“Shut up!”
They didn’t even know if they’d make it out of this alive.
The scar-faced kidnapper glared fiercely at the short kidnapper; he was now so furious he wanted to kill him.
What the hell had he been thinking back then? Why on earth had he teamed up with such an idiot?
The scar-faced kidnapper yanked Shen Yan in front of him, one hand gripping the back of his shirt, the other clamped around his neck. He shouted at the police at the door, “None of you dare come any closer, or I’ll strangle him.”
“It usually takes between 30 seconds and 10 minutes to strangle someone to death, while the velocity of a standard handgun bullet ranges from 400 to 480 meters per second. Before you’ve even managed to strangle me, the bullet will have already pierced your forehead.” A mechanical, icy child’s voice rang out.
Shen Yan, with his neck gripped by the other man, showed no change in expression on his small face—he was unnervingly calm for a child.
The shorter kidnapper couldn’t help but widen his eyes.
Good heavens!
Just what kind of monsters had he and the boss kidnapped this time?
Any ordinary kid would have wet their pants in fear upon realizing they’d been kidnapped, but these two little rascals—one treated it like a game, excited beyond belief the whole way; the other not only secretly called the police but, even as a hostage, was still calculating who would die faster.
Ugh, terrifying!
The scar-faced kidnapper shot the little brat in his grasp a menacing glare and slapped him across the face: “Shut up!”
A red handprint instantly appeared on Shen Yan’s fair, delicate cheek.
“Don’t you dare bully Yan Yan! Let him go right now.” Jiang Xian panicked the moment she saw Yan Yan get hit.
Taking advantage of the shorter kidnapper’s distraction, she wriggled free from his grip with a “slip—” and dashed straight toward the scar-faced kidnapper, aiming a bite at the arm he was using to hold Shen Yan. “Awoo—”
“Ah—” The scar-faced kidnapper yelped in pain and tried to shake her off, but she wouldn’t let go.
Jiang Xian clenched her little teeth tightly, clinging on like a dog with a bone, refusing to let go no matter what.
“Hurry up and pull her off!” the scar-faced kidnapper yelled at the shorter one.
“Coming, coming.”
The shorter kidnapper snapped out of it and hurried forward to pinch Jiang Xian’s cheeks. It took a lot of effort, but he finally managed to get the little girl to let go.
“Pfft—” The little girl opened her mouth wide and spat out a front tooth.
Jiang Xian froze.
“Oh no, my tooth fell out!” The little girl’s mouth let the air out with a whoosh, and she quickly covered it with her small hand in shock.
Just then, the police stationed all around seized the opportunity to close in.
“Freeze! Put the child down, or we’ll shoot.”
The short kidnapper had never seen such a scene before, especially with the dark muzzles of guns pointed at him. His legs trembled uncontrollably: “B-boss, what should we do?”
Idiot!
What good is he at a time like this?
The scar-faced kidnapper knew the game was up. He decisively let go of Shen Yan, raised both hands above his head, and said, “Don’t shoot. It’s all a misunderstanding. We were just playing a game with these two.”
As he spoke, he turned to look at Jiang Xian. “Little sister, isn’t that right?”
At that moment, he was actually somewhat relieved that the idiot hadn’t called the parents directly earlier. Since they hadn’t reached the stage of extortion, their actions could at most be considered abduction.
Jiang Xian still had her small hand covering her mouth. Upon hearing this, she blinked her eyes but said nothing.
Shen Yan walked over, took her hand, lifted her little face, and looked at the scar-faced kidnapper. “You just said you wanted thirty million for the ransom.”
The scar-faced kidnapper’s mouth twitched—he’d completely forgotten about this kid.
“You heard wrong!” he denied.
No one else had heard it, so as long as they didn’t admit it, it didn’t count.
The shorter kidnapper chimed in, “Right, right, you heard wrong.”
Thirty million was a massive sum in a criminal case—enough to keep them both behind bars for life.
But then the little girl tapped a few times on her smartwatch.
“Do you know your parents’ phone numbers?”
“Listen up. I’m going to call your parents right now to demand the money.”
“Hand the phone over to them. Tell your parents to bring thirty million to ransom you.”
The scar-faced kidnapper’s voice came through the watch, clear as day.
The two kidnappers’ expressions changed instantly.
One turned ashen; the other went pale, his calves trembling uncontrollably.
“Click-clack—”
Two sharp clicks of handcuffs rang out.
Each kidnapper was now adorned with a pair of silver cuffs.
“Let’s go. We’ll talk at the station.” The two were shoved into the police car.
The shorter kidnapper was terrified. He clung to the car door, refusing to get in, his face contorted as if he were about to burst into tears. He looked in Jiang Xian’s direction and shouted, “Little kid, you’ve got to help us tell the cops—we were really just playing a game, right?”
Hey, little lady, why aren’t you saying anything? Weren’t you talking a mile a minute just a moment ago?
Why have you suddenly gone mute now?
Because of her lisp, Jiang Xian just wanted to be a quiet little girl; her eyes darted around, but she wouldn’t say a word.
The two kidnappers were eventually herded into the police car, looking thoroughly dejected.
Just then, Ning Wanwan and Shen Song’an arrived.
“Xianxian, Yanyan, are you both okay?” Ning Wanwan immediately scooped Jiang Xian into her arms to check on her.
The little girl shook her head and turned to look in Shen Yan’s direction.
She was fine, but Yanyan wasn’t.
Ning Wanwan then noticed the handprint on her son’s face and was instantly overcome with heartache: “Did they hit you? Damn kidnappers, I’ll make sure they rot in jail for the rest of their lives.”
She turned to Jiang Xian: “Xianxian, are you hurt anywhere? Did they hit you?”
The little girl shook her head again.
Ning Wanwan breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good. Were you scared?”
Poor thing, the girl must have been terrified.
She was so shaken she couldn’t even speak.
Ning Wanwan pulled the little girl into her arms and soothed her gently. “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid! The bad guys have been arrested. No one will hurt you anymore.”
Thank goodness the girl was okay; otherwise, she wouldn’t have known how to explain this to the Jiang couple.
The little girl lifted her head from Ning Wanwan’s embrace: “I’m sorry, Aunt Wanwan. Yanyan only ran into that bad man because I was trying to go home with you to find my mom and dad.”
As the little girl spoke, she revealed a row of dark, toothless gums.
Ning Wanwan couldn’t help but giggle. Now she finally understood why the little girl had suddenly gone quiet.
“No, Xianxian did a great job.” She ruffled the little girl’s hair.
If the little girl hadn’t kept talking and distracted the kidnappers, those two might have noticed something was wrong long ago.
The rescue wouldn’t have gone so smoothly.
After Shen Yan called the police, his watch stayed on speaker, so everyone could hear Jiang Xian chattering away the whole way.
Especially the questions she kept asking.
“Come on, let’s go home.” Ning Wanwan took one by the hand on each side, ready to lead the two little ones home.
But then Shen Yan wriggled free from Ning Wanwan’s grip, picked up a bloodstained tooth from the ground, and clenched it in his palm.