A foreigner who'd originally been treated as just another custor in the little restaurant suddenly stood up at a mont this dangerous and tense. That really was hard to wrap your head around.
Lin Miaoke and the gangsters all stared at Xiaofan in front of them in surprise, their eyes full of confusion.
"You a cop too?" Snake Head asked warily.
"No, I'm not. I'm just a foreigner who just got to Huaxia for a trip. Never thought I'd run into sothing like this not long after getting off the plane." Xiaofan imdiately stated his identity.
"Boss, we can't trust him." Another thug said right away.
"Show proof. If you can't prove what you just said, I'll put a bullet through your skull right now." It was a life‑or‑death mont after all, and the cops hadn't brought a car. Snake Head decided he might as well hear what this unexpected guy had to say first.
"This is my passport, and here's my boarding pass showing I just arrived at the airport. Of course, you can also check my personal info on my phone, except it just got smashed by accident." As Xiaofan spoke, he laid the proof out on the table, then pointed at the phone that had been on the table while he was eating noodles and had now been blasted to pieces by wild gunfire.
With that proof, they more or less accepted Xiaofan's identity for the mont.
"You just said using one car is too risky. What's that supposed to an?" After confirming Xiaofan's identity, Snake Head continued to question him about what he'd said earlier.
Right now, Lin Miaoke's earpiece had already been taken off, all the comm gear on her had been destroyed, and the cops inside the restaurant had all been pulled back outside. So in here, apart from these unlucky hostages, the gangsters, and Xiaofan, the only cop who could hear Xiaofan's analysis was Lin Miaoke.
"It's obvious. If you all get in one car and take this policewoman as your hostage, you're not going to make it to any safe place. You'll all be taken out by snipers, and you are definitely going to be the first one to die." Bullshitting—Xiaofan had to hustle these guys properly.
"Snipers? You think I'm scared of sniper bullets? Hahaha!" Snake Head clearly had sharp instincts for gunfire. He laughed loudly at Xiaofan's suggestion.
His eyes were full of scorn, as if Xiaofan was so clueless amateur.
"You're not scared of one bullet. But what about three? Five? What if ten sniper rifles have you in their sights at the sa ti? Normally that might not happen, but cramd into that tiny car, it just might. No need to guess: while those cops outside are clearing you a route, they're also deploying special forces to snuff you out. When you're squeezed into a spot that barely fits one person, and that many rounds co at you at once, I don't believe you walk away from that."
After hearing Xiaofan's words, Snake Head and the others' faces turned a shade uglier.
That was the expression Xiaofan wanted. First step of the bluff: success.
But after listening to Xiaofan's analysis, Lin Miaoke's face looked much worse than those gangsters'.
Why? Because Xiaofan's breakdown was basically the sa as the standard police playbook. Ten snipers firing together was absolutely possible—maybe even more. For this guy to have such a clear read on police tactics, it was hard to believe he was "just" in Huaxia for tourism.
"So what? You think they're not afraid this pretty policewoman will die with us in a blaze of glory?" Snake Head looked shocked, but that didn't an he fully believed Xiaofan.
"See, that's exactly the problem. If you're all in one car, after the first shot is fired, the first to get hit will definitely be the driver. Driver gets shot, whether he dies or is just wounded, the result's the sa: the car imdiately goes out of control. Out of control ans either hard brake or rollover. And since they're used to working together, the policewoman will make sure she protects herself first. In that chaos, she'll do everything she can to stay alive."
"Who'd take a risk that big?"
"Of course, I'm not saying she's guaranteed to survive. But even if the policewoman dies in the process, that's just dying a hero on duty. You think soone with the guts to negotiate a hostage swap doesn't also have the backbone to die in the line of duty? Either way, whether she lives or dies, once the driver's hit and the car stops, you guys get surrounded. In that hail of bullets, there's only one ending waiting for you."
When he finished, all that remained for everyone was shock.
Every word was dead on. Lin Miaoke stared blankly at Xiaofan—this was exactly the whole plan she'd had in mind when she proposed swapping hostages. And now it had been completely seen through by this damn foreigner and laid out to the gangsters. Was this guy one of them too? Just putting on a show of "not knowing" each other and feeding them ideas?
"So what you're saying is, trading this policewoman for that little girl was a mistake, huh?" Snake Head glanced at Lin Miaoke, saw her staring at Xiaofan in astonishnt, and knew the foreigner had hit the mark. Then his gaze shifted to the little girl they'd just released, now off to the side, shaken badly and being held tightly in her mother's arms.
Seeing this, Xiaofan's eyes flickered coldly. This was the crucial step: if they insisted on taking the girl as a hostage again, things would get tricky. He had no choice but to keep talking, because they were starting to buy what he was selling.
"No. You can't take that little girl again." The mont Lin Miaoke saw Snake Head move toward the girl, she suddenly shouted.
"You think I'm an idiot? Let you cops play to death, one step at a ti?" Snake Head said with contempt.
Just when it looked like the problem she'd just solved was going to work out, this foreigner had completely scrambled everything. Lin Miaoke was at a loss and glared angrily at the damned foreigner.
But Xiaofan absolutely wasn't going to let them take the little girl. Everything he'd said so far was to get them to trust him.
"Tough luck for you." In the end, Snake Head still chose the safer route and planned to drag the girl back as their escape hostage.
"I already said it: leaving in one car is too dangerous, and even taking the little girl doesn't guarantee you get away. So I've got a suggestion. I don't know if you're willing to hear it." Xiaofan spoke up again, slowly.
Whether it worked or not ca down to this last con. But when it ca to a battle of wits, up to now Xiaofan hadn't really t many equals. And as long as they were willing to listen, it ant his hustle was already halfway there.
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