Of course... if it were Zhou Ziwei, Xin Yue probably wouldn't even need to use any tricks. Just one flirty glance from him and that kid would be ready to kneel down and lick her toes!
Yang Hongtao was not a complete novice. Although he was somewhat tempted by Xin Yue due to the influence of Zhou Ziwei's body, his mind was quite clear.
Xin Yue just wanted him to feel bad after accepting the card, so he would eventually ask her what she wanted him to do for him. So Yang Hongtao simply accepted the card, but as for what Xin Yue wanted to ask of him... he would never bring it up himself. He just wanted to see what this woman would do then.
In fact, although Yang Hongtao had never asked Xin Yue about what she wanted help with, he could guess pretty much what it was. After all, the two of them had never interacted before, and it was only after Yang Hongtao mixed a cocktail for her at the Linglongxin Bar that they became somewhat acquainted.
Therefore, the thing Xin Yue wants to ask Yang Hongtao for is most likely related to bartending.
Logically speaking, if Xin Yue only wanted Yang Hongtao to act as a bartender on some occasion, it wouldn't be a big deal. However, Yang Hongtao just disliked the way this woman did things.
If she had been honest about the matter from the beginning, and if the matter wasn't too difficult to resolve, then Yang Hongtao wouldn't have minded lending her a hand even without any reward.
But this woman insisted on playing tricks on him, using bribery and seduction, which made Yang Hongtao even less willing to talk to her.
So Yang Hongtao deliberately reached into his pocket and glanced at Xin Yue, saying, "Alright... since Sister Yue is so sincere, I'll accept it. However... I don't like making deals with others, so if Sister Yue is really giving me this card for free, then I'll keep it. But if Sister Yue makes any demands or conditions later... then I'll have to return it to you!"
Upon hearing this, Xin Yue's lips twitched slightly, but she didn't show any other emotion. She still smiled charmingly and said, "Look at what you're saying... Can't I just make friends with you, my little brother? Why do I have to ask you for something?"
"Hehe... It's good that you're alright, it's good that you're alright..."
As Yang Hongtao spoke, he pretended to enjoy himself by holding the back of his head with both hands and leaning back against the soft seat back. But at that moment, he suddenly felt a chill sweep across his forehead.
Yang Hongtao was startled. This feeling was all too familiar to him. He had a similar feeling when he was attacked by the assassin in the villa last time.
This time, however, the feeling wasn't as strong as before, and the chilling aura didn't seem to be directed at him.
So even though Yang Hongtao sensed that aura, he didn't show any unusual expression. He simply closed his eyes slightly, pretending to be dozing off, but quickly released a weak wisp of soul power from his forehead, which began to replace his eyes, carefully searching for every passenger in front, behind, left, and right.
Because the cabin was packed with passengers, Yang Hongtao had to use his soul power to scan each passenger repeatedly in order to check them one by one.
However, when Yang Hongtao used his soul power to penetrate the back of a seat to his left, he was surprised to find that there were two magazines full of bullets hidden in the back of the seat!
Volume 1: The Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 50: A Terrifying Threat
Seeing that bullet clips had been hidden in the airplane seats beforehand, even someone as naive as Yang Hongtao knew what was going to happen. Without a doubt, terrorists who might be planning a hijacking had infiltrated the plane. Furthermore, there must have been accomplices within the airline who had already used other channels to hide bullet clips that couldn't pass airport security on the plane.
Knowing that the plane was likely to crash, Yang Hongtao naturally didn't want to stay on the plane any longer. But just as he suddenly unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up, intending to call Xin Yue next to him to get off the plane with him, he saw the flight attendant sitting in front of the aisle smiling and stopping him, saying, "Excuse me, sir, the plane is about to take off. Please fasten your seatbelt and do not move around on the plane for the time being. Thank you for your cooperation."
We're about to take off!
Upon hearing this, Yang Hongtao became even more anxious. At this point, he couldn't care less about Xin Yue. After all, the two didn't have any real relationship, and he, Yang Hongtao, wasn't so noble as to sacrifice his chance to escape for a woman he didn't know.
But just as Yang Hongtao rushed seven or eight steps toward the cabin door without regard for anything else, the plane suddenly shook slightly and then began to taxi rapidly forward along the runway.
Yang Hongtao was stunned. He realized that since the plane had already started moving, it was impossible for him to get off. Helpless, he had no choice but to return to his seat and fasten his seatbelt again amidst the flight attendant's gentle scolding.
"Hey... what were you doing? The plane was about to take off, why were you running around like that? Did you... did you suddenly need to pee? Hehehe..."
Xin Yue was feeling down after being tricked by Yang Hongtao, so when she saw Yang Hongtao making a fool of himself, she naturally couldn't resist making fun of him.
Upon hearing this, Yang Hongtao glanced at her sideways, then sat up straight, closed his eyes, and ignored her.
Anyway, Yang Hongtao was not going to tell this woman that they had discovered there were terrorists on the plane; telling her wouldn't solve anything.
Moreover, if she doesn't believe Yang Hongtao after being told, that's fine. But if she does believe him and starts shouting in panic, it will only attract the terrorists' attention, which is definitely suicidal.
Upon discovering a potential threat on the plane, Yang Hongtao should have first contacted the security personnel on board. However, since he already knew that there were definitely terrorist informants within the airline, he naturally dared not report the situation to anyone indiscriminately. What if he was really unlucky and happened to run into the line of fire, reporting the matter to the terrorist informants? Wouldn't that be asking to be silenced?
Therefore, Yang Hongtao can only remain calm and try to determine the location of the terrorists and the mole before deciding what to do next.
Next, Yang Hongtao released his soul power again, continuing to scan each passenger in the vicinity.
Since only a magazine was hidden inside the seat, it proves that the pistol must have been on the terrorist's person. Otherwise, how could they hijack the plane if they only had a magazine?
Since it's impossible to disembark now, and even if the terrorists were to hijack the plane, they would likely only begin after the plane is far from the airport, Yang Hongtao doesn't need to rush and can patiently search carefully, bit by bit.
The most suspicious people are definitely the passengers in front of and behind the seats where the magazines were hidden, since their seats are the most convenient for them to directly take out the magazines hidden in the seat backs.
However, after Yang Hongtao carefully scanned all the items on their bodies and in their luggage, he found nothing suspicious, which puzzled him greatly.
After checking again without finding anything, Yang Hongtao had no choice but to let them go for now and start checking the people next to him.
This time, Yang Hongtao spent a long time checking everyone within the range of his soul power, but he still couldn't find anyone carrying a gun.
After Yang Hongtao devoured the old ghost that was attached to Gu Xiaoli, his soul power increased significantly, which also doubled the distance he could release his soul power, from about five meters to a radius of ten meters. However, even with this increase in release range, he still could not completely cover the entire cabin.
The business class cabin is 25 meters long. Yang Hongtao was sitting at the back, so he could only scan most of the cabin. The dozen or so people at the front were not within his scanning range.
Furthermore, there is an economy class section on the floor below, which has even more passengers. If the terrorists were indeed hiding in the economy class, it would be even more difficult to find them.
However, Yang Hongtao estimated that this possibility was unlikely, since passengers on an airplane are generally not allowed to move around freely. It would be quite difficult for someone sitting in economy class to run to business class to retrieve a magazine.
Therefore, Yang Hongtao decided to first check all the passengers in business class.
Just as Yang Hongtao was about to find an excuse to move forward to make it easier to check the dozen or so people in front of him, he suddenly remembered that there was one person he hadn't checked yet, and that was Xin Yue, who had been sitting next to him.
Yang Hongtao didn't know much about Xin Yue's background, but he believed that she couldn't possibly be a desperate person who attempted to hijack a plane.
However, adhering to the principle of "better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free," it was decided to first investigate Xin Yue before going to check the front.
Under Yang Hongtao's conscious control, the power of his soul was like an invisible hand, not only penetrating everywhere but also able to turn flexibly. Therefore, if Yang Hongtao wanted to search Xin Yue, he didn't need to turn his head to face her at all. He remained lying in his seat, pretending to be asleep, and with a thought, he made the condensed line of soul power "touch" Xin Yue's body.
Although he knew Xin Yue couldn't possibly be a terrorist, since he was going to investigate, he had to investigate thoroughly. So Yang Hongtao treated her the same way, letting his soul power penetrate her clothes and scan her curvaceous body from top to bottom. This way, even if she was hiding something on her person, she wouldn't be able to escape Yang Hongtao's scan.
Yang Hongtao had used this method to scan so many people without feeling anything, but this time it was different! After all, this time the target was a mature woman with an extremely alluring index, and Yang Hongtao's scanning method was equivalent to presenting Xin Yue completely naked in front of him. Yang Hongtao could even "see" the size of the mole in Xin Yue's left armpit clearly. How could the word "alluring" describe her charm!
Yang Hongtao was so provoked that he had to bite his tongue secretly, using the intense pain to resist the temptation around him, and still insisted on continuing to scan Xin Yue's body with his soul power.
In the midst of this painful yet pleasurable process, Yang Hongtao suddenly discovered that something strange was hidden between Xin Yue's full breasts.
That's definitely not a handgun. While Xin Yue's breasts are not small, to say that they could hold a gun... that's a bit of an exaggeration!
Actually, it was just a sachet hanging on Xin Yue's chest. The reason it was considered strange was that Yang Hongtao used his soul power to scan it and found that the sachet, which looked slightly larger than an ordinary pouch, did not contain herbs, but a bright red stone that resembled a burning flame!
If Yang Hongtao hadn't merged with the remnant soul of that jade carver, he might have thought it was just a pretty stone. But now that he possessed the jade carver's ability to appreciate jade, Yang Hongtao was immediately taken aback by the crimson stone.
Damn it, this woman has really ruined my life! This crazy woman actually dared to carry such valuable things on her person so casually... no wonder she attracted terrorists to hijack the plane! Damn it, if this news gets out, terrorists all over the world will probably come knocking on our door!
Volume 1: The Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 51: The Priceless Gem
Anyone with even a basic understanding of gemstones knows that rubies are the most valuable, and among rubies, pigeon blood rubies are the most prized. Even within the same type of pigeon blood ruby, variations in color depth will naturally result in different prices.
The red stone that Yang Hongtao scanned with his soul power was clearly a top-grade pigeon blood stone, and its color was extremely rich, like a pool of unyielding blood. What was most remarkable was that this gemstone was completely free of any cracks or flaws.
There's a saying in the gemstone world: "Nine out of ten stones have cracks." The more precious a ruby is, the more likely it is to develop natural cracks.
Since almost every natural ruby has some flaws, it's not that gemstones with cracks are worthless; rather, it's that gemstones with fewer flaws are more valuable.
The piece that Xin Yue was wearing on her chest had almost no flaws under Yang Hongtao's soul power scan, so its value was immeasurable, or more accurately, it was priceless.
If a price had to be set for this gemstone, based on Yang Hongtao's experience, it would be absolutely impossible for anyone to sell it for less than 500 million.
This estimate of 500 million is a very conservative one. After all, such a perfect ruby is unprecedented. Therefore, it is difficult to use previous gem trading records as a reference. If it were to be auctioned at a top international auction house, only a genius would know how much it would fetch!
Even if it's just 500 million, that's enough to make the vast majority of criminals in the world take risks, even to the point of tearing a hole in the sky.
Therefore, Yang Hongtao had sufficient reason to believe that the terrorists on this flight today were very likely after the top-grade pigeon blood stone around Xin Yue's neck.
It's likely that they learned in advance through some channel that Xin Yue would be taking this plane to Kunming today with this priceless ruby, and thus made preparations to hijack the plane ahead of time.
Most people might think that hijacking a plane is much more difficult than robbing someone on land, but that's not necessarily true. For example, when Xin Yue and her grandfather went to Kunming, they were inevitably escorted by a large number of company security personnel before boarding and after disembarking. Given the power of the Bai Rui Group, it would be impossible for their security personnel not to carry a few real weapons when escorting important board members.
Therefore, for terrorists who received the information, neither boarding nor disembarking the plane before or after Xin Yue's arrival was an ideal option for seizing the ruby. If they did not have enough manpower or adequate weapons and equipment, the chances of failure would be too high.
Hijacking is different. Most planes don't have armed flight attendants; they rely on strict airport security to control passengers from carrying dangerous goods and weapons. So, if hijackers can get weapons and guns onto the plane, their hijacking plan is already halfway to success.
After confirming the terrorists' objectives, it didn't bring Yang Hongtao any substantial benefits. It only made him realize that his danger level had increased several times over again. Because he was sitting with Xin Yue and had just been chatting and laughing, if someone with ulterior motives saw this, they would definitely think that he was also with Xin Yue, and perhaps even her bodyguard. So, when the terrorists were about to make their move, they might kill him first.
Yang Hongtao was sweating profusely, knowing that it was impossible for him to remain uninvolved at this point.
He had originally planned that if he couldn't find the terrorists' location in advance and didn't have a foolproof countermeasure, he would simply keep a low profile and let the terrorists hijack the plane and take it abroad once they suddenly attacked.
But now he had no way out. He couldn't just stand up and shout that he and Xin Yue were not on the same side, that it had nothing to do with him if they wanted to take the ruby from her, and that he would never stop them, could he?
Therefore, Yang Hongtao now has no choice but to do everything he can to find the terrorists out of the crowd!
Time was of the essence. The plane had already flown far beyond Dangyang Airport, and who knew when the terrorists would make their move? So Yang Hongtao didn't care whether others would suspect him. He hurriedly unbuckled his seatbelt, stood up, and strode towards the front of the cabin.
"Hello sir, how can I help you?"
When the flight attendant on duty saw Yang Hongtao stand up again, she quickly came over to greet him and kindly pointed to the back, saying, "If you need to go to the restroom, you should go to the back."
Yang Hongtao shook his head and said, forcing a smile, "No... I... am looking for someone."
The flight attendant remained warm and patient, saying, "Oh...may I ask which gentleman or lady you are looking for? Tell me and I can help you inquire whether the person you are looking for is on this flight."
"No need, no need..." Yang Hongtao quickly shook his head and said, "Actually... I don't know his name either. I just thought I saw someone I knew when I came up... I'll just take a look..."
While dealing with the flight attendant, Yang Hongtao had already released his soul power, quickly searching through the dozen or so passengers sitting in the front row, but still found nothing.
Helpless, he could only shake his head and return to his seat.
"Hey... I'm talking to the little brother..."
When Xin Yue saw Yang Hongtao return, she clung to him like a piece of chewing gum, saying in a sweet, coquettish voice, "What are you doing all this time? Are you looking for your old flame? Hehehe..."
Yang Hongtao rolled his eyes at her and said irritably, "It's true that you're looking for a lover, but I found one for you, and... he's not just any lover, he's a nemesis who can kill you!"
Xin Yue covered her mouth and chuckled, saying, "I'm a very innocent girl, I don't have any lovers! Little brother, don't talk nonsense, or you'll ruin my reputation!"
Yang Hongtao subtly hinted at something to Xin Yue, but since she didn't understand, he didn't bother to explain further. He then closed his eyes again and released his soul power to guard the chair back where the magazine was hidden.
Thinking to himself, since he couldn't find the terrorists hiding in the shadows for the time being, he could only wait and watch the two magazines.
Yang Hongtao had considered taking out the two magazines and hiding or destroying them to cut off the terrorists' supply lines. Without weapons, the terrorists would be unable to cause any trouble and would have no way to hijack the plane.
However, upon further reflection, it seemed inappropriate. After all, cutting open the seat back to retrieve the magazine in full view of everyone would immediately attract the attention of terrorists. What if he got killed from behind before he could even retrieve the magazine? That would be truly unjust!
But how useful would this waiting game be? If Yang Hongtao waited until the terrorists came to retrieve the magazine before taking action, would it be too late? Even if he discovered the terrorists were carrying a pistol, would he still have the chance to use his powers to create a new soul within the pistol?
"Holy crap, how could I be so stupid!"
Yang Hongtao hovered his soul power over the location where the magazine was hidden for a moment, when suddenly an idea struck him.
He had been focused on finding the terrorists and their weapons, then using his powers to create an independent soul on the gun so he could control it at the crucial moment.
However, it's all in vain if we can't find the terrorists' location.
But Yang Hongtao suddenly realized that he didn't necessarily have to create an independent soul in the other party's pistol. Now that he had found these two magazines, wouldn't it be the same to create an independent soul in the magazines directly? Even if the magazines were moved into the pistol and the independent soul that originally belonged to the magazines couldn't control the entire pistol, as long as it could control the magazines and prevent the bullets from hitting the chamber, then even if the terrorists had guns, they would still be useless.