Chapter 45

Su Wen looked at the man, casually put on the man’s earpiece, and tucked the gun and military dagger into his waistband.

Voices came through the earpiece again.

Those were the voices of three people confirming the orders. He wanted to respond, but his voice was too different from the unfortunate man’s, so he could only remain silent, pretending he hadn’t heard. It had to be said that this was very dangerous; if the other side was very cautious, they would quickly realize something was wrong with the man. However, it was clear that this time the other side was complacent, and no one sought a second confirmation, giving him ample time.

Su Wen looked at the man again. The police hadn’t arrived yet, and he couldn’t leave the man there. Who knew when the man would wake up.

"Hey, a few of you, come over and help me," Su Wen shouted to a few beggars in the distance.

"Little Brother Su, who is this guy?" An elderly beggar had already noticed Su Wen’s abnormal behavior.

"I don’t know, but he’s definitely not a good person," Su Wen said indifferently. "The police will be here soon to take him to the police station. Help me keep an eye on him, and make sure he doesn’t run away. If the police successfully take him away, I’ll give each of you a thousand yuan."

"A thousand yuan each?" The old beggar was startled. "All of us? I didn’t go to school much, so don’t trick me."

"However many people, a thousand each, I promise," Su Wen couldn’t help but laugh.

"Little Brother Su, it’s not that we’re greedy for your money. You’ve given us a lot over the past few days. We should help you for free, but look at us, we’re really poor..." The old beggar looked embarrassed.

"I’ve already said, I’m not short of money," Su Wen understood the old beggar’s meaning.

"Alright!" The old beggar finally felt relieved. He took out an old second-hand phone, fiddled with it quickly, and sent a message. Su Wen was still confused, but then the old beggar said, "Little Brother Su, you can go and do your business. I’ve already called all the beggars in Jiangning. Keeping an eye on this unlucky guy will be no problem. If you have such matters in the future, just let us know, we’ll be there for you."

Su Wen was stunned. He really didn’t expect the old beggar to be so devious. If all the beggars in Jiangning were called, there would be at least a hundred people. At a thousand yuan each, that would be a hundred thousand yuan. The key issue wasn’t even that; so many beggars gathered together would make it look like a丐帮大会 (Beggars’ Guild Conference).

The old beggar himself felt a bit embarrassed and said, "Little Brother Su, how about a discount?"

Su Wen couldn’t help but laugh, "No need for a discount. I might have some small matters to ask for your help in the future. Just be there when I call."

The old beggar smiled, "Alright, Little Brother Su."

Su Wen hurriedly left. As he walked away, he saw the unfortunate man being dragged into an alley by a group of beggars. The old beggar, to satisfy Su Wen, didn’t give the man any chance to escape. Not only that, the man’s clothes were stripped off completely. When the man woke up, a group of beggars took turns beating him up. Even if the man had some fighting ability, he couldn’t withstand the assault of over a hundred beggars.

Donggang.

Su Wen rarely came here, mainly because it was too remote.

Jiangning’s water transport used to be very developed, but with the increasing convenience of land transportation, water transport became less and less promising. Now, only ships returning from abroad came to Donggang, and domestic cargo transport no longer used water routes.

The decline of water transport led to the decay of Donggang. When Donggang was booming, the land prices soared, and many companies built office buildings here. Many residential areas also sprang up, but now it had become the outermost area of Jiangning.

Su Wen carefully identified the direction and quickly found the place he was going to.

"Abandoned building 3, fourth floor." He muttered, glancing at the distant sea, "Once that group gets Zhao Zhifang, they must plan to escape by boat from here. Once they’re out at sea, it will be hard to catch them."

Su Wen knew time was pressing. He sent a message to Tang Long and then walked calmly toward Abandoned Building 3.

On the fourth floor.

A man was aiming a sniper rifle at Su Wen. Seeing Su Wen approach, he said in a deep voice, "A brash kid is coming our way. Should we shoot him?"

There were six people behind the man.

Including the man, there were seven people in total.

Inside, lying unconscious, was Tang Xiaoyao.

One of the men, with a white headband, played with a dagger in his hand and sneered, "Don’t shoot. Once the gun goes off, our position will be exposed. The brash kid must have just happened to come here. He’ll leave on his own. If he’s unlucky and wanders to our floor, it will be his bad luck."

As he said this, the man’s dagger suddenly stabbed into the table in front of him.

Su Wen successfully entered the abandoned building. A layer of cold sweat appeared on his forehead. He had a strong feeling of being watched. If he hadn’t known he couldn’t retreat, he would have turned and run.

"I can’t expose myself to danger again. I still have a lot of good years ahead of me, and I can’t die foolishly," Su Wen muttered to himself. He then took out the gun. This was the first time he had seen a real gun, but that didn’t stop him from using it. His shooting skills needed improvement, but he could still fire a simple shot. He didn’t know if the gun would be useful, but holding it gave him a sense of security.

He cautiously reached the fourth floor and found it was a huge workshop.

What was most infuriating was that there was only one entrance, clearly chosen by the enemy for this reason. Su Wen didn’t dare to enter the fourth floor openly, or he might get shot. He carefully observed and found that there was a drainage pipe connecting the third and fourth floors. If he was careful, he could climb up.

Su Wen walked to the easternmost part of the third floor.

He had carefully observed that if he climbed from the third to the fourth floor, this was the most hidden spot. From here, he could directly approach the enemy’s rear.

" Climbing trees as a child, now climbing drainage pipes. Life is truly strange. If it were a month ago, I never would have imagined risking my life to save someone. Maybe having some skills makes one more daring."

He smiled bitterly, grabbed the drainage pipe, and used his arms to pull himself out of the third-floor window. Looking up, it was less than four meters high, and climbing up shouldn’t be too difficult.

He kicked the wall with his feet and climbed with his hands, reaching a window on the fourth floor in less than five attempts.

Glancing inside, he saw everything.

The window he climbed through was indeed behind the enemy, about twenty meters away. The seven people inside didn’t know they had been exposed, so their defense was very lax, and no one saw Su Wen.

A good opportunity!

Su Wen grabbed the window sill, leaped like a monkey, and easily jumped into the fourth floor, then hid behind a pillar.

He looked ahead, and the seven people were well-equipped, with assault rifles and even grenades on their waists, a configuration typical of special forces.

"The main task now is to rescue Tang Xiaoyao. Once she’s safe, things will be easier," Su Wen thought. He quickly observed the surroundings and found a staircase on the easternmost side, but it only led to the fifth floor. The staircase to the third floor was locked tight.

Su Wen frowned, "I don’t know what the fifth floor is like, but it should be better than the fourth floor."

It was obvious that if the fifth floor was easier to defend, these professional mercenaries wouldn’t have chosen the fourth floor as their hideout.

With a clear plan, Su Wen decided to rescue Tang Xiaoyao and quickly head to the fifth floor.

He tightly held the gun in one hand and took out the military dagger with the other. He quietly circled around to Tang Xiaoyao’s back. Seeing that she seemed to be asleep, he didn’t hesitate and carried her toward the fifth floor. The seven people didn’t notice at all.

Everything went smoothly until they reached the staircase.

"Yingning!"

An untimely sound rang out, and Su Wen almost cried, "Auntie, why did you wake up now?"

The seven people heard the sound and instinctively looked back.

"Hehe, I was just passing by. Carry on," Su Wen awkwardly looked at the seven people and then dashed to the fifth floor.

The seven people weren’t fools. "Passing by" meant he was here to rescue someone.

Without a second’s hesitation, the seven people charged at Su Wen. The walls at the staircase were riddled with bullet holes. Su Wen, with a lingering fear, reached the fifth floor and saw the environment, which made him smile. However, Tang Xiaoyao in his arms had already started shouting.

"Let me go!"

"Don’t move!" Su Wen shouted, "It’s very dangerous now. Find a container to hide in."

The entire fifth floor was filled with two-meter-long, one-meter-wide containers. He didn’t know who had moved these containers up here, but they were a great help to Su Wen.

Tang Xiaoyao was stunned. She remembered the familiar sound, which was definitely gunfire. Without Su Wen saying more, she understood what was happening.

"Be careful!" Tang Xiaoyao quickly hid in a container.

Seeing this, Su Wen finally felt relieved.