HLM – Chapter 972 Die Hard

Wang Bo glanced at Atulu and broke into a smile.

“Boss, stop smiling. With the situation we’re in, you can still smile?” Atulu looked at Wang Bo—who was tied up like a rice dumpling—and wore a helpless expression.

Wang Bo said, “Be optimistic, buddy. We’re not about to be executed. Why shouldn’t we smile? There’s still a bright tomorrow waiting for us!”

“Mr. Mayor is way too optimistic.”

“My god, I want to cry. Lord above, I came here for a vacation—why am I going through this?!”  Two tourists spoke one after another.

There were another four tourists tied up just as tightly. Because they had been crying and shouting earlier, their mouths were gagged and now they could only silently shed tears.

This was why Wang Bo was smiling—his goal was achieved. He had regrouped with the kidnapped tourists.

There were six kidnapped tourists in total. With the two of them, that made eight people, all placed inside a hastily built wooden shed, tied up securely. There were no Māori guards outside.

Clearly, Eva was right—these were just a band of rabble. They dared to kidnap people and raid a gold mine not because they were brave, but because ignorance breeds fearlessness.

After kidnapping people, the Māori thought that tying them up was enough and they could just negotiate with the government afterward. They didn’t even consider whether the captives might escape.

Of course, the tourists had no way to run at the moment.

Wang Bo looked at the others with great interest and said, “This is going to blow up into something big. Do you believe it?”

“Of course,” Atulu sighed. “New Zealanders are definitely going to condemn us Māori all over again. We’re miserable—we’re always blamed for everything.”

Wang Bo said, “Who knows, this might become a historical event. We might all become part of history.”

“Yeah, but I’d rather be a bystander in a historic event. These Māori are too fierce. I heard they even eat people!”

“Damn it! If I had my gun, I’d fight these sons of bitches to the end!” a burly white tourist shouted angrily.

At that moment, a Māori happened to walk by outside. He rushed in and kicked Atulu. “You traitorous dog! How dare you shout?!”

Atulu was struck by disaster out of nowhere. “***** What the hell—I didn’t say anything…” he cried.

The man kicked him again. “You’re the one screaming now, aren’t you?!”

Atulu was so wronged he wanted to cry.

Fortunately, he was experienced at getting beaten. He curled up quickly to protect his chest and abdomen, using his back to absorb the blows.

But just as he curled up, the attacker suddenly collapsed beside him with a thump.

Atulu thought the guy had a seizure or something, but when he looked up, he saw Wang Bo flexing his wrist, rubbing his hand as he muttered, “Damn, this guy’s skull is tough. Should’ve used a rock.”

“Y-You… your rope?” a tourist asked, eyes wide with shock.

Wang Bo put a finger to his lips, then pointed at the round, fat cat on the ground. “That’s why, folks, it’s never a bad idea to keep a cat. They might save your life someday.”

Da Pang and Er Pang were on the ground fighting over the ropes. As Pallas’s cats, their claws were sharp as knives; with one swipe, a rope snapped cleanly!

“Da Pang and Er Pang are here?” Atulu asked in delight.

While untying him, Wang Bo said, “Zhuang Ding must’ve brought them. Letting him go earlier was a brilliant move.”

Once everyone was freed, Wang Bo signaled for silence and said, “Relax, I’m here to save you. In Sunset Town, you don’t need to fear anything—your lives are absolutely safe.”

“I thought I was going to die here,” a middle-aged white man said tearfully.

Wang Bo continued comforting them. “Don’t overthink it. Just treat this as a police training exercise.”

“Then how do we get out?” the burly white tourist asked.

Wang Bo motioned for them to calm down. “Here are two options. One, the helicopter comes in to pick us up. Two, we coordinate from inside and fight our way out!”

“For God’s sake, Mr. Mayor, let’s just escape quickly. Don’t talk about fighting in or fighting out—I don’t want to take risks,” a tourist said with a crying face.

Wang Bo sighed. “Fine, seems you guys lack adventurous spirit.”

The burly white man objected, “New Zealanders lack adventure. We Australians aren’t afraid! I vote we fight our way out. Let these damned Māori taste our strength!”

Atulu felt doubly attacked. “Fuck, do Australians have grapefruits in their heads instead of brains?!”

Wang Bo punched him. “Shut up. Keep your voices down. Alright, everyone sit tight. I’ll contact the outside and have them rescue us.”

He pulled out his phone and called Uncle Bing.

Everyone stared in shock at the phone. Atulu weakly asked, “Boss… your phone is still with you?”

Wang Bo shrugged. “Always has been. I hid it in my shoe. Those idiots took my gun and left without searching me.”

When the call showed Wang Bo’s number, Uncle Bing was stunned. About to board the helicopter, he quickly found Eva and handed the phone to her.

“This is the New Zealand Emergency Operations Command Center. I’m the commander’s secretary, hello—”

“Cut it out. It’s me, your man. This isn’t those stupid Māori forcing me to call,” Wang Bo interrupted immediately—he recognized Eva’s voice at once.

Eva froze with the same expression as Uncle Bing. “Darling? How are you still using your phone? Oh—are the Māori forcing you to call?”

Wang Bo said, “No. I hid the phone. They didn’t find it. Don’t waste time. We’ve untied ourselves. Is there any way you can rescue us?”

Eva answered with frustration, “The mountain terrain is complicated. The helicopter can’t land quickly. I planned to send Uncle Bing and the team to do a low-altitude parachute jump, put pressure on the Māori with force, and then land the helicopter in an open area to extract you.”

“But now that’s not needed. Listen carefully, darling. I’ll send a helicopter to harass them. You’re on the hillside of the camp, right? Look to the east—you’ll see a gentle slope.”

“So when the helicopter draws the Māori’s attention away, you find a way to escape to that slope. A helicopter will pick you up there. Any problems?”

“No problem. But are you sure you can hold the Māori off?”

“Of course I can!”