Chapter 520: Rescue at Sea

At 5:00 p.m., before the end of the workday, Li Yi left the office!

However, he didn’t return to Cloud Peak No. 1. Instead, escorted by Iron Eagle and his men, he headed to the Green Dragon Society’s headquarters—Wan Chai Pier!

The reason for coming here was that Li Yi had just received a call from Li Futao, who said the kidnappers had contacted them again that afternoon.

According to Li Futao, the kidnappers demanded that they have the entire ransom ready by 6:00 p.m. and then wait for their call.

Li Yi surmised that the kidnappers might attempt to make a deal with the Li family tonight, so he decided to personally head over to Wan Chai Pier to oversee the situation—after all, rescuing the hostage would still require the help of Huang Lixing and his team.

When Li Yi arrived at Huang Lixing’s office, Huang had just closed a deal and was in high spirits.

Seeing Li Yi walk in, he immediately said with a smile, “What brings you here?”

Li Yi replied immediately, “Chairman Li just called me. He said the kidnappers have contacted them. I think those kidnappers will make their move tonight!”

The look of excitement on Huang Lixing’s face vanished instantly, and he asked, “So what do we do now?”

“Have you finished investigating the situation on the ship?”

“We’ve almost finished. From what we know so far, there are nine kidnappers in total, all related to each other. Three of them have a history in the underworld, but they’re just small-time thugs—no one’s heard of them!”

“Do they have guns?”

“We haven’t found any yet, but we can’t rule it out—after all, it’s incredibly easy to get a gun on Hong Kong Island!”

“Then we’ll have to be even more careful!”

“Right. We also uncovered a new lead during our investigation: at the same time they bought that fishing boat, the kidnappers also purchased a modified small speedboat and an N-class yacht. However, we’re not entirely sure where those two vessels are right now.”

Li Yi thought for a moment and said, “If I’m not mistaken, that speedboat is what they’ll use to transport the ransom to the fishing boat. After all, they can’t get very far in that little speedboat. We just need to keep an eye on the large fishing boat!”

“Exactly. If we keep an eye on the big boat, the small one will have to come to us!”

At that moment, Li Yi asked again, “By the way, when you’re out at sea, how do you communicate between vessels?”

“We use walkie-talkies for short distances, and radios when we’re too far apart!” Huang Lixing explained.

“Can you guarantee real-time communication?”

“Yes. In our line of work, we could run into anti-smuggling squads or foreign coast guards at any moment. That’s why the lead boat has to be able to contact the cargo fleet immediately to let them know when to take cover!” Huang Lixing explained.

“That puts my mind at ease…”

Just then, the phone on Huang Lixing’s desk suddenly rang.

Huang Lixing didn’t dare delay and quickly picked up the phone. After just a few words, his expression changed.

Without hanging up, Huang Lixing turned directly to Li Yi and said, “That large fishing vessel is showing signs of activity. Someone just loaded a large amount of supplies onto it—dozens of barrels of diesel alone!”

“Looks like they’re really planning to make a run for it tonight!” Li Yi said calmly.

“What should we do?”

“No need to rush. It’s not dark yet; the kidnappers probably won’t make their move at this hour!”

Li Yi continued, “As soon as it gets dark, have our boats move to the outer perimeter of Sanjia Village Pier. The large vessel will stand by 70 nautical miles southwest of Sanjia Village. As for the speedboats, one will keep watch on that ship, while the rest will be stationed every 10 nautical miles!”

“As soon as we get word that the kidnappers have released the hostage, we’ll rush in, intercept that large ship, and seize the ransom!”

“Got it!”

Without delay, Huang Lixing began making arrangements according to Li Yi’s plan!

……….

At 6:00 p.m., Li Yi had just finished dinner with Huang Lixing when he received a call from Li Futao!

According to Li Futao, the kidnappers had just contacted the Li family again. They demanded that the Li family load all the ransom money into a van of a specific make.

They were to drive the van directly to the freight terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui. Once there, the driver was not to turn off the engine but simply get out of the vehicle.

The kidnappers also promised that as long as they received the money and confirmed everyone’s safety, they would definitely release the hostage.

However, Li Futao clearly had no confidence in the kidnappers’ promise. If they took the ransom and didn’t release the hostage, wouldn’t they end up losing both the money and the hostage?

So Li Futao called Li Yi to ask what they should do next.

Without hesitation, Li Yi told Li Futao to simply follow the kidnappers’ instructions and not worry about anything else.

A few minutes later, Li Futiao called again to say the truck had already set off.

Li Yi immediately ordered Huang Lixing to set out with the fleet, while he remained at Wan Chai Pier to command the operation in person.

Forty minutes later, Li Yi received a message from Huang Lixing stating that all speedboats had reached their designated positions.

At 8:00 p.m., Li Yi received another call from Li Futao!

He reported that the kidnappers had driven the truck loaded with cash away and taken it directly to the Tsim Sha Tsui cargo terminal, where all the cash had been transferred onto a speedboat.

Less than ten minutes later, Li Yi received a telegram from Huang Lixing, who was stationed on the outskirts of San Jia Village, reporting that the suspicious fishing boat had set sail.

Knowing that Li Yunbao was still on board, Li Yi instructed Huang Lixing and his team not to act rashly, but simply to keep a safe distance and monitor the fishing boat from afar.

He also instructed Huang Lixing and his team not to get too close; once they were within 10 nautical miles, they were to hand over the task to other speedboats to avoid alerting the target.

Less than an hour later, Huang Lixing sent another telegram, reporting that a speedboat had met up with the large fishing vessel. They remained stationary for over ten minutes, after which the speedboat was abandoned and everyone boarded the large vessel, heading out toward international waters.

The kidnappers clearly weren’t yet certain they were out of danger, so they hadn’t released the hostages. Li Yi still couldn’t let Huang Lixing and the others board to rescue them, so he could only have them continue following.

At 11:30 p.m., just as Li Yi and his team were growing restless, he received a telegram from Huang Lixing via dxmbang, reporting that the kidnappers had finally released the hostages.

They had placed Li Yunbao, who was on the verge of death from starvation, onto a rubber dinghy and left him there, while the kidnappers continued sailing deeper into the open sea. Li Yunbao had now been rescued.

Upon hearing the news, Li Yi knew it was time to close in!

Without a moment’s hesitation, he immediately ordered Huang Lixing to have all vessels close in and intercept the kidnappers’ boat!

Out on the high seas, Zhang Chengzhi and his crew were discussing how to split the loot.

Just 10 minutes earlier, they had finally released their “hostage,” Li Yunbao.

The reason they released him at this time was mainly because they had received a telegram from their informant stationed on Hong Kong Island. After confirming that neither the garrison nor the Special Police Force had made a move, they finally believed that the Li family had indeed refrained from reporting the incident out of concern for their son’s life.

However, after confirming their safety and receiving the ransom, they began to disagree on how to deal with Li Yunbao.

Zhang Chengyong and his second older brother, Zhang Chengzhong, argued that they should simply kill Li Yunbao, since he already knew their identities.

If they killed him now and dumped his body in international waters, no one but them would ever know who had kidnapped Li Yunbao.

However, this plan was met with strong opposition from Zhang Jiadong, who, after all, felt guilty toward Li Yunbao.

Li Yunbao had treated him like a brother, yet he had conspired with his father and uncles to kidnap him. As someone who had received a good education from a young age, Zhang Jiadong simply could not bring himself to kill him now.

In the end, it was Zhang Jiadong’s father, Zhang Chengzhi, who made the final call: they would throw Li Yunbao onto the rubber dinghy and leave him to fend for himself!

After carrying out their plan, they rushed back to the cabin, already fantasizing about escaping to Siam, starting a new life, and living like millionaires!

However, their joy was short-lived. Before long, they heard the faint sound of engines in the distance.

Before they could react, they saw several speedboats rapidly approaching their large vessel, each seemingly towing something behind them.

Immediately afterward, they heard the propeller seem to get tangled in something, and soon the entire ship lost power.

Then, the people on the speedboats threw grappling hooks and rope ladders over the side, hooking them onto the fishing boat’s hull. Using the ladders, they quickly climbed aboard…

………