"Probably four people!" the patrol officer said vaguely after considering for a long time.
"Then, young man, tell me, why is one of the robbers in the restaurant no longer armed!" Adam asked, "Where is his gun? Didn't the four of them each have a gun?"
That's right, how could robbers holding hostages not carry guns?
Adam's discovery and question made the patrol officer panic. He knew that whether there were four or three robbers in the restaurant at this moment was a crucial point for the entire case.
"I'll find a way to verify it now!" The patrol officer no longer insisted on his answer and prepared to think carefully.
"Oh, Asian! Are you a robber or not? If not, where did the fourth robber go?" Adam muttered to himself.
Inside the restaurant, after reaching an agreement with Ping An, the robbers continued to release hostages on time.
Ping An, who seemed to have nothing to do, sat on his original chair, his head lolled to the side, and he actually dozed off.
But in reality, he was trying hard to think about how to break the deadlock.
Time ticked by, and there was still an hour until 11 o'clock. The remaining two robbers seemed ready to escape.
"Chinese, it's your turn!" One of the robbers took his weapon, removed the bullets, left an empty gun, and handed it to Ping An.
"Oh yes, and a hood!" The leader of the robbers took out a black plastic bag and said, "Supplies are limited, so you'll have to make do with a whole plastic bag—since we're putting on a show, let's do it thoroughly. Don't worry, the money you'll eventually get will let you live happily for the rest of your life."
Looking at the gun and plastic bag handed by the robber, Ping An suddenly realized that as a pretend robber, he had never had a weapon. Had the police outside noticed this? And now, if he took the weapon, there would be no turning back. He was not a real diplomat, and if he were mistaken for a real robber, the joke would be too big.
But if he didn't take the gun, would the robbers let him go?
Just then, the police outside suddenly activated a loudspeaker—"Friends inside, listen up. To verify the number of remaining hostages in the restaurant, we request to enter the restaurant to count them."
The police wanted to count the hostages?
The reason was plausible. Who knew if the robbers would secretly kill a hostage, hide the body, and then escape?
However, the robbers did not want to cooperate with the police's request at all.
"There are still six hostages! We do not accept the police's request." The leader of the robbers glanced at the three hostages by the window, then at the four customers lying on the floor in the restaurant, and finally glared at Ping An, who was sitting on the chair, and shouted his refusal to the police's request.
"Friends in the restaurant, good evening. I am Detective Adam, in charge of this case. I want to say that you have shown great sincerity in this conflict. Why not continue this sincerity? Do you have any other plans?" Adam shouted from outside the restaurant.
"Finally, a reliable policeman!"
Hearing Adam use this reason, Ping An knew that the closer it got to the end, the more the robbers still hoped to proceed as planned. But if they didn't let the police in to count the final number, the police would definitely have other ideas.
As expected, the robbers pulled one of the customers from the floor, put a hood over his head, bound his hands, gagged him, and finally made him sit at a restaurant table.
"I'm coming in, I'm unarmed!" Adam did not hear the robbers' answer but still walked into the restaurant.
"You must cooperate with us completely!" The leader of the robbers said with some panic, "If you dare to mess around, I will kill you and the police together!"
Ping An shook his head and made a gesture of not betraying them.
"Very good, now, take these plastic bags and put them over everyone's heads!" the leader of the robbers demanded.
As cunning as expected, the robbers were afraid of the police remembering the hostages' faces, leaving the robbers with no escape. Ping An thought of this and hurried to work.
Before Adam entered the restaurant, all the hostages had their heads covered with plastic bags. The other two robbers remained as they were, only Ping An, with his face bare, waited for the police to come.
"This is a nice restaurant!" Adam said familiarly to the gunman as he walked in.
"It's also an expensive restaurant, something ordinary people can't afford." The leader of the robbers said.
"Yes, yes, for example, I can't even afford the basic set meal here—" Adam then pretended to look at a menu: "Look, look, a damn salmon sandwich costs so many euros!"
The robbers were somewhat confused about what trick the policeman in front of them was playing.
"You've seen what you wanted to see, now please leave!" The leader of the robbers pointed to the door with some anger.
"Okay, okay, don't be angry." Adam suddenly looked at Ping An, "My Asian friend, do you have any dish recommendations?"
Adam's sudden question made both the robbers and Ping An curious.
"Of course!" Ping An glanced at the robbers, pressed his hands down, indicating that he would handle this.
Actually, the picky Ping An was a regular customer of this restaurant. Although he didn't look at the menu, he blurted out: "If you're coming with 2 people, set meal number 3 is the most cost-effective, especially the 5 shrimp balls in the main course are simply fantastic, and the price is fair. If sold separately, they would be 7 euros. Oh, and the 11th of every month is customer day, the restaurant will have discounts. I suggest you come at 13:00, 17:00, and 19:00 in the afternoon for the best timing..."
Listening to Ping An's explanation, the leader of the robbers quietly picked up the menu and indeed saw a dish of shrimp balls in set meal number 3 "Seafood." And at the entrance of the restaurant, it was clearly marked that the 11th of every month was customer day...
Good, Ping An didn't seem to be talking nonsense; he was cooperating well.
The robbers were satisfied and let Adam leave.
Before Adam left, he glanced at Ping An one last time and saw Ping An smiling at him with all his might.
"I didn't expect you to be a regular here!" The robber teased after seeing Adam leave.
"Don't forget my identity." Ping An said with a smile, "It's precisely because I spend lavishly that I need quick money!"
"You will get your money!" The robber was satisfied with Ping An's answer and began to release more hostages.
"2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19!" Adam muttered a string of numbers, cautiously walking out of the restaurant.
"Sir! How are things inside?" A policeman stepped forward and asked.
"Don't worry about that. Now, all of you, look at this damn string of numbers, what does it mean?" Adam said excitedly, "I can confirm that the Asian guy is definitely not a robber!"
But if Ping An wasn't, where was the fourth robber?
Twenty minutes passed, and two more hostages were released.
Adam already had a premonition that something would go wrong at the last moment, but what did those damn numbers mean?
"It's not odd or even, there's no corresponding book or codebook, so what does it mean?" Adam jabbed the numbers on the paper fiercely with his pen.
"Sir, maybe we shouldn't think too deeply!" A policeman said, "At such a tense moment, the information they are transmitting to us must be very simple!"
Information? What could it be?
"Wait!" Adam repeated the numbers and said, "These numbers seem to be prime numbers! Check it out, they seem to be prime numbers!"
"Prime numbers? What can prime numbers represent?" A policeman who was deciphering with Adam said, "They sent us 8 prime numbers, what do they want to represent?"
"If I remember correctly, that Asian guy is probably Chinese. By the way, what is the Chinese word for prime number?" Adam asked.
"In the Chinese explanation of prime numbers, the character '质' (zhì), oh damn, it also means hostage!" Adam exclaimed excitedly after checking the translation on his phone, "8 prime numbers, oh no, that means 8 hostages! Does it mean there are actually 8 hostages in the restaurant?"
Indeed, there were eight hostages left in the restaurant at that time.
"Ten people! Eight hostages! That means there should still be two robbers inside? Damn it, as expected, some robbers have come out disguised as hostages!" Adam said, "From earlier until now, two more hostages have been released. It's not ruled out that the robbers are still inside!"
"We can't wait any longer!" Adam said decisively, "We must go in and apprehend the robbers!"
In the restaurant, there was indeed one robber left, the leader.
"Hey, Chinese, in our original plan, we prepared to find four scapegoats at the end to impersonate us." The leader of the robbers said after tying three hostages to chairs, "Like this, three tied up, one shot dead, and you, the one chosen by the leader to be shot dead."
"And then, in the eyes of the police, you would come out as the second to last hostage, right?" Ping An said calmly, "But your plan has too many loopholes. As soon as you leave this restaurant, there will be variables at any time."
"So, in my plan, when I come out, the restaurant will explode!" The leader of the robbers suddenly took out a large amount of detonators and said, "Now, please don't try to trick us anymore. You are not a diplomat."