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Chapter 217: Chapter 186: Amateur Villain (Please Subscribe!)_1
To ensure absolute certainty, Tang Qing exchanged two more robots, adding to the existing six, one of which had been assigned to keep tabs on Wei Jun. This meant that in order to deal with these five kidnappers, seven personnel had been pulled into the situation from his uncle’s side.
Dammit, including two analysts and equipment, the total cost had already exceeded 18 million RMB. Talk about luxury! This was beyond ridiculous. Even Tang Qing felt he was going a bit over the top, but as the saying goes, better safe than sorry.
At this moment, he felt like he could claim reimbursement. That was a good idea - if the puppet master had any pull, they could gauge a good ’extortion’ deal. Who wouldn’t want to play the ’robber’ card once in a while, make a quick buck to plump up the wallet?
Of the seven bodyguards, two were on duty outside, keeping an eye on the minivan, while the other five had already entered the hotel, with two in the corridor and three in a room. There were already occupants in the room at Uncle’s side and across from him, but as long as they were on the same floor, there was no difference for the bodyguards.
He estimated these kidnappers were amateurs. They’ve been on watch at the door the whole time - if they had brains they’d simply book a room within the hotel. Ignorant, pig-headed opponents, Tang Qing thought; perhaps he had gone overboard sending so many robots to counter these buffoons.
However, half an hour later, nearing eleven o’clock, there was no movement from them. The streets were growing quieter and quieter, and the hotel owner was falling asleep. Tang Qing sat idly in the command room, lost in thought.
At eleven ten, Uncle was already asleep. Although they couldn’t see him, the guys in the command room were professionals and backed up with Little Two’s data, they could determine from his breathing patterns whether he was sleeping, pretending to sleep, or deeply asleep.
Just act already! Waiting is such a torment. Even if we’re not sleepy, we’re edgy from all this waiting, Tang Qing complained silently.
By eleven thirty, out of boredom, Tang Qing grabbed a packet of seeds from the hotel and began cracking them in the command room. He carefully collected the shells, in case the system ruthlessly deducted a hefty cleaning fee of one million RMB. That would be absurd. A packet of seeds costing one million RMB, hell no, he couldn’t afford that.
"Commander, they’re about to make a move." Tang Yi’s sudden voice aroused Tang Qing’s spirits. Finally, they’ve made a move. It’s a walk in the park, with the robots at hand; those guys wouldn’t even be able to touch Uncle’s door, so there was naturally nothing to worry about.
Tang Qing quickly walked over to the projection, looking at the two screens. 𝚗𝚘v𝚙𝚞b.𝚌𝚘m
Out of the minivan, one of them stayed in the vehicle, another pulled out a pistol from who-knows-where, stuck it in his waistband and headed for the hotel.
Upon seeing the gun, Tang Qing was taken aback – but only for a moment. What could a lousy handgun do? Even if the robots didn’t have guns, they would easily overpower these clearly amateur opponents.
Above Level 2, their predictive abilities and reaction speed left ordinary humans in despair. Most importantly, they had Little Two’s support. Support for what? Ballistic calculations, attack prediction - it’s as if they’re those doctors in Resident Evil 6, their predictive ability under Little Two’s supercomputer was unrivaled. These guys were nothing but trash.
Normally, these robots would not use this kind of service because they needed to apply for it from Little Two. This application process happened within milliseconds. Just like the two robots that fought with Tang Qing before, without his approval, they could not utilise Little Two’s predictive service in the command room.
When Tang Qing initially found out about this, he let Little Two enable this prediction function for the two robots. Boy, was he in for a surprise; he got badly beaten up, it was a total blow to his confidence.
In the end, he realized his actions and attacking strategies had long been stored in Little Two’s database. Any movement or facial expression he made, the robot would instantly know how to counter it. It was the most dreadful defeat he had ever had at the hands of the robots.
The most amazing part was, without the calculation support, he could easily force the two robots into defensive mode using his gun. But with Little Two’s calculation support, they were near invincible, especially when he was limited by the Level 1 gene lock. With their numerical advantage, or armed with an AK for a sweep, hitting them with a pistol was nearly impossible. Now, with their physical data far below 100, the robots were akin to bullying chicks.
Moreover, they would have no chance to use their guns.
Back to the point.
The four guys regrouped and entered the hotel together. The middle-aged hotel owner frowned upon seeing them enter and tensed up. Was it possible they were here to rob the place? But that thought swiftly passed. Having owned the hotel for many years, he had never experienced a robbery. Perhaps, he was just being paranoid....damn it.
Just as the owner pushed aside his suspicions, a gun was pointed at his forehead.
Immediately, the owner was in a state of confusion, his mouth twitching wildly. Experience deceived him once more.
"Please, gentlemen, spare me. You want money? I’ll give it to you," the middle-aged owner gasped, trembling with fear.
The main areas of the hotel were all bugged, so Tang Qing and his team could hear and, with the perspective of the robots opposite them, see everything clearly.
"Give me the key to room 307." said the gun-wielding man in a frosty tone.
"Ah.. yes yes, let me find it for you." The manager hastily rummaged through the drawer for the key, surrendering without a shred of dignity. Who wouldn’t be afraid of death? He was no exception.
In just a few seconds, the manager handed over the key with trembling hands. As a small business, the hotel had yet to transition to card keys. As to whether handing over the key would bring trouble, he couldn’t care less at the moment. If he didn’t comply, trouble would find him anyway, and there was no surveillance in here.
The gunman snatched the key with a derisive chuckle: "At least you know better. Remember, nothing happened here today. Number Three, watch him. We’re going to get our man."
"Yes, boss," replied a skinny member of the gang.
Listening to them, Tang Qing was completely convinced that these guys were amateurs. They were making such a mess of a simple capture. He had overestimated them.
After finishing his orders, the boss and the three others climbed the stairs to the third floor.
Once on the third floor, the boss halted, staring into the dimly lit hallway. For some reason, he felt a strange foreboding. The corridor seemed ready to swallow him whole.
"Boss, what’s up?" one of his men asked.
"Ah, nothing," the boss came back to his senses. Dismissing the sensation as a figment of his imagination, he thought to himself, ’who cares? Once this job is over, that hundred grand will see me through some good times.’
The other two men didn’t pry further into the boss’s cryptic remark. They were in the middle of a job, and less talk meant less scolding.
Saying no more, the boss approached room 307.
Unbeknownst to him, two silhouettes had silently appeared behind him. They were both robots who had descended from the upper floors. One of them glanced at the trio and headed downstairs directly.
A door creaked open to the boss’s right, startling them. The boss quickly hid his gun behind him, while the other two tensed their bodies, looking at the door.
A burly man who clearly wasn’t to be taken lightly walked out of room 303, eyeing them coldly. The boss didn’t dare utter a word, he stopped and waited for the man to leave.
After exchanging glances for a couple of seconds, the boss seemed to regain his wits. With an ingratiating smile, he said, "Sorry for blocking your way, sir. After you." Assuming that the man was heading downstairs, he made way.
The bodyguard smirked at their low-level attempts at intimidation. These men were nothing but butterflies. When he saw the sinister smile on the robot’s face, the boss instantly sensed something was wrong. He was about to pull out his gun to threaten them, but it was already too late.
Without giving them a chance to react, the bodyguard took a step forward and struck the boss in the neck, causing him instantly blackout. As the remaining thugs were just coming to their senses and trying to run, everything turned black, the other two were knocked unconscious by another bodyguard who had been waiting in the wings.
The whole process took less than two seconds.
Perfect.
That was Tang Qing’s assessment of the operation, even though it took a bit longer than expected.
PS: Thanks to all readers for your support, thank you!
