Chapter 18: Count to Three

Brother Ma was quite enraged. He pressed the muzzle of his pistol directly against Dongcuo’s temple with such force that the young man’s head tilted to the side.

"Zhong Yuan, this is the last chance I’m giving you. Where exactly is Tanwei? Think carefully before you answer. If you get it wrong, your little brother here is a dead man!"

Zhong Yuan looked at Dongcuo. One of his eyes was swollen shut, his lip was split and bleeding, his face was deathly pale, and his eyelids were trembling uncontrollably.

After a single glance, Zhong Yuan looked away. He raised his eyes to meet Brother Ma’s, offered a faint smile, and said, "It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe me, Brother Ma. But why not ask Old Pu first? Since we’re all stuck on your boat and have nowhere to go, what’s the harm in asking? You’ve got nothing to lose, right?" As he spoke, Zhong Yuan carefully studied Brother Ma’s expression. Seeing a flicker of contemplation in the man’s eyes, he continued, "The night before last, Tanwei’s men did indeed take my brother while he was drunk, but the next morning, he had them sent to Krabi Town. From then until the moment my brother and the others escaped, they never saw Tanwei again. Furthermore, last night, the man guarding my brother received a call from Old Pu. At that time, Tanwei was with Old Pu! According to Old Pu, Tanwei lost contact last night. But last night, Tanwei was on Lanta Island while my brother and his friends were in Krabi Town; they only returned to Lanta Island this morning. Brother Ma, I know you aren’t stupid—if you were, we wouldn’t be trapped here by you. But have you considered that maybe Old Pu is the one lying to you?"

Zhong Yuan spoke with great conviction, weaving truth and lies together in a way that was easily confusing.

Brother Ma stared at him for a moment, then pulled out his phone and dialed Old Pu’s number.

As if heaven were taking pity on them and lending a hand, Old Pu did not answer the phone.

The suspicion already gnawing at Brother Ma’s mind intensified significantly. In their line of work, subordinates betraying their masters and brothers turning on each other were common occurrences. Furthermore, he knew exactly what kind of man Tanwei was; Tanwei’s ability to maintain a firm grip on Lanta Island and the Krabi area was at least half due to Old Pu’s efforts.

Brother Ma truly didn’t believe that Old Pu had been without ulterior motives all these years. But could this really be Old Pu’s doing? Did he have the guts? If it was indeed Old Pu, then Tanwei was likely already dead.

With this thought in mind, Brother Ma signaled one of his men over, whispered something into his ear, and the man headed toward the cabin.

Zhong Yuan spoke up again: "How about this? This standoff isn't getting us anywhere. We’ll go with you, Brother Ma. Once you’ve investigated the matter thoroughly, how does that sound?"

Brother Ma stared at him for a long time before replying, "I can leave you be for now, but you two brothers are too skilled; I have to be cautious. Hand over everything you’re carrying, and each of you will have to give up an arm. Only then will I agree!"

"Brother Ma, that’s excessive! Tanwei only grabbed my brother for money. If I surrender everything and then let you chop off our arms, what if you go back on your word and demand a ransom before letting us go? We’d be the ones at a total loss," Zhong Yuan sneered. "How about this? Let’s both take a step back. We’ll return the guns, but you don’t lay a hand on us. Does that work?"

After squinting and considering it for a long while, Brother Ma finally relented.

"Then please, Brother Ma, release my little brother first!" Zhong Yuan added.

Brother Ma snorted, "If I release him, I’ll release them all at the same time!"

Zhong Yuan nodded. "Fine, we’ll count to three and let them go together!" He began the count: "Three..."

"Two..."

Zhong Da and Xiao Hua were extremely tense. Xiao Hua, in particular, was gripping his knife so hard his hand was shaking. His tremor made the hostage he was holding even paler, looking almost like a corpse.

"One..."

As the word was spoken, Zhong Yuan pushed the man in front of him forward, though he only moved the pistol from the man’s temple to the back of his head.

Seeing this, Brother Ma gestured for his men to release Dongcuo.

The moment he was let go, Dongcuo stumbled and nearly collapsed. Just as he managed to steady himself, Brother Ma’s gun was back at his head.

"There’s still one more!" Brother Ma barked at Zhong Yuan.

Zhong Yuan looked at Xiao Hua and said, "Let him go."

After exchanging a glance with Zhong Yuan, Xiao Hua loosened his grip on the knife. He suddenly shoved the man aside, the blade grazing the man’s neck and drawing a thin line of blood.

"Brother Ma, we’ve shown our sincerity; now it’s your turn!" Zhong Yuan said.

Brother Ma grunted, then suddenly lashed out with a kick at Dongcuo. As the young man stumbled forward and was about to fall, Zhong Da lunged forward and caught him. Xiao Hua followed close behind, taking Dongcuo from Zhong Da.

Watching the three of them retreat to their original positions, Zhong Yuan began to move as well. Keeping the hostage with him, he slowly inched back toward Zhong Da before pushing the man away.

Brother Ma looked at him, his gaze shifting to the gun in Zhong Yuan's hand.

Zhong Yuan stated, "Please take us to the shore first, Brother Ma. As soon as we’re on land, we’ll hand over the guns immediately!"

"Zhong Yuan, don’t push your luck!" Brother Ma shouted.

Zhong Yuan shook his head. "Brother Ma, we’re just protecting ourselves. If you change your mind at the last minute, the trick we used to snatch these guns might not work a second time! Don’t worry; with the number of men you’ve brought, even if we reach the shore, there’s no way we could escape unscathed. To be honest, if I didn't want to save the lives of my younger brothers, I wouldn't be wasting my time with all this maneuvering."

Brother Ma remained silent for a moment before nodding. "Fine! Zhong Yuan, I can concede this much! But I’ll say this now: if it turns out Tanwei’s disappearance is linked to you and you’ve been playing me, don’t blame me for being ruthless!"

Zhong Yuan smiled. "Agreed!"

Brother Ma watched him steadily for a moment before turning to order his men to start the boat.

The speedboat roared to life, and ten minutes later, it pulled up near a small sandy beach.

"Zhong Yuan, hand over the guns!" Brother Ma commanded.

Zhong Yuan didn't reply, but he didn't hesitate either; he flicked his wrist and tossed the pistol back to Brother Ma. He then turned to Zhong Da and said, "Da, give them the gun back."

Zhong Da complied just as decisively.

Brother Ma had his men collect the weapons, but he didn’t immediately turn hostile. The group disembarked and soon reached the beach.

"Zhong Yuan, you’d best be sensible and not try anything funny. Otherwise, don’t blame me for breaking my word!" Brother Ma stood in front of Zhong Yuan, scanning the four men before issuing his warning.

Zhong Yuan replied, "Rest assured, Brother Ma. Since we’ve reached an agreement, we’ll naturally cooperate. We’ve heard of the Buddha Hand Gang’s reputation; since you’re willing to give us both a chance to resolve this, we certainly don’t want to make an enemy of your gang!"