Absurd and Unfounded

Monk suddenly realized: Wen Yiqian had been controlling everything through his phone.

If there had been no signal, none of that would have been possible.

Which meant there had always been a signal.

His own phone was running on an out-of-town black-market SIM, and the carrier was notoriously unreliable. The signal must have dropped on its own. He had assumed the police were jamming it.

“Damn it.” Having worked it out, Monk cursed the carrier under his breath.

He pulled up the message thread and started typing quickly, giving the other person a summary of the situation.

“Monk, we’re out of time.” Monkey was already pushing from beside him.

The countdown at the entrance was under a minute.

Monk ignored him and waited, watching the screen.

Two messages came back in quick succession.

“Trade the lives of all the hostages for the guy at the entrance. Make him the hostage.”

“Don’t worry. He’ll agree.”

Monk leaned out from cover and called across to Wen Yiqian. “We’ll release every hostage. But you come inside and guarantee our safe passage out.”

Wen Yiqian said nothing. He looked back at Monk with a faint, unreadable smile.

The countdown kept moving. 20. 19. 18.

Every heart in the bank was hammering.

Neither Monk nor Monkey could be sure the man would accept. He had claimed to be a death row inmate, buying his way off the sentence by saving lives. Sacrificing himself to rescue the hostages would be a losing trade by any measure.

But they had no choice. They had to trust the other person’s read on the situation.

That person was the sharpest mind either of them had ever encountered.

“I agree.”

Wen Yiqian nodded at ten seconds.

The countdown froze at seven.

The collective exhale inside the bank was almost audible. Knees went weak. Cold sweat broke across every face.

This man had actually agreed to give himself up for a room full of strangers.

It felt unreal. Everyone stood there in silent disbelief.

He truly was a lunatic. There was no predicting him.

Monk breathed out, ducked back behind cover, and typed: “He agreed.”

“Expected.”

“Now use him as leverage and demand the police provide a vehicle for your exit.”

Confidence restored, Monk pocketed his phone and murmured a few words to Monkey.

Then he stepped forward and said to Wen Yiqian, “Come inside. We’ll let them go.”

Wen Yiqian nodded and began slowly unbuttoning his jacket. “Before I do, let me explain something — just to avoid any misunderstandings that might make me lose my temper.”

He raised an eyebrow across at them. “I have a short fuse. You really don’t want to set me off. Are we clear?”

Monkey had run out of arguments and confined himself to muttering under his breath.

“We keep our word.” Monk steadied himself and spoke evenly.

He gestured to Monkey.

Monkey moved among the hostages without a word, cutting the rope from each pair of ankles in turn. “You’re free to go. Line up. One at a time.”

The hostages scrambled to form a line, desperate to move.

“You too,” Wen Yiqian said, placing a hand briefly on the shoulder of the officer behind the blast shield.

The officer turned and held his gaze for a moment. “Take care of yourself,” he said quietly, then turned to lead the hostages out.

Wen Yiqian watched them file past and walked into the bank, moving toward the robbers with no particular urgency.

Monk and Monkey both took an involuntary step back.

“Relax. I’m your hostage now.” Wen Yiqian raised both hands.

The robbers said nothing. The sense of unease hadn’t left them.

Standing here, watching this man approach with his hands up, felt like watching someone who was clearly unwell walking toward them with a knife. There was simply no telling whether he meant to use it on them or on the vegetables.

“Why hasn’t he said anything this whole time?” Wen Yiqian asked, nodding toward Little Bai, who had sat in near-total silence throughout with almost no presence at all.

“He’s mute,” Monk said.

Most of the hostages had filtered out by now. Monkey’s eyes shifted. He reached out and grabbed the last one before she could leave.

Before Wen Yiqian could react, Monk spoke first. “Monkey. What are you doing?”

“One hostage might not be enough leverage. Two is safer.” Monkey glanced at Wen Yiqian. “You agree?”

He wanted to remind this man of where he stood. Make him understand the situation. Knock some of the arrogance out of him.

“Drop the cheap tricks,” Wen Yiqian said, stifling a yawn. He walked toward Monkey.

“What are you doing?” Monkey stiffened.

“Do you want to know why I was sentenced to death?” Wen Yiqian stopped in front of him and looked down, his expression untroubled.

“Wh— why?” Monkey felt a spike of unease, broke eye contact, and without quite meaning to, loosened his grip.

The hostage didn’t wait. She dropped to all fours and scrambled for the exit.

“Because…” Wen Yiqian’s lips curved. “Being this handsome is a crime.”

He smiled, easy and unbothered. “Some of us are simply destined for it.”

The robbers stared at him.

At a moment like this, this man was cracking jokes. Completely relaxed. Absolutely no sense of self-preservation.

He was genuinely not right in the head.

Seeing them go quiet, Wen Yiqian shook his head. “You all looked tense. I was trying to lighten the mood.”

“You’re the hostage. We’re the ones who robbed the bank.”

“And you’re worried about us being tense?”

The absurdity of it settled over the room. Each of the robbers found themselves asking, privately, the same question:

Which one of us is actually crazy here?

“Can’t figure it out?” Wen Yiqian clicked his tongue, found a clear patch of floor, and sat down. “Think about it. Haven’t you worked it out yet? I’m on your side now.”

“What does that mean?” Monkey blurted.

“Why would a death row inmate agree to trade himself for a room full of strangers?” Wen Yiqian replied.

Monkey opened his mouth. Nothing came out.

Monk’s eyes went sharp. The answer arrived all at once. “You want to escape with us.”

“Not as slow as you look,” Wen Yiqian said.

(End of Chapter)