206: Chapter 206 If one person isn't afraid, what about a thousand?

"Macau · MGM Hotel Casino · Table 14."

Li Li stared at the last line of the text message.

What truly made him stop wasn't the address.

It was the sentence before it.

"Want to know where Snowden went?"

Where he went.

Not where he is.

General Jiang Zhan had just said that Snowden was still in the hands of the Hong Kong police and would be handed over to the Hong Kong Garrison after the interrogation.

Now someone was telling him that the person had already been moved.

Li Li lowered his phone.

Yossi.

Delia's suicide bombing didn't kill him.

The arson case at Wutong Mountain also had his fingerprints all over it.

Tonight, Hong Kong was in chaos: terrorists bombed the airport, bombed hotels, launched missile attacks on passenger planes, and hijacked and bombed the Mandarin Oriental.

These weren't isolated incidents.

This was to distract people.

The things in Snowden's possession.

United States global surveillance data.

Internal CIA documents.

And a massive list of spy networks.

If he had really been taken away, something must have gone wrong with the Hong Kong police.

Li Li looked down and felt his pocket.

The hard drive was still there.

The backup Snowden had given him on the plane.

From the emergency landing at high altitude, to the gunfight at the Mandarin Oriental, and then to the building collapse from the explosion, this hard drive hadn't been lost.

These pants could apply for national-level protection.

From a benefit perspective, whether Snowden lived or died no longer affected the overall situation.

The backup was in his hands; he just needed to hand it back for decryption.

As long as he handed it to General Jiang Zhan, things would be frozen, people would be arrested, and things would be cleaned up as they should.

But Yossi had surfaced.

This guy had been hiding for so long; the fact that he dared to send a text message now could only mean two things.

First, he still had cards in his hand.

Second, he believed that Li Li would definitely go.

Li Li didn't make a sound.

The hospital room went quiet.

The nurse had just left, and footsteps passed by outside the door.

Jiang Rumu was sitting on a folding chair, looking at her phone. Her orange jacket was still covered in dust, her ponytail was half undone, and there was concrete powder on her shoes.

Li Li tilted his phone screen toward her.

Jiang Rumu looked up.

The text message content remained on the screen.

After she finished reading it, her expression changed.

Li Li raised his right index finger and pressed it to his lips.

He then pointed to the ceiling.

And then pointed to the corner of the wall.

Jiang Rumu understood immediately.

Can't talk.

The hospital is not a safe house.

Since Yossi was able to send a text message to Li Li's phone, there was a possibility of surveillance.

Inside the walls, the lights, the sockets, or the equipment at the nurses' station—there could be something everywhere.

Li Li reached out toward her.

Jiang Rumu handed him her phone.

A special edition from the Chrysanthemum Factory.

Military-grade encryption chip.

Independent baseband.

Hardware anti-surveillance.

You can't buy it on the market.

General Jiang Zhan had equipped his daughter with it.

Other fathers worry about their daughters being deceived by scumbags.

General Jiang Zhan worried about his daughter being surveilled by foreign forces.

Different professions, different forms of fatherly love.

Li Li opened the memo app and started typing.

[It was sent by Yossi. Something might have happened to Snow at the Hong Kong police station.]

He turned the phone to Jiang Rumu.

Jiang Rumu took it and typed very quickly.

[You are not allowed to go.]

Li Li took a look.

This girl wasn't making a suggestion anymore.

It was an order.

He took the phone back.

[I'll give you something first.]

Jiang Rumu looked at him.

Li Li took an ultra-thin portable hard drive out of his pocket.

It had an aluminum alloy casing with dents on the corners.

It had been stuffed in his pocket, survived the emergency landing of the plane, the hotel rescue, the gunfight, the explosion, and the building collapse, yet it was surprisingly still intact.

Li Li placed the hard drive in her palm.

Jiang Rumu looked down at it and typed in the memo again.

[What is this?]

Li Li replied.

[The backup Snow gave me. It contains United States surveillance data, CIA documents, spy networks, and a list that can be used domestically.]

Jiang Rumu paused for a few seconds.

She didn't type any more.

Li Li added another sentence.

[Take it and go find my future father-in-law now.]

Seeing the words "future father-in-law," Jiang Rumu's ears turned red.

She raised her hand to hit him.

Her hand stopped in mid-air, but then she remembered he was covered in injuries, so she forced it back down and typed heavily on the screen.

[Who is your future father-in-law?]

Li Li continued typing.

[He can freeze funds, protect data, and mobilize people to catch spies the fastest.]

That was true.

Jiang Rumu couldn't argue with that.

She stuffed the hard drive into the inside pocket of her jacket and zipped it up to the top.

Then she typed.

[And you?]

Li Li replied.

[I'm going to Macau.]

Jiang Rumu's fingers stopped.

Two seconds later, a line of text appeared on the screen.

[No.]

Li Li looked at these two words.

Very short.

But heavier than the period just now.

Jiang Rumu typed again.

[You just came out of the collapsed building site. Your left hand is injured, and your right hand is bandaged. And you still want to go?]

Li Li took the phone.

[Yossi daring to surface is a rare opportunity.]

Jiang Rumu snatched it back.

[That doesn't mean you should go alone and throw your life away.]

Li Li typed.

[I won't be alone.]

Jiang Rumu replied immediately.

[Who?]

Li Li didn't type immediately.

Jiang Rumu stared at him, her hand already reaching toward his left wrist.

Li Li pulled his left hand back in advance.

She grabbed at nothing.

Jiang Rumu was so angry she typed into the memo.

[Explain clearly.]

Li Li was honest then.

[Official channels can't be used. The police, the garrison, and the Macau public service system—Yossi might be watching them all.]

Jiang Rumu replied quickly.

[That's why you shouldn't go even more.]

Li Li continued typing.

[But private forces are not in the system.]

Jiang Rumu paused.

Li Li typed another line.

[I just saved someone, the Eldest Daughter of the Gambling King. Her family owns half of Macau, and the MGM Hotel Casino is theirs.]

After reading it, Jiang Rumu realized.

[You want to find the casino boss?]

Li Li nodded.

[Not the boss, but using the casino boss's bodyguards, security, drivers, managers, thugs, outsourced cleaners, and kitchen staff.]

Jiang Rumu was stunned.

Li Li continued typing.

[People who can be mobilized with money don't go through the official system. Yossi won't be able to track it that fast.]

Jiang Rumu looked at the screen and was silent for a few seconds.

She probably already imagined the scene.

Yossi had set a trap, waiting for Li Li to enter the casino.

As it turned out, the inside of the casino—from the parking lot, the kitchen, the elevators, the VIP Hall, to the monitoring room—would all move at once.

Guns wouldn't be easy to fire.

And there were many people.

Li Li added a sentence.

[It doesn't matter if they can't beat the terrorists; having a lot of people is enough. Macau has no shortage of people. If one person isn't enough, is a thousand enough?]

Jiang Rumu couldn't help but laugh.

She quickly stopped and continued typing.

[Are you sure you won't do anything reckless?]

Li Li replied.

[In my current physical state, doing anything reckless would be like staging a scam.]

Jiang Rumu glanced at him.

There was gauze on the wound on his forehead.

His right palm was wrapped in bandages.

His left wrist was in a splint.

His jacket was also torn in several places.

Jiang Rumu took the phone back.

[I want to know your route.]

Li Li replied.

[I can't write it in too much detail. After you take the hard drive and leave, don't contact me first. Wait until you get to General Jiang Zhan's side.]

Jiang Rumu typed.

[I'm worried.]

Li Li looked at these four words and paused.

Then he typed.

[Don't worry, I'm afraid of death.]

Jiang Rumu obviously didn't believe him.

Li Li continued.

[I haven't applied for unemployment benefits for my social insurance and housing fund, haven't finished renovating the orphanage, haven't eaten the ice cream you promised to treat me to, and haven't seen my future father-in-law formally change his expression.]

Jiang Rumu looked down and typed.

[Delete the last sentence.]

Li Li returned the phone to her.

He didn't delete it.

Jiang Rumu looked at the screen, and her ears turned even redder.

Someone passed by outside the hospital room door.

Both of them stopped what they were doing at the same time.

The footsteps faded away.

Only then did Li Li take his phone back, delete the screenshot of the text message, and leave only the number and address.

Jiang Rumu put away the special phone.

She stood up.

"Stay safe."

This sentence could be said.

Even if someone was listening, they wouldn't be able to hear anything.

Li Li nodded.

"Mm."

Jiang Rumu looked at him.

"Don't just say 'Mm'."

Li Li changed his words.

"Come back alive."

Jiang Rumu raised her hand and kissed him on his left cheek.

Very quickly.

After kissing, she turned around.

She walked to the door and stopped again.

"I will deliver the hard drive."

Li Li watched her back.

"Jiang Rumu."

She didn't turn back.

"What?"

"You just kissed the side you hit."

Jiang Rumu's shoulders stiffened.

"Serves you right."

The door closed.

Li Li leaned back against the pillow.

Only the sound of the monitor remained in the hospital room.

A few minutes later, the sound of cars rang out outside the hospital gate.

Two military-green off-road vehicles stopped at the emergency entrance.

The people from the Hong Kong Garrison had arrived.

Originally, they were there to pick up both of them.

Now, they were only taking Jiang Rumu away.

And that hard drive.

Li Li waited for half a minute.

Confirming that there was no one in the corridor outside, he raised his hand and removed the monitoring clip from his finger.

The ECG went flat immediately.

The alarm at the nurses' station went off.

Three seconds later, the nurse pushed the door open and rushed in.

"Mr. Li!"

Li Li was already out of bed and putting on his shoes.

The nurse looked at the bandages on his body and then at the bedside monitor.

"You can't leave, you still need to be observed!"

"Urgent matter."

"You just came out of the collapsed building site!"

"That's why I have experience."

The nurse was choked up.

Li Li picked up his jacket and walked toward the door.

The nurse chased after him.

"Your discharge orders haven't been written yet!"

"I'll get them next time."

"Who gets discharge orders next time!"

Li Li stopped at the door and turned back.

"Then write a note: The patient has a strong subjective will to survive, but an excessive objective capacity for action."

The nurse opened her mouth.

Li Li had already walked out.

At the end of the corridor, two police officers were communicating with a doctor and didn't notice this side.

Li Li went downstairs through the emergency exit.

His left wrist still hurt.

A little blood seeped through the gauze on his right palm.

He moved his shoulder, and the pain made him pause for half a second.

There were six months left in his body modification.

In his current state, he definitely couldn't just brute force it.

Then he would change his tactics.

Macau was not a battlefield.

There was surveillance, money, people, rules, and shady business there.

Yossi wanted him to go alone.

Fine.

One person enters the door.

As for how many people were already inside, that wasn't something the text message could control.

Li Li walked out of the hospital gate.

The night wind blew over, and the smell of smoke and dust hadn't dissipated.

In the distance, the Mandarin Oriental was still smoking, and the red lights of the fire trucks were flashing.