Chapter 34 — The Bank Robbery

So as Wei Zhao saw it now, the question was how to get Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu out of this in one piece, not how to collar a few robbers. The police would see to that; he had no wish to get involved.

Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu had plainly never met with anything of the kind. They were already rather stunned, not knowing what they ought to do.

"Listen up, all of you! Hands on your heads, squat down where you stand, and don't move, and I guarantee no one gets hurt. But if anyone so much as twitches—don't blame me for what follows!" The bald man fired another shot into the air, and the bank, noisy a moment before, went dead silent.

Children forgot to cry, grownups forgot to shout; meekly, of their own accord, they put their hands on their heads and squatted down on the floor. Facing armed thugs, they had no real choice: to live, they had to obey.

Not that these people lacked any sense of justice—only that at a moment like this, whoever stepped forward would pay for it with his life.

While the bald man stood there lecturing them with his gun raised, several of his accomplices had already rushed to the tellers' counters. After smashing the bank's windows with hammers, they held the clerks at gunpoint and made them stuff money into the bags they indicated.

"Hurry it up! What the hell are you dawdling for!" one of the robbers barked at a middle-aged clerk. "Drag your feet again and I'll put a bullet through you!"

"Yes... yes..." The man had little courage in him; frightened by the robber, his hands began to shake, and with a smack a stack of banknotes dropped to the floor and scattered.

"You goddamned fool! Are you doing that on purpose, trying to stall?" The robber's eyes bulged; bang, he fired, and hit the man in the arm. The man gave a scream and clutched at his own arm.

The robbers' earlier shots had all been fired into the air. They had cowed people well enough, but nothing like this one. This shot had been aimed at a man in deadly earnest, and so everyone in the bank, clerks and customers alike, clapped their hands over their mouths in horror, more afraid of these thugs than ever, not daring to stir.

The bald man was well pleased with his underling's shoot-one-to-warn-the-rest. He swept his gaze, smug and slow, over the whole of the bank.

"Sister Yaoyao, I'm scared..." Shen Yushu usually carried herself with a careless, tomboyish swagger, but at the critical moment she clutched at Gu Mengyao's arm, her small face gone dead white.

"It's all right, it's all right, Xiaoshu. I'll protect you." Gu Mengyao was frightened herself, but Shen Yushu was a year younger, so she had to play the elder sister and comfort her.

"You two needn't comfort each other. I'll keep you both safe," Wei Zhao said mildly.

He had no confidence that he could take all these robbers alive, but keeping Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu from harm was another matter; that much he could do.

Gu Mengyao's lips moved. By habit she wanted to get in a jab or two at him, but meeting that steady gaze of his, in the end she said nothing.

The robbers were nearly done loading the cash and about to leave the bank when the wail of police sirens came from outside.

Most of the customers frowned at the sound. Sometimes the police arriving was a good thing, but in circumstances like these, with the robbers unable to slip away, they would inevitably do something drastic.

If they seized a few more hostages, so much the worse. So most people's mood was now grim; for them, how much money the bank had lost was neither here nor there. To walk out of here alive was the best they could hope for.

"Robbers inside the bank, listen up! You are surrounded. Put down your weapons at once and surrender, and strive for leniency—that is your only way out. Otherwise, death is all that awaits you!" The voice came amplified through a megaphone outside.

"Hmph!" The bald man snorted in contempt at the voice outside, then said to one of his men, "Tell them—if they make one careless move, I start killing."

The man understood at once. He went to the bank entrance and shouted outside, "What the hell are you yelling for? Yell again and our boss starts killing people!"

The police at the door fell silent at once. They wanted to save the bank's losses, but they also had to protect the lives of the people inside. It was a thankless job. After the report came in, Qiu Lingshan, deputy captain of the criminal investigation brigade, had brought a large force to the bank.

The brigade's captain, Yang Huaijun, was away at a conference, which left Qiu Lingshan in charge. Truth to tell, the pressure on her was enormous, especially after the chief's call instructing her to lead the team handling the bank robbery and hinting that Gu Pengzhan's daughter and Elder Chen's granddaughter were inside as well—not the slightest loss would be tolerated!

If any harm came to Shen Yushu, then never mind the chief—the shock would run through officialdom a tier above him.

So when the criminal had finished shouting out his threats, Qiu Lingshan decisively ordered the subordinate who had been calling out to stop, and to do nothing more that might provoke him.

The bald man was well pleased that the police had fallen silent. Gun in hand, he swept his gaze several times over the customers crouching on the floor, and many of them understood: the gunmen were looking for a hostage, someone to use as a bargaining chip with the police.

At that thought, many people hastily ducked their heads, not daring to look up, afraid that they would be the one chosen. Once you became a criminal's hostage, after all, your life and death were uncertain. Against such brutal men, they did not have the courage.

With a cold sneer, the bald man came toward the crowd, and at length his eyes settled on Gu Mengyao, who stood beside Wei Zhao.

"You! Get up!" the bald man said, leveling his gun at Gu Mengyao.

Gu Mengyao's heart gave a jolt. Instinctively she clutched Shen Yushu's hand tighter and raised her eyes to the bald man.

"Huh? Aren't you a pretty one, little miss!" The bald man gave a lewd smirk and pointed his gun at Gu Mengyao again. "I'm talking to you—get up!"

"I..." Gu Mengyao had never faced anything like this. Her heart was pounding wildly, and she did not know what to do; but she forced herself to hold firm, telling herself that she must not cry now, that she had to be strong. She had to be strong.

So, gritting her teeth, Gu Mengyao slowly started to rise—but before she was on her feet, she felt a pair of big hands clamp down on her shoulders and push her back down.

Wu Dong Qian Kun