"So you saw through it?" Ping An said with a self-mocking laugh.
"Yeah, if you'd said you were the Emperor of China just now, we would have nodded," the leading robber said. "Because I couldn't kill you then, I had to play along."
"And now? Are you going to blow us all up?" Ping An asked.
"That's right, pal!" the leading robber said. "Sit tight, and then put this pressure-sensitive bomb under your butt." The robber pointed his gun at Ping An, who had no choice but to comply.
Watching Ping An place the bomb under his backside, the robber lowered his gun.
"From now on, you are as good as dead," the robber said. "You'd better not move, or you'll be gone before the bomb explodes. Well, you might live a little longer, but you could leave a last word or something."
"Demon!" Ping An gritted his teeth, not daring to move.
"Alright, now, please open your mouth!" the robber said, taking out a smaller bomb. "This is to prevent you from shouting."
Under the robber's duress, Ping An opened his mouth and bit down on the bomb. As the robber had said, if he dared to make any sound, the trigger bomb in his mouth would explode immediately.
"I know what you're wondering. Seeing as you've helped us out in the end, I'll tell you," the leading robber whispered into Ping An's ear. "The fourth robber you played has already gone far up the Elbe River..."
Hearing the robber say this, Ping An resignedly closed his eyes.
"Master! Stop using flowery adjectives to describe the environment. I know you want to highlight your composure in the face of danger," Su Tang interrupted Ping An's story impatiently.
"Listen!" Ping An said, furious that his "little trick" had been discovered by his disciple.
Was this where the story should end?
Of course not. Ping An was not one to surrender.
In fact, he had never given up on a chance to fight back from the beginning. He was just waiting for the robbers to be left with only one.
At this moment, the leading robber thought he had control of Ping An with such a method and was ready to leave swaggeringly. But he hadn't expected why Ping An chose to eat at this restaurant.
Because this restaurant was a retro-style establishment, and the walls were adorned with cold weapons once used by a certain family. The wall where Ping An's favorite seat was located happened to have a bow and a quiver of arrows hanging on it.
Customers might think these were artworks, but only Ping An knew that, at the very least, this bow and arrow were definitely weapons that could kill.
At this moment, Ping An's body couldn't move, but as long as he raised his hand, he could take the bow and arrow from the wall.
And with the bow and arrow in hand, Ping An, hehe.
"Creak!" The restaurant door opened. The last robber, who was ready for everything, turned back meaningfully to take one last look at the scapegoats. He did not expect to see a long arrow quietly aimed at him.
"Damn it!" The robber only managed to utter two words before seeing the long arrow fly towards him. He instinctively dodged, and the arrow flew out of the restaurant, hitting a police car outside.
"Enemy attack! Attack!" Adam, seeing the arrow, immediately understood that this was the signal Ping An had given.
A fully armed SWAT team descended from above and swarmed into the restaurant.
Before the leading robber at the restaurant entrance could say anything, he was apprehended by a police officer. When he was brought before Adam, he saw his leader and the other two robbers, who were also under police control, just like himself.
"You idiot! Didn't you think of anything when that damned Chinese man said a string of numbers right in front of you?" the leader said angrily.
It turned out that after Adam learned that there were two more robbers in the restaurant before his departure, he had understood that the robbers were using hostages to escape. After calming down, he thought about what Ping An had said.
"Five shrimp balls... ordering separately is expensive... does this mean the robbers got something valuable from the bank before entering the restaurant, and then their value increased? But why five shrimp balls? Could it be that there were five criminals from the beginning?" Adam pondered, "But which robber came out first? Oh, when the first hostage came out, it was clearly stated that the Chinese man was one of the robbers!"
2, 3, 5, 7... No 1, no 4, no 6... If there were five robbers in total, and the first hostage was actually a robber...
"Go find the first, fourth, and sixth hostages for me!" With this thought, Adam, trying his luck, called for them.
And finally, there was a surprise!
The police in the restaurant promptly discovered the bomb and successfully defused it.
As Ping An was escorted out of the restaurant by the police, Adam ordered the officers to release him.
"The restaurant owner said you're a regular. And someone who can frequent such a restaurant naturally wouldn't need to rob a bank, would he, Mr. Ping An?" Adam said with a smile, patting Ping An on the shoulder.
"They're all caught?" Ping An asked.
"The leader and three robbers have all been caught. As for the fourth robber, he'll likely be apprehended by the coast guard. Who knows?" Adam chuckled. "They stole replicas from the bank, so there's no loss!"
"Thank goodness, I'll never come to this restaurant again," Ping An said decisively, looking back at the restaurant that had almost cost him his life.
The story was over. Su Tang and Zhang Xiao'ao listened with lingering interest. Ping An closed his eyes contentedly, as if reminiscing about that interesting experience from years ago.
"You cunning fellow, why do you only talk about your own brilliance and not my heroic deeds!" Adam returned, hearing Ping An telling a story as soon as he entered.
"My friend, in front of my disciple, please give me some face," Ping An said happily. "How about it, where's what I asked for?"
"Here you go, pal. This case is more complicated than usual," Adam said. "Are you sure you want to get involved in this mess?"
"I have to!" Ping An said. "I must take this matter on."
"Then I can only wish you good luck," Adam said, looking at his watch. "I have to return the items tomorrow morning. You have all night to study these case files, but you know the rules: no photos, no recordings, no public disclosure."
"Don't worry, I know the rules," Ping An said meaningfully to Su Tang. "I only need to look through them once."
It had to be said that the Germans' meticulousness was evident everywhere.
The thick case file contained no superfluous words, only "solid information."
At the hotel, after the incident, the police conducted on-site investigations and also interrogated and investigated Wang Bao's contacts in Germany. The main subjects of interrogation and investigation were four people: the translator Hua Yu from China, Wang Bao's attendant Qiao Er, the head of the European company Li Le, and... a prostitute, Miller...
"This old geezer, at his age, still wants to find prostitutes?" Ping An felt a surge of anger upon reading this. It was truly a disgrace taken abroad.
He patiently continued to read. It turned out that the deceased had met these four people within an hour of his death. Even more bizarrely, these four people had no valid alibis in the half-hour before and half-hour after Wang Bao's death.
According to the order in which these four people met Wang Bao, the first was the translator Hua Yu. This Mr. Hua Yu was a temporary translator hired by Cui Sanye domestically. Although the main executives of the European company were Chinese, Cui Lao, for reasons unknown, perhaps distrust or other motives, had also arranged for Hua Yu. Hua Yu had also been a domestic representative who had accompanied the team to Europe twice before, and this time he had come along again. According to the police's inquiry, before Wang Bao's death, he had gone to Wang Bao's room to deliver a translated document. At that time, Wang Bao had not yet undressed but was "sitting on the bed smoking." After putting down the document, Hua Yu "kindly reminded Master Wang not to drop the cigarette butt on the bed and to be careful of fire," and then left.
The second was Li Le, the head of the European company. Li Le was only 40 years old, full of vigor, and had been found by Cui Sanye in China and sent to the European company less than a year ago. The company was experiencing losses, and logically, he should have the most say and know what was wrong. However, this person claimed to know nothing. When pressed, he attributed it to the previous person in charge, stating that he himself was blameless. Before Wang Bao's death, he admitted to visiting with a box of high-end cigars, hoping that Wang Bao would speak well of him to Old Cui and guarantee no losses in the following year. However, Wang Bao was already in bed. At first, he greeted Li Le, but then, "He didn't seem to want to pay attention to me and pretended to fall asleep. I got angry and left. As I closed the door, I looked back and saw that he had turned around to look at me. I got even more angry, walked out, and closed the door."
The third was the attendant Qiao Er, who went to Wang Bao's room to deliver medicine. This Qiao Er knew nothing, not even what they were investigating in Europe. According to Qiao Er, Wang Bao suffered from severe insomnia, and after arriving in Europe, due to the time difference, he had been unable to sleep. He went to deliver sleeping pills only after receiving Wang Bao's call. When he entered Wang Bao's room, he found that the door was unlocked. So Qiao Er pushed the door open and happened to see Wang Bao lying on the bed talking on the phone to Cui Sanye. Wang Bao showed no surprise when he saw Qiao Er enter directly, but gave him a nod and continued his phone call. While waiting, Qiao Er prepared hot water for Wang Bao to take his medicine, then placed the medicine and water on the bedside table. After looking at Wang Bao, and receiving a gesture to leave, he departed. As he opened the door to leave, a European beauty was about to knock.
The one knocking was naturally the fourth person, Miller. According to Qiao Er, Wang Bao, as an old auditor for Cui Sanye, had traveled abroad for many years. He also knew that his boss had certain hobbies, so when he saw Miller outside the door, he was not surprised. Especially when he met Miller, Wang Bao inside seemed to have noticed something and said, "Let her in." Hearing this, Qiao Er had no further doubts, smilingly let Miller in, and then closed the door himself. According to Miller, as soon as she entered, she began to "serve." At that time, "the guest was lying on the bed, not on the phone, nor doing anything else. When he saw me come in, he greeted me warmly and then took 400 euros from under the pillow and placed it on the bed." Miller had considerable "experience" with such middle-aged and elderly customers. After that, she took the money, took off her clothes, and got into bed. However, upon getting into bed, she found that Wang Bao was already unconscious. After several attempts, she could not wake the guest. Helpless, Miller was about to give up and sleep when she suddenly received a call from another client asking her to pick him up for some "fun." Thinking that earning two payments in one night was good, she decided to leave first. Before leaving, she used the toilet and looked out the window to see a black car downstairs, which seemed to be waiting for her, so she left happily. However, when she got downstairs, she found the car had left. She called the client, but couldn't get through. She returned to the hotel again, but it seemed she couldn't wake the sleeping Wang Bao to open the door for her. Helplessly, she left the hotel.