attic.
But Fang Che still felt uneasy...
It's too quiet.
It's abnormally quiet.
"Stop." Jiang Tianqi raised his hand, and someone next to him immediately pointed a gun at Xi Rong's head. "Take one more step and this girl's head will explode."
Fang Che stopped and raised his hands: "Fine, I'll listen to you. Young Master Jiang, shall we talk? You kidnapped her just to lure me out, right? Now that I'm here, let her go, and we'll have a one-on-one fight."
"A one-on-one fight?" Jiang Tianqi laughed as if he'd heard a joke. "Fang Che, have you gone mad from the sun? This is Hong Kong, not a fighting ring. What I want is very simple..."
He paused, his smile turning cold: "Kneel down, kowtow three times, and say 'Li Hanzhou is a stray dog.' Then...end your own life."
Xi Rong struggled desperately on the chair.
Fang Che looked at her and suddenly smiled.
“Jiang Tianqi,” he said in a flat voice, “do you know why I hate you?”
"Because you're stupid," Jiang Tianqi said matter-of-factly. "You gave up wealth and status to get involved with a piece of trash like Li Hanzhou. What did he give you? Besides dragging you to prison and almost killing you in Thailand, what else did he give you?"
“Yes.” Fang Che blinked. “There’s barbecue, there’s wonton noodles, someone to change my dressing when I have a back injury, and someone to hold me when I’m scared.”
He took a small step forward with each sentence he spoke.
“He treats me like a human being, not a toy.”
"He trusts me, even if I mess things up."
“With him…” Fang Che stopped ten meters away from the platform, looked up at Jiang Tianqi, his eyes shining brightly, “He loves me.”
Jiang Tianqi's face darkened.
"You ungrateful wretch." He gritted his teeth, pulled a gun from his back waist, and threw it at Fang Che's feet. "Pick it up. Either you die, or she dies."
Fang Che looked down at the gun.
Black, heavy, like a branding iron.
He didn't move.
"What? Scared?" Jiang Tianqi sneered. "Weren't you quite the fighter in Thailand? Now you can't even pick up a gun?"
Fang Che still didn't move.
He is waiting.
Waiting for that signal.
Outside the warehouse, Li Hanzhou pressed himself against the inner wall of the ventilation duct. Through his earpiece came A Gui's low voice: "Brother Li, get in position. Six at the back door, take care of three, leave three in disguise."
"Received." Li Hanzhou's voice was extremely soft. "Cheng Tieniu?"
"We took out the two snipers on top of the containers on the east side," Cheng Tieniu said, his Northeastern accent catching his breath. "But something's wrong underground... it smells like explosives."
Li Hanzhou's pupils suddenly contracted.
He recalled that in the intelligence intercepted by Uncle Chen, Jiang Kun had purchased a batch of military C4 in Southeast Asia before his death, and its whereabouts were unknown.
"Find it," Li Hanzhou ordered. "Agui, cooperate with Tie Niu. Determine the location within five minutes."
"clear."
Light shines through the front of the ventilation duct.
Li Hanzhou peered down through the crack—
Fang Che stood under the light, his slender figure appearing long.
In front of him was the gun; Jiang Tianqi was laughing, and Xi Rong was struggling.
Li Hanzhou gripped the edge of the pipe with his fingers, and rust fell down in a rustling sound.
Let's wait a little longer.
Once the location of the explosives is determined.
Time passed second by second.
Fang Che bent down and picked up the gun.
The metal was cold, pressing down on his still-healing palm.
He weighed it in his hand, then looked up at Jiang Tianqi: "If I die, will you really let her go?"
"Of course," Jiang Tianqi smiled. "I keep my word."
"Okay." Fang Che pulled back the bolt, his movements clumsy.
He raised his gun and pointed it at his temple.
Xi Rong's eyes widened, she shook her head frantically, and tears rolled down her cheeks.
The smile on Jiang Tianqi's lips grew wider and wider.
Fang Che closed his eyes.
Finger on the trigger—
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