The Omniscient

Chapter 44: Perfectly Blending into the Enemy

Not far from the private room, Xiao Zha and Lin Li, who were standing guard at the door, were utterly dumbfounded.

They had witnessed the entire sequence of events. The person who initially carried the cash box had already entered the adjacent office. Huang Ji only showed up afterward and pretended to walk away, which misled the suited man into thinking Huang Ji was the one who had just carried the cash box.

Of course, Huang Ji's timing was flawless! On closer inspection, it was clear the suited man only recognized the box, not the person carrying it.

The box in Huang Ji's hands was indeed the same one that had previously been used to sneak away 500,000 yuan. However, it was now filled with bricks and rags instead of cash.

But no one could see what was inside from the outside.

The suited man only knew that the box was one he had bought—he’d purchased several of the same type and marked them with unique stickers. As a result, he instantly recognized the box. He’d completely forgotten that the cash box stolen from him earlier was also one of these boxes.

Given the urgency of the situation, he didn't have time to think it through. The moment he spotted someone walking out with a cash box, he naturally assumed it was his.

So Xiao Zha and the others saw the suited man frantically snatch the brick-filled box from Huang Ji's hands.

Bang! Just then, the power went out!

The KTV was suddenly plunged into darkness, save for the dim red glow of emergency lights.

“Move! Let’s go!” The suited man, clutching the box, realized something was off. This wasn’t a routine inspection—this was a police raid! Otherwise, Cao Jing wouldn’t have gone to the lengths of cutting the power.

Fortunately, he had already discarded the drugs from their transaction and recovered the cash box.

This wasn’t his territory, so he could easily make his escape. As for Cao Jing, he was likely in for a bad time.

“Heh! We’re outta here!” The suited man gloated as he hurried off with a box full of bricks.

This scene was witnessed by Huang Mao, one of the lackeys who had run out to chase after him.

Huang Mao hadn’t seen the details clearly. He only saw the suited man and his six companions surrounding a "brother" and snatching a box from his hands just as the lights went out.

Moments later, the "brother" rushed back to the private room, shouting, “Brother Jing! The money’s been stolen!”

Huang Mao cursed, “F***! Useless idiot! Why didn’t you hold onto the cash box no matter what?!”

He turned to Cao Jing and asked, “Brother Jing, what now?”

Cao Jing was panicking. He hadn’t expected the police to cut the power. What kind of tactic was this?

He didn’t fully understand the situation but trusted Old Ma’s text message.

“Forget it!” Cao Jing had intentionally let the suited man chase after the cash box—it didn’t matter. That small sum of money wasn’t important.

What mattered was the cash stashed in this private room!

“Let them take it if they want. You idiots, why are you still standing at the door? Do you want to die? Get in here and pack the money!” Cao Jing snapped at the men lingering by the door.

He had intended to scold Huang Mao and the “brother who lost the box,” urging them to hurry back inside.

However, his words also gave Lin Li and Xiao Zha the perfect opportunity to blend in.

In the dim light, Huang Mao assumed the two guards at the door were their own people and barked, “You heard him! Move it!”

Lin Li and Xiao Zha meekly responded and followed the crowd inside, inadvertently getting swept into the action.

Cao Jing quickly retrieved two flashlights from a cabinet. Turning one on, he handed the other to a lackey and told him to turn it on as well.

In the darkness, however, a hand reached out and intercepted the flashlight mid-air.

No one paid much attention. Who could tell who received the flashlight in the dark? As long as someone took it, it didn’t matter.

Unbeknownst to them, the one maneuvering seamlessly in the darkness was none other than Huang Ji.

Cao Jing shone his flashlight on the couch, cutting into it with a knife to reveal stacks of cash hidden inside.

The money was wrapped in plastic bags and bound with tape, forming rigid bundles like wooden planks.

The sight of so much cash stunned many of the lackeys. Who would have thought there was such a treasure trove in an ordinary private room?

Cao Jing worked too slowly alone, so he told the others to use their phones’ dim light to assist.

“Quick, rip open all the couches. There are sixteen bundles, each worth 500,000 yuan.”

“Grab some backpacks. Everyone takes a bundle and splits up. Find Old Ma—he’ll handle the rest. If you get caught halfway, you know what to say, right?”

“I’ve counted this money. If anyone gets greedy, I’ll skin them alive.”

With that, Cao Jing ran out of the private room to check on Ah Lei’s progress.

Old Ma’s text message had been clear: A "big stray cat" had shown up, the “fish” needed to be moved, and the “cat litter” needed cleaning.

This was their code. If Old Ma sent such a message, it was definitely him. If something had gone wrong, Old Ma would have been informed and would send these instructions.

Typically, it would just be a “stray cat,” or the police. But a “big stray cat” meant the situation was dire!

The rapid arrival of police cars after the warning showed that even Old Ma had only found out moments before. This indicated the police operation was airtight. It was a major crackdown, and they clearly knew all about his operations.

Cao Jing couldn’t afford to take chances. Old Ma’s instructions were foolproof—both the money (“fish”) and the drugs (“cat litter”) needed to be handled properly.

The money, totaling 8 million yuan, mostly belonged to Old Ma, and Cao Jing was only safeguarding it. If the police seized it, he wouldn’t just fail to explain himself—he’d also have no way to account to Old Ma.

While failing to move the money was a headache, leaving the drugs untouched was a death sentence.

Thus, Cao Jing was more concerned about whether Ah Lei had handled the drugs.

As Cao Jing rushed toward the nearby office, Huang Ji followed him out of the private room, calling after him, “Brother Jing! Isn’t it too risky to just run off with the cash?”

“How is Old Ma going to back us up?”

Irritated by the trivial questions, Cao Jing snapped, “Just do as you're told. He’ll contact you.”

With that, he entered the office.

Inside, Ah Lei and several lackeys were smashing a Guan Yu statue under the glow of flashlights.

At the moment, they were breaking open the drug packages and flushing them down the toilet into the sewer system.

“Faster! Go back and take the money, I’m heading downstairs to check things out!” Cao Jing urged as he headed for the ground floor.

On one hand, he wanted to see the situation at the entrance. The police sirens had stopped, meaning the officers were already inside, so he planned to stall them as much as possible.

On the other hand, he wanted to distance himself from the drugs and avoid being caught red-handed.

As Cao Jing left, Huang Ji called out, “Oh? Downstairs? Got it! Don’t worry, Brother Jing!”

In the dim light, Huang Ji casually grabbed the real cash box sitting on the desk—the one the suited man had been searching for.

Ah Lei and the others, preoccupied with their “anti-drug campaign,” paid no attention. After all, they heard Cao Jing’s voice at the door and assumed no outsiders would dare intrude.

While calling out to Cao Jing, Huang Ji, flashlight in hand, walked back to the private room with the real cash box.

Reaching the doorway, he even shouted down the corridor for good measure, “Brother Jing! I got it! Don’t worry!”

As Cao Jing descended the stairs, he thought to himself, Is this lackey an idiot?

Annoyed, he shouted back, “If you get it, then do it already! Stop yelling like a moron!”

After Cao Jing left, Huang Ji looked around the private room. Seeing that Cao Jing’s lackeys had already pulled out all the cash, he spoke up, “Plans have changed. Old Ma’s people are already here. Brother Jing just said to toss the money down to the people waiting below!”

Without hesitation, Huang Ji opened the window and threw the cash box outside.

The lackeys were stunned, but upon reflection, they vaguely remembered Brother Jing mentioning something about “downstairs” earlier.

Moreover, Huang Ji had been shouting things like “I got it!” and “Don’t worry, Brother Jing!” on his way back. They all assumed Brother Jing had given new orders and trusted Huang Ji to relay them.

Lin Li and Xiao Zha took the lead, immediately tossing bundles of cash out the window.

“Come on! Wu San’er! Huajuan, stop standing around!” Huang Ji shined the flashlight in their faces, adding psychological pressure. Being called out and spotlighted, the two instinctively followed along.

“Hurry up and throw the money down! We don’t have much time!” Huang Ji urged, prompting the group to move faster.

With a commanding tone and the ability to take the initiative, Huang Ji naturally seized control of the room’s rhythm. His authoritative presence seemed to inspire an almost irresistible confidence in the others.

Perhaps it also had something to do with the fact that he held the only flashlight in the room.

Out of the two flashlights, one had been taken by Brother Jing, while the other had been tossed to Huang Ji. With Brother Jing absent, Huang Ji became the sole figure holding a beam of light in the darkened room.

The sight of him holding the flashlight like a scepter, coupled with his firm tone, made him seem unquestionably reliable.

Hints and directives—both overt and subtle—had thoroughly deceived the lackeys.

Given the urgency, with some taking the lead, the rest quickly followed suit. They rushed to the window, eager to throw the cash down, fearing they’d be too slow.

One lackey peeked out the window and saw an old man standing by the back door.

The old man glanced around cautiously, then gestured up at them, waving for them to hurry and toss the money.

“Hey! Catch this!” One of the lackeys nodded and tossed a bundle down.

“Quick, quick! Old Ma’s people are down there waiting.”

The group scrambled to throw all sixteen bundles of cash—8 million yuan in total—out the window.

Down below, Old Wang heard a series of thuds as the cash bundles landed before him.

“Oh my… oh my!” Old Wang was overjoyed, letting out a string of exclamations as he quickly bent down to collect the money.

He moved with remarkable speed, stuffing the cash into a trash bin with wheels, stacking it layer by layer.

Once the last bundle was in, Old Wang glanced up at the window, where someone waved and signaled, “That’s all of it!”

In response, Old Wang secured the trash bin’s lid, gave a thumbs-up to the people upstairs, and rolled the bin away with a grin.

Upstairs, the lackeys waved back, whispering, “Go, go! Get out of here!”

Old Wang nodded, flashed an “OK” gesture, and cheerfully pushed the trash bin out of sight.

Back in the private room, the lackeys let out a collective sigh of relief. Getting rid of the money this way was far less risky than scattering and fleeing with it.

Huang Ji clapped his hands and said, “What are you all standing around for? Disperse! Don’t cause any trouble for Brother Jing!”

“Yes!”

“Got it!”

The group replied in unison before scattering like birds.

Meanwhile, Huang Ji led Lin Li and Xiao Zha, carefully navigating a shortcut through the darkened building. They casually exited via the back door.

Not once did anyone stop them.

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