Chapter 1 The Next Day

The next day, a little after nine in the morning, Zhou family manor.

At this time, nearly twenty-four hours had passed since Zhou Tonghui and Yu Mingfei were kidnapped.

Inside the conference hall.

Zhou Yaoxiang sat in the main seat, smoking a cigar with a calm expression.

His most beloved youngest son was missing, but Zhou Yaoxiang showed a very calm demeanor. From the moment he received the definite news yesterday, he had not complained about the Yu family, nor had he interfered in the case. He even had his eldest son personally visit Yu Jinrong at the hospital.

On the table, a Chinese officer with the rank of captain whispered to the group, "According to the intelligence we have, the mastermind behind this kidnapping is named Nick. He is a core member of the Lao Mo gang (Old Mexican gang), the Warhammer organization, and also an old drug dealer. He is currently in The Dragon City Rises, and the whereabouts of the kidnapped Zhou Tonghui and Yu Mingfei are probably only known to him, so to save them, we must first get to him."

"Through the internal members of Warhammer, can we find out where the people are currently being held?" A middle-aged man next to Zhou Yaoxiang interjected.

"Probably not, and it would easily alert the enemy," the officer replied, shaking his head. "This Warhammer organization is quite large, and there are many internal factions. Simply put, others wouldn't know what Nick is doing."

The middle-aged man nodded.

Zhou Yaoxiang took a puff of his cigar, "What is your plan then?"

"Officer Meyer's idea is that we directly contact the official authorities in The Dragon City Rises and have their security departments and police forces cooperate with us to secretly arrest Nick in The Dragon City Rises and bring him back to Zone One for interrogation," the captain said.

"Can you convict Nick in Zone One? What if he doesn't talk?" Zhou Yaoxiang asked, frowning.

"As long as the person is caught, I have ways to make him open his mouth," the captain replied with great certainty.

Su Tianyu sat to the side, listening to the captain's words, with other thoughts in his heart.

"Secretly arresting through official channels is the most direct and effective way," the captain continued. "But all this has a prerequisite. The kidnappers have made two demands, which we must fulfill within a week, but the arrest requires preparation and time, so we must now pretend to cooperate with them. I have communicated with Mr. Yu Jinrong, and he is willing to submit a transfer application to the Management Committee, but the second demand made by the bandits requires the cooperation of the Bai family."

"Bullshit!" Bai Hongbo exploded as soon as he heard this, "How can we cooperate with this?! They want my dad to exchange hostages outside the zone. The purpose of this request is obvious, they want to kill my dad. Who can guarantee that my dad won't be harmed outside the zone?"

The captain looked up at him and turned to Yu Jinhang, "Not everyone can speak at this kind of meeting, otherwise, it's impossible to communicate."

Although Yu Jinhang was personally involved in this case, the direct person in charge was not him, but the Deputy Director of the Third Division, Major Meyer. However, the other party did not come today, only letting his subordinate, this Chinese officer, communicate with the families of the victims.

This captain, surnamed Niu, had a way of thinking that was very much in line with special departments, and he trusted official power more.

Su Tianyu pulled Bai Hongbo down, "Sit down first."

"Anyway, I'm making it clear, I definitely won't agree to let my dad go outside the zone as bait," Bai Hongbo said, placing particular importance on his family after losing his younger brother, "My dad is over sixty years old, he can't handle the pressure."

"If you don't appease the criminals, how can you ensure the safety of the hostages?" Captain Niu said, frowning. "We are the security department of the Great Zone, you have to trust our working ability and cooperate with our arrest plan."

"Your plan may not save the hostages, and may even add two more people to the mix!" Da Bai said with a frown, "Do you really understand the situation in The Dragon City Rises?"

"Sir, we only spent a dozen hours catching the criminals who planned the kidnapping," Captain Niu replied, "Are you trying to question the working ability of the Security Bureau?!"

Bai Hongbo was speechless.

Once the authorities were involved, things became complicated, because some plans needed to follow official regulations. But this case involved too many families, and everyone had concerns and ideas in their hearts, making it difficult to reach an agreement for a while.

Su Tianyu originally didn't want to speak, because each person's identity here was very significant. But after listening to Captain Niu's plan, he also had doubts in his heart, so he couldn't help but express his thoughts: "Officer Niu, I think... it's best not to go through official channels for this matter."

Captain Niu looked at him, "Why?"

"The situation in The Dragon City Rises is not quite the same as here in Zone One. If we want to handle the case through official channels, at least a few departments will have access to the core information," Su Tianyu said softly. "First of all, we have to connect with the security department in The Dragon City Rises, and then they have to come forward to contact the local police system in order to investigate the whereabouts of Nick and others. But the problem is, who can ensure that there will be no leaks in any of these links?"

Su Tianyu paused and continued, "Especially since Nick and others have close ties with the The Dragon City Rises gang, if you want to arrest people through official channels, you will definitely have to go through the customs police unit, and those people... I personally believe, are not trustworthy."

"The security department is not an ordinary unit, would the local police unit in The Dragon City Rises dare to play tricks on this matter?! And we don't need to communicate with too many departments, we only need to let the local security department in The Dragon City Rises find the direct unit of the wharf to cooperate with us in arresting people," Captain Niu said, frowning. "This is a very simple and effective plan. Otherwise, if you rely solely on the departments of Zone One to parachute in for the arrest, who will bear the responsibility if something goes wrong? And The Dragon City Rises will have other ideas because of your not saying hello and being impolite. To say the most likely scenario, if someone is injured or the public is affected during the arrest and the need to open fire, who will take responsibility for The Dragon City Rises' pursuit of responsibility?"

Su Tianyu looked at him with a frown and said somewhat excitedly, "You don't understand the situation in The Dragon City Rises! The dock gang and the customs unit wear the same pants, and you only have one chance to save the hostages. Once things are exposed, they will directly kill someone, what will you do?!"

"My mission is to rescue the hostages as much as possible, but the prerequisite is that it must comply with the procedures and regulations," Captain Niu said, getting up at this point and looking down at Yu Jinhang, "I don't think this is a way to talk, we should put it into practical action, after all, the kidnappers don't give us much time."

Yu Jinhang glanced at Su Tianyu, waved his hand to signal him to sit down first, and then cooperated with Captain Niu to walk out.

Su Tianyu sighed and turned to look at Yu Mingyuan, "They are not from the security department of The Dragon City Rises, they know too little about the situation there, this plan is not feasible."

Yu Mingyuan was silent.

"Let's just talk about the simplest point, last time we went to Tianhong Port to snatch people, as soon as things went off, how many people surrounded us? In the end, if the garrison hadn't arrived to rescue us, none of us would have been able to get out," Su Tianyu said in a low voice. "In such a place, you want to get things done by relying on a few parachuted security bureau personnel, that's too naive! One Zone, Two Systems, big brother! One place, one order, your way of doing things in Zone One may not work in The Dragon City Rises."

Zhou Yaoxiang sat in the main seat, took a puff of his cigar, and said, "This little brother makes sense."

After the kidnapping occurred, there was a dispute within the The Dragon City Rises gang, and the Yu family, who were on the passive side, also had a heated debate of differing opinions internally.

Now that the people have been taken away, how can we break the situation?

Gou Liuzi pondered for a long time, turned his head to look at Yu Mingyuan: "I have an idea...."