As the police sirens faded into the distance, Leo decided it was time to take action.
“Hey, kid, what are you thinking? If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have forgotten that bag of money. It’s not easy to rob a bank these days. If you try anything funny, I swear I’ll shoot you right now!” The chubby guy pressed the gun even harder against Leo’s temple.
Leo remained silent, giving the chubby guy a sidelong glance.
“What’s that look on your face? You disrespecting me?” The chubby guy’s heart couldn’t handle that kind of gaze.
“Chubby, you’re the one who dragged me into the van. I was about to remind you to grab that bag of money,” Leo said calmly.
“Why didn’t you remind me then?” The chubby guy squinted his eyes. “Wait a minute, what did you call me?”
“Chubby.” Leo uttered two words.
“What the… Chubby is the best you can come up with?” The chubby guy threatened to hit Leo.
The leader of the robbers, driving the van, reached over and tapped the chubby guy on the head. “Enough with the noise. Once we come across a fork in the road, I’ll pull over. You brought this guy on board yourself; you deal with him.”
“Boss, are you asking me to kill…” The chubby guy started feeling uneasy.
“You wanted to act professional, right? Well, now’s your chance to prove it!” The hijacker leader said as he turned the van right at the upcoming fork in the road.
Due to inertia, they tilted to the left. The chubby guy finally moved his gun away from Leo’s head. In a flash, Leo grabbed the chubby guy’s fat hand gripping the gun.
Bang! The chubby guy pulled the trigger, and the bullet pierced through the van’s roof. In response, Leo swiftly snatched the gun from the chubby guy’s hand and then swung it back, hitting the chubby guy’s nose.
The chubby guy let out a cry of pain, clutching his bleeding nose.
Leo aimed the gun at the chubby guy’s head, threatening, “Stop the van, or I’ll blow his brains out!”
“My nose, brother-in-law, my nose is bleeding!” The chubby guy complained in a pitiful voice.
The hijacker sitting on the chubby guy’s right side already had his gun out, pointing it at Leo’s head.
The hijacker leader didn’t slow down; instead, he sped up.
Leo’s left hand had already reached into his pocket, and now he held a silver needle. However, due to the chubby guy’s broad frame, Leo couldn’t shoot the needle at the person behind him.
“Stop the van, or I’ll kill this fatso!” Leo threatened again.
The hijacker behind the chubby guy also threatened, “Kid, if you kill him, you won’t live much longer either.”
Staring at the black barrels of the guns, the chubby guy became nervous and scared. “Brother-in-law, how about stopping the van and letting him go? I’m getting scared.”
“Scared my ass! You brought him here, and now your gun’s been taken by him. Where’s your professionalism?” The leader taunted while driving.
“Kid, I advise you to put the gun down. Maybe we can spare your life,” the hijacker in the front passenger seat said, unbuckling his seatbelt and turning to face Leo, aiming his gun.
Leo smirked, “I’ve already seen your faces. Do you really think you’ll let me leave alive?”
“You’re pretty smart,” the hijacker on the passenger side said with an evil smile.
“Do you believe I’ll kill this fatso right now?” Leo pointed the gun at the chubby guy’s forehead, his index finger on the trigger, ready to shoot.
“Kill him if you want. Anyway, we’re one bag of money short, and one less person means we’ll split three bags evenly.” The hijacker leader spoke indifferently.
“Damn it, Bing Bryan, you’re still my brother-in-law, and you don’t even care about your my life!” The chubby guy burst into angry curses.
Just then, it seemed like there was a large pothole on the road. The van’s tires sank into it, causing the van to jolt violently.
Taking advantage of the moment, Leo shot a silver needle towards the hijacker leaning halfway from the passenger side.
At the same time, he loosened his grip on the gun in his right hand. Using the chubby guy as a shield, he blocked himself.
A loud bang! The guy behind the chubby one had already fired when Leo moved his left hand, but since Leo’s left and right hands acted almost simultaneously, the bullet hit the chubby guy’s back.
Poor chubby guy, turned into Leo’s human shield.
The guy who shot the chubby guy froze for a moment, and Leo’s left hand reached into his pocket. In an instant, two silver glimmers flashed as Leo disarmed the guy holding him at gunpoint. Then, he snatched the gun from the hijacker on the passenger side.
The whole process might sound slow, but it happened in the split second during the van’s turbulence. It lasted only a few seconds.
Once the car steadied, the leader of the robbers glanced through the rearview mirror and saw that the chubby guy had slumped over in his seat. Surprisingly, the hostage was sitting comfortably, holding a gun and aiming it at Joe, who was standing behind the chubby guy.
“Peter, what the heck are you waiting for? Shoot!” The leader of the robbers urged.
“Boss, my body suddenly won’t move,” Peter stammered.
The leader turned his head to look, only to find Peter contorted, attempting to shoot the hostage, but there was no gun in his hand.
“Now you can stop the car,” Leo said, his left hand holding a handgun with the barrel pointed downward, pressed against the leader of the robbers’ temple.
The car came to a halt by the side of the road.
The leader and Joe got out of the car one after the other.
“Little brother, let’s talk about this. We can give you all the money in the van, and you let us go,” the hijacker leader said, regretting giving his gun to the chubby guy. If he had a gun now, the situation wouldn’t be so unfavorable.
“Kneel down!” Leo coldly ordered.
The hijacker leader and the other guy exchanged a glance, seeing the two guns in Leo’s hands, and slowly knelt down.
“Little brother, I…” The hijacker leader tried to say something, but Leo threw the guns aside.
In the dumbfounded expressions of the hijacker leader and the other guy, Leo reached into his pocket and took out a small bag.
The surprise came as a complete shock. The hijacker leader and Joe guy instinctively lunged toward the direction of the guns.
Two glimmers flashed, and they both grabbed the guns, but their bodies suddenly froze. It was as if their nerves and limbs had been temporarily disabled painlessly.
Leo recalled reading about this in ancient Chinese medical texts. There were three hidden acupoints on a person’s body. Stabbing one of them with a silver needle would temporarily disable the transmission of nerve signals to the limbs for an hour.
It seemed that the acupuncture points mentioned in martial arts novels were not mere fiction.
After dealing with the four robbers, Leo didn’t stay any longer and left the scene. He didn’t want to wait for the police to arrive, as it would mean dealing with statement and going to the police station-too much hassle.
Besides, explaining how he subdued the hijackers would be difficult.