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

Just as Yip Kwok-foon's gang in Kowloon Walled City was sharpening their knives, preparing to unleash a bloodbath on the streets of Hong Kong with AK-47s.

In a dilapidated rental house in Kwun Tong, another slum not far from Kowloon Walled City, another powerful group of outlaws, enough to make Hong Kong police sweat, were trapped in a low-pressure atmosphere of extreme frustration and anger.

……

The cramped room was filled with smoke, making it almost impossible to open one's eyes. Several boxes of leftover cheap roast meat rice and a dozen or so empty beer bottles were scattered on the table.

Five or six burly men, speaking with heavy Cantonese and Hunan accents, were sprawled haphazardly on a broken sofa and a folding bed, each one looking dejected and smoking incessantly.

The man sitting on the stool in the very center was tall, with a cold and stern face, and his eyes revealed a fierce and murderous aura that came from years of living on the edge.

His name is He Yaodong, and people in the underworld respectfully call him "Da Dong".

Da Dong was no newcomer like Yip Kwok-fai. He was a veteran "Big Circle Boy" who had illegally immigrated to Hong Kong from mainland China in the late 70s and early 80s. During his time in Hong Kong, he was ruthless and committed numerous serious armed robberies, making him a highly wanted criminal with a bounty on his head by the Hong Kong police. It could be said that before Dai Fuqiang's crimes, he was Hong Kong's most notorious gangster!

A few years ago, due to the severity of his crimes and the resulting heightened scrutiny, Da Dong fled back to mainland China. However, having grown accustomed to making quick money through shady dealings, how could he possibly be content to farm in his hometown? After squandering all the money he had accumulated in just a few years, he began to consider returning to Hong Kong.

So, relying on his prestige, he gathered a group of poor veterans and their friends in his hometown, including Dabaizi, Wuyingtou, Bazhong, Shengji, and Feigu, who were also so poor they couldn't afford food but were brave and willing to fight.

They acquired several Type 54 pistols and detonators, and under cover of night, boarded a large plane and smuggled themselves back to Hong Kong, ready to pull off a spectacular heist.

Their plan was meticulously crafted; their target was a long-established jewelry store on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. The store not only housed a large quantity of gold bars but also many priceless pieces of jewelry.

but……

"Damn it! What bad luck!" The henchman nicknamed "Fly Head" slammed his hand on the table, making beer bottles clang, and cursed, "The brothers spent hours in the water smuggling themselves here, didn't even get a decent meal, and this is the worst that happens! Brother Dong, what do we do now? We can't go back empty-handed, can we?"

Da Dong's original plan was perfect. He had already scouted the location; the target jewelry store had recently stockpiled a large amount of gold, and the security was very lax. They were armed with a Black Star pistol they had obtained from the black market, preparing for a swift and decisive armed robbery that afternoon.

However, he died before he could achieve his goal.

When Da Dong and his brothers arrived at their destination in Tsim Sha Tsui with great fanfare, they were so angry at the sight before them that they almost vomited blood.

The jewelry store's rolling shutter door was tightly shut, and the area was cordoned off with yellow police tape. Dozens of heavily armed police officers were collecting evidence at the scene.

Upon inquiring, they learned that just an hour before their operation, a reckless lone thief, wielding a broken machete, had stormed in to rob the place. Not only did he fail to steal much, but he also triggered the alarm and was immediately cornered and subdued by patrolling police officers!

This not only ruined the jewelry store robbery, but also instantly raised the security level to the highest level in the entire commercial area of ​​Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok, with police cars and PTUs patrolling everywhere. To defy the law? That would be giving the police free commission.

Da Dong and the others felt extremely resentful and frustrated, but there was nothing they could do but slink back to their stuffy rented room in Kwun Tong.

Listening to his underlings' complaints, Da Dong took a deep drag on his Marlboro cigarette, his face so gloomy it could drip water.

How could he be content with that? Besides, he had long been fed up with robbing gold shops. Not only was it risky and the competition fierce, but they also had no way to sell the stolen goods. In the end, they had to grovel to those unscrupulous middlemen to cash out the stolen gold jewelry.

Those vampires will take at least 70% of the profits! They risked being shot to steal a million dollars' worth of gold, but after dividing it up, each person wouldn't even get tens of thousands! That little bit of money wouldn't even buy them a few visits to a decent nightclub in this glamorous world!

But what other options did they have? In the eyes of local Hong Kong gangsters and police, these "big circle boys" were just a bunch of money-grubbing country bumpkins. They had no connections, no connections, and the only way to make money was to rob the most heavily guarded jewelry stores and armored trucks.

Just as Da Dong was falling into deep self-doubt and frustration.

"Shhh..."

The old 14-inch black and white television in the corner of the rented room emitted static due to poor signal.

The raw chicken walked over and patted the top of the TV.

The video stabilized and then jumped to ATV's evening news in-depth revisit segment.

"...The Li family paid a ransom of HK$1.068 billion to the kidnappers in this kidnapping case. This enormous sum, if converted to HK$100, would be enough to fill an entire medium-sized truck. According to our financial experts, this amount is equivalent to ten years' total income for 20,000 ordinary families in Hong Kong... It is understood that in this kidnapping case, which is considered the largest since Hong Kong's opening to foreign trade, the police were unable to intervene throughout the entire process. The kidnapper, codenamed 'King of Thieves of the Century,' has vanished after obtaining the HK$1.068 billion in cash and is highly likely to have fled overseas..."

The news anchor's clear and articulate voice came from the television. Hearing this news report, the previously restless and anxious rented room instantly fell silent.

The six boys from the Big Circle were all frozen in place, staring blankly at the broken television.

They had only arrived in Hong Kong Island a few days ago and hadn't even heard about the Li Chengjia case yet; they were deeply shocked when they heard about it for the first time.

"Ten...ten billion?" Fatty swallowed hard, her eyes practically popping out of the screen. "Brother Dong...how much is ten billion? How many kilograms of pork can that buy?"

Da Dong did not answer.

His eyes, hidden in the shadows, were fixed on the sketch on the screen depicting a kidnapper wearing a bomb vest sitting in a mansion smoking a cigar.

Da Dong's hand, holding the cigarette, trembled violently, oblivious to the ash burning his fingers.

Then he slowly raised his head, his sharp, hawk-like eyes fixed on the bundles of thousand-yuan bills in red, white, and blue plastic bags on the screen.

An indescribable sense of extreme resentment and anger, mixed with a sudden, enlightening realization, erupted in Da Dong's chest like a volcanic eruption!

"Bang!"

Da Dong suddenly grabbed an empty beer bottle from the table and smashed it against the wall. Glass shards littered the floor.

The underlings were startled and turned to look at their boss, who was on the verge of exploding in rage.

"Did you all see that?!" Da Dong pointed at the TV, his eyes bloodshot and his voice filled with resentment and greed.

"Others pull off a heist without firing a gun or risking their lives against the cops. They easily make a billion! And what about us?!" Da Dong slammed his hand on the table, pointing at his group of poor brothers who had risked their lives with him. "We've all been through hell and back. We're sharpshooters, daring! But what do we do every day? Rob those run-down jewelry stores behind bulletproof glass! Haggle with those heartless consignment shop owners!"

"I worked so hard to rob a million, and then I got skinned alive for another seven hundred thousand! What I got wasn't even enough to buy a coffin!"

"Why?! Are we, a bunch of desperados, not even as good as a bunch of local thugs?!"

Da Dong's voice echoed in the cramped rented room, each word piercing the heart and drawing blood. It directly tore open the deepest, most unbearable wounds in the hearts of these gangsters.

Yes! They both risk their lives, so why can others eat meat while they don't even have the right to drink soup?!

"Brother Dong...so you mean..." Da Ba Zai swallowed hard, his eyes flashing with an almost insane light.

Da Dong took a deep breath, forcing himself to remain calm. When he raised his head again, his fierce eyes now held an extremely meticulous and ruthless strategic vision.

"Screw robbing gold shops! I'm never doing that kind of low-class work again!" Da Dong walked up to the TV and slammed his fist on it. "From today onwards, we're going to do the biggest deal ever—the kind of deal where we get cash directly!"

He turned around, looked at his most trusted, yet most ruthless, brothers, and issued the terrifying order that would once again shake the fate of Hong Kong's wealthy circles: "Target practice boy, flyhead! You two, go to the streets first thing tomorrow morning and buy back every single financial magazine and gossip newspaper in Hong Kong!"

"Investigate! Find out exactly which billionaires in Hong Kong are constantly on TV and have virtually no security!" Da Dong's lips curled into a cruel, demonic smile.

"Back then, the kingpin could kidnap a prince for a billion dollars. So, can't we, a bunch of former soldiers, kidnap a few fat, bloated tycoons?!"

"Get ready, let's go pick a super-rich guy and ask him for some pocket money!"