Hong Kong variety show: The mastermind behind the scenes is emerging.

December 8, 1983, late at night.

In a newly built upscale apartment building in Kowloon Tong.

The room was brightly lit, and melodious jazz music filled the spacious living room. On the table sat a freshly opened bottle of Lafite wine and top-quality sashimi flown in from Hokkaido.

Dai Fuqiang, wearing a loose silk bathrobe and holding a thick Cuban cigar, swayed slowly to the music.

Just a few days ago, he was washing smelly sheets in the dark and damp laundry room of Stanley Prison; now, he has returned to his luxurious world.

"Brother Qiang, cheers to celebrate your safe return!"

A woman in a deep V-neck evening gown, exuding elegance, walked over. She was Dai Fuqiang's wife, Aying, and the mastermind behind spending three million yuan on legal fees to pull him back from the brink of death.

"Cheers!"

Dai Fuqiang raised his wine glass and gently clinked it against Aying's. The scarlet wine shone with an alluring color under the light.

"Those damn cops, they think they can lock me up for eighteen years?" Dai Fuqiang sneered, downing his drink in one gulp. "I'm rich, so I can treat Hong Kong's laws like toilet paper! Seeing that Serious Crimes Superintendent get his comeuppance in court is ten times more satisfying than sleeping with a woman!"

"Brother Qiang, although we escaped unscathed this time, shouldn't we tone it down a bit?" His wife, Aying, sat on his lap and gently advised, "The 70 million we got in our share is enough for us to live on for several lifetimes. Why don't we immigrate to Canada..."

"Immigration? Containment?"

As if he had heard a joke, Dai Fuqiang suddenly grabbed his wife's chin, his eyes filled with a morbid fanaticism.

"I, Dai Fuqiang, was born for this! This time in jail, I wasn't afraid at all; on the contrary, I learned a lot. I've figured it out: in today's world, the most important thing is to use your brain! Next, I'll carefully study the loopholes in the law. As long as I plan a little more meticulously, Hong Kong Island will be my ATM!"

"Ring ring—"

Just as Dai Fuqiang was speaking confidently and brimming with self-assurance, a black landline phone in the corner of the living room suddenly rang.

Dai Fuqiang frowned, wondering who would be calling at this hour, but he still pushed Aying aside, walked over, and picked up the receiver.

"Hello, who is this?" Dai Fuqiang's voice was deep and tinged with wariness.

On the other end of the phone, there was a buzzing sound of electricity, followed by a cold, mechanical voice that had clearly been altered by a voice changer.

"Congratulations on regaining your freedom, tycoon."

"Who are you?" Dai Fuqiang's eyes sharpened upon hearing this.

Although many people knew he was being released from prison today, the person who managed to call his new home's landline so discreetly was definitely not an ordinary person.

"Who I am is not important," the mechanical voice said calmly. "What is important is that I know you are highly skilled and daring. I have a big business deal that I want to work with you on. If it goes well, you will get at least 300 million."

Three hundred million?!

Dai Fuqiang's fingers, holding a cigar, paused slightly. He had risked his life to steal an armored truck, and even then, he only received tens of millions in his share. And this other party was offering a guaranteed profit of three hundred million right off the bat?

"Friend, looking for fun in the middle of the night, huh?" Dai Fuqiang sneered. "Do you know who I am? Playing tricks on me could cost you your life."

"Of course I know who you are."

The mechanical voice on the other end of the phone let out a slight sneer, seemingly mocking Dai Fuqiang's ignorance.

"Dai Fuqiang was born in Guangxi in 1955. He came to Hong Kong with his parents by smuggling when he was four years old and settled in Temple Street, Yau Ma Tei."

"In 1971, you were sixteen years old. Your first crime was robbing a night taxi driver in an alley in Mong Kok with a rusty box cutter. You stole HK$49 and a Plum Blossom watch. Afterward, you pawned the watch for HK$20 and found the cheapest prostitute on Portland Street."

boom--

Dai Fuqiang's mind went blank.

Even his current wife, Ah Ying, didn't know about the robbery he committed when he was sixteen! Back then, he was just an unknown petty thug, and the driver didn't even call the police. How did the thief find out?!

But the mechanical voice didn't stop; instead, it continued reciting his "devilish resume" as if it were a treasure trove:

"In 1976, you were twenty-one years old when you joined a triad gang. After injuring one of your fellow gang members, you fled to Macau. There, you first came into contact with underground casinos and learned how to launder money."

"In 1980, you began planning armed robbery and recruiting soldiers."

"Until last year's Kai Tak Airport cash-in-transit bus case. You actually prepared two escape plans: one was to go to Taiwan by sea, and the other was to hide the money in an abandoned pig farm in Yuen Long. Right? The combination to the safe under that pig farm was..."

"Enough!!"

Dai Fuqiang interrupted the other person sharply, a layer of cold sweat already seeping from his forehead.

If his previous resume only shocked him, the fact that the other party knew exactly where he hid his money and his backup plan filled him with deep fear.

The enemy's intelligence network is as terrifying as a third eye!

In front of this mysterious man, Dai Fuqiang's cunning and meticulousness, which he was so proud of, were as transparent as if he were standing naked on the street, with no secrets whatsoever.

"What exactly do you want?" Dai Fuqiang's voice softened, but the veins on his hand holding the receiver bulged.

"Don't be nervous, tycoon. Like I said, I'm here to deliver business," the mechanical voice maintained its suffocating calm. "And one more thing, Zhong Tianzheng is one of ours too."

"?!"

"The reason I'm telling you all this is just to prove one thing—I have the ability to find out what color underwear you're wearing today, and naturally, I also have the ability to make this big deal flawless."

"With your courage and my intelligence, we will be the kings of Hong Kong."

Dai Fuqiang remained silent.

After the initial fear subsided, his greedy heart began to pound wildly.

Yes, the fact that the other party has such a terrifying intelligence network, and even his fellow inmates are on their side, shows that they truly possess extraordinary power and influence.

If there really is someone providing intelligence and support behind the scenes, coupled with their own intellect... they might really be able to do whatever they want in Hong Kong!

"Three hundred million? How do I know you're not just making empty promises?"

"Tomorrow at 3 PM, Kwun Tong District, 147 Lei Yue Mun Road, abandoned St. Andrew's Church." The mechanical voice didn't answer his question, but simply coldly threw out an address.

"Bring yourself some courage, come alone. I'll show you how profitable this deal is!"

"Beep—beep—beep—"

The phone hangs up.

Dai Fuqiang listened to the dial tone and slowly put down the receiver. He looked out at the pitch-black night, took a deep drag on his cigar, and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke.

"Brother Qiang, whose phone is that?" Ah Ying came over and asked worriedly.

"A... God of Wealth."

Dai Fuqiang's eyes gleamed with a ferocious light, like that of a hungry wolf.

The next day, at 2:50 PM.

Lei Yue Mun Road, Kwun Tong District.

This area is an old industrial zone, filled with abandoned factories and warehouses. The abandoned church known as "St. Andrew" is hidden deep in a weed-covered clearing.

The church spire had collapsed halfway, and the stained glass windows were shattered into only a few fragments. Cold winds rushed into the empty hall, making a whistling sound, like soft sobs.

"Creak—"

Dai Fuqiang pushed open the heavy wooden door and went inside.

He wore a black leather jacket, his right hand in his pocket, gripping a fully loaded Black Star pistol tightly. Though arrogant, he was far from stupid; in the underworld, one must always be wary of others.

The interior of the church was filled with dust and cobwebs. Sunlight streamed through the cracks in the dilapidated roof, forming beams of light in which countless dust particles swirled.

Dai Fuqiang looked around warily.

Suddenly, his gaze settled on the rows of dilapidated pews at the very front of the church.

There, a person was sitting.

He was a young man who looked to be in his early twenties. He was slightly overweight, wearing an ordinary plaid shirt and faded jeans. His hair was messy, and he wore a pair of simple-looking black-rimmed glasses.

At this moment, the young man was looking down, holding a half-eaten sausage in one hand and a bunch of red and green plastic tubes tied to an alarm clock in the other.

Dai Fuqiang frowned.

This chubby guy who looks like a college nerd is the mysterious mastermind from last night? The contrast is too great.

"Hey, friend."

Dai Fuqiang stepped forward, his leather shoes making a crisp sound on the broken glass. He didn't take his hands out of his pockets. "You were the one who called me last night?"

The fat man heard the sound and looked up.

He pushed up his glasses, which had slipped down to the tip of his nose, took a bite of his sausage, and then said in a simple, even somewhat wooden, tone:

"What call? I was called here too."

"You were also summoned here?" Dai Fuqiang was stunned.

"Yeah. Someone called me last night and said there was a big deal, and asked me to meet here at 3 pm today." The fat man swallowed the sausage and patted the crumbs off his hands. "He also said that if I come, he'll give me a 30 million deposit."

Dai Fuqiang became even more vigilant.

It seems the real boss is someone else, and this fat man is just a recruited accomplice.

But why would they hire a fat, simple-minded guy who looks like he wouldn't even dare to kill a chicken for such a big deal?

"Hey, where are you from? What's your name?" Dai Fuqiang looked him up and down, his tone tinged with disdain.

"Me? I'm not involved in organized crime."

The fat man stood up, dusted off his pants, grinned, revealing a set of white teeth. His smile looked harmless.

"My name is Hong Jipeng. Everyone calls me 'Hot-Blooded'."

"Popular? You?" Dai Fuqiang sneered, about to say something sarcastic.

Sudden.

He saw what Hong Jipeng was holding.

That wasn't some broken radio part at all, but a piece of C4 military-grade plastic explosive in excellent condition! It had a detonator inserted into it, and a dense array of wires connected to an extremely complex mechanical timer.

Hong Jipeng was just eating a sausage while holding a bomb that could blow this church to smithereens!

"Don't be nervous. This is a new type of tamper-proof fuse I just developed, with a mercury balance tube inside. If it tilts even slightly more than five degrees, it will 'boom'..."

Hong Jipeng gestured an explosion with his hand, and the honest look on his face vanished instantly, replaced by an extreme fervor for the art of explosion.

"After all, how can you come here unprepared... I may not be able to kill anyone, but I can make fireworks—the loudest fireworks in Hong Kong!"

Dai Fuqiang swallowed hard and silently took the gun out of his pocket.

madman.

This is a madman even more pure than himself, and also a top-notch bomb expert!

Just as the two were re-evaluating each other.

"Sizzle—"

Suddenly, the sound of a loudspeaker being turned on came from a hidden corner of the church dome.

Followed by.

That familiar, cold, mechanical sound echoed through the empty church.

"It seems that both of you have arrived."

Dai Fuqiang and Hong Jipeng immediately looked up and around, trying to find the source of the sound, but they could see nothing except the old loudspeaker in the corner.

"Don't bother looking for me, I'm not there."

The mechanical sounds echoed in the church, carrying a sense of oppressive superiority.

"Let me reintroduce myself. I'm the planner of this operation; you can call me 'Director.'"

"Dai Fuqiang, your courage, your greed, and your quick wit are exactly the kind of 'screenwriting team' I need."

"Hong Jipeng, your hands, capable of creating the most complex bombs in all of Asia, are exactly the 'props team' I need."

"I called you two here because the deal we're about to do is huge. So huge that even a dwarf mule would be terrified."

Dai Fuqiang and Hong Jipeng exchanged a glance.

To get a robber who stole 170 million to cooperate with a bomb-crazy guy who's willing to use C4, that's quite a feat.

"Stop beating around the bush," Dai Fuqiang shouted into the air. "What kind of job is it? Do you want us to rob a gold vault? Or bomb the Governor's House?"

"Robbing the gold vault is too tiring, and there's no money to be made by bombing Government House."

The voice from the loudspeaker chuckled softly.

"This deal is even bigger. I guarantee that once it's done, it will be at least HK$1 billion, which we'll split equally among the three of us. Each of you will receive at least HK$330 million in cash."

One billion!!

Upon hearing this number, even Hong Jipeng, who had been tightly gripping the bomb, trembled slightly.

Dai Fuqiang's eyes instantly turned bloodshot. One billion! Even if you added up all the cash in all the armored trucks on Hong Kong Island, you might not have that much!

"Gulp."

Dai Fuqiang swallowed hard, feeling his throat dry and his voice hoarse.

"What exactly... is this job?"

The church was deathly silent. Only the mournful sound of the wind blowing through the broken windows could be heard.

A full five seconds passed.

From the loudspeaker, a cold, mechanical voice slowly uttered a few words.

"Kidnapping, Li Chengjia's eldest son, Li Zeju."