Chapter 40 Humbert Humbert Seven

Translated by: QuantumC

The bus fell into utter chaos. Some students were screaming "Hurry!" Some were
crying "Miss Hu!" The wild-eyed offender thrusted the knife into Hu Lingling's
stomach. For Hu, life had been good and rather eventless up to that point. She never
would have imagined that there existed such excruciating pain in this world. She
collapsed onto the ground. All strengths escaped her. Her eyes were pinned on the
half-opened bus door, praying that it would close, and the bus would flee.

The bus key still dangled next to the steering wheel, seemingly forgotten by the
offender. The driver was holding the gear shifter in his hand. He could shut the door
with a simple press of a button. He was experienced. He was capable. He could push
the gear in place within one second and drive away from all of this...right?

Not quite.

The driver Han Jiang looked ghastly. His body seemed too stiff to move. He sat there
and yelled to the offender: "Stop it!"

Hu Lingling could no longer speak at the time. She kept shaking her head desperately
at Han Jiang, hoping that the driver could just leave her and go. However, in the next
moment, she heard more chilling words coming out of this honest man's mouth:
"Wasn't this just for the money? What the hell are we going to do if you kill her?"

Hu Lingling felt the hair on the back of her neck all standing up.

In the mean time, the curtain at the back corner of the bus was blown up by the night
wind. With the help of the billowing curtain, the floral dress girl silently snuck behind
and slid down from the bus window. Like a slender but nimble kitten, she landed on
the muddy grass without anyone noticing.

Interrupted, the offender angrily threw the knife over to the driver, bent to grab Hu
Lingling by the hair, and started lashing out on her.

Everyone's eyes were drawn to the gruesome violence. The howling storm and the
screams of the woman covered the girl's steps; the starless night became her ally.
She avoided the headlights of the bus and sprinted towards the opposite direction.
There weren't a single breathing soul on the crooked mountain path. No light, no
sign. The shadows of the rocks and the trees jumped at her as she ran, like monsters
lurking in the darkness. She couldn't tell where she was going, and she dared not look
back. Even her own footsteps frightened her - they sounded like someone was
chasing at her back.

Noone had ever taught her what to do under such circumstances in the wilderness. All
she could do was keep running --

All of a sudden, the girl's eyes were blinded by a strong flash of light. Her brittle
nerves had been on the brink of snapping. To her, men were as frightening as ghosts
right now. Startled, the girl tripped on a rock and fell: "Ah---"

A car screeched and stopped beside her. Her ears were booming and her whole body
stiff.

Right then, she heard a very crisp and sweet voice saying: "Daddy, is it a small
animal? Is it a lamb?"

That young girl's voice broke her free from the suffocating nightmare. Her heart was
beating like a drum. She heard soft foot steps approaching. A man appeared in front
of her, holding an umbrella.

He looked gentle and kind. He ought not be a bad person.

She cried: "Uncle, help!"

Her floral dress had been covered by mud. Her knee was scrapped. One of her toe
nails was broken by the rock, and blood was everywhere. The man looked at her,
then gently picked her up and held her in his arms.

She lowered her defense at the presence of another child. Under the
extreme fear and anxiety, she trusted this stranger unconditionally, who came about
in the middle of nowhere.

"A bad man abducted our bus. He had a knife and he hurt Miss Hu. It's over there.
Uncle..."

The man's footsteps were very light, as if he was trying not to startle something.
"Shh..." he said softly, "Be good. Don't be afraid. Let my daughter be your company."

Following his line of sight she saw another girl smiling behind the lowered car window.
She was about twelve or thirteen years old, hair tied up in a pair of ponytails. Her
face was cherubic, with a pair of beautiful witty eyes and lips that glossed in the color
of cherries. They looked like she had stolen a lipstick from some grown-up.

She smiled like a blooming flower.

"I am not very familiar with this area." Fei Du turned to the manager of the "trouble-
seekers' club", while standing in front of a map of the Xiling District. "Besides here, is
there any other villages or towns around?"

"Well...Xiling was originally developed to be the "backyard" of Yan-cheng city. Its core
industry is high-end vacation catering and recreation businesses." said the manager,
"Most projects that landed here are pretty space-demanding. Let's see...there is a
winery with a golf course in the vicinity. And a horse riding club. The villagers that
originally lived here have all been relocated to the housing complexes downtown.
With today's weather though, I doubt that there would be much traffic for golfing or
horse-riding."

"I see." Fei Du nodded, "when the police calls, let me take it."

The manager's forehead was covered with question marks: "Police call? Why would
the police..."

His question was cut off by an incoming call at the front desk. A girl by the piano
picked it up and answered drowsily: "Hello. Xiling off-track adventures club...Boss, it's
the police!"
The police acted very fast. Their men already arrived at where the hijacked bus was
parked.

According to the satellite, this was a very tricky spot. The bus parked in an open
space. If the SWAT team were to approach, they would almost certainly be noticed
prematurely. What's more, the bus windows were all covered with curtains. If the
hijacker stayed put and hid in the bus, with all those children as his hostages, the
snipers could not do anything either.

The clock was ticking. The police redialed that number, but the phone was already
powered off. Looked like this man was determined to be in charge: only he could
initiate the negotiation, not the other way around.

It was well over 10 o'clock in the evening. The pouring rain had finally started to
dwindle away to drizzles. Meanwhile, Tao Ran led another team and stormed the
other suspect, Han Jiang's apartment.

"This Han Jiang used to be a truck driver. But a couple years ago he got into card
gambling somehow, lost most of his fortune, and got kicked out of his job because he
couldn't stay punctual. His wife also left because of it. He behaved for a while, found
another job at the car rental company, but before long he found himself a new hobby:
Ma-jiong. This time he was targeted by a group of Ma-jiong sharks, which not only
costed him all of his fortune, but also put him under heavy debts — more than a
million."

"No wonder he's risking it." Lang Qiao pressed the headphone closer to her ear, "what
about the other guy? Any discoveries? Han Jiang, despite being a compulsive
gambler, has never had a criminal record before. Even if he decided to go off the
beam, I don't think he'd start with something this big. The brain behind this must
have had some history."

"There is a suspect." Tao Ran replied: "I just sent the picture to you. His
name is Han Chengzheng, male, 29 years old, a distant nephew of Han Jiang. He has
been incarcerated twice in the past, once for knifed robbery and once for assault. The
guy was recently released and came to Yan-cheng to, reportedly, look for jobs.
Lately, he has been frequenting Han Jiang's apartment. The neighbors all tried to
avoid him, because he hung around with a blade in his hand and had gotten into
several fights with others. Last night he rented a small shabby car. This morning
someone saw him driving out of town but no one knows where he was heading. I
think he is very likely the other abductor."

"Talk about birds with the same old stinking feather flocking together..." Luo
Wenzhou's voice came from the headphone, "So Han Jiang used to be married? Does
he have kids? How old? Boy or girl?"

"A boy of nine. Because of Han Jiang's gambling problem the ex-wife forbad the boy
to see his father. They live in another city. The rental company that Han Jiang works
for has a long-term contract with the Sixteenth Middle School, so Han had driven the
teachers and students many times - they pretty much consider him part of the school
staff. The man was said to be honest, easy-going, kid-loving...basically no one saw
this coming."

"Got it. Negotiators," Luo Wenzhou chewed on the new information and came up with
an adjusted plan: "In the first call, from what we heard from the teacher she probably
didn't know that Han Jiang was involved. She trusts him. So - unless things went
absolutely awry - Han Jiang would try to stay under cover. He was likely pushed into
this by the heavy debts. There is probably still some sympathy to the kids left in him.
The other man though, most likely the brain of the team, is a habitual law-breaker
with multiple criminal records. He will do whatever it takes to get the ransom. Now
the two have a common objective, but their liaison is weak - we can try to break it..."

"Boss!" Lang Qiao interrupted him, "A call! From the abductor."

Luo Wenzhou: "Attention all units!"

At his command, everyone was on their toes ready for the battle. They all put on the
headphones. The negotiation team was ready.

The second call was made exactly one hour after the first. The negotiator picked it up,
but heard a ruthless male voice rather than that of the female teacher: "Is the money
ready?"

Everyone's heart sunk.

The negotiator hesitated, then asked: "Where is the Miss that I spoke with last time?"

The man's heavy breathing could be heard over the phone. The negotiator added:
"Me and a couple other parents, we've gathered over 3 million - my wife is on her
way here with the money. For the rest of it we are still trying. We'll get it ready,
whatever it takes. But please, please keep your words, and don't hurt the children!"
Man on the other side of the line smirked: "Is that so? You went straight to find the
money, without calling the cops?"

The negotiator silently looked up for orders on how to respond to this tricky question.
Lang Qiao covered the headphone and quickly jotted down Luo Wenzhou's command:
"Recidivist. Truth."

"I c...called the police, yes." The negotiator pretended to be nervous: "but that was
before your first call. You didn't say..."

"Oh. Then where are they?"

"The Xiling district bureau said they have to report up to the Yan-cheng bureau, who
said they need another hour to get here... we couldn't just wait around, so we started
to gather the money. Please! Whatever you do, don't hurt the children!"

Hearing this, the abductor laughed: "Told ya! Don't put your bet on those useless
scumbags."

Happy for what he had just heard, the abductor decided: "Since you were being good,
I'll let you speak with your kid for a minute. What's his name?"

The negotiator peeked at the note that was just passed to him: "Chen
Hao! I am his father. Please let me talk to him!"
He heard a sneering, then a boy's sobbing voice: "Baba? Baba!"
The other officers in the negotiation team gestured at each other in relief - although
the boy was terrified, it doesn't sound like he was hurt. Yet.
"Hao hao, don't be afraid. Are you with all the other students?" The negotiator tried to
get more information on the wellbeing of the other hostages, "Listen to me. It is
going to be Okay. Don't panic. Baba knows you can do this: be calm and be there for
your friends, alright?"
The boy muttered "Okay". But before he was able to say more, the abductor snatched
the phone back: "Enough chattering. You've heard him. Now don't do anything stupid.
We don't need no water, no food delivery...don't you even think about trying to sneak
in the cops. Ready the money - that is the only hope for your son's life."
The negotiator frowned and shook his head at the team. Lang Qiao tossed the memo
that said "sneak our men in", and gestured a "two" - as in "plan B" - to him.
"Wait! Can I talk to the teachers? The kids are too scared. Whichever teacher that's
on the bus -please let me have a word with an adult!"
Hearing that "whichever teacher on the bus" would do, the abductor again gave a cold
smirk.
Then, a low and shaky voice muttered: "Hello?"
It was Han Jiang!
"Mister! Th...this is Chen Hao's father." The negotiator lowered his voice too to make
the pleading sound more sincere and desperate: "Mister. I know this is a selfish thing
to ask. But... if you are a father you'll understand...Are you? A father?"
A short silence. Then he heard: "Yes."
"Mister, please...look after those children for us. We will ready the money - whatever
it takes we will have it ready! But please, please keep the children safe. As a fellow
parent I am sure you can feel me. I know that you are in danger yourself too, but...
Your child, is he about the same age as Hao hao? Think of him... we can't be there for
them, so we could only beg you to look after them for us. Please don't let it get
physical. Don't let them get hurt. PLEASE —"
This time, a longer silence. Then, Han Jiang's voice became even shakier: "I...I'll
try..."
Before his sentence finished, a thundering roar of engines went off from the distant
hill-side. What followed were some hard core heavy metal rock music, eye-grabbing
flashy headlights, and people's loud whistles and cheers.
The abductor was furious. He snatched the phone and yelled: "What is this?! The
cops? You think you are such smart asses, Hah? So long to the lives of your kids..."
From the other side of the phone: "No!! No I swear..."
In the mean time, a sickly sweet female voice could be heard in the distant
background: "Come on, girls! Don't be a chicken! Babe, you've just conquered the
"track of hell"! This will be a piece of cake. Trust me... these boys won't let you
down."
The sharp whistles amplified by the loud speaker was so squeaky that it almost made
the mountain shiver. Blinding laser beams lit up the valley and casted towering
shadows onto the mountain cliff - shadows of some garish sports car with wing-like
doors shooting upwards as if they would take off from the ground in the next second.
Han Jiang grabbed the abductor's knife hand: "Calm down!! There is an off track
racing club nearby, remember?"
"Let go of me!" The abductor raged: "how come they got so close?!"

The negotiator interjected loudly over the phone: "I am as clueless as you
are! I swear!! The money is almost ready. You can pick a different place if you want.
Whatever it is, don't hurt the children! Mister, Mister! Mister — !"

The three consecutive "Mister" plucked Han Jiang's nerve string like sharp needles.
The school children often called him that, especially the younger ones since they
couldn't tell who were the real teachers at school - all the adults were Misters and
Misses to them.

Han Jiang jumped onto his nephew with both hands, trying to stop him from going
mad. He grumbled to his ear: "See? The money is almost ready! We are only one step
away. Stop making this more complicated than necessary, will you? Open up your
eyes and look. Do they look like police cars to you? Hah? They are racing the
mountain track... It doesn't lead anywhere close to here! Scared shitless by some
shadows... you're such a sissy..."

The nephew scouted along the uncle's pointing finger, and seemed to have calmed
down a little. Half convinced, he slightly loosened the grip of the knife.

Han Jiang: "Since a kid ran off just now, this place is no longer safe anyways. Let's
move. I'll drive."

Those racers made themselves very audible: even though they stayed in the distance
and showed no intention of approaching, their roaring engines and loud music echoed
in the whole valley. The drum beats seemed to be coming from all around, crushing
down on the nerves of the two abductors. The two picked a direction that's furthest
away from the noisy trouble-makers and set off in a rush.

Lang Qiao heard Luo Wenzhou's order from the headphone: "they've just entered our
snipers' range. Try to keep them in."

On the bus, a loud ringing shattered the silence. It was the abductor's cellphone
which he didn't have time to turn off after the previous call. The same parent
stuttered over the phone: "The money is here! C...cash, over three millions. We are
still working on the rest but... should be pretty soon..."

They already drove far away from the music and lights. But the drum beats could still
be heard, and the beats struck faster and faster, driving people out of their minds.

The knifed abductor shouted: "No way! Not a single dime less!!"

Han Jiang slammed on the break: "Don't be ridiculous! Let's just take the three
million and go, before the cops get here. There will be more than one million for each
of us - more than enough for anything."

"I WANT the five million!"

Han Jiang's vein bulged on his forehead.

"Without the five million, I will kill them all. I don't mind visiting the prison cells
again."

"But I do!" Han Jiang grabbed on to the knife that was handed to him a minute ago.

The two glared at each other like two fighting bulls, panting heavily. After a century,
the abductor glowered at Han Jiang coldly: "Uncle, are you regretting it?"

Han Jiang kept a stern face and didn't say a thing. He was indeed starting to regret
the whole thing.

The abductor suddenly smiled. He handed the phone over: "Alright. You are the boss.
Let's take the money and leave."

Han Jiang hesitated at first. But finally he accepted the phone: "Listen carefully. Send
one person over, only one. Send a woman. The location is..."

Before he finished, a cold glimmer suddenly caught his eyes, and children's screaming
filled his ears. Han Jiang quickly ducked, but it was too late: the blooded blade has
already penetrated his stomach.

Han Jiang moaned, then fought back out of instinct despite the pain. He jumped onto
his attacker from the driver's seat. The attacker, younger and stronger, took a step
back while twisting the knife inside Han Jiang's guts. For a split second, his back
pressed against the uncovered glass pane on the bus door.

A bullet broke the glass, and hit him right on the back of the head.

The next second, sirens from the hidden police cars and ambulances pierced through
the night sky.
Half an hour later, Luo Wenzhou wrapped up at the crime scene and finally arrived at
the hill-side, where much music and fun was taking place. From a distance he could
already see Fei Du leaning on a car with shirt buttons all loosened, exposing his
tattooed chest. His long hair was slicked back, dripping wet.

There were no need for props or stage sets - this kid could easily pull off a one-man-
show with the theme of "world's most extravagant orgy".

Luo Wenzhou was originally here for business. But with a glance at Fei Du's half-
naked chest, he suddenly felt slightly awkward. He cleared the itchiness in his throat
with a dry cough, and said: "Ahem...A big thank you to all of you today."

Fei Du took the half glass of champagne from the girl beside him, and raised the glass
to Luo Wenzhou at a distance: "You're welcome. It was only natural performance."

Luo Wenzhou: "..."

Feeling annoyed at that spoiled brat again.

"Captain Luo," Lang Qiao's call came through at that time and broke the awkward
tension between the two men. She barely caught her breath: "A child is missing!"