91: Chapter 91 Catching a Turtle in a Jar: The Price of One Million Dollars

There was no cursing, no shouting to fight, but that sense of oppression crushed the psychological defenses of these thugs at the bottom of the pit.

Baldy Zhao felt his scalp tingle; a chill ran from his heels all the way to the back of his head, and the hair on his back stood on end.

He knew he was done for today; this wasn't just a chance encounter with the security guards.

This was a death trap that had long since opened its bloody maw, waiting for them to crawl inside. Lu Chen had calculated that he would come.

Da Biao carried that sixty-centimeter-long solid steel pipe and walked down the dirt slope step by step.

The black stab-proof vest clung tightly to his body, and rain flowed down his thick arms.

Da Biao walked to a spot five steps in front of Baldy Zhao and stopped.

He turned his head, glanced at the urea bag on the ground, and then looked at the thermite piled next to the load-bearing pillar that had not yet been ignited.

"High-purity aluminum powder." Da Biao turned back, staring at the one-dollar lighter in Baldy Zhao's hand.

"Good stuff." Da Biao pulled the corners of his mouth and smiled.

That smile, paired with the twitching flesh on his face, was more terrifying than a vengeful ghost.

Baldy Zhao's hand trembled, and the lighter slipped right through his fingers, dropping into the mud.

"Brother..." Baldy Zhao's throat was as dry as if he had swallowed sandpaper, his voice cracking completely. He instinctively took half a step back. "This is a misunderstanding."

The Long-haired Thug and the other forty-nine people had already curled up into a ball. Cowering beneath the load-bearing pillar, they looked around in terror at the wall of people that surrounded them like an iron bucket.

No one dared to answer.

Run? With a ten-meter-high dirt slope surrounded by three hundred people holding shields and steel pipes, even if they grew wings, they wouldn't be able to fly out today.

Da Biao raised the solid steel pipe in his hand, reached over Baldy Zhao's shoulder, and pointed at the bulging inner pocket of his jacket.

Just a moment ago, when the searchlights turned on, Baldy Zhao had instinctively covered his eyes.

"Whose money did you take?" Da Biao's voice was gruff.

"No one's money." Baldy Zhao forced himself to keep his composure, cold sweat dripping from his chin into the muddy water. "We... we just came to find some scrap metal. To earn some cigarette money."

Da Biao didn't ask a second time.

He switched the solid steel pipe to his left hand, reached into the pocket of his stab-proof vest with his right, and pulled out a pair of finger-thick nylon zip ties.

Da Biao looked at Baldy Zhao.

"The factory manager gave instructions." Da Biao pulled a section of the nylon zip tie, making a "zzzt" sound.

"Tonight, the police can't touch this matter."

Da Biao took large strides and closed in on Baldy Zhao.

Baldy Zhao's pupils constricted sharply. He suddenly bent down, lunging like a mad dog to grab the lighter on the ground.

If he could just ignite this pile of thermite, a two-thousand-degree inferno would erupt instantly, and no one would be able to get close. This was his last trump card for survival; if he ignited this pillar, his one million dollars would be secure.

His fingers had just touched the plastic shell of the lighter.

A large, mud-caked military boot stomped heavily onto the lighter.

Along with half of Baldy Zhao's palm, it was crushed firmly into the muddy water.

"Ah!" Baldy Zhao let out a pig-like shriek. Three of his fingers were visibly deformed from being crushed.

Da Biao pressed down with his foot, grinding it twice with a blank expression. The lighter shattered into plastic shards under his sole.

Seeing this, the Long-haired Thug gritted his back teeth, violently pulled a rusty piece of rebar from under the urea bag, and with bloodshot eyes, swung it at Da Biao's back.

"Fuck your mother, I'll fight you to the death!" The Long-haired Thug roared.

Da Biao didn't even turn his head.

He swung the solid steel pipe held in his left hand backward, creating a whistling sound as it cut through the air.

"Bang."

The steel pipe struck the side of the Long-haired Thug's knee squarely.

The crisp sound of bone cracking was exceptionally piercing in the quiet pit. The Long-haired Thug didn't even make a sound; he just collapsed straight into the mud, clutching his broken lower leg and rolling on the ground.

The remaining forty-eight thugs were terrified; their iron scraps and wooden sticks clattered to the ground, and they all raised their hands.

Da Biao bent down and grabbed Baldy Zhao by the collar.

With one hand, he lifted the burly man, who weighed over 170 jin, straight up from the mud, leaving his feet dangling in the air.

"Foreigner's dollars are easy to take, huh?" Da Biao stared at Baldy Zhao's face, which was twisted in excruciating pain.

"The yellow mud at the bottom of our pit tastes pretty good too."

Da Biao raised the mud-stained steel pipe in his left hand.

Da Biao held Baldy Zhao suspended in mid-air with one hand, the solid steel pipe in his left hand still dripping with muddy water.

The bottom of the pit was filled with the heavy breathing of the thugs.

A shirtless fat thug's eyes turned red. He pulled a rusty short knife from his waistband and lunged at Da Biao's back, stepping through the mud.

"Fuck your ancestors! Let him go!"

The fat thug shrieked until his voice cracked.

Da Biao didn't turn around. His right hand was still gripping Baldy Zhao's collar, and his left hand held the steel pipe. He bent his right leg and kicked backward violently.

Mud splattered everywhere.

The tactical military boot landed solidly on the fat thug's stomach.

The fat thug stumbled backward.

Da Biao swung the steel pipe with his left hand.

"Bang."

The steel pipe struck the fat thug's right collarbone accurately.

"Crack." The sound of bone breaking echoed throughout the pit.

The knife in the fat thug's hand fell into the mud. He knelt on the ground clutching his shoulder, opening his mouth, but no sound came out. Cold sweat washed channels through the mud on his face.

Da Biao didn't even look at him, resting the steel pipe back against the edge of a shield.

The remaining thugs at the bottom of the pit all shrank back, and the iron scraps in their hands clattered to the ground.

"Push." Da Biao shouted.

Around the ten-meter-high dirt slope, three hundred security guards stepped forward simultaneously.

"Thud." Boots hit the ground.

"Thud." Riot shields slammed into the mud pit.

The wall of black shields pushed forward toward the center; the three hundred burly men didn't make a single sound.

The encirclement shrank rapidly, with riot batons poking out from the gaps in the shields, pressing against those at the front.

In less than a minute, all fifty people were pressed into the water-filled mud, their hands bound behind their backs, their faces pressed against the cold concrete load-bearing platform.

The sound of hundreds of nylon zip ties tightening merged into one continuous noise.

No one dared to move, no one dared to scream.

A person walked down the dirt slope.

Leather shoes stepped into the mud, making a squelching sound.

Lu Chen walked to the bottom of the pit along the mud slope with his hands in his jacket pockets.

The searchlight shone on his face, and he remained expressionless.

Lu Chen stopped in front of the load-bearing pillar and looked down at the pile of grayish-black thermite.

Da Biao walked over, grabbed Baldy Zhao by the back of his collar with one hand, and dragged him over to Lu Chen.

Baldy Zhao's face was pressed against the mud, and his whole body was trembling.

Lu Chen bent down, reached out with his thumb and index finger into the urea bag nearby, and pinched out a pinch of grayish-black thermite powder.

Lu Chen walked over to Baldy Zhao.

Baldy Zhao rolled his eyes upward, staring fixedly at the tips of Lu Chen's shoes.

Lu Chen smeared the powder in his hand onto Baldy Zhao's bald head. The powder was coarse, rubbing a red mark onto his scalp.

"One million dollars," Lu Chen retracted his hand, "to buy you losers a lifetime in prison."