Fang Yu's Scheme
The car moved at speed. Wen Yiqian rested his arm on the open window, cool air against his face, watching the streets pass with an expression of mild contentment.
Monkey’s eyes never left him.
Something about this man was wrong in a way Monkey couldn’t name, and he was convinced the man was working toward something.
Wen Yiqian glanced at the back of his right hand and murmured, almost to himself, “Should be about time.”
Monkey frowned. “Are you checking the time?”
Wen Yiqian nodded.
“You’re not wearing a watch.”
“You just can’t see it,” Wen Yiqian said, with a small smile.
Monkey felt a chill move through him. He turned away and decided not to pursue it.
Parked on the street outside the bank, a police van was serving as a temporary mobile command center.
Inside, the squad leader and Li Weiguo were working over an electronic map. A red dot moved steadily across the screen — the vehicle they had prepared for the robbers, fitted with a tracker before handover.
The car itself had been quietly tampered with. It would stall after a certain distance, no apparent cause.
Most of the squad leader’s officers were already deployed, spreading across main roads and side streets, drawing the net closed.
The robbers had no real path out.
On an upper floor of a high-rise directly across from the bank, Fang Yu stood at a window with binoculars, watching the van below. A cold smile settled on his face.
He took out his phone and sent a message.
Fang Yu had never genuinely believed the robbers inside the bank could kill the squad leader. Their methods were too blunt. From the beginning, he had built a contingency around that assumption.
The robbers were decoys. Visible pieces on the board, drawing attention where he wanted it.
The real pieces were hidden elsewhere.
Two of them — positioned among the hostages.
If the robbers managed to kill the squad leader through sheer force, ideal. If not, it didn’t matter. The two embedded among the hostages were the actual killing move.
No one would look at a rescued hostage as a threat. They had been extracted alongside the others, treated as victims, passed through without suspicion. And unlike the robbers, their status gave them something better than a weapon — proximity.
The squad leader was well-protected. Even with all of this in place, a direct approach would be difficult under normal circumstances.
That was why Fang Yu had sent instructions to the bank: take hostages, demand a vehicle, force the police to commit their resources to a pursuit. With the squad leader’s protection stretched thin, the window would open.
After the squad leader was dead, the response force would flood back to chase the two hidden pieces — which in turn relieved pressure on the robbers, giving them a real chance to slip out.
Fang Yu was satisfied with the construction of it. Interlocking. Each piece serving the next.
Not flawless. But the odds were good.
There was one variable.
Wen Yiqian.
That was precisely why Fang Yu had told the robbers to take Wen Yiqian with them. It removed a problem and fit cleanly into everything else.
He let himself enjoy a moment of it.
What expression will you make, Wen Yiqian, when news of the squad leader’s death reaches you in that car?
I’d very much like to see it.
Inside the command van, the squad leader and Li Weiguo were still on the map when someone knocked.
Li Weiguo opened the door to find Little Wang. “Weren’t you taking the hostages in for statements? What is it?”
“Two of the hostages are asking to speak with the squad leader directly,” Little Wang said, gesturing to one side. “They say they have important information about the robbers.”
Li Weiguo leaned out and looked.
Two men stood at a respectful distance from the van.
He recognized them. They were among the ones who had led the crowd outside in criticizing Wen Yiqian.
He couldn’t make things difficult for them — not professionally. But after what he’d heard earlier, he wasn’t going to offer them a warm welcome either.
Through his binoculars, Fang Yu watched the two men approach the van.
A look of quiet satisfaction settled over his face.
These were not improvised assets. Not the frightened or bribed decoys filling out the robbery. These two had been with him for nearly two years — capable men, tested. Known in certain circles as the Twin Shadows. Dagger work, close quarters, years of coordination between them. Four or five ordinary men couldn’t get near them once they committed.
No firearms — summer clothing, sharp-eyed police, impossible to conceal. Daggers only.
It didn’t matter. Once they were inside the distance, the officers around that van were already finished.
“What is it?” Li Weiguo stepped down from the van, face neutral.
“Is the squad leader inside?” one of them asked, pleasant and easy. “We have specific information about the robbers. We’d rather tell him directly.”
“Go ahead.” Li Weiguo waved them forward calmly.
The two exchanged a glance and stepped toward the van.
Li Weiguo drew his sidearm and leveled it at them. “Don’t move.”
The pleasantness left their faces instantly.
A blade caught the light — one of them moved fast, a single slash that sent the pistol spinning out of Li Weiguo’s hand.
The other pressed the opening, driving forward with his dagger.
Li Weiguo stepped back to create distance and forgot the van was directly behind him. His back hit the vehicle. The blade caught his chest — not clean, but enough to open a gash through his shirt.
Both men had smirks on now.
One pivoted immediately toward Little Wang, who was standing frozen and hadn’t yet moved.
The other stayed fixed on Li Weiguo, leisurely dragging the flat of the blade across the back of his hand to wipe the blood, watching him with open contempt.
“I hadn’t even taken the safety off.” Li Weiguo looked down at his chest, rolled his neck, and let the joints crack. “Just wanted to see what you’d do.”
He lowered himself slightly into a stance, chest still rising and falling hard, eyes going hot. “But this works out better. You two are the ones who had me swallowing my temper out there earlier.”
His gaze sharpened.
“I’ve been waiting for somewhere to put that.”
(End of Chapter)