"Don't you feel that China nowadays is generally restless? Everyone wants to make quick money, traps and scams are everywhere. Take mobile phones for example—out of ten calls you receive, nine are sales or fraud. And look downstairs—"
Fang Chao held a gun, standing by the hotel room window. He parted the curtains slightly and pointed at the shops across the street. "See? Real estate agencies, prostate treatments, free tours, cosmetic surgeries, all kinds of financing schemes, and pyramid selling. These are the only shops left on the market. Rent is too expensive; honest businesses have all shut down. The ones that survive rely entirely on scams! But the most infuriating is that foot massage shop at the intersection!"
Liu Zhi, who had been packing his bag, stopped and asked curiously, "What's wrong with the foot massage place?"
"I went there last night, and they actually gave me a foot massage!"
"What else would they do?"
Fang Chao turned around and checked his fake beard and wig in the mirror. "A real foot massage place," he said quietly, "doesn't actually massage feet." He looked back at Liu Zhi's bewildered face and laughed, patting his shoulder. "Come on, after we pull this job, I'll take you to a real foot massage!"
Fang Chao secured the safety on his gun and hid it behind his waist. Liu Zhi shouldered his backpack. Both were disguised so thoroughly even their parents wouldn't recognize them. Calmly, they left the hotel, hailed a taxi, and headed straight to a suburban intersection. They walked through an alley, emerged onto a main road, took a long detour, and finally arrived at a T-junction.
On the opposite corner stood a medium-sized private gold shop—the target they had scouted for days.
After observing the surroundings, Fang Chao checked his watch. It was 4:30 p.m., and the city's evening rush hour would soon begin. Right on schedule, he pulled out his phone and dialed.
Seconds later, five kilometers away in the city center, a loud "boom" erupted near a flower bed outside a bank. A holly tree as thick as a fist was blown in half, and two nearby electric bikes were flung meters away. Thick smoke billowed as passersby screamed in panic. A hundred meters away, a female driver lost control of her car, causing a multi-vehicle pileup.
Soon after, similar small-scale explosions occurred on two other busy streets downtown.
Within minutes, emergency calls flooded the police station. Terror threats always took top priority, and soon, police units across the city rushed to the three scenes.
Ten minutes later, Fang Chao opened a navigation app and saw the city's main roads turn red—gridlocked. He chuckled, nodded at Liu Zhi, and whispered, "Let's move."The two men put on rubber gloves and strode toward the jewelry store. Just before entering the surveillance zone near the entrance, they quickly pulled out plastic masks and put them on. Liu Zhi took out two stickers printed with "Closed for Renovation" and slapped them onto the glass doors on either side. They slipped inside, shut the door behind them, and sprang into action—Fang Chao brandished a pistol while Liu Zhi drew a long dagger. Both lunged at the three unsuspecting female clerks, shouting threateningly, "Nobody move! This is a robbery! Stay still, or we’ll shoot!"
Fang Chao kept his gun trained on the scene to maintain control, while Liu Zhi gripped his dagger with one hand, grabbed one of the clerks, and shoved all three into a corner near the counter. He ordered them to crouch down with their hands clasped behind their heads.
In the blink of an eye, the jewelry store was under their control. Fang Chao stepped forward calmly, sweeping his gun over the heads of the three women as he spoke in a measured tone, "Don’t be afraid. Just cooperate. Hand over the keys to the display cases, and we’ll leave as soon as we take what we need. No one gets hurt."
The three women huddled together, trembling uncontrollably, too terrified to even lift their heads.
Seeing their lack of response, Liu Zhi quickly lost patience. Waving his dagger, he roared, "You hear me? Hand over the damn keys now! I’ll count to three—if you don’t, someone dies! One—"
"Steady. Violence won’t solve anything," Fang Chao interrupted. His approach was entirely different from Liu Zhi’s—he believed robbery required brains, with violence only as a backup. So he adopted his usual composed demeanor, speaking to them in a reasonable tone. "I’m sure this is your first time in a situation like this. You’re scared, and you’re wondering whether to hand over the keys. But think about it—how much do you earn working here? Is it worth risking your lives for your boss’s money? Remember: your life is yours, but the money belongs to the boss."
One of the women weakly raised her head. "I am the boss."
Fang Chao swallowed hard, then raised his gun and fired. With a loud bang , a nearby glass display case shattered into pieces. The three women’s legs gave way, and they collapsed to the floor in terror. The owner, shaking, pulled out the keys and held them high above her head. Liu Zhi snatched them away, muttering, "Should’ve just fired earlier and been done with it."
Following their plan, Fang Chao kept his gun trained on the clerks while Liu Zhi gathered the valuables. The entire operation wasn’t supposed to exceed three minutes. When the time was up, Fang Chao saw Liu Zhi’s backpack already bulging—any more weight would hinder their escape, so they reluctantly left the remaining jewelry behind. With a wave of his hand, Fang Chao signaled Liu Zhi, who zipped up the bag, then swiftly bound the women with rope and sealed their mouths with tape.
The two men took a deep breath, straightened their postures to feign composure, and strode quickly out of the jewelry store.
Half an hour later, a friend from a neighboring shop dropped by and rescued the three trapped women. The police were immediately called, but at the time, all officers were tied up at a terrorist attack scene downtown, where traffic had ground to a standstill. It took over an hour before they arrived at the jewelry store.
That evening, news outlets, group chats, and police departments were all abuzz with discussions about the afternoon bombing. In comparison, the robbery at the small jewelry store—and the other crimes committed in the city that day—seemed insignificant.Fang Chao and Liu Zhi sat in their hotel room, staring blankly at a white jade God of Wealth statue inlaid with gold on the table, alongside a small pile of gold jewelry.
After a long silence, Fang Chao lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and sighed heavily. "I really don't get it. The first two times we robbed jewelry stores, it was indeed due to our lack of experience. We never expected those jade pieces labeled at tens or hundreds of thousands to be practically worthless, ending up sold by weight at cabbage prices. This time, we learned our lesson and went for gold—solid, reliable currency. After days of preparation, we picked our target, pulled off the heist, and then you pull this stunt! Instead of grabbing more gold, you stuff a twenty-pound God of Wealth statue into the bag? What the hell?"
Liu Zhi mumbled defensively, "I... I saw it placed right in the center, thought it must be valuable. Felt like Hetian jade to the touch."
"Hetian your ass! Twenty pounds of Hetian jade? A tiny shop the size of a fingernail—you think it's the Forbidden City or something?"
"I—"
Fang Chao shook his head, looking at him like he was beyond help. "In all of China, you're probably the only guy who robs a gold store and walks off with a God of Wealth statue."
Liu Zhi fell silent for a moment before snapping in frustration, "Fine, we'll just do it again next time! It's just a robbery, what's there to be scared of?"
"There won't be a next time." Fang Chao's brow furrowed. "Three times in a row using homemade explosives to distract the cops—you know what they say, 'third time's the charm.' One more job, and the police will definitely connect the dots."
"Then what? If we don't rob stores, what do we do?"
"Robbing shops is essentially betting our lives for money. One slip-up, and we're done for. It's not a sustainable plan! Neither of us has any real skills—getting a legit job is out of the question, and we're not cut out for business either. Looking back, we need a new approach, something easier that doesn't require capital!"
"Be gigolos?" Liu Zhi glanced at Fang Chao, then at himself, somewhat tempted. "I... I've never tried that. Not sure if it'd work."
"Work your ass!" Fang Chao smacked him on the head. "I'm saying robbing stores isn't the way. We switch targets—we rob people!"
Under Liu Zhi's curious gaze, Fang Chao pulled out a newspaper, flattened it, and pointed to a headline: "Corrupt Official's Home Looted of 10 Million, Too Afraid to Report." He sneered. "Ten million. Think about how many stores we'd have to rob to make that much. One corrupt official, and it's all ours! Pack up—tomorrow we head to Three Rivers Estuary and get rich off some crooked official."
"Why Three Rivers Estuary?" Three Rivers Estuary was a coastal county-level city in Zhejiang. While its economy was decent, it paled in comparison to the provincial capital, Hangzhou. Surely its corrupt officials wouldn't be as wealthy as Hangzhou's.
"Because Three Rivers Estuary is the safest." Fang Chao flipped the newspaper over and pointed to a small, inconspicuous article in the corner. "The deputy director of Three Rivers Estuary's Public Security Bureau has been missing for six months. They can't find him—even put out a missing person notice in the paper. Think about it—if the cops there can't even find their own boss, how are they gonna catch us? Joke's on them!"
Gao Dong, the deputy director of the Provincial Public Security Department, received an anonymous tip—one that implicated his arch-rival, Zhou Weidong.
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