Top Grade Pure Beauty CEO

Chapter 235 Bandits

Li Xiaoyao furrowed his brow and immediately asked, "Where are you?"

"At the suburban outlet, enough said. Wait for me outside when you get there; I’m going to catch the criminals," Ye Qinglian said before hanging up the phone.

Without any hesitation, Li Xiaoyao hopped into his Land Rover, activated the GPS, and headed towards the suburban outlet mall.

...

The suburban outlet mall was a massive shopping center built just last year. Although the mall was located in the suburbs, its daily foot traffic was no less than that of the city center.

As a leading discount retailer, outlets had branches all over the world, and each branch was adored by the local residents upon opening.

Some time ago, Ling City’s police had received information that a brazen gang of criminals had entered the city.

This gang of criminals was ruthless, and they had an arsenal of weapons and ammunition at their disposal.

They were indeed highwaymen of the rivers and lakes.

The police force immediately tightened security throughout Ling City, in an attempt to find the gang at the earliest opportunity.

The criminals had bad luck; they had come here to buy some clothes, but got into a fight with a woman’s boyfriend after harassing her.

The result was that the criminals, temperamental and quick to anger, beat him up without a second thought.

The other side wasn’t someone to be trifled with either, as with a phone call, they summoned other friends who were shopping nearby.

As the two groups faced off, everyone thought the situation would peter out. But unexpectedly, the criminals suddenly pulled out guns, instantly intimidating their opponents.

Such actions, however, alerted the police force.

At this moment, seven criminals were holed up in the BOOS men’s clothing store, holding eight staff and thirteen hostages, negotiating with the police.

"Captain Ding, what do we do?" Outside the men’s clothing store, five police cars were parked, blocking the store’s entrance with the vehicles side on.

Captain Ding, peering through a compact telescope, tried to analyze the situation through the glass windows, but the criminals were sly; the entire storefront was shrouded by curtains, with not a single shadow visible from the outside.

Captain Ding put away his telescope, his eyebrows knit tightly, and said, "Let’s negotiate first, stabilize their emotions. These criminals have blood on their hands, and angering them will definitely lead to casualties."

After speaking, Captain Ding asked, "Have we gotten in touch with Chief Zhu?"

The policeman beside him shook his head, saying, "Chief Zhu isn’t in the city; he’s gone to the neighboring city for a research exchange."

"Of all times, this has to happen when Chief Zhu is away," Captain Ding’s frown deepened, and he continued, "Contact Director Miao and Chief Wang, and report the situation here to them."

The policeman said, "We’ve already made contact; Director Miao and Chief Wang are on their way here."

"Put through the call, I want to speak with them."

The policeman immediately dialed and handed the phone to Captain Ding.

Captain Ding took the phone and directly asked, "Director Miao, this is Ding Shaochun. Do you have any instructions?"

Director Miao replied, "I have been informed of the situation. What you need to do now is stabilize the emotions of the criminals. Whatever their demands, agree verbally. Do not provoke them at any cost; the priority is to do everything possible to ensure the safety of the hostages."

"Alright, I understand."

After hanging up, Captain Ding repeated Director Miao’s instructions.

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Hearing them, the policemen stood in silence.

Ye Qinglian, in her police uniform, now approached and scoffed, "Against such scum, we should just shoot to kill."

Captain Ding replied with a wry smile, shaking his head, "Deputy Chief Ye, you’ve seen the situation. We simply don’t have a chance to kill them. Let’s try to stabilize them first."

Ye Qinglian said, "I’ll go and negotiate with them."

Captain Ding responded, "No, it’s not your turn; you’re a woman. I’ll go."

After speaking, Captain Ding took a loudhailer and stepped forward, shouting, "Listen up inside, you can make any demands, but you must not harm anyone. That is our police force’s bottom line."

A moment later, a rough voice came from inside.

"Our demands are simple: provide us with a helicopter and fifty million in cash."

Upon hearing this demand, all the policemen were enraged.

Ding shook with anger and said, "What an outrageous demand."

The criminal let out a cold snort and taunted, "I’m giving you half an hour. Each minute you delay, I’ll kill a person."

"Don’t kill anyone, I will report your demands and try to meet them as much as possible." Ding walked back, slammed the megaphone on the ground hard, "Fuck, a bunch of son of a bitches."

Just after he finished cursing, another voice came from inside.

"Now, prepare two packs of cigarettes for us, along with some food and alcohol, then have someone deliver them."

"Okay, we’ll prepare everything right away."

Ding turned his head and ordered, "Prepare the cigarettes and food immediately."

Minutes later, everything was ready, but it was too much for one person to carry.

Ding looked over the faces of several policemen and asked, "Who will go in?"

Ye Qinglian was the first to stand up, "I’m a woman. If I deliver it, their guard will be lower."

Ding wanted to refuse because he liked Ye Qinglian; he didn’t want to see her in danger.

But he found himself unable to refuse because everything Ye Qinglian said made sense.

"Ding, I’ll go!" A policeman stood up, his expression determined.

Ding was silent for a few seconds and finally nodded, "Alright, you two go."

Just then, Ye Qinglian’s phone rang; it was Li Xiaoyao calling.

Ye Qinglian walked away, speaking in a hushed voice, "What is it?"

"Are you busy?"

"Spit it out if you’ve got something to say, I’m busy catching criminals here," Ye Qinglian said impatiently.

"So you’re catching bad guys, huh? Officer Ye really is a good police officer for the people."

"If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up." Ye Qinglian was in no mood for Li Xiaoyao’s playfulness.

"Hey, wait, it’s important." Li Xiaoyao asked, "Where are you? I’ll come over and give you an invitation."

Ye Qinglian paused and asked, "An invitation? What invitation? Are you and Zhu Xiaoyue getting married?"

"No, it’s not that..."

"Oh... dadada!"

Just as Ye Qinglian responded, suddenly, a barrage of gunfire erupted from the men’s clothing store.

"Where are you?"

"I’m at the outlets on the outskirts of the city. No more talk; I’ll wait for you outside when you get here. I’m off to catch some criminals." Ye Qinglian hung up after speaking.

"What’s going on? Why is there gunfire?" Ye Qinglian asked, her face darkening.

Ding shook his head, indicating he didn’t know either.

Picking up the megaphone, Ding shouted, "Why did you fire?"

The criminal inside yelled back, "When is the stuff we asked for coming? If it doesn’t come soon, the next round won’t be hitting plastic dummies."

The policemen let out a sigh of relief, realizing it was just a plastic mannequin that was shot.

Ye Qinglian shouted, "We’ve got the things ready, we’re going to deliver them now."

"Good, come now."

Ye Qinglian and the policeman put on earpieces and a miniature camera on their chests to observe the situation inside.

After gearing up, the two of them carried the food, drinks, and cigarettes, and took steps towards the men’s clothing store.

[Third release, seek recommendation votes]