The Omniscient

Chapter 51: Mutual Hostages

While Old Ma was busy suspecting his six trusted confidants, one of them, Li Kun, received a phone call.

“Hello?” Li Kun answered casually.

“Is this Mr. Li Kun? This is Kangtai Life Insurance. As a token of appreciation for our loyal customers, we’re offering you a free health insurance plan,” said an unfamiliar voice on the other end.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Li Kun immediately cut in, “No, no, I don’t need it!”

“Are you sure you don’t need it?” the caller pressed.

Li Kun, who was about to hang up, found the other person’s dismissive tone irritating and replied, “No! Don’t you understand?”

“For the last time, do you want it or not?” The caller’s tone turned aggressive.

Li Kun was stunned. Who promotes insurance like this?

With a cold laugh, he retorted, “What do you mean? I said no. What are you going to do about it, kill me?”

“You idiot! I’m offering it for free, and you still don’t want it? Are you stupid? Do you know how hard it is to make hundreds of calls every day? F*** you!” The caller exploded, then abruptly hung up.

“What the…” Li Kun was left speechless. Are insurance telemarketers this bold these days?

He was furious. Making hundreds of calls a day and being under pressure is your problem. How dare you lash out at me?

Li Kun wanted to call back and curse them out, but the other party had already hung up.

“D*** it!”

The driver glanced at him, curious why he had ended the call so quickly. “Who was that?”

“An insurance salesperson!” Li Kun grumbled, still fuming, as he pulled up the call history and dialed back.

He couldn’t let it slide. How dare a telemarketer insult him like that? He had to give them a piece of his mind.

“Oh…” The driver blinked, puzzled as to why Li Kun would call back an insurance salesperson. Still, he focused on driving and didn’t ask further.

When Li Kun redialed, a different voice answered, sounding older. “Hello, this is Kangtai Life Insurance…”

“Where’s the guy from earlier?” Li Kun demanded.

“He’s already quit. If he caused you any trouble, I apologize on his behalf…” the person said.

“What good is an apology? Do you think I won’t file a complaint with Kangtai Life?” Li Kun shot back.

The person apologized repeatedly. After a few more angry words, Li Kun lost interest and hung up.

The driver smirked and joked, “Why are you even arguing with an insurance salesperson?”

“Nothing, just ran into a nutcase!” Li Kun replied dismissively.

The driver chuckled and shook his head without saying more.

After exiting the highway, they soon arrived at the entrance of Difen Park. The driver parked the car, and everyone got out. Glancing across the street, Li Kun noticed a building with a sign reading “Kangtai Life Insurance.” He didn’t think much of it and followed Old Ma and the others into an ice cream shop. Ꞧἁ𐌽Ŏ₿ÈS̈

About ten minutes later, outside the park entrance, Huang Ji stepped out of Old Wang’s car holding a bag of oranges. Shortly after, Lin Li, Xiao Zha, and others joined him.

By this point, Xiao Zha had returned the 4 million yuan and abandoned the car. Zhang Junwei had picked him up, as the car Xiao Zha had driven back belonged to Cao Jing.

The five of them gathered, sitting in the car eating oranges.

Ever since Huang Ji had tried these southern oranges, he couldn’t stop eating them. Sweet, juicy, and packed with nutrients, they were completely different from the oranges back in his hometown.

Zhang Junwei and Xiao Zha, after eating a few, switched to buying ice creams.

Huang Ji, who had never had ice cream before, found it delicious at first taste. However, he quickly put it down, knowing it wasn’t good for his health—it could affect fertility and weaken the immune system if consumed in excess.

He handed it back to Zhang Junwei after tasting it briefly. “Here, you can have mine.”

Zhang Junwei was surprised. “Boss, you don’t like it?”

Seeing that Huang Ji had been holding the ice cream for a while without taking a bite, he thought he didn’t enjoy it.

“No, I like it. But not now. You can have it,” Huang Ji said with a smile.

“Thanks, Boss.” Zhang Junwei grinned, assuming Huang Ji was being generous because he saw how much he liked it. Happily, he licked the ice cream.

What Zhang Junwei didn’t know was that Huang Ji had already “tasted” it—with his eyes.

Most of the time, Huang Ji would block out such sensory information. But when he wanted, he could access it freely.

No matter what delicacy it was, Huang Ji could “taste” it just by seeing it. Though it didn’t provide nutrition, it satisfied his curiosity. As for harmful foods, he could savor them daily without any risk—even poisons couldn’t harm him. The only way to harm him would be with light itself.

“They’re here! Is that the truck?”

Xiao Zha’s sharp eyes caught sight of a large truck pulling up to the park entrance. It stopped outside an ice cream shop where Old Ma and his crew had arrived 20 minutes earlier.

“Boss! Ice cream delivery!” The truck driver honked twice quickly, then held the horn for a long blast.

Shortly after, a roller shutter door opened on the side of the warehouse, and one of Old Ma’s confidants stepped out.

“Alright, we’ve got Pure Crisps, Cute Cones, Green Tongues, Choco Sticks, Old-Fashioned Popsicles… Ten boxes of ice cream cones and six boxes of popsicles. That’s forty boxes in total. All six flavors are included,” said the delivery crew as two men stepped out holding a clipboard and started counting.

The confidant nodded. “Forty boxes, right? Start unloading.”

“Not so fast. The popsicles were a last-minute addition to the order, made via a sudden call from your boss. I had to go out of my way to get them. The original order didn’t include them, and we haven’t discussed payment,” said the man with the clipboard.

“Our boss is upstairs. You can go talk to him. Just turn the truck around and pull it into the back warehouse.”

“Got it.”

The two groups conversed naturally as the truck began reversing to unload. Nearby vendors selling snacks and drinks at the park entrance paid no attention.

Old Wang’s group, observing from a distance, knew a transaction was about to take place in that warehouse. It was obvious the “ice cream” in those boxes wasn’t ordinary. Each box probably contained some “white powder” hidden within.

“So this is how they do it,” said Xiao Zha. “Looks just like a regular ice cream delivery.”

Old Wang laughed. “What did you think? Two gangs meeting in some remote field, shifty-eyed and exchanging boxes? That’d be suicide in this country. In the U.S., though, they can occasionally pull it off because they’re heavily armed. Worst-case scenario, they settle things with bullets. Back when I was in the States, I saw shootouts every month. Those gangs over there are hardcore.”

Huang Ji glanced at him and said, “Doesn’t that make them easier to deal with?”

“Ah?” Old Wang was dumbfounded.

But after thinking about it, he realized it made sense. Huang Ji was, after all, the most adept person he had ever seen at controlling the situation and manipulating enemies as if they were mere pawns in his game.

Lin Li quickly recognized two of the people present—they were under Jin Ya, the very people Huang Ji had instructed him to follow earlier.

“You actually managed to lure Jin Ya here. Boss, are you planning to make them fight?” Zhang Junwei asked while licking his ice cream.

“They won’t fight. At most, it’ll be a standoff. Old Ma’s main goal is to flush out the mastermind while setting a trap for them. As for Jin Ya, he doesn’t even know what’s going on. He’s mainly here to see if he can gain any advantage,” Huang Ji replied.

Xiao Zha chimed in, “So Old Ma didn’t bring any money, right?”

“No, he definitely brought the money. If you want to lure the snake out of its hole, you can’t win without bait. Only by genuinely bringing the money will the others believe there’s a real transaction,” Huang Ji explained.

He was fully aware that Old Ma had, in front of his six confidants, prepared six million yuan in cash and placed it in Tielong’s car. If Old Ma didn’t do this, he wouldn’t be able to fool those confidants, and there wouldn’t be any chance to expose the mole.

A six-million-yuan deal was highly unusual; such a large transaction would never occur under normal circumstances. But with Old Ma personally overseeing it, anything less wouldn’t be convincing.

Seeing Old Ma’s confidants and the truck, Jin Ya immediately concluded there was indeed a transaction happening here. As soon as the truck drove into the alley and into the back warehouse, Jin Ya’s men acted before the two confidants could shut the door.

“Don’t move! Don’t say a word!” Jin Ya’s men rushed out, instantly subduing the two.

Xiaodao, who had been guarding the staircase to the second floor of the warehouse, heard the commotion and came down to check. He froze at the sight, only to be ambushed by someone who locked him in a chokehold.

Moments later, he felt a hard object press against his back—it was a gun. Unable to resist, he was dragged to a corner of the warehouse.

Recognizing one of the intruders as Ah Meng, a subordinate of Jin Ya, Xiaodao thought grimly, “D***, it’s an ambush!” He glared at Ah Meng furiously.

Ah Meng, meanwhile, led a few others onto the truck and yanked the driver out.

“You…” The driver tried to shout but immediately went silent when someone pressed a gun against him.

Jin Ya’s men had come prepared. The other two supply-side individuals were also subdued. They looked around but saw no one from Old Ma’s side stepping forward to explain. Furious, they shouted, “What the hell is this?!”

“It’s Old Ma’s orders,” Ah Meng replied. “Recently, things have been tough, and cash flow is tight. We have no choice but to borrow some goods from you. We’ll pay it back later!”

“F***!” The supply-side individuals’ faces darkened.

This was classic betrayal. No matter the excuse, there was no such thing as “borrowing goods” in this business. Borrowing meant no repayment—it was outright robbery.

After that, two lackeys climbed into the truck and drove it away.

Once the truck was gone, Ah Meng shut the warehouse doors to block the view from outside.

After doing so, he turned back and made a throat-slitting gesture. It was obvious Jin Ya’s men intended to kill the suppliers. With the goods gone and the people dead, there would be no way to prove anything.

“!!!” The suppliers were horrified upon seeing this.

At that moment, two guards at the staircase were suddenly kicked away. Old Ma’s remaining men charged down from the second floor, with Old Ma himself wielding a shotgun.

Ah Meng was startled. Taking cover, he barked, “Kill them first!”

Even with Old Ma’s men fighting back, it wouldn’t matter. As long as the suppliers died, Old Ma’s reputation would be ruined, no matter how he tried to explain himself later. This was supposed to be his transaction, after all—his credibility would be destroyed.

Just as Ah Meng issued his command, another voice rang out: “Stop! Everyone, stand down!”

Hearing this, Jin Ya’s lackeys froze. It was Jin Ya’s voice.

The warehouse doors creaked open.

Tielong entered, holding Jin Ya as a hostage.

Jin Ya wore a miserable expression as he shouted, “Everyone, stop! Don’t do anything rash!”

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