During the entire jet lag recovery period, Ping An devoted himself to studying the case.
On one side was a commercial investigation, and on the other was a criminal case.
The two cases seemed unrelated, but there must be a connection between them. Therefore, Ping An planned to investigate both cases simultaneously.
By the time Gao Xiaofei and Mei Qian arrived in Hamburg, Ping An had already initially adapted to the foreign environment. He could eat large portions of cured pork and bread as hard as stale biscuits without changing his expression.
"We didn't even have time to recover from jet lag. We went straight to the police station after getting off the plane. After a preliminary discussion with the comrades from the embassy about the upcoming work, they sent us to the hotel," Gao Xiaofei complained. "Fortunately, you are also here, so you can let us two come and seek refuge. Look at the hotel they arranged for us, it's full of moldy smells, we absolutely won't stay there."
After listening to the brothers' complaints, Ping An knew it wasn't a good time to talk about the case. He took out his room key and told them to go rest directly. During this time, if they couldn't manage, the three of them could share a room and figure things out, and they could still discuss the case.
After sending the two away, Ping An called Su Tang and Xiao Ao and prepared to go out for a walk.
After sleeping off the jet lag, Su Tang was eager to see the sights of the outside world, while Zhang Xiao'ao still looked reluctant.
Hamburg is Germany's second-largest city and an important economic, industrial, and media center. Actually, it wasn't Ping An's first time in Hamburg. Ten years ago, he had studied at the University of Hamburg for a year as an international exchange student. His research on audience psychology was done at this university back then.
Although ten years had passed, he had lived there for a year, so Ping An immediately adapted to the environment upon arriving.
Ten years ago, Ping An studied alone here. He attended classes during the day and wrote novels at night. Unable to stand the strong body odor of Westerners, he kept his distance from everyone, regardless of gender, during that year.
"Master, according to you, you studied here for a year, but you basically don't have any useful memories, right?" Su Tang asked, unable to resist asking as he listened to his master's reminiscences.
"Yes, actually, I'm quite familiar with Hamburg. Look at the whole city; it's like our Luzhou, a port city," Ping An said. "It's funny that the auditors who came with us thought Hamburg was an inland city."
"Master, since you know everything, why didn't you say so?" Zhang Xiao'ao asked curiously.
"Why should I say it? Is it good for people to know I'm familiar with Hamburg?" Ping An walked along the Elbe River and stopped in front of a private residence, continuing to speak. "Let them think I'm a fool from abroad, a Chinese stranger who doesn't know anyone local."
"Knock, knock, knock!" Looking at the family crest left on the iron gate of the private residence, Ping An suddenly knocked on the gate.
"Didn't you say you don't know any locals..." Zhang Xiao'ao, tall and foolish, was about to question his master when Su Tang kicked him comfortably, and he stopped talking.
The door opened, and a middle-aged woman came out with a smile.
"Hello, I am Ping An from China. Please inform the owner of this residence, Detective Adam," Ping An said fluently in German without any warning, leaving Su Tang and Zhang Xiao'ao stunned.
How could he not know German after studying here for a year?
"Master, what is this Adam fellow?" Su Tang asked.
"A senior detective at the police station," Ping An said. "Although Xiaofei and Mei Qian can obtain information through other channels, who knows if the Hamburg police will provide it in full or in part? So I want to take a look in advance, to see the complete picture."
"Master, you and this Adam solved a case together, right? Otherwise, why would you be so sure about your ability to solve this case?" Su Tang asked.
"You guessed it right. Ten years ago in Germany, I encountered a bizarre case, and Adam was in charge at the time..." Bored while Adam was out on police business, Ping An began to recount past stories.
It was a very complicated case.
Ten years ago, Ping An, who was studying at the University of Hamburg, was seen as a shut-in by outsiders. But even shut-ins need to eat, especially someone like Ping An, who was always picky about food, would sometimes go to upscale restaurants for a treat.
One afternoon ten years ago, Ping An left his room and entered a high-end restaurant. After ordering some delicious food, he enjoyed his meal while reading a newspaper.
It was a very ordinary afternoon. Just as Ping An brought a piece of meat to his mouth with his knife and fork, he suddenly heard a loud noise from the next door to the restaurant.
The bank next to the restaurant. Could it be a robbery? Ping An was lost in thought.
He guessed correctly. Three masked robbers armed with submachine guns suddenly burst into the restaurant.
"Rattata!" The robbers were fierce and didn't give anyone a chance to leave. They fired a burst of shots at the ceiling and demanded everyone in the restaurant to get down on the ground.
Ping An, a stranger in a foreign land, naturally didn't want to get involved. With the principle of self-preservation first, he complied with the robbers and lay on the ground.
The robbers weren't satisfied with robbing the bank, and now they were robbing the restaurant too?
Although Ping An lay down, his mind was racing. It wasn't until he heard sirens from the restaurant that he realized the robbers had been spotted by a patrol car after leaving the bank. With no escape route, they rushed into the restaurant.
"Adam was in charge of the operation outside at that time," Ping An said. "It was also the first time I was taken as a hostage, so I had to cooperate."
There were a total of 38 people in the restaurant at that time, including staff.
The three robbers made all the restaurant staff stand by the window, threatening the police not to act rashly, or they would shoot the hostages.
Ping An, hiding at the back of the restaurant, seemed to have gone unnoticed by the robbers. After positioning the staff, they drove the customers to the open space in the center of the restaurant. Ping An was indeed forgotten and remained in his original spot.
"Exciting, isn't it? If this was just a robbery, it would have been absolutely thrilling. What was even more thrilling to me was that this robbery was a crime with a hidden purpose," Ping An said.
Although forgotten, Ping An couldn't determine if the robbers had intentionally overlooked him. What if the robbers just wanted to create an excuse and use him as a "chicken" to scare the monkeys? So, at first, he didn't dare to move rashly and continued to pretend to be "I'm cooperating" and obediently lay on the floor.
Time passed by second by second. Ping An, who was only 25 at the time, was still a young and bold man.
Seeing that the kidnappers weren't looking for him, could he try to save himself? After all, the back door of the restaurant was less than 3 meters away from him. What if...
With "what if" in his mind, Ping An became restless. So, he tried to slowly get up and see if he could slip away quietly.
But as he was getting up, he accidentally bumped the table, and a coffee cup fell to the ground without warning.
"Crash!" The cup shattered, making a loud noise.
"I'm dead!" Ping An closed his eyes, waiting for the robbers to drag him away.
However, a bizarre scene unfolded. The three kidnappers acted as if they were deaf, completely ignoring the commotion he had caused, and didn't even come to check.
Damn it, they don't even care about me!
Ping An, half-crawling on the ground, thought with some dissatisfaction.
"Could it be that the three robbers were a bit far from you, and their attention wasn't on you at the time, so even if they heard the cup break, they just thought it was the cup breaking and didn't actually see you?" Su Tang asked.
"Good question!" Ping An became interested and sat up straight. "I thought the same thing at the time, but what happened next was even more frightening."
With a glimmer of hope, Ping An finally decided to make a run for it. But as he raised his head to observe the robbers' positions, he met the eyes of one of the robbers. Even more bizarrely, the robber who met his gaze actually winked at him.
This wink sent a chill down Ping An's spine.