stjorthotic 42. Recruit the three swordsmen
42. Recruit the three swordsmen
After his "hometown" was robbed, Li Xiang didn't wait for Han Jiayin to arrive in Okinawa for the handover. He flew to Tokyo early the next morning and then transferred to Moscow.
Narita International Airport.
Li Xiang was waiting for his flight in the waiting room when Da Du called to report on the situation.
"Is it convenient for you to talk? If not, you can just listen to me."
"Their first address is in New York, and their second address is in Minsk, but I don't think either of these addresses are real. They've already discovered that I'm looking for them, yet they're still acting with impunity."
He gave me three hours to transfer another $10,000.
Li Xiang thought for a moment and said, "VKontakte is about to launch, and you're quite busy right now, so I won't take up any more of your time. Just send me those two addresses, and I'll figure out how to handle it myself."
"Then I'll be going? Call me anytime if you need anything in the future." Da Du also breathed a sigh of relief. If he continued to dwell on this matter, who knows how much longer it would have taken.
Thank you.
Different people have different solutions to the same problem.
Russia's name sounds a bit like "index".
Xiaowei is the child of Huaqiang (father) and comes from the Zhang family (the suffix varies depending on the gender).
In other words, if you know a Russian's full name, you can tell whether he is male or female, which family he belongs to, and who his father is.
The naming conventions of Grigori, Zahar, and Grace all conform to this characteristic.
However, the rate of duplicate names in Russia is too high. There are "Zhang Wei"s everywhere, so it's not easy to find them. Besides, they may not even be Russians.
After receiving the address from Da Du, Li Xiang dialed Dalia's number.
"The server room in St. Petersburg has been hacked. The perpetrator is likely hiding in Minsk. I'll send you an address; send someone over to check it out."
"Okay, leave it to me." Dalia suddenly remembered something and quickly added, "It also costs me to find people; I'll reimburse you for whatever it costs later."
Along with sending the address, Li Xiang also sent Dalia the full names of Grigori, Zahar, and Grace.
Less than two minutes later, Dalia called back.
"I happen to know these three people you're looking for. Give me ten thousand US dollars, and I'll send you their home addresses."
Dalia forced herself not to laugh.
"KinoZal?" Li Xiang immediately realized what was going on and retorted, "Isn't this all the trouble you caused? You still have the nerve to ask me for money? I'm being lenient by not asking you to return it."
Dalia seized on the wording and said, "You said it yourself, I don't need to refund your money."
"If the money were in your pocket, I would definitely return it. Roman is practically my nephew. I've already given it, why would I ask for it back? I can't afford to lose face like that." Li Xiang was quite adept at winning people over.
Dalia laughed and said, "Since we're all relatives, I'll help you this once for free. How do you want to deal with them?"
Li Xiang warned, "Don't do anything reckless."
"I won't do anything reckless," Dalia argued. "They're the ones who caused trouble this time. If we don't teach them a lesson, they'll cause you more trouble in the future."
Li Xiang revealed his thoughts: "Their skills are quite good. I want to test them out, and if they are usable, I'll recruit them."
Dalia thought for a moment and said, "I'll take care of it for you."
"Trying to cause trouble again?"
Dalia surrendered, saying, "Let me explain my plan to you first, and I'll act only after you agree, is that alright?"
Li Xiang said, "Let's talk in person; it's not appropriate to say it over the phone."
"I'm in Hong Kong. Are you coming to find me, or am I going to find you?"
"Why did you go to Hong Kong?" Li Xiang asked in confusion.
Dalia replied, "I'm investigating the eel market. About 30% of the eels in Hong Kong are European eels. This business is really profitable."
Li Xiang said, "I'll come to Hong Kong to find you, and I'll open a few more bank accounts while I'm at it."
-
Minsk.
The three musketeers are preparing to check out of Belarus and leave for Ukraine for a few days to lay low and avoid the commotion. If things don't get out of hand back home, they'll go back.
"Zahar, phone call." Grace was packing her luggage.
"It should be my mom, can you answer it for me?" Zahar said while squatting on the toilet.
"Grace, you take this." Grace didn't move and was still busy with her own things.
Grigory was exhausted and kept yawning as he sat there. He lazily picked up his phone, didn't even look at the caller ID, and answered directly, "Auntie, Zahar is taking a dump in the toilet. He'll be out in a bit."
"I can contact you too."
Upon hearing Dalia's voice, Gerry jumped, dropped his phone onto the sofa, picked it up, and instinctively hung up.
"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost?" Grace noticed Gerry's strange expression.
After calming down, Gerry said, "I must have misheard."
A few seconds later, Grace's phone rang too; it was an unknown number.
"Feed".
"Was that Gerry who answered the phone just now? Why did he hang up?"
Upon hearing Dalia's voice, Grace felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave and instinctively looked at Grace.
Gerry had initially held onto a sliver of hope, but after exchanging a glance with Grace, his expression turned more like he was about to cry.
"Who are you?" Grace asked, feigning ignorance.
Dalia bluntly stated, "You three aren't in Moscow, are you? Let me guess where you are. Are you in Minsk?"
"We're in Ukraine," Grace said timidly.
After Zahar finished using the restroom, he came out and asked, "What's wrong?"
Gerry whispered, "Fake cops."
Zahar's expression changed instantly, and he complained, "You had to cause them trouble, and now they've come back for you."
Grace told Gerry and Zuckerberg, "She told me to put it on speakerphone."
After the call was put on speakerphone, the three musketeers all held their breath, and none of them dared to speak.
"I'm not a police officer. Judging from your reactions, I think you've already guessed that."
"I sold KinoZal, and now they're contacting me for after-sales service, saying they were hacked. My first thought is about the three of you."
Gri mustered his courage and said, "It's not us, we're traveling in Ukraine."
"I don't care where you are or whether you did it or not. Come to the Red Star Plumbing Fittings Factory in St. Petersburg for an interview in three days. If one of you three doesn't show up..." Dalia chuckled. "I won't say anything more threatening. Think about the consequences yourselves."
"Doing hard labor," Grace asked whine.
"The internet company, the one whose server room is located there, is the one you're attacking."
"It has nothing to do with us," Gerry denied vehemently.
Dalia said, "Then consider it a favor I'm asking you to do. Someone contacted me for after-sales service and asked me to resolve the issue. I'll send a few of you over."
"If the interview goes well, I can guarantee I'll never bother you again."
"What if we fail?" Zahar asked.
Dalia sneered, "You're all corrupt, and then you say you can't solve it? I can only assume you don't want to solve it."
"It wasn't us who smeared it," Gerry emphasized again.
Dalia was furious: "Gerry, why are you so stubborn? I've clearly wronged you today, what are you going to do about it?"
"If you can't solve my problems, I'll become your problems."
Dalia plays the bad cop, using threats to keep people around, but it's all for naught if they don't put in the effort; ultimately, there still needs to be a good cop to cooperate.