I shrugged and said, "How would I know? You're really shameless, knowing it's mine and still asking so confidently."
Goodbai said weakly, "It seems that Easterners really can't be trusted. He must have betrayed us. But if he really wants money, I can't think of anyone in the world who could offer a higher price than us."
I knew he was probably referring to Kongkong'er. I tiptoed and peeked into the house across the street; everything was quiet there, the curtains weren't drawn, and it was clearly empty.
Just then, footsteps came down from upstairs. The person took off his gloves and said, "Xiao Qiang, don't make things difficult for me anymore. Just tell me if there's anything I haven't found."
I glanced at the man and was immediately so surprised that my mouth dropped open. Old Pan! The same Old Pan who was my assistant manager when I was the pawnshop manager!
Suddenly, I understood many things. The so-called expert they had when I met Gu Debai at the hotel was Old Pan! I had never doubted his professional competence. I remember the first time I handled Jing Ke's dagger, Old Pan immediately recognized its Qin Dynasty design. The reason I wasn't sure then was because the blade wasn't oxidized, and I didn't give him a chance to examine it closely. Later, when Kongkong'er sought authentication for those items, he likely stumbled upon Old Pan by chance—in our small town, there aren't many well-known figures in this line of work. And now it seems Old Pan is actually a member of this antique-dealing mafia. They bribed Kongkong'er with money, and Old Pan probably recognized the brand-new Qin Dynasty dagger immediately and remembered seeing it somewhere before…
Old Pan slowly took off his gloves and continued, "I only found two things. I'll need you, the owner, to remind me if I've missed anything."
That's when I noticed that Mulan's armor and the precious pearl had already been placed on the table. Old Pan has a sharp eye! It seems that Old Pan was unwilling to show himself unless absolutely necessary, and only after Fei Sankou had taken all their spoils did he have no choice but to take a desperate gamble.
I pointed to the water glass on the table, and Lao Pan immediately pounced on it like a vicious dog. When he got close, he carefully protected it and examined it closely. After more than ten seconds, he looked up at me in puzzlement and asked, "What dynasty is this from?"
I said, "It's not from any particular dynasty—I'm just thirsty and want some water."
Old Pan wasn't annoyed. He handed me the water glass and said, "Xiao Qiang, you're a smart man. I won't say more. Actually, if we hadn't suffered such heavy losses yesterday, I really wouldn't have wanted to meet you in this kind of situation. Besides, we are genuinely sincere about having a long-term partnership with you. Back then, I was still Old Pan, and we were still friends."
I asked, "What do you mean by long-term cooperation?"
Old Pan said, "We knew you'd have a steady stream of treasures coming your way, but unfortunately you weren't willing to make a fortune from it. So we had to make a killing off him and then fly away, never to return to China. Alas, my wife and daughter don't even know what I do, and we'll never see them again..." At this point, Old Pan truly displayed the sorrow of a deeply emotional poet. Wiping his moist eyes, he asked Goodbai, "Was his car searched?"
Goodbai scoffed, "It's a beat-up car, and there's no one in it."
Old Pan's face darkened. "Didn't I tell you? Anything around our Manager Xiao could be hiding a treasure. Don't you think he can afford a 2 million yuan villa, so why does he insist on driving a beat-up car?"
Goodbai shrugged, indicating his indifference, but Old Pan seemed to be of high status. As Goodbai walked out, he said, "Then I'll go and search."
My heart jumped into my throat instantly. Not only were all the treasures in the car, but Cao Xiaoxiang was also inside!
Chapter Seventy-Three Traitors
I concealed my extreme panic and asked Lao Pan, "You seem to know a lot about my assets?"
Old Pan smiled and said, "We have inside information."
Just then, Goodbai reached the doorway, when he heard a rapid, crackling call coming from his walkie-talkie: "Oh no, that car's moving!"
Goodbai paused for a moment, then asked, "Which car?"
Walkie-talkie: "The target is that beat-up van!"
Upon hearing this, Goodbai hurriedly opened the door and rushed out. I also glanced outside and saw my car wobbling and slowly sliding towards the entrance of the residential area, as if the handbrake hadn't been engaged. The next moment, it seemed as if someone inside the car stepped on the gas, and the car suddenly lurched forward before accelerating.
Goodbai pressed the walkie-talkie and shouted, "Fire!"
Two gunshots rang out from upstairs, and Goodbai, crouching in the doorway, fired at the tires. The people inside, without thinking, smashed the windows and opened fire on the car, which was already speeding away. Eight men's bullets rained down on the rear window and tires of my dilapidated van. Then, something unexpected happened: the bullets hit the car like raindrops on an old turtle shell; they didn't shatter the windows or burst the tires, not even causing a jolt, only sending up a few faint sparks. The people inside slammed on the gas, and the van roared away.
Taking advantage of the moment when everyone in the room was firing with their backs to us, Wu Sangui and Hua Mulan suddenly stood up and rushed towards the nearest enemy. Unfortunately, Wu Sangui's hands were cuffed behind his back, so he could only kick someone hard in the buttocks. Hua Mulan was outnumbered and, just as she grabbed someone by the neck from behind, a cold gun barrel was immediately pressed against her forehead.
The man who pointed the gun at Mulan punched Wu Sangui to the ground, then took out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed Mulan as well. With that, we were completely out of fighting power. If Xiang Yu had been there, he certainly could have counterattacked successfully; ordinary handcuffs probably wouldn't have been able to restrain him. What a pity…
By then, the van had sped out of the residential area and disappeared from sight in the blink of an eye. Goodbai stopped one of his men who was about to give chase, and walked back, still holding his smoking pistol. Before he could even get angry, Old Pan angrily demanded, "What's going on? Didn't you say there was no one in the car?"
Goodbai pointed the gun at me and said angrily, "Mr. Xiao, I want an explanation from you."
I rolled my eyes and said, "You checked the car yourself, so you know better than me whether anyone was with me. And even if a friend was with me, they would definitely be sitting in the passenger seat."
Goodbai shouted, "Then tell me, what's going on here?"
Honestly, I didn't know what happened either. There was indeed someone in the car, 10-year-old Cao Xiaoxiang. The moment I gestured to him, the clever little guy darted under the seat. An adult could never do that, so after one glance, Goodbai had no further doubts.
But to say that a 10-year-old could drive a car? I simply don't believe it. Xiang Yu did teach him to drive out of boredom, but as everyone knows, driving isn't something you can learn in one or two lessons. Even if Cao Xiaoxiang were a child prodigy, there's one fatal flaw: sitting in the driver's seat, he couldn't see out the window, and his foot couldn't reach the accelerator…
Facing Goodbai's gun, I racked my brains for a long time, and this time it wasn't just an act; I really couldn't figure it out.
At this point, Baozi, who had been silent, spoke up: "This area is never safe. The car door wasn't locked, and the key wasn't even in the ignition. If a thief came in, who else would he steal from but you?" Baozi then turned to me and asked, "Qiangzi, what exactly happened?"
After hearing Baozi's explanation, Lao Pan immediately nodded. Having lived in China for a long time, he knew that upscale neighborhoods like ours were prone to attracting thieves, so he laughed and said, "Then it's just that Xiaoqiang was unlucky. But sister-in-law, now is not the time for you two to chat."
Goodbai turned on the walkie-talkie and asked the lookouts upstairs, "Did you see anyone approaching just now?"
The walkie-talkie crackled for a while, and a voice mumbled, "...We saw that the target had come in, so we had a smoke."
"Damn it!" Goodbai released the walkie-talkie and said to me gleefully, "Looks like it's really lost. It's a good thing your beat-up car has bulletproof glass."
I said, "This loss should be attributed to you." I calmed myself down; things might really turn out as Baozi said. But it's not the worst case scenario. It's better to fall into the hands of petty thieves than the mafia, especially since he's such a young child. I'm really worried that Cao Xiaoxiang might develop a phobia of foreigners. I'm counting on him to grow up and earn foreign exchange from them.
Goodbai glanced at the subdued Mulan and Wu Sangui, patted the foreigner on the shoulder with a smug look, and said to me, "This is my brother Jissbon, isn't he clever?"
Jissbon opened his mouth, revealing a mouthful of rotten, grotesque teeth, and chuckled a few times.
I said to Goodbai, "Do you have a sister named Durex? Sometimes I can use it seven times in one night."
Baozi whispered, "He'll never change his habit of bragging."
Goodbai looked at the armor and the pearl on the table and said to Old Pan, "Can you find anything else?"
Old Pan looked at me, and I spread my hands vigorously: "Really, it's all gone."
“That’s easy!” Jissbon suddenly pointed the gun at Baozi’s head and said fiercely to me, “You have 3 seconds to name all the valuable things, or I’ll kill your wife and friends one by one.” He looked at Mulan with a lewd grin and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll kill you last, and I’ll make you happy before I do. Hehe, you’re my type.”
My face turned ashen. No crisis I'd ever faced before had ever been even a tenth as dire as this. My previous opponents were nothing more than petty thugs and scoundrels, at most a mob boss. But now I was suddenly clear-headed; the enemy before me was the Mafia. This was no joke. Their previous politeness was because they still hoped for peaceful cooperation.
Baozi called out, "Our family's bankbooks are upstairs, I'll get them for you."