Chapter 613: Chapter 613
If we’re talking about hostages, they already had three in their grasp.
Whether the three hostages were trapped in this house was a big question mark in the hearts of both Zhan Dapeng and Xiao Yebai.
In this moment of silence, Zhan Dapeng surveyed the environment inside the house. It was dark outside; when they drove up, they could only roughly make out that it was a two-story building.
Now, judging by the interior, the house seemed long neglected, its walls mottled and peeling. The staircase connecting the first and second floors was wooden, appearing somewhat rickety.
Zhan Dapeng walked over to the nearest window and, with the force of an iron rod, his fingers snapped off a section of the rotted wooden window lattice.
What was the purpose of summoning Xiao Yebai to this place?
An old house seemed easier to modify in appearance.
Suddenly, the floor made a cracking sound, and a platform rose from beneath.
With its red velvet surface, black frame and table legs, it had three chessboards set upon it. Looking closely, these chessboards were very strange, neither Go nor Chinese chess. It was impossible to guess which internationally recognized game they represented.
For Xiao Yebai, however, these chessboards were all too familiar; they could be said to be the nightmares of his childhood.
A voice accompanied the rising of the chessboards, Luo Ke’s voice, swirling around the room, "Win three games, and you can take the hostages with you."
Zhan Dapeng stood by the door and windows, his fingers gesturing to Xiao Yebai: ready to escape at any moment.
Xiao Yebai nodded, then looked up at the ceiling of the old house. Surely, there were cameras up there watching their every move. Therefore, if he and Zhan Dapeng tried any tricks, it would only provoke the other party to act.
Win three games of chess?
It wasn’t Chinese chess, nor Go, and since there was no opponent to play against, this couldn’t really be called chess; it was more of a puzzle-solving.
Back when he was young and had been kidnapped by this group, they would often present him with such chessboard puzzles to solve. Of course, the three Puzzle Boards they presented to him now were of a higher difficulty level.
Zhan Dapeng cast a distant gaze at the boards and couldn’t help frowning.
He certainly couldn’t decipher these Puzzle Boards, but, having been abducted alongside Xiao Yebai, he was familiar with them. To put it more vividly, in the whole world, only two people could solve these types of puzzles: one was Xiao Yebai, and the other was Mu, a man in a black hat.
Mu possessed a terrifying sixth sense like Zhang Sanfeng. However, unlike Zhang Sanfeng, who was not skilled in directly finding funds, Mu was adept at discovering hidden funds.
What are hidden funds?
Rich individuals use loopholes in policies of various nations to secretly transfer their wealth to safe places. But, just like all things in nature, if it has existed, it inevitably leaves behind traces of its passage.
The most ingenious ways to hide these traces involve manipulating various financial statements and shell companies, creating elaborate falsifications to direct investigating trackers into a fog of confusion.
The setup of the Puzzle Board was designed according to these methods of evading the hidden funds.
The multitude of chess pieces, flamboyantly colored, with no fewer than one hundred eighty different shades, filled seven hundred twenty-two chess squares. The task was to find, as quickly as possible, the sole path that connected the entry and exit points of the chessboard. The catch was, the locations of the chessboard’s exit and entry weren’t disclosed; one had to find them.
An old-fashioned pendulum clock hung on the crumbling wall of the old house, its pendulum swinging left and right. Only upon closer inspection did one realize that the clock, much like a countdown timer, had its hands moving backward. Read full story at 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡~𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢~𝙣𝙚𝙩