Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

The king of killers was still flesh and blood. Yang Ce had never trained in any invulnerability art; there was no way he could withstand a bullet. Against ordinary robbers he might have felt some confidence, but the marksmanship these three had displayed was beyond anything common robbers could match—they were veritable sharpshooters. That was why Yang Ce did not dare act rashly.

Their shooting was extraordinary—who knew whether their hand-to-hand skills were equally so? Yang Ce was not about to attempt anything he was unsure of. Still, while he had no confidence in attacking, he had plenty to spare for defending himself. Yang Ce kept his attention fixed on the three robbers at every moment; the instant they dared lay a hand on Chen Shutang or Lin Yanhe, he would fight them to the bitter end, no matter the cost.

Yang Ce and the two girls, like the other customers, moved to the spot the robbers had indicated and squatted down. The robbers looked over the unresisting crowd and nodded in satisfaction. Then the leader leveled his gun at the tellers behind the counter. "Hand over all the money. Hurry up—I don't want to waste bullets."

To be continued

1067. Where the Money Lay

1067. Where the Money Lay The teller did not dare hesitate, hastily pulling out the cash and stuffing it into the bag the robbers had designated. In a situation like this, no one would joke with their own life; even if their superiors blamed them afterward, they could not afford to care about that now.

The robber took the filled bag in hand without even checking whether any money remained in the counter drawers, and began an orderly withdrawal from the bank. The last to leave was the big man with the submachine gun. Before departing, he quickly spray-painted two large English letters on the bank wall—"s.b"—then vanished through the doorway in a flash.

The whole affair had taken less than five minutes. Though someone had already called the police, there was no chance they could arrive within five minutes.

The robbers' speed, composure, and professionalism left Yang Ce deeply puzzled—especially the fact that once they had the money, they did not so much as glance at it again. That puzzled him even more.

Yang Ce even had a feeling that these robbers had not held up the bank for the money. Or perhaps they were simply too professional to waste time counting it—which was also why they had escaped so smoothly.

In short, Yang Ce kept sensing that something was off, but he could not put his finger on what. There was also the matter of the two English letters the robbers had sprayed on the bank wall before leaving—that struck him as bizarre.

What exactly were the robbers trying to do? Were they trying to express something by it, or was it simply a crude joke—calling everyone in the bank idiots? Or was there some other, special purpose behind it?

Yang Ce had no time to think it through. Once the robbers had gone, the customers inside dissolved into chaos, fleeing pell-mell toward the bank entrance. The doorway, never large to begin with, was instantly jammed solid with people.

At that very moment, the faint sound of police sirens came from not far off. Before the customers had even fully cleared the bank, the building was surrounded by armed police.

Admittedly, the police had arrived quickly—but they were still a step behind the robbers. Those three were simply too professional.

The police outside, however, clearly had not yet realized the robbers were long gone. They cautiously set up a cordon and shouted toward the bank: "Everyone inside, listen up—you are surrounded. Put down your weapons at once and do not offer pointless resistance."

When the customers came bursting out of the bank, the police outside were at a loss for a moment—such a situation was rare indeed. Who had ever heard of robbers releasing all the hostages of their own accord? Then again, it was possible the robbers meant to slip away disguised among the hostages.

So the police immediately took action, taking each person who emerged from the bank into custody one by one and questioning them, until most of them had confirmed that the robbers had already fled. Only then did they hurriedly notify headquarters, requesting reinforcements to set up checkpoints and conduct concentrated searches at key traffic arteries.

That Yang Ce did not act did not mean he simply let the robbers go. After they fled, Yang Ce kept the three of them locked on with his ability, but to his frustration, the three split up after escaping. His ability was not multi-targeted; he could track only one person's movements, and even that was difficult enough without any distraction—otherwise, even with the power to see through walls, once a target vanished into the vast crowd they would be nearly impossible to find.

With no other choice, Yang Ce could only lock onto the robber carrying the money bag. After fleeing several kilometers, this robber dropped the bag into a drainage ditch.

Then he continued alone toward the port, and near the harbor he boarded a speedboat and headed out to sea. At that point there was no longer any need for Yang Ce to keep tracking him. Yang Ce still had to watch whether someone would come to collect the money from the ditch, and at the same time keep an eye on the robber—it was truly too draining. In the end he had no choice but to give up on the robber and fix his gaze on the bag of money in the ditch.

Judging from a normal perspective, if the robbers had left the money there, someone else on the inside would certainly come to collect it. So as long as Yang Ce kept his gaze fixed there, he might be able to find the robbers' hideout.

Yang Ce and the other customers were taken to a temporary police station in the commercial district to give statements about what had happened. Yang Ce weighed the pros and cons and decided to leave the matter to the police—after all, the robbery had nothing to do with him; there was no need to play the hero. So he simply told the police everything he knew and let them handle the investigation.

Yang Ce hesitated for a moment, then took out his phone, intending to call Chen Fei and explain what had happened. Although the case had occurred within the district's jurisdiction, it would ultimately be transferred to the criminal investigation unit at headquarters—which was to say, to Chen Fei.

"Sorry, you can't use a phone right now." Yang Ce had just started to dial when a police officer taking statements stopped him.

Yang Ce could not afford any delay—what if the money was collected while he sat here? He drew the officer aside and said, "My girlfriend's father is Chen Fei of the municipal bureau. I need to call him."

The officer was taken aback. He glanced at Chen Shutang, then hesitated—this case was grave, and though Yang Ce and his companions were only witnesses, they could not be treated carelessly; if anything went wrong, no one could bear the responsibility. So he said, "Wait here a moment. I'll go request permission."

The policeman naturally referred the matter to the sub-bureau chief. The case had, as a matter of course, already been reported up the chain, and when the chief heard that Chen Fei's daughter and son-in-law were both present, he hesitated for a moment, then went out to see them himself.

Seeing Yang Ce, he explained, "There's no need to make any calls. I've already notified Captain Chen, and he's on his way here now."

"I have an urgent matter—not a minute to spare." Though the other man was courteous, Yang Ce was frantic with worry at that moment, and his tone came out rather forceful.

"There's nothing to be done about that. This is a serious matter now. Whoever you are, you'll have to wait until the municipal bureau's people arrive and the statements are taken before you can make any calls." Though the sub-bureau chief suspected Yang Yongjin might be lying to him, he did not dare treat the matter with the slightest negligence.